"Are you going?"
"Of course I want to go, I heard that all the best trees in Triumph Square have been occupied by students in the West Market in the early hours of this morning, and if I go late, I'm afraid I won't see anything."
"I don't want to go, but there must be no business in the market, and I shouldn't say this if you look at the officials in the management office over there."
"Go ahead, our empire hasn't had a major incident like this in years."
"Who said that, I still participated in the celebration ceremony after the big explosion more than 20 years ago, that formation" "Don't say so much, let's go together, go together."
"Go Together" Aunt Susan listened to the excited conversation of the neighboring people, a trace of disgust and helplessness flashed on her chubby face, watching people pour out of the market like drugged fish, she couldn't help but curse a few words in annoyance, wiped the ash stains on her hands on her apron, walked to the management office and took a small flag that had been allocated, stepped on the mud and cigarette butts all over the ground, and merged into the crowd.
Today, the capital's underground transportation system is open to the public free of charge, sending a steady stream of people from all districts to the empty square of the Arc de Triomphe, and it does not take long for people from the slums in the northwest corner to enter the faint sea of people.
Susan glanced at the small flag in her hand, and felt that the black hibiscus on the flag was a little dazzling, and the palm holding the flag handle was a little uncomfortable, and she was like a puppet, waving the small flag mechanically with the excited crowd around her, but she kept cursing in her heart.
Today is the 723rd year of the imperial calendar of the Baihibiscus Dynasty.
According to the words in the imperial edict, a small number of aristocratic careerists, taking advantage of the approaching enemies of the Federation, ferociously launched a barbaric rebellion against the glorious royal family, in this rebellion, the respected imperial minister Prince Bai Wu died heroically, and the governor of Hanxing, Ke Baoning, died heroically, and now that the rebellion has been quelled, it is time to liquidate the sins of those careerists.
His Majesty the Great Emperor summoned the people of all walks of life in the Star Capital of Tianjing to come to Triumphal Arch Square to witness this righteous trial.
After a long period of quiet and anxious anticipation, the black-pressed people finally waited for the moment when the gallows was erected, watching the black gallows with the original retro flavor being lifted by the crane, watching the aristocratic criminals with black cloths being escorted out by the soldiers, and walking to the gallows, the first wave of jubilant cries suddenly sounded in the sea of people, with the center of the square as a dot, a wave formed by human heads rose and fell one after another, extending out.
A pale nobleman with a pale face and a haggard description was escorted to the gallows, and after removing the black mask, he was a little unaccustomed to the light on this cloudy day, squinting his eyes and scanning the surroundings in fear, but he was even more frightened by the countless excited and distorted civilian faces around the gallows, he wanted to say something, but he couldn't say anything.
The Imperial Officer read the judgment impassionedly, and then, without pause, the crisp metal door opened, and the nobleman fell straight into the circular hole, straightening the black noose around his neck.
Since the beginning of the trial execution, the crowd of people in the square has maintained absolute silence, and they have not seen such a real and bloody execution scene for many years, and people's psychological expectations have been hung very high, and they have not fallen until this scene, they seem to wake up, and they seem to clearly hear the sound of the noose tearing the cervical vertebrae of the nobleman, and they can't help but start shouting excitedly.
Aunt Susan looked at the gallows in the distance with a complicated expression and couldn't help but close her eyes.
One nobleman after another was executed, his neck bones were torn alive by the black noose, and he stopped breathing, and every time the black noose straightened, and every time the nobleman's body fell heavily, it would cause an excited cry of thousands of people in the square.
Especially when those noble women were executed, the emotions of the people in the square were extremely excited, and the men with the smell of sweat, the poor and untouchables, their eyes widened, and they watched the white and jade-like calves of those noble girls kick in vain in the air, twitching until they were quiet, as if they had watched an exciting private performance in broad daylight, and could not help but let out a sigh of satisfaction that was almost moaning, but their faces immediately changed to a mask of shyness, timidity and unbearable.
Aunt Susan was staggered by the excited crowd, looking at the aristocratic ladies who were hanged, her hand holding the small flag of the black hibiscus flower became tighter and tighter, her broad lips pursed more and more tightly, her thick eyebrows wrinkled more and more tightly, and she let out a real sigh in her heart.
The trial was over, Aunt Susan rubbed her somewhat drowsy forehead, and walked towards the subway entrance without any energy, the civilians came to watch the trial It was an edict from the palace, and the royal flag she was holding was an item distributed by the federal defense, she had to come, but she didn't have to participate in the parade later, and she didn't want to participate.
On the way back to the market by public transport, she saw thousands of Imperial youths marching outside the window, the boys waving flags, shouting slogans of long live Your Majesty and punishing traitors, and fanatically navigating the streets and alleys of the city.
