Chapter 12
Chapter 12
The Ninth Year of Tianbao was marked by many momentous events.
In the north, the Great Xia suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of foreign tribes raiding the borders. Monstrous Beasts were sighted in various regions, while in the south, a wicked flood dragon stirred up storms and waves to devour living sacrifices.
Furthermore, His Majesty’s favorite concubine became pregnant with a young prince. Suffering from morning sickness and a loss of appetite, she ordered fresh delicacies to be sent as tribute from every corner of the land.
In Su Fang, within Yunwu County, a smaller tragedy was unfolding in the household of Zhang Erlang-five members of his family had starved to death this year.
Now, only he and his elderly mother remained.
That morning, Zhang Family’s Second Son had eaten another small handful of Guanyin Clay. His stomach throbbed with an unbearable, bloating pain, as if he were carrying a fetus made of stone.
The door to the room behind him was ajar, and thin groans of agony drifted out.
The pitch-black room was like the maw of some ultimate predator, swallowing life mouthful by mouthful.
Zhang Family’s Second Son felt a wrenching pain in his heart. Just as he raised his hands to cover his ears, he heard the person inside call out, “Lao Er…”
The voice was as thin as a thread. Zhang Erlang hurriedly stood up, clutching his waist for support.
The interior was dark. An old woman lay on a filthy mat of bulrush, her abdomen swollen like a ball.
Zhang Family’s Second Son entered the room, forcing a wide, pained smile as he moved to help her. “Mother, did you call for me?”
“Do you need to relieve yourself?”
The woman squeezed a sliver of sound from her throat. Her eyes, yellowed like desert stones, looked askance at Zhang Family Second Son.
“I am dying.”
Before Zhang Family Second Son could offer any useless words of comfort, the old woman said, “After I die, eat me.”
Zhang Family Second Son slowly lowered his head, his teeth chattering with terror.
It was unclear whether he feared the fact that his mother was about to die, or if he feared the memory of the scent of meat that surfaced when the word ‘eat’ was mentioned.
The woman panted heavily as she gave her final instructions. “Do not stew it. The neighbors will smell it.”
Stewing wasted water, and if the neighbors caught the scent of meat, they would surely come to snatch it away. Her son was weak; he would certainly lose in a fight.
Seeing that Zhang Family Second Son remained silent, the woman on the mat found a sudden burst of strength from nowhere. Her withered fingers clamped onto his arm like pincers.
In the darkness, a fierce determination erupted in her eyes.
“Remember to strip off my clothes first. Do not let them get stained with blood. You can wear them inside your own during the winter to keep warm.”
She swallowed with great effort, her grip tightening further. “The Zhongyuan Festival is approaching. Cut the meat from my buttocks first to offer as a sacrifice to your father, your elder brother, your sister-in-law, and your two nephews.”
Having finished these most vital instructions, she lay back down on the mat soaked in oily sweat and let out a long, slow breath.
She waited to die.
Zhang Family Second Son’s tears dripped onto the frayed edges of the mat.
The dark room was deathly quiet, save for his low sobbing.
Suddenly, a wave of voices rose from outside, growing louder and louder.
There was panic, but also joy, shattering the dead silence.
Having filled his stomach with Guanyin Clay for so long without any nutrition, Zhang Family Second Son’s mind was muddled, and his reactions were incredibly slow.
The commotion outside felt as if it were happening a great distance away. It took him a long time to process it.
He sat with his head drooping in a half-dreaming state until the gate to his courtyard was kicked open.
“Are there any living souls left in this house?” A County Soldier holding a copper gong entered the desolate courtyard, assuming it was another household where everyone had perished.
However, obeying his Superior Officer’s orders, he still shouted, “If there is anyone left who can move, come out and follow me to collect grain!”
Inside the room, Zhang Family Second Son’s mind had been hazy, but the word ‘grain’ was like a sharp sword that suddenly cleaved through the fog in his brain.
He jolted awake. He shot a glance at his mother and then scrambled outside on all fours.
His feet were so swollen they were translucent, making it impossible to fit into his straw sandals. He ran into the courtyard barefoot.
The one delivering the message was a soldier of the Great Xia Official Army. The soldiers of the Great Xia had extremely low patience for Commoners; seeing his slow movements, the soldier cursed at him twice.
Finally, the soldier added, “Bring something to hold water and grain, and follow me.”
As long as he was given something to eat, Zhang Family Second Son would do anything.
He found a jar and clutched it to his chest. Before leaving, he looked back into the house.
He locked the door to prevent thieves from coming while no one was home to snatch a living person away to eat.
