Chapter 13: August 15th 1900

Terror ruled the streets of Peking. It was another day of the Boxer Rebellion. A group of fanatics known as the Militia United in Righteousness opposed to foreign control revolted against the Europeans and Japanese authority. Their targets were anybody unfamiliar including Christians and mercenaries. Crop failures during the years resulted in widespread famine, encouraging a population that the foreigners are not just a threat but a divine threat. The Boxers massacred individuals that represented the foreign threat. There was nowhere to run from the Boxer Rebellion.

When asked to fight against the Boxers, the Empress Dowager turned and helped the Boxers. The Qing Army joined the attack to suppress and push out any foreign control. Peking was the most prominent target as most foreign powers lay there.

It was an open debate for the family for Daiyu. Should they stay under threat of being pulled into the conflict directly? Should they move to the countryside? Do they help the Boxers or the Qing Army? The decision was made as far back as the beginning of the conflict.

The Boxer Rebellion was happening throughout China but still focused around Peking and its neighboring cities. There was really nowhere to run, and if anything, the family-like most felt embolden to stay and cheer on the Boxers and Army in their actions. It was, however, a decision that they still knew was dangerous. The Foreigners were encased in the inner walls of Peking entirely surrounded by the Boxer and Qing Army as they fought for their very lives. All nations that had control of China had families that lie inside those walls. If the Boxers or the Qing managed to penetrate those walls, then there was a strong possibility they would be slaughtered. Men, women, children, no one was spared the atrocities that conflict brought with them.

For Daiyu and the family, they decided to move out a mile away from Peking’s walls. It had been a long year. Peking had been a city under siege. With Peking turned into a war ground, the economy around it shut down. It was not to say there was still work for Liu, but it was not a place for children to watch soldiers attack a city. Artillery bombardment and bombs were every once and while thrown into the town to scare the soldiers from within. The foreigners responded with their own artillery piece known as the “international cannon” made from various components from various nations to shoot back.

Daiyu woke up very early morning to hear gunfire outside the home. She was now used to hearing the sounds of weapons fire. There were occasional nights where Biyu got close to her sister and held close to her to keep herself safe.

“Another night of this racket,” Daiyu said quietly to herself. “I thought coming back as a little girl would somehow keep me away from war and conflict. I was wrong. I am used to it, though. I just wonder if my chapter in this life ends here, but it has been several months of this, and nothing ill has fallen on the family.”

Her thoughts were interrupted by her sister as she spoke out loud. She grasped her sister hard as they heard a cannon shot from the far distance.

“I thought you would be used to this by now, Biyu,” Daiyu said to her.

“Are you?”

She tapped her shoulder, keeping her assured, “I am used to this ... interestingly. To be honest, though, I wished it would come to an end. I hope to see a peaceful end to this conflict and that the foreigners are expelled peacefully. The Boxers response in... , “ she stopped speaking out loud. She felt that she had said enough to her sister.

Biyu closed her eyes “How do you have the strength for this sister?”

Daiyu rolled to look at her sister in bed. She held her sister close, “What if I told you I was a warrior in the past?”

Biyu chuckled a bit “You mean that you were like those men? You were a boy?”

Daiyu nodded, “I imagine you wouldn’t believe me. To be honest, I have a hard time believing it too sometimes. I came back as a little girl on the opposite side of the world. I saw Fenghuang one of the four divine animals that reincarnated me here.”

Biyu nodded, “You silly. You came from mom and dad.”

She laughed in response, “Yeah, you are right on some of that ... but there is more to it than that. It’s ok if you don’t believe me, I just feel better if somebody else knows that for a chance.”

Biyu looked away from her sister and back into her eyes. “You say you were a boy once ... Were you a foreigner once?”

She nodded, “I was a Frenchman.”

Biyu nodded, “You were a boy ... were you cute?”

She had a questioning look as she thought about it. “To be honest, I really don’t know. I think so.”

“Heh, my sister is trying to tell me that she could have been my brother. You do fight like a boy sometimes. The times we fought in the past you fought like one. Remember, three years ago? When I took your food, you threw a punch into my face?”

