Chapter 125 Official Slaves
The trained female camel looked in the direction where Sui Yu escaped, and took a few quick steps to pick up the bean pods that the camel with its baby had missed. The mad male camel ran straight to where it was.
Sui Yu ran around to the back of the camel, unzipped the leather string, and released an arrow. It had been so long since she'd shot, her aim was off, and one arrow sank into the sand dunes. She sighed, calming her pounding heart. She drew her second arrow and shot it five steps away. The wooden and iron arrows flew back and forth, and Sui Yu retrieved them. She stood there, quickly practicing her technique.
The male camel that had caught up with the female camel mounted its back, and Sui Yu quietly approached. She made a detour eastwards and came to the side and front of the two camels. She drew an iron arrow, put it on the bow, pulled the leather string, and aimed the arrow at the male camel's neck.
The sun's rays fell on the iron arrowhead, flashing a dazzling light. Sui Yu repeatedly adjusted the angle. Before releasing the leather string, she took a deep breath into her chest, held her arms firm, aimed at the target, and shot the iron arrow out.
The arrow pierced the camel's flesh and it screamed in pain, but it was unwilling to run away.
Sui Yu lowered her bow and arrow and shot it in the neck. Unless the camel had two lives, it couldn't escape. She walked away, climbed a sand dune, and stared at two camels behind another dune from afar. Their blood flowed down, dyeing the yellow sand red. They were female camels... yes, female camels!
Sui Yu watched in panic as the female camel that had given birth dragged its calf southward. She gave up guarding the male camel that was so romantic that he would die under the peony flowers and turned to chase the other two, one big and one small.
The baby camel moved slowly, and once it fell, it took a long time to get back up. No matter how fast the mother camel hurried, she could only keep her head up. Smelling the blood on the wind and hearing the movements of hunters in the distance, it watched helplessly as Sui Yu caught up with it.
The male camel that was shot by the arrow fell to the ground. Sui Yu and the female camel with her baby turned their heads to look over. Sui Yu turned around and walked forward. The female camel looked at her and suddenly stopped moving.
The little camel walked under the mother camel's belly to suck milk, and the mother camel lowered its head to lick the salt brick.
Sui Yu approached breathlessly and took out two bean cakes to bribe the sensible camel. She said, "Don't worry, I won't hurt you. You've seen other domesticated camels. They follow people and enjoy good food and drink. They're reluctant to leave."
The mother camel ate two pieces of bean cakes and stood still to feed the camel calf in her belly.
Sui Yu stood aside and waited until the camel calf, covered in yellow sand, had eaten its fill. She then took out a piece of bean cake to tempt it to eat. Every few steps, she extended her hand and said, "Do you want to eat? Follow me."
The mother camel moved her hooves and her cub followed tremblingly behind her.
Sui Yu led them back. After walking two or three meters, she broke off half a bean cake and threw it to the camels to eat. With two pieces of bean cakes, she led the two camels, one big and one small, to another sand dune.
The mother camel knelt down and lay on the ground to rest. The camel calf curled up beside her, looking at Sui Yu with its clear big eyes.
Sui Yu went to look for the water bags and dry food left by the men, and at the same time observed the four fallen male camels from a distance. Their four hooves were knotted, and the ropes on their necks were entangled with the ropes on their hooves. She couldn't figure out how the camels had bitten through the ropes and escaped.
To ensure the four camels wouldn't escape again, Sui Yu took a water bag and a broken bowl, which was used to feed camels. She poured half a bowlful of water and placed it near the mother camel. The camel got up when it heard the sound of water, walked over, drank the water, and looked at Sui Yu again.
Sui Yu poured it another half bowl, whistled to his own camel, and poured a bowl of water for the tired camel as well.
After drinking water, the two camels lay down to rest. Sui Yu climbed up a sand dune and looked into the distance. There was thick smoke in the west. It was the men driving the camel herd back.
Camels are docile most of the time. The male camels with fierce tempers have been captured. As for the other camels, we just need to cut off their retreat, intimidate them, and then give them some treats, and they will give up resistance after a while.
