Chapter 176 Hornfirth and Maria
Northern Kenya.
In the early morning, when the sun is rising, the African wilderness is silent. On the vast grassland, a dozen small stone houses stand alone. In the grassland that stretches for hundreds of miles as far as the eye can see, only these dozen or so households are particularly eye-catching.
One of the small stone houses is Hornfels's home. Hornfels' Southeast Asian wife Maria got up early and began to prepare breakfast for Hornfels.
Maria came from the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) and was sold to the East African colonies by the Dutch at a low price. The thing that was most in demand in the Dutch East Indies was people.
People in backward tropical areas are very similar. Women are much more hardworking than men. Maria is one of them. Since she was a child, her mother has been working to support the family.
Of course, Maria's father had three wives and more than a dozen children, and everyone in the family except the father had to work.
As for Maria's father, he originally had a small fortune in the local area relying on the inheritance left by his ancestors. However, by Maria's father's generation, his father did not inherit the glorious traditions of his ancestors at all. Instead, he was proficient in eating, drinking, whoring and gambling.
Soon, he squandered all his family fortune and had to rely on his three wives and a bunch of children to support himself. Even so, Maria's father did not change his bad habits and was soon blocked by his creditors because he could not pay off his gambling debts.
After a beating, Maria's father sold his three youngest daughters to pay off his debts, and Maria was one of them.
Maria was fifteen years old when she was sold by her father. She was of average appearance and had been working in the fields with her mother all year round. She had a slightly dark skin and was not tall. Due to malnutrition, she looked like a hemp straw.
Maria, who was not good-looking, was sold to the Dutch by her creditor at an extremely low price. The Dutch then sold Maria to East Africa at twice the price, making a profit by acting as a middleman.
Of course, in this era when the slave trade had ended, Maria and others could not be sold to East Africa under the banner of human trafficking. Instead, they were imported to East Africa as textile workers.
Hornfels is an Austrian in his early 20s. He came to East Africa a year and a half ago. Like many Austrian immigrants, he is a young and strong man.
After all, most of the European immigrants who came to East Africa were single men, except for those who were already married.
According to the practice of the East African colonies, the Chinese were assigned to white people and the white people were assigned to yellow people, so Hornfels married an Indonesian woman.
Of course, in addition to arranged marriages, free love also exists in East Africa, but it is only limited to immigrants who arrive in East Africa through normal immigration channels.
For example, the wishes of Paraguayan women and widows are quite respected in East Africa, and Paraguayan women have become the objects of attention for East African bachelors.
The Chinese and European immigrants are on par with each other. Basically, unmarried young Paraguayan women will choose young European men, while widows with children will generally live with Chinese people.
After the relationship is confirmed, a wedding is held and a marriage certificate is issued by the East African government.
However, there are relatively few Paraguayan women after all, and the entire Paraguayan population is only a few hundred thousand. East Africa has so far managed to get only 80,000 to 90,000 women from the local area. This is a scarce resource. Fortunately, Paraguay is strong enough and is still fighting the Triple Alliance, so East Africa can continue to poach women.
Paraguayan immigrants in East Africa are all placed in already developed areas, and there is not a single newly developed area like northern Kenya.
Therefore, Hornfels' marriage problem can only be solved by immigrants who arrive in East Africa through irregular channels.
In Mombasa, Hornfels and his competitors drew lots to choose their spouses. Of course, the East African colonies already had a mature process.
Hornfels' competitors were all Europeans, and the subjects they selected were also limited to the yellow race, while the opposite was true for Chinese immigrants.
In East Africa, there are few options for immigration, and Hornfels can only pray to God that he doesn't get one that's too ugly.
Hornfels finally got the number seven card, which was Maria. At that time, Hornfels felt pretty good about it. After all, he didn't look that good, and it would be great if he could get married in this life.
On the same day, the local government of Mombasa issued marriage certificates to the newlyweds and held a symbolic wedding ceremony. Then Hornfels took Maria home.
To date, Hornfels and Maria have lived together for more than six months, and Maria is now sixteen years old.
Hornfels lived a very comfortable life and was very satisfied with Maria. The couple lived in harmony with each other.
Hornfels was born in a village in Austria. He was a simple man. When he first arrived in East Africa, he was only eighteen years old. He had never entered society and experienced the twists and turns of life.
Because he had several older brothers in the family, he was destined to have nothing to do with the family business. It happened that East Africa was recruiting immigrants, so he went to East Africa with several friends from the same village to make a living.
Maria was also influenced by her mother's words and deeds since she was a child. She was hardworking and capable, and she kept the housework in order. These two people were simply a perfect match made in heaven.
The name Maria was given by Hornfels. At the beginning, the two of them could not communicate in the same language. Hornfels asked Maria what her name was, but Maria had no idea what Hornfels meant.
Maria didn't have any proper name. She was not liked by her father at home, who usually called her "black monkey".
Seeing that the two could not communicate, and Maria was too timid to speak at first, Hornfels took it upon himself to name her "Maria".
In the first month, Hornfels and Maria communicated mainly through body language and guessing. As the days passed, Maria gradually learned some simple German.
After half a year of getting along, Maria could already communicate normally with Hornfels in her not-so-fluent German.
Maria kneaded dough in the kitchen, baked a few simple pancakes, cooked a pot of millet porridge, and prepared some cold dishes, and a simple and rustic breakfast was ready.
"Honey, it's time to eat!"
Hornfels had already put on his clothes, washed up briefly, pulled over a stool, and sat down at the table.
"Maria, stop busying yourself and sit down to eat together!" Hornfels said to his wife who was still doing housework.
"It's okay. You still have to work later. I can't sit idle anyway. It won't delay me eating later." Maria said as she made the bed.
"As a family, we need to eat together to create atmosphere. In Europe, my family and I also sit at the same table to eat. You also said that I will go to work soon. There is so much time in the day, it won’t be too late to clean up later. Come and accompany me first." Hornfiss said to Maria.
Maria finished the work at hand and came to the dining table. Looking at Hornfels who was eating the cake in big mouthfuls, she said, "Eat slowly, don't choke."
Hornfels smiled slightly, this was the meaning of his life.
(End of this chapter)
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