It was March when the children from the farm were dropped. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

The first festival in March is the Waiko Festival, when there are more bathing figures in the river and more seductive songs on the riverbank.

Several boats stubbornly broke the waves upwards in the river against the current, and the boats were very full.

The children of the nobles and the black-clothed guards to be trained in various cities were not crowded on such ships, and they would stay in Sucheng for a while before heading to Yucheng.

On board is a special batch of "cargo", alive, talking "cargo".

In addition to these talking goods, there were also some very novel things, the envoys sent by the settlement tribes on the south bank of the Great River came to Sucheng and exchanged gifts, and Su Yue gave some to Chen Jian, and also came with the ship.

Some rice, some bamboo, a few crocodile skins, a bundle of ivory, and a few snow-white cloths that the people of Awacheng had never seen before.

The talking goods were a batch of female slaves, which Jian Chen had ordered a long time ago, but there were more than the number he had ordered.

Some more Su Yue wanted to exchange for some iron farm tools, as well as a large number of iron arrowheads and leather armor, and asked the messenger to send a message to Chen Jian, he might go on the expedition soon, but there was no need for Xia Cheng to go on the expedition, as long as Ji Xia trained those soldiers well, he kept the oath.

In other words, the glory, slaves, and spoils of war from this expedition had nothing to do with Xia Cheng, and it seemed that he didn't want Jian Chen to take the lead and do something to fight for fame and fame.

There was something very special in the cargo on the ship, they were better dressed than the other slave girls, and they looked more beautiful, but they were still slaves, but they were not their hands as tools, but something else.

Sitting at the bow of the boat in this group were a pair of siblings, and it was difficult for others to tell who was the older sister and who was the younger sister. My sister is called Lotus, my sister is called Lotus, and the lotus root is one, even if the sisters are separated, the lotus has white fingers like the lotus, and the lotus root also has a delicate face like a lotus.

They were playthings, very high-level playthings, and they were also playthings for the leaders of Xia City. Their mothers were buried at an early age because they were beautiful and slaves.

For them, there is no difference between the original city and the city they will go to, and there is no difference between the original owner and the future master.

But the journey between the past and the future was different, it was the first time they had been on a boat, and it was a boat against the current.

My sister couldn't help but open her throat and sing a few times, but it was rare that the detainees didn't accuse them of such an unconventional behavior.

After singing for a while, my sister noticed that there was a little less soft harmony in her thin voice, only to find that my sister was looking at the river in a daze, not knowing what she was thinking.

"Sister, have you heard of where we're going? Will our new master be fierce? ”

Lotus shook her head, but nodded again, when she was a plaything, she had naturally heard people talk about the strange city and the strange leader there, and the iron pot that the owner liked very much was given by the leader of that city. She had never seen the original owner so happy, so much so that she feasted many people, just for the black iron pot.

It's just that for the leader of that city, their new owner, she has heard a lot of strange remarks, and she can't help but be a little frightened. For example, he likes to kill, for example, he is as cunning as a fox, or he is a madman...... And it seems that there are no children.

It's terrible, because there is a possibility that no child can not do that kind of thing at all, and the person who can't do that kind of thing is often very strange in her heart, she has been beaten, bitten, and pierced by thorns, just because there was once a master who couldn't do that kind of thing, but liked to listen to the voice of a woman with a little fear after being conquered.

With all kinds of uneasy speculations, her mood is not as completely surrendered to fate as her sister is, but she is full of worries about the future.

She had tried to kill her master when she was most tormented, but in the end she still didn't dare, so many years ago, when some cities panicked because of a riot, she envied those who took the lead in fleeing.

In other words, many years ago, Onozawa was the destination of her dreams, and now it is also Onozawa, but it is just the reincarnation of the past.

"Perhaps...... Those people have been thrown into the lake, haven't they? That's why the fish here are so fat. ”

With such speculation, Lotus finally came to Onozawa and saw the smoking workshop, but also the strange and busy people.

Many people bear the marks of slaves on their faces or arms, but here they hold their heads high, as if they were walking in a field where there are no people.

"I smell people."

Lotus said something for no reason, but Lian retorted puzzledly: "I smell the smell of smoke." It smells terrible. ”

Lotus smiled, someone must have smoke, and if there are weird people, there will naturally be weird smoke.

Before they had time to linger on the shore, they were taken to a room in the middle of the city, a beautiful red house made of strange things of unknown stone, square, and a few words written in front of the house, which made them panic, it was a word, they had heard of strange things they had never seen before, and it seemed to have a certain divinity, and it looked like something but could not be spoken.

After entering the house, the lotus roots kept their heads down, and there were many words in their ears that they understood or did not understand, and occasionally they raised their heads when they heard their own names, wanting to see their future masters.

