Meng Wan is a recent college graduate who, just as he was about to make his mark in society, discovered that the world outside of school was not so easy to navigate.
The competition is cutthroat…
Not only his classmates from the same year applied, but also current graduates from top-tier universities who were a year ahead of him, and even graduates from the previous two years. These seniors weren’t asking for salaries, but only for job opportunities.
Meng Wan was struggling to make ends meet and finally managed to get a job at a hotel after many hardships. Fortunately, it wasn’t washing dishes, but accounting, which was his major, with a monthly salary of 2,200 yuan and room and board included.
But after learning that the auntie who washed dishes in the kitchen earned 3,800 yuan a month, Meng Wan cried. He didn’t sleep all night, lying on his dormitory bed, thinking while smelling his roommates’ stinky feet and cooking fumes.
Where did the problem lie?
Didn’t get into a top-tier university?
Or perhaps it was because his parents died early and he lived with his second uncle without anyone to discipline him, which made him used to reading people’s faces and his sensitive personality was not as cheerful, generous and likable as his classmates?
With his mind a jumble of thoughts, Meng Wan finally drifted off to sleep close to midnight. In his half-awake state, he heard someone shouting that there was a fire. He tried to open his eyes, but his eyelids felt incredibly heavy. The thick smoke filled his lungs, and he didn’t even have the strength to cough. He simply passed out without realizing it.
He was jolted awake by the burning sensation of flames licking his skin. He wanted to scream but had no strength to make a sound, and then he fell into a long coma again.
”Ugly slave![1]Chounu’er, his name, means Ugly slave jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_2776830_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_2776830_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });”
”Wake up, the lady is calling you over.”
”Ugly slave, ugly slave?”
Who’s making noise?
Meng Wan mumbled sleepily, “Don’t disturb my sleep.”
”That ugly servant is still sleeping. He really doesn’t care about our young lady now that he’s hooked up with the young master.”
”Watch me!”
Meng Wan’s face was pinched hard, and the person used all their strength, causing Meng Wan to sit up in bed in pain.
”What’s wrong? Is it time to go to work? My alarm didn’t go off.” As a first-day worker, he had already begun to act like a beast of burden, not asking why anyone was pinching him, but instead worrying most about being late for work.
He sat up abruptly and opened his eyes. Two young men dressed in light green ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress) with dark green bijia (another type of traditional Chinese vest) on top were standing by his bed, glaring at him angrily.
Meng Wan wondered uncertainly: Was it a man?
Neither of them is particularly good-looking, nor do they have any feminine features, so it feels a bit odd that they’re wearing such youthful and cute clothes.
When the two men saw that he was awake, they scolded him angrily, “Are you still half asleep? What nonsense are you spouting? The young lady wants to see you, so go quickly.”
Meng Wan stared at the two of them for three seconds, then suddenly closed his eyes, leaned back, and slammed heavily onto the pillow.
He thought he was lying on a pillow made of old clothes stuffed in a pillowcase, but then there was a loud “bang,” and Meng Wan screamed and jumped off the bed, clutching his head.
Clutching the back of his head, which was throbbing with pain, Meng Wan finally regained full consciousness. The house was made of solid wood, with a stone-paved floor. Even the windows were made with wooden frames and paper that he had never seen before. There was no ceiling above his head, but a thick, sturdy load-bearing beam.
He finally had to face reality: this was not the staff dormitory where he had been the night before, and no one would be so bored as to move him to this unfamiliar place while he was sleeping.
That can only mean one thing: the acrid smoke he smelled in the early morning was indeed from a fire, and he had inhaled too much smoke, leading to oxygen deprivation and poisoning, causing him to fall into a coma and preventing him from escaping the fire in time…
”No need to waste words with him, just take him.” One of the boys saw that Meng Wan was slow to react, making some strange movements, and then staring blankly, so he decided to just take him away.
They tried to lift Meng Wan off the bed, but they were too weak and couldn’t move him after a couple of tries.
One of the taller boys, hands on his hips, cursed, “You ugly wretch, have you no shame? You really think you’re some young master in this courtyard? Get up and come with us to see the lady!”
Meng Wan pointed at himself, somewhat bewildered, “Are you calling me?”
The shorter man rolled his eyes. “What else?”
Meng Wan got up from the ground by himself, glanced at the light green ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress) and dark-colored cardigan he was wearing, which were the same style as theirs, and didn’t understand what kind of style it was, but from what they said, he should be a servant.
”Servant is servant, but what kind of weird title is ‘ugly slave’?” Meng Wan touched his face. His skin was smooth and delicate, and his face was round and chubby. Then he looked at his hands, which were white and slender. He must be young. His features couldn’t be too ugly, could they? What did he really look like?
