Similar to the Great Xia Kingdom, the prisoners exiled here mostly did some coal digging and mining work, while the women and children were more relaxed, mostly weaving cloth and drying linen.

It was especially cold here in the coal mining area, and An An couldn't help but wrap her jacket tightly. William couldn't help laughing at her: "I told you not to come, now I regret it!" ”

An An covered his frozen red little nose with his hand, and resolutely shook his head and refused to admit it:

"Uncle William, go get busy! We walked around the neighborhood. ”

It would be nice if the two of them could follow them to the mine, and William would not have been able to take them down to the bottom of the mine.

William nodded, leaving a few of them staring at the two of them,

Only when I came here did I know that William was the current lord of Maya City, which was equivalent to the county order of Great Xia.

An An and the two walked around for a while, there was really nothing fun here, the trees were bare, and the soil on the ground was frozen like hard lumps. An An asked a messenger who followed him:

"Uncle, is there anything interesting here?"

She said very slowly, Yacha barely understood, seeing that the city lord attached great importance to these two children, he thought for a while and said: "This is the outer city, there is no fun place." ”

After thinking about it, he hesitated: "If Miss wants to find a partner, you can go to the female prisoner opposite." ”

An An didn't have much to go anyway, so he let a few people lead the way.

Not far from here, the women's prison was serving their sentences, and there were rows of open houses, in which shackled women were either stepping on looms, dyeing cloth, and some half-grown children, sitting on the sidelines with silk threads.

Most of them looked numb, and only a few of them looked out the window with some longing in their eyes.

Although An An felt embarrassed, she didn't sympathize with them, just like the little girl who was dragged by her mother and staggered before, An An saw that she was pitiful, so she gave her the bread that she couldn't finish eating. After two consecutive times, An An ran out of bread that time. The girl looked at her with a blank eye, and saw that she really didn't give it, but when she turned around, she showed resentful eyes.

All kinds of things along the way, An An gradually understood some truths, the world is not black and white, in the past, she was like a delicate flower growing in a precious pot, although she occasionally moved out to bask in the sun, all she could see was the pavilion and water pavilion of King Su's mansion.

The two children wandered around the house, which was slightly warmer than the mining area, and there was nothing to walk around, and there was not even a single weed to be found on the bare ground.

An An walked to the far corner of this row of houses, and was about to go back, when he heard a whine, and a thin black dog passed in front of him.

An An's eyes lit up, there are still puppies in this place?

She crouched down and beckoned to the dog. This little dog is not afraid of people, stopped and looked at her lazily, and then turned his head back without any energy,

An An took it out of a small pocket, the clothes here are different from Daxia, there are big pockets sewn on the clothes that can hold things, and a bunch of miscellaneous things are packed with a lot, but I don't bring anything to eat.

Jing Qi was helpless, and took out an oiled paper bag from her pocket, which contained some beef jerky. There is also beef jerky in the Great Moon Country, but the method is different from that of Great Xia.

An An took a few pieces and gently placed them on the ground. The thin black dog was really attracted, searched and ran over, sniffed with its nose, it looked hungry, but it endured not eating,

An An raised a small brow: "Hey, this dog is quite alert!"

Eat! I didn't poison it! ”

To prove it, she also took a slice of beef jerky and stuffed it into her mouth.

Seeing the thin dog pick up the beef jerky on the ground and run forward, the two children looked at each other, Jing Qi guessed:

"Maybe bring it back to its children!"

He has seen some poor adults get any good things, and they will keep them quietly and bring them home to their children to eat.

An An was curious: "Let's go, let's go over and have a look." ”

Although the two children had short legs, they were not slow to run, and they followed the thin dog all the way around and came to the door of a dilapidated house, followed closely by several yacha.

An An stared at the direction of the broken house: "Hey, it turned out that it wasn't for the baby dog!" ”

I saw a dilapidated house...... Or it can't be called a house, it's built with some bricks and dirt, and it doesn't even have a door, barely sheltered from the wind. There was an old man with gray hair sitting at the door,

It is not an exaggeration to describe the old man as skinny, his hair is messy and covers his eyes, and he can't see his expression, but he thinks it's similar to those female prisoners.

The thin dog ran up to the old man, whined a few times, and put the jerky in his mouth into the old man's hand.

