Let The Flames Burn, While The Embers Sting.
Qing Yuan~
The details surrounding the events of that fateful night when Jinghua ended up in his current state remain shrouded in uncertainty. It all began when we decided to take Meili to the factory, a decision that would ultimately lead to unforeseen consequences.
When we got there, Meili insisted Jinghua follow her inside alone, but both he and I deemed it to be a fruitless endeavor. We agreed with A-li. She had been right about Meili being a cunning liar who couldn’t be trusted. Instead, we had settled on taking her into town, unwilling to leave Meili alone in a dark place out in nowhere, even though she had proven unworthy of any kindness. However, Jinghua, still a virtuous man at heart, said it would give him, but most importantly, A-li peace of mind to know Meili was safe regardless of what had happened back at the manor.
His good character would contribute to his end because she resisted getting back into the sedan and led him to his calamity. Meili had taken off running, and Jinghua swiftly pursued her. In the dim light emitted by the torches, I couldn’t clearly see what had transpired next. He caught her, but Jinghua let out a cry of pain. It was later when we would discover that she had bitten off his entire ear.
This momentary shock had been enough time for Meili to free herself of his hold and dart inside the factory, with Jinghua hot on her heels. Not much time had passed since they both went inside when an earth-shattering explosion rocked the very ground beneath me.
There are just two people who have the crucial keys needed to unlock the mystery of what happened that night. The first person is Jinghua, but unfortunately, his condition and ineptitude to speak proves unhelpful to us. The second individual is Meili herself. Despite her disappearance after the explosion, she has recently reappeared and taken captive by the two phantom soldiers sent to find her. She is currently bound and restrained, reminiscent of the first night we encountered her, when she was cursing and spitting.
However, this time, she is not pleading for A-li to come to her rescue.
“Get your hands off me! Your whore mothers gave birth to fucking pussies who are threatened of one little unarmed girl. Untie me!” She screams, but her eyes widen, bulging out with trepidation when she notices A-li walking towards her with an ax in her hand. She had been splitting wood outside the cottage when the guards returned with Meili.
“Keep that fucking cunt away from me!” she grunts and screams as she rolls herself, trying to get away. Meili’s bound body rolls back and forth, frantically.
Meili is terrified of A-li, although her fear subsides when A-li, not taking a step, stares at her in a daze with an expressionless face. A-li’s shoulders are slouched over as she stands above Meili, frowning at her in a stupor. Moments pass without conversation. A-li doesn’t make a move, and it’s enough time for Meili to regather her audacity.
She attacks A-li again. “This is who you are, Meihua. Nothing. You’re still a spineless bitch who lets others take what they want from you and use you like a rag…” Meili’s hateful remarks come to an abrupt halt when A-li swiftly kicks her in the abdomen, leaving her winded.
Meili coughs, gasping breathlessly. She quickly catches her breath and screams, each word coming out in a forced exhale. “You think you’re tough because I’m tied up. You’re nothing but a coward. If I was free, Meihua, I would tear you apart into shreds with my bare hands.”
“Unbound her.” A-li orders calmly. “But Princess. She’s like a wild creature. She could hurt you.” The shadow guard warns against it. He is doing his part. A-li’s protection being his foremost responsibility. But A-li replies with a new authority, “I wasn’t asking for your permission. Untie her now.”
The ropes slip off her body, dropping to the ground with a soft thud. Meili springs to her feet, her arms instinctively extending out in a defensive posture, resembling a cornered prey ready to strike. As she jerks her head from side to side, her disheveled hair sways in clumps, releasing a faint body odor. Her eyes dart restlessly between the guards, Ali, and me, an unmistakable sense of distrust emanating from her shifty flickering gaze.
With a venomous sneer, she spits out her words with her lips pulled back, showing all her teeth, “Look at you, Meihua, putting on a tough act. It’s easy to feel invincible when surrounded by these hulking brutes to protect you.”
“I order everyone to take ten steps back.” In a commanding tone, A-li’s voice echoes devoid of any emotion as she issues her order and everyone, including me, follows her direction.
