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  Sizzling

  The ears-piercing sound of the stone gate moving, everyone's eyes lit up in front of them.

  In the light of the torches, a voice came over, "Get them all out!"

  However, most of the swordsmen were dignified men and didn't need to be urged. As soon as the voice was heard, someone smoothed out their clothes and walked out calmly.

  The swordsmen had walked for about half the distance when the miscellaneous workers followed in a scattered manner, and Wei Luo stepped out to walk between the swordsmen and the miscellaneous workers.

  In the midst of the raging torches, several pairs of eyes swept over Wei Luo, but no one made things difficult for her - there were only children mixed in, and it was not too late to deal with them later.

  In front of a dozen or so expressionless soldiers holding long spears, stood a dozen or so swordsmen who had come to escort them. These swordsmen looked at the people in the carriage, who were also swordsmen, and felt a sense of kinship, their expressions softening with emotion.

  Without being forced, a swordsman walked forward on his own, and the crowd formed a neat queue, also without instruction, following the stone path, along the burning torches on both sides of the tree shade.

  Before long, they arrived at a square.

  The square is very large and lively. Thousands of torches illuminate the sky, making it as bright as daytime. Under the warm spring breeze, the ground is covered with brocade, on which are placed low tables. The nobles, with men to the left and women to the right, sit in two rows on the low tables, chatting and laughing loudly.

  A hundred meters away from the landslide, twenty or thirty piles of flames were burning fiercely. In the midst of the roaring fire, a dozen whole sheep were being roasted, emitting a bright yellow glow and a strong savory aroma that filled the air. The crowd, who had been starving for two days, swallowed their saliva repeatedly, their stomachs growling with hunger, their eyes gleaming with desire as they stared fixedly at the roasting mutton.

  Between the two rows of collapsed buildings, among the nobles and noblewomen, every one or two meters apart, a beautiful, half-naked young girl with rouged nipples was kneeling on one knee.

  The girls knelt in a very neat line, thirty or forty people formed a unique and beautiful landscape.

  These girls held up their hands, and in the palms of their hands were half bamboo tubes. The bamboo tubes lined up fifty meters away, and these bamboo tubes that were held on top of the girls' heads also lined up fifty meters away.

  In the huge bamboo tube, golden liquor flowed, and from time to time a noble walked over, one hand stroking the girl's cheek, breasts, while the other hand picked up a wine cup to scoop up wine from the bamboo tube.

  Even if the movements of the wealthy people are extremely rude, the girls do not dare to move at all. If anyone moves, it will cause this stitched together, 40-50 meter long bamboo tube to break, causing all the wine inside the bamboo tube to spill out——at that time, their lives would be worthless.

  This popular game among the upper class of Jin State, Wei Luo had heard of it before. It has a beautiful name, called Jiu Xi (Wine Creek). Using bamboo as the creek and wine as the spring, that's how it got its name Wine Creek.

  Right in front of the dignitaries, about ten steps away, there was also a row of tables with wine and meat left on them, but they were empty and no one was there. It is unknown whether it was left for the host who hosted the banquet or for the Marquis of Jin.

  Wei Luo took a closer look and found that in the four corners of east, south, north and west, there were piles of people. Upon closer inspection, these people turned out to be some virgins and tall swordsmen. Taking another look, Wei Luo vaguely saw several familiar faces from the western corner. These few people were all from the carriage team, they just didn't stand out particularly.

  A fat, virtuous scholar who had brought them out of the stone house stepped forward, and with a flattering smile, loudly said: "Your honors, these swordsmen and miscellaneous servants in the arena are all guilty slaves. If any of your honors take a liking to one, you can send someone to lead him away."

  He said this and waved his right hand.

  As he gestured, the team of maidens at the eastern corner were pushed and pulled over.

  The maiden walked in front of the crowd, standing under the bright light, her five senses and skin were all revealed. Wei Luo looked around and found that, just like the maiden on the west side, there were almost no exceptionally beautiful ones, most were only delicate and had a mediocre appearance.

  As the virgins approached, the nobles sitting in the front row were languid and glanced at them briefly before ignoring them. Their hands remained on the beautiful women holding their wine cups - watching them tremble with fear under their gaze, yet not daring to make any movement due to the wine cups above their heads. This pleasure was apparently more enjoyable than the virgins in front of them.

  After a while, the two nobles sitting in the back lazily pointed and separated the group of virgins into seven or eight groups, leaving only three or four people behind. The remaining virgins were led away and brought to the ranks of Wei Luo and others.

  After selecting the east corner, it was the turn of the south corner.

  On the south side are some boys, these boys are as good as the virgins, the exceptionally good ones are gone, the remaining ones are either slightly taller, or their faces start to show a man's ruggedness, or their skin is rough and dark.

  Also several nobles behind Ta Kerei took some of them casually, and the remaining five or six boys were taken to the team led by Wei Luo.

  Next is the west corner.

  On the west side, there were both maidens and young men, all of whom were familiar faces from Wei Luo's entourage. They were all good-looking, but none of them left a deep impression on Wei Luo.

  After a round of selection, the remaining few people also joined Wei Luo's team.

  Next is Beisi Jiao, Beisi Jiao is also a virgin mixed with Tongnian.

