Zhang was busy carrying books back to the warehouse together with the other slaves. These books had been purchased from Zhico, another city near Jianxie.
"What's the purpose of selling these stories if the people here are filthy to the core…" Zhang muttered to himself as he read the title of the book he was carrying.
How to Be Righteous Even with Enemies.
One young slave boy approached him, curiosity written all over his face.
"How did you read that?" the boy asked.
Zhang cleared his throat and quickly looked away.
"What are you talking about? I don't know how to read the Fengxue Empire's letters," he replied.
Lies.
He tried to smile at the child, but it came out awkward and stiff.
"Oh… I thought you knew the content of that book. You've been talking to yourself ever since they ordered us to carry and store these," the boy said as he carefully placed a box of books down.
"Hey! You two! You've been talking too much! Focus on your work before I beat you!" one of the guards shouted.
Even with the threat, Zhang silently sighed in relief.
Then, he remembered.
He remembered how he learned to read and write the letters of the Fengxue Empire.
After the parade, after the chains, after being sold like I was nothing more than a broken thing… I thought I was lucky.
My first master, the one who purchased me, was a woman, a rich bookstore owner.
I remember the smell of books before I remember her face. It clung to everything in the shop, old paper, worn wood, dust dancing in the sunlight.
"Madam Lu is fine," she said with a soft smile while holding my face.
She looked like she was in her thirties, a beautiful woman who had aged gracefully. She wore a red dress, and her hair was braided neatly, just like how my mother used to fix hers.
I didn't answer.
I didn't plan on trusting anyone.
The soldier from Hanyue pushed me slightly and tapped my shoulder, leaning close to whisper....
"You're lucky, kid. She's a good person. You'll probably live a good life with her."
He handed the end of my chains to the woman—Madam Lu.
When we reached the carriage, she even helped me.
"Madam Lu, let me do it. The child is filthy. He might dirty your hands. He can ride in the other wagon, he probably hasn't bathed," one of her guards offered.
"No. Don't touch him. Can't you see he's scared of old men like you?" she hissed, making the guard step back immediately.
She closed the carriage door, locking us inside together. I sat in the corner, as far from her as possible. My body trembled, from the cold… and from fear. The chains on my feet felt even colder.
She looked at me. "Such a poor child… you're too young for this," she said, her voice filled with pity. She reached into her purse, pulled out a key, and moved closer. I flinched.
But instead of hurting me, she knelt. She touched my ankles gently, searching for the lock… and removed the chains.
"There… you won't need these anymore," she said, tossing them out the carriage window. She returned to her seat, then removed her cloak and placed it over my shoulders.
I didn't speak.
I didn't know what to say.
All I knew was.... I didn't want to accept her kindness.
I was seven. I didn't know better.
__________________________________________________________
Madam Lu shop was in Zhico, a quieter city than Jianxie. People spoke softer here. They didn't look at slaves the same way, not with open disgust, but with something colder. Indifference.
On my first week, she didn't make me work. She even bathed me herself, like how my mother used to. Her servants tried to stop her, but she ignored them.
"Look at you… such a handsome boy," she said, ruffling my hair with a towel, smiling brightly. I flinched.
"Here, wear this hanfu," she added before leaving me alone with the clothes she bought. I followed her instructions.
Two days passed, she didn't chain me. The first day, she let me rest and eat. On the second day, she showed me around. She even gave me a small room. A room. I knew slaves were supposed to sleep in storage rooms, or worse, outside with animals. But she gave me a bed.
Her shop and house were connected. The first floor was the bookstore, it was large enough to be divided into twenty rooms. The second floor was her living space together with other servant and slave she purchase she gave us our own room. She also had another house in Jianxie, where her parents lived.
How did I know? Because she never stopped talking to me. Even when I didn't answer.
"Are you tired?" she asked.
I didn't nod. I didn't shake my head.
"Can you tell me your name?"
Silence.
