Reincarnation by F. Lit Yu

Author:F. Lit Yu
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Long River Press
Published: 2012-08-02T00:00:00+00:00

“It was fifty years ago, you see,” Old Gu finally began. “I was only a young man then. I didn’t know any better. I followed the older men in the village, you see, and I did what they did, and I believed what I was told. It was a cold winter. No one had anything to eat, and we were bitter, all of us. The crops failed that year, you see, and by midwinter, our grain was gone. There wasn’t enough wood to keep a decent fire at home, you see. We weren’t hunters—didn’t even know how to find rabbit holes—and the only living creatures were wolves. Sometimes, half the village would huddle together in small rooms, with a single fire to keep them warm. I remember those days, when I would feed the fire one small branch at a time. I thought it would help the fire last longer.

“Snow Wolf sometimes sent food to us. But there was too much snow, and too many villages. We waited every day, you see, and Snow Wolf’s men would come and distribute a little food before hurrying to the next village. They traveled great distances, you see, all the way down south, to bring back this grain. We heard Snow Wolf stayed in the South to fight for us so we could continue to have food. But we weren’t thankful. We were too hungry to be thankful. We demanded more. There was just not enough.

“Then came the night when different men brought food to us, plenty of food. If I had known better, I would’ve slain them on the spot. But then, who would’ve known that the lying scum brought all that meat, and wine, and grain? They were from the Dragon House, you see, but they said that they had nothing to do with Snow Wolf. Oh, Master Li, we should’ve been smarter.

“They passed around the food, and then they gathered everyone together in the main courtyard. They told us that they brought this food from the south, you see, but it took them two months to get it to us. They told us that Snow Wolf’s men harassed them every day, to stop them from coming back with the food. Snow Wolf wanted to see us starve, you see, and fed us once in awhile to keep us under her control. They said she wanted us to suffer so we would always submit to her.

“Then they told us that she stole the gold reserve from Redwood Cliff, and they couldn’t buy more food unless the gold was recovered. And we believed them. Why not? The food was real, you see, and their kindness seemed real. They stayed with us the whole afternoon and drank with us, and they promised us the future would be better. And we listened, you see. They talked about the power struggles on Redwood Cliff, how Snow Wolf tried to appear noble and heroic while murdering those whom opposed her.

“They spoke of a new leader on Redwood Cliff, you see.

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