After Gui Yuanshu walked out of Li Shang’s manor gates, he couldn’t help but let out a long, heavy breath. He had known he couldn’t persuade him — he had only wanted to try.

From the very beginning, his plan had been to take the man by force, not to talk him into leaving.

Some people’s convictions cannot be shaken. Li Shang wanted to be both a powerful minister and a loyal one — no one could sway him, not even if it had been Yuchi Guangming standing there offering counsel instead of Gui Yuanshu. His answer would have been exactly the same.

After walking a short distance, Gui Yuanshu stepped into the carriage that had been waiting for him at the corner of the road.

Inside the carriage, Huang Wei’an glanced at him, then smiled and asked, “Couldn’t talk him around?”

Gui Yuanshu made a sound of acknowledgment.

Huang Wei’an smiled and shook his head. “You know what he’s like — I told you not to come, and yet here you were.”

Gui Yuanshu said, “Elder Brother wanted me to try.”

Huang Wei’an was quiet for a moment, then spoke. “Tomorrow morning, first thing, I’ll arrange for you to leave. I do have a little authority these days, haha… You should head back as soon as you can.”

Gui Yuanshu said nothing.

Huang Wei’an said, “I know you didn’t come here just to persuade us to side with Prince Ning together. There must be something else you’re after.”

He glanced at Gui Yuanshu. “If I’m not mistaken, you were probably thinking about buying off someone — trying to get the court’s troops and Li Xionghu’s forces to fight each other, so Prince Ning could profit from the chaos.”

Gui Yuanshu still said nothing.

Huang Wei’an gave a bitter smile. “If that really is what you were thinking, then you can turn around and go home. This court… there’s no need for you to come here and stab anyone in the back.”

He let out a long breath, lowered his head, and murmured as if to himself, “Right now, it looks like more than half the court has been replaced, and the atmosphere has shifted somewhat — but in truth, nothing has changed. Every single person is playing both sides, pledging loyalty to Dachu with one hand while planning with the other how to avoid being cast aside when a new master enters the city.”

He kept his head lowered — he didn’t want Gui Yuanshu to see the grief on his face.

“Everyone is already stabbing Dachu in the back. The court is riddled with holes. Believe me — even if you did nothing at all, there are plenty of people ready to tip off Yang Xuanji, ready to push the court’s armies into decisive battle sooner so that Yang Xuanji can win in the end.”

He sighed again.

“This court, this Dachu, this world under heaven…”

Huang Wei’an raised his head. “You know how it ends. So do I. So does Elder Brother. Li Shang knows it too. Everyone knows.”

Gui Yuanshu said, “Come with me. Elder Brother is waiting for you.”

“You and Elder Brother can look out for each other over there.”

Huang Wei’an still smiled. Of the four of them, he had always been the one who smiled the most — it seemed like he never carried anything on his heart.

He smiled and said, “If I leave with you, who stays with him?”

He knew Gui Yuanshu would understand. *We’re brothers. I can’t let him stay here all alone.*

Huang Wei’an raised his hand and gave Gui Yuanshu’s shoulder a pat. “Brother, we still share the same goal, the same ideal — we’ve simply taken different roads.”

Gui Yuanshu looked out through the carriage window. It seemed as though he could see someone standing at the gates of Li Shang’s manor — the night was deep and the figure was unclear, but he knew who it was.

Li Shang stood there for a long while. After the carriage disappeared from sight, he raised his hand and gave a small wave.

*May you all be well. Every last one of you — take care of yourselves.*

—

Back at the inn, Gui Yuanshu’s mind kept turning over everything Huang Wei’an had said.

*There’s no need for you to come to Daxing and stab anyone — the people here are all just waiting for their chance to plunge the knife into Dachu themselves.*

*There’s no need to remind us that Dachu doesn’t have much time left — everyone here already knows what it means to be barely hanging on.*

Huang Wei’an had said… but even so, of all the people in this world, someone always has to do the things that others won’t. That’s how people give their lives different kinds of meaning.

Huang Wei’an had also said: back when Prince Wu recommended you for office and the Emperor only gave you the post of Tingwei, we were all worried for you. If we seemed distant from you in those days, it was deliberate.

He had said — Elder Brother had said — we couldn’t stand in the way of Gui Yuanshu’s path in the court, even if that Tingwei post was nothing more than a scrap of favor thrown his way by the Emperor.

He had said that Li Shang held him back at the time, kept him from pressing too hard. Li Shang had said — *Gui Yuanshu is purer than any of the three of us. His heart is the cleanest of all. If he believes it’s hope, then let him keep believing.*

Hearing these words, Gui Yuanshu did not know how to respond.

