My lord, do not cross the river. My lord, you have crossed the river.
This chaotic age is a river of blood and tears, raging to the heavens.
My name is He Feng.
To the people of the world, he is Marshal He. To me, he is simply Father.
He raised me amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood, taught me to read and write, and taught me how a bullet should pierce a skull.
He built me a gilded cage and treated me as his private possession, something that must never be sullied by the world's filth.
I once thought that I would spend my whole life either dying in his captivity or being consumed by the flames of patricide.
Until foreign invaders trampled our land to pieces,
I saw him turn away from me and face the monstrous waves.
He said, "I'll do the dirty work. You take the clean path."
Only then did I realize that though I hated and feared him, I was even more afraid that the world might one day be without him.
Cross the river, cross the river!
The river is one of national and familial vengeance, and of a forbidden, passionate love.
The bugle sounds from the crossing. Together we fall, and together we cross the river.
Ruthless, iron-blooded warlord He Shiqiu x He Feng, a young man returning from abroad and coming into his own
Older man, first-person narration (He Feng), a Republic-era setting with fictionalized history, an attempt to write about saving the nation from ruin
The previous version, posted elsewhere, was taken down. I'm trying to rewrite and repost it.
Theme: Even in a chaotic age, true love can be found.
