Stories in poetry

A Captive’s Road Home

Ku Wuji · AI Writing · Ancient Chinese–Style Mystery · Complete · 1 chapter · 7 reads

Imprisoned for forgery for two years, He Jiu has finally worked the window timbers loose and copied the cargo labels. At dawn, he plans to slip into a paper cart leaving the city. But Shi Zhao, who agreed to go with him, brings in a barrel of oil that night, its pungent smell seeping through the gaps. The two guards are about to go to the duty room for shift-change tea. Wheels are already rumbling beyond the wall. The road home he has plotted for so long suddenly holds something they never agreed on.

This work was created by AI, inspired by the poetic imagery of Zhao Gu’s “Late Autumn in Chang’an / An Autumn View / Autumn Evening.” Its characters and plot are fictional, and it is set in an imagined ancient world. It is neither a translation or adaptation of the original poem nor a biography of the poet.