Li Shang had also said at the time — there were plenty of people in the court who were just waiting to push Gui Yuanshu down.

Although the Tingwei position had been little more than a ceremonial title back then, with no real power — hardly any real purpose to speak of —

The men who held power at that time would never have allowed anyone to infiltrate their ranks.

If the brothers had agreed to join Gui Yuanshu and taken posts together at the Tingwei office, those men would have exploited that. They would have accused Gui Yuanshu of abusing his position and forming a clique for private gain. It would only have taken one label — and given Gui Yuanshu’s standing and influence at the time, he couldn’t have withstood it.

He had also said: Do you think the Emperor would have made enemies of the entire court for Gui Yuanshu’s sake? He wouldn’t — not for Gui Yuanshu, not for you, not for me. He never would.

Li Shang had further said: the only way to keep Gui Yuanshu’s heart clean and pure — the only way to keep him from having crimes pinned on his name — was for the three of us to make his heart go cold toward us.

When he heard this, Gui Yuanshu finally couldn’t hold back and asked: then why did you three all end up entering the court as officials afterward?

Huang Wei’an had answered: first, there was still the oath we swore when we were young. Second — the Emperor had killed many men, moved against many men, and we thought perhaps the Emperor truly did want to change things.

He looked at Gui Yuanshu. “And third — the most important reason — Elder Brother wanted to find out what really happened to you. You need power in your hands before you can avenge someone… None of us expected that it would turn out to be the Emperor himself.”

Gui Yuanshu thought back to that chance encounter with Elder Brother Yuchi Guangming in the county town — how Yuchi Guangming had struck him twice across the face and spoken those words about *a subject must die if the ruler commands it*. That had only been spoken out of anger.

Elder Brother had been furious at him. *You didn’t die — why didn’t you send word back? Why didn’t you let us know you were alive?*

Looking back at it all now, what seemed so tangled and complex was actually simple. Elder Brother and the others had simply been angry that he hadn’t told them.

And that, in truth, was not Gui Yuanshu’s fault.

After Gui Yuanshu decided in Qingzhou to follow Li Chi back to Jizhou, Li Chi had promised him that he would have all of Gui Yuanshu’s family and friends brought to Jizhou.

At the time, Gui Yuanshu had given Li Chi a list. The first three names on that list were Yuchi Guangming, Li Shang, and Huang Wei’an.

But when Li Chi sent people to Daxing, those three had already been put to work by the Emperor. The Emperor had also used Gui Yuanshu’s death to orchestrate an elaborate scheme.

Those three — in the course of helping the Emperor purge his enemies — had contributed enormously.

They had wanted to consolidate their positions quickly, to gain real authority quickly — but this gave people the wrong impression entirely.

The Tingwei officer who had been sent to Daxing to bring people back at that time was Fang Xidao, a senior officer of the thousand-man unit. He made a decision — in order to bring more people safely away, he would not make contact with those three.

The three had already risen to high positions. Fang Xidao could not be certain that if he sent men to contact them, those three wouldn’t report back to the court. If they did, not only would Gui Yuanshu’s family and relatives not make it out — even the Tingwei officers themselves wouldn’t escape.

Gui Yuanshu sat by the inn window, silent and motionless as a stone figure.

—

At the same time, inside Li Shang’s manor.

After Huang Wei’an saw Gui Yuanshu back to the inn, he did not return home. Instead, he went back to Li Shang’s residence.

In the study, the two men sat facing each other. Both held a cup of hot tea in their hands. Both had their heads bowed. Steam rose and curled up into both their faces.

“You…”

After a long silence, Li Shang raised his head. “You should have left with Gui Yuanshu.”

Huang Wei’an looked at him, then smiled. “I should have gone, yes — after all, how good it would be to keep living…”

Li Shang lowered his head again. Huang Wei’an lowered his too.

No one could say how much time passed before Li Shang stood up. “I’m hungry. I’ll cook a bowl of noodles.”

Huang Wei’an looked up at him. Li Shang smiled. “No scallions, no egg, no sesame oil.”

Huang Wei’an smiled too.

About two quarters of an hour later, the two men were still sitting face to face, eating their noodles in great mouthfuls — eating until their foreheads gleamed with sweat, eating until they felt completely satisfied.

When they were full, they both leaned back at the exact same angle, and both raised their hands to pat their stomachs at the exact same moment.