  About half an hour later, when the girls kneeling on one knee and holding wine barrels with both hands began to sway slightly, the fat scholar waved his hand and a flattering smile came out. "Ladies and gentlemen, there are many swordsmen in this last team, as well as strong miscellaneous workers. If you have any preferences, feel free to take them away. Those who are not selected by you will be treated as labor slaves."

  In his loud laughter, Wei Luo and others were pressed down by the swordsmen.

  As soon as they arrived in front of the noble, they were prodded open by the long spears from behind and re-formed into lines. Before long, over a hundred people were arranged into four teams according to their professions: swordsmen, miscellaneous workers, maidens, and young boys.

  Their team had just been arranged, and the swordsmen were taken away by several nobles in the front row. The sword guests were also taken away by several soldiers - they were sent by Duke Jin to select soldiers.

  The swordsmen walked away, and Wei Luo, who was mixed in with the miscellaneous servants, was pushed to the front row.

  The torches were ablaze, illuminating the world with unparalleled clarity.

  The servants stepped out, and a soft "oh" came from the noble lady, who pointed at Wei Luo and asked in surprise: "Such an ugly little boy, how can he be among those being selected?"

  The noble lady's words made all the nobles raise their heads and look at Wei Luo, and suddenly they all furrowed their brows. Wei Luo vigilantly discovered that many people had murderous intentions in their eyes.

  Indeed, among all people, she is the most useless and unnecessary - without color, talent or a strong physique. Even as a lowly tomb guard, it would be a waste of food, because she definitely wouldn't last two months!

  Wei Luo raised her head, meeting the countless pairs of eyes that looked at her as if she were a dead person. She smiled slightly and took a step forward, letting herself be fully exposed in the extremely bright light of the torches.

  Behind Wei Luo, the stout official was about to order someone to take her away for punishment. His words were still on his lips when he saw this dark and ugly child walk out calmly with a smile on his face. He hesitated, his hand suspended in mid-air, momentarily unable to decide whether or not to take Wei Luo down.

  After hesitating for half a moment, his hand dropped down. Many of the nobles' eyes lit up, clearly showing interest in this ugly little black boy. He also noticed that even among the strong swordsmen in the queue, after two days of hunger and uncertainty about their future, they were listless, pale, and had vacant stares.

  But this child had bright eyes, a calm face, steady steps, and an air of leisurely elegance that was indeed enough to arouse some curiosity.

  Wei Luo took a big step forward, turned her exceptionally bright eyes and looked seriously at the nobles. Under everyone's gaze, she bowed deeply and said in a clear voice: "Although the child is ugly, he can recognize characters, calculate accounts, and manage the study room. A jade-like iron hammer, if it is not put into a hemp bag, how can it break out of the bag?"

  As soon as Wei Luo spoke, several pairs of eyes among the nobles lit up.

  Wei Luo raised her head, her eyes shining brightly like stars. "Observing all the esteemed guests, they are tall and majestic, with words that flow smoothly, making one feel delighted at first sight. They are indeed favored by heaven. As for me, my limbs are as slender as bamboo joints, my body is as delicate as an osmanthus flower, from a distance I look like a charcoal head, but up close I'm still quite pleasing to the eye," she said, shaking her head and swaying back and forth. Suddenly, two snickering sounds came from among the noblewomen, and with this lead, the snickering grew louder and louder.

  Many noble people looked at her under the lamp, and saw Wei Luo's small body that was both thin and dark. They also saw her shaking her head and blowing air with a pleased expression. When they thought about how she boasted that she had "limbs like bamboo, a figure like osmanthus", even though she was clearly thin and short, she actually compared herself to straight bamboo and fragrant osmanthus, raising her own level by one grade. When they heard her say something like "from afar, I look like a charcoal head, but up close, I'm still quite pretty", everyone couldn't help but stifle their laughter.

  In the midst of everyone's laughter, Wei Luo widened her eyes, very serious and solemn, with her chin slightly raised and her nostrils facing upwards, very proud and confident, continued, "Even a humble person like myself has words to say, is also a person blessed by heaven." She said this, let out a long sigh, her voice somewhat muffled as she loudly said: "It's just that when heaven was bestowing its favor on me with the essence of yin and yang, it poured a bit less, condensed some, and added some inkstone..."

  Wei Luo's words had just reached this point when a loud "hahaha" burst of laughter shook the sky and earth, instantly drowning out her voice.

  The ones who laughed the most were still those noblewomen, they had just managed to stop laughing and then took another glance at Wei Luo under the dim light, thinking of what she said 'from a distance it looks like a charcoal head', 'and added some ink stones', and couldn't help but hold their waists again and laugh till they fell forward and backward.

  At this time, the most hardworking ones in the field were those girls who held the wine cups. They all endured smiling, because they had been enduring for too long and their beautiful faces were twitching and distorted.

  Wei Luo perfectly countered those who looked at her with murderous intent, turning their gazes into benevolent ones. She couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief. However, no one spoke up, so she still didn't dare to relax, thus she continued to hold her chin high, her head held high, very confidently and proudly displaying the style of her raven hair, letting everyone continue to admire and enjoy.