Time: 2010-12-1011:33:52 Words: 4819
Chapter XVI
There were many people standing in Georgiani's bedroom. Even the corridor outside the room was full of people, looking in.
Everyone listened quietly as George Nibbs recounted his long forgotten past. That was decades ago.。。。。
My real name is Reinaldo, Robert. At that time, I lived with my parents, two younger brothers and a younger sister in a town called Tucker at the foot of the Carpathian Mountains. My father was a messenger, and my mother was sewing clothes in the tailor shop in the town.
Although I wasn't rich, my family was happy together. I spent my childhood in this warm and sweet environment until an accident completely changed my life.
It was two days after my 14th birthday. My younger brother Leo rushed to the church's school to find me and told me that something big had happened at home. He wanted me to go back immediately.
I quickly picked up my book and followed him home. Along the way, I comforted him that he was fine and that nothing big would happen, but God knows how scared I was at that time.
When we returned home, the first thing we saw was our father lying on the bed covered in blood, while our mother sat by the bed, sobbing with a pale face.
"Oh my god, Reinaldo, you're finally back. Your father, he, he…。。。。。”My mother, Suzanna, hugged me and my brother and sobbed.
"Mom, what happened to Dad? Why is he lying on the bed?" Leo asked.
"Your father was attacked by wolves in the woods on his way to deliver a letter to the outer village. His leg was bitten off.”
When I heard the bad news, I quickly ran to the bed and lifted the blanket. My father's legs were wrapped in layers of thick bandages, and everything below the knee was gone.
"Oh, my God." I covered my mouth and tears began to flow uncontrollably.
On this day, our family stayed by Father's bedside. Everyone held their heads in pain. I kept comforting my siblings that everything would pass and that we would survive. However, I didn't expect that this was just the beginning of the nightmare.
Ever since my father was injured, he had lost his job. The whole family relied on my mother's sewing money to survive, which made the life that was barely maintained even more difficult. Therefore, I had to drop out of school and work to help the family. However, even so, the financial situation of the family was still unable to maintain the daily life of the family and the high medical expenses that my father owed. Under such circumstances, the originally kind father became irritable and irritable, while my mother cried every day. The innocent and cute sisters-in-law no longer had smiles on their faces.
As the eldest son of the family, I had to shoulder the heavy responsibility of taking care of the family, so I made a decision to sell myself to a rich businessman in the town as a slave. The money I got from selling myself could be used to pay off my debts and improve the lives of my younger siblings.
I still remember the day I left them, my mother was hiding in the house crying, and my lovely little sister held me tightly and cried loudly,"Brother, don't go. I don't want you to leave me. If you leave, I won't be able to see you again.”
"Kathleen, you have to listen to your mother and brothers. As long as you're good, I'll come back to see you when I have the chance. I promise we'll meet again.”I tried hard not to cry in front of them.
Then, I hardened my heart and pushed Kathleen away from me, who was hugging me tightly. I strode out of the warm house where I had lived for 14 years. Many years later, I found out that the parting had turned into a farewell. If I could go back to that time, I would never leave them again. But at that time, I, I didn't dare to look back at my family. I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to bear to leave them. After walking far away, I dared to cry loudly. My tears wet my clothes, and even the scenery on both sides of the road became blurred. However, the most unbearable thing was the pain in my chest. It was as if something was pressing down on my heart, making it difficult for me to breathe.
Thus, amidst the withered leaves and the cold wind, I arrived at the home of my master, the rich merchant Adam's.
When I came to the front of the big building, I was stunned by what I saw. This house is so big. The three-story white building had more than ten rooms on each floor. The building was brightly lit and a large number of servants were busy.
"You're here. Come with me." An old man in his sixties led me into the house.
"I'm the housekeeper of this house. My name is Johnny, and most people call me Old Johnny.”He lowered his head and introduced himself to me.
He and I went into the hall. It was so big. The crystal candelabra hung high from the ceiling. The huge spiral staircase was covered with a bright red carpet. The furnishings in the room were extremely luxurious, and there were many displays that I had never seen before.
" Uh-huh." Johnny coughed and interrupted my exclamation. "This is our master, Mr. Adams.”
I raised my head and stole a glance. He was a short and capable middle-aged man. He had a head full of white hair, a pair of bright eyes that exuded a cold aura, high cheekbones, a sharp aquiline nose, and especially that indifferent sneer at the corner of his mouth. Looking at him made one feel cold all over.
"You are Reinaldo?" Adams asked coldly.
