An Unexpected Visit (3)
A remote quarter of Luoyang, where the prison had taken up residence. Walk a few steps and the soldiers' barracks came into view first; move a little farther on from there, and you found the streets where the commonfolk carried on their daily lives in noisy good cheer.
Led along by the jailer, who still kept glancing about nervously, the three women released from the prison each showed a very different reaction. Zhang Fei, freed the very instant Liu Bei accepted the offer, wore a dazed look on her face.
"They're actually letting us go."
Guan Yu was stretching this way and that, working the stiffness out of limbs that had been bound for far too long. Though the cells held barely any prisoners, the guards never let their vigilance slip for a moment, and laborers endlessly patched up the prison's worn spots to forestall any escape that might come. Guan Yu gazed back at the building that had held her until moments ago, then spoke.
"At the very least, he seems a man who keeps the words that leave his own mouth."
"That part I definitely like."
"As do I."
With that, Guan Yu turned to look at Zhang Fei — and without warning, her expression turned grim. At this sudden blast of frost, Zhang Fei flinched back like a cat confronted with a cucumber.
"S-Sister Yunchang? Wh-what's wrong all of a sudden?"
"Did I not say something to you just now?"
Zhang Fei edged backward step by step, eyes wide with alarm, but Guan Yu paid it no mind and kept advancing. Breaking into a cold sweat, Zhang Fei racked her brains over what her terrifying sister could be on about this time. Impulsive as her temperament was, her mind was quick enough, and the answer came to her at once.
"Don't tell me it's because of that little tease back there?"
"……"
Silence was as good as an admission. Guan Yu offered not a single word in reply. Certain now of what the problem was, Zhang Fei hurried to open her mouth.
"Aw, come on! You know I never meant any of it for real!"
"You meant it."
Guan Yu declared it flat and certain, as though she could see straight through to the bottom of Zhang Fei's heart. Zhang Fei rolled her eyes every which way and tried another excuse.
"Oh, come off it! It was just a joke, I'm telling you?! A joke with love in it!"
"……"
"I only ever do it because I love you, Sister Yunchang!"
Zhang Fei even tried turning on the charm — a weapon she seldom bothered to unsheathe — hoping to cool Guan Yu's temper, but the incensed Guan Yu did not so much as flinch. Backing slowly away, Zhang Fei soon found herself cornered against a wall with nowhere left to run. That was when Guan Yu, closing in on her, spoke.
"Everything I do, I do because I love our Yide too."
"Uh…"
Watching Guan Yu's fist come streaking at her head like a beam of light, Zhang Fei squeezed her eyes shut at last.
"……"
Liu Bei said nothing at all, merely watching the dizzying scene unfold. The only mercy was that the prison sat so far from everywhere else that hardly anyone had been around to witness the whole sorry mess.
"Uuuugh…"
Zhang Fei groaned, gently kneading the lump on her head with her left hand. It genuinely hurt. As she nursed the thought, she stole a sideways glance — and there was the very culprit responsible, strolling along without a care in the world.
It was perhaps not the sort of thing to brag about openly, but her body was a sturdy one. Hers was the sort of iron-boned frame where, whenever a street quarrel turned into a real fight, it was the punk who had swung at her first who ended up shrieking on the ground. Yet Sister Guan Yu had driven her fist into her skull not once but several times over, and showed no trace of pain whatsoever.
Truly worthy of being her elder sister, Zhang Fei thought — and at the same time, she couldn't help worrying that someday her head really might end up pulped. She knew, of course, that the solution was simply not to do things that earned Sister Guan Yu's wrath, but this particular habit was beyond her control. The everyday Guan Yu kept her face frozen all day long in a mask of cool severity — so how could anyone possibly give up the sight of that mask cracking? For Zhang Fei, who prized the pleasures of each passing moment, such joy could never be surrendered.
Trailing slowly after Liu Bei, who walked on ahead, Zhang Fei swept her gaze across the peaceful street. Luoyang, the city under the General-in-Chief's governance, brimmed with vitality from end to end. Its people, young and old, man and woman alike, laughed and chattered without a shadow of worry on their faces.
To Zhang Fei, who in the old days had wandered You Province with her sisters and seen nothing but folk collapsed in listless heaps clutching their empty bellies, it was a wondrous scene she couldn't quite adapt to. The most powerless people in all the world showed none of that grim, dim air of wondering how they'd survive until tomorrow. It was like the villages from the days when Sister Liu Bei first took office as county magistrate — the road was hard, but the people walked it carrying hope, and that spirit radiated from everyone here.
"Hm?"
