On the southwestern frontier of the endless Desolate Moon Continent, the Great Green Mountains stretched and coiled, an undulating line of interlocking peaks. The sun had already set, and the darkness of night was deepening. In the village at the foot of the mountains, dim oil lamps had begun to flicker to life. The wind rustled through the leaves of several old locust trees at the village entrance, and from time to time, the bark of a dog would carry far into the distance, answered by a chorus of others before slowly fading back into silence.
The lamplight cast wavering, slanted silhouettes upon the cracked earthen walls of the house.
"My dear wife, let's just settle it this way. Joining the army means he'll have rations to eat; at least he won't starve. If he has a bit of luck and does well, he might even make something of himself." The old man sitting by the door, leaning against the frame, had a weathered face. Years of hard labor had roughened his skin, and his back was slightly hunched as he sat. He held a long-stemmed pipe with a yellowed, blackened tobacco pouch dangling from it. He took a few puffs, the 'pa-da, pa-da' sounds echoing loudly and crisply in the quiet room.
"But... our fifth child, he's only fourteen. He's so young..." said the old woman, perched on a simple, low stool. Tears streamed down her wrinkled face, her clothes tattered and worn.
The old man spoke again. "We've had locust plagues for two years straight. Forget our family; more than half the village has run out of grain. Those who can find work in the city have gone, those who can travel far have left, and those who can enlist have enlisted. Our third son injured his leg years ago while working, leaving him disabled. He can't do much even if he leaves. As for our fifth, he has the build of a sixteen or seventeen-year-old. No one would doubt it if he said so. If he enlists now, he can at least get an advance on his stipend. Later, once he's settled, if he's willing, he can send some money back each month." After speaking, he lowered his head and continued to puff on his pipe, the 'pa-da, pa-da' sound filling the air as the old woman wept silently.
Outside, a figure was crouched against the wall by the door, facing away from the house. He stared blankly into the night at the distant, sprawling silhouette of the mountain range, not speaking a word, lost in thought. Time trickled by in the silence that enveloped the house, both inside and out.
After a long pause, the figure outside stood up, turned, and walked into the house. He was a young man, not quite an adult, with the frame of someone sixteen or seventeen, though somewhat thin. His face was dark from the sun and his features were plain. He wore old, coarse clothes riddled with several holes.
He said, "Father, Mother, you don't need to worry. Many people from the village have already left. Our harvest is only enough to barely keep us fed. Even though the village chief sometimes leads men into the mountains to hunt, they can't go too deep. They only manage to catch a few wild pheasants and rabbits, which is never enough to go around. I want to go out and see the world, too. Besides, with Third Brother and Fourth Sister here, you'll be taken care of."
The young man's true age was only fourteen. It was just that years of hunting in the mountains and farming in the fields had caused him to grow quickly. However, a lack of nutrition had left him quite lean. His name was Li Yan. He was a boy of few words and had studied for six or seven years in a private school with a group of children his age, taught by the old village scholar. After the old scholar passed away, his study time dwindled, and he began to follow the village adults on hunts in the outskirts of the Great Green Mountains. At first, he would sneak out to follow them, but over time, his secret excursions were exposed, earning him no shortage of scoldings and beatings from his parents. But that was how all children in the mountain village grew up; which one of them hadn't been raised amidst the shouts and discipline of their parents?
As Li Yan grew older, he started to openly join the hunting parties. He gradually learned the habits of some wild beasts and began to participate in the hunts. The constant running and jumping through mountain streams made his body grow taller and stronger. But the locust plagues of the past two years had drastically reduced their main grain harvest. The family could only eat until they were half-full at each meal, and he was no longer as robust as before, his body having thinned out.
Li Yan had four siblings. His eldest and second eldest sisters had married into distant families when he was ten and twelve, respectively. His fourth sister, Li Xiaozhu, also had a prospective husband's family lined up, but due to the locust plagues, the groom's family, who were not wealthy to begin with, couldn't put together a dowry for the marriage. Still, they had promised to gather it as soon as possible, so it was likely she would be married within the next year or two. His third brother, Li Wei, had unfortunately injured his ankle with a farming tool years ago. A lack of money had delayed his treatment, leaving him with a permanent limp.
