The Demon Lords-Chapter 765 - 168: Rewards_2

Just muddling through, simply trying to pull together a Yan Army—what's the point of that? There's absolutely no sense of achievement.

"By the way, Blind Man, we also need to think about moving."

"I have a plan."

"Alright, hearing you say that puts my mind at ease."

A Ming dislikes these mundane affairs. The reason he was previously assigned to the workshop was so that he wouldn't have to worry about being disfigured or maimed while verifying experiments.

"No matter what, Snow Sea Pass is indeed much, much better than this Shengle City under our feet. As long as we manage it well, we'll finally have a stable home."

No more carrying our bags and moving all over the place.

Since waking up in this world, they were first in Beifeng Prefecture, then Green Willow Fortress in Yinlang County, and after that, Shengle City. Next, after going to Snow Sea Pass, it's like they've moved all the way from the far west to the far east.

After these reflections, Blind Man waved his hand and said, "Time to get busy with the move."

Then, Blind Man stretched lazily and continued, "But before we move, we need to clean up the house first."

「...」

Today, in Shengle City's Red Tent, quite a few of the girls hadn't hung out their signboards. Inside the Red Tent, a dedicated wall displayed the girls' signboards. If a girl's signboard was hanging, it meant you could request her services. Of course, the higher a signboard was hung, the higher the price; the lower it was, the cheaper the price. The bottom row mostly featured the signboards of female slaves from the wild people.

The names of these female slaves of the wild people were often quite lovely—Spring Flower, Autumn Moon, Begonia, Peony, Autumn Chrysanthemum, and the like. But, how should one put it? Ultimately, you couldn't judge by names alone. After all, the principle of 'you get what you pay for' generally holds true for everything.

Today, however, the number of signboards on the wall was noticeably reduced, with almost half of them missing. Sometimes, if a girl had other matters to attend to or was menstruating, she would take her signboard down and rest for a day or two. But such a large-scale absence, with so many on leave at once, was truly unprecedented.

Although fewer than five thousand soldiers remained stationed in the city, the merchant caravans passing through and the many people living near Shengle who frequented the place meant there was actually no shortage of business. So, where had these girls gone, if not to entertain clients and conduct their business?

In truth, they were still within Shengle City. It was just that today, they weren't wearing their usual vibrant attire. Instead, they were clad in white mourning clothes, with paper flowers adorning their hair. Their hair was also styled into buns, like those of married women. Each clutched a spirit tablet, the ink upon it still fresh, as they walked all the way from South Street to North Street.

There's a common saying: "Prostitutes are heartless, performers are faithless." But in reality, those deemed heartless are not necessarily truly so. It was simply that they, more than ordinary people, had witnessed far more callousness and disloyalty, tasted far more bitterness and sorrow. Naturally, they weren't so easily moved. But since those men had been willing to name them as the recipients of their death benefits, they didn't mind walking this path today in the guise of their widows.

Those men might have been coarse, perhaps timid, perhaps fond of sweet-talking. Perhaps they had many demands during intimacy, perhaps they lasted long or were quick, perhaps they took their time or finished fast. Perhaps they were merely fleeting guests in the stories of their lives. But ultimately, each was a man who had given them the silver earned with his own life.

In the future, when I argue with someone, I'll have a bit more confidence. When I'm old, I'll have one more memory to cherish, something to slowly reminisce about while sipping a pot of hot tea, my feet soaking in warm water with white vinegar.

Back in my day, I too had a man. A man willing to risk his life just to be good to me.

Along the road, many people noticed this procession of women; some even recognized their identities. Ordinarily, whether inside the Red Tent or out on the streets, upon seeing these women, men would naturally approach to tease and flirt. They might even slap a palm against a well-rounded backside, promising to seek their company that night or the night after. But today, at this very moment, not a single person dared to utter a flirtatious word.

They were cradling spirit tablets. The owners of those tablets were already gone. And who among those who'd served in the army barracks didn't have a few fellow soldiers, or sworn brothers who had faced death together? Harass them with your loose talk today, and see if their men don't come knocking on your door tonight, knives at the ready!

One must understand: in Shengle City, there was no prefect, no county government. There was only the General's Mansion!

The group of women walked without much pause, eventually arriving at the school.

Shengle City's school operated on a different model from schools elsewhere. Children attended classes to learn literacy in the morning and arithmetic in the afternoon. The so-called 'poetry, books, and classical essays' were absent. Instead, every day at noon and again before school let out, the children would gather to learn and recite certain tenets. The instructors would ask, and the students would answer:

"Who gives you food to eat?" 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"Who gives you books to read?"

"Whom will you serve when you grow up?"

As for the sort of impoverished, pedantic scholars fond of teaching moralistic essays, Shengle City had none. Experience had also shown that if provided with sufficient money and provisions, even those literati were willing to become more direct and practical.

The women reached the school entrance but remained standing outside, not entering.

With such a large commotion outside, the school's Deputy Headmaster emerged. He was an elderly man of about fifty, with a long beard. Previously, he hadn't been a teacher but an accountant. However, being astute, resourceful, and skilled in management, he had been promoted to oversee the school's affairs.