PNB Chapter 267 Disdain
Chapter 267 Disdain
Mo Yiqi stared at He Renchuan's receding figure, his heart filled with anger.
The people he was in charge of were the elderly, the weak, the sick, the disabled, women and children. The salt-making task assigned to him by his superiors was extremely difficult. He was in urgent need of manpower, especially strong labor. However, not only did he not receive any additional help, but two seriously injured and weak people were sent to him. It was clearly an intentional attempt to make things difficult for him.
Thinking of this, Mo Yiqi looked at Chu Lingfeng and Huo Jianjie with eyes full of disgust and disdain.
"You two will form a team and must hand in 15 kilograms of coarse salt every day. If you fail to do so, you will not receive a single cent of your wages, and your wages will be deducted!"
Mo Yiqi's tone was cold, with a firm and irrefutable tone.
After saying that, he flicked his sleeves, snorted coldly, and turned away.
When Huo Jianjie heard this, his heart suddenly sank.
He looked around and found that other groups basically consisted of three or four people or more, and they could exchange food for a minimum of ten kilograms of coarse salt a day.
But when it was their turn, they were only two people in a group, but they had to hand over 15 kilograms of coarse salt. If they failed to do so, they would have the amount deducted. This was undoubtedly a deliberate attempt to make things difficult for them.
Without wages, there is no way to exchange them for food. On this island, having no food means losing one's life. This method is really too cruel.
Even though he was filled with resentment and dissatisfaction, Huo Jianjie did not dare to delay even a moment. He knew that complaining was meaningless on this island. The only way to have a chance of survival was to act as soon as possible.
So he hurried to get his tools: a broken wooden barrel, a rusty pot, a spatula with a broken corner, and nothing else.
On this East China Sea island, the convicts used a rather primitive and simple method of making salt.
There is no need to pour the seawater directly into the pot. Instead, let it settle first. After the impurities have settled, scoop the clearer seawater from the top into the pot.
Then, continue to boil it over the blazing flame until the seawater is completely evaporated, and the white salt stain remaining at the bottom of the pot is the original coarse salt.
However, this coarse salt still contains a lot of impurities, tastes bitter, and has very coarse particles.
After being handed over, it will be taken over by experienced personnel, who will go through a series of complicated and tedious processes such as re-boiling, fine filtering, adding brine, etc. before it can be made into fine salt for sale.
However, this delicate process would never be performed by convicts who had just arrived on the island.
For the convicts who first arrived on the island, the only things they could do were these most basic and arduous labors in exchange for food to sustain their lives.
……
The sunlight shines through the mottled leaves, casting golden spots on the ground.
Murong Ling'er held Murong Chen's hand and walked towards the back mountain of the island. The purpose of their trip was to find a special herb, which was said to have a certain alleviating effect on Chu Lingfeng's poison.
"Mom, are there really herbs on this mountain that can save Uncle Chu?" Murong Chen asked curiously, blinking his big eyes.
"It should be there. This herb grows in damp and dark places. Let's look for it carefully."
Murong Ling'er patiently answered her son's questions, her eyes constantly searching around.
Just as they were concentrating on looking for herbs, suddenly, several fugitives rushed out from the woods. They were ragged and haggard, but there was a malicious gleam in their eyes.
"Hey, little beauty, you're quite brave! How dare you run up this mountain with a baby?"
The leading convict had a long scar on his face, which made him look particularly ferocious. As he spoke, he rubbed his hands and approached Murong Ling'er step by step.
"Wow! What a handsome face! Come and play with the brothers." Another convict also joined in the fun with a lewd smile on his face.
Murong Ling'er's face turned cold in an instant. She protected Murong Chen behind her, with a chill in her eyes.
"You'd better stay away from me and don't ask for trouble." Her voice was low and firm, with unquestionable majesty.
"Haha, you still dare to be stubborn? Brothers, go ahead!" The scarred convict gave an order, and several convicts pounced towards Murong Ling'er like wolves.
Murong Ling'er was prepared. Just when the first fugitive reached out to grab her, she flashed and went behind the other person like a ghost, then suddenly grabbed the other person's wrist and twisted it hard.
With a crisp "crack" sound, the convict's wrist was broken, and he screamed in pain.
"Ahhh... My hand, my hand is broken!" The convict held his wrist and rolled on the ground in pain.
Seeing this, the other convicts not only did not retreat, but were aroused to ferocity.
"You bitch, you dare to fight back? Brothers, come on together. We must teach you a lesson today!" As they said this, they waved the sticks in their hands and surrounded her again.
Murong Ling'er showed no fear at all. She was agile and moved freely among the crowd.
Every attack was accompanied by a scream.
She kicked a convict in the chest, and the man flew out like a kite with a broken string, hitting a tree heavily with a dull sound.
Murong Chen stood aside, arms folded across his chest, watching his mother deal with these bad guys with a calm face. He was full of confidence in his mother's skills. In his heart, his mother was omnipotent.
"Have mercy! Auntie, we were wrong, we won't dare to do it again!" Several convicts were beaten badly and knelt down to beg for mercy.
They didn't expect that this seemingly weak woman was so powerful.
Murong Ling'er stepped on the back of the nearest fugitive and said coldly, "Don't dare? Really?"
"I really don't dare, ma'am. Please be magnanimous and spare us!" The prisoners were so frightened that their faces turned pale and they kowtowed repeatedly.
"Get out!" Murong Ling'er snorted coldly and loosened her feet.
The fugitives, as if granted amnesty, crawled and disappeared into the depths of the woods.
"Mom, these people are so annoying! How can they bully us for no reason?" Murong Chen walked quickly to his mother Murong Ling'er angrily, raised his little face and asked with grievance.
Murong Ling'er reached out and gently stroked his little head, her tone soft but with a hint of helplessness: "These people have bad intentions and are not kind people. It's not surprising that they do such things to bully the weak." After that, she pinched Murong Chen's pink cheek lovingly.
After searching for a long time, a hint of surprise suddenly flashed in Murong Ling'er's beautiful eyes - she finally found the precious herb she had been looking for for a long time!
Then, Murong Ling'er carefully dug out the herb and put it into the mysterious space she carried with her.
After doing all this, she stood up, took Murong Chen's hand, and said with a smile: "Let's go! It's time to go down the mountain!"
The mother and son slowly walked down the hillside along the winding mountain road, and soon returned to the salt-producing area at the foot of the mountain.
As soon as she returned here, Murong Ling'er didn't even take a break and immediately started working with Murong Chen. Murong Ling'er lit the fire and began to boil sea water to make salt.
It was the transition period between spring and summer, and the weather on the Donghai Island was extremely hot. The scorching sun was mercilessly burning the earth, and the air was filled with rolling heat waves.
Doing the hard work of making salt in such an unbearable hot environment is really boring and tiring!
Murong Ling'er and Murong Chen, mother and son, kept adding seawater to the pot, watching the seawater in the pot evaporate bit by bit and the salt particles gradually precipitate.
By noon, even though they were busy all the time, the pot had only produced less than three pounds of coarse salt.