Chapter 178 Slaves Seek Their Master
On the way back to the guesthouse, Zhao Xiping met Captain Hu. One was walking in front and the other was walking behind. Zhao Xiping didn't want to walk with him and deliberately slowed down his pace. Unexpectedly, Captain Hu suddenly turned around.
"Captain Zhao?" Captain Hu stopped.
Zhao Xiping had no choice but to quicken his pace to greet him.
There were people weeding in the fields beside the road. They found it strange that the two adults were walking together without talking.
Captain Hu raised his eyelids, glanced at him, and asked in a long tone, "Captain Zhao, are you still blaming me?"
Zhao Xiping was surprised. He asked in confusion, "What do you mean?"
Captain Hu choked. He looked at Zhao Xiping meaningfully, then chuckled.
Zhao Xiping also laughed.
"How is the house built by my brother-in-law?" Captain Hu simply skipped over the previous words and did not mention it anymore.
"I don't know the details, I haven't been there." Zhao Xiping took a deep breath, looked into the distance, and put on an expression as if he didn't want to pay attention.
Captain Hu stopped talking when he saw this. He had a sour face and the more he thought about it, the angrier he got. He felt that Zhao Xiping was being tactless. Then he saw Zhao Xiping walking calmly by the side, and he felt even more that his impulsive trip today was a wrong decision.
"Forget it." Captain Hu suddenly stopped. "Walking is too tiring. Let the Japanese officer come over on horseback instead."
"The inn is indeed quite far from the city," Zhao Xiping agreed. "Then why don't you go back?"
"Yeah." Captain Hu waved his sleeves, turned around, and went back the way he came.
Zhao Xiping watched for a while, showing his full respect, and waited until the distance between them widened before he continued walking back.
When he returned to the guesthouse, it was already noon. Zhao Xiping stood by the river and looked at the house opposite which had not yet been roofed. It might be because he had collected the interest and had more money, or it might be because Captain Hu's brother-in-law was anxious and hired another 20 soldiers two days ago. With more people building the house, the speed of building the wall caught up.
"Captain Zhao." The soldier carrying water greeted Zhao Xiping.
Zhao Xiping nodded.
"Brother-in-law." Sui Liang came out holding the cub. "You're back? My sister was wondering why she hadn't seen you for so long. What are you having for lunch?"
"Anything is fine." Zhao Xiping walked over quickly, took his chubby son, threw him up and caught him, caught him and threw him up again.
He was the only one in the family who had the strength and courage to lift the kid up. As soon as the little guy saw his father, he knew he could be thrown high up. Day after day, he would grin when he saw Zhao Xiping.
Sui Yu heard a silver bell-like laughter in the kitchen. She wiped her hands and walked out. Standing under the eaves, she asked, "Why are you back so late?"
"I went to see Xiaomi." Zhao Xiping carried his chubby son into the house. "She asked me if I wanted to invite my parents over to celebrate the New Year this year, or if I wanted to go back alone to pay New Year's greetings."
"Don't ask me, I don't care." Sui Yu doesn't take on any responsibility.
Sui Liang looked around and ran away.
Zhao Xiping picked up a chair and sat down, bending his legs and letting the kid stand up by stepping on his legs. The child couldn't stand straight, and fell on his butt when the adult let go.
“Ahhhh——” the kid waved his arms and yelled at Sui Yu.
"Big fool." Sui Yu laughed at him.
Zhao Xiping glanced at her, and she asked unconvincedly, "What are you looking at? Was I wrong?"
"You're wrong." Zhao Xiping wiped his son's saliva with his hand and said, "You just like to drool. Not everyone who drools is stupid."
"I'm happy to." Sui Yu snorted.
"Okay, okay, I'm stupid then." After saying that, seeing her glare again, Zhao Xiping surrendered, "Okay, okay, you're the only one who can say that."
Sui Yu couldn't help laughing.
