The rain by the Yellow River was unlike the rain anywhere else in Kaifeng. Some said the rain was the tears of…
The rain by the Yellow River was unlike the rain anywhere else in Kaifeng.
Some said the rain was the tears of the River Master, trapped in the Yellow River for millennia, crying endlessly.
Que from the Bujian Hill, hearing this tale, found it amusing: how could the mighty River Master, who could summon wind and rain, be like a child, wailing at the slightest grievance?
Otherwise, how else would there be such relentless storms along the Yellow River?
But Que had never been one to cry. Crying couldn't defeat mountain bandits, fill an empty stomach, or cure a lingering illness. To the sparrow, crying was the most useless thing in the world. The most useful? Her own two hands. When pain was unbearable, she gathered herbs to heal herself. When hunger gnawed at her, she foraged wild plants and hunted animals. When her family was homeless, she apprenticed to a craftsman in Hidden Mountain, learning to build the best houses in the land for her crippled father and blind mother. She believed, up until the day their home was completed, that there was nothing her hands couldn't accomplish. But then, the young doctor from the clinic came running: "A'que, your parents... they didn't make it."
Some things, she realized, were beyond human effort. It all seemed to depend on fate. That day, she buried her parents by the new house and walked southward. Behind her, flames engulfed everything. Men were so small in the grand scheme of things, powerless to move the heavens or earth, no matter how hard they tried. So, where should one go? What was the point of all her skills? "Even the River Master, who can summon storms in the tales, can't stop the Yellow River from weeping," she thought bitterly, drenched in rain.
But at that moment, the storm ceased.
Before her stood a figure in red. "Hey, you're soaked. Come home with me."