After a long day, the Black Cavalry was finally driven south of the Wei River, and the Xiao Family Army had finally reclaimed the lost territory for Great Mu, raising the “Xiao” banner once again at Pingdu Pass.
Having endured many days of catastrophe, the pass city was filled with piled corpses, blackened scorched earth, and ruins everywhere. Yet the war-weary people here always possessed remarkable resilience. They silently took to the streets, collected the remains of their loved ones, helped each other rebuild the burned houses, and then the sun would rise as usual. No matter how great the pain, it would fade, and they would continue living their ordinary and self-sufficient lives, passing them down through generations.
On the seventh day after Pingdu Pass was recaptured, seeing that order in the city had finally been restored and the main streets cleaned as before, Xiao Du led all the officers and soldiers of the Xiao Family Army in a memorial ceremony before the city tower. It rained heavily again that day. The sky was so dark it turned purple, with countless needle-like rain lines descending from the ink-blue clouds. Wild winds swept water droplets everywhere with howling sounds, as if weeping and mourning for these loyal souls.
Xiao Du wore white plain clothes with black armor, walking step by step up the altar built before the city tower. Yellow banners fluttered high above – jade shattered, brocade turned to ash, souls that would not return.
With each step Xiao Du took, his face showed more tragic solemnity. Finally he stopped at the highest point of the altar, looking at the black lacquered coffin placed before him. He reached out to stroke the deep and shallow patterns on the coffin. Two streams of hot tears fell along with the rainwater, then he closed his eyes and said softly: “Wenqian, we’ve come to see you off.”
On the long street beside the city tower stood crowds of common people who had come voluntarily to attend the memorial service. They held umbrellas and stood silently in the rain, together with all the officers and soldiers of the Xiao Family Army, seeing off those departed heroic spirits. They remembered the scholar lying in the coffin, how he had charged into the city with a handful of death-defying soldiers with solitary courage, rescuing civilians from under the iron hooves of the Black Cavalry, and how he had led his troops to hold out until the last moment, protecting the safety of Pingdu Pass and even the entire Central Plains. He and countless unnamed soldiers had used their lives to guard this pass city. Today had finally come the moment to see them off.
Xiao Du stood supporting the coffin for a long time before slowly raising his hand. Following his signal, funeral music began to play from the military formation. Xiao Du took out a memorial text and began reading it aloud in the cold rain. The heavy funeral words, accompanied by the fierce sounds of wind and rain, drifted away with the funeral music, as if heaven and earth mourned together and the sun and moon grew dim. At some point, people in the crowd began to weep softly, and then the crying grew louder, causing the Xiao Family Army soldiers to also bow their heads and weep bitterly. They thought of their dead relatives, of brothers who had once fought alongside them. The wheat in their hometowns might already be ripe, but those warriors on distant campaigns would never return.
After Xiao Du finished reading the memorial text, hearing the sobbing sounds around him, he too was overcome with grief and coughed violently several times. He turned around and looked at the crowd below the city tower, their faces written with pain and anger. His chest surged with hot currents as he drew the saber from his waist and raised it high, using all his strength to declare loudly: “Today Xiao Du swears here that as long as I live, I will never let foreign tribes set foot in the Central Plains again, never let our compatriots suffer from war again, never let this land be devastated again!” His eyes were red, but his face gleamed with an unusual light. Then with a flash of blade light, he cut off a section of his black hair and scattered it beneath the altar, declaring his determination to fulfill this oath. All the people and soldiers present were shocked by this scene. Many knelt in the rain, shouting and calling out loudly. Someone started it, and the Xiao Family Army began singing a military song:
United as one, we can shake the mountains; Only loyalty and righteousness reach the stars; Our commander loves us better than parents; Violate military law and lose all freedom; Orders are clear, rewards and punishments trusted; Into fire and water, dare we hesitate? Above serve the Son of Heaven, below save the people, Kill all barbarian bandits and seek a noble title!
The stirring song shook the heavens, echoing inside and outside Pingdu Pass. When the song ended, almost everyone was in tears. A deputy general walked behind Xiao Du and offered him sacrificial wine. Xiao Du suppressed the turmoil in his heart, raised the wine cup high, and poured it three times before the coffin, silently saying in his heart: Farewell, Wenqian. Farewell, all brothers who fought for Great Mu.
After the memorial ceremony, Xiao Du personally escorted the coffin to bury Luo Yuan’s body beside the mountain, where many soldiers who had sacrificed their lives in this battle were already buried. Then he and the people together erected a stone monument. Xiao Du drew his saber and personally carved the words “Monument of Loyalty and Righteousness” on the stone, then stared straight at these characters with a guilty expression on his face. Finally, a deputy general stepped forward and urged: “My lord, please return first. The rain is so heavy – your health is important.” Xiao Du waved his hand and said bitterly: “Let me stay with them a while longer.” Then he stood silently before the monument with everyone else for a long time before finally being escorted back to the Prefecture Governor’s mansion by his personal guards.
Yuanxi had stayed in her room all day and did not attend the memorial ceremony. For the first time, she felt herself so cowardly that no matter how hard she tried, she could not calmly face Little Master’s departure. So she chose to escape. Some things need only be kept in the heart – she believed he would surely understand.
Xiao Du changed clothes and entered, seeing Yuanxi sitting at the desk, very seriously writing something. Yuanxi turned to see Xiao Du, something flashed in her eyes, but she didn’t ask anything. Xiao Du also didn’t want to touch the pain in her heart, walking behind her and asking gently: “What are you writing?”