"Look at your mother, how overbearing." Zhao Xiping pointed at Sui Yu with the boy's finger and complained, "Your mother said you were stupid."
Sui Yu clapped his hands at his son, and the boy immediately leaned forward and raised his leg to go over.
Zhao Xiping held his son in one hand and carried a stool in the other, and both father and son moved over.
When people came, Sui Yu didn't want to hold the baby anymore. She went into the warehouse, took out a bamboo mat, and let the baby lie on it to practice crawling.
"I'll go back alone for the New Year this year, and then I'll bring them over next year. Next year, they'll be able to see their grandchildren and hold their grandchildren in their arms." Zhao Xiping said, "If my parents come over this year and know you're going on business trips, they'll be worried again."
Sui Yu didn't say anything. She raised her hand and patted his leg with approval.
The kid pulled his father's trouser leg and tried to stand up, but Sui Yu and Zhao Xiping didn't help him. They just lowered their heads and watched silently.
After all, the baby was too young and his bones had not yet grown. His face turned red and he couldn't even stand up. Before he could open his mouth to cry, Zhao Xiping reached out and picked up the child.
The cub blinked his eyes, closed his mouth and swallowed his tears.
Sui Yu smiled, "It's so easy to coax."
"What a fool! He's so easy to fool." Zhao Xiping hugged the little boy tightly, touched his little head, and said to Sui Yu, "Look at our son. He's ours. He was born a little boy, but he's grown up so big."
Sui Yu looked at the cub with gentle and loving eyes. In him, she saw the wonder of life.
The little cub reached out for his mother to hold him, and Sui Yu took him. She hugged him and kissed him. The child's clear eyes reflected her appearance, and her eyes were filled with him.
"Baby." Sui Yu shouted.
The little boy's eyebrows curved and he smiled shyly.
Sui Yu loved him so much that she called out again, "Baby."
The cub smiled and hid in her arms.
Sui Yu laughed while holding the child. Her smile was like a berry dripping with honey. The sun rising above her head lost its luster in this small courtyard.
When Ah Shui passed by the door, she slowed down, looked at him quietly for a few more seconds, then turned on her toes and ran away.
Zhao Xiping looked up, then glanced sideways at his wife and children beside him.
Gan Da, Gan Er, Zhang Shun and Li Wu all left, and the task of delivering food to the slaves on the other side of the river fell on Zhao Xiping and Li Mutou.
The rice bucket fell to the ground, and the slaves scrambled to grab it. Zhao Xiping kicked one down and shouted, "Line up, come one by one."
With the shock, the slaves suppressed their restless hands and feet, lined up one by one, stretched their necks and stared at the people in front of them, fearing that there was no food in the bucket.
Two slaves died of exhaustion last month, and the remaining twenty-one slaves had to share four buckets of rice before the garrison soldiers' meals were delivered.
"Captain Zhao, let's eat at your place too." The soldier who was fetching water by the river spoke up.
"You go and talk to the manager and ask him to give you money." Zhao Xiping looked at the slaves sitting on the ground and eating voraciously. They were like toothless babies. They didn't even chew the food or vegetables. They just shoveled it into their mouths and swallowed it. They all choked so hard that their faces turned red and their necks became thick, but they kept eating without stopping.
"Take them with you when you finish work in the evening. I ran into Captain Hu on the road today and told him about the slaves. He didn't want to be known as a mean-spirited person, so he made them work like you, starting at sunrise and ending at sunset," Zhao Xiping told the soldiers. "When the steward comes to pay the wages, tell him to come to me and I'll tell him."
Regardless of whether what he said was true or false, no one would run to Captain Hu to confirm it. What's more, Captain Hu was not someone that the garrison soldiers and managers could see whenever they wanted. So Zhao Xiping was not at all exaggerated and acted as if it was true.
Several guards nodded without hesitation. These slaves were truly miserable, so skinned they looked like unrecognizable figures. Even skinning them and stewing them in soup wouldn't yield much. They couldn't bear to watch, but due to their low status, they dared not speak up for them. Now that someone had spoken up, they would lend a helping hand, regardless of whether it was genuine or not.
