Most people were already outside to spend the night, only me and a few other slaves stayed in this huge mine cracking geodes. They were probably as hungry as me. It was kind of creepy with only a few people in this huge cave, and much quieter than having a big group working here. I could even hear the echo coming back from the walls. The torches were flickering even brighter during night time.

I kept on cracking the rocks, and wondered why did everyone sleep outside instead of inside of the cave? At least there were no bugs here, right?

Maybe I should stay here at night sometimes just to get a peace of mind?

One night of work did not get me that many purple coins, probably just a couple pounds. Still, it was better than nothing, at least I was one step ahead toward my goal.

When it was morning, every part of my muscles and nerves hurt, even my brain was a little dizzy. I went out to get a full stomach of water, and continued working along with the rest of the slaves. I was actually a little surprised the two boys were not looking for me, that the gang didn’t bug me for sixty pounds of coins. Perhaps they didn’t even notice because I was only a newbie here. They probably had already forgotten about me?

Who cared?

I must gather another fifty pounds and fill my stomach full before they come back. That way I had a chance to live on. My hands were gray and purple, all bruised up and ugly. There were no gloves for the slaves. Gloves were too fancy to exist when slaves were oppressed by the kingdom like a juicier squeezing an orange to the last drop.

My back was so sweaty that it felt gross, but showering was not something that would be considered when I was starving. It wasn’t like there was actually a bath area in here.

Clang-------Clang-------Clang-------

By afternoon my basket was finally half full again, all thanks to last night’s hard work. I actually felt a little proud and rewarded. I better leave now to turn in the coins before the gangsters show up at the exit, or bump into those two boys.

I got out of the cave to line up. It wasn’t close to dinner time yet, so the line was relatively short. Soon it was my turn.

“Forty nine pounds.” The guard uttered.

I dazed for a few seconds, and held out my dusty fingers to start counting.

Umm……So yesterday it was fifty four pounds, and today it is forty nine….. Fifty four plus forty nine equals……….

Math was never my thing. My eyebrows squeezed so hard together as I looked down at my fingers, when a wooden card flew onto my face. I caught it like it was the most precious thing in life!

Oh, how beautiful this hand-sized wooden card was!

It had this unique character carved on one side, and the surface was smooth and soft as silk. I seemed to already see steamed buns coming out of the card! Never have I seen something so beautiful!

Nope, not true at all. I was just so hungry that even if the guard threw a piece of crap at me, I would think it was beautiful.

“Go!”

The guard shouted at me, seeing that I was a statue holding a card, but then I noticed that he put a cross next to my name. Why didn’t he record forty nine down?

“Sir, yesterday I turned in fifty four pounds, and today it’s forty nine, so that means I had made…..” I quickly counted my fingers to make sure, “so the total should be 103 pounds. Does that mean the extra three pounds will be counted for the next round? I just want to make sure you have it down in the book.”

The guard stared at me with those fierce eyes. His eyes were like two black ping pong balls, so big that they were about to roll out the sockets. There seemed to be white steam coming out from those cow-like nostrils.

“Who are you!” His voice was hoarse like a monster’s.

I alerted myself like a chipmunk, “Um….My name is LiNa.”

He stared for another couple seconds, then abruptly took out a whip and hit it hard on the table, a split line immediately showed up. I was stunned because the end of that whip almost got on my face. The slave mark was ugly enough, I couldn’t imagine having another whip mark.

“Who do you think you are! You are nothing but a slave, how dare you bargain with me and tell me what to do with my job! Nobody had ever dared to ask me. Any extras will be confiscated! No bargain of any kind!”

Great…… I just lost three pounds of coins for nothing. If I knew this earlier, I would give him less than more.

The whip was tightly held in his hands. I had no energy to challenge his authority, nor did I have the guts to do it, therefore I backed up and left. I was sure if I didn’t leave, that guard would really beat me up with that whip.

At least I had the wooden card now, so that means dinner was not far. I quickly took a peek at the pocket watch and tugged it back inside of my collar. It was already past five, so maybe another two hours or so. I found a shaded area to sit down, and enjoyed the spring air.

It was a beautiful and sunny day.

I stared at the clear sky, and finally got a sense of hope ever since the tragedy happened. I wondered what the Heavenly Realm would look like, and wondered if Grandpa Jin and Grandma Sha actually found each other. It must be, because Grandpa Jin was smiling in his last moments. He must be seeing Grandma Sha, and probably even heard her calling him stubborn old man.

Time seemed to go super slow when waiting.

Finally I heard the sounds of wheels at one of the entrances, and saw a wooden cart with a ton of steamed buns rolling in. Oh, those cute and sweet buns! If I was given a chance, I swore I could swallow them all (just an exaggeration of course)!

I got up immediately, and bent down to pick up my basket to get a start in line, when suddenly I was kicked in my ankle and fell face down!

My whole face was covered with brown dirt. I didn’t even have a chance to get up, when I noticed something just slipped through my fingers!

It was my WOODEN CARD!

“Hey, do you really think I have forgotten about everything? Trying to avoid turning in the fee, and now want to eat bread? Just one day, you already had forgotten the rules in the Underground? You can’t afford to play with us like this!”

When I lifted my head, Leo squatted and poked a grass on my slave mark. The mark had not completely healed up yet, so it felt as if he was sprinkling salt on it. It was burning so bad that I forced my fingertips into the palms of my hands.

“Girl, don’t look at me like this. Everyone here has to pay a fee to our gang, no one is an exception to the rule. If you can’t pay with coins, then pay with this card now. I don’t mind it at all.” Leo whistled as he continued to play with the wound on my face.

There were two more gangsters standing behind him. Even if I had the energy to start a fight, I stood no chance against three young boys.

“What fee? I don’t owe you guys anything.” I was biting down my tongue.

Leo threw away the grass, and stood back up, “Don’t pretend you don’t know anything. I told you already, thirty pounds of coins per day. Yesterday and today, you already owed us sixty pounds. The extras from the card will be counted as interest for fooling with us.”

I closed my eyes to allow the pain to go away on my face, and tried to calm down the anger inside. I couldn’t let my own emotions win against intellect.

TO LIVE…….I HAVE TO LIVE!

I should have nothing in mind other than this phase.

“Please……….” I uttered weakly, as if forcing through my teeth.

“What?” Rene chuckled with a childish voice, “Leo, do you hear something? There must be too much earwax in my ears, I can’t hear things clearly anymore.”

“I hear nothing either,” Leo laughed.

The boys giggled with evilness, and scratched their ears as if they really had mistaken hearing something. Those damn boys were true bullies! If they were in the modern world, they sure would cause a lot of trouble in school. I was too hungry to get hurt by the bullying, plus in my school years, it wasn’t something new either. I was always the last one in everything, so getting bullied once a while was part of my life. I couldn’t believe my past experience actually prepared me for this. How sad can life get?