Yuanxi didn’t answer, only put down her brush and gently embraced his waist, saying: “A’Du, that child’s relatives are all dead. I’ve been thinking for several days – how about we adopt him?”
Xiao Du knew she was talking about the boy Zhuzi whom Luo Yuan had saved, so he stroked the top of her head and nodded: “You decide.” Yuanxi finally showed her first smile in days. She sat down and opened the book before her, and only then did Xiao Du discover it was filled with many annotations and insights, densely covered with Yuanxi’s handwriting. At that moment he suddenly understood, his throat seeming choked by something: “You want to…”
Yuanxi nodded, gently touching the pages in her hands: “I left the capital too hastily and couldn’t bring the books Little Master gave me. I’ve always felt guilty – those should have been the last things he could leave behind. Later I thought, since those books are gone, I might as well continue writing for him. When that child grows up, we’ll give him these books. He’ll know what a warm and special person the one who risked his life to save him was.”
Xiao Du’s eyes grew warm again as he held her in his arms, saying gently: “Good, I’ll accompany you.”
Yuanxi rested her head against his chest, her voice low and trembling: “A’Du, he really won’t come back, will he?”
Xiao Du gently pressed her head, struggling to suppress the grief in his heart: Yes, we’ll never see him again – that eternally noble gentleman with his clear breeze and bright moon spirit, that eternally burning innocent heart.
By early winter, the Great Mu army and Black Cavalry had fought multiple battles across the ridges. Xiao Du led the high-spirited Xiao Family Army like a steel blade thrusting straight into enemy ranks, forcing the Black Cavalry to hide in the mountains repeatedly. The two leaders were also devastated and never again launched effective counterattacks. But with the grain depot in Pingdu Pass burned and supplies from the capital arriving ever more slowly, the Xiao Family Army had to begin reducing their three daily meals to cope with the approaching harsh winter. Seeing this, the people brought out their meager food to help the Xiao Family Army through the crisis.
This day when Xiao Du returned from the battlefield, he heard children’s playful voices from afar and discovered Yuanxi playing with slingshots with Zhuzi at the door. For the first time he saw this child, who had always hidden himself in darkness in a daze, finally able to smile brilliantly in the sunlight. Like a devastated seedling finally able to break through the earth and be reborn, Xiao Du felt the gloom in his heart lighten considerably, so he walked over with a smile. As soon as Yuanxi saw him return, she forgot there were others present and joyfully threw herself into his arms, while the maidservant beside them tactfully took Zhuzi elsewhere to play.
After the couple had embraced warmly for a while, they walked hand in hand into the house. Yuanxi handed Xiao Du a cloth towel to wash his face, then asked with some worry: “Is there not enough grain in the city? Do you think it might…”
Xiao Du knew what she feared – whether the tragedy of Pingdu Pass from years ago would repeat itself. This was also an shadow he couldn’t shake from his heart. He gripped her soft hands and said slowly: “Xi’er, I’ve been thinking about something lately.”
Seeing Yuanxi look up at him inquiringly, Xiao Du’s gaze gradually grew profound: “These days, I often think of a conversation with Wenqian. He asked me what I planned to do next if we won this war.” Mentioning that person, he couldn’t help but sigh softly again. “I still remember him saying to me that although Great Mu now has foreign enemies coveting it, the ruler is wise and beloved by the people. The people of the Central Plains live in prosperity and peace – this is a rare golden age. He asked me if I really had the heart to break this peace.”
Yuanxi’s heart sank, instantly understanding his meaning. In the current war situation, driving the Black Cavalry back to the grasslands was only a matter of time. The next step they would face would be confrontation with the imperial city. Xiao Du’s identity and military power would forever be a thorn in the emperor’s heart. If he gave up his military power, he would no longer have any ability to resist, equivalent to placing his life in the emperor’s hands. But if he really led troops to attack the imperial city, he would disturb the peace of the realm and plunge the people into warfare again. This was an unsolvable deadlock, and now the time had come when a choice had to be made.
Xiao Du gripped her hands tighter and continued: “Xi’er, the fall of Pingdu Pass and Wenqian’s death have made me understand many things. If there hadn’t been mutual suspicion and wariness between him and me, how could those barbarian tribes have taken advantage to invade, even scheme and provoke, to kill their way into Pingdu Pass? The warriors of Pingdu Pass shouldn’t have died, and Wenqian shouldn’t have died either. The more I think about it these days, the more regretful I feel. If Great Mu could be united from top to bottom, no matter how many foreign tribes surround us, there would be nothing to fear.”
Yuanxi listened quietly to him finish, her heart stirring with understanding. She raised her head and looked at him with sparkling eyes: “I’ve said before – whatever you want to do, I will support you.”
Xiao Du smiled with relief and continued: “Do you remember what you said: ‘The great trends of the realm are nothing more than two words – the people’s hearts. Where the people’s hearts turn is the foundation of the kingdom.’ I once swore a solemn oath before the people of Pingdu Pass, so I don’t want to choose a path that would bring suffering to living beings. I believe Wenqian wouldn’t want to see that either.”
“But…” Yuanxi showed a worried expression. “Does that person think the same way?”
Xiao Du shook his head: “I don’t know, but I want to take a gamble. Tomorrow, I want to send him something…”