Li Wei, who was kneeling and supporting his mother, looked at Li Yan with apology in his eyes. "Fifth Brother, Third Brother..."
"Third Brother, you don't have to say anything. The family will need you to take care of things from now on," Li Yan said, offering his brother a faint smile and cutting him off. "Maybe I'll become a general or something in the future. Then I'll bring you all to live a life of comfort."
Li Wei looked at him for a long moment before letting out a soft sigh. He then turned to his mother, who was still quietly sobbing as his fourth sister patted her back. "Then perhaps the future glory of the Li family will depend on our Fifth Brother to bring honor to our ancestors."
In truth, Li Wei and Li Yan had heard from their father and other villagers—who went to the city to sell game meat and furs or to buy daily necessities—that their town was a border settlement. To the south lay the State of Meng, and the probability of war along the border was quite high. Clashes had erupted intermittently over the past few years. As a result, conscription was frequent. In the past, enlisting required letters of guarantee from the village, verifying one's age, identity, and background. Now, one only needed to be presented by the village chief to join the army. This was because the current emperor ruled the realm through the Way of Culture and the Classics of Virtue, resulting in a court where civil matters overshadowed martial strength. This had emboldened the surrounding nations, leading to frequent military turmoil. The conflicts were not limited to this one front; wars were breaking out on other borders as well. The central dynasty's garrisons were insufficient to meet the needs of the local defense forces, forcing them to conscript soldiers locally to supplement their numbers.
Some of the local populace knew that the chances of being sent into battle upon enlistment were high, so enthusiasm for joining the army was not great. However, bound by the emperor's decree to rule through culture and virtue, the local defense force could not enforce a draft. Thus, for the past few years, anyone who enlisted would first receive a sum of money for their family—essentially a family settlement stipend—to encourage enlistment. Once this policy was enacted, it did manage to entice many farming households to send their sons to the army. Of course, these were almost exclusively poor families; the wealthy merchants would have none of it.
But these were not details the women of the village would know. In a world where men were held superior to women, husbands rarely discussed such matters with their wives. These topics were merely fodder for idle chat at the village entrance or in the fields. This was especially true for their village, which was over two hundred li (TN: A Chinese unit of distance, roughly 500 meters) from the county town and home to only a dozen or so families. It had been years since anyone had enlisted. However, the Li brothers, Wei and Yan, had overheard these things while working in the fields or traveling with the hunting parties.
Silence fell upon the room once more. A long time later, Old Man Li tapped his pipe on the doorsill a few times and said, "I'll go find the village chief then. You all get some rest." With that, he walked out into the moonlit night, his figure soon disappearing into the early autumn landscape.
Moonlight filtered through the torn paper patches on the wooden window lattices, casting pale light upon the bed. Patches of cotton were exposed on the tattered quilt covering two figures. Li Wei and Li Yan lay back-to-back.
"Fifth Brother, in the army, you must remain calm. Endure what you can, and don't try to be a hero."
"Mm."
A moment of silence passed. "If... if there's a battle, and if no one is watching, don't charge to the front. Hang back a few steps."
"Mm."
Another stretch of silence. "Don't worry about the family. With the enlistment stipend, I'll take good care of Father and Mother first. As for your monthly salary, use it to buy yourself some more meat to eat."
"Mm... Third Brother, you'll have to do more work in the fields. Father and Mother are getting old."
"Alright. As long as I'm here, Father and Mother won't go hungry."
"..." The quiet, punctuated by occasional words, continued.
The moonlight was like water, and the night was cool and clear.
In the middle of the night, the door to the main hall creaked open. The two brothers fell silent. Soon, the low, almost inaudible murmur of their parents' conversation could be heard from the side room, followed by the soft sobs of their fourth sister and mother. It seemed their sister had been comforting their mother all this time.
Li Yan remained with his back to his brother, his eyes wide open, staring at the wall in the darkness. In the dim moonlight, the cracks on the wall seemed to transform into the voices of his family, into memories of the past, spreading from his mind down into his heart.