Daiyu nodded, “Yes.”

Biyu nodded, “I feel safer close to you sister ... I always felt safer next to you.”

“Me too.”

Biyu started to close her eyes as she muttered something else to her sister. “You know, sister ... if your story is true ... I wish I met you when you were a boy.”

Biyu fell asleep as Daiyu was left to her own thoughts again. She was happy with her family as she ever so slowly accepted her new life. Her eyes closed with the morning quickly approaching.

Screaming erupted from outside the home. Men, women, and children ran by the house from the street outside of Daiyu’s home.

Daiyu got up as she looked outside the window of the room. Biyu stirred a little bit as Daiyu quickly took the sheets off the bed and put it back on Biyu. She could see individuals running as she tried to make sense of the scene. She could see the morning light. Biyu was still asleep as she stirred awake as well.

She could only see so much at what was going on. She would occasionally see an individual running by the window of their home. They were trying to escape into the forest and countryside but what was what she was trying to figure out.

“Oh no,” she said quietly. “I know what this is.”

She ran up to Biyu and shook her awake.

“Sister, get up! Get dressed now!” she yelled.

Daiyu was still wearing a form of a nightgown. She ran up and put on her dress as quickly as possible. She then ran to the living room and into her parent’s room.

“Mom, Dad, get dressed now!” she yelled.

The parents stirred awake and looked at her.

A gunshot rang out outside. It startled everyone except Daiyu. She knew what was coming. She ran out to the edge of the door and cracked it open to see what was going at a better angle.

She saw two Boxers ceremoniously dressed in red, running against an onslaught of five soldiers with rifles and revolvers firing at the Boxers. Gunshots rang out as the small village by Peking was turned into a warzone. The International army of Europeans, the United States, and the Japanese created the Gaselee Expedition. Its goal was to recapture Peking and any other city that was under siege from Boxers and wipe them out once and for all. The combined forces of many nations were more than enough against the Qing Army and the Boxers that fought as well. By August 14^th, the expedition re-conquered Peking, and the rest was followed by a string of bloodshed and rape that filled the countryside around it.

The boxers were armed with rifles as they stopped to fire back. One of the Boxers was gunned down by the house. The soldiers began to fill the small village as the other Boxer fled from the area.

It was too dangerous to leave the door open any further. Daiyu went and closed the door. She said quietly to herself, “From the looks of the soldiers, I would say that they were Russian soldiers.”

Liu and Lanfan were dressed enough that they were looking at her and then one of the windows trying to understand the situation. Everyone knew that they were in danger and that the conflict finally reached their doors.

Lanfan looked at the two little girls, “Daiyu, Biyu, find a place to hide in the home. We will try to barricade the doors in case they try to enter the home.”

Biyu ran back into the room and began to look around. Liu and Lanfan began to grab the table to place it to the door. Daiyu went into the kitchen and began to fiddle around the cutlery. She knew exactly what to get. She found a sharp steak knife that she could use to defend herself and her sister.

“I know where this is going,” Daiyu thought to herself. “The soldiers are finding any resistance to them. They are systematically wiping out the Boxers and even executing them outright when caught. The soldiers will then go into the houses to search for them, and they will find us. I must brace for the reality that my mother, my sister, and I are going to be raped and killed if the soldiers make it in here. If we are very lucky, they will let us go. If we have some luck, they will just kill us instead of raping us. War drives men mad.”

She looked at the knife and ran to the room. She knew that Biyu had already found a hiding spot, and regretfully it was their only hiding spot. She crawled underneath the bed and kept her mouth shut. Tears fell from her face she was so scared.

Daiyu, with a knife in hand, crawled under the bed. The wooden planks did not buckle from their light frames. The bed was enough to provide some shield from sight if soldiers came searching, but all they had to do was look under the bed, and they were finished.

The small group of soldiers split up. More came from the street behind him. Altogether it was about ten soldiers. They scattered around the village as they began to search. One Boxer was dead and fled to the area beyond the small village. It was not significant, consisting of at least six buildings. It was really a small village that served as part of a broader community. This village would then connect to other sets of homes half a mile away and places of utility.

