At dusk, a man wearing the Tang Empire military uniform sat at a boy's doorstep, with a cigarette between his fingers, exhaling a puff of smoke. He glanced at the boy sitting beside him: "Have you ever been to school?"
"No." The boy, with his head down, was fiddling with the stone beneath his feet, answering without looking up.
"You should study." The man took a drag of his cigarette and then said regretfully, "Missed a good time; sometimes you miss a lifetime."
As he spoke, a truck wobbled to a stop on the road, and Tang Army soldiers jumped off, distributing portions of food rations to the queued Qin Country citizens.
This place was suffering from famine; all the grain had been requisitioned by the Qin Army. They didn't plan to leave any food, yet left their own citizens to be cared for by the occupying Tang Army.