“If…”

Li Shang rested the back of his head against the chair, staring up at the ceiling. “If Elder Brother and Gui Yuanshu succeed over there with Prince Ning, then our ideal will have succeeded as well.”

Huang Wei’an made a sound of agreement. “Of course — the five of us brothers swore an oath, didn’t we? Our ideal must be carried forward by someone…”

He looked at Li Shang. “But the one who’s carrying it here, in this place, is you. Not me. Not Elder Brother. Not Gui Yuanshu.”

Li Shang took a deep breath.

“So you should have gone,” he said. “I’m simply someone who can’t take that step. The first character I ever learned to write was ‘Chu.’ I…”

Huang Wei’an said, “Your father taught you that — you’ve said it ten thousand times.”

Li Shang laughed.

Huang Wei’an said, “I’ve never been as certain as you. Perhaps it’s because… what we’re each holding onto isn’t quite the same thing.”

*He only wanted to hold onto the bond between brothers — to be wherever they were.*

He had wanted so desperately to reunite with Elder Brother and Gui Yuanshu. He knew perfectly well that the Emperor didn’t truly trust any of them.

But he was afraid Li Shang would be lonely.

Elder Brother and Gui Yuanshu had each other — they could lean on each other and watch each other’s backs. That was good.

But Li Shang… someone couldn’t just let him face it all alone.

Li Shang said, “I knew Gui Yuanshu would come looking for you first, and I knew you’d tell him: *you can’t move that stubborn one.*”

Huang Wei’an laughed. “You’re wrong about that. What I told Gui Yuanshu was: *you can’t move that obstinate donkey.*”

Li Shang laughed so hard that tears ran down his face — those must have been tears from laughing too hard.

“But you know — this time, he actually didn’t come to you first.”

Li Shang suddenly sat up straight and looked at Huang Wei’an.

Huang Wei’an felt a flicker of puzzlement. He too moved to sit up — and only then noticed, to his surprise, that he felt slightly dizzy.

In a sudden flash of clarity, it all came together — and so he fought with every last bit of his strength to struggle upright. But his hands and feet were growing heavier and more unresponsive by the moment.

“Gui Yuanshu came to me and said: *let’s all go together, brothers — go to Prince Ning’s side together, fulfill our ambitions together. But I’m different.*”

Li Shang rose from his seat, walked to stand before Huang Wei’an, and crouched down to look him in the eye. “The first character I ever learned to write was ‘Chu’… my father taught me. He said: *Son, your father has been a loyal subject his entire life and has never once done anything to betray Dachu. You must remember — be a subject of Chu for the rest of your life.*”

Li Shang reached out both arms and held Huang Wei’an in an embrace. “Brother… I’m sorry. I know you’re staying because you’re afraid I’ll be lonely. But I must be lonely.”

He held on tightly.

Then he stepped back two paces and turned toward the folding screen. “Master Sun, you can take him now.”

Old Sun emerged from behind the screen, took one look at the already-unconscious Huang Wei’an, and couldn’t suppress a sigh.

Li Shang had slipped a sedative into that bowl of noodles. He knew Huang Wei’an would stay behind to die alongside him, because they were brothers.

But precisely because he knew — precisely because they were brothers — when Gui Yuanshu had come to him, Li Shang had said: *I only have one condition. Take Wei’an with you.*

They had staged this entire scene for Huang Wei’an’s sake.

—

Half an hour later.

At the inn, Old Sun lowered Huang Wei’an — whom he’d been carrying over his shoulder — onto the floor, then looked at Gui Yuanshu. “Brought him back.”

Then he saw Gui Yuanshu’s eyes, red and swollen from crying.

Old Sun sat down and looked at Gui Yuanshu. “You four… honestly. Every single one of you wants the others to be the one who lives. Wouldn’t it be better if all four of you lived? Four people is perfect — four people can play mahjong.”

He clapped his hands. A woman in purple clothing came in carrying a sack, which she tossed casually on the ground. Over her shoulder she was carrying a smaller burlap sack.

Old Sun smiled. “So for the sake of your mahjong game, I went ahead and grabbed him too… you lot of brothers, dithering and dragging your feet. I’m blunt, I’ll say it straight — if you’d told me sooner, I’d have already grabbed the damn man for you ages ago. Was all this really necessary…”

The woman in purple said, “Ahem!”

Old Sun said, “Sorry, sorry — I used foul language again.”

The woman in purple said, “First — the foul language was wrong. Second — it’s five people. I grabbed his younger sister as well.”

Old Sun said, “Five people… five people. Four to play mahjong, and one to sit out each round — rotating, naturally. My father taught me that.”

—