Now was not a good time to look in the mirror. Meng Wan was dragged and pulled out of the house by the two teenagers. After leaving the small courtyard that seemed to be for servants, they went straight to a more spacious courtyard next to it.
”Why is it taking so long?”
Seated in the main seat of the central hall was a young girl, probably sixteen or seventeen years old. Her hair was styled in a woman’s updo, adorned with several gold hairpins inlaid with jewels, and she wore pearl earrings. She wore a short, bright red jacket embroidered with auspicious birds in gold thread, with a jade pendant and a sachet hanging from her waist. Her lower body was covered by a matching bright red pleated skirt, also edged with gold thread. Her shoes were hidden under her long skirt, but they didn’t seem to have bound feet, as the white embroidered shoes occasionally peeked out from under the skirt, and they were not only not small, but slightly larger than those of an average woman.
Her expression was impatient, and she tapped her fingers irritably on the surface of the eight-immortal table in the hall, clearly indicating that she was not a good-tempered person.
Seeing Meng Wan and the other two pulling and tugging as they approached, the woman behind the girl bowed respectfully and reported, “Lady, they’ve arrived.”
Meng Wan didn’t want to come. The two boys treated him terribly and couldn’t get much information out of him. All they knew was that the lady was looking for him.
Then there was talk—circulating within the household—claiming that, despite not being a servant born and raised in the family, he harbored improper designs on the young master, using seductive wiles to lure him in.
In short, there was nothing to say, leaving Meng Wan completely confused. He was a man, right? How could this son-in-law be a homosexual?
Sensing that he wouldn’t get anything good from the lady, Meng Wan tried to stall for time while thinking of a solution.
He actually knelt down in front of the girl, and without saying a word, she said sternly, “Go and fetch the guards, and beat this ugly servant to death!”
Holy crap!!!
”Lady, I… um… um um um!” He had been thinking of all sorts of solutions along the way, but he didn’t get a single word out. As soon as he came up, two burly women stuffed cloth into his mouth and tied his hands behind his back with hemp rope. The whole set of movements was so smooth and efficient that it was clear that these two women had done this kind of work quite often.
Seeing that the two young men in green were about to obey their master’s order to fetch someone, the woman standing behind the young woman bowed and advised, “Miss, it’s not a big deal to kill this ugly servant, but firstly, you’ve just married into the household and then you’ve suddenly killed your dowry maid; this will likely damage your reputation. Secondly, although our young master was seduced by this lowly servant, he did ask for your opinion. If you deal with him like this, what will happen to the young master…”
The young girl frowned deeply, feeling a burning sensation in her stomach and a heart pounding with anxiety: “Granny Li, what should we do? This lowly servant has only been with me for a few days and he already dares to seduce the young master. If we keep him here any longer, won’t he be trampling on my head!”
Granny Li smiled gently and comforted her, “Miss is the legitimate wife of the Luo family, how dare this lowly servant, Chou Nu’er, bully you? You don’t need to be angry. This servant has become arrogant and dares to seduce our son-in-law. In that case, we will find him a good husband. When the young lady’s dowry is remarried, I think no one will be able to say anything wrong.”
The girl’s brow relaxed, and she said thoughtfully, “Get married? Then where will he be married off?”
Granny Li straightened up, a mocking smile on her face. “Since this ugly servant is thinking of climbing the social ladder, let’s send him to a place he can’t reach.”
…
Meng Wan’s hands were still bound, but the cloth in his mouth had been removed. He was now squeezed into the cramped carriage, and he felt that it was better to have the cloth stuffed in his mouth.
In this tiny space, nine men and women were crammed together. Meng Wan had already learned from these people that the young man was the third gender in this world. His first thought was, no wonder the ugly slave could seduce the young master; it turns out the young man was also a carrier.
However, the fertility rate of this group is not as high as that of women. True wealthy and noble families still regard marrying women as the proper way. Boys are just a pastime for the upper class. Poor peasant families do not distinguish between boys and girls. Being able to marry a wife is a blessing. They have no right to be picky.
Meng Wan accepted his gay identity in half a day. In real society, he was gay, but he had always pretended to be straight to avoid being discovered and scorned. Now that he could legally be gay, he would have been quite accepting of it if his situation weren’t so dire. Besides, he didn’t even have human rights anymore, so what did he care about gender? Just being alive was good enough.
Ever since he was sold to the brokerage firm and boarded this carriage heading north, Meng Wan felt like he wasn’t even human anymore. The animals pulling the carriage in front of him lived a more refined life than he did, with only two sips of water and half a loaf of bread a day. Forget about washing his face, he even had to hold his pee.
The further north they went, the hotter the weather became. They must have set off in the spring, but now it was already the beginning of summer.
