Rebellion

"Human trafficking—just as I thought!"

Fang Zhixing's heart turned cold. He knew the famine had spread and that no one was living well.

But he had never imagined things had deteriorated to the point where everyone had to sell their sons and daughters.

Just then, Fang Zhixing noticed several boatmen carrying sacks down from the large ship. They likely contained grain.

Two boatmen chatted quietly as they worked.

"There~"

Fang Zhixing swiftly shot Skinny Dog a look.

Skinny Dog understood at once.

He was no ordinary dog—he could understand human speech.

So Skinny Dog trotted over in tiny steps, first lying down and putting on a show of rolling around a few times, amusing himself.

The boatmen kept working and chatting. No one paid any attention to a dog.

The transaction did not last long. It was completed in less than half an hour.

Fifty-seven girls were sold. The youngest were only five or six; the oldest were fifteen or sixteen.

The young girls of Crouching Ox Village had practically been wiped out in one sweep.

"Dad, don't sell me! Don't sell me!"

Amid the silence, one little girl suddenly burst into tears.

Fang Zhixing glanced over and recognized her as Uncle Bai's daughter, Yaya. Uncle Bai had no sons, only this one daughter.

Uncle Bai squatted on the ground with his head lowered, saying nothing. From beginning to end, he never once looked up at his daughter.

"Take her away, take her away."

Mr. Qian waved impatiently. At once, a burly man strode over and roughly dragged Yaya away, not bothering to waste a single word.

Then, a boatman tossed half a sack of rice in front of Uncle Bai.

Yaya was pretty, so she sold for forty jin of rice.

Uncle Bai silently lifted the sack of rice and turned for home, Yaya's repeated cries of "Dad" echoing in his ears.

"Mom!"

"Grandpa!"

"Grandma!"

All at once, the other girls being sold began to cry out as well. One after another, they wailed bitterly, as though this were the last cry of their lives.

Yet...

All fifty-seven girls boarded the ship and entered the cabin, and their crying abruptly ceased.

"Chief Zhao, you handled this matter well."

Mr. Qian smiled as he praised him, tilting his head to nod at a boatman.

The boatman immediately carried over half a sack of rice and set it by the old village chief's feet.

"This is the agreed-upon payment—fifty jin of rice," Mr. Qian said with a smile.

"Good, good, good. Thank you, Mr. Qian." The old village chief nodded and bowed, the expression on his face blooming like a chrysanthemum.

Mr. Qian said no more and turned to board the ship.

The large ship soon sailed away, growing more distant until it vanished beneath the star-studded night sky.

Before long, smoke rose from the chimneys of every household in Crouching Ox Village.

Fang Zhixing and Skinny Dog returned to the shore, retrieved the broken bamboo basket, then went to the sandy ground and started a fire to barbecue.

"Well? Did you overhear anything?" Fang Zhixing asked.

Skinny Dog sorted through it and slowly said, "Those two boatmen were full of bullshit. Mostly they talked about women. They went to a brothel last night and slept with women, and they were talking about how fair and tender, how fresh and lovely those prostitutes were."

Fang Zhixing shot Skinny Dog a sidelong glance and saw the look of yearning on his face. Scornfully, he said, "What a pity. You'll never get to visit a brothel in this life."

Skinny Dog was dragged back to reality and cursed, "Fuck you. Fine, don't listen."

Fang Zhixing pointed at the barbecue and sneered. "Fine, don't eat."

Skinny Dog immediately caved, saying repeatedly, "All right, all right, all right. I, Zhang Changji, won't stoop to the level of a petty man like you."

Then he continued, "They mentioned that this Mr. Qian had trafficked many boys and girls all the way south. Once he reached Qinghe Commandery City and resold them, he could make more than ten times the profit."

Fang Zhixing bared his teeth. "What a black-hearted bastard. No merchant is honest without being crooked."

Skinny Dog deeply agreed and went on, "They also mentioned that an uprising had broken out in Pu Prefecture. A fierce man named Wang Tianbu had rebelled, killed the Prefectural Governor of Pu Prefecture, and declared himself the 'Tianbu Equalizing Great General and Commander of All Heroes Under Heaven.' His momentum is immense."