The old man raised his head and reached out to touch the skinny dog's head, the chains on his wrists clanging with his movements.

Although the old man in front of him may be a heinous person, An An still feels sad and desolate when he looks at this scene.

Jing Qi asked the following yacha: "What did he do, how could he be left here alone?" ”

It stands to reason that this is the location of the female prisoner, and even if the old man in front of him is too old to dig a mine, he probably won't live here.

The yacha obviously knew this man, "He didn't do anything, and we don't know the specifics, anyway, according to the people here, it's been here for a decade or two!" He has been chained to the house.

Two years ago, the former lord of the city was arrested because of party affiliation, and Lord William was transferred to investigate and count all the prisoners here, but did not find any information about this person. The former city lord is not a good person, and we privately deduce that this person has offended the former city lord in the past and was taken hostage for personal revenge. ”

Hearing this, the two children also felt that this old man was quite pitiful, and An An asked in a low voice: "Then why hasn't he left yet!" ”

Yacha sighed: "I guess I don't have a home!"

When Lord William saw that he was pitiful, he went to the best doctor in the city to examine him, but the doctor said that he was terminally ill and would not live for three years. ”

"That's it...... "Then this old man is too pitiful!"

An An walked in unconsciously, they were so noisy, the old man sitting in front of the house didn't know whether he couldn't hear it with his ears, or he didn't care if he heard it, and he never raised his head.

An An opened the bag of jerky and called out softly in Dayue, "Old man". The old man still didn't look up,

The yacha explained that he was poisoned and his voice was dumb, and he may not be able to hear it in his ears!

An An beckoned to the skinny dog, "Come, eat, these jerky are all for you!" ”

The thin dog looked at the old man, hesitated for a moment, and finally did not resist the temptation of the food, and took a small bite.

An An squatted down and happily fed the skinny dog: "That's right, I'll bring you some bones next time." ”

Jing Qi observed the old man curiously on the side, although the other party was almost thin and out of shape, his back did not bend down.

Jing Qi thought, this should be a very backbone person.

He looked at the iron chain in the old man's hand again, and only then did he notice that the iron chain had grown into the flesh because of too much time.

He couldn't help but shrink his shoulders, how much did this hurt?

After eating a bag of jerky, the two of them should also leave, An An touched the thin dog's head: "Okay, goodbye!" ”

The drooping old man finally saw the appearance of the little girl clearly, and after a while, he didn't move his stiff fingers until the group walked away.

What a beautiful little girl!

……

Until they walked out of the distance, the two children were still a little depressed in their hearts, but what they saw and heard along the way, the two also understood that there were many similar poor people in this world, and they could only give a little help when they happened to meet.

Passing by the house where the female prisoners were again, An An hesitated for a moment, pulled Jingqi swaggered in and walked around, she bypassed the adult female workers who stepped on the loom, and came to the area where the girls were.

A girl couldn't help but look at the two of them curiously, and when she saw the yacha who came in, she subconsciously shrank her neck.

An An didn't disturb them, just sat aside and watched curiously. I saw the girls skillfully parting the threads, and the silk threads were as thin as the hair.

She suddenly had a flash of inspiration and asked the nearest little girl, "Do you have any thicker threads?" ”

She even said and gestured, but the girl lowered her head and didn't dare to speak, An An was a little deflated.

A bold girl cautiously spoke: "Yes, this cotton thread." ”

After that, she grabbed a handful of white silk threads and handed them to her, An An sorted out the threads one by one, cut them to the right length with scissors, and braided the simplest bow tie, which was the only female red she could handle.

I still pestered my mother to decorate her rag doll and deliberately learned it, but she only knew a few simple techniques.

Jing Qi, who was squatting aside and counting ants boringly, glanced at her, the two often played together, and they knew what this girl was thinking with one look.

"Do you want to go out and sell it?"

"Well, can't you?"

Jing Qi didn't have any opinions, anyway, the two of them couldn't find anything to do in a short time. He mainly wanted to know more people, so that he could inquire about the way to Lausanne City, or see if there were any merchant ships passing through to Great Xia, and they could not all point to the letter that was sent.

Seeing that the two children were busy playing with silk threads, the following yacha also breathed a sigh of relief, and sat on the side and took a leisurely nap.

An An tossed for a long time, and finally made up a good-looking concentric knot. The girls who were splitting the line secretly looked at her from time to time, and when they saw the concentric knots formed, they couldn't help but exclaim quietly.