"Hm… General Xan said you can speak. Why won't you speak to me?" she asked, almost as if I had offended her.
Still, I said nothing.
"Okay… I understand. You don't trust anyone here in the Fengxue Empire. Especially after what happened to your town," she said softly.
"But trust me… not everyone is like that. I treat my slaves—especially…"
She paused, flipping through a book. I didn't respond.
The word slave still felt unfamiliar. Heavy. She eventually let me go.
For a week, I only ate and slept. Then one morning, her butler came.
"You're lucky, kid. Not all masters are like Madam Lu," he said.
"If I were you, I'd work hard to make her happy. And don't even think about escaping. If you do, someone else will take you and sell you again. Worse masters exist…and some would feed you to wild dogs for sport."
I had already tried to escape on my first night. But her place was heavily guarded. Later, I learned why. The books she owned were expensive, valuable enough to require guards day and night. I worked by sweeping floors, stacking books, carrying bundles too heavy for my arms. My hands bled often, but I never complained.
and Madam Lu would sometimes pat my head.
"Good boy," she would say. Every time she catch me working.
And those words… they felt warm. Like something I had lost. I almost thought of my own mother.
After a month of working nothing changed she still treat me good and even the other slave who are working here, the only thing I notice is she has more men slave and servant she only have 2 woman servant who are always by her side.
After three months, I was convinced Madam Lu was a good person. She gave me enough work, fed me three proper meals a day. I stopped trying to escape as It was impossible anyway for now...
She even taught me how to read and write. "Knowledge is something that will always be useful. So don't forget to practice," she said.
Then suddenly "Your butler is requesting to enter," Mia said as she stepped inside.
"Oh no… we need to hide this," Madam Lu said quickly. Mia helped hide the papers, the brush, and the book I was using.
"I forgot to tell you, teaching slaves how to read and write is forbidden in this empire," she whispered into my ear.
"But you're my favorite… I just had to help you."
She smiled and held out her pinky finger.
"Promise me this will be our little secret, okay?"
But before I could respond, the door burst open.
"Madam! I have urgent news!"
"What is it?! Why would you enter without permission?" she snapped.
"B-but—" the butler hesitated, glancing at me.
Madam Lu signaled Mia. Mia gently pulled me out of the room.
Before the door closed, I heard it.
"The slave with brown eyes… is dead. He was found this morning… hanging—"
There was another slave whom I always notice as were always have the same time of sweeping floor and removing dust from book shelf.
He was older eighteen, maybe. He didn't speak much to me. He has brown eyes always looked… empty. I tried talking to him once while we both clean the book hallway.
"What's your name?" I tired to struck a conversation.
He didn't answer. Just looked at me, then he walked away. I thought he didn't like me maybe because he from another empire and probably hate being a slave here. And that was the last time I spoke to him now the butler Arxon is saying he dead....
"I heard he used to be a noble. He never smiled, not once in the year he was here." Mia spoke while we walk together..
I didn't feel anything about him dying as he is not someone close to me.
After six months, I had memorized the letters.
I could read and write. Madam Lu was surprised, she even praised me often.
"You're smart… you could be a scholar someday," she said proudly.
But her servants disagreed.
"He's a slave, Madam. He won't be accepted, not even in commoner schools," Xia reminded her.
"What do you mean? My boy is a genius," she said firmly.
"I won't let his talent go to waste. I can just buy him a new identity."
A new identity. That was the first time I heard those words. But I didn't react. Even if I was interested, I couldn't show it. Because they might find it suspiciously.
After some time, I began to notice something peculiar in the building.
After 10 p.m., Madam Lu enforced a strict rule, everyone was forbidden from leaving their rooms. She said it was simply so everyone could rest properly.
So I followed the rule without question. But there were nights when I couldn't sleep. Good thing she allowed me to read books in my room.
Little by little, I gained knowledge.
