Chapter 157: There's No Greater Sorrow Than A Recent Parting.

Chapter 157: There's No Greater Sorrow Than A Recent Parting. 1

"General Yang! We've captured a suspect!"

The soldiers of the Eastern Wu Kingdom, who were searching the first caves, suddenly came back in a hurry to report. Once Yang Liye heard this, he snorted: "Only one person?"

"Answering to the General, yes."

Yang Liye rubbed his chin and replied: "Bring that man over here first, and then send someone to search the surrounding area carefully."

After receiving their orders, the soldiers hurriedly got up to comply. After a while, they brought back a man, whose hands were tightly tied. One of the soldiers kicked the man's knee, making him fall down and kneel.

Yang Liye dismounted, bent down and reached out to pinch the man's chin; raising his head and twisting it from left to right. After looking at his face with the help of the firelight, Yang Liye hissed meaningfully: "You don't look like a soldier, with such thin skin and tender flesh. Tell me, who are you?"

Xiao YuAn pretended to be afraid, and while lowering his head, he trembled like a leaf: "Answering to Daren2, I'm from a nearby village. I don't know what I have done that offended Daren. Please spare my life!"

Yang Liye retracted his hand and stood up straight. He then paced back and forth around Xiao YuAn: "Oh, a villager. As far as I know, all the nearby villages have been emptied because of the war. Young brother3, you said that you're a mere villager, but what are you doing walking around this battlefield at night? Hmm?"

Xiao YuAn, with his head still lowered, replied: "Daren, I wanted to take refuge in the Western Shu Kingdom, so I just happened to pass by here. I didn't expect to cause such a big misunderstanding!"

Yang Liye paused and nodded his head approvingly: "Yes, that's reasonable. But, why didn't you bring your relatives with you?"

Xiao YuAn replied: "Daren, I'm on my own. One person eats and the whole family doesn't have to worry4."

"Alright, alright." Yang Liye waved his hand: "In that case, let's have a good time. Where's my sword?"

Xiao YuAn lowered his head even more: "Have a good time? What does Daren mean by this?"

Yan Liye smiled and nodded his head: "Young brother, don't worry. I can kill you with one single slash, you won't feel any pain."

A Deputy General beside Yang Liye came over with his sword and asked him: "General Yang, what if this man is really just a villager?"

"What if he's a villager? I'd rather kill a thousand by mistake than let a suspect go!" Yang Liye said with disdain on his face, as his smile turned terrifying. His words were extremely poisonous, and his tone was very vicious. Once he grabbed the sword, he suddenly heard someone yelling 'Report!' coming from the other side.

"Reporting to the General. We didn't find any other abnormalities around there!"

The soldier, who had just knelt down with one knee, finished his report when he was suddenly kicked by Yang Liye, who had a fierce look on his face. Yang Liye then started to curse out loud: "Did you all hear the commotion this man made and you decided to go after him?"

The soldier was confused by the sudden kick, and even though he answered in time, his voice trembled: "A-an-answering to the General, we thought he was... he was an enemy from the Southern Yan Kingdom, so..."

"Oh?" Yang Liye turned back and walked towards Xiao YuAn. He then took a deep breath, squatted in front of Xiao YuAn, and again changed his expression into a smiling face: "Young brother, you are a villager, right?"

"Answering to Daren, yes...." Xiao YuAn couldn't finish his sentence when his eyes suddenly narrowed.

Yang Liye had raised his sword with one hand and mercilessly stabbed him in one leg. Xiao YuAn violently bowed and fiercely bit his lips, to the point of almost making his lips bleed; but in the end, the pain he felt from his lips couldn't relieve the pain coming from his leg.

"You went away from home, all alone, but you don't have any luggage with you. Are you really a refugee?" Yang Liye's tone was relaxed, and his words were also kind of lighthearted, as if he wasn't the one holding a sword still stained with blood.

Xiao YuAn gasped several breaths before he could slightly recover: "Daren, I'm really-..."

Yang Liye didn't even hesitate when he slashed Xiao YuAn's leg once again. The cut was so deep, that the bone near his knee was vaguely exposed.

A painful scream finally overflowed from Xiao YuAn's throat, unable to suppress it anymore. He then gritted his teeth with such force, that he was covered in sweat. He was in so much pain, that he could no longer say a complete word.

Xiao YuAn suddenly was amused. After all his efforts, he thought that he had finally escaped the fate of ending up being tortured to death. However, he didn't expect to end up buried here. In the end, the Heavens are so merciless, they just like to play with people.

When Yang Liye pulled the sword out of Xiao YuAn's wound, the blood splashed and splattered all over him, but Yang Liye didn't care to wipe the side of his face. When the sword dropped down again, Xiao YuAn's hands were free, and the rope that bound his hands fell to the ground.

Yang Liye stood up, and he slowly wiped the blood off the blade with his fingers. "Young brother, I've untied you, so why don't you show me the way? I can see that you're a smart man. You should know which way I'm talking about."

The pain in his leg was piercing, as Xiao YuAn pinched on his wound, and breathed heavily. He then dry swallowed a mouthful of air, and didn't make a sound.