An An was not satisfied: "If you can dye the thread red, and decorate it with some jade beads to look good." ”

Jing Qi was speechless: "We want to have jade beads, and we still need to go out and sell things?" But there should be a place to dye the cloth here. ”

An An asked these girls, and when she learned that there was indeed a place to dye the cloth, she finally smiled with satisfaction.

The girl who spoke just now stared at the concentric knot in her hand and asked tentatively, "Miss, can you teach us how to make it?" ”

"Okay!"

Anyway, these people won't leave here, and it won't affect her business.

No matter what country you are in, girls are always attracted to beautiful things. They chose one of the most skillful girls to come out and teach them when they had learned to rest. Others continued to work.

There were those few errands, and the stewards also turned a blind eye.

Time always flies quickly when doing things seriously, and a short time passes in the morning.

By the time William came over after finishing his business, An An had already made up dozens of lines.

Jing Qi picked it up curiously and looked at it, and couldn't help but admire: "You girls in Daxia are so skillful!" ”

An An nodded proudly: "That's!" ”

"But this kind of thing seems to be sold in Lausanne City, but the one is more delicate and beautiful, and only noble ladies can afford it."

When An An heard this, she immediately understood that her aunt must have made it happen, and the little girl was more confident in her money-making business.

She looked up at William and smiled flatteringly: "Uncle William, can you help people dye the thread red!" ”

"Yes! There should be one over there, I'll have someone get it for you. ”

An An's identity is not ordinary, so his requirements, as long as they are not too much, William will meet them, and some silk threads are just some small things, not even trivial things like sesame seeds.

An An naturally doesn't understand these bends, these silk threads are all public, and when she earns money, she naturally has to pay them back.

William looked at the location of the dye shop, hesitated for a moment, and said a little uncomfortably:

"I'm going to go to the dyeing mill, if you don't mind, let's go together?"

An An's mind was full of her business experience, and she didn't pay much attention to the strange appearance of William's face, and followed him to the dyeing workshop behind with Jingqi.

In the empty and spacious open yard, rows of colorful cloths are hung, and the powerful visual impact makes people dazzled.

An An stared at the hanging cloths, in her original cognition, the colors were red, orange, red, yellow, and green, at most there was a mixture of shades and shades.

But in the big dyeing workshop in front of me, there are twenty or thirty kinds of red alone. Even looking at the most ordinary white, there are more than a dozen kinds.

She was like a curious baby, walking back and forth in the huge dye shop with her little short legs, which caused the female prisoners to look curiously frequently.

Jing Qi tugged at her sleeve and pointed in a certain direction: "That's Uncle William." ”

An An followed his line of sight and saw the burly and tall William standing silently in the corner at the moment, staring at a female prisoner who was dyeing cloth.

The female prisoner was not particularly beautiful, but she gave people a very comfortable feeling.

The female prisoner skillfully shook the cloth, occasionally looking up at William, obviously the two were separated by a long distance. Obviously, one is wearing a majestic official uniform, and the other is wearing heavy shackles, but when the two look at each other, they seem to be separated into two worlds, and the world is a sweet happiness that others can't break.

Looking at this scene, for some reason, An An's eyes were inexplicably a little sour, because her father and mother were ...... That's the way it is!

Whining...... She misses her father!

……

When leaving, the steward respectfully took a pile of red threads, William handed them to An An, An An hugged the red thread, and finally passed the feeling of homesickness, and thanked the steward and promised:

"Thank you, auntie, when I make money, I'll return the thread."

The steward hurriedly waved his hand: "I can't help it, Miss wants to use it to get it!" "This stuff is piled up all over the warehouse, and this bundle is not even a dime.

On the way back, An An couldn't help but ask William curiously: "Uncle William, tell us your story!" ”

William knew what she was asking, and coughed lightly with some embarrassment: "Adults don't understand children when they talk about it!" ”

An An pouted, as a little rebellious bear child, he couldn't stand to hear words like "Don't ask about adults and children".

Hum! Uncle William is blushing? What is there she doesn't understand? She grew up seeing the big good!

But she's not the one who can hold back her curiosity.

After half a cup of tea, under her soft grinding and hard brewing, Uncle Yacha, who followed William, told everything he knew.

……

(End of chapter)