On the way, Su Li and the other person went to cook, so they walked apart from Zhao Xiaoliu and the others.
When she returned to the kitchen, Aunt Sang and Shisan had just arrived. Ah Xiu distributed the fruits she had picked to them, then rolled up her sleeves and started cooking.
Since there was no need to chop firewood for the time being, Su Li went to the well behind the kitchen to fetch water to wash vegetables.
The four of them worked for a while before Ying'er went back to the kitchen to work with a shy look on her face.
Su Li couldn't help but feel curious when he saw that A Xiu and the others seemed to be used to this.
After finishing the work and on the way back to their house, she pulled A Xiu aside and asked.
Ah Xiu whispered, "She is Mr. Cai's lover."
"Zhao Cai?"
"Yes, look at the clothes Sister Ying'er is wearing. They were also bought by Master Cai. And the bracelets on her hands, the rouge, powder, mirror and other things in the room were all bought by Master Cai. He treats her very well!"
"Is that so? I was wondering why her clothes are different from ours..."
Indeed, with Ying'er's figure and appearance, it was not surprising that Zhao Cai fell in love with her.
After returning to the house, Su Li and A Xiu went out to fetch water to wash. In the moonlight, Su Li glanced at the forest not far away and saw a figure. She didn't think much about it and just thought it was someone from the mountain wandering around nearby.
It was not until the evening, when Su Li got up to go to the toilet, that she realized that the man was not just hanging around, but was actually monitoring her.
Yes, in the original novel, illegal gold mining is equivalent to treason and is a serious crime. With someone like her here, it is normal for the mine to be more careful.
She remained calm, pretending not to notice anything, and continued to do what she had to do.
The next day, there was a lot of firewood next to the kitchen. They were all long strips with fresh cuts, probably just chopped.
Several people in slave clothes were sawing the firewood into pieces, so Su Li had no choice but to continue chopping wood.
After noon, she went to pick fruit with A Xiu again. In the afternoon, she returned to the kitchen to cook.
After more than a month, Su Li finally discovered that the person who had been secretly monitoring her had finally disappeared.
That's quite cautious.
She breathed a sigh of relief unconsciously, but she was afraid that the other party would strike back, so she didn't dare to act rashly for the time being. She still followed the rules and did what she had to do.
The mountain wind was howling, and the November weather was so cold that people were shivering.
The sun was shining brightly that day, and it was considered a warm day in this deep winter.
After noon, Su Li and A Xiu went to the river at the foot of the mountain to wash clothes.
This is Huandu River, where Aunt Sang and A Xiu found her. It is also the boundary between this mountain and other mountains and forests.
"A Xiu, what day is it today?"
Ah Xiu smiled and said, "November 28th! I've been counting the days! Hehehe!"
It was November 28th, and two months had passed since she woke up.
The person who was secretly monitoring her did not come again. It seemed that he was no longer wary of her, and it was time for her to plan to leave.
"The New Year is coming soon, right? Will we celebrate it in the mountains?"
"Of course!"
Ah Xiu was clearly very interested when she heard this. She grinned and said, "New Year's celebrations in the mountains are so lively! During the New Year, the slaves don't work for three days. There's also a weightlifting competition in the mountains. Winners get prizes, and they can drink, eat lots of meat, and even have lots of desserts and candied fruits. It's so fun!"
A Xiu was born in a remote mountain village. Her family was very poor. From childhood to adulthood, she could not even have enough rice to eat every day, let alone meat, let alone desserts and candied fruits.
After coming here, not only can she have enough food and clothes on weekdays, but she can also often eat meat, and can eat desserts and candied fruits during the New Year. There are also fruits to pick in the mountains. Regardless of whether it is the New Year or not, she likes life in the mountains.
Of course, except that you can’t go down the mountain.
"Is it so lively?"
For the black mine workers, this kind of treatment was indeed very good. Who would have thought that when they thought they could go back, they would be killed by a glass of wine?
In the original novel, King Ning did just that. After the gold mine was mined, he used the excuse of celebration to poison all the slaves and people like Ah Xiu to death...
"A Xiu, do you want to go down the mountain?"
"Of course I do! Although it's nice here and I'm having a great time, I really want to go down the mountain, visit the market, make a couple of beautiful dresses, as gorgeous as Sister Ying'er's, and buy all kinds of beautiful jewelry. I also want to go back and see my family..."
"But I heard the mine is almost finished. Then we can go down the mountain..."
Although she had been sold into slavery, the person who bought her was actually someone from the mine. When he brought her here, he told her that all the wages from the work would belong to her, and she could use the money to redeem herself in the future.
In fact, most of the slaves in the mines sold themselves here, and like her, they can redeem themselves.
"When the time comes, Sister Mo, shall we go to the market together?"
"OK!"
As the two were talking, they saw several large carts loaded with goods coming towards them.
That's the truck that sells rice, noodles, meat and vegetables. It comes every seven or eight days.
Several large carts were being inspected by several mountain guards dressed as soldiers before crossing the stone bridge over the Huandu River.
They checked the cart from top to bottom, and from time to time they used the long sharp swords in their hands to stab into the sacks of rice, flour, meat and vegetables, for fear that someone who shouldn't be in would get in.
It was the same when going out. For fear that someone might run away, he still carefully checked the cart from top to bottom and was very cautious.
Su Li could understand this, as he was the one who had been secretly monitoring her for nearly two months.
It seems that the person in charge of the Xishan Mine is a very cautious person.
In this way, it would be impossible for her to get out by relying on these large carts.
As for sneaking down the mountain and leaving, that was even more impossible.
In the past two months, she picked wild fruits, ran all over the forest, climbed the tallest tree in the forest, and has figured out the situation of the guards at the foot of the mountain.
There are dozens of watchtowers at the foot of the West Mountain, each with an archer on it. The foot of the mountain is not far from other mountains.
But the area next to it is all plains, and if you try to escape on them, you will just be used as a target.
And because it was a plain, each watchtower could see each other, which meant that if she ran in one direction, at least three or four archers would be able to see her and shoot her.
Also, she couldn't attack the archers because if one fell, the other archers would be the first to notice, unless she could kill all the archers at the same time.
But this is obviously impossible.
Therefore, she understood why the slaves and cooks on the mountain had relatively free movement. Even if there was a fire on the mountain and they wanted to escape in the chaos, they would not be able to escape from the West Mountain.
As for the Huandu River where she came from, after she arrived, an order was issued to install iron nets at the entrances and exits at both ends of the river.
Now, she could only wait, wait for an opportunity, wait for someone with real power to come here...
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