"Yes, sir." I hurried back.
"Oh, from tomorrow onwards, you will be responsible for cleaning the stables. Johnny, take him to change his clothes and arrange a place for him to stay.”
"Yes." Johnny bowed to his master and led me away.
"Johnny, why are our work clothes so strange? There are no buttons on our clothes and pants, and they're all tied up with straps?”I put on the grey uniform and asked curiously.
"That's for convenience." Johnny replied disapprovingly.
"Is it convenient? What is convenient?"
"You don't have to ask. You'll find out sooner or later anyway.”Johnny brought me to a small room in the basement. There was a big bed with three children about my age and a teenager who was a little older than us.
"This is your bedroom. He is your leader.”Johnny pointed at the slightly older boy and said,""His name is Jason. If you have anything you don't understand, just ask him. Remember to listen to his orders, okay?”
"Yes, I understand." I hurriedly nodded.
"Very good, then you should rest quickly. You still have to wake up early tomorrow to clean the stable.”Johnny glanced at everyone.
"Yes, Lord Chief." All the boys answered in unison.
" Hi, I'm David, Chase, and Diago." The three boys started to introduce themselves.
"Oh, my name is Reinaldo." Let me introduce myself to everyone.
"Enough, no more chatting. Go to sleep quickly. You should know the consequences if you're late tomorrow.”Jason's words silenced everyone.
I opened a blanket and was about to sleep. Jason came over to stop me and said," This bed is too small for so many people. You can sleep on the floor."
"How can that be? There's still room on this bed.”David felt injustice for me.
"Then you can sleep on the floor and let him sleep on the bed.”Jason threw his blanket on the ground.
"You-you!" David was so angry that he could not speak.
"I'm fine. It's good to sleep on the floor. I won't fall off the bed. Thank you, David. You should get some rest." I pretended to be relaxed.
Then, I spread the blanket on the floor and slept with my clothes on. All night I listened to their cries and thought of my family. It wasn't until dawn that I fell asleep. In the dream, I saw my family, and we were together again, dancing and playing games.
"Renado, Renado, you lazy worm, get up.”A voice came from afar and interrupted my beautiful dream.
I felt a sharp pain in my head. I hurriedly opened my eyes. Jason grabbed my hair and slapped me twice. This time, I was completely awake. I covered my burning cheeks and looked at him.
"What are you looking at? If you don't get up, you'll suffer. Hurry up and get to work." Jason glared at me fiercely, so I followed him to the stable.
This stable is actually bigger than my house. There are many horses inside, and each of them is a strong and tall horse.
Jason pointed inside and said," You and David will be responsible for cleaning this place. Remember to bathe every horse and give them the best fodder."”
"Yes." Dave and I began our day's work. We cleaned and fed the huge stables. Lunch was brought to us by the female workers. We were exhausted the whole day. Finally, we could have dinner and rest at night.
We had just finished our work and were about to walk out when Jason, who was here to patrol, stopped us." You haven't even stacked the hay and you want to be lazy?”
"This is not our job. That is your job. How can we move those haystacks with our small stature?”David complained.
"You will do whatever I tell you to do. Do you not want to eat?" Jason threatened.
Dave wanted to resist, but I stopped him and said,"Forget it, let's do it quickly and end him as soon as possible. It's useless to argue with him anyway.”So we began to pile up the hay, which was almost as big as we were.
When they were almost done, a bundle of hay fell from high above, and a horse jumped out of the stable in fright, rubbing David's foot.
"Who did this?" In the hall, Johnny questioned us angrily. "Don't you know that Mr. Adams loves his horse the most? He even frightened it and said who did it.”
I looked at Dave, who was trembling and couldn't even stand properly. I suddenly mustered my courage and stood up.
"I did it. I'm sorry. It's all my fault.”
Adams raised her eyebrows and glanced at me.
"Do you know the consequences of this?”Johnny asked loudly. At that time, I naively shook my head, thinking that at most, he wouldn't let me eat.
"Master?" Johnny asked Adams.
"He's new here, so let's skip the whipping.”Adam said expressionlessly.
Before I could react to what was going on, two burly men came to my side. One of them quickly untied the knot that tied my pants and pulled down my pants. Then, they pressed me down on a high chair and tied my feet to the legs of the chair.
I was firmly held down by them. Many servants in the hall looked at me, and my face turned red with embarrassment. Ya came behind me with a thick vine. The sound of the vine waving in the air made me shudder. Pa! The rattan heavily whipped my naked butt. A piercing pain forced me to scream.
