"Hey! Wake up!"
Lin Anning's eyes snapped open the moment she felt something heavy strike her back.
At first, she thought she was dreaming until something ruthlessly poked the side of her legs. Anning let out a small cough, pushing herself off the floor.
She blinked, still feeling slightly sleepy. She had to pause for a moment to allow her brain to catch up with her body.
The moment her vision became clearer, she finally noticed the large circle of unfamiliar faces around her.
Both men, women and children were standing around her. A few of them had curious expressions on their faces and the others seemed angry, why?
Anning frowned, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand as she straightened her posture. The ground beneath her feet was rough and the uneven wooden planks seemed to shift slightly under her weight.
Where...was she? The last thing she remembered was climbing up a large mountain covered in snow.
She had just been enjoying the feeling of the cold wind against her skin when someone shoved her from behind.
The memory came back with full force, making her groan slightly.
Her wedding had just been the day after and some cruel bastard decided to push her off a snow-covered cliff.
The incident was a bit funny but she was very sure she had died that day.
Her brows furrowed together I'm confusion as she glanced around her again. So, was this the afterlife?
Or had she finally ended up in hell?
The sound of someone snorting snapped her out of her thoughts.
A tall, broad shouldered man stood a few metres away from her, his arms crossed against his chest as he stared down at her. His skin was tanned probably from years of standing under the sun, and his thick neck strained against the collar of his clothes.
"We really do not have time for this," the man said in a deep and impatient voice. "Get up. We still need to reach the market square before noon. The longer you keep sitting here, the harder it will be for you."
'What does he mean by market square?' Anning asked herself inwardly.
After a moment, she slowly pushed herself up on her feet, while patting the dust off her clothes out of habit.
That was when she noticed she wasn't even standing in a room! Around her were large wooden bars, arranged in tight clusters.
Her eyes widened slightly as she spun around. She was inside some sort of wooden cage, but why?!
The people standing around her all seemed to be on edge. Their clothes made her feel disgusted, it seemed as though they had been crudely sewn from some cheap cloth. The fabric was absolutely shapeless and hung loosely on their bodies like potato sacks.
One little girl standing in the corner looked like hers had been sewn out of grass.
Anning blinked. Had she been kidnapped and made to attend some sort of weird cosplay invention?
Before she could even think further, a large hand suddenly palmed her buttocks as she was shoved forward.
"Get moving!"
The push had her stumbling forward, making Anning's frown deepen.
She turned around to stare at the bastard that had the audacity to touch her on the ass and even order her around like she was some kind of...cattle!
"Why are you shoving me around like I'm some sort of animal?" She asked, her voice devoid of any emotion.
The man standing in front of her exhaled, running a hand down his face. He stared at Anning as though she had just said something utterly stupid.
Just as the man opened his mouth to say something, Anning felt someone lightly tugging the hem of her dress.
She looked down and standing beside her was a small girl. She looked no less than twelve, her hair was pulled into a messy braid and she had a bit of mud smudged over her face.
"You shouldn't talk to the overseer like that, Jiějiě" the girl whispered nervously. "If you talk back, they might punish you."
Anning didn't respond immediately at first, she just stared at the small girl and then chuckled.
Punish her? Ha! As if.
"Well..." She drew out lightly. "This is probably the afterlife, getting punished here probably won't hurt that much."
The small girl blinked in confusion, her small nose scrunching up in confusion. 'Had this woman...gone mad?' that was the only thought the girl had in mind now.
Before the girl could say anything else, the sound of footsteps approaching the cage echoed through the air.
Another man appeared, coming to stand a few feet away from the first guard. Unlike the first man's rough appearance, this one had a loose hanfu robe on, with wide sleeves and a small cloth belt wrapped carefully around his waist.
The garment looked old-fashioned and something Anning had only seen in historical dramas. This made Anning cock her head slightly to the side.
His fashion sense was a bit... outdated. Yet, she wasn't one to judge others.
The man that had just arrived glanced between Anning and the other guard.
"What's going on here?" He asked.
The large man could only grunt before saying angrily, "This slave doesn't seem to want to move."
The guard that had woken Anning up was called A-sheng. He pointed his index finger toward Anning before adding,
"Just because our superiors told us to be careful with the slaves. I couldn't even discipline or correct her once!"
Slave? Out of everything A-sheng had just said, Anning only picked out the word slave.
For some reason, she felt her chest tighten painfully. She knew she probably shouldn't be getting angry over something so ridiculous.
After all, she was probably dead. But for some odd reason, she just couldn't tolerate it.
Anning had just taken a step forward when the girl standing beside her reached out and grabbed her by the wrist.
"Don't!" The girl whispered, shaking her head from side to side.
But the thing is, Lin Anning had never been particularly good at controlling her temper.
In fact...
That very temper was one of the reasons she had been killed. She gently slapped the girl's hand away and walked toward A-sheng.
The man raised a brow as he watched her approach, he clearly had not expected her to walk towards him on her own.
When Anning finally came to stand in front of him, she just stared into his deep green eyes without even flinching.
For a brief moment, everywhere was quiet.
SMACK!
Then without hesitation, she raised her hand and struck his face. The sound of skin meeting skin echoed through the cage.
The slaves standing behind her were frozen with shock, their eyes widened slightly.
Anning slowly lowered her hand. She twisted her wrist slowly, her lips curving into a small smile.
"Wow, that actually felt surprisingly great!" She muttered, sounding almost thoughtful.
The slap itself hadn't really been strong, but it was just the sheer audacity of what she had done that had left everyone speechless.
A-sheng blinked once, reaching up to touch the side of his face.
"You slut!" He yelled, before Anning knew what was happening, he slapped her right across the cheek.
TWACK!
The force of the slap had Anning stumbling backwards. A sharp ringing sound filled her ears, she felt dizzy at that moment as she struggled to keep her balance.
A warm, sticky metallic substance filled her mouth instantly.
"Ya!!" A few slaves even shouted in unison, clearly stunned.
Even the other men looked startled by how quickly things had escalated.
Anning swayed for a few seconds before straightening. Then, she spat something thick and dark onto the wooden floor.
What did she spit out? Dark red blood.
She wiped the edge of her mouth with the back of her hand, lifting her head to glare at A-sheng.
"You bastard! How can you hit a woman?" She shouted angrily, her hands placed on her hips. "Do you want to die?!"