Chapter 643: No Stealing Food

Although the Soldier did not look, his ears were not grown in vain; he heard the footsteps behind him clearly, but he only gave a scoff and did not even turn his head.

After a few starving ghosts stuffed the first piece of pork crackling into their mouths, they forgot the idea of only eating one piece; in any case, they just kept stuffing them into their mouths. They did not know how long it had been since they had eaten something so delicious, and such a large jar was right before their eyes, available for them to eat as they pleased.

But after one person suddenly remembered something, they stood up in immediate fear, though they did not put down the piece they were holding in their hand. They looked outside the Tent and saw that not a single one of those who had agreed to only eat one piece was there.

They thought it over and decided not to eat anymore, but they still put that piece of pork crackling into their mouth, then hurried out of the Tent and began to search for the others.

Their Tents were all adjacent. They first found Gao An, who was also a man, and Gao An had also reached a state of hesitation; plus, he was a bit choked, and he was still chewing on what was in his mouth.

They hurriedly called out to Gao An: "Hey, don't eat anymore, we, we have eaten too much, hurry up and go to work, otherwise we will be beaten!"

Gao An's pupils shrank, and he hurriedly stood up, quickly stuffed the pork crackling in his hand into his mouth, sucked on his fingers, and then also exited the Tent.

"Alright, alright, let's hurry and go, we can't eat anymore. Also, I am not called 'Hey', I have a name now, I am called Gao An!"

That Soldier did not care if he was Gao An or Gao Low; he just went to find the women in the other two Tents. Those two women still had no sense of crisis and were still frantically stuffing their mouths until they were kicked, at which point they reacted with some panic.

"Stop eating, move!"

Only then did the few of them trot to the place where they were to collect the Pottery Jars. As they walked, they used their tongues to clean the food residue in their mouths and the crumbs from the corners of their mouths, not wanting to waste a single bit.

They pretended that nothing had happened and, with a humble posture, stated their request to collect the Pottery Jars. The official from the Ministry of Revenue did not say a word, but pointed to the four large Pottery Jars on the ground and said: "Those are yours, one for each person. Make sure to hold them tight, don't let them drop."

Gao An and the others nodded repeatedly; they understood without being told how precious such large Pottery Jars were. At the very least, when they were at the Jiangshui Tribe, they had never used them.

They bent down to pick up the Pottery Jars. The Ministry of Revenue official had long since seen the traces at the corners of their mouths and understood that they had already stolen food. They did not blame them—the punishment would come anyway, and they did not care about such things—but they still kindly gave a reminder: "Do not steal the grain. I believe you know the consequences. Not punishing you now does not mean you won't be punished later."

Gao An and the others were so scared they almost knelt down, and the two women's legs began to tremble. Stealing food could get one killed, but the official only said that one sentence and then made no further moves. The few of them secretly glanced at the official who was still sitting steadily, only then straightening their legs, slowly standing up, and then carrying their Pottery Jars as they walked back.

On the way back, one of the women could not help but cry. Gao An was terrified that she would drop and shatter her Pottery Jar, but he vaguely remembered that everyone was responsible for their own; even if this woman dropped her jar, it should not be blamed on him. So, he did not say anything and returned to his Tent steadily. Only after putting down the Pottery Jar did he let out a long sigh of relief.

But the Pottery Jar was placed next to the grain jar, and his eyes involuntarily saw the grain jar again. He squatted on the ground, his hand reaching toward the grain jar unconsciously, and as he touched the jar body, he sighed: "This jar is really made so beautifully..."

Just as his hand moved upward, a shout suddenly came from outside: "Where are the people? Everyone come out!"

Gao An's hand shook, and he immediately darted out of the Tent. The same Soldier was in front of him, but he was leading a large group of Slaves behind him.

The woman from the opposite Tent rushed out, but she was clearly choked and kept coughing; her face had turned somewhat red. Gao An instantly became uneasy, his body trembling involuntarily, and he lowered his head, silently chanting: "This time I didn't steal food, I didn't steal food."

The Soldier saw the woman who was choking, sneered, and stepped forward. The woman who was choked saw the Soldier walking toward her and was so scared that she retreated a few steps, wanting to flee, but the Soldier grabbed her hair with one hand and restrained her stomach with the other, slamming a few heavy blows onto her back. After that, the woman felt she could breathe again.

The Soldier let go, and the woman collapsed directly to the ground. The Soldier glanced at her, then clapped his hands and walked into the middle of everyone.

"Now, everyone identify your own Tents. There are five of you to a Tent, no switching allowed, no wandering around. The women's Tents are opposite the men's, but you are not allowed to enter! If you are caught, your balls will be cut off, so you can never enter a woman's Tent again!"

All the men felt a chill in their crotches. Although they were already exposed to the cold wind, after being told this, they felt the chill even more severely, and the wind even seemed to have a cutting pain.

"Now, according to the previous division, the first Platoon, stand over there!" The Soldier pointed at Gao An, and the four men standing in a line immediately walked to Gao An's side.

"You line of women, stand over there." The Soldier pointed to Tent No. 0002. Their Tent numbers were odd for men and even for women. Although these savages did not understand, the Soldiers understood a little. Moreover, after a Winter of learning, these Slaves had to at least learn to recognize Arabic numerals and combinations to have a better chance of being assigned; otherwise, they would be considered low-intelligence and assigned to the Coal Mine or Cement Mine, places that relied on physical strength rather than brains.

Factories like the Cement Mine, which were severely harmful to the human body, were now using Slaves for labor. The old Workers from before were now rotating as supervisors and commanders. Because the harm to them in the past was great, their work now was extremely easy; they might only be on shift for four or five days a month, and the remaining time was for them to recuperate, or no one would stop them if they wanted to do something else.

In Baifeng's view, these Workers were among the earliest batch of people in Huaxia. They were considered to have contributed to the founding of the nation and had sacrificed a great deal. Plus, their numbers were not too large, so even with things as they were, even if they did very little work, Huaxia was willing to provide for them. Besides, given their physical condition, how many more years could Huaxia support them? As long as they did not hold grudges against Huaxia, it was fine.

However, according to news from Baifeng's secret intelligence organization, these Workers were mostly confused. They did not attribute their physical problems to their work; instead, they felt a bit embarrassed because of such easy work. Everyone was working hard to build Huaxia, and they were enjoying a life of leisure—this was not right.