"This is my wife, Shimani. Lao Dong introduced Fang Ze, "She doesn't speak much Chinese." English is no problem. ”

As soon as Lao Dong's words fell, Sima Ni said hello to Fang Ze in broken Chinese, and then said a lot of welcome words in English.

When Fang Ze heard Sima Ni's English, he continued to pretend that his English level was probably only that of a high school student, and replied a few words awkwardly.

Lao Dong walked over and said a few words to Sima Ni, then asked Xi Mani to retreat first, and then he took Fang Ze to the study upstairs.

"You're already married here. Fang Ze said to Lao Dong, "It looks like you don't plan to go back to Huaxia?"

"When I was young, I was poor, and I had no choice but to come here to beg for a living, and now I am used to living there, so if nothing else, I don't plan to go back. ”

There is a wedding photo of him and Himani on Lao Dong's desk, and Lao Dong said a little proudly to Fang Ze, "My wife's family is a big family of high castes in India, and when I married her, the deputy prime minister of India at that time called to congratulate her. ”

"Oh. After listening to Lao Dong's words, Fang Ze was a little interested, and he asked, "Isn't there a caste system in India, what kind of caste are we foreigners in India?" ”

"Barely can be counted as Kshatriya. Lao Dong took out a cigarette and tried to give it to Fang Ze, but after Fang Ze waved his hand and refused, he smoked it himself, "We Chinese people are considered dilapidated nobles in the eyes of Indians, so our status is still good." Of course, Europeans and Americans are higher. But this is only useful for men, and women should be very careful when going out, no matter how noble you are in India. Some Indians are in love, but they don't care about caste, and sometimes even species is not a matter in their eyes. ”

"Uh. Fang Ze recalled the news about Indians and animals, and nodded in agreement with Lao Dong's words.

"I've always heard that the caste problem in India is serious, how is this happening in Delhi. Are those Indian servants of yours the legendary pariahs?"

"No, no, no, my servants pay them a small part of their salary every month, but they are low-caste Indians, not untouchables. Lao Dong spit out a smoke ring and said to Fang Ze, "The caste system in India is very complicated, and it cannot be interpreted from the literal sense of 'Brahmin', 'Kshatriya', 'Vaishya' and 'Shudra'. ”

"People in our country may understand this hierarchy as a difference in class, the difference between nobles and commoners, or equivalent to the Mongols during the Yuan Dynasty. But in fact, compared to the Mongols who were graded according to race, this caste system of the Indians is much more vicious. ”

"Let's answer your question first. Lao Dong said, "These people who are servants in our family, according to the hierarchy, belong to the Shudras, but they are only low castes, not untouchables. In India, the real untouchables have no caste of their own, they do the dirtiest and hardest work, and are required not to appear in public. In addition to working and getting paid, if a Dalit wants to come into contact with people from other castes, they will be killed. Because they represent ominous, you see. ”

"Understood. Fang Ze only felt a chill in his back when he heard Lao Dong's words.

"Speaking of caste divisions earlier, there are more than 10,000 subcastes derived from the four castes in India, and the division between these subcastes is also very mysterious, for example, my wife's surname is Kshatriya in Delhi, but in some other states it can be counted as Brahmin. Some of them are considered Kshatriya castes in Delhi and lower castes of Vaishyas in other states. ”

"So it's very difficult to judge class just by surname. In India, your caste does not represent your nobility, what really represents your nobility is your work. ”

"Work?" Fang Ze didn't understand a little.

"Yes, because the caste system was established very early, for thousands of years, various caste families in India have tried to move closer to the higher castes and strive to despise the other castes. This has been done for thousands of years, let alone us, even the Indians themselves can't figure it out. ”

But the real purpose of caste division in India is not to distinguish classes, but to distinguish jobs. For example, in India, where God is supreme, then the Brahmin is the spokesman of God, responsible for communicating with God, and the head of the family.

