The rough diamond was dirty, stinky and stained with black and yellow, and stinking,
and Li Du could guess without any explanation where it had been hidden.
The guards were not squeamish, however. Someone grabbed the diamond, washed it
in the dark river water, and brought it back to Remonin.
The general was no longer grinning. He looked darkly at the miners whom the guards
had rounded up and began to growl in a language that Li Du did not understand.
“What is he talking about?” asked Li Du.
Lu Guan said, “Explaining the rules of the mine and warning these miners. He will
punish the poor man.”
The lion hunter looked at him in surprise and said, “Do you know Portuguese?”
Lu Guan shrugged his shoulders and said, “Understand a little.”
Li Du thought Li Guan chose the wrong career path. With his aptitude for foreign
languages, he should have engaged in diplomacy or translation work. It would not be
exaggerating to say that he was a linguistic genius.
The miners looked at the thin and weak boy angrily. Someone picked up a stone from
the ground and threatened to hit him. Many shouted at him with furious faces.
Li Du was surprised, and said, “Is the general so popular in this place?”
It was unexpected to see that the workers were so protective of Remonin’s interests.
Lu Guan said, “No, the thing is that the general implements collective punishment. All
people’s food stamps for today will be confiscated.”
The lion hunter added, “The general has made it a rule that if someone steals diamonds
and no one tells, he confiscates everyone’s food stamps as a punishment if he finds
out.”
Li Du understood that this act was harsh enough.
The boy shuddered with fear. Remonin grasped his shoulder with a large, powerful
hand. A guard drew out his bayonet and handed it to the general.
The others no longer looked angry, but a little frightened.
Li Du knew the punishment would be cruel.
He wanted to stop it, but he could not. This was not China or America. This was not the
civilized world. If he tried to interfere, he would be considered a busybody. The diamond
lords made cruel rules to prevent their men from stealing the precious stones.
Remonin hit the boy on the shoulder with his bayonet. The boy shivered like a lamb
under a butcher’s knife. Occasionally he looked up, his face contorted with fear.
Knowing what Remonin meant to do, Li Du deliberately threatened the boy and
humiliated him to teach the other miners a lesson.
The boy looked up and saw Li Du, and seemed to see the difference between him and
the others. Like a drowning man who found a straw, he stretched out his hand and
cried, “Save me!”
Li Du was stunned. Is this Chinese? The accent was very thick, but the words were
recognizable.
Li Du, Remonin and the others had thought that the boy could only speak the local
dialect.
Now, hearing him speak Chinese, Li Du looked surprised. Remonin and the others
didn’t understand. They had never heard Chinese spoken before.
The youth realized Li Du understood him, and he called louder, “baba, save me! Please
save me!”
Hearing this, Li Du was now quite certain that the boy was speaking Chinese, although
his pronunciation was odd.
Remonin caring little, pulled off his pants and held the young man in a firm grip., The
trembling youth called out, “save me! Yeah! Yeah! Save my life! Save me!”
Two guards came up to restrain him, and Remonin tore off his trousers and placed the
sharp bayonet on the Gollum between the boy’s legs.
Li Du could not help but try to stop him and said, “General, do you intend to castrate
him?”
“Of course,” Remonin laughed.
“You can punish him, even kill him, but why torture a boy like this?”
Remonin frowned at him. “Torture? No, it’s not torture. I’m going to cook for you.”
He saw Li Du did not understand, and went on, “I just said, you have luck today. If I do
not cut off this thing, how can you have good food?”
Li Du was stunned and said, “What do you mean?”
“Don’t you know? Pygmy testicles are wonderful food.”
Hearing this, Li Du understood his intention. He wanted to castrate the boy and cook his
genitals.
This nearly made him vomit. He repeatedly shook his head and said, “No, no, I am not a
cannibal monster. Sorry, General, I appreciate your kindness, but I will never touch this
thing!”
These words made Remonin laugh. He said to the lion hunter, “He doesn’t understand,
does he?”
The lion hunter nodded. “No, he doesn’t. Li is American.”
Then he explained some things about pygmies to Li Du.
Under the impact of modern civilization, most of the nations in the world were constantly
developing and progressing. However, there were still some peoples who lived in
isolation, maintaining extremely peculiar customs.
Pygmies were such people, adhering to the same traditions and lifestyle for thousands
of years.
This nation was very unique, not only in their culture, traditions, and way of life but their
appearance as well. They were the shortest people in the world. The average height of
an adult pygmy man was no more than 1.5 meters. Women were generally about 10
centimeters shorter than men and weighed no more than 40 kilograms. They did not
exceed these proportions even when nutrition was abundant.
Li Du had thought that the miner was a little boy, but he was not. He had nearly reached
his maximum height, and could at most grow a few centimeters more.
Another unusual thing about these people was their early sexual maturity. The reason
for it was most likely rooted in the fact that pygmies also aged fast, with an average
lifespan of less than 40 years. Thus, despite the early births, there was no significant
increase in the population density of the pygmies.
According to an African belief circulating amongst tribal shaman doctors, pygmies were
able to have children at such an early age because their genitals were blessed by God
and had unique effects such as strengthening the body, enhancing virility and boosting
intelligence.
In short, in the witch doctor culture, pygmy testicles were considered magic.
Therefore, when Remonin learned Musa is a pygmy, he decided to cut off his genitals
and serve them with wine. That’s why the lion hunter said he wanted some.
They were serious.
When Remonin took off his trousers, Musa knew what was going on and fought against
it with all his might, but the struggle was obviously doomed.
