The Candle Burns Red - Chapter 14

I had been a little beggar in Pear Blossom Lane in the old capital. The land was prosperous then. Wealthy people often gave us food or a few bits of silver. They liked the lucky sayings I recited and gave me more than the others. I grew round and well fed. I even planned to found a beggars’ sect with my friends when I was grown and roam the martial world.

Then, when I was eight, a general came from the south. He was the present emperor’s sworn brother. At a palace banquet he assassinated the reigning emperor and slaughtered the royal family. Chaos swept the capital, and I was driven from place to place. The wealthy had troubles of their own. They no longer listened to lucky words. They only hoped to see the next sunrise.

One afternoon when I was near starvation, someone fed me spoon after spoon of sweet porridge. I opened my eyes through a haze. A young, noble face was close to mine, compassion filling the boy’s eyes.

“I may not live,” he murmured, “but you must. All the people of Great Yan must live.”

That bowl of porridge saved me. Later I saw the boy in the palace, dressed as a eunuch, his gaze lowered in obedience. Yet his back was straight as a bamboo shoot ready to spring from the earth. I secretly learned his name: Pei Xiuwen.

By then I was Yuwen Sheng’s personal maid and could seldom enter the palace. But I felt Pei Xiuwen had come there with something important to do.

After his father seized the throne, Yuwen Sheng was determined to make a good name for himself. He took in many homeless beggar children from the capital. I was one of the “lucky” ones. He never tired of reminding me that he had saved my life. He forgot that if his father had not started a war, I might have become the head of a beggars’ sect by now.

I fought my way upward all those years in the hope of one day helping the boy who had truly saved me. When the emperor showed me Pei Xiuwen’s portrait, I finally understood what he meant to do. His road would be difficult, but I wanted to help him. The Dragon Vein treasure was the chance of escape I had gambled to give him.

Baize kept me in the dungeon, guarded by men and women who had once served under me. They feared their new master too much to free me, but they were willing to talk. I asked them for news from outside to pass the time.

“Terrible locust swarms have appeared across the realm,” Jiuwei told me anxiously. “The wetlands are drying up, and wildfires cover the hills. People say it’s heaven’s punishment.”

Conditions were bad everywhere. Refugees poured toward the capital. I frowned. “One disaster might be chance. All of these together?”

“Oh! There’s a rebel army in the south. They say they’re acting for heaven against this punishment. They’re nearly at the capital.”

Jiuwei had been a rescued beggar child like me. She cared little who wore the crown; she cared whether she would live.

“Who leads the southern rebels? What’s his surname?” I asked urgently.

“Jiang, I think… They claim to fight for the old royal house.”

Jiang. Jiang Heng. Pei Xiuwen’s original name.

Jiuwei looked puzzled. “Why are you smiling? Has prison driven you mad?”

“Because someone will be letting me out very soon.”