vstars Chapter 192 Selling Sons and Daughters
Chapter 192 Selling Sons and Daughters
What made her even more nervous was that she could even hear the distinct, creaking sounds of windows being opened cautiously, as well as suppressed hushed conversations, coming from the two two-story buildings on either side of her house, which were not far apart but had normal windows.
Clearly, her neighbors had also been awakened by the commotion in the middle of the night. They were furtively pushing open a crack in the window, peeking out to see the "excitement" downstairs, exchanging apprehensive or curious comments. Human beings' instinct to spy on danger and gossip cannot be completely suppressed even in the dead of winter.
Only in the house where she lived, because when she took over the property, in order to maximize storage space and shorten the renovation period and cost, she turned the entire second floor into a sealed storage space made of reinforced steel plates and insulation materials, without even leaving a window for ventilation or to observe the outside world.
At this moment, the decision she made for safety and practicality has instead made her a "blind" and "deaf" trapped in an iron shell. She cannot see the outside world directly and can only rely entirely on her hearing to painstakingly distinguish fragments of information from the distant noise distorted and weakened by the wind.
At first, there were some indistinct sounds of arguing and tugging, then a young woman's piercing and desperate plea pierced the cold wind, drifting intermittently, with a distinct southern accent, she was crying so hard she was almost choking:
"Comrades of the People's Liberation Army! I beg you! I beg you! Don't send me to the Fourth City! There's nothing there! I'll freeze to death! I... I can... I can marry any man! As long as he'll take me in and give me a place to sleep! I'll do anything! I just beg to stay in the outer city! Please!!"
Immediately afterwards, a middle-aged man's urgent and hoarse voice rang out, carrying an almost humble fawning and ingratiating tone; he was likely the woman's father or a relative.
"Yes, yes, yes! Comrades of the People's Liberation Army! Please have mercy! My daughter can get married! She's young, only twenty-two! Healthy, and capable! She can cook, wash clothes, do everything! As long as... as long as someone is willing to marry her, I'll agree to her marriage immediately! We don't want anything! Not a single penny of dowry! Really! We just want her to stay, to have a place to shelter from the wind and rain! Please, please, make an exception!!"
The father and daughter's pleas for help were like a twisted "inspiration" signal bursting forth from despair, instantly igniting the "thoughts" of others around them facing the same predicament.
A woman's hurried voice joined the "human auction," and she appeared to be pulling at a young man as well:
"My son! My son can do it too! He's strong! He's twenty-five this year, he can work! He can dig dirt, carry things, he can do it all! We just ask a kind person to take our family in! We just need a place to shelter us from the wind and rain! We can be live-in sons-in-law! We'll do whatever you say!"
Another, more timid, and seemingly younger girl's voice also rang out weakly and trembling in the cold wind, filled with fear and humiliation:
"I...I just turned 18 this year...As long as...as long as they take our family in...give my parents a place to live...I...I'll marry them! I...I'll be obedient..."
These cries, driven by the most basic need for survival—the willingness to "objectify" themselves or their closest relatives to avoid being expelled to the Fourth City—echoed repeatedly in the biting wind and the cold shouts of the security guards, under the icy, silent night.
However, before their humiliating and desperate cries for a "deal" could completely fade away in the cold wind, a sudden, rhythmic, and bone-chilling sound of metal clashing and scraping rang out!
"Click! Click! Click—!" That was the crisp sound of a gun safety being released, a bolt being pulled back, or a bayonet being locked in place! In the silent night, this sound carried an absolute authority that needed no words, instantly shattering all the sounds of lamentation, pleading, and scheming that filled the air.
Immediately afterwards, a male voice devoid of any emotion rang out, clearly transmitted through the loudspeaker to everyone present: "Attention all stranded personnel! Please comply with Management Order No. 17 of Linchuan Base, abandon futile resistance and entanglement, and proceed in an orderly manner to the designated resettlement area in the Fourth City! Repeat, everyone, please proceed to the Fourth City resettlement point immediately and in an orderly manner! Any act of obstructing law enforcement, inciting confrontation, or attempting to storm residential areas will be considered a serious challenge to base order and will be subject to corresponding consequences!"
The voice left no room for negotiation, only orders and warnings. As soon as the words were spoken, there was a uniform, heavy, and extremely oppressive sound of footsteps, approaching from afar. It was clear that a square formation of fully armed soldiers was beginning to advance in a standard tactical formation, carrying out an irrefutable order to drive them away.
Upon hearing this, Xu Xiaoyan's tense and even somewhat disgusted heartstrings, which had been tightened by those distorted human transactions, relaxed a little. The intervention of the army at least meant that the most naked violence and chaos had been temporarily suppressed, and order had regained the upper hand.
Even after confirming that the military was controlling the situation outside, she felt a sudden urge to open the door and go out to see the "excitement," to witness the diverse lives beneath this cold order.
But she quickly and resolutely extinguished the thought as soon as it popped into her head. She immediately thought of the "Frozen Door" that she had spent nearly twenty minutes making before going to bed. To open this door, she would need at least half a pot of hot water and a considerable amount of time.
"Sigh, never mind..." In the darkness, she sighed helplessly, almost silently, as if mocking her own inappropriate curiosity. She really didn't want to waste her precious water, energy, and time just to satisfy her voyeuristic desires. No matter how "wonderful" the outside world was, it was full of unpredictable dangers. Curiosity not only killed the cat, but in this world, it could also kill people directly.
So she forcibly suppressed the stirring within her, sank back into the still-warm bed, and chose to continue being a "listener" in the darkness. She thought that with the army's clear stance and display of force, the riot in the dead of night would soon come to an end.
However, she underestimated the baseness and cunning that human nature can display in desperate situations in order to seize a glimmer of hope. Just as the sound of the army's advancing footsteps and the urging noises moved slightly away from her row of houses, and the focus seemed to shift to another block.
A male voice, clearly snobbish, suddenly rang out from the direction of her house. The volume wasn't loud, but it sounded particularly jarring in the forced silence: "Hey! Wait! Comrade PLA soldier! Don't rush to chase people away! Wait a minute!"