Li Yiming stopped and listened carefully.
"Is that the sound of a bamboo tube?" Li Yiming asked.
"This isn't Ruguan, so why would there be a Zhutong here?" the guard said coldly.
Li Yiming shook her head and simply closed her eyes. The sunlight stung her eyelids; she hadn't seen daylight for far too long.
Perhaps it was because he hadn't seen the sun in a long time, but the moment he closed his eyes, Li Yiming felt an indescribable dizziness, and everything in front of him turned white.
In that white, dizzying haze, Li Yiming somehow saw a glimpse of red.
Closer, closer, a sea of red. This great, reborn nation is brimming with joy and hope.
Standing outside the crowd, Li Yiming gazed at the people cheering for the newborn nation in the distance.
(The guards roughly push Li Yiming into the execution ground: "Go in!")
Beneath Li Yiming's prison uniform were countless scars and wounds from torture.
Thump!
Two cannon salutes were fired.
In that new world, Li Yiming threw his hat into the air, and many hats swung in the air, while red flags fluttered in the distance.
(The shackles on his feet chafed painfully against Li Yiming's ankles, and the shackles on his hands made his arms ache. The scorching sun beat down on the blisters and wounds, and sweat soaked into the affected areas. The heavy chains dragged on the ground, clanging and rattling.)
Thump!
A sound came from something unknown.
Li Yiming gazed for a long time at this land she loved so dearly, a smile tinged with joy, sorrow, contentment, nostalgia, and pride. She had every right to be proud of it, for it was the only thing she possessed in her life, even though she had never seen it for a single second.
Li Yiming glanced longingly at the illusion, shook his head, and turned to walk away into the distance.
(Only one person's back remained in the world. That back gradually faded, merging with the figure of Li Yiming, who stood alone on the execution ground.)
On this unusually hot December afternoon, Li Yiming suddenly thought of that person again for some reason.
The man stood in front of the sofa and mumbled, "Maybe one day..."
Perhaps one day, on a cool and beautiful morning...
Li Yiming suddenly opened his eyes wide and clenched his fists.
The red cloth that Lu Huaizhang passed in had a few coded messages written on it, which could only be read by wetting it with water. After Li Yiming wet the red cloth with saliva, he was able to read the coded messages.
Her comrades planned to storm the execution ground—the Nationalist government was corrupt, and the last remaining backbone had been purged; only cowardly and incompetent soldiers remained on this island. Therefore, her comrades held onto their last hope: to rescue her.
Li Yiming endured brutal torture without uttering a single word, intending to be released quickly. But the moment he saw the coded message, the flame of hope within him was rekindled.
She didn't want to die! She was unwilling to die! She didn't want to die a heroic death, becoming just a line or two of inscription on a tombstone. She wanted to see that new world with her own eyes, through the eyes of Li Yiming and Li Yiming!
"Please wait," Li Yiming said politely. "Could we move the execution to a place in the sun? Why? Because I want to see the sun..."
Meanwhile, the disguised soldiers lay in ambush, intently watching the scene unfold. When Li Yiming made the pre-arranged gesture, the sniper on higher ground fired, killing the guard beside Li Yiming.
Chaos erupted in the execution ground. The lead soldier fired a shot into the air and shouted, "Comrades, charge with me!"
Gunfire shook the fields as the young soldiers of the republic charged forward. The cold, scorching, and immortal sun looked down upon them from the sky, silently witnessing the meeting of the old and new worlds, just as it had for millions of years.
—The End of "Half of the Sky".
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