In places where refugees live, the environment will not be very beautiful. Living conditions are simple, public security is also relatively chaotic, and there are even excrement everywhere.

In such an era, to do such a long-distance migration, hiking for tens of miles, they not only need to have better physical strength, but also beware of wild animals, and people often harm each other.

Therefore, it is difficult for anyone who is a little weak and has no support to survive to the end. Survival in groups is the norm, and dependence is also common.

The young lady of Hu mentioned by Chang Leren earlier was actually quite lucky. At least she has an uncle to rely on.

Her uncle also gathered with a group of people. They would go out hunting together, work in towns along the way, and rob them together, snatch other refugees' things, and also snatch the towns and villages along the way. They had killed people, and many people died on their own.

This Hu girl has often felt fear recently. Logically speaking, she should be grateful to her uncle. But she also vaguely felt that her uncle was no longer the uncle he used to be. Now he is becoming more and more cruel, cruel to others, cruel to himself, and to her niece, perhaps one day he will become very cruel.

I heard that many girls in this refugee area have been sold by their families or gangs, and there are also some women and children, but girls in their early teens have the highest price.

She felt that her uncle wanted to sell her, and he was just waiting for a good price.

She wanted to go to the city to work, find a job for herself, and then get some money for her uncle. Maybe in that way, the uncle would not sell her.

Earlier, some people went to the city to work. They asked for a very low price and basically didn't have any wages. As long as they were given a little food, they could get a lot of completely unequal labor from them. At the beginning, those people in Gaochang City were also willing to use theirs.

However, there will inevitably be friction in this process. The refugees have suffered too much along the way. They are often more sensitive and easily show hostility, which makes the locals feel dangerous and repulsive.

Then one day in mid-August, something happened completely cut off the refugees' way to work in the city.

A woman was instigated by her husband and her group and abducted two children from her patron's family and sold them to human traffickers in the refugee area!

That day, thousands of Gaochang people flocked to the refugee area and shouted that they would drive them outside the pass to feed the wolf.

In the hustle and bustle, it seemed that even the air and the autumn wind that was blowing towards us were filled with anger and hostility.

The scene at that time made the girl feel scared and at a loss. The people in Gaochang City had completely disliked them, but in fact, there were many good people among them, among them. Apart from her uncle, she had also received help from others along the way, and there were still many kind-hearted people.

But who would still care about this at this time? The seeds of hatred have been planted, and together they are planted with stubborn rejection and thorough prejudice.

Although the conflict ended with the Anxi guardian Guo Xiaoke dispatching troops, they later swept the refugee area and captured the human traffickers and people involved in the looting to mine. The two children were also found.

However, the road for refugees to go to the city to work and seek food was completely cut off. Some people were so hungry that they could not stand it. They took the risk to go into the city again, but they were beaten up. If it weren't for some kind-hearted monks' persuasion, they would have been beaten to death in the city.

The girl knew very clearly that even if she escaped from her dangerous uncle now, there would never be anyone in Gaochang City willing to accept her.

Other places, like those people said, Changle County, Dunhuang and Jinchang, are probably similar. Since someone revenges his grudges and abducts the children of his employer, their reputation has become very bad.

So she could only live in this refugee area, beside her uncle. She knew that there was danger and was full of anxiety, but she could only be like a lamb waiting to be slaughtered, and there was nothing else to do.

In this way, more than a month passed. At the end of the ninth lunar calendar, the night was already very cold. The refugees did not have enough clothes to protect the cold and food was in short supply.

On this day, I suddenly heard that an envoy from Chang'an City came to Gaochang, saying that Tian Khan wanted to grant them the status of refugees, the Tang Dynasty householders, and said that dozens of people would be selected as representatives to go to Chang'an City and see Tian Khan.

The leaders of all sizes in the refugee area fought for those dozens of places.

There are also rumors that they will be disbanded in the end and will be arranged to the various prefectures and counties of Longyou Road. Some people are unwilling to be disbanded, and some people are simply concerned about where they will be arranged to go. The whole article is a noisy refugee area, people's hearts are floating, and there is also a lot of joy in the meantime.

On this day, the girl was sitting in front of her shack and rubbing twine.

Although these refugees have little contact with local people, there are always some brave locals who shuttle through this refugee area and get extremely cheap labor from them by colluding with leaders of all sizes and big, among which twisting thread is a relatively important project.

Even if there is such a job, not everyone can do it. The girl's uncle can get it. She brought the materials back and asked her to do the work. She sat there and rubbed the twine, and her uncle sat aside and watched.

The reason I have to watch is because I am afraid that someone will rob them. If these things are lost, they will not be able to afford them at all, and they may not be able to get this job that can barely make a living in the future.

The girl was working hard when she suddenly saw a hustle and bustle on the street. I wonder if someone had come to send relief food again. My uncle asked her to take good care of the things, so she hurriedly squeezed over there.

After a while, he came back empty-handedly, looking like he lacked interest. It was obvious that there was nothing he wanted there, but the people on the street were gathering more and more, and it seemed that something good happened.

"What do you think, work quickly." My uncle scolded her and said, "I won't finish these things before dark, and I won't give you food today."

"..." The girl had to work again. Since she got up in the morning, she has been a little tired and very hungry. The work in front of her seemed to be endless.

The pedestrians on the street were coming and going, and they were talking about something. She could understand some words, but she couldn't understand some words at all.

I vaguely guessed that this was Luo's cashmere workshop and towel workshop that came to recruit people. The reason why her uncle was not interested was because they wanted to hire workers, not buy people.