Sometimes… I would even sneak spell books without anyone noticing and bring them in my room every night that was when I practiced magic, I would wake up early to return the book in the bookshelf by early morning.
It was hard. I was born with very little mana, so every time I cast a spell, it drained my body completely. Most of the time, I couldn't even cast the same spell twice. Still… I kept trying.
From the books, I learned that there were items that could store mana, artifacts that could be used later. There were also potions that could temporarily increase one's mana or permanently increase it.
But those things were expensive, that's what the mage scholars said, the ones who frequently visited the bookstore to study.
So for now… All I had was my weak body And my will to keep going. Even Madam Lu is kind to me my plan hasn't still changed. I need to leave one day. If she wont changed I will leave this place and pay her when I can go back again.
_________________________________________________________________________________
On my eighth month, I heard it again. Another slave was found dead. They said he drank poison the kind used for pests to kill himself. Just like the first one. And just like before… Madam Lu was sad for a week.
One night, while she was brushing my hair, she spoke softly behind me.
"I don't understand why they're doing this… I treat them kindly, fairly… but maybe what I do isn't enough…"
Her voice broke. I could feel her sobbing against my back.
I didn't know what to say. So I said the only thing I could think of
"I once read a story… about a rabbit…"
She didn't respond. She just cried quietly.
"The rabbit had a family," I continued. "But it was captured by a knight and given to a princess."
"The princess loved it very much. She petted it, bought an expensive cage, and gave it all the food it could ever want."
"But no matter what she gave… the rabbit wasn't happy."
"Because it missed its family."
"Because it wanted to go home."
Her sobbing softened, but didn't stop.
"The princess was kind," I went on. "She tried her best to make the rabbit happy. But one day, the rabbit fell ill."
"She blamed herself… thinking she hadn't done enough."
"But then… she realized something."
"She needed to let the rabbit go."
"…Why would she do that?" Madam Lu finally asked, her voice quieter now.
"If she liked the rabbit so much?"
"Because she had to," I answered.
"One day, she let the rabbit out into the garden."
"And it jumped so high… like it was happy to be free."
"That's when she realized… the rabbit wanted freedom more than all the luxuries she could give."
"…But wouldn't the rabbit run away?" she asked.
"It did," I said.
"But after a week, it came back."
"With its family."
"As if it was telling the princess… that it was doing fine. That she didn't need to be sad anymore."
She went silent for a moment.
"…I don't understand," she said softly. "What did the princess get in the end… after letting the rabbit go?"
I paused. Then answered
"She learned… there was nothing wrong with her."
"That the rabbit could still be happy… even without her."
"…That's a sad ending," she whispered.
Then she hugged me from behind. Tightly.
Like she didn't want to let go.
"…You still haven't told me your name," she said after a while.
I thought about it. A name. A lie.
Maybe… something that would make her happy.
"Just call me Zhang," I said. It wasn't my real name but it didn't matter.
I once read it in a story, a general named Zhang.
"…Zhang," she repeated, her voice lighter.
"You finally told me your name."
She smiled. Then gently patted my head. Like a loving mother.
_________________________________________________________________________
Months passed… until a year had gone by.
As time moved forward, I continued practicing my magic in secret. Madam Lu only thought I was interested in storybooks. Because of that, she gave me a simple duty, once every month, I had to read a story in her room until she fell asleep.
It became a routine. And somehow…we grew closer with each passing day. There were times when I almost forgot everything. My revenge, my hatred. Sometimes… I even thought about staying. Living quietly by her side.
She would often say she wanted to formally adopt me. She even talked about buying me a new identity and all I had to do… was promise to stay with her forever.
It sounded peaceful. It sounded… warm.
But every night, I still had nightmares. I would see them again.
My parents. Burning. Screaming. Dying right in front of me.
Madam Lu, no matter how gentle her voice was…
No matter how warm her hands felt…
I could never forget. and she will not be able to replace my family especially my mom...