Records of Mysterious Things in the Southern Dynasties

Chapter 362: Sad Falling Leaves

It would have been fine if it was just Feng Tietou who was being emptied, but those personal soldiers bullied him and made him empty the toilet of the entire personal guard team.

After pouring, you have to clean it up...

Xiao Zong, with the spirit of endurance and bearing heavy burdens, suppressed the shame in his heart and did as he was told.

But when he was cleaning the toilet by the well, he couldn't help thinking about how high and mighty he was, having been a prince for more than 20 years, and now that he had fallen into trouble, he had to do the most menial job. It was really like "a dragon in shallow water is bullied by shrimps, and a tiger in the plain is bullied by dogs."

When he thought of this, he couldn't help but burst into tears, and he was inspired to compose a poem called "Sad Falling Leaves":
"Sad leaves fall, one after another. They fall and fly, never to return.

Sad falling leaves, sad falling leaves. Life is like this, scattered and unsustainable.

Sad falling leaves, when will they return? We used to share the same roots, but now we have no connection anymore..."

"Who told you to brush tigers by the well!" The poet was immersed in the poetic sentiment brought about by his personal experience, but he heard a loud shout.

Then the captain of Feng Tietou's personal guards came over angrily, kicked Xiao Zong in the chest, and knocked him to the ground.

Even though he had opened the fifth orifice, he was still unable to breathe after being kicked for a long time, and it felt like his ribs were about to break.

The captain of the guards refused to let him go. He continued to beat him up, then dragged him to the edge of the well and angrily said, "This is the well where the general drinks water. How dare you use it to clean the toilet? You did it on purpose!"

"No, no." Xiao Zong quickly explained: "I fetched water to wash, I didn't dirty the well water."

"Bullshit! Look at the yellow liquid you brushed everywhere. Most of it has flowed into the well!" the captain roared.

"How could there be yellow liquid? I washed it thoroughly." Xiao Zong said aggrievedly. He actually had a serious obsession with cleanliness.

"You still dare to quibble? I'll see that I didn't give you enough punishment!" The captain of the personal guards became even angrier after hearing this. He threw him to the ground and kicked him hard, leaving Xiao Zong with a black eye and a swollen face. Then he withdrew his foot and said:
"You said you cleaned it, so you can eat from the toilet from now on!"

~~
During dinner, the captain of the personal guards really asked someone to get a toilet and poured Xiao Zong's bowl of soba into the toilet.

"Eat!" The captain of the guards pointed to the toilet and said to the wounded Xiao Zong: "No, you should say Your Majesty, please have a meal."

“Hahaha!” The bodyguards laughed so hard that noodles came out of their noses.

The huge feeling of shame made Xiao Zong want to fight with the captain of the personal guards for a moment.

But he didn't dare...

"eat fast!"

"Oh no, hurry up and eat!" The guards started to jeer, "Why, do you still need us to feed you?"

"Well, I think that's probably the case. Isn't it said that the sons of wealthy families have everything they want, not to mention that he is a prince."

Then a personal soldier put down his bowl, rolled up his sleeves, approached Xiao Zong with a grim smile on his face and said, "Come, I will serve the prince for dinner."

Xiao Zong looked at those malicious soldiers surrounding him, knowing that they wanted to push him into the toilet to eat noodles...

As the saying goes, 'choose the lesser of two evils', it is better to eat it yourself.

"No, no, I can eat by myself, I don't need anyone to serve me." As he said this, he quickly reached into the toilet, fished out the noodles, and stuffed them into his mouth, fearing that if he ate too slowly, he would give others a chance to eat.

"Hahaha, wouldn't it have been better if you did this earlier?" "Wow, you're eating so deliciously."

"How is it? Is it delicious?!" The personal soldiers surrounded him, admiring the strange sight of him eating noodles in the toilet, and laughed uncontrollably.

Under the oil lamp, their shadows were like a group of demons dancing wildly, completely covering Xiao Zong who was squatting beside the toilet...

~~
At the end of the day, Xiao Zong was covered in bruises.

The physical pain was secondary. The key was the mental humiliation, which destroyed his pride, self-confidence and even faith... and made him completely forget his grand ambitions. He was physically and mentally exhausted, but he still had to bring water to Feng Tietou to wash his feet.

Maybe because of the serious injury, his hands holding the foot basin were unsteady, and when he put the basin on the edge of the bed, he accidentally spilled some foot washing water.

He was so scared that he quickly knelt down and used his sleeves to wipe the floor. He was so sensible that it made people feel distressed.

Feng Tietou held up his chin with his hand and said softly, "Life is not easy, right?"

"Yeah." Xiao Zong nodded with red eyes.

"This is how soldiers go through life. Just hold on, and everything will be fine in the end," Feng Tietou comforted him.

"Will they stop abusing me in the future?" Xiao Zong looked at Feng Tietou with tears in his eyes. If selling his butt could ensure his safety at this moment, he would do it without hesitation.

"No, you just get used to it." But Feng Tietou laughed strangely.

"..." Xiao Zong was speechless. It turned out that he was also playing tricks on him.

"Old soldiers bully new soldiers, superiors abuse their subordinates, this is the army. So as long as you can't become a captain, you will always be bullied by the captain." Feng Tietou laughed so hard that his body shook, and after a while he wiped his tears and said:

"But don't disbelieve me. He's been very good to you. He even lets you eat Suo Bing like them... In the whole Xingyang City, apart from the officers, only my personal soldiers can eat Suo Bing."

"Ordinary soldiers eat black steamed bread, and are bullied even more severely by veterans... You, a child of destiny, can never imagine that kind of misery." Feng Tietou said faintly:
"So it's best not to take your blessings for granted and don't let the captain kick you out of the personal guard team."

"Yes." Xiao Zong was frightened. He couldn't stand this treatment anymore. If it was even more miserable, he would rather die.

But he couldn't die, he still had a great vengeance to avenge. Thinking of this, he suddenly remembered his identity and kowtowed to Feng Tietou:

"Please let me go, General. I am no longer a prince. But my sixth uncle is. He is the King of Qi and the Grand Commander of the Northern Dynasty. You give me to him... No, you ask me to write him a letter and ask him to pay 100,000 coins... No, 1 million coins to redeem me. It will be considered as repaying the general for saving my life."

"That's more like it. Don't always think that people will serve you for free just because they hear your name. Others will only do it if there are benefits." Feng Tietou rubbed his head and taught him a lesson, like he was playing with a pet dog.

"Yes, yes, I've damaged my brain through studying, and I'm always ashamed to talk about profit." Xiao Zong hurriedly nodded and admitted his mistake, "I won't do that again in the future. When the Northern Dynasty comes and the emperor has a reward, I'll have someone send it all to the general."

"Well, that's right. Your filial piety is commendable." Feng Tietou nodded with satisfaction, and suddenly changed the subject: "I'm afraid he will bring the Northern Dynasty's army to destroy me..."

"How could that be!" Xiao Zong hurriedly shook his head and said, "Without the general's help, he would have been captured by Gou Chensi a long time ago. Besides, it was the subordinates who bullied me, not the general. I am only grateful to the general, not dissatisfied at all."

"Bullshit." Feng Tietou sneered and said in a shocking tone, "If you were really grateful, you should have given me the jade seal a long time ago!"

"Ah?!" Xiao Zong was petrified on the spot.

(End of this chapter)