Chapter 1
It was mid-July. Everything was hot, the sun, the ground, and the men were sweaty.
When a group of men saw a young woman walking their way, they tried to wipe off their sweat as best they could.
The woman stopped by and asked the men “I am lost. Do you know which way to the King's palace?”
The men laughed. They assumed she was delusional, she could not be the emperor’s many wives as she was dressed in rags like a farmhand.
“It’s a long way from here,” the eldest man told her. “You best come inside and meet one of my sons.”
“No no,” a dark-skinned man said. “She wants to meet the King.”
“Yes,” the woman said. “I want to see King Fuchai.”
The men talked amongst themselves about what to do with the maiden. They decided to hold her hostage until they got word from Fuchai's officials that is was safe for her to come up to the palace.
The day the maiden left, the dark-skinned man asked her, “What is your name so I can remember you by?”
“My name is Shi. And I am the king's wife."
The man smiled revealing rows of yellow crooked teeth.
"If you make it to the King's palace, won't you tell him about us who helped you? Right now is drought season and many of us are hungry."
"Of course," Shi replied. "Of course. When I reunite with my king, there will be no more negligence, no more hunger."
She nodded as her escort pulled up in a rickshaw, gave the kind dark-skinned man a farewell kiss on his cheek, and began the long journey across the scorching countryside.