It's a man.

He was a normal-looking man, not very old, with a very good-looking but somewhat sparse beard because of his age, and many people next to the man, and a very good-looking woman, also with her head held high just like the others she saw in the city.

However, neither the man nor the woman did not even look at them, but stared at the cloth and bamboo vessels sent by the distant tribes on the south bank of the river, and kept asking the messengers of the southern tribes who followed them with some strange questions.

For example, is the white snow-like flower of the weaving cloth on the tree or a kind of grass? For example, can the bamboo be transported here? For example, is rice grown in water or in dry land? How big is that weird, crusty fish? Those animals with big white teeth were domesticated and there was no such thing.

These strange questions made the messenger of the southern tribe stunned for a while, and even a little frightened, because the lotus found that the messenger made a very strange gesture, as if in amazement or admiration, and after answering a question, he saw their new master excitedly circling the ground like a child, and listened to him say things like "It's really different".

She heard only one man translate into the language of the great rivers: it was a kind of grass, and there were trees, but trees were not as good as grass.

After that, they were taken down, and the last conversation they heard before leaving was not about themselves as white as lotus roots, but about the white cloths.

After that, they were like forgotten, locked up in a large compound, and several women came to teach them some very simple things, such as going to the toilet to relieve their hands, and so on, and then another woman took off their clothes and checked their bodies, and gave them a bar of soap for them to wash their bodies, and soaked their clothes in hot water to boil......

For four or five days in a row, they were explained the rules here, but they had to eat and drink every day and they didn't have to work, but they had to listen to the women talk about a lot of things every day, and they had to remember.

On the sixth day, they finally walked out of the courtyard and walked cautiously in the streets, and today they were free to look around, and many of them were a little cowering, some afraid to speak, and some were afraid to look around.

However, at noon curiosity finally overcame timidity, and several women went to the place where everyone was eating to watch, which also attracted the attention of many people, whose eyes were somewhat like wolves, like hungry wolves.

The frightened voice of a slave girl who had come with her was suppressed in her ears, and she heard the man say something......

"That's Ze...... He's alive? I know him......"

Sometimes just one name is enough to shock someone, like this one. This is the name that the owner of the lotus root thought was terrible many years ago, and it is also the name of Onozawa that many slaves fantasize, but to the surprise of the lotus, this person is now a slave in this city.

Slaves, of course, because he still had burn marks on his neck, and their food was much worse than in another place not far away, and they were poorly dressed, and their faces were dark.

Lotus didn't have much guts, so she didn't dare to kill her master when she was most tormented. However, her courage is not small, at least when she is not killing people, so when those people left in a hurry after eating, she came to the person and asked, "Are you Ze?" That one...... That ......"

The person being questioned nodded indifferently and helped her finish her sentence: "The slave who killed the master and escaped." ”

Lotus swallowed her saliva, she is not the master, so she naturally doesn't have to be afraid, but these words made her feel more terrifying than killing: Ze of Onozawa, which she had fantasized about but didn't dare to go to, is now a slave here? It's like something that you once couldn't reach but always wanted, but when you get it, you find that it's not what you think it is.

"You...... Why are you a slave here? ”

"I'm not a slave, I'm a human."

After saying that, he smiled at the lotus root and left, Lian quietly followed behind her sister, patted her chest and said, "Is that the legendary Ze who likes to grind children into meat and eat them?" ”

Lotus was stunned for a long time, and after recalling the last sentence that was loud but seemed to be plain, I am three people, nodded definitely: "It's him." ”

For a whole afternoon, the three words "I am human" echoed in her mind, and just when she decided to forget these three words that were out of reach for herself, the door of the Yucheng Government Hall, which had been closed, was opened, and many Xia Cheng people wearing furs came out of it, as if they were still discussing something, and many people's expressions did not look very happy.

Vaguely heard a few words. Slaves, people, public property, future, private property workshops, hired laborers, and so on. Then, in the evening, an earth-shattering rule was sung in Onozawa: "Whoever enters the summer city within ten miles of Onozawa will no longer be a slave, but a human being." ”

This rule was written on the clay tablets, and the new slave girls were numb, while those who had killed their masters and fled to Onozawa let out a earth-shattering cry, and although they were already human, this was the first time that they had been written on the clay tablets.

But this group of female slaves who have long been accustomed to everything don't know the difference, all they think about is that they have to eat as human beings, what will they eat tomorrow? Without a master, who will feed us?

Their fears, however, did not last long, as a new decree was issued early the next morning.

The rule, called the Decree of Charity, stipulated that no one in the city of Yucheng who had more than one amount of property and land—an amount that seemed unattainable to these slaves—would be forced to work for the goodness of the people of Xiacheng in order to prevent death from starvation, if he did not work for a month. That's why it's called the Charity Act.

