Epilogue
On the tenth day, only women and children remained in the city.
I stood on the city wall, looking down at the leader below, my expression calm.
It was a familiar face. Only the familiar figure at his side was missing. The General had come back for another kill.
He still recognized me. "You're Zhang Ming's wife, aren't you? Open the city gate for me at once."
"He wouldn't listen to me then. He insisted on coming for you early. See? He threw his life away for nothing."
Seeing only Sister Mudan and me on the wall, The General looked certain of victory.
I turned to look into the city. A group of women stood at the foot of the gate tower. Sister Mudan stood in the middle, a torch in her left hand, oil in her right.
Once the city fell, the men outside would come in, and we would be sent to a Brothel or a Laundry Workshop again.
Straw piles lined the streets. One thrown torch could set them alight. I swept my eyes over the faces below.
In that moment there was no fear in their eyes—only excitement.
"Dead either way—we will never fall into the hands of those bandits outside!"
I was the first to hurl my torch onto the straw. The others followed close behind. Flames shot into the sky inside the city.
Everyone gathered at the foot of the gate tower and sang the ballad everyone knew by heart.
"Beg for skillful hands, beg for a clever face; beg for an open heart, beg for beauty; beg a thousand years for my parents, beg ten thousand years for my sisters."
Screams rose not far away, but none of us looked back.
Ladies, in the next life may we all be born in an age of peace. Ahua still wanted to open a Cosmetics Shop, to dress the ladies' hair.