Chapter 505 Extra Princess and Shadow 15
It is similar to the Great Xia Kingdom. Most of the prisoners exiled here are doing coal digging and mining, while women and children are more relaxed, mostly weaving and drying hemp.
The coal mining area is especially cold here, and An An couldn't help wrapping her jacket tightly. William couldn't help laughing at her: "I told you not to come, regret it now!"
An An covered her cold red nose with her hands, and firmly shook her head in denial:
"Uncle William, go get busy! Let's walk around."
It would be great if the two of them could follow to the mining area. It was impossible for William to take them down to the bottom of the mine.
William nodded, leaving a few servants staring at the two of them,
I came here to know that William is the current city lord of Maya City, equivalent to the county magistrate of Daxia,
The two of An An walked around for a while, there was really nothing interesting here, the trees were bare, and the soil on the ground was frozen like hard lumps. An An asked a servant following behind him:
"Uncle, is there anything interesting here?"
She spoke very slowly, and the Yacha could barely understand. Seeing that the city lord attached great importance to the two children, he thought for a while and said, "This is the outer city, there is no fun place."
After thinking for a while, he hesitated and said: "Miss, if you want to find a friend, you can go to the female prisoner opposite."
An'an had nowhere to go anyway, so she asked a few people to lead the way.
The place where the female prisoners are serving their sentences is not far from here. There are rows of open houses. Inside, women in shackles are either stepping on looms or dyeing cloth, and some half-grown children are sitting aside and distributing silk thread.
Most of them looked numb, only a few of them looked out of the window with longing in their eyes,
Although An An felt sorry for them, she didn't sympathize with them, just like the little girl who was staggered by her mother before. Seeing that she was pitiful, An An gave her the endless bread. After two times in a row, Ann just finished eating the bread that time. The girl looked at her eagerly, and seeing that she really didn't give it, when she turned around, she showed resentment in her eyes.
All kinds of things along the way, An An gradually understood some truths. The world is not black and white. In the past, she was like a delicate flower growing in a precious flowerpot. Although she occasionally moved out to bask in the sun, all she could see It is the pavilions and waterside pavilions of Su Wangfu.
The two children were wandering around the house. Except that it was slightly warmer than the mining area, there was nothing to do here. The ground was so bare that not even a single weed could be found.
An'an walked to the corner of the row of houses, and was about to go back angrily, when she heard a whimper, and a skinny black dog passed by.
An An's eyes lit up, there are puppies in this place?
She knelt down and waved at the dog. This little dog is not afraid of people. He stopped and looked at her lazily, then turned his head back without any energy.
An An took out her small pockets. The clothes here are different from those in Daxia. There are large pockets sewn on the clothes that can hold things. There are a lot of miscellaneous things, but there is no food.
Jingqi had no choice but to take out an oiled paper bag from her pocket, which contained some beef jerky. Dayue Kingdom also has beef jerky, but the method is different from Daxia.
An'an took a few pieces and gently placed them on the ground. The skinny black dog was really attracted, searched and ran over, sniffed, it looked very hungry, but resisted not eating,
An An raised her eyebrows: "Hey, this dog is quite alert!
Eat it! I did not poison! "
To prove it, she took a piece of beef jerky and stuffed it into her mouth.
Seeing the thin dog picking up the beef jerky on the ground and running forward, the two children looked at each other, Jing Qi guessed:
"Maybe take it back and feed it to its children!"
He has seen some poor adults get good things, they will keep them secretly, and bring them home to their children.
An An was curious: "Come on, let's go and have a look."
Although the two children had short legs, they were not slow to run. They followed the skinny dog around and came to the door of a broken house, followed closely by a few clerks.
An'an stared at the direction of the dilapidated house: "Hey, it's not for puppies!"
I saw a dilapidated house...or it can't be called a house. It was only built with some bricks and mud, without even a door, barely sheltering from the wind. An old man with gray hair sat at the door,
It is not an exaggeration to describe the old man as skinny, his hair is messed up and covering his eyes, and his expression cannot be seen, but he is similar to those female prisoners.
The thin dog ran up to the old man, barked a few times, and put the jerky in his mouth into the old man's hand.
