Alice thought for a moment and then said, "I think this place is good, if possible we can stay here, surround the outside with wood and leave a door to allow access. After wandering outside for half a year, we really should have a home, tomorrow I will go and see if anyone comes here often, you stay here and wait for me."
As soon as Ronnie heard that Alice wanted to go out tomorrow, he hastily volunteered to go out and inquire together.
"All right! then you go to bed early and come with me tomorrow."
The siblings discussed their plans for tomorrow, and their hearts were much calmer. Alice grabbed her backpack from the corner, pulled out a blanket, and found a relatively flat piece of ground to spread it out on, making a simple "bed". "Ronnie, come over here and sleep!"
Ronnie ran to the corner, grabbed the pillow he had modified with his shoes and hat, and ran back. He took off his shoes, found a spot on the side of the "bed" and lay down. Alice lay down on his side, her pillow was folded up with some clothes and looked like a couch cushion. At this point Ronnie rolled over and leaned over to her, "Sis, why do you smell so good? have you been wearing perfume?"
Alice pillowed her arm and looked up at the night sky in a daze, hearing Ronnie's question she turned her face to smile at him, "No, by the way, the 16th of next month is your birthday, if we're still here then I'll give you a birthday present."
"Sis, it was your birthday yesterday, why don't you celebrate it?"
"We didn't even have a place to stay yesterday, how can we celebrate my birthday?"
Ronnie said reassuringly, "Then why don't we spend it together next month? I'll sing you a birthday song!"
"Okay! hopefully we'll still be here... no more talking, go to sleep!" Alice yawned and fell asleep quickly. The next morning she woke up from her sleep, stood up, looked at the ocean in the distance, took a deep breath and felt a sudden urge to pee, she looked at Ronnie who was sleeping and wanted to pee before he got up. She walked to the outside of the cave, chose a large rock, unzipped her pants, and crouched down. In a few moments, a meandering stream formed on the ground. She was about to pull up her pants and go back when she saw a half-man cactus high on the rock wall. She walked over and broke off a small piece, removed the small thorns and put it in her mouth, chewing for a few moments before finishing. Seeing that Ronnie was still asleep, she was tempted to wake him, but didn't. Looking at her sleeping brother, she began to think wildly: How to solve today's meal? Ronnie hadn't grown in half a year, he shouldn't be starving all the time. And should we look for Aunt Penny to inquire about the situation here? but thinking of Rajeev's eyes she hesitated, finally she decided to make a trip, there is no one she knows here except the old woman Penny.
"Sis, you're awake! why didn't you call me?" Ronnie's call interrupted her thoughts.
"I didn't call you because I saw you sleeping well, did you sleep well last night?"
Ronnie scratched his head and said, "I slept well and had a dream about our mother, my sister, my crib at home and Uncle Subaru's chocolates,do you have any more 'Bira coins' on you, sis?" Ronnie couldn't help but ask, even though he already knew his sister didn't have any.
"I spent them all a long time ago, it's not like you don't know!"
"Sister, do you know the origin of 'Bira Coins'?"
"No idea! I just know it buys food."
Ronnie began to speak eloquently to show off his unforgettable skills, "'Bira' was originally the name of a person, an eighteenth century Austrian astronomer who discovered a comet, which was named 'Comet Bira' in his honor. '"
"And what does he have to do with the 'Bira Coin'?" Alice asked.
Ronnie hadn't expected his sister to be so inquisitive, and for a moment he didn't know how to answer, "It's ... not written in this ... this ... this ... book! " he scratched his ears and said with some annoyance.
Alice smiled and shook her head, she thought the brother was cute. Ronnie didn't know the answer to the question, but the fact was that "Bira coins" were very hard to come by. It was struck from pure gold and was the size of a thumbtack. It had an eagle on the front and the words "Look to the stars, the light is coming" in Latin on the back. Since the city-state uses only honor value, there is no currency, so the emergence of any currency is forbidden, and it is only allowed for the "free world" to use similar city-state honor value of the nine stars to pay and barter. To facilitate transactions, the people of the "free world" issued their own currency, which was not called a unified currency. Every year, the city-state would collect the "Bira Coin", so people had to take the transaction underground, and in the past hundred years, the "Bira Coin" became more and more rare, and only occasionally appeared on the black market, just like the "Bira Comet". It was as "mysterious" as the Bira Comet, and over time people came to call it the Bira Coin. Alice had one of these coins, which she had earned by working for more than five months in the small hotel of the kind Mr. and Mrs. Kenny White. The siblings had survived for half a year on this coin and the food provided by the city-state.
Alice wanted to laugh at the look on Ronnie's face when he couldn't answer, but she held her tongue. She turned the conversation around and said, "Ronnie, pack up and we'll go out and ask around."
The siblings packed their backpacks and left the "cave". After asking around, they arrived at the old woman Penny's house. Since seeing Alice yesterday, Rajeev's soul is not his own, at the moment he was at home, suffering from lovesickness and sighing. He was eighteen years old and had never been in love, some boys his age had had several relationships, but he had never even held a woman's hand, and the love between a man and a woman made him very jealous. When Alice appeared in front of him, he thought he was dreaming and slapped his cheeks several times before coming to his senses.
"Rajeev, is your mom home?" Alice asked as she stood in the doorway.
This was the first thing the beloved woman said to Rajeev, making him flattered and stuttering under his breath, "Yes, yes, she's in the inner room, I'll go call her out!"
"Sister, what's wrong with this brother? dull-headed! won't call us in either," Ronnie said angrily.
Alice was just about to answer Ronnie's question when the old woman Penny came out, she warmly welcomed the siblings to come in and sit down and told Rajeev to bring a plate of sweets, she grabbed a handful and shoved it hard into Ronnie's arms. Ronnie looked at the candy in his arms and was delighted. He looked at his sister and Alice gave him a slight nod. With his sister's permission, he quickly peeled off the candy and stuffed it into his mouth. Alice sat down and looked around the room, the room was not big but very clean, the most striking thing was a wooden plaque hanging on the wall, on it was carved a knight holding a spear in his left hand and a shield in his right hand, and below the knight were the words "Continue unceasingly, Without stopping", and below the words was also the time engraved on the wall: 2373, November 15th, the city-state was founded.
Seeing that she didn't say anything, Penny opened her mouth first and asked, "Girl, is there something you want me to help you with?"
Alice came to her senses and apologized slightly, "Auntie, I want to find out if that cave on the beach is inhabited, we want to build a house there."
Penny laughed, "Only a few naughty children play in that cave from time to time, no one lives there, why do you want to build it? If you don't have a place to stay, you can come to my house, there are two empty rooms here."
Rajeev, who was standing at the edge of the room, agreed and nodded his head, a look of excitement on his face. Alice gave him a quick look and immediately abandoned the idea of staying there. She replied politely, "Thanks for the invitation, but it's not very convenient to live here,maybe we can be neighbors in the future."
"Well then, what would you like me to do for you?" Penny said regretfully.
At this point, Rajeev, who was standing on the side, volunteered and said to Alice, "I can build a house, let me help you, I have wood, ropes, cloth and lime mud at home, I'll get some more people to come and we can build it for you in half a day.”
Penny hadn't expected her son to be any more enthusiastic than she was, and after knowing her for only twenty minutes, she looked at Rajeev with a stunned look of disbelief that her son was actually going to empty her house. Alice wanted to say no, but when she thought that the house couldn't really be built if there was no one to help, that it would be more than two years before she could apply to the city state, and that Ronnie couldn't keep wandering around, she agreed. Rajeev was overjoyed to see Alice agree and immediately rushed out to get ready.