The Republic of China: I, Xiangzi, a Hero in a Chaotic Era

A horrifying lump swelled up on the back of her head where she had been injured, and her breath was as faint as a candle flickering in the wind.

Xiao Fuzi's trembling fingers brushed across her mother's withered cheek. She closed her eyes, and her father's drunken fists, the cold iron bars of the detention center, the pungent smell of the morgue, and Ma Wu's greedy and ferocious faces tore wildly through her mind.

She suddenly opened her eyes, her gaze falling on the chipped wood-cutter's knife in the corner.

Perhaps... death would bring relief.

She and her mother were no longer bound by the hardships of this world.

The thought had barely surfaced when it was suppressed by another faint voice.

A few days ago, outside the cold morgue, Officer Zhang, who was wearing a black police uniform, seemed to have said something...

"If you ever encounter a problem you really can't overcome in the future... come to the office and find me."

That sentence was like a pebble thrown into stagnant water; it caused only a slight ripple before sinking.

At this moment, in the boundless darkness, a faint, almost non-existent light shines through.

She knew that this was likely just a polite, perfunctory remark.

Why should a patrol officer care about the lives of these ants?

But right now, do she and her mother have any other options?

That glimmer of light became the only illusory straw he could grasp before drowning.

She carefully moved her mother onto the kang (a heated brick bed) and covered her with the thickest, but patched, tattered quilt in the house.

With great effort, he scraped a little bit of murky ice water from the bottom of the water tank, wet a rag, and gently wiped the bloodstains from the corner of his mother's mouth and the dirt around the wound on her forehead.

After doing all this, she knelt by the kang (a heated brick bed), her forehead pressed against the cold edge of the kang, silently shedding tears.

Mother, wait for me to come back.

If... if there really is no way out, then your daughter will come back, and we'll go together. On the road to the underworld, your daughter will support you, and we'll never be apart again.

Xiao Fuzi took one last deep look at her mother's lifeless face, bit her lower lip, and suddenly stood up.

I pushed open the creaking, dilapidated door that could barely keep out the cold wind and stepped into the twilight-shrouded alley.

The winter wind was like a knife, scraping across her thin, patched blue cotton coat.

She hunched her shoulders, hugged herself tightly, and trudged through the muddy, icy, and garbage-strewn alleyways.

The worn-out cotton shoes were already soaked through, and the cold air went straight to the soles of my feet.

The setting sun cast its meager rays upon the crooked rooftops, casting long, distorted shadows.

In the distance, the faint sounds of children crying, adults cursing, and the smell of cheap coal smoke wafting from someone's house blend together to create a suffocating scene of a slum.

She kept her head down, avoiding the indifferent or inquisitive gazes, wanting only to get to that place as quickly as possible—the Xisi North Police Station.

The slightly dilapidated gatehouse appeared exceptionally tall and imposing in the deepening twilight.

The gas lamps hanging at the entrance were already lit. In the dim yellow light, two patrolmen in brand-new black police uniforms with batons at their waists stood there like door gods, their sharp eyes scanning the street.

Xiao Fuzi stopped far away, her heart pounding wildly in her thin chest, almost shattering her ribs.

She hesitated, fear like an icy tide, trying again and again to push her back into that desperate, dilapidated house.

But thinking of her mother lying on the kang (a heated brick bed) on the verge of death, and of the three-day deadline and the cold wood-chopping knife, she took a deep breath of the frigid air, her nails digging deep into her palms, and forced herself to move her leaden legs, inching her way over.

"stop."

A patrol officer stepped in front of her, blocking her way, his voice cold and businesslike.

"What are you doing? Go to the police station over there to report it."

Xiao Fuzi trembled in fright, lowered her head even further, and spoke in a barely audible voice:

"I...I'm looking for...Police Officer Zhang Kui..."

"Looking for Officer Zhang?"

Another patrolman looked her up and down at her tattered clothes and her face, which was blue from the cold.

"What is it?"

"It was...it was Officer Zhang who said...that if I need anything...I can come to him..."

Xiao Fuzi mustered all her courage, but her voice was still trembling uncontrollably.

The two patrol officers exchanged a glance, and one of them gestured with his lip towards the door:

"Go in, it's the second one on the right. I don't know if Officer Zhang is here."

"Thank you... thank you, sir..."

Xiao Fuzi felt as if she had been granted a pardon. She quickly bowed, carefully turned sideways, and slipped inside along the door frame.

The police station's courtyard was even more deserted and solemn than the outside.

The blue brick floor was swept fairly clean, and lights were on in several rooms. Occasionally, figures dressed in the same black police uniforms would hurry by, bringing with them a gust of cold wind.

Xiao Fuzi didn't dare to breathe loudly and followed the directions to the door of the second office on the right.

The door was ajar, letting in light and the smell of cheap tobacco.

She hesitated for a moment, then raised her hand and tapped the door panel very lightly with her knuckles, the sound so soft that she could barely hear it herself.

"Come in."

Zhang Kuina's voice, with a slight Beijing accent, came from inside. It wasn't unfamiliar to him.

Xiao Fuzi pushed open the door, and a smell mixed with tobacco, sweat and old wood wafted out.

The room was small, with an old desk against the wall piled with documents and files.

Zhang Kui was sitting behind the table, looking down at a document, his brows slightly furrowed. His black police uniform was impeccably pressed, and the epaulets gleamed with a cold, hard sheen under the light, creating a peculiar contrast with the somewhat cluttered room.

"Officer Zhang... Officer Zhang..."

Xiao Fuzi stood at the door, her voice trembling uncontrollably, like a little animal that had strayed into the den of a wild beast.

Zhang Kui looked up when he heard the sound.

When he saw who was standing at the door, a fleeting, elusive emotion flashed across his face—a mixture of understanding, expectation, and perhaps even a hint of...satisfaction.

He put down the documents in his hand, leaned back in his chair, and quickly put on a deliberately gentle expression that showed some "consideration" for his neighbors.

"Hey, Little Fuzi?"

He spoke, his voice softer than before.

"Why are you here so late? Come in, it's cold outside."

Zhang Kui pointed to a wooden stool with peeling paint opposite his desk.

Xiao Fuzi moved to the edge of the stool, but didn't dare to sit down properly. She just sat on the edge, her body tense, her hands tightly clasped in front of her faded clothes.

She lowered her head, not daring to look Zhang Kui in the eye. She felt her throat tighten, and the humiliation, fear, and despair she had felt in front of Ma Wu and the others were now stuck in her chest, making her almost suffocate and unable to utter a single word.

Zhang Kui looked at her like this and sighed softly.

The sigh was exceptionally clear in the quiet office, carrying a heavy weight as if it knew everything.

"Have you run into some trouble?"

These words were like a key, instantly opening the floodgates of Xiao Fuzi's tears.

She suddenly raised her head, tears streaming down her pale face, her lips trembling, as her immense grievances and fear finally found an outlet.