The scene unfolds.
The two women, their eyes locked. Meili’s is fierce, while A-li’s gaze is unfeeling. They stand mere inches apart. The silence is broken only by the faint rustle of clothing and shifting shoes. Meili lunges towards A-li, her movements violent and determined. A-li retrieves a gleaming short blade from the folds of her dress. The blade cuts through the air and meets Meili’s right cheek, leaving a deep gash in its wake. The scent of iron fills the air as blood begins to flow from the fresh wound, staining Meili’s face. Unfazed by the pain, Meili, her fingers contorted like claws, launches herself at A-li once more. A-li strikes again, this time slashing the other side of Meili’s face, leaving her with matching wounds.
“You disgusting whore! Of course you would attack my face! That’s the only way you’ll be prettier than me!” Meili screams, her voice piercing like a banshee’s wail. Trembling, she reaches up to touch her bloodied cheeks, feeling the sticky warmth against her fingertips. Her eyes widen in shock as she takes in the gruesome sight. The red color of her blood seems to affect her like an enraged bull and she charges at A-li again.
A-li expects Meili’s attack. Swiftly, she steps aside, causing Meili to stumble and crash to the ground. The dull side of the ax in A-li’s hand creates a dull thud as it contacts the ground by her boots.
Breathing heavily, yet A-li maintains her composure, her teeth clenched tightly together. “Stay down there and kneel,” she commands, her voice heavy with authority. “Know your place,” she hisses. “You’re in the presence of Fourth Prince Jinghua’s Princess Consort. I, Princess Yueli, command you to bow before me.”
The area in the forest is engulfed in a tense stillness, the atmosphere electric with the clash of wills. Meili looks at everyone with apprehension. She scans each person’s face, then looks at A-li. Her gaze shows a hint of recognition, as if she already knows, but it’s hard to tell with Meili. She’s difficult to read. I can’t tell if she is surprised or already knew, or maybe she just doesn’t care at this point.
A-li remains composed. Her voice is calm and emotionless. It sounds lifeless, like the speech of the dead. Meili, covered in blood, smirks while A-li asks for an explanation. “What happened?” A-li asks, steady, unwaveringly. “Tell me what you did to make Jinghua follow you back into the factory.”
Meili’s disgusting response is filled with malicious amusement. Her laughter rings out, resembling the braying of a mule. The blood on her face only seems to enhance her twisted enjoyment. Ignoring her own pain, Meili taunts A-li with her response.
“I agreed to suck his cock,” Meili sneers, her voice dripping with scorn. “He ran all the way inside. Brother-in-law was thrilled. He had been waiting for a chance to fuck a sweet piece like me.”
Meili’s mocking laughter continues, her body shaking uncontrollably. However, A-li’s patience wears thin. In a sudden and swift motion, she grabs Meili by the neck and forces her to her feet. The sound of startled birds taking flight fills the air as Meili screams in pain. If A-li is driven by her raged, none would be the wiser. As nothing about her reveals what she’s feeling. She seems devoid of all emotions, even when A-li returns the bloody flesh of Meili’s severed ear. Her face is covered in blood. She had just bitten it off before spitting it directly into Meili’s face.
“I’ll give you another chance. Tell me what happened.” A-li demands and Meili, earless, drenched in her blood, replies in a screech brimming with madness and scorn for A-li. She sneers, “He said my tight pussy was the best! Brother-in-law said he couldn’t wait to divorce you and get rid of your ugly, useless ass!”
The ax in A-li’s grip swings over her shoulder as she grunts from exertion. The sharp blade finds its mark on Meili’s upper right thigh and gets stuck in her femur bone. Meili’s blood stains the ground and splatters on A-li’s face, hands, and clothes further. Ironically, it’s almost in the same spot as Jinghua’s wound, but A-li has missed her femoral artery. I think intentionally.
It’s too soon for Meili to die. A-li isn’t satisfied. She has yet to hear what she needs and wants to know.
