Wang Tieniu's eyes lit up: "A dugout? That's right! Brother Shanzi, you've got it all figured out! Those dilapidated houses are drafty and overcrowded!"
"Mm." Du Jianshan nodded.
"Tomorrow I'll go and report to Captain Halikiz, and we'll dig it ourselves."
"It saves me from having to squeeze in with those annoying things, it's so frustrating."
"Alright! Brother Shanzi! Whatever you say, we'll do it!" Wang Tieniu patted his chest.
The two strolled around for a while longer, and when it got completely dark, they started to wander back.
It gets dark quite late in southern Xinjiang. The time on my pocket watch was already past ten o'clock, and it was only just getting dark.
Meanwhile, in the city.
A dim oil lamp was lit in Liu Hongmei's dilapidated courtyard.
"Huff... huff..."
The heavy breathing sounded particularly jarring in the twilight.
Li Fuqiang had a hemp rope loop around his neck, with the other end of the rope tied to the heavy handle of a stone mill.
He was shirtless, his body covered in a mixture of sweat and mud, and several purplish-red whip marks on his back were burning painfully.
Like a blindfolded donkey, he trudged around the millstone, dragging it along as it ground corn kernels.
With each turn of the heavy millstone, it creaked and groaned, squeezing out the last bit of his strength.
"Hurry up! Haven't you eaten yet?" Liu Hongmei's elder brother, a burly man with a fierce face, squatted on the threshold with a straw in his mouth and a wet leather whip in his hand, shouting impatiently.
"Crack!" Another lash struck Li Fuqiang's back.
"Ouch!" Li Fuqiang staggered in pain, almost falling over, his eyes rolling back as the tightness around his neck caused him to choke.
"Brother...I...I really can't go on..." Li Fuqiang cried, his voice hoarse. "All day...and all I got were two cornbread buns...and barely any water..."
"No?" Liu Hongmei's voice came from inside the house, laced with sarcastic sarcasm.
She swayed as she walked out, holding a bowl of spicy noodles in her hands, slurping them down with relish: "You're unlucky to have fallen into my hands! Guess how those guys over there died? They all died from 'exhaustion' like this!"
She deliberately emphasized the word "tired," her eyes lingering on Li Fuqiang like a venomous snake: "The oxen and horses that work for our family don't live long!"
"I was originally planning to mess with your tough brother, but who told you, you coward, to deliver yourself to my doorstep?"
"Who told you to be all bark and no bite, you're all show and no bite? Get moving, you'll have to serve me well tonight."
Upon hearing the word "serve," Li Fuqiang was terrified, his legs trembling. He cried out, "Sister Liu... Sister Liu... have mercy... my father... my father is rich! I'll have him send money to ransom me!"
"Redeem you?" Liu Hongmei scoffed, handing the bowl to the man beside her: "Brother, this time you have to keep a close eye on this 'goods,' lest he die before he's even 'sent' away like the previous ones."
The man took the bowl, shoveled a couple of mouthfuls of noodles into his mouth, and mumbled, "Don't worry, we've got experience this time."
"You need to draw blood frequently, don't waste it. I heard that hospitals in the city charge high prices for it."
"We should contact potential buyers for the kidneys as soon as possible, so we can sell them for more money while they're still fresh."
"What? Blood test? Sell...sell kidneys?" Li Fuqiang was struck dumb, his whole body went cold, and a warm stream flowed down his thigh.
I was so scared I peed my pants.
"You good-for-nothing!" Liu Hongmei covered her nose in disgust and took a step back.
"Crack!" Her older brother stood up in disgust and lashed Li Fuqiang's bare legs with a leather whip: "What are you howling about! Get back to grinding! If you don't finish grinding this pile of corn tonight, don't even think about resting!"
Li Fuqiang was in so much pain that his vision went black. Looking at the heavy millstone, listening to the creaking and grinding sound that seemed to be killing him, and hearing the man next to him munching on a cornbread and muttering about how to "ship" the goods, despair washed over him like a cold tide.
He gritted his teeth and pulled forward with all his might, tears and snot streaming down his face with sweat, his heart screaming in despair:
"Father! Mother! Where have you been?! Come save me!"
"Du Jianshan! It's all your fault, you bastard! If you hadn't run away so fast, you would have been the one in trouble!"
"Wait till I get out of here... I'm not finished with you! Waaaaah..."
......
The next day, as soon as the work bell rang, the threshing ground erupted in chaos.
Company Commander Chen Jianshan personally oversaw the work, using a small notebook to redistribute the ditch-digging tasks by the number of people.
Each person gets a small section, and they can only rest after finishing their quota. What if they can't finish?
Hmph, I'll deduct your work points until it hurts!
Ma Jinbao and Ma Chunmei, brother and sister, had faces as long as donkey faces.
I used to blend in with the crowd, dawdle at work, and get work points for free—it was quite a pleasant experience.
Now it's all good, everyone has their own small plot of land, and if you don't finish it, you'll really get your pay docked!
"What are you looking at? Get to work!" Chen Jianshan glared at them, and the two of them wilted, forced to bite the bullet and grab their tools.
Du Jianshan and Wang Tieniu were assigned plots of land next to each other.
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