"Dragon meat in heaven, donkey meat on earth. This stuff really is delicious."
The jailers eagerly set up a large earthenware basin and dropped fist-sized chunks of raw meat into the boiling water. Before long, the bright red chunks tumbled and changed color.
Outside the cell door, waves of nauseating meat fragrance drifted in.
Baozhu had lost the Jade Comb while being dragged along, and her exquisite coiffure had come undone. With her hair hanging loose and her eyes hollow, she leaned against the cold, damp stone wall and watched them light the fire, heat the water, and boil the meat. Once it was cooked, they impatiently fished it out and stuffed the scalding meat into their mouths.
"Guanzhong donkeys really are plumper and more tender than Taihang donkeys." A jailer with a birthmark on his face licked the meat juices from his lips and deliberately cast a sidelong glance at Baozhu. "And Guanzhong women are fuller and prettier than Hebei women, too. Hahaha."
"We have to transfer these two to Zhengding tomorrow. The Jiedushi wants them, so stop getting ideas. You've got all the meat you can eat. Isn't that enough?" an elderly jailer said.
After Baozhu and Wei Xun were captured, the soldiers had escorted them to a nearby prison at the foot of Mount Fenglong. The prison had been converted from an abandoned cave temple built against the mountainside. The inner half of the cell was a shallow grotto, still containing a Buddha statue carved into the mountain a century earlier. The roof was high, its old tiles broken and missing, leaving a "skylight" the size of a washbasin.
Chilling moonlight filtered in. The cell was cold and damp, reeking of mold. Fenglong Temple had been its original name.
"Has that man in green talked yet?" a