When the sun rose to the top of their heads, the men arrived at the foot of the sand dune where Sui Yu was standing, returning with a full load. They all looked excited, but when they smelled the strong smell of blood, the excitement on their faces slowly faded.
"What happened?" Zhao Xiping asked.
Sui Yu pointed at the dead camel lying on the ground and said, "Someone come and identify who tied this camel? It actually bit through the rope. If it weren't for my camel, I wouldn't be able to escape."
"Impossible." Wan Xingshan's first reaction was impossible. "The people I brought with me are all experienced masters. It's impossible for them to fail in tying up the camels."
"Go and see for yourself. I didn't touch anything except the camel." Sui Yu looked at the dozen people at the foot of the sand dune and said, "I'm curious who had such evil intentions that they all left in a flash, leaving me with this mad wild camel."
"Not really, not really." Lao Wan said, "We have no grudges against each other, so we wouldn't do that."
Wan Xingshan went to check in person and found that the rope that tied the camel was indeed bitten off by the camel. There was a circle of abrasions on the camel's neck, but the knot was not broken. It could only be that there was something wrong with the binding technique, which allowed the camel's neck to move.
"I didn't intend to harm anyone, but my method was questionable." Wan Xingshan admitted frankly. He pointed at the herd of camels and said, "I discussed it with Captain Zhao on the way. Besides the camel that gave birth, you get it, and he can take another one. The male camel escaped because of my arrangement. So, the camel you shot keeps it, and you can pick the other one."
The camel was dead and difficult to move, so Sui Yu didn't want it. She pointed to two young and strong wild camels in the herd and said, "I'll choose these two camels. You have more people and it will be easier to move them. The dead camel will be yours."
In this way, Sui Yu and Zhao Xiping could share five camels. Wan Xingshan felt painful, but he still gritted his teeth and agreed.
They removed the dead camel's legs, chopped off its head, and discarded its internal organs. Wan Xingshan and his men carried the camel meat and tied it to the camel's back.
Sui Yu walked over and picked up the intestines with a wooden arrow, and asked, "You don't want these anymore?"
Lao Wan waved his hands, saying that there was nothing else to put them in, so these internal organs had to be thrown away.
Sui Yu took out an old piece of clothing and put the intestines and liver in it. She handed these things to Zhao Xiping and whispered, "It's not hot yet, so it shouldn't stink when we get back to Yumen Pass. Then we can cook them in a pot and take them home to stew."
Zhao Xiping followed her wishes. When the team was about to leave, he helped her sit on the camel and praised her, "Your archery skills are quite good."
Sui Yu felt a little guilty, as his hands had become unfamiliar to him.
The baby camel that was born last night was also carried onto the camel's back. Sui Yu held her baby and the mother camel followed closely behind her.
A group of people drove the camels in front. After they walked away, the rest of the people untied the ropes that tied the hooves, put both ropes around the necks of the male camels, and each person held a rope, pulling the four camels south.
The sun sets and it gets dark, but the people on the road do not stop, driving their camels to continue their night journey.
After a night of no rest, at dawn, Lao Wan took out some of the salt bricks and bean cakes he brought to feed the camels, and gave them a bag of water. Each camel took two or three licks, so that they could continue on their journey in a state of neither full nor hungry.
The baby camel landed on the ground to drink milk, and Sui Yu dozed off on the hump.
On the road again, Sui Yu held the baby camel and led the mother camel that had just given birth, taking a nap from time to time. Zhao Xiping rode the camel beside her and kept an eye on her to prevent her from falling.
Lao Wan and Wan Xingshan muttered for a while, then they both pulled the reins and slowed down. When Zhao Xiping's camel caught up, Lao Wan scratched his head and whispered, "Captain Zhao, I'm sorry."
Although he didn't explain anything, the three of them knew what he was apologizing for. Zhao Xiping kept a straight face and said nothing.
"I will control them well in the future. They are a group of people who deal with livestock. They are a bunch of scum. Captain Zhao, don't bother with them." Wan Xingshan said.