Just then, Zhang Fei — still surveying the city — caught sight of something odd. Having gotten back the weapons confiscated upon their imprisonment, she now had her Serpent Spear, wrapped round and round in cloth, slung across her shoulder as she called out to Liu Bei.
"Sister Xuande."
"Yes?"
At the call, Liu Bei stopped mid-stride and turned to face her, a benevolent smile resting on her lips. A face Zhang Fei saw every day, and yet still so warmly kind, she thought — then jerked her chin toward a man in the crowd.
"That guy's picking pockets."
"Really?"
Liu Bei's eyes went wide as she turned to look where Zhang Fei pointed. And sure enough, just as she'd said, a wiry man was deliberately bumping into passersby, filching their belongings in passing. He had clearly been at this trade a good long while: he lifted only small, easily palmed items, plucking them so deftly that no one felt a thing.
"Got some talent too, I see."
Zhang Fei muttered, watching the pickpocket ply his trade with a look of utter unconcern. Was the man not the least bit scared? Judging by the gossip drifting around the city, the General-in-Chief who had met with them only a short while ago pursued perfect public order with near-fanatic zeal. She'd heard he ran frequent night patrols through his soldiers and lavished rewards on anyone who distinguished himself in collaring criminals, and so order had settled over the streets as naturally as anything. Obvious measures, if you thought about it — but having watched other cities rot because their masters never lifted a finger to do the obvious, Zhang Fei could only heave a sigh. Or maybe it was precisely because he was so brazen that he'd never been caught. Either way, his luck had just run out: his little career of crime ended today.
Zhang Fei tossed the question at Liu Bei, who was watching the pickpocket every bit as intently as she was.
"Sister Xuande. I can go grab him, right?"
"Go ahead."
Liu Bei agreed without a second's deliberation, and Zhang Fei made straight for the thief. Oblivious to anyone's approach, the pickpocket stayed absorbed in rifling the crowd's purses. Zhang Fei planted herself behind him wearing a beaming grin and spoke.
"Hey."
"?!"
The pickpocket jolted and tried to bolt backward, but Zhang Fei's outstretched hand got there first. The moment her fingers closed around his arm, the man felt that it would not budge an inch — a monstrous strength no one would believe could come from such a slight frame. Somewhere in the captured pickpocket's head, the thought flashed by that he was in very deep trouble.
"L-Let go! Let go of me!"
"Whoa, there."
In desperation the man flailed his one free hand, but it was a hopeless effort.
"Swinging at people like that — what exactly d'you plan to do with those fists of yours, huh?"
"Hrk—!"
Before he knew what was happening, Zhang Fei had locked down both his arms and slammed him flat onto the ground. What in the world was going on? The pickpocket wriggled and squirmed with everything he had to slip free, but the woman pinning him down didn't shift a hair's breadth. With all this happening in the middle of the street, the eyes of every passerby had naturally converged on him. Pale as a ghost, the man blurted out in a rush.
"Wh-what is the meaning of this! Laying hands on an innocent man like this!"
"Innocent? Don't make me laugh."
With an expression that said she'd seen plenty of his kind before, Zhang Fei began rummaging through the pickpocket's clothes. He jolted violently at the feel of her hand delving into his garments.
"You madwoman! A grown woman groping a man — have you no shame?!"
"What, exactly, would I have to enjoy about groping a sorry half-finished excuse of a man? This disgusts me too, so do us both a favor and shut it."
"……"
Zhang Fei's fact-based tirade left a deep and lasting wound in the man's heart. Undeterred either way, she kept on rummaging through his clothes.
"I watched you the whole time — you were definitely stashing the goods somewhere around here… Ah. Found it."
Jingle!
Zhang Fei drew a weighty-looking pouch from inside the man's clothes. Opening it to survey the stolen goods, she let out a snort of laughter.
"So you just grabbed whatever your hands landed on, no sorting by type, huh?"
"……"
"What's this? Clamming up now that the odds are against you?"
"……"
Though cold sweat rolled down his face, the man kept his stubborn silence under Zhang Fei's questioning.
"Suit yourself. You're caught red-handed anyway."
Saying so, Zhang Fei tossed the pouch in her hand up into the air and caught it again. Around them, the victims were waking up to their losses one by one.
"H-huh?! Where did my money go?!"
"Mine's gone too! Somebody robbed me!"
One after another, the people the pickpocket had fleeced began realizing their plight. The thief gave it his absolute best to escape even now, but the woman on top of him remained utterly unmoved. And from far down the street, the guard soldiers who had noticed the commotion were already sprinting their way.