The Huang Brothers (3)

We could not even fathom what type of torture he went through because he was a shell of this former self. He was so pale and thin, so thin that he looked almost transparent. There was bruises and cuts everywhere the eye can see, when walking on the stage he walked with a limp that was never there before.

Many of his fingers and teeth were missing because when he spoke he had a lisp that was also never there before. We just stood there, doing nothing. We could have done nothing when his head rolled off the stage and his blood soaked our clothes.

Next, it was our baby sister's turn. That same day we over heard a commoner couple talking about her. We were happy at first that she did not die but she suffered worse than death. By the time we found her she was already dead along with our mother.

She was thrown out of the prison with only her inner robe on, beaten, raped by over 20 men and left for death. We almost died many times and yet we never do. So, we decided to travel to a different country because all this time the imperial guards were still looking for us and since we no longer had anyone in Mayuan, it did not matter if they leave.

It has been five years since then and now we are 20 years old. Today is our birthday and we both decided to steal a jade hairpin to sale so that we could buy something good to eat. However, we were kicked and beaten out but thank buddha, we actually were able to steal something valuable.

Yet, before we could celebrate, we were found out by a beautiful woman in a wheelchair. At first, we thought that she would call the shopkeeper back, but she surprises us by actually coming toward us and ask the question that we have never heard before.

"Do you want to live?"

We hesitate for a second because of everything we went through we know that there is nothing free without a price. But anything was better than wearing rages every day, not been able to have a bath in years and been unable to eat every day and even when they do eat, they were never full. So, without thinking further they immediately agree.

"Yes!"