The Prisoner

“The soldiers are coming!”

“Why are they coming here?”

“How would I know? If you wanna know, go ask yourself.”

“If I go ask do you think that I will come back alive?”

“Oh, wait. I saw the palace issued the arrest warrant to capture Li Heijian. Maybe they come here to capture her?”

When someone hears the word Li Heijian she suddenly runs away from standing without knowing why the soldiers come to such a place.

Aiya! this little stupid girl. How could you forget such a thing? It’s okay if the others forget this thing. But you shouldn’t forget it, stupid Heijian.

While she hides at a nook she vituperates at herself. Once upon, she was a named officer. Then what about now? It’s just like y'all see! She is a criminal who was issued an arrest warrant by the palace.

The king of the Heavens, why are your judgments always cruel for me? I don't know whether I will die in the hands of the soldiers or my hand. I only know that I'm not in a good mood. You would know that it's not me who planned to kill his highness. But I'm not art so how can I able to endure everything they say? Phew! So tired.

"She's here!"

"Don't run!"

Run... saying of it I can't run anywhere either.

Heijian says on her mind again.

-Three months later-

For the others, three months would pass in a swift, but for Li Heijian three months are so long that she nearly thinks it's been three lives. Today, the palace has sentenced her.

It is death.

For the others, when they hear it, they would be terrified. But when it comes to Li Heijian, she is pretending like she didn't hear anything.

"Hey, did you hear what I say?

"I heard. I'm not deaf."

Because of Li Heijian's unwilling sound, he doesn't know where did his expression go away.

"And I heard that they are going to burn you alive."

"En."

"Then I'm going now."

"En."

For Li Heijian, it looks like life and death are not her things. It's also right. Her luck was never good since she was a teenager. She didn't know that the things she thought it was lucky were the things that would start her unluckiness. So, she was happy. She is over twenty years old now, so it would have been ten years at least. But her fate is still bad. About that bad luck ... hm ... she should blame herself. If there is an opportunity, she wouldn't let it go. Then there's no need for a fortune-teller. She'll be having chaos. But she didn't mind that. This habit which she got since she was young is way too hard to get rid of it. In this case, having the friends asking "What happened?" is not too good for someone who doesn't like to give explanations like Li Heijian. At last, she chooses only not to cry rather than giving explanations. But she can't separate her heart and ears, so she'll just happy when it is about happiness. And she'll be sad when it is about sadness. But there is more about sadness than happiness, so she got trauma and it's not surprising to think that dying is better than living.

If there is a start, there will be an end, too. I'm also too tired of living.

For the Li Heijian before, she would say "How quick. I'm thinking it's only about five minutes" because she's buried with works. But now, even she doesn't know how many times she has said "Boring!", "How boring!", "I'm bored to death.". Just like that, it's been evening.

When she first heard that she was sentenced to death, she wasn't nervous, but she is a bit nervous now.

The soldiers take her out of the prison. Then they tie her with a pillar. Her ankles are in the woods. When a soldier is going to burn the woods, an arrow breaks into the field. That arrow seems to be heading to the king. But because of another arrow, it got detoured and stabs the wood pillar nearby. The soldiers are also alerted.

"Good."

"What good?! If it wasn't for General Wang, his highness is already dead!"

General Wang? Why is he here? He said that he'll come back after the next two weeks.

"Because we captured the leader and the others come here to let us capture them! We don't need to put an effort looking for them."

Aiya, how many times I have to say that it's not me?!

"Capture them."

"What are you doing with a torch in your hand? What if she runs away?"

"Okay, okay..."

He throws the torch into the pile of firewood as he says. Because there is so much firewood, the fire burns so quickly. Because the soldiers are quick, they are already at a place where is not too far nor not too near from the field where Li Heijian is. At that time ......

Boom!

*Cough* *Cough*

"You okay?"

It's Zhang Liangguang who's the best at hiding.

"As you see. *Cough*"

The upper part doesn't have any serious injuries, but at the bottom, her clothes have turned into ashes starting from her lap and there are so many injuries on her leg.

Zhang Liangguang sighs and says,

"If your injuries are like that, don't say about running, I bet you can't even walk properly."

Zhang Liangguang says as she untie the rope.

"I think so, too."

"Oh, I felt that it's a bit cold so I wore a coat. Now that your clothes are burned, just wear mine."

Because Zhang Liangguang sees that Li Heijian's face is red and knows what's happening with her mind she takes off her coat and gives it to her.

"Thanks."

"It's okay. Let's go. If the soldiers come back, it would be bad."

"Okay."

But because Li Heijian's legs are covered with injuries, Zhang Liangguang has to carry her on her back all the way.

"Wait for me for a while here. It's just for a while."

"Where are you going?"

Li Heijian asks her, pulling her clothes.

"Worry for yourself before worrying others."

"Oh."

When Zhang Liangguang says like this Li Heijian released her clothes.

Zhang Liangguang's a while is really a while. She comes back around 5-10 minutes.

"Here. Wear it."

Zhang Liangguang gives her a mask."

"Hm? Why?"

"You-"

Zhang Liangguang has only said the word "you" when Li Heijian interrupted.

"Oh, I know now."

Now that the palace is looking for her, right? She wanted her to put on the mask so that the people from the palace wouldn't remember her in a moment if she surprisingly meets with them.

"Thanks."

When Li Heijian tries to stand up,

"Are your legs okay?"

"It's nothing."

"You said that it's okay but did I just heard that your signing?"

Because of Zhang Liangguang's words, Li Heijian can't think of what to say back. It's right that she sighs. But she sighs in a low voice that it will be too hard for someone to hear. And they are in a bazaar street and it's a bit noisy so that her sigh can't be heard. But Zhang Liangguang still heard it.

Her thoughts were interrupted because of a voice.

"Isn't this Lady Zhang Liangguang from Baixue group?"

"It's right as you said."

"Your group rarely comes to An Wu City. When you come, would you like to entertain for once?"

"Oh, sorry, Baixue group is not in An Wu."

"Then Lady Zhang Liangguang is..."

"I got an idea to write a song about An Wu, but I don't know so much about An Wu. So, I come here to learn about it."

"Oh, it's like this!"

"Then...can we go now?"

"Of course, of course!"

Just like that, the two of them got away.

"Liangguang, you said you want to write a song about An Wu, have you given its name?"

"Not yet. Have any idea?"

"In your dreams! It takes a long time for me to get an idea about that."