These past few days, we passed through a new town, and the slave trader took in seven people at once. The carriage became more and more crowded, and sometimes Meng Wan even thought about just letting the slave trader sell him. He couldn’t stand it anymore. The road was bumpy, and the smell of a group of people who hadn’t showered for months crammed into the stuffy carriage was truly unbearable.
Unfortunately, people got on and off the cart, some were taken in by human traffickers, and others were sold off in towns and villages along the way. Meng Wan remained seated in the cart the whole time, and occasionally the human traffickers would let him get off and run so that the horse wouldn’t get tired.
Damn it, those damn human traffickers aren’t even afraid of him escaping. If I were a sprint champion, I’d show you what extraordinary speed is all about!
Little did he know that the slave trader was also surprised by this little servant boy. He had received many maids and servants sent by wealthy families before, and they all cried and screamed. This little servant was different. He didn’t cry or make a fuss along the way and cooperated in everything. He was just a bit too talkative and asked him a lot of questions, one after another.
It’s better to talk a lot than to act recklessly. In ancient times, being a human trafficker was different from being a human trafficker in modern times. Those who could connect with wealthy families were all registered with the government, so they weren’t as vicious as portrayed in TV dramas. Seeing that Meng Wan was obedient, he took good care of him on the way, which means that he was asked to get off the horse and run around more often.
Traveling in ancient times was truly an ordeal. No wonder people rarely traveled far and only wrote letters at most. Meng Wan vomited several times from the stench on the carriage. Finally, at the hottest time of the day, the slave trader dragged the emaciated Meng Wan off the carriage and left her in this remote northern town for people to look at.
”Anyone interested in a servant boy from a wealthy family?” The slave trader was exhausted from the journey. If his superiors hadn’t instructed him to sell him to the area north of Fengtian soon, he would have already sold him off.
The reward he received from the benefactor, plus the money he made from dealing with people along the way, was enough for him to live off for three years. He could then go and have some fun with the top courtesan at Chunxiang Pavilion.
The broker, lost in his own thoughts, continued to tug at Meng Wan’s hand with considerable force. Seeing the growing crowd, he rolled up Meng Wan’s sleeve, revealing his arm covered in mud. He vigorously rubbed the mud off his elbow, revealing a bright red mole. He showed it to the onlookers: “See this? This guy is still a virgin, and incredibly handsome. Buying him is a steal! Anyone interested?”
Meng Wan grimaced in pain. The slave trader’s grip was as strong as a bathhouse attendant’s. He was now disheveled and smelled terrible; no wonder no one would buy him.
”Is this a young boy? How much?” Surprisingly, someone actually asked.
The broker grinned widely and said, “Sir, you have a good eye. This young man can even read and write. Ten taels of silver, no bargaining.”
”Ten taels!” the people around exclaimed in surprise.
“A boy… we don’t have that kind of money. With that money, you could marry a young lady.”
The slave trader’s smile vanished, his large, rough hand gripping Meng Wan’s chin, then he twisted his wide waist. “You’re wrong. Look at his teeth, his figure, he’s worth more than ten taels of silver. How can he be compared to an illiterate country girl?”
A woman approached and asked, “Can he really read?”
The human broker, with his square face, pointed to the sky and swore, “How could this be false? I have a brokerage firm with a sign in the capital city of Lin’an in the south. If you don’t believe me, go and ask around about our firm.”
The people around him sighed in disbelief. Some of them had heard of Lin’an Prefecture, which was a prefecture city south of the capital, thousands of miles away. Who would go to such a far place to verify his statement?
The woman who asked the question believed him and bargained, saying, “I’ll buy this boy for eight taels of silver, and you won’t have to run around the streets anymore.”
The slave trader said with a wry smile, “I’ve come all this way, sister, please don’t try to bargain anymore.”
The woman was around forty years old. She blushed with embarrassment after being called “sister.” She spat and cursed, “Pah! Who’s your sister? Eight taels of silver, are you going to sell it or not? If not, I’m leaving right now. You can wait and sell it to the rich men in the city and see if they’ll even give a damn about a pawnbroker like you.”
Seeing that she was really about to leave, the slave trader quickly stopped her. “Sell, sister. You’re a straightforward person. We won’t cheat you. This is his indenture.” He took a bundle from the carriage and pulled out a piece of paper.
The woman made a gesture to take it, but the slave trader put the paper back into his pocket and rubbed his fingers together in front of her.
The woman readily agreed, “I’ll go home and get the money right away, and I’ll be back in half an hour.”
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Seeing that the last deal was completed so quickly, the slave trader was relieved and said, “Since the distance is not far, I will give you a ride in my carriage and take this boy to your home so that you don’t have to make an extra trip.”
The woman hesitated. It was indeed less strenuous this way, but she was a widow, and riding in a stranger’s car back to the village might cause gossip.
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