Chapter 4

Chapter 4

But life’s accidents come even more abruptly than the twists in a play. Before the New Year, the Northern Mang people, who had been quiet for two years, attacked again.

Lincheng was not far from Tongshun Pass, so the city began recruiting soldiers everywhere.

But after three months of fighting, every man they recruited went off and never returned. The court could no longer raise any troops, so they started seizing men by force and sending them to the army.

Every household had to provide one able-bodied man.

But aside from Old Liu, there were no men in our family at all.

I thought that since we had no young men, paying some money should be enough for them to let us go. But they took the money, and they took Old Liu too.

On the twenty-eighth day after Old Liu left, news of his death came back. His ashes were delivered a month later.

Aunt Yang held the urn of ashes and sat in the courtyard for an entire day and night.

“Father and son died in the same place, the same way…”

After saying that, Aunt Yang fainted.

I buried Old Liu beside his son’s grave.

That day, it felt as if every household in the village was holding a funeral. No matter where I went, I could hear heart-wrenching cries.

Business at the shop was terrible. The streets seemed to be left with only women and children, mourning sheds set up everywhere.

The few customers who came in only talked about the war.

They said General Guo had disappeared a month ago, and now there wasn’t a single civil or military official in the entire court who knew how to fight a war. The Northern Mang people had seen exactly that weakness, which was why they were throwing everything they had at us.

A few days later, word spread that the Marquis of Changping had been sent to Tongshun Pass.

The Marquis of Changping was the man who haunted my nightmares every night.

My feelings were complicated. I hoped he would win, and I hoped he would lose.

If he won, he would surely be promoted and ennobled for his military merits. He didn’t deserve it.

But if he lost, the ones who would suffer in the end would still be the common people.

Things went against my wishes. The Marquis of Changping lost, but he did not die. The ones who died were countless commoners.

When Lincheng fell, it was at night. Aunt Yang hid Tian’er and me inside the rice vat.

“All the money in the house is in the rat hole. I’m leaving Tian’er to you. You… you must do your best to raise her. If you can’t… if you can’t, don’t force yourself. You think about staying alive first.”

“Where are you going?”

She pressed me down into the rice vat and put the lid on.

“You’re still young. Live well!”

I wanted to tell her that the Northern Mang people had come to rob us of our money. A mere rice vat could never hide us.