Two or three months have passed since they entered the pass. During this period, she has also heard about some things from those who are familiar with each other and some monks and Buddhists who have come to help them.

The one she yearned for the most was the cashmere workshop in Changle County and the towel workshop. I heard that the young ladies there lived a good life. Not only did they make money, but they also learned craftsmanship. There were even people in the workshop who taught people to learn calligraphy and practice martial arts. If they did well, they could be promoted to the management...

After a while, somehow, I saw someone coming back with cloth and food. Some people were even brave enough to just carry a bunch of copper coins in their hands, not afraid of anyone robbing them.

When her uncle saw this, he hurriedly went up to ask, and the girl was counting her ears while working, probably understanding that the money and food were not obtained by selling people, but by prepaying wages.

After a while, my uncle also took her to the streets. There were several queues here, including several managers of the Luo Family Cashmere Workshop and the towel workshop. They watched the people in front of them, and if they liked them, they could take them away and pay some wages in advance.

The standard for advance payment is fifty cents per month, and six hundred cents a year. You can advance payment for up to five years, which is three jin of money. This price is enough not to mention hire a worker, even if you buy a person.

But they have a rule here, that is, if those who have paid wages in advance, they cannot visit them after entering the workshop. If the wages in advance are paid for a few years, they will not be able to visit them for a few years.

In the eyes of refugees, such a worker is not much different from buying a person. After all, it is the Luo family's property. I heard that the Luo family is very powerful in this area and has a deep friendship with the Anxi guardian Guo Xiaoke.

When it comes to Guo Xiaoke, refugees are very scared. Even if the construction period expires a few years later, if the Luo family’s workshop is released, then they have the final say. A few more people dare to come to the door to find trouble. Even the Guazhou Governor Changle County Magistrate is theirs.

However, there are rumors that the Luo family members also have a rule, that is, only hire workers, not buy people, and even the servants who are employed by the poor family, never buy them.

Such rules are really weird to many people, but no matter what, the Sanguan money is already a rare and good price in their refugee area. The prices given by those human traffickers before were often less than Sanguan, and the place to go is a great place. It is worthy of these girls to send them there.

More and more people were getting news and rushed to the streets, and those lines were getting longer and longer.

When it was the turn of this girl, the person in charge of the team she was in was a woman in a serious look in clothes, looking about thirty years old, but she had a very majestic aura on her body.

With the help of an interpreter, she asked the girl a few questions and her uncle. The translator was dressed neatly and clean with his hands and face, and his hair was neatly combed. She was obviously not from their slums, but she could speak their language and looked like a scholar.

"... Put your hand out and see me." At the end, the manager said again.

The young man in charge of the translation conveyed the meaning of the manager to her and gave her a warm smile, which made her lower her head in shame. Such a man is really not what she should have watched more.

The girl stretched out her hands, which were a pair of palms, both big and small, covered with wounds and calluses, and there were some redness and swollen joints on her fingers, which was obviously caused by excessive effort.

The manager looked at the hands and looked up at the girl's face. It was a disaster for just one glance.

The girl's uncle had never seen any scenes along the way, and she was like a human being. Looking at the scene in front of her, the manager clearly felt compassion for his niece.

So he spoke up, saying that five years of wages were not enough and he had to advance ten years of wages.

When the girl heard this, she hurriedly raised her head in horror. Sure enough, she saw a look of displeasure on the face of the manager and said she refused, saying that it was the rules in the workshop and that she could not make an exception just because she was alone.

In this way, the girl was pulled and pushed by his uncle, and then she left the crowd. She frequently looked back and saw her, but her uncle asked her to go back to work quickly. They wanted to deliver the batch of goods before dark.

Walking on the dirty yellow mud street, behind it is the noisy crowd, and there is hope. There is only a shabby shack in front of it, a pile of endless life waiting for her. There are also daily hunger and worry waiting for her.

This was the first time that this girl thought of death. No matter how painful and tormented she had never thought of death. However, just now, a huge hope was placed in front of her, and then her uncle crushed it mercilessly in front of her, making her life back to hell.

The huge disappointment was unbearable.

Since she couldn't go there, she might as well die, so that her uncle could not catch a piece of grain or a piece of cloth.

Just leave him with nothing! Except for a ragged corpse!

The girl was still sitting on the street working, and her uncle cursed and said something, but she didn't listen at all.

It was getting darker and fewer people on the street. You could vaguely see them packing things, as if they were about to leave.

After a while, she saw the manager who had just spoken to her and walked towards her, and the translator was also following her.

The girl who had been paying attention to the movements over them saw this scene, stood up from the ground, stood straight there, and looked at them.

The manager looked at her and still talked to her uncle. The man in charge of the translation also conveyed her meaning to both of them.

"...The wages can only be paid in advance for up to five years, which is the rule in the workshop," she said.

"I think your niece really wants to go to our workshop, and she really looks like a capable person."

"So I decided to lend you three stagnant money privately, just as she had paid ten years of wage advance."

“…”

When the girl was held hands by the manager and left the shack behind her and her uncle, she never looked back at it. She just grabbed the manager's palm tightly and asked her to take her to leave here step by step.

This is a very kind and powerful hand that pulls her weak and weak self out of the quagmire, allowing her to step on the solid land again, and hope ignites in her heart.

Later, she learned from others that the manager was named Peng Er, who was not only the main manager of the towel workshop, but also one of the main managers of the cashmere workshop.
Chapter completed!