Yang Liye wasn't in a hurry, and as he wiped off the blood from his hand with his sleeve, he began to count slowly.

"5, 4, 3...."

Yang Liye was unhurriedly counting down the numbers, purposely dragging the words intonation to 'make' the countdown seem longer. However, it didn't matter how much he dragged saying the numbers, they were only 5, so it was obvious he would finish counting immediately.

At this, Xiao YuAn finally moved. He took a quick breath, as if he was struggling inside his heart, and finally raised his hand; hesitantly and slowly pointing in a direction.

When Yang Liye looked towards the direction that finger was pointing at, under the vast starry sky, at a road far away, Yang Liye nodded with satisfaction. He then kicked Xiao YuAn, pulled out the dagger hanging on his waist, and pinned Xiao YuAn's hand to the ground, the one that had just pointed a direction!

The dagger pierced through Xiao YuAn's palm, and plunged into the earth. The blood and the painful screams penetrated into the soil together, as Xiao YuAn unconsciously grabbed his wrist with his uninjured hand, and slightly curled his body, due to the pain he was feeling.

"Young brother, please show me the way once more. You should understand the consequences of pointing the wrong way, am I correct? If you point the wrong way, then what I'll do next won't be as simple as cutting out your flesh and stabbing your hand. So, you must show me the right path, and grasp your last chance." Yang Liye played with the dagger in his hand and said slowly, as if he was talking to Xiao YuAn about his family matters.

Xiao YuAn put his head against the ground. The rough sand and small stones were hurting his forehead, but he kept it that way, as if that other pain could relieve the pain coming from his palm and leg. In the end, he didn't dare to make a big move; because if he moved even for a little bit, then the dagger pinned to the ground piercing his palm would cut his hand even more, and the pain that would follow that action would also increase drastically.

Yang Liye expressionlessly looked at the trembling man on the ground. As he stared at him, Xiao YuAn slowly raised his hand again, and pointed in the same direction he pointed a few moments ago.

Certainly, there was no doubt.

Xiao YuAn's voice was shaking, as if he was crying, and said: "I really don't want to die. There's someone that I want to see more than anything. I want to see him again."

Yang Liye stared at him without saying a word. After thinking for a while, he turned around, mounted his horse, and led his soldiers towards the direction Xiao YuAn had just pointed at.

At that moment, no one knew that the end of the direction pointed by Xiao YuAn, was actually a cliff with no road at all.

And, in the opposite direction, Chen Ge was running as fast as he could with Yan HeQing on his back.

Xiao YuAn half hugged himself with his uninjured hand, as he kept murmuring to himself: "I really.... really.... really want to... see him again."

His thin words gradually dissipated in the cold night air, wasted under the three thousand floating worlds5.

More often than not, the words you say might not match your actions, and sometimes, you might even talk insincerely6.

I'm back ✨✨

Ahhhh that general is so 🤬🤬🤬🤬 how dare you treat my bby boi like that 😭💔

And XYA is so concerned, trying his best to open an opportunity for CG to run with YHQ towards a safe place 😭 and he's missing YHQ so much! It hurts!!o(iДi)o

Footnotes

悲莫悲兮生别离 bēi mò bēi xī shēng bié lí; Part of the poem(jiǔ gē·shǎo sī mìng) "Nine Songs: Shao Siming", by (屈原 qū yuán) Qu Yuan [340-278 BC], from the Warring States Period [475-221 BC]. Shao Siming is a Goddess in charge of human offspring, and this poem is a sacrificial song to the Goddess. "There's no greater sorrow than parting ways forever" is the chant of the Goddess. When she came to the sacrificial hall, and was about to leave, she was overwhelmed with emotions, feeling that the pain of separation was greater than death. Because the sorrow of death could be diluted by time, while the endless longing caused by the heavenly separation is particularly tormenting to her heart. 大人 dà ren;; Adult / Title of respect toward superiors. 小兄弟 xiǎo xiōng dì; Endearing address to a young male. 一人吃饱全家不愁 yī rén chī bǎo quán jiā bù chóu; A Chinese proverb. It refers to a person who is single; and without other family members to provide for, the person being full is the same as the family being full. 三千浮世 sān qiān fú shì; It's a combination between (三千世界 sān qiān shì jiè) "Three thousand worlds" and (浮世 fú shì) "Floating world". The 'three thousand worlds' is a combination of small, medium and big worlds, which refers to the universe in general. As for 'Floating world', in ancient times, it was thought that the human world was unpredictable, filled with ups and downs in life; and it often refers to a life of prosperity and debauchery, but also filled with emptiness, like life in a dream. The 'three thousand floating worlds' can be interpreted as the ethereal (缥缈 piǎo miǎo; It generally refers to things that are exceptionally rare and out of reach, things that don't exist in reality) worlds, in which empty illusions can cover up the loneliness. 言不由衷 yán bù yóu zhōng; It's a Chinese idiom, it means that the words you say aren't said with sincerity, which means that what your heart feels and what your mouth says aren't in agreement / Saying one thing but meaning something completely different / Not saying what you think in your mind. From(zuǒ zhuàn·yǐn gōng sān nián) "Zuo Zhuan: The Third Year of Duke Yin".