A Promise in the Jianghu

In the eighth year of Yongqing, enemy forces invaded. After seven days of battle, blood ran like a sea. The nation's great general Hao Chen ended the decades-long deadlock between the Zhen and Qu kingdoms with a fire-boat stratagem and a southern wind. But on his way home, the emperor issued an order accusing him of having too much power, exterminated his entire clan, and stripped him of his military rank. A few days later, the general himself died suddenly in the streets. The onlookers recognized the famed General Hao Chen from the countless scars and blade marks on his rebellious body alone. When the Son of Heaven grows angry, rivers of blood flow; when commoners grow angry, blood spills five paces, yet the whole land mourns. On the third day after General Hao Chen's death, the emperor's most favored consort, Minghe, leapt from the city tower. The emperor's hair turned white overnight, and the bells of mourning for the kingdom rang twice in a single month.

In the blink of an eye, it was a winter night in the eleventh year of Hongyuan. The court astrologer predicted the first snowfall would come the next day. Hearing this, the chief eunuch who had served the retired emperor ate his dinner early, then reclined in the courtyard to enjoy the scene before the snow. In the haze, he watched the moonlight shift. The faint fragrance of the wintersweet smelled just as it always had. Holding a cup of Gu Zhu Zi Sun tea, he lost himself in thought. Seeing him like this, his disciple fetched a quilt from the inner room and draped it over him. The days of a young man in fine clothes riding a spirited horse had passed in a blink. He was now an old man nearing the end of his life. No one could escape fate's arrangements. At this thought, his heart felt clear. He waved to his disciple to pour him another cup, then quietly savored the moonlit night before the coming snow.

Who knows how much more time passed? One day, a newly appointed palace official was cleaning the library when a piece of calligraphy in the late emperor's powerful hand slipped from a book: "Even mountains and seas can be leveled."

Theme: Act bravely.