Chapter 157
Chapter 157
With a wet splat, one of the pallid Gutless People plunged headfirst into the soft vegetable patch.
The sticky sound seemed to attack not just the ears but the soul itself, and Qin Ying felt her scalp prickle.
Yet when she looked around, aside from Han Lie’s tightly furrowed brows, no one else showed the slightest reaction. Not Qiu Zhang, not the overseers and guards of the vegetable garden, and not even the other Gutless People of his own kind.
Things like this seemed perfectly ordinary here.
In the distance, a slow-moving old man came walking over along the ridges between the fields, grumbling as he went.
Qin Ying did not consider herself impatient, but the sight of that old man’s dragging steps, and the member of the Gutless People planted in the mud with his limbs twitching, made her press her lips together in discomfort.
She looked toward Han Lie, who was standing guard at her side.
Han Lie met her gaze. After giving a slight nod, he strode toward the member of the Gutless People stuck in the mud.
His long legs were not just for show. In a few steps, he reached the member of the Gutless People, pressed a hand to the back of his shoulder, and pulled him out of the muck.
The member of the Gutless People had rolled until half his body was covered in wet mud. The stench was unbearable, and his face was completely smeared with filth.
Qiu Zhang clicked his tongue.
The old man who had been shuffling along so slowly suddenly became nimble. He came over with an apologetic smile.
Seeing that Han Lie seemed about to tear off part of his robe to wipe away the mud clogging the nostrils of the member of the Gutless People, the old man smiled and stopped him.
“His worthless life isn’t worth a good piece of clothing, is it?”
The old man spoke in an oily, ingratiating tone as he took a waterskin from the small of his back.
The waterskin looked as though it had been used for who knew how many years. The bone spout bore a yellowed imprint from countless lips.
The old man splashed water over the face of the member of the Gutless People, then grabbed a clump of weeds from the side and used it to clear his nostrils.
After examining him closely, he said, “He’s fine. Color still looks good enough. Won’t die.”
Standing nearby, Qin Ying could not help raising an eyebrow. How could anyone tell that this corpse-pale member of the Gutless People had good color?
Though she grumbled inwardly, she said nothing.
She quietly watched as the old man called out.
Only then did the Gutless People nearby come forward. One on each side, they seized their kinsman by the arms and dragged him away.
The fallen member of the Gutless People was hauled off, his limp heels leaving two trails through the wet mud.
The old man put away the waterskin and even said with a smile, “It’s aphid breeding season right now. These fellows are just trying to slack off.”
He had seen that Qin Ying and Han Lie had been brought here by Qiu Zhang, the Company Military Marquis. Not knowing their background, he did not want to offend them.
He was still smiling and talking when a low howl suddenly came from the side.
It sounded like a dog whose mouth had been bound shut, a desperate whimper mixed with a fierce determination to die, squeezed from deep within the chest.
A pallid figure brushed aside the man-high vegetables and threw himself bodily at the old man.
Han Lie’s expression changed. By instinct, he shielded Qin Ying first.
Qin Ying reacted a beat slower and ducked behind him.
By comparison, Qiu Zhang was the slowest to react. He only came back to himself after the old man had been knocked down.
The member of the Gutless People who had rushed out of the greenery was extremely gaunt. Taking advantage of their unpreparedness, he tackled the old man into the mud and began lashing out with two unusually long arms.
The way he attacked looked very much like an ape.
His two arms whipped back and forth, slapping the overseer old man’s cheeks with loud cracks. In truth, though, there was not much force behind the blows; the overseer still had enough strength to cover his face and struggle.
Qiu Zhang pulled the whip from the small of his back and snapped it out with a swish.
It struck hard across the back of the member of the Gutless People. A raised, dark red welt immediately appeared to the naked eye over his protruding spine.
The attacking member of the Gutless People slowed from the pain, and the withered overseer old man threw him off.
The old man, now covered in mud, scrambled to his feet. He clenched his teeth, and his sagging jowls trembled, clearly furious.
Then he saw the waterskin that had fallen to the ground and been stained with muck, and his face twisted into a savage grin.
Though he was only an old Ge with low status, on the back of this Tuocui Beast, he had spent years having the final say.
Usually he still pretended otherwise, but now, in his rage, he threw all caution aside.
Whip in hand, he planted one foot on the face of the member of the Gutless People who had attacked him, then swung the whip and began to lash him.
His whip technique was several times more vicious than Qiu Zhang’s. The whip tip struck like a venomous snake, aiming entirely for the most painful lower parts of the body.
In the blink of an eye, several lashes landed between the legs of the member of the Gutless People. He convulsed in the mud, his limbs twitching from the pain.
