Chenliu City was under siege. Xue Kui, who sold tofu, and his family of four were locked inside the City God Temple.
The temple doors were locked, and dry firewood was piled high. More than a thousand elderly people, women, and children waited to die before the collapsed statue.
His father had been dragged up onto the city wall. His mother was so thin her bones showed, yet she kept holding on. His five-year-old little sister was too hungry to make a sound. The rebels set the firewood alight, and thick smoke drifted inside. A Kui thought no one would make it out alive, until a woman pushed open the door and walked in.
Her name was Mei Jiaan. She said, "We've come to save you."
[Reader's Guide]
This is a story about how ordinary people survive desperate circumstances, and how they rebuild their lives on the ruins afterward. It is told in first person and has a happy ending.
The story is based on the setting of my ongoing full-length novel, The Whole Army Camp Knows I'm a Stretch. You can think of this short story as a little tale set in a parallel world.
Core message: There is hope only as long as you stay alive
