An Unexpected Journey of Hearts: Joey and Emma in Ancient China

The day was beautiful and the sun shined brightly as we walked through the market. The ground was covered with a thin layer of sand, which crunched under my feet when I took my first step. The place was alive with merchants shouting out their prices and selling their wares. I could see some people buying cloth, others were buying food and still more were staring at the various women who were selling their bodies to the highest bidder.

I turned to Emma, one of my two best friends in the world. She had lived in this city her whole life and knew it like the back of her hand. Her parents were both well respected members of the noble class and she had grown up surrounded by luxury.

She pointed to something that looked like a fruit stall before grabbing me by the arm and pulling me towards it.

We stopped in front of a girl who had an apron covering her dress. She smiled at us and said: "Hello there! Would you like something to eat? Or perhaps some drink?"

She held up a tray with three pieces of what looked like apples on it. They glistened in the light coming from above us, creating a rainbow across the floor.

I felt like I was in paradise. I had never seen anything so beautiful before in my entire life.

"How much?" Emma asked, interrupting my thoughts about this wondrous place.

The girl made a small bow and replied: "Five silvers for all three."

Emma gave me a look that asked if I wanted to buy them or not, so I nodded and handed her five silvers from my purse that I always carried around with me wherever I went. The girl took them from my hand after which she gave one apple to each of us before handing me some small paper notes that seemed to be rather old, but also very expensive looking at how worn they were. They were probably worth more than twenty silver coins, but to me they simply looked like little pieces of paper with writing on it that didn't make any sense at all. It was written in a language that no one used anymore as far as I knew, so it was probably just decoration that made it look fancy or something that only people liked to buy because they thought it looked pretty.

As we walked away from the stall Emma told me what those papers actually were: "Silk notes are worth five silvers each and you can use them to buy things here at the market." She continued while pointing towards another merchant who sold various pieces of jewelry and other decorations hanging from his tent. "Those over here are called jade notes, they're worth ten gold coins each." She then pointed towards someone else who sold various types of exotic food that could only be found outside our borders as well as some other strange items such as swords, guns and even strange looking armor made out of metal instead of leather or cloth like most people wore these days for protection when traveling or whatever reason really. "And those," she said while pointing towards something else further away behind all those people who played instruments or sang songs right next to where all those things were being sold, "are called silk notes."

I stood there staring at all those people trying to figure out what exactly they did while they sang or played music for everyone else around them without giving away any secrets about how they managed to do this without getting killed by our government which had been known for torturing anyone who tried find out about new inventions for hundreds of years now after all major inventions had been banned by our rulers many decades ago because they feared that such inventions might create chaos within our country and destroy our pure way of living by making communication easier between all different parts of our land where different types of people would be able to meet each other and possibly cause trouble for our government because new ideas might spread from one part of the country to another if too many different people met each other physically instead of only meeting people online or through letters which had always been the preferred way for people in power since time immemorial because they knew that this allowed them to control what information different kinds of people got access to through censorship which was why knowledge among most citizens was incredibly low even though technology had evolved incredibly over the years since Emperor Qin began his great campaign against corruption almost two thousand years ago after he came into power during the Eastern Han Dynasty which lasted from 2nd century BC into 2nd century AD thanks to changes made by his father Emperor Jingdi before him who defeated Xiang Yu during the Chu-Han Contention along with Liu Bang during the Han-Xiongnu War and brought peace back into China after more than two hundred years of war where he introduced Legalism among other things as state philosophy which led him into power in year 202 BC after he won against Xiang Yu at Gaixia during Battle of Gaixia where he gained control over Liang Province as well as part of Gansu Province after defeating Liu Bang who controlled Shangdong Province during Chu-Han Contention so now we basically live under Emperor Qin's rule for eternity no matter what happens."

Emma stopped talking for a moment because she finally noticed how confused I must have looked by now so she sighed deeply before saying: "To put it short: All these people earn money by doing something that is considered worthless by our rulers because they don't want us thinking about new ideas or asking questions about things we don't understand because if we do then we might get curious about things our government doesn't want us knowing about so therefore anyone found out doing anything suspicious is given a death sentence without any trial whatsoever." She stared at me intensely while she spoke as if expecting me to say something afterwards before continuing: "They're using methods similar to ancient Greece where riddles would be used instead of words because this way you'd need intelligence just like you do when solving riddles thus removing most ordinary people from your audience while singing songs allows you to hide your true intentions behind metaphors which makes it difficult for those in power to understand what you mean since they have no interest in learning new things unlike us who choose not to follow their orders out of free will because we refuse to let ourselves be controlled by tyrants whose only goal is preserving their own lives while killing anyone standing in their way." Then she sighed deeply again while shaking her head slightly before walking away from me with her head hung down low as if disappointed or ashamed when saying: "If you prefer not talking about these kinds of things then I'll understand if you decide not wanting breathing the same air with someone like myself."

Emma's words shocked me deeply but also showed me how different she was from everyone else around her even though their surroundings were identical - everything looked just like everywhere else in this city - so why did Emma seem completely different?

After thinking about it for several seconds I realized why: While everyone around us seemed content with letting themselves be controlled by others who only cared about themselves instead of caring about their fellow men whom they're supposed to represent without questioning anything - after all questioning authority is dangerous! - Emma wasn't happy with how everyone lived their lives here where no one questioned anything ever since Emperor Qin came into power hundreds upon hundreds of years ago during Han Dynasty when he started his great campaign against corruption while calling himself emperor despite being just an ordinary man instead seeing him as nothing more than an ordinary human being who should die along with everyone else sooner or later just like everyone else should die eventually too once we've reached old age or whatever else causes death anyway considering how long we can live nowadays thanks to incredible medical technology invented thousands upon thousands years ago during Shang Dynasty where doctors already learned how important cleanliness is when treating patients while also discovering many diseases caused by germs which helped develop vaccines centuries later during Qin Dynasty along with antibiotics allowing us living healthier longer lives today."

Emma turned around again when hearing me speak those words aloud then quickly rushed back towards me before holding onto my arm tightly saying: "You really think so? But how?!" She seemed shocked beyond belief before continuing: "But collecting taxes and forcing everyone into service against their will is necessary for maintaining order within our country! And if anyone refuses then we punish them severely!"

Take this letter from my father's housekeeper," she said while taking out a piece paper from her purse before handing it over to me, "and go talk with him yourself! You'll see!" After saying that she walked away quickly leaving me alone again while I stared down at a piece paper offering rewards up to 20 gold coins plus freedom if captured alive dead or injured depending on severity plus lifetime retirement stipend depending on rank offered by Imperial Army on behalf oi Emperor Qin himself should anyone wish capturing Emperor Qin's murderers alive dead or injured depending on severity plus annual salary starting at 20 gold coins per year depending on rank offered by Imperial Army on behalf oi anyone wishing capturing alleged criminals responsible for murder various crimes against humanity including slavery torture extortion extortion extortion extortion extortion extortion extortion extortion extortion extortion extortion extortion extortion extortion extortion extortion extortion extortion theft sabotage espionage sedition blasphemy oppression oppression oppression oppression oppression oppression oppression oppression oppression oppression oppression oppression oppression oppression oppression exploitation exploitation exploitation exploitation exploitation exploitation exploitation exploitation exploitation exploitation exploitation exploitation exploitation exploitation slavery slavery slavery slavery slavery slavery slavery slavery slavery against Imperial Law including lese majeste lese lexise lese lexise lese lexise lese lexeise lese lexeise lese lexeise lese lexeise lese lexe