"I know these people. Don't show up in Sui Yu's shop anymore." Zhao Xiping said, "Uncle Wan, thank you for your help. If you can't control yourself, I'll find someone to help."
Wan Xingshan nodded and bowed to apologize.
Sui Yu heard it, but she didn't open her eyes. After the Wan family uncle and nephew left, she pretended to doze off again. She'd known on her way to exile that some men were worse than animals, and arriving at the brothel reinforced this realization. She was lucky to have Zhao Xiping's good character, but not everyone was like him. With that smile on her face, she was mentally prepared when she set up shop on the street.
Sui Hu protected her before, and Zhao Xiping protected her now. Sui Yu secretly breathed a sigh of relief, feeling a little bitter and warm in her heart.
After another day and night of trekking through the desert, the men and the camels were tired. They kept on traveling half-starved, feeding them a little when they were about to go crazy with hunger. Their resistance was repeatedly suppressed, and the wild camels gradually got used to it.
When they reached a trickle of water running through the desert, both the people and the camels rushed down to drink. After they had drunk their fill, they filled their water bags. Some of them went to watch the camel herd for food.
Sui Yu went to the ditch to wash the camel intestines. A little camel came to her and lay down. The little camel stayed in her arms for a day and two nights and was very dependent on her.
"Captain Zhao, we are about to leave. Do you want to come with us or rest for a while?" Lao Wan came over and asked.
Zhao Xiping stood up to pick up the camels and said, "You go ahead, we'll rest for a while."
"Okay." This was Lao Wan's purpose. Since they were not happy with each other, it would be better for them to go their separate ways.
After driving out three young and strong female camels from the camel herd, Wan Xingshan and his group drove the remaining camels ahead.
The three camels wheezed in the direction the herd had left. Zhao Xiping took out a handful of bean pods to feed them and said to Sui Yu, "It's time for us to leave too."
Sui Yu agreed. She soaked the blood-stained clothes in water and rubbed them twice, then picked up the liver and intestines and continued on her way.
The little camel was lying on the big camel's back. Its mother might have gotten used to it and no longer stared at it. The mother camel with her baby was walking with the other three camels.
After a day's journey, the walls of Yumen Pass appeared before their eyes. There were scattered villages outside the city. Sui Yu and Zhao Xiping went there to ask for the night. They also bought two bundles of bean stalks and a pot of radish for the six big camels. This was the first time that the four wild camels had eaten so well.
When they left the next day, Zhao Xiping bought another bag of radishes from the old farmer. With the bag of radishes hanging on them, the four wild camels no longer had any resistance and followed the two men obediently all the way back to Dunhuang.
When they left Dunhuang, the Lantern Festival had not yet passed, and by the time they returned, it was already the end of February. The city was bustling with activity, with merchants and travelers constantly hawking their wares. On their way home with their camels, Sui Yu and Zhao Xiping were stopped by a caravan trying to buy the camels they had brought back. Sui Yu refused without hesitation.
When Zhao Xiping got home, he found the door was bolted from the inside. He knocked and called out, "Xiaomi, come open the door."
The door opened, but the person who opened it was a stranger. Zhao Xiping quickly took a few steps back. He looked around and saw that it was his home.
"Whose house is this?" Sui Yu asked.
The woman who opened the door mumbled, "This is Captain Zhao's household. May I ask if you are the master and his wife?"
Zhao Xiping and Sui Yu looked at each other and chose to go in first. After entering, they found that there were three more servants in the house, a mother-in-law and her two sons.
"Captain Qu sent someone to bring us here. The three of us, mother and son, are government slaves. We were working on the ranch, and we begged the Captain and his wife to let us stay at home and serve them." Old Lady Yin explained, pointing to her two sons. "When spring comes, they can help the Captain tend the crops, and I, too, can work in the fields."
Sui Yu suddenly had an idea and asked, "Can we buy and sell slaves? Official slaves and private slaves?"
Mrs. Yin nodded and explained, "The indentures of official slaves are with the government, while the indentures of private slaves belong to their masters."
Sui Yu was delighted. If she planned to form a women's merchant caravan, she could buy female slaves, killing two birds with one stone.
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