Chapter 5
Chapter 5
“Dad, your master used to talk up that woman Qiao like she was some kind of legend, but she’s nothing special. I think she’s actually pretty good-looking. When the time comes, let’s keep her so she can be my woman.”
Old Hou was clearly a bit hesitant.
“The Qiaos all have real talent. Don’t go provoking her. Once she’s sold and we have the money, I’ll buy you a better one.”
Xiao Hou wasn’t convinced.
“These others are all old men. How much money can they even bring in? Nobody would even want their kidneys if we tried to harvest them. I reckon only those two young ones are worth anything.”
Old Hou replied, “What’s your rush? We’ll take them to your grandfather’s village first and put them to work for a while until Wei Mazi comes to collect the goods.”
The two of them went back and forth as the cart jolted along the mountain road. I lay on the flatbed, staring up at the sparse stars in the night sky, unable to help sighing at the state of the world. Morality really was in decline.
The profession of corpse herding had long since fallen into obscurity. By the time it reached Boss Hou’s hands, he had likely only learned the basics. At Xiao Hou’s age, cremation had already become popular in many parts of Hunan; he hadn’t even seen many corpses, let alone believed in such things.
This area was remote. The local youths didn’t go to school, lacked any real education, and refused to leave for work. Over time, Xiao Hou had ended up following his uncle into the business of human trafficking.
The cart traveled for a long, long time. As dawn began to break and my head grew dizzy, I was just drifting off into a daze when the donkey cart came to a halt.
Several people emerged from the village, bound us with ropes, and then splashed ladles of cold water directly onto our faces.
“Xiao Hou, where’d you find this bunch of old geezers? Hahaha, not bad!”
Xiao Hou lifted his chin triumphantly.
“Impressive, right? Snagged so many at once. We’ll put them all to work first. Don’t mind their age; I noticed their skin is fair and supple, and they’ve got sturdy bones.”
Someone grabbed a hemp rope and pulled me to my feet. Our group was led forward like a string of grasshoppers. Liu Xiong and the others looked dazed, not yet having processed what was happening.
As we entered the village, I noticed a large water vat placed in front of every single house, each covered with a wooden lid.
Seeing me staring at the vats, a villager glared at me.
“These lids are never to be opened, you hear me?”
Just as he finished speaking, Liu Xiong suddenly let out a piercing, blood-curdling scream.