However, there is another sentence at the end of the decree: if you do not accept the assigned labor, you will be sent directly to a distant place to mine; Anyone who vainly tries to live in the land of Xia Cheng must come to Xia Cheng for the record, and must not reclaim the surrounding land without permission, otherwise it will be regarded as stealing the public property of Xia Cheng and will be hanged.

Mining is a smell for these slaves, the mining area is a place of bones, and there are no children who can survive more than twenty in the mining area, so the good charity decree always carries a smell of blood.

Lotus root and lotus were also assigned to a place called the Dyeing and Spinning Division the next day, they were responsible for cleaning wool, peeling hemp skin, etc., as playthings raised they thought that lotus root and white lotus were their value, but they didn't expect that they didn't use these, they used their own hands.

He had to work for more than eight hours a day, and in addition to not being able to kill people at will, he was sometimes even more tired than when he was a slave.

After only ten days, the female slaves who were raised as playthings were a little resentful, complaining that it was better to be plaything slaves than to do so, at least it was very light, and when the master was lucky, he would reward some good food.

Here, for about eight hours a day, the money earned each day can only buy enough food for today's survival, and you will not go hungry, but you will never eat good things, especially if there is a comparison.

The lotus root's hands are no longer the white and tender appearance of the original after being soaked in alkaline water, but instead there are cracks under the spring wind, and my sister Lian is always muttering that this is not as good as when she was a slave girl.

Lotus sometimes wonders, but when asked about those who fled here and are no longer slaves, how do they persist and smile every day.

The answer was simple: "Because we are human now." ”

A short sentence touched Lotus Root's heart, just as the man told her a few days ago with his head held high that he was not a slave but a human. Then these people told her the story of the struggle, and told her about their past as a person and the leader to negotiate terms, and listened to it with great fascination.

Yes, people are qualified to negotiate terms with people.

She tried to persuade her sister not to complain so much, but just as she was about to talk to her, the leader of the town led people to the place where the slave girls lived.

"When I heard that many of you complained that life here was worse than being a slave, I would like to say that I gave you the status of a human being, and if you don't want to be a human being, then it proves that you are not qualified to be a human being."

"Many of you used to be the playthings of your masters, pleasing men with your bodies. In this case, you can choose to be such a plaything again, just lie down and stretch your legs out to earn Taobei, and exchange your body for your life. In addition to five days off a month, you have to take one more day off every ten years, and you definitely eat better than here, but you are nominally human, but you have become a plaything, an accessory that can only be used to please men, like clay pots, cats and dogs. ”

"On the one hand, there is the identity of a human being, and on the other hand, there is a better life than you have now, and I hope you will make your own choice."

Soon, a few female playthings who had long been fed up with this kind of high-intensity labor stood up, looking at the female workshop workers next to them with incredible expressions, but their faces were not red, and there were not too many sexual taboos or morals at this time.

The workshop workers were amazed at why these women would be willing to give up their human identities to make an object.

After hesitating for a moment, Lian also stood up, and her sister tried to hold her but she broke away.

"Is there any difference between what we eat with our bodies and what we eat with our hands? What's the difference between asking for our strength and asking for our bodies? ”

Faced with such a question, the leader of the city spread his hands and said, "The difference is that your hands can feed yourself. And your body, you can only let others feed you. Without others, you can still live with your hands; Without others, you can't live on your body. Xia Cheng doesn't want to be a human being. ”

Lian tilted her head and chuckled, "Just for a simple person? What is the difference between being a cat and a dog? ”

"But you can survive if you work here."

Lotus couldn't help but shout loudly, but her sister shrugged her shoulders and said, "Tired." I don't think there's a difference between strength and body. It's all the same at the end of the day. If a dog can eat enough every day without working, I would like to be a dog, anything. You are human beings, yes, people are nobler than dogs...... Ha, but you work eight hours a day, and you eat only enough food every day, are you really worthy of the lackeys and falcons raised by the chiefs? Just for the sake of a herringbone, is it worth it? ”

She thought it would be silence, but all she got was a retort from the fugitives who had fled to Onozawa at the risk of being killed.

"It's worth it!"

Lian snorted and stopped talking, Lotus wanted to hold her sister, but in the end she was stopped by someone, only saying that it was a person's own choice.

Two days later, there were 600 female slaves in the entire Yucheng who were "voluntarily" made into that kind of plaything, and at this time there were no sexual taboos and morals, for them, everything they originally owned was the master's, and they could be played with at will, but now it was just a change of master.

