The woman glanced at the salesman holding the rattle, then at the little boy, and gritted her teeth.
He took out a thick handkerchief from his pocket, opened it, turned over the layers of rags, and took out one of the two shiny copper plates that he was rubbing.
I walked up to the salesman, hesitated for a while, and bought the rattle.
After watching this scene, the man said nothing, picked up the burden again, lowered his head and walked forward.
But the little boy burst into tears. It turned out that after the woman bought the little girl a rattle, she did not buy him candied haws. She just covered her face and walked behind the man.
The little girl had a runny nose, shaking a rattle in her hand, and a dull smile on her dirty face.
Then, she stretched her hand holding the rattle to another bamboo basket and shouted vaguely:
"Brother...brother."
However, her short and thin hands could not touch the father in front of her, let alone the other little boy in the bamboo basket.
Finally, the man carried the bamboo basket and led the woman to the back door of a spacious house.
In front of the door, a plump old steward was sitting and drinking tea. Next to him, several handymen were picking up goods, next to barefoot fathers carrying their children, drinking tea in an instructive manner. With.
The dark and old men had expressions of embarrassment and shame on their faces. Some of them took the money, and their wrinkles had a hint of joy. They glanced at the children who were taken away, and the sobbing woman turned her head and walked away step by step.
Some were not selected, and the burden on their shoulders seemed to be heavier. They turned around and went to another house, or even put up grass signs and went to the street to sell.
The man and woman finally arrived. However, the woman who had been following the man suddenly picked up...the little boy in the bamboo basket.
He walked aside, hugged the child tightly in his arms, and turned around without looking at the man.
The man looked at the woman who was close at hand, but in the end, he just made the first sound of the day.
"well."
He sighed.
Then he picked up the empty bamboo basket and walked forward.
Fortunately, the little girl was chosen, and the man carefully held the few taels of silver thrown by the handyman in his hands.
After looking at the little girl's dull expression, he picked up the burden, walked to the woman's side, and then walked forward together against the light.
The woman never looked at the little girl again from the moment she took the little boy away.
There was only the little boy in her arms, lying on the woman's shoulder, looking at the girl and the rattle in her hand.
The little girl looked at her family members walking away, as if she still didn't know what had happened.
Seeing her brother looking at her hand, she smiled blankly, stretched out the rattle towards her brother, and shook it gently.
Boom, boom, boom.
...
"Are you this girl stupid? You can't even speak?"
A fat, old woman yelled at a little girl in front of her who was twisting her hands behind her back.
"say!"
"Snapped!"
A slap came down.
"How did a fool like you get elected into our Wang family?"
After looking at the dirty little girl lying on the ground, crying silently, the woman yelled at the other children behind her:
"I'm here to teach you how to serve people. If you don't learn well, Manager Zhou will sell you to human traffickers from now on."
"If you learn well, you can be like me and serve the young master all your life. When you get old, you won't have to worry about food and drink!"
Regardless of whether they understood what the old woman meant or not, many children nodded in silence.
After the old woman finally left.
"Don't play with her, she's stupid."
"Stupid, she will definitely be sold to human traffickers in the future."
"Let's get away from her."
After the child ran away, the little girl used her thin arms to hold herself up. He sat on the ground and took out a clean, polished rattle wrapped in a clean red cloth from under his dirty clothes.
She stared straight at the rattle with her big eyes and shook it gently twice.
Boom, boom, boom.
...
"Today, you all will follow me to the southern vegetable market to do some shopping."
Several young men in their early teens in front of them all agreed.
The little girl stood in the crowd. She was ten years old, but her face was still sallow and thin. She looked a little out of place among her peers who were a head taller than her.
Over the years, everyone has known that she is mute, but fortunately she is not a fool. He looked thin, but he was willing to contribute, so he was assigned to help the kitchen steward.
Soon after, a group of people walked onto the street.
There was a roaring sound in the distance, gongs and drums were beating, and people were crowded. Suddenly, with the sound of a drum, the sound of gongs and drums quieted down, but the wall of people crowded forward more and more, as if they were watching the excitement.
"Uncle Li, what's going on in the city today?" A bold kid tried to get close to the leading steward.
"Hmph! It has nothing to do with you! It's the immortals who come to the academy to choose disciples!" The middle-aged man called Uncle Li snorted coldly, "Don't think that I don't know what you are thinking! If you want to join in the fun, wait until this time is over! "
"Hey, where is the mute? The mute is missing!" A teenage girl suddenly shouted.
"Oh, I really can't see you. Where is the person?"
"Uncle Li, there! She ran to watch the excitement!" A sharp-eyed child saw the little girl.
Uncle Li's face sank. This mute usually seemed quite honest, but he didn't expect that he would be so bold just to watch the fun today.
Looking at the children behind him who were all eager to try, Uncle Li's face was as dark as water:
"See if I catch her or beat her to death!!"
The children calmed down instantly, and someone pointed:
"The mute is there, there!"
In the crowded crowd, a thin girl wearing a coarse cloth handyman uniform one size larger was trying her best to squeeze in.
She was so thin that it seemed like a gust of wind could blow her down.
But she was so stubborn, with her yellow hair scattered like a crooked tree. Pushing aside the men and women who were much stronger than her, she struggled to grow inward.
"You all follow me!" Uncle Li roared angrily, ran towards the little girl, and shouted at the same time: "Mute, stop!"
But the crowd was too big. He squeezed in along the withered yellow hair. After squeezing for a long time, he finally almost caught the timid little mute.
But, suddenly, the crowd became quiet.
He glanced around and found that he had already squeezed into the innermost position, and in front of him was a white jade disk. The crowd looked at him, and he looked at the little mute in front of him.
The mute, or rather the little girl, was helplessly squeezed onto the white jade disk.
She shed tears silently, took out a clean, well-wrapped red cloth from under her dirty clothes, opened it, and took out a brand new rattle.
Then, the mute suddenly burst into tears:
"Uncle Salesman, I obviously saw you! Come out quickly!"
The tone was weird because she had not spoken for many years. Mixed with howls of unknown meaning, the little girl shouted with all her strength:
"I don't want the rattle anymore. I'll give the rattle back to you. You can let my parents take me home."
The thin, short hands twitched unconsciously, and the rattle swayed slightly.
Boom, boom, boom.