Walking into the muddy neighborhood with her feet, Aunt Susan bought a lot of cheap vegetables in the vegetable market, paid the quota of principal and interest for this month, carried the vegetables back to her dilapidated courtyard, handed them to the hands stretched out from the side room, and at the same time took a batch of goods that needed to be sold from those hands and put them on her three-wheeled electric vehicle.
After carefully checking the quantity of the goods, she found that something was wrong, and Aunt Susan, who was already a little annoyed and depressed, finally couldn't help but burst out, crossed her bucket-like waist, and scolded the room next to her: "Clumsy, you can't do such a simple job as assembling a few broken machines, I don't know how expensive you are when I raise you for nothing."
Suddenly, something came to mind, Aunt Susan stopped scolding, glanced at the gate of the courtyard vigilantly, spat angrily, and drove the electric tricycle out of the courtyard.
Today, Aunt Susan is a rude woman who lives in the slums of the capital, surviving on pirated video players and the Empire's minimum guarantees, and many years ago she was a delicate aristocratic lady with a pair of jade-like calves that are the nobles on the gallows in today's square.
As a middle-class nobleman, her parents were secretly executed because they were involved in a struggle between the six tribes of the empire, and she and her brother survived in the only remaining mansion of the family, and then her brother with a strong and gentle surname bravely joined the imperial expeditionary force in order to restore the glory of the family, but many years later, Susan ushered in the bad news that her brother was executed for violating military discipline.
The family's last house could no longer be saved, and Susan, who was miserable, was reduced to living in the slums, and was extremely lucky to meet a husband who loved her and loved her, but after only three years of marriage, her husband fell ill and died, leaving her and her son to depend on each other.
The aristocratic lady who would frown like a willow when she stepped on a small stone gravel in gorgeous dancing shoes, under the ruthless torture of fate, became an aunt with a spicy and sour surname, a waist like a bucket, and a hard-soled imitation of military boots, who could step on the muddy water in the vegetable field with a crackling sound.
The sturdy or bloated body, pressed against the small electric tricycle, looked funny, but somehow a little sad.
In the market, a fierce quarrel broke out again with her fiercely competitive male peers, and Aunt Susan, with her superior lung capacity and extremely filthy verbal attacks, won another victory, successfully occupied one of the best mobile stalls in the market, sold two pirated audio-visual players, and then gave sixty percent of the profits to the market management office and the bruised hooligans.
If she wants to live, and if she wants to live hard with her son, she needs to quarrel again and again, she needs to succeed again and again, and she needs to give her hard-earned money to those parasites every day with a smile.
It's just that every time I return to the dilapidated courtyard late at night, the energy in my sturdy body will be exhausted by these quarrels, and Aunt Susan is extremely tired.
In the dark alleyway, she leaned weakly against the gate of the courtyard, thinking of the scolding with the old guy in the west in the afternoon, thinking of the dirty words that her son would never dare to hear, and remembering the reserved girlhood, she couldn't help but raise her calloused hands, covered her cheeks full of wind and frost, and slowly squatted down.
Oh, what a life it is.
For a hard life, memories are luxury, only once in a while, and even sadness is a luxury, because that will make life more difficult, Aunt Susan stubbornly stood up straight, patted the dust on her big buttocks, muttered a few words, and turned around and walked into her small courtyard.
There is still hope in her life, and the well-behaved and sensible son, the son who is studying at the second university in the capital, her life of hardship and hardship is no longer all gray and black because of that kid.
According to her income, she will never be able to pay the expensive tuition fees of the second university, but thanks to the indiscriminate education promotion plan implemented by His Majesty, excellent students like her son have the right to free and equal admission, and because of this, Aunt Susan, who hated the imperial royal family for half her life in the bottom of her heart, forgave that Majesty very quickly.
Parking the three-wheeled electric car and climbing up the small attic with difficulty, she had become the rude but kind woman, with her waist crossed and her index finger as thick as a branch, and scolded the dark-haired young man who was in a daze in the depths of the dark room: "How can there be such a stupid person as you have assembled several more in the past four hours" The black-haired young man rubbed his face bitterly, those faint scars were no longer clear, he looked at the stout woman at the door, and reluctantly defended softly: "I said yesterday, the goods you gave to you from your boss are not right, there is a problem with those bayonet spin screw models, there is no way to twist them, I have to polish them one by one, of course the time is very slow." ” "Don't make excuses," Aunt Susan raised her eyebrows and glared, and shouted, "Don't think that you can eat white rice if you are a nobleman, I should really take you to the square today to see the tragic death of your companions."
To be continued: