The Struggles Of Slaves

The once peaceful morning was replaced by chaos. The rays of the sun pierced upon her skin, as if begging for attention. Waving away her exhaustion, thoughts were focused on picking the vegetation from the soil, holding a steady rhythm when obtaining the production.

'Grab, Twist, Pick.' Shu recited, finding those words as a form of distraction from the torturous sun. The soles of her feet also inflicting pain that coursed through her being from the long hours of labor, not to mention the lashing sound of whips and cries leaving an echo through the fields.

Personally Shu felt that working in the fields is the most gruesome position assigned in the Xia's Province, as servants indoors were considered of a higher standard than those from the fields. Besides the occasional water break that is allowed to keep the "investments" alive, there is no meal provided until the evening.

Through the problem of the kitchen staff being limited, the masters of the household are provided first along with guests of the household, creating less time for meal preparations for the field slaves.

It was a struggle trying to sustain the strength for this tedious labor, when they won't even bother to feed the slaves proper rations.

Thus, it came as no surprise when Shu heard a enraged yell come from a guard with various lashing sounds soon following. The whimpers of a young girl swept over the fields, the guard then proceeded to roll her over to feel through the thin cloth she wore, snatching out the food she had tried to steal from the Xia's Province. Standing at full hight the guard kicked her abdomen gesturing for a small group of male slaves to restrain the barely conscious girl.

Kneeling on one knee he waved the stolen goods over the beaten girl, her eyes blearily focusing on his hands.

Looking towards the many eyes that were fixated on the scene the guard hollered " Is this how you repay the kindness shown by General Xia?!! By taking the profit he would make to take care of you useless slaves?! Well that will just not do."

Raising a finger to one of the male slaves that had restrained the girl, he spoke in a low tone that made the hearts of slaves quiver " Call Director Cou."

Finding no purpose to linger, the male slave dashed towards the building just a distance away from the fields.

Leaving behind exhausted slaves that had become even more alert, shaking with panic. Shu also felt a small sense of fear creep into her being, terrified of how much lashings it could take to mutilate her malnourished body.

All that was left to do was wait and see just how brutal this Director Cou could be.

"Get back to work and await your punishment! " the guard said. Filing back into her rhythm, Shu barley glanced up fearing her fate to be the same as the other young girl.

Before long, distant footsteps were heard coming from the area the male slaves had run to, finding courage she briefly glanced up to find a tall slender man reminding her of a spider breezily meeting the guard that had requested his presence.

Grimacing towards the vegetation before anyone saw her distraction, she proceeded with her work.

Having given up her endeavor, for the distance was far to great to hear what the two men conversed about.

SMACK!

Startling out of her revere, she abruptly looked up once more.