Only then did I realize that Johnny was referring to the convenience of being beaten. The burning pain in my butt and the shame of being punished in public made me scream and struggle. This infuriated Adams even more, and she whipped me with all her might.
"Don't shout. You have to admit your mistake, or I won't stop.”he said excitedly.
"I'm sorry, Master. I won't dare to do it again." I endured the pain as my body trembled.
"It's all my fault. Please forgive me." My pleas didn't get him to forgive me. Instead, he beat me even more crazily.
I started to cry and beg for mercy. It wasn't easy for me to survive those thirty strikes. The two of them untied the rope on my leg. My waist was already in so much pain that I couldn't straighten it. Even the weight of a piece of cloth would cause intense pain in my swollen buttocks.
I was dragged back to my room because I couldn't walk. That beating caused me to sleep on my stomach for a whole month, and it also made me realize that Adams was a cruel and tyrannical master. From then on, I was careful everywhere and learned to observe her expression. Even so, I was still beaten frequently in the first two years.
Only when I was stripped naked and whipped by my master did I realize that being spanked by a cane was still considered good. However, the number of times I was beaten became less and less. Four years later, when I was 18 years old, due to my outstanding performance in my work, I finally went from being a small handyman in the stable to being Adams 'personal stable boy. I was responsible for preparing the carriage for him to travel and cleaning it. When he went out, I followed him to open the door and take things for him.
This job was much easier than my previous job. It was no wonder that Jason, who had been coveting this job, would hold a grudge against me. After I was promoted to this position, I finally had my own room. Although it wasn't big, it was better than sleeping on the ground.
The motivation that supported me to work hard for promotion came from what Johnny said to me. When I first asked him for leave, hoping to go home and see my family, he said that only those who had achieved a position above the director had a fixed annual holiday and could take leave to visit their families.
So I've been working hard towards this goal. I believe that in the near future, I'll be able to bring gifts back to visit my parents and siblings. My lovely little sister Kathleen will be very happy.
However, all these beautiful wishes changed after I met someone. I still remember that it was a hot summer day when Adams 'freighter returned to the Black Sea. He wrote to me and told me to pick him up at the pier that day. The coachman and I drove the carriage to the pier. Adam was already standing there counting his luggage.
"Oh, Master, you've returned with a full load this time.”I quickly put my luggage in the car.
Adams looked at her cargo ship that was full of goods. He nodded with satisfaction and said,"Oh, not bad."”
Adams was a merchant. He owned his own cargo ship that sailed through the port of the Black Sea to many places. His footprints even went to a distant and mysterious country, which they called the Qing Kingdom.
"Ah, Master, let me do it." I eagerly took his luggage and helped him back to the carriage.
"Wait a minute." Adams turned around and shouted at the ship,""Soo Soo, haven't you rested enough? Come on down, we're going home.”A small figure slowly walked onto the deck along with his shout.
Under the sunlight, I saw a young girl dressed in exotic clothes slowly walking towards us.
"This is the wife I married in the Qing Kingdom. Her name is Nalan Xiu. She is a true descendant of a noble family.”Adam excitedly introduced him to me.
"Ah, yes, Madam. Hello, my name is Reinaldo.”I quickly bowed to her, and she placed her hands in front of her, lowered her head and bent her knees to give me a strange bow.
I looked up at her. This is a rather young girl, probably younger than me. She had wheat-colored skin that I had never seen before, and her hair was black and shiny, tied up in a braid at the back of her head. There were some strange headdress on her head. Her thin eyebrows matched her slender eyes, and her pupils were as black and bright as her hair. It had a small nose, a small mouth, and a sharp chin. This girl was so exquisite.
She stood beside me but only reached the height of my chest. Her small hands and small body were too cute. I stared at her without blinking. I only came back to my senses when Adams called out to me with a dark expression.
I hurriedly lowered my head, picked up my luggage, and brought them to the carriage. The carriage sped along the road. I didn't dare to look at the girl called Soo Soo anymore, but my eyes kept sneaking glances at her. At this moment, she was sitting quietly across from me. She had not said a word or any expression on her face, as if she was just a shell sitting here. I didn't know where her soul had gone.
What was she thinking? Why was such a young girl willing to marry such an old and stingy businessman? I thought about how Kia had treated us in the past, and I couldn't help but worry for this seemingly weak girl in front of me. The development of things in the future proved that my worries weren't unnecessary.。。。。。
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