Winter came early that year, and the first snow fell very early. It snowed heavily, and Xiangyang City turned from gray to white in just one meal.
Due to the drought this year, we basically didn’t have any food harvested in the fall. Even our family had a hard time in the winter, so you can imagine how poor people outside the city were.
Every time my sister went to buy rice, she would always smile at me knowingly. I knew she couldn't help but want to criticize me again. I knew I was a glutton. But I just wanted to eat, there was nothing I could do.
After that conversation with the teacher, he became very strange and often went out. I heard him talk about similar things with many students. This year, after the snow, the teacher disappeared again. In the classroom, everyone started to talk about it again.
But there was still no result.
It was the ninth day of the twelfth lunar month of that year, yin, and there were 0 days left to the year of Jiazi. I remember that day very clearly, my husband came back again.
There was an official who came with him. It was snowing and there were not many people on the street.
The next day, the teacher called me over and asked me to express my opinions.
I listened to the two men talking about the situation in the world, and occasionally looked at the official. The official was not older than the gentleman, but compared to the gentleman's slightly baby-faced appearance, he looked much more mature. Although he was dressed like a scholar, his sharp face, especially his eyes, even gave me a chill. He must be a general who had experienced many battles. Then I gave up the idea in my mind. Where can I fight now
…
"Mr. Wei, what do you think of Zhang Jiao's Taiping Qing Dao?"
"Brother Huangfu, do you still remember Master Zhang?"
"You think it will be beneficial to me, the great man."
The gentleman nodded.
"Well, sir, I think that's probably not the case."
The man surnamed Huangfu noticed me at this time. After all, I was just a 15-year-old gang leader. Although I was accompanying him, I was just a foil in his eyes. He might even treat me as a servant to pour tea.
"I'd like to hear more about it." Huangfu asked me sincerely, which was beyond my expectation. What was even more unexpected was that the gentleman looked at me with a very strange smile, which made me confused.
"Zhang Jue calls himself the Great Sage and Master, and it is widely said among the people that he is the master of heaven who has descended to earth. When Bian Que was alive, he cured countless people and had an excellent reputation. Today,…" I paused, thinking that it would not be a good idea to criticize the government in front of the court officials. "Please do not be shy about it. There are no four people here, and there are definitely no eight ears listening."
"... Ahem, this year the world has suffered from a disaster, with starving people everywhere, the government is in chaos, and the people are very resentful. Recently, Zhang Jiao's power has grown day by day. People say that the world is peaceful and the way is clear. There are thirty-six factions, and the big faction has more than ten thousand people. If Zhang Jiao has no ambition, then so be it. If he has ambition, then the world will be in chaos within half a year."
As soon as I finished speaking, both of them fell into deep thought. I saw that I had finished everything and didn't want to stay any longer, so I bowed and said, "Sir, I have something to do. I will leave first. Mr. Huangfu, excuse me."
"Well, you go first!"
"Thank you, teacher. I'm leaving now."
I walked out of the academy and my sister was waiting for me outside. When she saw me, she ran over and wrapped me in a thick cloak. "Can you hold on? You're so big now, I can't hold you anymore."
Looking at the concern and apology on my sister's face, I felt warm.
"It's okay, sister. I'm in good health. This disease is okay."
"Mr. Wei is the same. He knew you were so sick today, but he still asked you to come."
"Does Teacher Wei think highly of me?"
I smiled and comforted her, but she could only lower her head helplessly.
"Let's go home soon."
"Um!"
I seldom get sick, and I think this may be the first or last time I get sick in my life. It feels really strange. I have no appetite, and I feel weak, sleepy, and dizzy. In short, I don’t feel very good. I hope I can get better soon.
However, during these days of illness, I still had something to do. Sometimes I looked at my sister and smiled foolishly in front of the bed, and sometimes I stared at the room and thought about things. Teacher Wei was a little strange. Why did he think Zhang Jue would not rebel? Although Zhang Jue might not have the intention to rebel, I felt that the world would be in chaos, and I also felt that this would be a good thing for the people.
I finally recovered. One morning, I woke up before daybreak, and it was those damn screams. I saw my sister sleeping in front of the bed. I didn't want to wake her up, because I knew I would make a lot of noise when I moved. I just lay there without moving, and put my clothes on my sister.
In the end, my sister woke up. Just when my clothes touched her, she looked at me and said, "You're fine!" "Yeah, I feel much better."
"That's good. You scared me. You've never been sick before."
"Yes!" I suddenly covered my stomach and said, "Sister, is there anything to eat? I'm hungry."
"Okay, I'll give it to you right away."
As she walked, my sister kept muttering to herself, "It's okay to be hungry, it's okay to be hungry, knowing that being hungry will make the disease go away."
The Jiazi Year has arrived. Xiangyang is very busy. The academy is also on holiday. It seems that the teacher will travel far away again this month. We all went to see him off. When the teacher left, he told us to be careful because he had something to do outside and not to travel. I asked him, why did you go out? He said, because I have something to do.
My husband felt that Zhang Jiao was going to make a move! My first thought was, why didn't he do that? Could it be that he thought so because of what I said? No, for the past month, we have been gathering at various houses in the city, chatting and having fun.
Zishe has become stronger. I don't believe it. You are still the same as before. I took him to the back of the house. I pointed to one of the stones and said, "Go and move it." He couldn't move it. I told him, "You are still the same as before. You couldn't move it two years ago, and you still can't move it now." He was able to move the redwood table at home, but he couldn't do it last year. I told him, your house must be infested with mice. Mice will find things to grind their teeth on. Because their house was indeed infested with mice, Zishe was speechless.
The government issued a report that the leader of a faction of the Taiping Dao was arrested and killed in Luoyang. Everyone came to the same conclusion after discussing it: Zhang Jue was about to make a move.
In February of the first year of Zhongping, the thirty-six factions of Taipingqingdao took action together. The insurgents wrapped yellow scarves on their heads and attacked counties and prefectures. Within half a month, Jizhou was almost entirely in their hands. The government posted a notice, calling this the rebellion of the Yellow Turban bandits.
That year, I was 16 years old.