Daiyu was listening carefully at the door as her adrenaline started to kick in. She sat close to the edge underneath the bed. If soldiers entered, Daiyu would be the first they could grab. With one hand, she held her knife, and on the other hand, she took her sister’s hand and held it tightly.

“I won’t let them hurt you, Biyu,” She whispered. “I promise you.”

Biyu cried and whimpered as she held her sister’s hand tightly.

“God help me,” Daiyu said quietly to herself. “I will do whatever I need to do. I did not reincarnate as a little girl just to be slaughtered or raped.” She looked at her sister, “I will do whatever is needed to ensure that she does not see it happen.”

A pair of soldiers broke into the neighbor’s home that belonged to the Lee brothers. With one firm smashing of their boots, the soldiers broke the door lock and ran inside. The brothers were a pair of carpenters that made the table for Daiyu and her family. The soldiers found the brothers as they begged for their lives. The soldiers had no care for them. One of them raised his revolver and fired at both the men executing them without mercy.

Daiyu and her family were scared. They knew there was nowhere to run. Even if they broke one of the windows and ran outside, the soldiers could gun them down. Even if they chose another place to live, the war would only follow them.

Liu found some other items that he used to try to brace the door, but they only had so much available to use.

“Lanfan, hide yourself in the closet,” Liu ordered.

Lanfan, in her panic-stricken moment, ran to the room, opened the closet doors, climbed in, and closed it. Liu looked at the door; there was nothing more he could do. If the soldiers broke in, he would act as the only person in the home. There was one photograph in the room of the family. He quickly grabbed it and threw it in the stove of the kitchen. It was his only way to discourage the soldiers from looking for others.

A pair of footsteps reached the door. There was a knock by one soldier that was brandishing a rifle. Another appeared to be an officer that had a holstered revolver that he used to gun down the two men earlier.

Daiyu did not know Russian. She had no way of understanding what they were saying to one another as they yelled over the door to anybody that might be inside.

“Boksery! Osvobodit’sya ili umeret’!” yelled one of the soldiers.

Daiyu said to herself, “I will make sure if I survive this and grow older that I will learn as many languages as possible. If only those soldiers learned some Chinese, maybe people would cooperate better.”

The one soldier looked at the other officer and nodded. “Posledneye preduprezhdeniye!”

There was no sound from the house. Everyone was quiet.

The soldier started to kick the door hard. His boot smashing the wood was creating a thumping noise that reverberated throughout the house. Biyu was shaking next to Daiyu as her fear level was at an all-time high. Daiyu gripped her hand harder.

Each kick weakened the door frame and the door itself. Barricaded, it made no difference. Eventually, the officer joined in as he kicked the door hard. Liu knew that a determined enemy was ready to end their lives. He went and grabbed a knife from the kitchen as he walked back to the living room to meet his fate.

Finally, a fifth kick to the door broke the hinges, and the door came undone. The officer pulled out his revolver and aimed at the first hinges as the soldier kept pushing and kicking the door. The table and few items gave way to open the home in front of them. Liu was in the opening. There was nowhere for him to hide.

The officer saw Liu and steeped forward with his revolver aimed at him. The soldier pointed his rifle at his head.

“Please ... I did nothing to you,” Liu pleaded. “Leave this home, and I promise that I will never go after you or your family.”

“No, all of you are savages,” the officer said, looking at her. “I know what the Boxers are like.”

Daiyu was shocked as she thought to herself. “He knows Chinese. I have to give the Russian that.”

The officer then looked around the home, and he then looked at Liu “A home this large should have more. I think they are hiding in here.”

The officer then looked at the soldier and said, “Arestuyte yego i pristrelite.”

The officer still had his revolver aimed at him. Liu had no choice. He charged at the officer, and the soldier pulled the trigger. The deafening shot inside the house rang out in the home as it hit Liu square in the chest. She fell over dead to the ground. Blood pooled on the floor. Biyu was silently crying next to Daiyu. Daiyu’s eyes closed as she held the urge to cry.