The Legend Of Jewelry

Chapter 1

      This world is so vast, there will always be a few damned people. Even at the ends of the earth, it's no exception.

      The sun had long sunk into the chilly sea, and the moon bathed in the boiling seawater, pushing bursts of hot wind toward the coconut trees on the shore. Under the overlapping and swirling shadows, the girl continuously polished the edge of a clamshell. Beads of sweat had long wetted her forehead.

      The wind stirred up the sand on the beach; she rubbed her eyes and raised her hand. The clamshell faced the golden-red moonlight, gleaming with a cold brilliance.

      She sighed contentedly, her petite body trembling with the sound of the tide. What a night, she thought.

      Tonight, she would kill someone.

      "Duan Wu? Duan Wu? The show is about to start, where are you?" Another girl shouted from a distance.

      Duan Wu quickly put away the clamshell, a usual obedient smile on her face, and replied, "Coming!"

      She carried grass shoes, wrapped in a tattered cloak, and ran towards the wooden house with lanterns by the seaside.

      Duan Wu, just call her Duan Wu. As a female slave, she didn't need a surname.

      This godforsaken place is Lianzhou on the Guangxi in the Yuan Dynasty. Guangxi is thousands of miles away from the Central Plains, and Lianzhou is even more remote, referred to as the Cape. Once upon a time, Su Dongpo, on his way back from Leizhou Island after being pardoned, passed through this place and gave the famous scenic spot Haijiao Pavilion a plaque with word *"万里瞻天," which became a well-known story. However, Duan Wu lived for fifteen years and had never gazed at the Haijiao Pavilion. As a slave, she wasn't allowed to step half a step beyond the Pearl Picking and Supervision Bureau area, so she could only *"坐井观天".

*万里瞻天 (wàn lǐ zhān tiān) is a Chinese phrase that can be translated as "Gazing at the Sky for Thousands of Miles."
*坐井观天 (zuò jǐng guān tiān) is a Chinese idiom that literally translates to "sitting in a well, watching the sky."

      The East Pearl is not as good as the West Pearl, and the West Pearl is not as good as the South Pearl. The most precious South Pearl, universally acknowledged, originates from Hepu in Lianzhou. Since the reign of the late Emperor Renzong, to satisfy the growing desire of the elite for pearls, the Pearl Picking and Supervision Bureau received attention from the court. Favored Mongolian nobles were dispatched to this remote bay to oversee the collection, tribute, and trade of Hepu pearls.

      The pearl pickers were all classified as 胥户 (xū hù), the ancient lowest class. Apart from pearl picking, the bureau required a large number of slaves for various tasks. Initially allocated to the Pearl Picking Bureau were several hundred captives obtained during the Mongol conquest of the South. They were even lower than commoners, worth less than a clamshell in the sea.

      Only those who served as *"管事" (guǎn shì) among the slaves had some dignity. Other adult female slaves were randomly assigned to different male slaves every night. Therefore, the children born to them could never know their parentage. Infants were uniformly sent to be raised in the shack. If a child fell seriously ill, they were thrown directly into the sea. Toddlers had to learn to work. If they couldn't learn, they would be beaten to death after a few tries. The key was to be obedient and pleasing, or else, even if clever, they wouldn't survive to adulthood.

*管事 (guǎn shì) translates to "overseer" or "manager" or "steward" in English.

      Duan Wu also grew up this way. She was a model for all the young slaves. She hardly ever fell ill, spoke sweetly, and was obedient. She learned whatever she needed to, mimicking everything she saw. At four, she held the spittoon; at five, she chased away mosquitoes and flies; at seven, she chopped onions and ginger; at nine, she operated the abacus; at ten, she sorted pearls. Before her fifteenth birthday, she had ascended to lead the trading ground performance, just a step away from the position of steward.