Meili screams hysterically. Her howl is different. There isn’t a trace of scorn or ridicule. She’s suffering and roaring from sheer pain. Now there’s visible panic and fear in her eyes. Her pupils tremble, watching A-li pacing around her. Again, there isn’t any emotion on her face as she circles Meili, then suddenly says, “You’re wearing my favorite cloak.”
“I’m sorry I took it. Here, Jiejie! I’ll give it back.” Meili quickly removes the cloak and throws it on the ground. She takes off the jade bangles and throws them on top of the cloak. Then, she adds coins and money to the pile. “Jiejie, if you let me go, I promise I’ll never bother you again. I’ll never tell a soul you did this to my face and leg. We owe each other nothing. I swear on my mother’s soul, you won’t see me ever again.”
“Tell me what really happened and I’ll consider it.” A-li replies and Meili confesses, “I was furious you were sending me away. All he had to do was accept me as his concubine, but he laughed at Meili and said I was nothing but a criminal’s daughter with dirty blood. While I was taking your money, I remembered seeing brother-in-law hiding something under the floorboard at the house. I took this because it looked important and expensive. I was going to sell it.”
Meili takes out an object from her dress. She throws a jade tag on top of the money like it is nothing. Both A-li and she doesn’t understand its worth or meaning. However, the guards and I are shocked and unable to move. This girl had stolen the official seal to control the armies of the great Huaxia Dynasty. Now I understand why Jinghua was so impatient to retrieve it from her. He didn’t know how much of her stories was true or false. But even if there was an infinitesimal chance that the jade marker ended up in the wrong hands, such as in my father’s grasp, it could have been disastrous. Jinghua couldn’t risk that, so he followed her to get it back.
Meili confesses. “When we arrived at the old abandoned factory, he refused to come inside. He was trying to force me to get back into the sedan. So, I bit his ear off to make him release me. I showed him what I took and ran inside. He chased me. Everything was completely dark. Unlike me, he was unfamiliar with the layout. I knew the place like the back of my hand because I lived there for weeks.”
“Brother-in-law was stumbling around in the darkness. I took advantage of this and threw black powder in his face, blinding him. Then, something came over me, and I didn’t want him to abandon and leave me alone. I grabbed a nearby rock and struck him on the head repeatedly until he stopped moving. I was going to stop, but then remembered he called me dirty. My anger and my desire for revenge got the best of me. I covered his body with more black powder and used the flint stick left behind by Anwei’er to light the pile of fireworks by him.”
“I was only trying to scare him for rejecting Meili. I didn’t think the fireworks would go flying everywhere. I even grabbed some tools that were lying nearby and threw them into the pile of fireworks and on top of his body to block the flashes, thinking they would work like shields and protect him from the explosions. Jiejie, I swear. I wasn’t trying to kill brother-in-law.” Meili tells us, shedding light on what came to be.
The full weight of what she has done settles upon me, and A-li. We are devastated. I know what’s she’s picturing. The image of Jinghua, helpless and blind, stumbling in the darkness of that forsaken factory, now torments our minds. We can only imagine the pain he endured as Meili ruthlessly beat him, then, in his unconscious state, callously covered him with explosive black powder, setting in motion a chain of events that would ultimately lead to his fiery demise. It is possible that when the fireworks erupted, the metal tools she had placed on top of him made contact, generating sparks that ignited the powder and engulfed him in flames.
A-li’s piercing cries reverberate through the dense woods. With each sob, her pain is unleashed, breaking free from the shackles of her heart. The rawness of her sorrow is heartbreaking. Her relentless weeping leaves her gasping for breath, her body heavy with fatigue, and her cheeks marked by the flow of her tears.
Reaching into the side of her boot, she pulls out a bottle. She cradles a small wine bottle, treating it like a sacred relic. “I kept one bottle of wine from our wedding.” She whispers hoarse and weak. “I was saving it for the birth of our first child or an anniversary.” She removes the cloth bottle stopper and holds the open container to her nose. She cries new, fresh tears as she takes a small sip. She smiles bittersweet as if remembering their wedding.
