Chama no Banquete
O imperador estava gravemente doente, o príncipe herdeiro havia sido assassinado, e mudanças abruptas tomaram conta da corte e do governo. Forças ocultas disputavam o poder, sendo as facções do terceiro príncipe, Príncipe Qi, e do sétimo príncipe, Príncipe Fu, as mais influentes. Quando a luta pela sucessão se tornava cada vez mais acirrada, chegou a notícia de que o General Guardião do Estado, Wen Chongyi, havia traído o país, sendo executado imediatamente na fronteira. As provas da traição foram enviadas diretamente à capital, resultando na execução de todos os homens da família Wen e na condenação das mulheres à escravidão como prostitutas militares. Wen Zhiyan, filha legítima do Duque Guardião do Estado, rastejou para fora de um monte de cadáveres no caminho do exílio, jurando limpar o nome do pai e da família Wen. Mas o pesadelo, na verdade, apenas começava ali.
Chama no Banquete
The cold wind howled, yellow sand swept across the sky, and moonlight spilled impartially over this desolate land. Prisoners clad in tattered clothes, weighed down by heavy shackles on their wrists and ankles, lay half-collapsed in earthen pits, shivering without cease.
The trenches were strewn with white bones, gaping eye sockets like enormous black holes threatening to swallow one whole. The parched earth beneath was soaked with blood, and ominous crows circled overhead, searching for their next meal.
One by one, young bodies were contorted into grotesque shapes, and hard, cracked buns were tossed beside them as though a reward.
Curses, weeping, moans, the sounds of bodies colliding, and the sharp crack of whips slicing through the air all intertwined. Red welts streaked down, and the female prisoners’ pale, delicate skin lay exposed to the wind, only to be seized by greedy hands and brutally kneaded.
At last, leering eyes turned to Wen Zhiyan and her mother and sisters. The bailiffs, tall or short, fat or thin, strode over with wicked grins, raising their whips high.
After days of exile without water or food, Wen Zhiyan was weak. She managed to intercept a few of the lashes, but had no strength for resistance, and was dragged and thrown violently aside.
It was unclear who started it, but before Wen Zhiyan could react, foul hands seized her. As she struggled, she saw her mother and sisters pushed to the ground, their clothes torn away, fabric fluttering in the wind, the women’s mournful cries mingling with the men’s excited groans.
