Lovely Blossoms

Yu Hai stared at the gates, a momentary feeling of hesitation inside of him. He often thought of taking these unwanted people somewhere safe, somewhere where they could start over, but in the end the money always won. He had learned long ago not to look at the cargo beneath the sacks. If He looked it was harder to hand them off.

He let out a breath and headed towards the gates. He was a frequenter here, sometimes he had cargo beneath the sacks, most times he had nothing. He was inspected very seldomly and most of the time the guards wanted nothing to do with him. This was a tactic he had picked up over the years. The more foul and unclean he was, the less they wanted to do with him.

"Get a move on it," one of the guards barked when Yu Hai stopped for a moment to make dry heaving sounds. "Get the hell out of here before I beat you again!" The guard snapped. He had dealt with this wretch enough times to be sick of him. He wasn't going to smell vomit as it baked in the sun for an entire day again.

Yu Hai wiped at his mouth. His attempts at dry heaving had actually began to make him sick. He truly would be in trouble if he didn't get a move on it. Sometimes when he knew his cargo was empty he would stop here and have an 'accident' vomit, urine, a mixture of the two. This was his business , he was willing to take the risk for the money, but would do all he could to keep from being killed doing it.

"Yes," Yu Hai answered as he staggered towards the gates. The horse let out a deep snort, even it didn't want to smell Yu Hai anymore. He patted the old gall on the side of her neck and led her out the gates. "It wont be long this time Yu Yu," he stared into the rice fields before him. Acres upon acres of fields that would have to be crossed before the next set of gates and another set of guards. This is where he would hand off the cargo.

As the two walked together Yu Hai thought back to his childhood. He remembered the way his mother would hold him against her c.h.e.s.t when the fighting got to close to their home. The way she always smelled of meat's and vegetables she prepared for the Masters of the house. He wanted to stop the train of thought before it got to that day, but the image of her blood seeping across the floor flooded his mind. He needed another drink. He needed to forget. He wiped at his mouth, the dryness causing spit to dry at the corners.

"It's just you and me Yu Yu," he said quietly. "There is no place in our life for sympathy." With that thought he moved on. His gait quicker then before. He needed to hand this cargo off so he could be paid. Then he would drown himself in drinks until the money ran out. After that there would be another cargo and another faceless body that would pile up into the wrongs of his life.

Fen Hua woke up to the smell of sweat and filth. The sounds of groaning and crying surrounded her. She was being moved, and her head felt like someone had hit her with a hammer. She kept her eyes shut for as long as possible, the glare of the morning sun already making the pain in her head worse.

She covered one eye with the back of her hand and opened the other. The intensity of it sending waves of nausea throughout her. She bit her lower lip, forcing the pain of it to the forefront of her mind to push the nausea away. After a moment she was able to open her eye again.

Her mind darted back and forth trying to understand what had happened. Why was she in this caged cart? Who were all these other people. What was going on? She shifted her gaze to the forested path she was being brought through. Then towards the person driving the cart she was on. He was massive, much taller then average and his back was broad and muscular. Beside him was a smaller man. His hair a greasy black held up with pins. As she was trying to make heads of tails of what was happening the smaller man turned around, his gaze fell directly on Fen Hua.

"Well look who finally woke up," He said showing off a smile of browned teeth.

"Where am I?" Fen Hua asked. Her eyes moved from one body to the next, counting seven others in the cart with them. One older male, two men, the rest younger women. "Why am I in this cage?"

The man laughed and turned away leaving her even more unsettled.

"We are going to be sold as slaves," one of the men answered.

Fen Hua's eyes snapped to him. Her heart began to race.

"Slaves? How? Wha..." Her mind flashed to the drink she had before she fell asleep. The pain in her head pounding and pounding.

"Someone sold you off," the man chuckled. "Guess you weren't expecting it."

"Shut your mouth Gui Ren," A pretty woman in her early twenties snapped. "Ignore him. His heart is black." She paused for a moment, giving Fen Hua time to take everything in. "My name is Mei Xiu, this girl next to me is Li Quin, He is Fei Ling, that is Yang Jie, and Li Xiang. She pointed to each of the others as she named them. A few of them looked at Fen Hua, most of them kept their heads down. "The old man over there is Jun Jie. He is a pervert so stay away from him."

"You little wench," Jun Jie growled. He turned his body so he was facing away from the others and out towards the forest. His legs hung down outside of the cage.

"How long was I asleep for?" Fen Hua asked.

"I don't know how long you have been sleeping, but you have been here with us for two days." Mei Xiu answered." Her voice was soft and sympathetic.

"Yea and you pissed yourself twice during that time, why do you think we are all over here on this side?" Gui Ren said.

Fen Hua looked down at herself a feeling of disgust and mortification, giving fear and confusion a rest for a moment. Fei Ling looked over at her. His dark eyes trained on her face. He turned away and looked back towards the forest.