Chapter 1286: Standards of Servant Conduct

Baifeng saw no issues with this proposal from Sanxin; as for the corresponding data and compensation standards, Baifeng felt that as long as they were sufficient, that was enough. The specific figures were supported by the data Sanxin had researched, and it was impossible for Baifeng to go and conduct the research all over again; this was not something he should be doing.

Therefore, on the final opinion, Baifeng signed his approval and noted that the notice should be issued as soon as possible to solicit public opinion, count the number of people, select new sites, and determine the homesteads. Finally, he signed and stamped it, waiting to hand it over to the people from the Secretariat later, letting them deliver it to the relevant departments and have them execute it according to the requirements in the document.

At this moment, Baifeng also glanced at Huang, who was darting his eyes around, and his impression of this Slave worsened by a few degrees. If he were a "person," and could learn to read in a rather poor environment, and knew a sufficient number of characters, then Baifeng would still think this person was not bad. But the problem lay in the fact that Huang's status was that of a Slave, and he did not count as a person in the legal sense; he had no corresponding political rights.

Just as one can often hear later, a certain criminal is sentenced to death and deprived of political rights for life; although it is just a burden of the death penalty, his political rights have been deprived, so you can consider that he no longer counts as a person in the legal sense. If, through various coincidences, you accidentally kill a person like him, you cannot be considered to have committed murder.

You might be said to have endangered public order or something, but you cannot be said to have committed the crime of intentional homicide or negligent homicide, because he is no longer a person in the legal sense, but merely a person on a biological level.

Baifeng closed the document and tossed it onto the desktop. The slight sound was exceptionally clear in the empty and quiet room. Huang's thoughts were pulled back in an instant; he looked at Baifeng in a panic, and only then did he hurriedly lower his head.

Chunfeng had already placed a big cross over this kid's future.

Baifeng beckoned, and Chunfeng hurried over. Baifeng picked up a copy of Huaxia Law from the table, flipped to a certain page, and handed it to Chunfeng: "Let him see it."

Huang did not know what it was at this time. Chunfeng handed the law book to him, and it was still the page Baifeng had flipped to.

Huang took it tremblingly and began to read. At first, he did not react, but after reading a few characters, his whole body began to tremble. He knew he had committed a grave mistake.

Because one paragraph of the content on that page read: "According to the Huaxia Law Slave Management Law, all Slaves of Huaxia are strictly forbidden from reading or recognizing characters; those who violate this shall be punished with death."

Huang realized that the fact he knew characters had actually been discovered by someone. But he had never shown it before; why would it be known, and by Baifeng, of all people—someone who would not care about them, these Slaves?

If Huang had pretended to understand nothing from the beginning, looking completely blank, and it would have been best if he could have held the book upside down, perhaps he could have muddled through. After all, there was no absolute evidence, unless evidence of Huang writing or practicing characters himself was caught.

But Huang had taken the law book and read it, and after reading it, he had shown such fear; then the fact that he knew characters was confirmed. If he did not know characters, why would he be so afraid when seeing that paragraph? What was he afraid of?

He held the book and looked up at Baifeng. Baifeng had a half-smiling expression. Huang was so frightened that he collapsed to the ground immediately, even dropping the book. Seeing that Huang might be about to wet his pants, Chunfeng hurriedly went over to snatch the book away, smoothed it out, and respectfully placed it back on Baifeng's table.

Baifeng spoke coldly: "I called you over because you are the first, and the only, Slave in Huaxia who knows characters. You must have only just finished your training, and you were not a person of Huaxia before. To be able to recognize so many characters in such a short time, I am quite curious.

Come, tell me about yourself. If you can pique my interest, perhaps I can spare your life."

Upon hearing this, Huang immediately straightened his body and knelt on the ground, not caring even if the ground was chillingly cold.

"King... King, I was originally, originally a person of the Zhangshan Tribe. I could have joined Huaxia, but because my clansmen were too stupid and stole and ate Huaxia's pigeons, I was punished and made a Slave.

I, I feel that I should not be so unlucky. I do not want to be a Slave, but I have no other way.

When I was in Slave training, my grades were the best. At that time, I was secretly looking everywhere and listening everywhere. By that time, I already knew some characters. By the second day, I already knew how to write my name.

Later, I would listen on the road, look secretly, and learn. Every day I learned one character, I would practice with a stick on the ground to ensure I could remember it thoroughly, until I knew all the common characters.

After that, after that I was assigned to Master Chengqie. Master Chengqie and the others were all going to school and had many books. Every day after they came back, they would study together. I would take this opportunity to listen to them read the lessons and listen to them review.

When they went to class, I would take the opportunity while cleaning and tidying the room to take their textbooks and look at them. After learning, I would practice writing with my finger in water, or practice on the ground, so now I can recognize basically all the characters, and I have also learned most of the things they heard in class.

I have also seen my masters' homework, and I know how to do it all.

King, I did this just to be able to leave behind the status of a Slave. I know Huaxia has many opportunities that can allow me to leave behind being a Slave. I do not want to be a Slave; I was just harmed by those clansmen of mine. I never stole or ate any pigeons; I do not want to be a Slave!

King! I am smart enough; I should not be a Slave. I can do more things! King!!!"

Huang began to kowtow on the ground, the sound of his head hitting the floor echoing loudly. Chunfeng also showed an expression, which was rare for him. He did not expect that the matter Huang had committed was this; this was one of the things a servant was most forbidden to touch.

Servants are not allowed to participate in politics or discuss government, are not allowed to have feelings of resistance toward their masters, are not allowed to have any disrespectful behavior or thoughts toward their mistresses, are not allowed to read or recognize characters, are not allowed to steal or take their masters' property, are not allowed to eavesdrop or leak their masters' private secrets, are not allowed to decide anything without their masters' consent, are not allowed to go out without permission, and are not allowed to slander or gossip about their masters or others.

These Ten Prohibitions are the code of conduct for servants. Touching any of them is a capital crime, and others will also be subject to punishments of varying severity.

As the best servants of Huaxia, the models and standards for servants, Chunfeng and the others must collectively recite them every morning and before going to sleep, and reflect on them once to see if they have violated any of them, and they must supervise each other.

Besides these Ten Prohibitions, there are other rules and requirements that have already been written into the law. Chunfeng and the others can recite them completely, but they still do not know characters and do not know how to write.

Even if the original text of the Ten Prohibitions were placed in front of them, they would not recognize them. Simple characters like one, two, and three, they recognize, and they are allowed to recognize them because they need to learn how to calculate; in all other areas, it is absolutely forbidden.