Chapter 118 - 93 Sarabia’s Slaves_2
Faced with this, Xie Pangbo rejected it internally, but being a man who understood when to advance and when to retreat, he outwardly complied. Even though he sneered at the Free Italy people’s way of leading newly joined slaves in lamenting their miseries, he still spoke publicly about the bad deeds of his former masters.
Perhaps because his performance won the trust of the rebel army, or maybe due to his own talents, a few days later, he was sent to the harbor marketplace, in charge of selling at a pottery shop. The transformation from a buyer to a seller was truly ironic.
On the first day of opening the shop, there were almost no customers; the whole world seemed deserted. He spent most of his time cleaning the shop and arranging the pottery.
During this process, he recognized that some of the pieces in the shop came from his former master’s house, as he had once been responsible for their procurement. This filled him with emotion.
The slaves working at the harbor marketplace, including Xie Pangbo, were arranged to live in a famous merchant’s mansion inside the city. The living conditions were much better than when they were slaves, and the food was decent, even allowing them to eat some meat. This caused some people to no longer resist joining Free Italy.
However, Xie Pangbo was not moved by the improvement in living conditions. He resented the rebel army’s control, treating him like a soldier, just like now, being gathered by a small squad of soldiers after breakfast to head to the harbor market together.
In early spring, Sarabia’s mornings were still chilly despite warming up, and the sea breeze made everyone walking on the streets tighten their woolen blankets around themselves.
These blankets were given to every new member of the rebel army not long after they joined. Some slaves, who had always worn ragged clothes, donned these woolen blankets to ward off the cold for the first time and couldn’t help but praise the rebel army.
Xie Pangbo remained silent about this because his former master operated in this business, buying large amounts of fine wool from Galgano in northern Apulia, having hired housewives spin it into yarn, and then weaving it into woolen cloth for sale. He was certain that most of the blankets they were wearing were likely stock from his former master’s warehouse.