Chapter 480

Facing Leon’s Japanese-style questioning, the Administrator Matron hesitated for a moment before ultimately giving in to the temptation of witnessing the establishment of the new Alms House and decided to agree with Leon’s proposal.

However, she still couldn’t help but remind him:

“But don’t go overboard. The Old Man and I have lived long enough already; we’re very content. There’s no need to make a big fuss over us.”

“Uh-huh, definitely not.”

After hearing the Administrator Matron’s words, Leon smiled on the surface while responding twice, but deep down, he had already made up his mind that when the new Alms House started construction, he would figure out how to preserve this elderly couple as much as possible.

If they truly felt they’ve lived their fill and wanted eternal rest, there would be no reason for him to stop them. But now, it was clear they still had things to look forward to; they just didn’t want their presence to affect the establishment of the new Alms House. In that case, he would certainly have to “pull some strings.”

Just as Leon, who was “two-faced,” was contemplating how to act like a permission dog and quietly retain the Happiness Apartment without making too much noise, three familiar footsteps came from outside the door.

Immediately after, Anna appeared at the apartment door with a slightly darkened complexion, her left hand dragging a composed William, and her right hand pulling a despair-filled Melanie.

“Anna-nee, slow down! Can you walk slower?”

Melanie, whose ear was obviously twisted hard and was red, pleaded with a pained expression: “It’s not even five o’clock yet. We don’t have to rush home so soon, do we? And earlier, I saw Grandpa John fixing the fence in the small garden. Why don’t you go help him first?”

“Melanie, just accept your fate.”

Before Anna could answer with her grim face, William, whose ears were also red, calmly interjected:

“Based on my understanding of Anna-nee, today’s beating is inevitable. If she vents her anger immediately, we might get off with fewer hits, but if she holds it in any longer, who knows what will happen.”

“…”

Good grief… I barely took two days off, and I come back to such chaos…

Looking at the tense younger siblings outside the gate, Leon’s lips involuntarily twitched twice. He then approached them under the somewhat amused gaze of the Administrator Matron and asked somewhat helplessly:

“Anna… What trouble did these two cause this time?”

“Huh?”

Upon hearing Leon’s voice, Anna, who was struggling with her sister trying desperately to stay put on the steps, looked up in surprise and said joyfully: “Why are you here today…”

“Big Brother!!!”

Before Anna could finish her sentence, Melanie, who had been refusing to climb the steps just moments ago, suddenly shot forward like a rocket and darted into the hall, hiding behind Leon and grabbing onto his trouser leg.

“Big Brother, your complexion isn’t good!”

The previously despairing Melanie instantly turned her face into a bright smile upon seeing her savior and began winking wildly: “Is it because you’re too tired from work? Should I massage your shoulders? Or should I tell you a story?”

“We’ll see…”

Leon, understanding her intentions, reached out and touched her little head, giving her a helpless smile.

“We listen to Anna-nee. She has to explain everything first before Big Brother can know if he’s tired and needs a shoulder massage.”

“Not that exaggerated…”

Hearing Leon’s words, Anna’s cheeks flushed slightly as she complained with a hint of annoyance before using her ultimate sibling move—twisting Melanie’s ear and pinching it hard.

“I’ll settle accounts with you when we get home!”

After issuing a tactical threat to the failed refugee and pulling her out from behind Leon, Anna greeted the Administrator Matron and then turned to Leon curiously:

“Hmm… Because I’ve been working overtime recently, the Bureau gave me a few days off.”

He casually fabricated an excuse without mentioning the “business trip” to the Crocodile Kingdom. While carrying the still calm-looking younger brother and walking towards the stairwell, Leon asked curiously: “Let’s not talk about me. What exactly did these two do to upset you so much?”

“Big Brother, that’s prejudice.”

Upon hearing Leon’s question, William frowned seriously and rebutted: “Although Mel and I may be a bit mischievous, we’re not just troublemakers.”

“Then did you not cause trouble during this period?”

“Trouble.”

“…”

“Big Brother, don’t misunderstand.”

Seeing Leon’s speechless expression, William quickly explained earnestly: “Although we did cause trouble, this time Anna-nee’s anger isn’t due to our mischief but rather our poor academic performance, which falls under intellectual issues and can’t be blamed on us.”

“No one mistake in every single content on 69 book bar!”

“You dare say that!”

Upon hearing William’s explanation, Anna, who was following behind, became even darker in complexion and couldn’t help but pinch him lightly. She then complained helplessly to Leon:

“Brother! You don’t know how infuriating these two are!

In this exam, the last math problem was written like this – Due to the excessive waiting time for public carriages, the Road Administration Department plans to increase the number of public carriage runs on Bridge Street. However, due to limited funds, only 2 new carriages can be allocated.

Given that Bridge Street originally has 4 carriages, each carriage operates for 18 hours a day, and every carriage returns to the starting point after 3 hours, the question asks how to arrange them to solve the waiting problem as much as possible.”

How to arrange to solve the waiting problem?

After hearing Anna’s words, Leon tried to think through the math problem.

The Road Administration Department has limited funds and can allocate only 2 new vehicles, adding to the original 4, making it 6 vehicles. Each vehicle takes 3 hours per trip, and the total operating time per day is 18 hours, meaning each vehicle can make 6 trips, totaling 36 trips.

If calculated this way, 36 trips in 18 hours equals one trip every half hour… No! At this point, Leon suddenly realized that this seemingly simple problem actually concealed a very insidious trap.

Although it appears that each vehicle can run 6 trips within 18 hours, in reality, these 6 carriages do not all start at the beginning of the morning but depart at intervals. Therefore, in practice, only one vehicle can complete all 6 trips.

“Hmm… For kids, this question is indeed quite challenging.”

After frowning slightly, Leon asked confusedly:

“William and the others are transfer students who have missed a lot of lessons, so it’s normal for them not to be able to answer. Is it really necessary to get so angry?”

“I’m not mad that he couldn’t answer, I’m mad that he answered!”

Hearing this, Anna was extremely irritated and said: “William’s arrangement is to first give a speech on the street condemning the embezzlement of funds by the Road Administration Department, stirring up dissatisfaction among residents on Bridge Street, putting pressure on management personnel, and then demanding an audit of the carriage company’s accounts to check for overspending.

Once errors are found in both the Road Administration Department and the carriage company, find ways to report them to the legislators and threaten them with regional voting to propose increasing the budget.

When the proposal enters the agenda, raise funds to bribe tabloids to create momentum, questioning whether the Road Administration Department is too corrupt for lacking carriage funds or even colluding with legislators in corruption, forcing legislators to vote against the proposal via public opinion pressure to pass the proposal to add more carriages, thus never lacking carriages again!”

(End of Chapter)