There are a lot of people, but there are more than 2,400 slave girls who want to be people, which is the most valuable treasure, at least they still have a trace of the spirit to stand up.

More than 600 people understood what they were going to do, and the other party also fulfilled his promise, eating much better than when he was working, and he could take a bath in a special place every day, put on relatively clean clothes, and did not need to exert himself.

Even if you want to do the same thing, you naturally have to divide the ranks, and it is clear that these people are playthings nowadays, so they should be separated according to their appearance, size, and so on, just like choosing a calf, because there is no need for the hands and the mind, which are the only two animals that distinguish them.

Lian's appearance is very good, as a gift is a high-level slave, can sing and have a soft body, so it is said that the rest of the ones have been sent to the mine in batches, and some have opened a shop in the city in the form of an official camp, as long as you spend Taobei to use this talking tool.

One morning, Lian and the dozen or so people were called together, and they were given a very beneficial, and a pair of strange shoes, the wooden roots of the shoes were very high, and they were very tiring to wear, but they unnaturally kept their bodies straight to prevent them from falling.

They had seen this kind of shoe, and some of the women in the city who seemed to be of high status seemed to wear them, and they looked good.

Lian saw the leader of the city again, and when she came, she only said a few words and left.

"Since you have chosen to be a tool, you have to do it well. Dogs need to be able to hunt, sheep need to be able to produce milk, and so are you, all for the pleasure of those who want to use you. ”

"The shoes are sent to you, you have beautiful faces, and you can sell them for a higher price at a time. Why do you have to wear these shoes? Why do some women in the city wear such shoes? What's the difference between you? ”

"The women in the city who wear these shoes, they can count and plan, they can support themselves without their legs, they wear them for themselves, just because they look good."

"You are forced to wear it, you have to wear it. Because wearing this, your legs and hips are constantly being forced, which can not only look good, but also make your underside tighten more and more, and no one wants to use you to feel as loose as the waistband of your pants. You're going to be used a lot of times in the future, and the only value is that it's very tight, so you're wearing these shoes to be a better tool like this, and that's the difference. ”

"Someone suggested that it would be better to wrap all your feet around the broken bones, and you wouldn't do it with your feet anyway, and it would have the same effect, and you wouldn't be afraid that you wouldn't wear them. But I'm afraid that one day in the future, when all women are reduced to tools, it is better to get these shoes in advance to save them from pondering and entanglement. I also hope that one day when women are forced to bind their feet or wear this kind of shoes, they think of what happened today - pestering themselves to wear them is their own choice, and being forced to wear them by others is the same as you, becoming just a tool that can vent and have children, and there will always be people who don't want to. Do well, and make the people of the city think you are despicable. ”

After saying these rather vicious words, he left, leaving a few women, asking them when they were menstruating, and telling them which days they could do what they could do and which days it was best not to do it, and then several women taught Lian and the others to sing a very tempting ballad of the Pregnancy Festival, or some unheard of means that made people blush.

While Lian was learning to sing those blushing tunes in the wooden shoes on the boat, the elder sister's lotus was sewing the shoes with wooden heels in the Dyeing and Spinning Division, and she didn't know that the pair she sewed might be for her sister to wear.

The leader of the city also came to the lotus root and said a very simple word to the new female workers.

"You choose to be human beings, so there is no one to feed you, you have to support yourself. Survive. ”

It was also from this day that the sisters' lives and memories many years later became different, each with their own lives, and it was difficult to recall the moments they experienced in those days.

After that, a long time had passed since the two of them met again, and it was the summer of the thirty-fifth year of the Chinese calendar, and a full year and two months had passed since the last time they met.

At that time, a major event happened in Yucheng, which changed many things and changed the fate of many people.

The two sisters stood together in a rare place, recalling together the scene when they came to Yucheng a year ago. My sister is as beautiful as a year ago, but my sister is a little tired. But the delicate face was a little numb, while the tired face was full of joy.

"Sister, take off your shoes."

"It's useless, the shoes on your feet are off, what about the shoes in your heart?"

"Yes, you can, now that you have the opportunity, there are many things you can do."

"Sister, a year ago our path was destined to be the same. You can endure those hardships in order to be human. What about me? Now I also want to be a person, but it's hypocrisy after eating and wearing. For you, being human is salt. For me, being a human being is sugar, and it is a concoction after getting tired of salt. ”

She looked at her still white hand, took her sister's somewhat rough hand, looked at it with a comparison, and sighed: "Sister, I want to be a person, but I don't want to work." Do you have such a solution? ”

Lotus shook her head, Lian seemed to have known this answer for a long time, clenched her sister's hand, smiled gloomily, and left with her hand: "My heart is rotten, and I can't be saved." Help me keep my rotten heart alive. (To be continued.) )