I did not expect this variation of the offset play.
Wang
You had a chance, if you did not continue to cede ground in the center around the hundredth move, hoping for a draw.
Shuo
I did not have a clear view of the developments to come, so I picked the safe move. I see I was mistaken.
Shuo
Haha. I thought my weiqi skills had improved, but it looks like I'm still far beneath you.
Shuo
In this last battle, we were only able to avoid heavy casualties thanks to your strategy of conserving our strength and luring the enemy deep in.
Shuo
This return to the capital is an opportunity for you to rest. But I expect it will be a long time until our next meeting.
Wang
You don't seem concerned with victory or defeat.
Shuo
Why obsess over such things in a meeting between brothers?
Wang
Not just weiqi. It seems that nothing ever concerns you; you are always content to act the part of the kind benefactor.
Shuo
I don't know why you'd say that...
Wang
The new Right Assistant Minister of the Ministry of War, together with officials from the Ministry of Rites, accused you in a petition to the throne two months ago.
Wang
Commanding troops to act without authorization. A serious crime.
Shuo
...
Shuo
How do you know the imperial court's business, when you've been with me on the front lines for the past six months?
Wang
I have my ways. You should worry about yourself.
Shuo
If he meant our late return to camp, it was because we had to stop and wait for a Catastrophe to pass.
Shuo
General Yang knew. The Ministry of War hardly has a case.
Wang
Oh, you don't need to worry about that.
Wang
The Assistant Minister was found to have accepted bribes and embezzled supplies... he is in prison now, awaiting trial.
Wang
He won't spread rumors any longer for now. As for whether he makes it out of prison alive... only Heaven knows.
Shuo
...
Shuo
You promised to stop meddling in the affairs of the court.
Wang
I would hardly call it meddling. Simply helping Yan rid itself of a corrupt official.
Shuo
You know your own intentions...
Shuo
You see the entire court as a game of weiqi, with human lives for stones?
Wang
Has your lust for honesty and righteousness blinded you to the evil and malice lurking in the hearts of people?
Wang
No sooner had that man taken office than he started to target you. Do you really think there is no one behind the curtain? Do you really believe we have only one enemy?
Wang
Go easy on this one, and we set ourselves up for more trouble to come.
Shuo
...
Wang
Strange things have been happening since the birth of our youngest brother.
Wang
FΔng's patient committed suicide after getting better.
Wang
Someone has been producing 'satirical' works of falsehood in Dusk's name, imitating her touch.
Wang
Thieves have stolen treasures from Yi's garden. A long and thorough investigation by the Judicial Review Office turned up nothing more than a gang of fools.
Wang
And then, your matter.
Shuo
...
Wang
We all know... It is not dead.
Wang
The people here have never forgotten Its terror. That is why they watch our every move, every meeting.
Wang
Do you still think your little achievements will force them to see us as anything more than alien entities, enemies to be feared?
Shuo
Are FΔng and Dusk alright?
Wang
FΔng was depressed for a while. Dusk has always been how she is. But I don't suppose either would worry too much about it.
Wang
But what about the future?
Shuo
You think someone is pulling the strings behind the scenes?
Shuo
The Shanhaizhong, or someone else with ulterior motives?
Wang
That's what I truly fear.
Wang
If a single mastermind is behind all of this...
Wang
I cannot determine who it might be, nor do I have any inkling of their intentions.
Shuo
I will confirm all that you've said with the Sui Regulator.
Shuo
...I know you have good intentions.
Shuo
But don't overstep the boundaries like this again.
Wang
Since when have we been worried for one another?
Wang
I simply didn't want to fall into a trap without knowing who dug it.
O-Of course not. Just busy with the beastmeat. Give me some time.
Jie
Sure... I have many books to copy. Take your time.
Yu
Liang... I feel like I should ask Yi, but he's not here...
Yu
'Heng Liang'βcrossbeam. 'Fang Liang'βroof beam. 'Dong Liang'βpillar. I know! 'Dong Liang Zhi Cai,' pillar of society!
Yu
Wait, it has to start with Liang...
Yu
(Say, she has so many bamboo slips with words on them sitting next to her. Maybe if I took a peek...)
Jie
What is it?
Yu
βN-Nothing.
Yu
Why are you copying the words from the slips onto these... squares?
Jie
It's called 'paper'. A new invention.
Jie
It's lighter and easier to write on than bamboo. It also doesn't deteriorate easily, which makes it easy to preserve.
Yu
You can preserve something forever, if you write it on paper?
Jie
Yes and no.
Jie
Bamboo slips may last for decades, paper for centuries.
Jie
Be it bamboo or paper, however, there ultimately comes a day when it perishes.
Jie
No matter what we use to record something, it will only endure forever if people truly commit it to memory.
Jie
Just like how people remember your cooking when they taste it.
Yu
Hm...
He listens, but it is unclear if he understands. He scratches his head beside the stockbeast that he has just butchered, but he cannot come up with an idiom that starts with 'Liang'.
Suddenly, a small piece of bamboo falls in front of him, and he sees the words on it.
Yu
'Liang Shang Jun Zi'βman on the roof beam!
Jie
Not bad. 'Zi', eh? Let me think... 'Zi Xuβ'
Yu
Let's stop here. This word chain game is so hard. Why don't you play it with Ling and Dusk the next time they're here, and I'll watch from the sidelines.
