After a few days, her injuries seemed to be much better. Sometimes, she really felt that her life was retched; others wanted her to die, but she did not. She could even recover from such an injury on her own without any cure.
People started giving out rice outside, and Xia Ruoxin went out to take her portion. When she walked beside the woman with a high nose, she paused; and her gaze landed on the woman’s chest. Don’t think she didn’t know that there she had a piece of gold with her. She looked at the woman with a high nose again, and her facial expression did not look too good.
“You better not put your gold in my area again.” She used English to converse with the woman with a high nose. It was a silent warning and kind advice. “Don’t think no one knows what you did. There’s a saying in China that says there is no wall in this world that would not let the wind in. If you walk near the river all the time, how would your shoes not get wet?” The face of the woman with a high nose darkened, but she still acted dumb. However, Xia Ruoxin knew that this person actually understood English.
She picked up the bowl and sat down next to Shen Wei.
“What did you say to her?” Shen Wei randomly picked up a rock and threw it to the gold-finding river.
“Nothing much.” Xia Ruoxin shrugged her shoulders. “I just asked her to keep the thing in between her two cups properly and not let us keep it for her anymore.”
“She understood you?” Shen Wei raised her eyebrows. “She would feel bad for doing something wrong. I think she wouldn’t have the guts to do it again.”
“I think she could. No matter how much she tries to act dumb, the change in facial expression is not up to her to control.” Xia Ruoxin hugged her knees tightly, and she actually hated that woman quite a bit.
“If she dares to do something like this again, she should see how I’ll mess with her. She had already forgotten about how she fell into the river the previous times and did not even heed warning from it.” Shen Wei sneered. If she wanted to try again, she would do it with her a few more times.
Actually, the woman with a high nose did know that someone was messing with her lately as her blanket would suddenly spoil, her foot would have an injury, and she would drop into the river. However, whatever that happened here, one could only endure as if one did not, one would get beaten up.
She suddenly remembered what the women said previously, and after putting her hands in the front of her chest for half a day, she took out a small piece of gold. She held it tightly, and her heart was filled with unwillingness.
She clenched her teeth and handed in this gold that she could no longer keep.
She got food in return, but she could not eat it.
Xia Ruoxin pulled up her sleeves, and her injury had almost recovered. Actually, most of her physical injuries could recover easily; it was just the imagery in her heart that could not be erased.
After the fat woman gave her a beating, it was like a warning for everyone. Recently, the number of gold found had increased which made the fat woman smile a bit more and was more polite to them.
That night, Xia Ruoxin was going to sleep. They spent every day the same way lethargically; actually, they did not even know what they did in the end. She was wondering why these people were not afraid of their period coming, but it turned out that after staying here for so long, they were not even women.
They had spent every day in the cold water, drinking cold water, being half-full all the time… and their body was almost tortured to death. Many of the women started getting older much earlier.
Hers was late for half a month while Shen Wei’s did not come for a month already.
“It’s okay, it’ll be fine.”
Xia Ruoxin held Shen Wei’s hand tightly. “Once we get out, we’ll get better slowly. The days here aren’t easy so it’s natural if it doesn’t come.”
Shen Wei smiled at her nonchalantly. “Don’t worry. I didn’t think wrongly.” At that time, her eyelashes lowered in a cold way; even Xia Ruoxin felt it.
The weather outside was getting colder; Xia Ruoxin stood up and pulled her thin clothes tighter. “If this continued, perhaps our future days would be depressing.”
The cup in Shen Wei’s hand dropped on the floor, and she picked it up nonchalantly.
Indeed, it was going to get more and more miserable as the cold water would become frozen.
This year, their production quantity was relatively big. Even though what they handed up was always very little, but as they accumulated, they would have produced quite a substantial amount of gold at the end of the year. She did not believe that these people would give up the chance to make money and let them rest for the winter.
She pinched her ankle and felt the pain from below.
After a short break, they were prepared to go down to the river again. Once they reached outside, the fat woman pulled a long face and walked over, followed by a few people behind holding an unkempt woman. They mercilessly kicked the woman onto the floor.
The woman kept begging for mercy with some country’s language. Actually, one did not need to hear clearly and understand properly to know what she meant as her expression, her actions, and her movements were all suggesting that she was begging for mercy.
The fat woman directly reached her leg out and stepped on that woman’s face. Bang! The woman was kicked to the floor, and her face hit the floor hard, causing blood to gush out.
The fat woman extended her hand and took out an old sack. She opened it and poured out at least ten pieces of gold. She pointed at the woman on the floor before shaking the sack. After a while, the woman was dragged away; as to where she was dragged to, others might not know… but Xia Ruoxin did.
That place was scarier than prison as the stick would hit their weakest spots like their arms, legs, head, joints, and even their face.
Once the woman with a high nose saw the fat woman holding the sack, her face became distorted.
Not long after, people came in to chase them down to the water.
Xia Ruoxin placed both her feet into the water, and the bone-chilling cold was even more unbearable than a few days ago. Not long after, she heard the woman’s cries—an extremely miserable cry.
Perhaps the her back then was also the same way.
The past was unbearable to her so she did not want to think about it.
The woman with a high nose really became honest now and did not dare keep the gold she found or find trouble for Xia Ruoxin. Once she saw them, she would hide immediately.
However, this made Xia Ruoxin’s heart heavy.
Could they really not run away?
How far did that woman run before she got captured back? The people who caught her back were probably planning to beat her to her death.