Jing pushed and shoved Da as they edged toward the crowd gathered around the bulwark competition. Uncle Zhang …
Jing pushed and shoved Da as they edged toward the crowd gathered around the bulwark competition. Uncle Zhang was using withered fingers to trace the shape of the bulwark in the air, morning light seeping through the gaps in his broken armor.
"Uncle Zhang?" Jing's boot scuffed the gravel.
Uncle Zhang merely stared heavily at the bulwark. "Should be seven zhang high... should..."
Da took off his newly acquired cowhide waterskin and offered it. "Sir, do you know our Prefect?"
Uncle Zhang still ignored them, stroking the broken armor on his chest.
The two exchanged a glance. Jing elbowed his companion in the ribs and, as if casting caution to the wind, shouted, "Old General!"
Uncle Zhang whirled around. A gleam flickered in his clouded eyes. "Return... return..."
Before he could finish, a leg swept out. As the two youths tumbled into the heap of the bulwark, they heard a thunderous roar behind them. "Go! Get to the top!" They looked at each other, wanting nothing more than to flee. But Uncle Zhang was watching them, and the jeers and laughter of the watching townsfolk, mingled with the clacking of jujube wood clappers, washed over them. With no choice and not wanting to lose face, they gritted their teeth and began to climb under the crowd's "watchful gaze."
No sooner had Jing's boot stepped onto the knee hollow of the third layer of bodies than a muffled groan came from below. "You dog... stepping on your granddad..."
Da, pulling himself up by someone's clothing, was suddenly slapped out of the blue, leaving him dazed—two veterans forming the seventh layer were gripping their own belts, staring at them as if they were dead men.
When Da's nose bridge collided with someone's breastplate for the seventh time, a hoarse cheer suddenly came from above. "The top! You've reached the top!"
They finally stood steadily atop the bulwark.
Uncle Zhang lifted his chin, gazing at the bulwark, muttering to himself.
"Going home... going home... this high... can we see home from here?"
Then, he shuffled away. The two youths stared dumbfounded as Uncle Zhang walked off.
"Hey, hey..." Da leaned forward urgently, about to call out, when the entire bulwark collapsed into a cloud of dust.
"After him!" Jing spat out the grass in his mouth and limped after the stooped figure disappearing into the dust.