In the fifteenth year of Chengping, a quiet boy arrived at the Imperial College.
Xiao Zeyi found him interesting and chased after him every day, calling him "little liar." He brought him osmanthus cakes and tricked him into eating sour-to-the-point-of-making-your-teeth-hurt candied hawthorns. On a lantern during the Lantern Festival, he wrote, "May Xiao Zeyi return safely, and may Xie Linyuan live a hundred years."
Later, he went off to war, and Xie Linyuan waited for him for four hundred and sixty-two days.
Later still, they met again at court. One stood among the military officials, the other among the civil officials. Half a great hall lay between them, along with the game of strategy the emperor had personally set in motion.
From then on, Commandant Xiao and Censor Xie argued every day. All the court officials thought they were mortal enemies.
But no one knew how many times Xiao Zeyi had secretly looked at Xie Linyuan.
And no one knew that Xie Linyuan had spent year after year writing memorials impeaching him, every word soaked in blood and tears, yet none of them sincere.
"Life's roads run north and south, with many a fork. You head for Xiaoxiang, while I go to Qin."
- But, A Yuan, I only ever wanted to walk the same road as you.
Theme: Looking back, the past comes rushing in. We cannot cast it off or return to it. Back then, we thought it was all so ordinary.
