He received a whip on his back, and Zheng Wuji let go of his hand in pain.
If he hadn't jumped forward, the stone would have smashed his heel.
"Damn it, why are you acting like a bitch?! Your waist is softer than cotton!" the supervisor cursed, "I'm telling you, I'll kill you if you delay the construction schedule!"
The previous supervisor had moved elsewhere. Zheng Wuji wanted to discuss with this supervisor, but he did not expect that the other supervisor had an extremely bad temper and did not allow these coolies to speak at all.
Even if you slow down a little, you will be beaten.
Zheng Wuji had never been beaten like this since he was a child, and he couldn't help but look sideways at the man.
The supervisor, as if he had been provoked, whipped him twice more.
Zheng Wuji was so angry that he stood up and reached out to grab the whip.
"Mom, how dare you disobey?!" The supervisor scolded Zheng Wuji's eighteenth generation ancestor and whipped him.
He was beaten until he was holding his head and rolling around on the ground, and then he stopped his hand and said: "This is not a place for you to pretend to be a boss! Either work or die!"
Zheng Wuji didn't want to die, so he could only get up and work.
By the time the meal was served, Zheng Wuji was so hungry that his chest was pressed to his back, but when he saw the gruel that looked like swill and the coarse grain pancakes that were covered with mold and were almost as hard as rocks, he suddenly lost his appetite.
But even with such unbearable food, people still robbed it frantically.
At this time, the supervisors came up to beat people again. They treated these coolies no differently than animals.
The women and children received less food because they did not do heavy work.
Zheng Wuji broke open his coarse-grain pancake and distributed it to the people around him, and said to them: "You guys can testify for me that I am not a refugee. When I get out, I won't treat you badly."
Those people finished eating his whole-grain pancakes and turned around to laugh at him: "Dream on, can people believe what we say? We don't want to be beaten."
"Yeah, besides, you don't look like a good person. You're either a thief or a liar," someone concluded for Zheng Wuji, "Looking at those eyes of yours, you're not honest."
"After entering the coolie camp, you still want to leave?" A person who had been here before spat on the ground and said, "If you are a woman, you still have a chance. As a man, you will only be arrested if you have tuberculosis or are about to die.
Throw it out. The work here is done, there is still other work to do."
"Isn't there any salary?" the newcomer asked him, "Isn't it necessary to pay dozens of copper coins a month?"
"Let me tell you, don't let the officials hear these words," the man immediately lowered his voice, "someone asked a question without opening his eyes a few days ago, and he was beaten to death."
"Did you really beat someone to death?!" The newcomer panicked upon hearing this.
"Dead people? It's very common. Almost all the people who come here are refugees. There is no registration at the Ministry of Household Affairs. Who can know if they die? Of course there are wages, but they won't fall into our hands. This is fate. Who told you to be
Where are the poor people?" The man said and stood up and left. They had half an hour to rest after lunch.
The work shed is in the distance, a row of sheds built with tattered mats. It's smelly, dirty and hot.
So many people find shades of trees and lie down on the ground. This is the best time of their day.
Zheng Wuji sweated a lot, and the wounds on his body were extremely painful.
The mole spirit has disappeared long ago. The overseers are drinking and eating dog meat there. The dog is a wild dog they caught.
Zheng Wuji felt that he was not in the world at this moment, but in hell.
The coolies were as lowly as ants. They worked so hard that they didn't even have enough to eat and were beaten and scolded.
Some elderly people or those who were sick or injured did not receive medical treatment at all and were either left to die or simply thrown into mass graves.
The rest time passed quickly. The overseers cracked their whips and cursed again, and the coolies struggled to get up one by one.
Some of them were groaning in pain, and some were already numb.
The second half of the day was even more difficult. The weather was so sweltering that every step I took almost exhausted my strength.
Zheng Wuji could no longer feel pain. He fell, was bruised, and was whipped. He felt like he was just a piece of meat on a chopping board.
I stopped working when it got dark, and my dinner was still the same as pig food.
Zheng Wuji knew he had to eat, but when he smelled the sour taste, he couldn't eat anymore.
He didn't want to go to the shed, preferring to stay under the tree.
In a daze, someone put something on his hand.
Zheng Wuji opened his eyes and found a steamed bun. This was what the supervisors ate, and the coolies couldn't eat it.
He looked around quickly and saw only a vague shadow, which should be a woman.
Zheng Wuji didn't care about anything else and started eating hungrily.
He felt that he had never eaten anything so delicious since he was a child, even though the steamed bun was already cold and a little hard.
There would be a light rain every day for the next few days, which made the coolies' lives much easier.
But the supervisors urged them harder to work harder, saying that this was a favor from God to let them know good and evil.
It had only been a few days since Zheng Wuji came here, and he could clearly see what this place was.
The workers were extremely vicious, and the coolies refused to unite among themselves.
Sometimes, just to get an extra piece of cake, you will betray your companions.
He also ate the unpalatable coolie meal, because if he didn't eat it, he would starve to death.
Of course, he still went hungry often because the food was not enough, and there were always people robbing him.
The only person who made him feel warm was the person who secretly stuffed him steamed buns every night.
He even realized that even if he explained his identity to the mole spirit, he would never let him go out.
Because it's too dirty here.
Here, they dominate and seek personal gain by squeezing the blood and sweat of the coolies.
And once people outside know what is going on here, they will not only lose their jobs, but also their heads.
When it comes to interests and lives, no matter who it is, they will not give in.
So he has given up this idea.
Thinking of these, Zheng Wuji's heart became depressed. He didn't know if he could leave here alive. The only hope now was that Mr. Zuo could follow the clues to find his whereabouts.
Now he was so regretful that he left a good book instead of reading and insisted on running out.
He was obviously a wealthy and idle man, with a good wife at home and no enemies outside. But he didn't know how to cherish him, and he ended up like this.
This may be God's punishment for being too ridiculous.
Or perhaps I have enjoyed too much before, exhausted all the blessings in this life, and cannot even get a good death.
Two weak men who came with them suffered from heatstroke and were now lying half-dead under the roots of a tree.
Maybe they can get up tomorrow, maybe they will be pulled out and thrown away.