Following the shouts of the County Soldiers, thirty or forty people gradually emerged from the impoverished Li Fang.
Zhang Family Second Son followed numbly. Halfway there, his steps grew heavier, and the pain in his abdomen felt like a twisting knife.
Just as he was about to collapse to the ground, he suddenly looked up.
An expression of endless astonishment surfaced on his sallow face, which looked like a layer of skin stretched over a skull.
When a person has been starving for a long time, their sense of smell becomes exceptionally keen.
He smelled food-the scent of cooked rice baking under the scorching sun. It carried a hint of moisture, like an invisible small hand reaching into his gut, which was filled with Guanyin Clay, and giving his heart a squeeze.
Zhang Family Second Son’s pace quickened. With his belly distended from the Guanyin Clay, he began to run in a strange and terrifying posture.
As he rounded the wall of the Li Fang, his footsteps, along with those of everyone around him, came to a sudden halt.
Across three walls, they saw the water bottle standing tall like a miracle.
They saw the mountain of rice piled beside the water bottle, though it was slightly shorter.
Zhang Family Second Son was illiterate and could not find the right words to describe this scene.
His mind went blank, his ears buzzed, and he followed the crowd toward the open space.
As he drew closer, the first things he saw were the cheval de frise and squad after squad of guarding soldiers.
Xu Tan, the Yunwu County Commandant, was personally patrolling on a thin horse, holding a halberd.
Behind the cheval de frise, doors that had been removed from their hinges were laid flat on the ground. Ropes had been used to drag massive blocks of rice onto these makeshift tables.
County Soldiers crouched beside the doors, carving up the rice grains.
The rice provided by Qin Ying was moist and easy to cut. This assembly-line style of portioning out the rice gave observers an unavoidable sense of absurdity.
Zhang Family Second Son clutched the earthenware jar he had brought from home. For a moment, he wondered if he had already starved to death in his house.
With his head hanging low, he followed the line of people receiving food.
In a daze, he felt as if he were being escorted by ghost officials to Haoli Mountain, the final resting place for departed souls.
The County Soldier responsible for distributing the food had a rugged, fierce face. Seeing Zhang Family Second Son’s appearance, he knew the man was lightheaded from hunger. He raised his voice and asked, “How many in your family?”
Zhang Family Second Son answered vaguely, “Seven… no, two.”
As soon as he spoke, two clumps of something were tossed into the jar he was holding with a dull thud.
The soldier distributing the food jerked his head to the side. “Go next door for water. Next!”
Pausing for a moment, the soldier added a line according to Han Lie’s instructions: “Once you have received the Supreme Deity’s blessing and eaten your fill, if you can still move, come back and help!”
Urged on by those behind him, Zhang Family Second Son walked away numbly. Only then did he look at the contents of his jar.
Inside the coarse black earthenware jar were two clumps of rice the size of fists.
He stared blankly for a second, then suddenly grabbed a clump and shoved it into his mouth.
In this environment, the hygiene of the rice-cutting station was terrible; the rice grains were coated in a layer of black ash.
He clamped his teeth together and bit off a mouthful of the rice ball.
He had already bitten off a second mouthful before the first had even been swallowed down his throat.
The food slid down his gullet, his Adam’s apple bobbing rhythmically.
If someone were to ask if it was sweet or salty, he likely wouldn’t have been able to answer.
He took two more fierce bites, and only then did he snap out of his daze like one waking from a dream, his whole body jolting.
Mother! His old mother was still at home!
Before he could turn to run, a gourd ladle reached out and poured a scoop of clear water into the jar in his arms.
The splashing sound was like divine music that could save a life.
Zhang Family Second Son didn’t have time to see who had given him the water. He protected the jar like it was a precious treasure and ran toward his home.
On the way, he brushed past many people pushing handcarts or carrying poles over their shoulders.
Distributing rice and water required a lot of manpower, and doing it only near the mountain of rice was a waste of time.
Therefore, Han Lie had dispatched soldiers to the distant Li Fangs to notify the Li Chiefs to organize Able-bodied Adults to come and help.
“Mother, Mother, we have food!”
Zhang Family Second Son burst into the pitch-black inner room.
The old woman, her body swollen with edema, lay flat on a cattail mat and did not respond.
“Mother…”
Zhang Family Second Son’s voice grew weak.
He stumbled to the edge of the mat, his knees hitting the ground hard.
One drop, then two, his tears fell onto the old woman’s bloated face.
Suddenly, he heard a faint gasp.
The old woman on the mat opened her drooping eyelids slightly. “Lao Er.”