“Meili, now I think you deserve this wine more than anyone else.” She slowly circles Meili while splashing and covering the bloodied girl with wine. She tells Meili, “You’ve always been like this. When you couldn’t have something. You broke it so no one else could. I didn’t think people could be born evil, but you’ve proved me wrong. This is the part that I’ll never get over. How human trash like you could kill someone as strong and good as Jinghua?” A-li pours the last drops of wine over Meili’s head. She ignites the flint stick.
The smell of sulfur tinged with Meihua’s blood and feces. She has shit herself from fear, creating a sickening mixture. “You owe Jinghua a debt. I, as his legal wife and princess consort, demand payment,” Meili screams for her life. She begs A-li, the powerful and influential princess, for mercy, but A-li, blind and consumed by anger and vengeance, tosses the flint towards Meili, watching with detached satisfaction as her clothes catch fire.
Meili screams, “You’re going to burn in the depths of hell for doing this to me!” A-li replies hoarsely, “I am already burning in hell.”
“Jinghua, I’m collected what’s due to you. She will suffer as you have. Let the flames burn, while the embers sting.”
“You crazy bitch!” Meili’s piercing shrieks and desperate screams fill the air, echoing through the forest. She pleads for help, her shrill voice filled with agony, until the suffocating smoke renders her unable to scream any longer.
The horrifying death by fire can take up to a minute, sixty long seconds, filled with unimaginable pain and suffering. But just before Meili’s life is claimed by the flames, A-li extinguishes the fire with the discarded cloak lying nearby, leaving Meili in a state of unresolved devastation. Her body is now charred and ravaged by fire, all her senses overwhelmed by excruciating agony. I assume in her shattered existence she longs for death as the only escape from her unbearable torment, but it’s her karmic retribution.
She’s in the same miserable state as Jinghua.
Meili’s punishment has not solved or changed Jinghua’s condition. Instead, it has transformed A-li, the once joyful and radiant princess, into an unrecognizable figure. The sound of her contagious laughter, once capable of filling a room with joy, I think won’t be heard again. The warmth of her humanity and unwavering trust has dissipated, replaced by a chilling emptiness. Standing before me now is a woman whose gaze is fixed and dazed, as if lost in a smoky haze, her eyes reflecting the embers on the charred body of the girl she helped raise.
She breathes in the putrid smell of burned flesh and hair. A foul reminder of the horrors that have unfolded, but she’s grinning as if she were smelling a field of wildflowers.
The light that once illuminated her eyes has been extinguished, leaving her incomplete and fragmented. She has become a vessel of bitterness and revenge, devoid of mercy and absolution. In her pursuit of justice, A-li has abandoned her own humanity, forever altering the course of her life. She is the embodiment of rage and vengeance. She has become the deliverer of death and 報復 Bàofù.
Changying~
We’re not eavesdropping, but the humans were bloody loud. The dying girl’s screams echoed through the dense forest, reaching all the way to the secluded cottage where we are. Luckily, Jinghua was deep asleep, undisturbed by the commotion and stink from outside.
As I peered through the window, I didn’t shudder at the bloody scene unfolding before my eyes. However, I admit it was a sight not meant for the faint-hearted.
Xinlan, always warmhearted and sensitive, trembled like a leaf throughout the conflict. She repeatedly questioned whether we should intervene and try to bring peace to the chaotic situation. However, our role as healers does not extend to being peacekeepers. Our purpose is to mend wounds and cure ailments, not to meddle in the affairs of humans and their battles.
Yet, amidst the human strife, there was something intriguing that caught my attention, making me ponder if only our immortal mother had returned to the celestial realm, known as Nine Heavens, after her trial as SuSu and collected her debts from Heavenly Lord and Sujun with such determination and resilience. Perhaps things would have been less complicated for everyone. This interesting mortal woman, A-li, seemed to possess a tenacity and resourcefulness that even Immortal Mother could learn a lesson or two from.
*Thank you, dear friend, chasesbmrkk for this poignant, chef’s kiss inducing beauty of a phrase. *