Chapter 942 Why Live
After a tiring day, Tianyun and several of his companions packed up their tools and returned to their shack-like accommodation.
It would be a stretch to call it a shack, as there were just a few wooden boards standing up on the sides, a piece of tarpaulin above the head to keep out the rain, and the bed was made up of several wooden strips and cross boards.
If it is windy and rainy, the whole shed will shake, and people can't help but worry that it will collapse.
Eight or nine people were crammed into a small shack of less than ten square meters, eating, sleeping and living together.
As soon as I lay down on the bed, the moldy wooden edges rubbed against each other, and the creaking sound was like a chaotic music, which made people feel irritated, but helpless.
If it weren't for the fact that making a living is so difficult nowadays and the world is so chaotic, who would work in this illegal factory?
The foreman arrived soon, carrying a basket of steamed bread and a large basin of porridge so thin that barely any rice grains could be seen.
"That guy surnamed Liu has already left. I advise you, if anyone has a problem with their brain, leave now."
"Although our factory is a bit tired, as long as you haven't committed any crime, at least you can leave with all your limbs intact."
Looking at his men scrambling to grab a share of the dry steamed bread, wolfing down the porridge, and smelling the stench of sweat in the shack, the foreman's eyes flashed with disdain and he spoke coldly.
Several men working as laborers paused and looked at each other, wanting to say something, but finally fell into deathly silence.
They didn't want to do such tiring work, but this job could at least prevent the family from starving to death. The world outside was in chaos, with war and turmoil. If they were drafted into the army one day, that would be a despairing thing for the whole family.
"Very good... I don't want the situation like that Liu guy to happen again."
"The world is in such a mess right now, and the taxes are so heavy that they can crush you to death... If you don't want to be drafted into the battlefield and die, then just work honestly. It may be tiring, but at least it can keep you alive."
The foreman bossed the laborers around, pointed out some problems, and finally humiliated them in a derogatory manner, saying that based on their abilities, they were only fit to do rough labor in this black factory, and that as long as they had food, drink and shelter, they shouldn't dream of too much.
The monthly salary of about thirty copper coins was barely enough to feed the families of these laborers. If a family had a child at this juncture... haha, I'm afraid the child would be eager to do more work and get more money.
The wooden door of the shack was shut heavily. A few gusts of cold wind rushed in through the cracks in the door and blew on the bodies of several laborers, causing only silence.
The candle flame, which was about to burn out, was blown to and fro by the cold wind. The flame was about to go out, and after struggling for a while, it gradually returned to calm.
However, the light shone into the shack, reflecting the numbness in the eyes of several people, as well as deep fatigue and helplessness.
Sometimes, silence is not because of lack of passion or enthusiasm, but because of complete numbness.
The workers who dared to raise demands in the black factory have long disappeared. The mud and sand worker surnamed Zhang also "went crazy" and kicked the foreman, and has never been seen since.
I think that when the mud worker disappeared, the fate of the seriously ill mother at home who was unable to take care of herself would also be a bit sad.
But this is the life of these poor people at the bottom of society. Thin porridge and wild vegetables are the norm, and being able to get enough food and clothing is happiness. If they dare to have any extra delusions, they will be ruthlessly crushed by those above them.
Tianyun huddled on the bed in the corner of the shack, clenching his fists tightly.
He always felt that something was wrong. The world shouldn't be like this. People shouldn't live in a daze, being manipulated like toys!
But...what was lost that made the world become like this again?
In the past, during some glorious period, people had gradually gained happiness!
Deep in his memory, there was a voice shouting: Life was not so hard before, what about the gods? No, I... the gods are high above, they won't care about these things...
Then...where is that mysterious figure named Li... Li?
Looking at the gloomy and messy shack, and the calm and numb expressions on the faces of several of his fellow workers, Tianyun felt a splitting headache. Some buried memories were hitting him, but they could not be made clear.
Originally, with the magic cast by Li Yuan, Tianyun should have recovered his memory hundreds of years ago, but as Li Yuan's cultivation level increased rapidly, the seal left behind became increasingly solid.
Later, fate took over and made Tianyun completely sink into the mortal world. After a life of suffering and despair, the heavens wanted Tianyun to truly realize the truth, be reborn from decay, and become a special existence.
All the pain he had inflicted on the people of Dayue Kingdom happened again to him countless times, and was even a thousand times more torturous.
But Tianyun didn't know all this. He just felt a hysterical cry of despair in his heart, as if it contained lifetimes of pain, and all the sorrow of losing loved ones and the hatred of humiliation were bursting out.
The candle has ebbed, and the melted droplets have replaced the workers' tears, sliding down silently; the faint candlelight that is gradually fading away can only illuminate a tiny corner, which is also a portrayal of the life of these grassroots people.
Before the candle was about to burn out, someone silently took out a small square frame from the bed and wiped it with his not-so-clean sleeves as if it were a treasure.
"This is something our ancestors left behind. It has been passed down for more than ten generations. I heard it's called something... a photo."
Seeing that other companions in the shack were paying close attention, the man smiled bitterly and calmly showed the photos to everyone.
The material of the photo frame is quite ordinary, and the photo has some patina, but the glass covering the photo is smooth and transparent, which is not something that ordinary people can have nowadays.
Even so, it can be seen that the frame of the photo frame has been replaced several times to maintain its current intact appearance. It is indeed an ancient "heirloom".
There are not many people in the photo, just a man and a woman standing in front of a four-wheeled metal vehicle, wearing thick clothes, holding up two fingers, and taking pictures happily.
Behind them, there were some figures coming and going, all wearing warm clothes and with smiles on their faces; some were carrying food, some were carrying advanced tools, and they looked like they were living a happy and peaceful life.
"Look, my ancestor is holding a square object in his hand. My grandfather told me that it is a very magical treasure. It is called... a mobile phone."
"My grandpa said that there is lightning in the sky inside the mobile phone, and it will glow!"
"But, hehe...my grandfather hasn't seen it either. I only heard about it from my ancestors."
The honest man grinned, obviously very curious about the mobile phone his grandfather mentioned.
Only at this time, when he returned to bed after a hard day's work and was about to go to sleep after the candle was extinguished, did he dare to take out this thing and take a look at it.
Only then will there be a look other than numbness in the eyes, and one will yearn for the distant era that their ancestors talked about.
In the corner of the shack, Tianyun looked at the man who was stroking the photo frame with a smile on his face. For some reason, a drop of turbid tears fell from the corner of his eye.
He had a feeling in his heart that he seemed to have experienced that era before, in another identity and with another appearance.
Moreover, it seemed that he had once been the most frightening, disgusting and despicable being, who had persecuted too many innocent people and destroyed the simplest happiness in the world, and that was why he had ended up like he deserved.
But...if that's the case, why am I still alive?