Zhao Xiping went to fetch the bucket and said, "Remember, when they leave, follow them. If I find anyone still here after dark, I'll tie you up and throw you into the river to fish."
The slaves who were on night patrol had all left, and the people living in the guesthouse were either old or young. Zhao Xiping himself left early in the morning and came back after dark. He was worried that some slaves might be lying in ambush somewhere, so he simply drove them all away.
When crossing the river, Zhao Xiping waved to a garrison soldier and asked him to keep an eye on the slaves and not allow them to cross the river unless they were finishing their work and returning to the city.
It was only after another twenty soldiers came to work the day before that Zhao Xiping felt relieved to send Gan Da, Gan Er and others out of the city.
After lunch, Zhao Xiping, Sui Yu and their child rode a camel back to the city. The three of them went to visit Zhao Xiaomi carrying a basket of eggs.
As the sun was setting, Sui Yu came back on a camel with his baby. The slave riding on the earthen wall saw him and took the opportunity to climb down the wall to lift the beams, and walked to the bridge to cross the river.
"Where are you going?" a guard shouted.
The disheveled slave rubbed his hands, squatted by the river to scoop up some water to wash his hands, and then slowly washed his face. He glanced at the other side of the river and saw a fat and strong black dog wagging its tail passing by. He swallowed his saliva.
"I think you're looking for death." The guard came over and kicked him. "Go back to work. Your life is so worthless that you can't even tell who's good and who's bad."
A slave in the corner watched coldly. When a male slave with a greedy face approached, he kicked the man down without warning, then picked up a lump of dirt and rushed over to fight with the man.
The slave who had gone with Sui Yu to salvage the corpse also came over and beat up the person who was pinned to the ground together. The others saw it but pretended not to notice.
The next day, when they returned to work, there was one less slave working. Zhao Xiping came to deliver food and asked, "Where is the other one?"
"Dead." A slave said in a hoarse voice, "He got up in the middle of the night and fell, hit his head and died."
The guard not far away looked at it, looked away and said nothing.
Seeing this, Zhao Xiping stopped asking questions and walked over to the garrison soldiers and asked, "Has the steward not come to pay the wages yet?"
"Here they come." Someone pointed towards the east of the river.
Zhao Xiping looked over and saw that it was the fat man with a round face again.
"Captain Zhao? Did you really talk to our Captain Hu about the things at the guesthouse yesterday?" the steward asked anxiously.
"We chatted for a while, and he asked me how the house was going." Zhao Xiping pointed and said, "We met in the sesame field outside the city. The captain was tired from walking, so he said he would come over to check it out next time he rode on horseback."
The manager was now too busy to take care of other things. He went back without stopping and hired another thirty soldiers to work in the afternoon.
…
Nine days later in the evening, Zhao Xiping and Sui Yu were preparing to ride camels with their little boy to pick someone up outside the city. They happened to meet soldiers who were finishing their work of building a house. Zhao Xiping slowed down to talk to them and took the opportunity to show off his son in his arms.
A slave quietly approached the camel that Sui Yu was riding. The camel turned its head to look, and Sui Yu also tilted his head and looked down.
"Madam, can you buy me? I still want to live." A hoarse voice sounded, and he pulled aside his messy hair, revealing a pair of pleading eyes. "I also want to be a human being like your slave, not an animal."
Sui Yu looked away at the group of slaves behind her. All the pairs of pleading eyes fell on her. She sighed, looked away and said, "I have no choice."
"Nine days ago, a slave got tired of living and wanted to cross the river to do evil. He died that night. I did it." The male slave knelt down with trembling legs, "Please save my life."
Sui Yu's face changed slightly. She looked at the person kneeling on the ground. He was scheming, courageous, and even dared to kill people. If such a person was loyal, he would be a good helper to her.
"What's your name?"
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