[Naruto] Survival Records of the Warring States Period

The lucky day is over.

You wake up to the muffled sounds of your parents arguing.

Dad still wants to go up the mountain today, but Mom is still worried about the man she met yesterday who was arrested for violating the meat ban.

There are no secrets among neighbors in a longhouse.

He can think of ways to prepare the ingredients outside so that the smell disappears before taking them home, but as long as he eats the food at home, there is a risk of being discovered.

The fragrance that may be smelled, the long house with poor sound insulation and crowded neighbors, and the landlord who comes in at any time to search for contraband...

Once discovered, the consequences would be disastrous.

not to mention--

"Don't risk your life like this!" You heard your mother's voice, "If something happens, there will be nothing!"

"If there is no other way..." Dad's depressed voice came: "Forget it, Aqin, it's me who is useless."

"Don't go anymore, as long as you get through these few months... They all say that His Highness has hired very powerful ninjas and the war will be over soon!"

"What's the use? This time the war is over, and there will be another war. What's the use of surviving this time. Aqin, why are we working so hard? I don't understand!" Dad's voice was suppressed and painful, "Even if the war is won, we won't get anything. After all, I don't understand why we live anymore."

You can't see their expressions, but you find that their voices have a sense of collapse or sadness that makes you uneasy.

"Stop talking! Just get through it, just get through it..."

"How can I hold on!"

You are very uneasy, and you think of the people who drowned in the river flowing through the town some time ago.

Which number is that this month?

You don’t know, you just know that recently, people have been evading the officers on duty at the execution center late at night and jumping from the river. When they are fished out, their rotting, bloated and unrecognizable corpses have become a common phrase in the streets. of conversation.

——Another one.

You pretended to be disturbed by their argument, hummed a few times, turned over in the quilt, then slowly sat up and rubbed your eyes.

"Dad? Mom?" You looked sleepily, "Is it morning?"

Their faces were hidden in the dark shadows, as motionless as wood carvings and clay sculptures.

"It's still early, let's sleep a little longer, Xiaoxue." It was dad who spoke.

His voice became much calmer.

You thought for a while and then said, "Dad, the noodle shop's aunt said they are looking for maids in the city..."

"Xiaoxue!" This is mother.

"Xiaoxue won't go," your father interrupted you quickly, a little hastily, as if begging, "Even if it's His Highness... In short, Dad won't let Xiaoxue do that kind of work, Xiaoxue doesn't need to wait on others. .”

You looked at them carefully, the dim skylight shimmering through the yellowed and brittle pulp.

You lowered your eyes: "Yeah, okay."

……

Because of your speech in the morning, your mother didn't dare to take you out anymore. No matter how coquettish you were, you wouldn't compromise. You had to stay at home and watch A Cai and Tarang.

You sit on the edge of the yard and look at the sky. Outside the low wall, you can see the castle in the mountains in the distance.

It was the residence of the Daimyo of the Land of Fire, and it was also a strict military fortress.

——When you were hungry, was that daimyo also hungry?

How many meals can he eat a day? What does he eat for each meal? Is it my father-in-law’s favorite tempura? Or will he be thrifty because of the war and only eat some radishes?

As you were thinking this, you suddenly heard the angry voice of your neighbor next door.

"It's so useless, Yumi!" Aunt Ahao next door was angrily scolding her daughter, "You can't even pass the maid selection! If you can be His Highness's maid, our whole family will have no worries about food and clothing!"

"No, Mom!" Yumi, who is two years younger than you, replied timidly, sounding like she was about to cry, and argued, "Those adults, they only want children who can read, and I don't know how to..."

"Why not!" Yumi's mother's voice became even more angry, "Haven't you already known those words? Didn't you go to the wrong store when I asked you to go shopping? Okay, I understand, you did it on purpose That’s right!”

"No, I haven't seen those words before. They are completely different from what I know..."

In the flash of lightning, you understood something, and your heart suddenly jumped heavily.

In the history of your original world, men and women, aristocrats and commoners, would have mastered different words to distinguish each other's class status. This would also be the case in other countries in that world. The nobles used different etiquette, customs, writings, and languages ​​to rule the country and monopolize knowledge to maintain their status.

You know what writing Yumi knows. Kana has become quite popular in this era, which has also promoted the cultural and entertainment activities of the town people. Town people with spare money will also read the current grass literature written in kana. . And another text...

If you guessed correctly, it should be Chinese characters.

You suddenly realize that if your guess is correct, then the most valuable asset you have in this world is not that you have not been reduced to a filthy and inhuman status as a commoner or that the meat buns hanging on the beams at home are not. But a key to the upper class——

Text.

You looked at the earthen wall that separated your home from Yumi's yard and took a deep breath.