Yu
Are you hungry? Do you want me to cook the meat?
Jie
Sure.
Yu
Can I have the bamboo slips, if you don't need them anymore?
So, unsettling things have been happening without my knowledge.
Wang
You don't look worried at all.
Jie
I'm worried... and I'm just surprised that you show so much concern for your siblings, brother.
Wang
Siblings in the sense that we were born from the same fragmented consciousness. Not true blood relations.
Wang
We each have our own interests and ambitions. Our fates are none of each other's concern... we walk different paths.
Jie
Do you truly think so?
Wang
...
Jie
My views are different.
Jie
See, it's been centuries since we came to the mortal world. Even if we are not truly part of it, most of the scenes and people that we see are lovely.
Jie
But the people we meet seem to become smoke in the wind in the blink of an eye.
Jie
In the end, it is only 'us' who remain, and it's only in each other that we can truly speak our hearts.
Jie
We may have differences and we may have conflicts, but we could never cut each other off completely... isn't that very much like human siblings?
Wang
I have no intention of arguing, if this is how you think.
Jie
*sigh*... I don't know why you always seem so aloof. We don't see each other very often. Are you not happy at all?
Jie
I wonder if you'd regret it, if one of us suddenly disappeared forever.
Wang
...
Jie
Speaking of which, I encountered something strange recently.
Jie
One night, I was about to go to bed when I heard a sound from the study.
Jie
From the garden, I saw through the window the silhouette of someone bending over the desk, writing something.
Jie
I hurried into the study to find no one, only the Jijiuzhang that I had been transcribing the past few days lying on the desk, with scribblings all over it...
Jie takes a scroll from the desk.
One word is written over every neatly written character on the page.
Sui
Wang
β!
Jie
Who do you think could have done it?
Wang
There is only one possibility.
Wang
It is awakening, and It is attempting to interfere with us in some way.
Wang
We thought Its consciousness had completely faded after Yu's birth.
Wang
But It is alive... still sleeping, but the stuff of our nightmares.
Wang
If It does wake, we will become Its fleeting dream...
Jie
What do you have in mind?
Wang
I don't know yet. But I'll think of a way...
Jie
I have an idea, if you'd care to listen.
Jie
I only recently thought about it... when I compiled the histories with the people of Yan, there were inevitably some mistakes, no matter how careful we were.
Jie
Unlike ordinary writing, it takes great effort to correct mistakes written in the histories.
Jie picks up a writing knife from the desk, used to scrape bamboo slips, then picks up a scroll, and gently scrapes the paper.
The ink that has seeped into the paper, even smearing the next page slightly, disappears without a trace when the writing knife touches it. The paper is blank, as though nothing has ever been written on it.
Wang
This knife...
Jie
I think my influence has changed it.
Jie
I have a faint feeling that the words it scrapes awayβa history, or at least... a nameβdon't just disappear from the paper; they disappear from people's hearts and minds.
Jie
Perhaps there will come a day when we use it to scrape the word 'Sui' from all the texts of this world.
Wang
You can... do that?
Jie
Not yet. Right now, it's only a writing knife, albeit an unusual one.
Jie
But I can feel it. The more words written, the heavier my knife and pen become.
Jie
Perhaps we're all the same. We discovered the answer to who we are in that primordial void, then we understood the meaning of our existence in the mortal realm. This is what proves we are different from It.
Jie
Perhaps there will come a day when our strength exceeds Its. Then, we can truly break free of Its influence, and live as 'ourselves'.
Jie
As long as we don't forget who we are, of course.
Wang
...
Jie
What are you thinking on, brother?
Wang
Don't worry about it.
Jie
*sigh*... Sometimes I feel like you and I are the least compatible, amongst our siblings.
Jie
Plots and plans are things to be kept inside one's heart, but words and language are for expressing what lies in one's heart.
Jie
But sometimes I feel like you hide nothing from me, that I can see all that you think.
Wang
I...
Jie
Interesting, isn't it? We both found what we wanted to devote ourselves to, only to have it reshape our personalities in return.
Jie
Shu always says I'm obsessed with the past. And I remember the deathly white that she talked about, which lies at the end of the future.
Jie
She was right. One cannot pretend to be carefree, when there are things that one cannot let go of.
Jie
I know you're worried about the unknowable future... victory and defeat are what you're most obsessed about, but it would be such a miserable existence, if there was nothing but victory and defeat.
Jie
Besides that, what is it you care about the most?
Wang
I do not obsess about victory and defeat. I simply...
Wang
I simply do not like to accept that a game could not be won.
Jie
Hm...
Jie
By the way, are you reporting to the Sui Regulator tomorrow? Could you take these copied books with you? They'll need to review them before they can be archived in the Sky Mirror Pavilion.
Wang
Very well.
Jie
And take another look at the re-copied Jijiuzhang for me. Bring the writing knife too, so you can correct any mistakes.
Wang
Anything you've written hardly needs me to check it.
Jie
Consider it an activity to pass the time.
Jie
You spend so much time devising military strategies, thinking of victory and defeat. A distraction would do you good.
Jie
And perhaps, you might find what you're looking for in the text.
