A Girl Traveling Through Troubled Times

Huo Xinxin was in her sleep when she suddenly felt a pain in her hand. She opened her eyes and saw someone stepping on her palm. She immediately stood up and hit the person's knee with her body, pushing her away and finally freeing her hand. Huo Xinxin looked at her red hand and wanted to get up to find some medicinal wine to wipe it, but then she remembered that she was no longer in her original world.

"You deserve it. Who told you to sleep in?"

Huo Xinxin turned her head and saw a girl who was a little older than her, who looked about 11 or 2 years old. She had a sleek pigtail that reached her waist, and her face was still chubby and rosy. Although her clothes were old, they had no patches. There was a small embroidered flower on the collar, in the style of a small phoenix fairy, and the cuffs were wide and flared. The girl was looking at Song Xinxin with a contemptuous smile on her face.

Judging from the other person's clothes, Huo Xinxin knew that his status should be higher than hers, but she was not sure where he came from and didn't know how to respond.

"Sister Jinlian, what are you doing?" Taohua's voice came from outside, and she also ran into the small covered boat. "Gui'er has a head injury, and mother allowed her to rest for two days."

"She insisted on running and fell into the river, which caused her to hit her head. You can't let me take her place, right? Stop pretending to be dead and get back to work." After saying that, the girl named Jinlian left.

"Who is she?" Huo Xinxin asked.

"She is a girl my mother bought a long time ago. Now she is our big sister. Because she is pretty, people say she can be the top girl in the future. Now my mother is waiting for her period to come so that she can start a business." Taohua said innocently.

Huo Xinxin frowned. She knew that the old society was very cruel, but when she was there herself, she always felt particularly uncomfortable every time she heard things that broke her values.

"Is your head still hurting? Sister Jinlian is favored by our mother, so her food, clothing and other expenses are better than those of ordinary sisters. She usually thinks of herself as the big sister. You should try not to let her target you." Taohua said worriedly.

"Okay, thank you." Huo Xinxin said sincerely.

Taohua felt that this little sister seemed a little different from usual, but she didn't care. She smiled and said, "Since Sister Jinlian won't let you rest, why don't you come with me to wash clothes? I'll wash them and you can just help wring them out."

The two of them came to a place with stone steps on the riverbank not far from their boat. There were two large buckets of clothes there. Taohua said, "The silk clothes over there are for the sisters who have already made a living. They need to be washed with soap. The other coarse cloth clothes can just be beaten with a hammer."

So Huo Xinxin helped Taohua finish washing the two large buckets of clothes. Her wound hadn't healed yet, and her head would occasionally ache as if it had been scratched by a cat. Every time Taohua called her Gui'er, she couldn't react. She could feel that Taohua was a little confused. Fortunately, she was still a nine-year-old girl and didn't think too much. She also secretly told herself to adapt to this identity, and then silently said to herself in her heart: "I am Gui'er, I am Gui'er, I am Gui'er."

After washing the clothes, Taohua took Huo Xinxin, no, it was Gui'er, to collect firewood and boil water. In short, they never stopped for a moment. Huo Xinxin (Guier) gradually learned some things from chatting with Taohua. It turned out that the owner of the flower boat, He Ergu, had five girls working as entertainers on the boat. From time to time, she would take advantage of bad years and poor harvests to buy girls from poor families to do hard labor. If they were pretty, she would teach them some music, chess, calligraphy and painting, and train them to become entertainers to work on the flower boat. The girl named Jinlian was the girl that the brothel owner had taken a fancy to and was teaching her to play the pipa.

When they had almost finished their work and it was already evening, Guier remembered that she hadn't eaten yet. She was already starving, so she asked Taohua, "When are we going to eat?"

Taohua said, "It's still early. We have to serve the sisters dinner first. We can eat and rest after the sisters are busy in the evening."

The two of them returned to their sleeping boat. Before they even sat down, they heard someone yelling, "You two are dead! Why don't you come and help?"

Taohua quickly pulled Guier to a boat next to them that was twice as big as the small covered boat. Inside the boat were two elderly women wearing coarse cloth clothes and barefoot. There were several patches on their knees and elbows. They were busy. There was a small stove on the boat cooking rice porridge, and another was frying food. The bed was filled with various vegetables and radishes, and there were also various bottles and jars that should be used to store seasonings. It was obvious that this boat was used as a kitchen.

The two old ladies asked Taohua and Guier to take the prepared meals to the flower boat for the girls to eat. The two little children then trembled slightly, each carrying a large pot of food, and walked down from the boat. They stepped over the strange-shaped stones on the river bank and carefully came to the flower boat. There were two burly men standing at the bow of the boat. When they saw them coming, they smiled and said, "Little girls, are you here to serve the food?" Then they stretched out their hands and pinched Taohua's face. Taohua blocked him and dodged.

Walking into the cabin, Guier saw the furnishings inside, carved beams and painted rafters, bright lights, and the furniture was all made of carved mahogany. When she walked to the innermost part, she found that there was a staircase leading to the second floor. It turned out that this flower boat was actually two-story. The madam asked the two of them to take the food to the table on the second floor, and then several girls came over lazily and sat down. These girls must be the girls who were helping the madam with business. Guier looked at them carefully. The average age was only about 20 years old. All of them had bound feet, wore silk clothes, and wore forehead rings with embroidery and beads. Their faces must have been powdered and looked a little pale.

The madam, whom they called mother, sat down to eat with the girls. Taohua, Gui'er, and Jinlian stood nearby. Their meal wasn't fancy at all; it was just a plate of stir-fried vegetables, a plate of egg custard, and a plate of fish caught in the river. Taohua said, "Pork is expensive. The sisters can have some when the guests come."

After they finished eating, Taohua and Gui'er took the dishes back to wash them. When they reached the door, they saw the two big men guarding the door also lowering their heads to eat porridge with pickles. Taohua said, "Let's go back and wash these dishes so we can eat."

Gui'er was already tired and hungry, so she quickly washed the dishes and brought them back to the two old women's boat. The two old women then served them two bowls of porridge and some pickled vegetables, saying, "You were so slow today. You must be more diligent next time."

The two of them nodded repeatedly, took the porridge and started to gobble it up.