The grass in winter was old and sharp, slicing painfully across the back of her hands and cheeks. Hua Xiaomai was pulled so strongly she could not stand steady, and her head plunged forward; in her vision, only three or four pairs of feet were visible. Before she could react, a piece of rotten cloth was stuffed into her mouth, and her hands were tied up. A sack was suddenly pulled over her head from nowhere, quickly tied with a rope, and she was lifted into the air and violently shaken, obviously carried off by someone running.
The sack was soft everywhere, offering no grip to hold on to, and her body could only sway back and forth, all her internal organs seeming to shift out of place. Unable to shout, Hua Xiaomai could only grasp tightly onto a piece of cloth and strenuously stretch her limbs to stabilize her body slightly, reducing the violent shaking, while straining her ears to catch any sounds outside.