Qiu Zhang’s eyelid twitched.
In the eyes of Great Xia, the Gutless People were nothing more than livestock with the word “People” tacked onto their name.
But this kind of savage beating was more than most could stomach. Qiu Zhang’s face darkened, and he barked, “Hei Gong, stop.”
But Han Lie was faster than him.
The old man named Hei Gong had his wrist seized by Han Lie, who yanked him backward until he stumbled.
Hei Gong turned his head. The brutal expression on his face had yet to fade, and when he saw it was Han Lie, his fury twisted forcibly into a smile.
The change was anything but smooth. It sent a chill down one’s spine.
Qin Ying withdrew her gaze from the Gutless People convulsing on the ground.
Han Lie released him and said coldly, “The Gutless People are laborers enslaved by the army. How can they be beaten to death or crippled at will?”
Qin Ying also asked Qiu Zhang in a cool, slightly naive tone, “Aren’t these Gutless People military assets? How can they be killed so casually?”
She remembered Qiu Zhang saying that the main reason the Gutless People could not be widely used as slaves was that they were difficult to breed.
In other words, they could not be cheap expendables.
Yesterday, a Gutless People had already tried to escape, and now she had seen how brutal this old overseer was.
Most likely, someone had been playing petty emperor atop this Tuocui Beast.
Rather than asking a question, she was sowing discord.
Qiu Zhang’s face turned as black as ink. Hearing this, he gave a cold snort.
“Hei Gong, I was wondering why the Tuocui Beast under your supervision was the only one where Gutless People kept dying. So it turns out you beat them to death!”
The old man, who had been so vicious just moments ago, looked as if he had been struck by lightning. Instinctively, he knew things were about to go badly.
In his anger, he picked on the softest target, glaring at Qin Ying in her Sand People garb as he cursed, “You lowly wench, what nonsense are you spouting?”
Qin Ying was not angered by the insult. With her hand hidden in her sleeve, she kicked at the ground with the tip of her foot.
It turned out that when the Gutless People had been whipped between the legs earlier, the leather pouch at his crotch had split open, revealing what was inside.
It was actually red grit mixed with bloody water.
In that same sickly sweet tone, she asked Qiu Zhang, “Didn’t Military Marquis Qiu say these Gutless People are supposed to be fed wheat-bran porridge? Why are they eating sand?”
“Shut up!”
Covered in mud and filth, Hei Gong lunged at Qin Ying, his expression savage. It was impossible to tell whether he wanted to cover her mouth or strike her.
But before he could get close, Han Lie kicked him away with a blow that was neither light nor heavy.
Qiu Zhang glanced at the sand on the ground, then pointed at Hei Gong, who had rolled into the mud like a filthy piglet, and cursed, “You’ve got some nerve!”
“You even dared to embezzle one bowl of wheat-bran porridge every seven days?”
These Gutless People slaves were already unimaginably cost-effective, yet someone had still replaced the single bowl of wheat-bran porridge they received every seven days with sand.
No wonder they fled. No wonder they resisted.
Qiu Zhang was not standing up for the Gutless People. He was simply furious that Hei Gong’s corruption had damaged military property.
He stepped forward and kicked Hei Gong, who had just struggled to his feet, flat onto his back.
Unlike the frail Gutless People, Hei Gong lay in the mud for a long while after Qiu Zhang’s kick, unable to catch his breath.
As a Company Military Marquis, it was far too easy for Qiu Zhang to deal with an overseer guarding a vegetable garden.
With a shout to those around him, someone immediately dragged Hei Gong away.
Judging from the enthusiasm of Hei Gong’s colleagues, this old man truly had not done much good in his life.
He was sentenced to ten military cane strokes. At his age, ten strokes would not kill him, but they would leave him bedridden for quite some time.
Before Hei Gong was dragged away, he no longer begged for mercy. His eyes were fixed hatefully on Qin Ying.
He resented this lowly Sand People woman for running her mouth.
Han Lie shifted half a step sideways, blocking his line of sight, his eyes gradually turning cold.
After Hei Gong was dragged off, Qiu Zhang swept a cold glance over Qin Ying.
Then he looked at the Gutless People on the ground.
In the short time no one had paid him any attention, a large patch of dark red blood had spread beneath the Gutless People.
Qiu Zhang inwardly cursed his bad luck and pointed. “Drag him away and bury him.”
When repairing a piece of military equipment was no longer worth the cost, the natural choice was to scrap it and give up on it.
Seeing that the Gutless People whose crotch had been whipped to shreds was about to be carried away, Qin Ying said, “Sell him to me.”
“He’s being discarded anyway. Why not sell him to me and make some money?”