East of the River: Home of the Sun Clan sample (Act I) -- T. P. M. Thorne

Taishi Ci was the more athletic of the two men, so it was not long before he overtook his rival; once the two were a distance away from the capital, Taishi Ci stopped running, and the messenger halted moments later.
“I cannot… believe… what is happening,” the messenger whined. “What can I do now that you have ruined me???”
Taishi Ci glared at the Provincial Office messenger and replied by asking, “Why did you agree… to defend such a wretched man… over a decent one…?”
The messenger was silent.
“You must… have known his nature!” Taishi said accusingly. “The Donglai Administrator is… is a good man, everyone knows that!”
“It is not my concern!” the messenger retorted. “I was asked to do a job!”
“And you failed,” Taishi Ci heckled. “Now you must run, as must I… the sad thing is that I did what I did to defend a good man, and so suffer undeservedly.”
“I… I cannot discuss this anymore,” the messenger sighed. “Are we far enough away now to be safe…?”
“…No,” Taishi Ci replied. “We must keep running. Come on.”
Taishi Ci resumed running, and the messenger reluctantly followed; this time, however, Taishi Ci quickly fell behind, and the rival messenger failed to notice it. When he eventually did, the messenger laughed wearily and shouted, “Where are you, and why do… you… not…?”
The messenger had turned as he had spoken, and he was expecting to see a tired Taishi Ci struggling to keep up with him; but nobody was there. It did not take the messenger long to realise what had happened, and he collapsed to the ground, wailing like a child.

“What’s your name, and what do you want?” a soldier barked as he was faced with yet another tired, untidy traveller looking to enter the imperial capital of Luoyang.
The traveller smiled triumphantly and panted, “Taishi Ci, of Donglai… I have a petition from… the Administrator… of Donglai, Qing Province.”

Taishi Ci had succeeded in getting his master’s petition submitted before that of the Provincial Office, which meant that his master’s life and career were saved. His methods had been unlawful, however, and the wronged messenger was finally able to lodge an official complaint that was taken very seriously; but by that time, Taishi Ci - who would become famous for his actions - had fled the ‘mainland’ and gone into exile in the Liaodong Peninsula, which was northeast of his old home, across the vast expanse of the Yellow Sea. He would have to remain there for several years, but his journey toward a place in history - and a key role in the founding of an independent kingdom in the south of China - had begun nonetheless.

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