Chapter 70 p1: Assembly
The church attendant walked up to her and stopped, then reached out his hand. Jiang Zao held her breath, and her right hand clenched into a fist by her side.
The man’s hand slowly rose. Jiang Zao’s pupils shrank. He reached out and pulled the girl down from the upper bunk.
“Prophet, have mercy. It’s not me, it’s not me!”
The soldiers pushed another man in and pressed him to the ground. “Is it her?”
The man looked up at the woman, then quickly lowered his head meekly. “Yes… it’s her.”
“You bastard, you were the one who seduced me. You were the one who told me not to go to the nursery…”
Before the woman could finish, her mouth was gagged by a soldier.
The church attendant waved his hand. “Take her away.”
Wen Zhao’s tightly clenched fist finally loosened, but she looked at the girl who was being dragged away with some worry. It was probably a bad outcome. At this moment, Wen Zhao finally felt a deep sense of fear, not daring to imagine what she would do if Jiang Zao were the one being dragged away.
The church attendant turned around again, looked at Jiang Zao, and opened the folder under his arm.
“Jiang Zao, right?”
Jiang Zao nodded.
“After the assembly, report to the school.”
“Assembly?”
She had always thought that an assembly was just a gathering of everyone, and then the leader would give a time-wasting and boring speech. It wasn’t until she followed the crowd to the largest open space in the center of the camp.
Only then did she realize that a pyre had been set up here, something she had only seen in novels set in the Middle Ages.
The two people tied to the cross were scantily clad, covered in whip marks, and were crying, but because their mouths were gagged, they couldn’t let out a single cry. They watched as the Prophet, holding a torch, got closer and closer, and struggled violently.
On the high platform, Qingshan’s voice was distant but clear.
“What crime have they committed?”
“The crime of fornication! The crime of fornication!”
The people shouted in unison, their eyes shining with a fanatical light.
“Execute him! Execute her!”
Qingshan turned around, and the crowd instantly fell silent.
“Their souls have been defiled. The Lord will withdraw his blessing from them.
“May your souls be purified in the flames.”
Qingshan whispered and brought the torch closer to the pyre.
The hymn that could be heard on the radio every day was sung live again. The flames roared, and the crowd knelt down one after another, pressing their right hands to their chests, and looking up devoutly.
Jiang Zao looked at the faces of the men, women, old, and young around her. There was fanaticism, fear, and more often, apathy. But no one dared to stand up and say a word. She murmured to herself.
“What… a bunch of lunatics.”
Someone pulled her from behind. She turned her head, and Yan Zhen was already kneeling on the ground. “Kneel down if you don’t want to die.”
The patrol soldiers had already walked in this direction.
Jiang Zao gritted her teeth and knelt down, followed by Wen Zhao beside her. While others were singing hymns, only the two of them exchanged a look, and their hands by their sides were intertwined.
Their determined eyes were in sync at this moment. No matter how the world changed, no matter what oppression people suffered.
They always believed: true love is not a crime.
The two people who were struggling in the flames gradually lost their strength.
A breeze blew past, and the flying ashes and the tender green grass of early spring flew into the sky, scattering and drifting into the distance.
Qingshan stood on the high platform, leaning on her scepter, and looked at Jiang Zao, who was also kneeling in the crowd, with satisfaction, her hands stretched out to the sky.
“Everyone, we have eliminated evil and should receive the Lord’s blessing. Just this morning, the patrol soldiers hunted a wild boar for us. Please enjoy the carnival on tonight’s rest day!”
The patrol team came up to extinguish the remaining flames, dragged the two charred bodies from the field, and brought up a two-hundred-pound wild boar and threw it on the ground. There was still a trace of blood on the corner of its mouth.
The crowd erupted in cheers again.
“Thank the Lord! Thank the Prophet!”
After the assembly, Jiang Zao had to go to the school to report, and Wen Zhao also had to go to the engineering department to work. The two of them didn’t even have time to say a word. They just exchanged a worried look and were driven by the soldiers in opposite directions.
The soldier took her to the school gate.
“Go in. The school is a good job. You should cherish the work that the Lord has given you.”
The school’s administrator, the older teacher who had given them a physical examination that day, came to meet her.
“My surname is Meng. You can call me Teacher Meng. This is the children’s classroom. That’s the room where the teachers prepare lessons and rest. The dormitory is in the back. I’ll take you there after class.”
Teacher Meng introduced her one by one and took her to the office, assigning her a desk.
“This will be your place from now on. Now, change your clothes first. The first class is about to start.”
Jiang Zao looked at the gray linen clothes and plaid skirt on the seat.
“It’s just class. Why do I have to change my clothes?”
“This is the Prophet’s will. Uniform clothing will unite everyone. And for the children, the plaid skirt will make them feel more approachable, safer, and more relaxed.”
When she spoke of the Prophet, a deep sense of worship appeared on her face again. Jiang Zao looked at her own dirty clothes, which were full of holes and stains, and picked up the gray linen clothes on the seat.
“For the first class, you can just observe with me.”
After Jiang Zao had changed her clothes, she followed her out of the office.
The progress of these children’s studies before the apocalypse was not consistent, but here, they only did two things:
Learning to read and singing the praises of the Prophet’s virtues.
Besides these, there were also some labor practices, such as starting a fire and cooking, and mending clothes under the guidance of the teachers.
People from the Ministry of Agriculture would sometimes come over to teach these girls some simple planting techniques.
The school also had a small vegetable patch behind the wooden house for them to practice.
Jiang Zao saw that all the girls were gathered around the teacher and couldn’t help but ask, “Why don’t the boys have to participate in the labor practice?”
“They will be sent to the reserve military camp when they are a little older. Farming is useless to them.”
“Then don’t they have to eat and wear clothes? At least in education, the balance should not be tilted towards any side. They can choose to go to the military camp or to farm, but they can’t not even have the right to choose.”
It was just a fleeting glance from the door that day. It wasn’t until she was deeply involved in the school life that Jiang Zao realized that this gender logic was completely wrong. The boys learned all kinds of combat skills, honing their courage and will, while the girls could only be confined to this small vegetable patch, wasting their confidence and time. They could have been warriors too.
Her slightly angry question was met with a look of confusion from the two teachers.
“Why go to the military camp? It’s dangerous to fight zombies. The Prophet is protecting us, which is why she arranged for us to be here.”
“We should be grateful for the Prophet’s grace, not question her decision.”
The eyes of the children who were buried in their work were also full of curiosity and enthusiasm for this work. They did not realize that there was anything wrong with it. A child who heard their conversation raised a stone in her hand.
“You monster, how dare you question the Prophet’s decision!”
Jiang Zao’s forehead hurt. She was hit by a stone and took a few steps back. Teacher Meng rushed over and held the child’s hand.
“Alright, alright, Little Ting, stop. It’s wrong to hit people!”