The old man raised his head, stretched out his hand and touched the thin dog's head, and the iron chain on his wrist jingled and collided with his movements.
Although the grandfather in front of him may be a heinous person, An An still couldn't help feeling sad and desolate watching this scene.
Jingqi asked the following yacha: "What did he do? How could he be left here alone?"
It is reasonable to say that this is where the female prisoners are located. Even if the old man in front of him is too old to dig mines, he should not live here.
The Yacha obviously knew this person, "He didn't do anything wrong, and we don't know the details. Anyway, according to the people here, he has been here for a decade or two! He has been chained in the house all the time.
Two years ago, the former city lord was arrested because of partisanship issues. Lord William was transferred here. The investigation and inventory of all the prisoners here did not find any information about this person. The former city lord was not a good person. We privately inferred that this person probably offended the former city lord in the past and was coerced into revenge. "
After hearing this, the two children also felt that the old man was very pitiful, so An An asked in a low voice, "Then why hasn't he left yet?"
Yacha sighed: "I guess I don't have a home!
Lord William felt sorry for him, so he asked the best doctor in the city to see him, but the doctor said that he was terminally ill and would not live for three years. "
"That's it..." Then this old man is too pitiful!
An'an walked in unconsciously. They made such a big commotion that the old man sitting in front of the house didn't know if he couldn't hear it, or if he heard it, he didn't care. He never raised his head.
An An opened the package of jerky, and softly called "Grandpa" in Da Yue language. The old man still didn't look up.
Yacha explained that he had been poisoned to make his voice hoarse, so he might not be able to hear!
An An greeted the skinny dog, "Come on, eat, these jerky are all for you!"
The thin dog looked at the old man, hesitated for a moment, but couldn't resist the temptation of delicious food, so he took a small bite,
An An squatted down and happily fed the thin dog: "That's right, I'll bring you some bones next time."
Jing Qi watched the old man curiously from the side. Although the old man was getting thinner and out of shape, his back did not bend down.
Jingqi thought, this should be a person with a lot of backbone.
He looked at the iron chain on the old man's hand again, and only then noticed that the iron chain had grown into the skin and flesh because of too long time.
He shrank his shoulders involuntarily, how painful is this?
After eating a pack of jerky, the two should leave. An An touched the thin dog's head: "Okay, goodbye!"
The downcast old man finally saw the little girl's appearance clearly. After a long while, he didn't move his stiff fingers until the group walked away.
…
Until they walked far away, the two children were still a little depressed, but what they saw and heard along the way, they also understood that there are many similar poor people in the world, and they can only give a little help when they happen to meet.
Passing by the house where the female prisoners were again, An An hesitated for a moment, and dragged Jing Qi in for a stroll. She bypassed the adult female workers who stepped on the loom, and came to the area where the girls were.
A girl couldn't help but looked at the two of them curiously, and subconsciously shrunk her neck when she saw the Yacha who followed in.
An An didn't disturb them, she just sat aside and watched curiously. See the girls skillfully separate the thread, the silk thread is as thin as the hair.
Suddenly she had a flash of inspiration and asked the nearest little girl: "Do you have thicker thread?"
She talked and gestured, but the girl lowered her head as if she dared not speak. An An was a little discouraged.
A more courageous girl said cautiously: "Yes, this cotton thread."
After finishing speaking, she grabbed a handful of white silk thread and handed it to her. An An straightened the threads one by one, cut them to a suitable length with scissors, and wove a simple bowknot. This is the only girl she can afford. ,
I pestered my mother to learn it deliberately for the decoration of her dolls, but she only knows a few simple techniques.
Jing Qi, who was squatting aside and counting ants boredly, glanced at her. The two often play together, and they can tell what this girl is thinking just by looking at her.
"Do you want to make a network and sell it?"
"Well, can't you?"
Jing Qi has no objection, anyway, the two of them can't find anything to do in a short time. He mainly wanted to get to know more people, so that he could find out the way to Lausanne, or see if there was a merchant ship heading for Daxia. They couldn't all point to the letter that was sent out.
Seeing that the two children were busy playing with silk thread, the yamen who followed him also heaved a sigh of relief, sitting beside them and dozing leisurely.
