A family inclined to kindness and charity would grace the descendants. Thanks to one small act of kindness, by providence she comes across a grateful friend; Fortunate that her mother, has done an unperceived good deed…. Men should rescue the distressed and aid the poor… Who would have guessed that kindness in this world ultimately would be the road that one must choose, that proverbial fork in the road? Clouds of rain float on eastern winds as new vines start to blossom. Though drums of war roar too loudly and their brilliance has been lost, a green grass carpet greets the sun by the break of morning. Let us wait for the yellow leaves, a few gourds are harvested.
As autumn began, above the northernmost plains of Qing Kingdom’s capital, the clouds boiled and swelled. The field workers didn’t raise their heads, for they had no interest in God’s play with the sky, its clouds and the sun - they merely wanted to harvest their crops before the rainclouds would arrive.
The volume of rain in this particular year had been high. The people spoke of the big river in the south breaching its banks and overflowing. For those that lived within the northern territories, however, this did not greatly concern them. Instead, it was the worrying prospect of the heavy rainfall delaying their annual harvests.
Occasionally, large, fearless muskrats came to scour the fields for grain, weaving between the farmers’ legs as they went. Uncaring for their presence, though, the farmers would continue to go about their harvesting duties, scythes in hand.