Kshatriya is in charge of managing family affairs and is considered the second. And the Vaishya, who is responsible for earning money to support the family, is the third child, and the housework of cleaning is done by the fourth sudra. These are all family members. And some of the dirtier jobs, such as emptying toilets and drains, have to be done by an outsider, who is a pariah, also known as an untouchable. ”

Lao Dong smoked a cigarette, his tone was relaxed, but the words he said were not easy, "Untouchable people are not counted as family members in India, so you can sometimes see that an Indian is very loving to small animals, the whole person is very loving, and he is a good person, but in the face of untouchable people, they will not treat them as a life." ”

"My company used to hire an untouchable man as a coolie, and one day he didn't come, and I didn't care, until much later his father came to tell me that he had been found dead because he had climbed over the wall of a rich man's house on the approaching road. And his father didn't try to call the police, that's the status of untouchables in India. ”

"Didn't anyone try to resist?" Fang Ze was a little dumbfounded, after all, no matter how much he knew, he only understood the caste of India in writing, and now that he was in India, he felt a little terrible to hear these words from a compatriot who had lived in India for many years.

"Don't think that the rebellion against oppression is an easy thing, our country's sentence is not to the death of many people, and there is still residual poison. And the situation in India is more complicated, I told you earlier that they have more than 10,000 derivative castes, and these castes actually represent jobs. For example, the same Shudra, in India, there are people who drive motorcycles and ride tricycles to pick up passengers. However, the two waves of people who drove motorcycles and rode tricycles were not a subcaste, they despised each other and refused to touch. If you are not a caste who drives a motorcycle, you can't drive a motorcycle, or someone else will drive you away. Because their unions are also controlled by this caste. ”

"So the most complicated situation in India is that not only do they have the contempt of the higher castes for the lower castes, but they also despise each other among the castes of the same caste, you are a farmer, you can only farm in this life, you can't weave, because you are not a weaver caste, you are a cake maker and you can't make flying cakes, everything is because of the caste. Moreover, caste will stay with you for the rest of your life, and even if you change your surname, your work will reveal where you are in society. Even if you convert to another religion, your caste remains the same, and any religion in India is subject to the caste system. They discriminate and hate each other, more than 10,000 sub-castes, religions, occupations, regions, and nationalities are entangled with each other, they don't like each other, they refuse to intermarry, and the top can only communicate in English, and the language between the lower ranks may not be able to understand each other. ”

"In this case, we can only rely on time to slowly wear away, and we can't get the same thing we used to do here, because there are no landlords here, only castes who despise each other, and we don't know who to fight when the time comes. Lao Dong said, poking the cigarette butt into the ashtray, "There is a self-deprecating Indian saying that explains all this, 'In India, no one makes the mistake of letting others have dreams.'" ’”

"Let's talk about some of the news you have about the disappearance of Lao Sha's people. Fang Ze listened to Lao Dong's words, his mood was inexplicably heavy, and he skipped the topic directly and asked about the matter.

"The people sent by Brother Sha to India this time, except for a girl, two men named Feng Zhongjie and one named Huang Sheng. I am very familiar with that Feng Zhongjie, I have been to Delhi several times, and I said that I used to be a special soldier, and my physique is really good. It's okay for one person to play five or six. ”

Lao Dong said as he took a book from the side, and then turned out a photo from the book. This is Feng Zhongjie's photo. ”

Fang Ze took a look at the photo, the man in the photo was about twenty-five years old, with an inch of hair, and the whole person looked muscular.

In other words, in fact, the three missing people did not have heard from them for so long because they encountered some ruffians and hooligans. ”

"Yes. Lao Dong nodded and said, "India's ruffians and hooligans also bully and bully women, so that they don't have the courage to rob on the road, because once they are caught, they will be killed directly." That's why the disappearance of the three people this time will be so alarming, they suddenly have no news, the phone can't get through, and they haven't explained it in advance. ”

"And later, we sent someone to track Feng Zhongjie's mobile phone signal, and found that on the day the three disappeared, the mobile phone signal also disappeared. We searched the same place and searched for someone, but we couldn't find the phone. ”

"The mobile phone card should have been unplugged. Fang Ze thought for a moment and then asked, "Then do you know where they went at the end?"

"They didn't tell me when they left, but the driver of the taxi we went out to find out was that they got off near the Delhi metro station, which is a slum. You know, the most troublesome thing about slums is that you don't know who's telling the truth and who's telling the lie. ”

"Aren't they here to buy new medicines, why are they going to the slums?" Fang Ze then asked.

"That's where I wondered. Because they also asked me to prepare a lot of ice rafts in advance, the original plan was to put them in the refrigerator and keep them warm with ice rafts after getting the medicine, and then leave Delhi directly to return to China. But they didn't bring ice rows with them when they went out, which means they didn't go to get medicine. ”

There are too many doubts.

Fang Ze leaned weakly on the chair.