The Wound that Could Not be Healed
Tsing Sum L
he man put down his heavy plow, sighed and then gazed up at the grey sky that echoed his dark
feelings.
the
certainly not
o, Group 3: Fiction, St. Paul's Co-educational College
He hated everyone and everything, and he knew that no one could ever understand him. No one in
world could understand him - not the people of the neighboring villages, not his fellow farmers, and
the people of his country. They all thought he was just an enigmatic young man from an enigmatic
old family.
T
He sighed again and looked at the dark skyline of his country.
He thought of his reason for hating the world. His reason came from a tragedy that happened more that two
thousand years ago.
221
B.C.
Emperor Qin smiled down from his throne at his subjects. His smile was a smile of pure viciousness, a
smile of plain cruelty. Anyone who looked at that smile would easily get the dictator’s message: Disobey me
and you will suffer. The cruel king’s eyes sent the same message.
If Emperor Qin lived in current times, he would be diagnosed with a serious case of depression or some
other kind of emotion-numbing mental illness. However, there were no psychiatrists in ancient China, and so the
emperor and his mercurial mood swings were left to their own devices.
The king’s smile abruptly turned into a frown.
“
Bring out the man who refused to hand out his book for burning,” boomed Emperor Qin. “Bring him out so
I may question him!”
His commanding voice boomed across the vast, ornate room. As he spoke, his subjects shivered, for his
voice betrayed the extreme cold and darkness within him, and it swept through the ranks of people the way an
icy gale would. His terrible voice was worse than the skulls of his executed enemies that hung on the solid gold
walls of the throne room. It was worse than the snowstorms.
The emperor’s icy wind of a voice echoed on his petrified subjects.
Two of the king’s guards managed to recover from their jitters and marched to the end of the room. One of
them hauled the enormous door open and the other pulled from the outside a man who went by the surname of
Kong. The man had obviously been beaten up, for he was bleeding uncontrollably in several places. He was
such a severed sight that even the hearts of the subjects broke when they saw him, and yet the man’s face was a
mask of determination. He was the epitome of silent fury, and his eyes were full of defiance. He would never
give the impression of being a poor or feckless victim.
Unlike his subjects, Emperor Qin did not bend at the sight of the man. His heart did not break, as it was
non-existent.
“
I understand that you possess a rare copy of an ancient book. Perhaps it is the only copy. Would you be
kind enough to show it to me?” sneered Emperor Qin after a long period of stony silence.
Another period of silence followed.
The man did not budge, nor did he take his gaze away from the king.
The ruler let another few moments of terrible silence follow before speaking again.
“
Take it from him,” he said in a soft, dangerous, crackly whisper.
The guards grabbed the lump under the man’s clothes. The man tried to claw it back but his weak, battered
arms were no match for the guards’ rippling muscles. He let out a bloodcurdling scream and tried to run to the
emperor’s throne, for a soldier had brought the book to Emperor Qin.
The cold-blooded king leafed through the pages before reclining in his bejeweled throne, satisfied. “This
book is about Confucianism. Are you a descendant of Confucius? You both share the same surname.”
The man tried to ignore the mad king’s glittering eyes.
“
The law clearly states that only books on the subjects of war, medicine, agriculture and divination may be
spared from book burning. You have defied my laws completely. And because of this, you must be punished.”
continued the cruel emperor.
Despite the man’s earlier bravado, he trembled.
Emperor Qin laughed. His laugh resembled a screech. “I have many plans for you, descendant of Confucius.
You shall journey north and help build the westernmost section of my Great Wall; and you will help mark my