Fang Zhixing frowned. "Qinghe Commandery is in Dan Prefecture. I wonder how far it is from Pu Prefecture."

Skinny Dog sighed. "If only we had a map."

The man and dog enjoyed their dinner, filling their bellies to the brim.

After eating, Fang Zhixing put out the fire, slung the broken bamboo basket over his back, and returned to the village.

The moment he reached the village entrance, he smelled the fragrance of rice gruel permeating the air, rushing straight into his nose.

Fang Zhixing and Skinny Dog looked at each other, then shook their heads speechlessly.

"Oh, isn't this Big Ox?"

Suddenly, someone sprang out from around the bend in the road, startling both man and dog into a shudder.

Fang Zhixing focused his eyes and saw that it was Second Dog, the village loafer and thug. He was skinny as a bamboo pole, his ribs sticking out.

The fellow was poor and lazy. He was already in his forties and still had not found a wife, living alone.

"Uncle Second Dog, it's so late. Aren't you going home to sleep?" Fang Zhixing answered.

Second Dog patted his belly. "I haven't eaten yet. I'm going to Uncle Song's place to borrow some rice."

Fang Zhixing sneered inwardly. The rice Uncle Song had obtained by selling his two granddaughters—would he lend that to you?

"Then go borrow some." He continued walking forward.

Second Dog suddenly stretched out an arm to block him. Staring at Skinny Dog on the ground, he drooled as he said, "Say, Big Ox, people can't even fill their own bellies these days, so why are you keeping a dog? How about we slaughter it and have a meal of dog meat?"

"Woof woof!"

Skinny Dog barked wildly in agitation. To Fang Zhixing's ears, it was a line of ancestral national profanity.

Second Dog wanted to eat the dog... Fang Zhixing snorted with laughter, finding it absurd. Seeing Skinny Dog's furious expression, he said merrily, "This dog is still too small. Once he grows a little bigger, we'll definitely put the pot on."

"Why wait for him to grow up? No time like the present."

Second Dog swallowed, then suddenly reached out to grab Skinny Dog.

"You..." Neither Fang Zhixing nor Skinny Dog had expected Second Dog to be such a rogue. Couldn't he understand human speech?

Skinny Dog hurriedly dodged backward.

Fang Zhixing raised both hands and shoved Second Dog hard.

Second Dog staggered, his body swaying, then toppled crookedly onto the ground, landing hard on his backside.

"You dare hit me?!" Second Dog suddenly flew into a rage. He scrambled up and swung a fist at him.

Second Dog was about 1.75 meters tall, a head taller than Fang Zhixing. Once he started acting up, he feared neither heaven nor earth.

Fang Zhixing instinctively raised his foot and kicked. His foot struck Second Dog squarely in the stomach, sending him flying into a wall. He bounced off it and crashed face-down onto the ground.

Having eaten his fill, Fang Zhixing was ultimately stronger, and a young man's reactions were quicker too.

"Ow, ow..."

Second Dog groaned as he lay on the ground.

"Serves you right!"

Fang Zhixing spat and strode away.

Skinny Dog gave a wicked chuckle, wandered over beside Second Dog's head, lifted a hind leg, and pissed on him.

Once home, man and dog collapsed into sleep.

They slept dreamlessly through the night.

Early the next morning, Fang Zhixing was suddenly awakened by a burst of commotion. He listened closely and heard someone shouting.

"Second Dog is dead!"

Fang Zhixing's eyes widened, and a chill ran through him.

"Dead?!"

Skinny Dog also climbed up and looked at Fang Zhixing. "You didn't hit him that hard last night, did you?"

Unsure of the power behind that kick, Fang Zhixing hurriedly got up and ran outside.

When he arrived, every villager had gathered, surrounding the place three layers deep inside and three layers deep outside.

Fang Zhixing squeezed in and looked down. His pupils instantly contracted.

Second Dog was still lying facedown there, with blood pooled all over the ground beneath him.

His head had been smashed open, and a bloodstained rock lay beside him.

And his legs had been chopped off!

The strange thing was, the legs were nowhere at the scene...