An'an struggled for a long time, and finally made a beautiful concentric knot. The girls who were splitting the lines secretly looked at her from time to time, seeing the concentric knot formed, they couldn't help but marvel in a low voice.
An An was not satisfied: "It would be nice if the thread could be dyed red and decorated with some jade beads."
Jingqi was speechless: "If we want jade beads, do we still need to go out and sell things? But there should be a place to dye cloth here."
An An asked these girls and learned that there was indeed a place where the cloth was dyed, so she finally smiled with satisfaction.
The girl who spoke just now stared at the concentric knot in her hand and asked tentatively: "Miss, can you teach us how to weave it?"
"OK!"
Anyway, these people will not leave here, and it will not affect her business.
No matter which country you are in, girls are always attracted by beautiful things. They selected the most dexterous girl to learn, and they could teach them when they learned to rest. Others continued to work.
There are a few yamen servants around, and those in charge turn a blind eye.
Time always passes quickly when doing things seriously, and the whole morning passed in a short time.
By the time William came over from work, An An had already made up dozens of networks.
Jingqi curiously picked it up and looked at it, and couldn't help but admire: "You girls in Daxia are so skillful!"
An An nodded proudly: "That is!"
"But this kind of thing seems to be sold in Lausanne City, but the one is more delicate and beautiful, and only noble ladies can afford it."
An'an immediately understood that it must have been done by her aunt, and the little girl was more confident in her money-making career.
She looked up and smiled flatteringly at William: "Uncle William, can you help someone dye the thread red!"
"Okay! There should be one at the dyeing workshop, I'll get someone to get it for you."
An'an's status is not ordinary, so William will satisfy his request as long as it is not too much, let alone some silk thread, not even a trivial matter.
An'an naturally doesn't understand these twists and turns. These silk threads belong to the public, and she will naturally have to return them when she makes money.
William looked at the position of the dyeing workshop, hesitated for a moment, and said a little uncomfortable:
"I just want to go to the dyeing workshop. If you don't mind, let's go there together?"
An An's mind was full of her business experience, so she didn't pay much attention to the strange expression on William's face, and followed him to the dyeing workshop behind with Jing Qi,
In the open and spacious yard, there are rows of colorful cloth hanging, and the powerful visual impact makes people dazzled.
An An stared at the hanging cloths intently. In her original cognition, the colors were only red, orange, red, yellow and green, and at most there was a mixture of shades.
But in the big dyeing workshop in front of you, there are twenty or thirty kinds of red. Even the most common white has more than a dozen kinds.
She is like a curious baby, walking back and forth in the huge dyeing workshop with her short legs, making the female prisoners look around curiously.
Jing Qi tugged at her sleeve, pointed somewhere: "That's Uncle William."
An An followed his line of sight, and saw the burly and tall William standing silently in the corner, staring at a female prisoner who was dyeing cloth.
The female prisoner is not particularly beautiful, but she gives people a very comfortable feeling.
The female prisoner flicked the cloth skillfully, and occasionally looked up at William, obviously there was a long distance between the two. Obviously one is wearing a majestic official uniform, the other is wearing heavy shackles, but when the two look at each other, they seem to separate the surroundings into two worlds, and within the world is the sweet happiness that cannot be broken by others.
Watching this scene, for some reason, An An's eyes felt a little sore, because her parents... were like this too!
Woohoo... She misses her parents!
…
When leaving, the steward respectfully brought over a stack of red threads, William handed it to An An, An An held the red thread, finally got over the feeling of homesickness, thanked the steward and promised:
"Thank you, auntie, I will return the thread when I make money."
The steward quickly waved his hand: "No, Miss, just come and get it if you want to use it!" There are piles of these things all over the warehouse, and this bundle is not even a drop in the bucket.
On the way back, An An couldn't help asking William curiously: "Uncle William, tell us your story!"
William knew what she was asking, and coughed lightly with some embarrassment: "It's about adults, and children don't understand it!"
An An pouted, as a somewhat rebellious brat, she couldn't bear to hear words like "Don't ask children about adults".
snort! Is Uncle William blushing? What does she not understand? She has seen big things since she was a child!
But she is not a child who can calmly suppress her curiosity.
Within half a cup of tea, the uncle who followed William told him everything he knew.
…
(end of this chapter)