Chapter 70: Who Holds the Mandate of Heaven?

Don't be too rational.

You don't have to spend your whole life doing only what's right.

This is what Du Shanü knows, and what she's trying to teach Chinu.

She's always known he has a knot in his heart, but she could never find a way to loosen it.

So Du Shanü can only pass these words to Chinu, hoping he'll understand—

He doesn't need to agonize over so much.

In the past he's served whatever masters, done whatever deeds...

Actually, they're all nothing to worry about.

People can make mistakes.

People can live a lifetime without exhausting their minds or working day and night.

People can wander an autumn field, waste an entire day doing nothing.

People are...

People can also reverse master and servant—sometimes letting Chinu fix Du Shanü, giving her a cold stare and a little tantrum...

People are always making mistakes.

Even the mistakes each person makes in a lifetime are far more than they imagine.

But upon reflection, they're actually all trivial.

Du Shanü always remembers that night when Chinu ripped off the gentle scholar's disguise and lashed out at her.

If she truly bore a grudge, Chinu wouldn't be alive today.

But she still hopes Chinu lives.

She even hopes Chinu will become renowned across the world and keep winning!

Otherwise, how could that spirit be settled?

A lifetime is long, and the way to live varies.

Du Shanü chattered on, head down, step by step, until...

She heard the footsteps behind her fade away.

Du Shanü turned back, puzzled, and saw Chinu still standing where he was.

At that moment the sun had just risen, and birdsong filled the hills.

But Chinu only lowered his eyes and said quietly:

"...... You came late."

Du Shanü didn't catch it, so she asked:

"What?"

Chinu didn't mention the past again, flicked his sleeve, and headed into the thick woods beside the mountain path:

"Nothing—go on back first...... I've got something to do."

After speaking, he didn't wait for Du Shanü's reply and plunged straight into the woods.

Chinu has trained in martial arts since youth, always lithe, and his breath‑control is superb.

Yet today he couldn't even dodge the vines and dead branches in the undergrowth.

But this small thing, he now truly doesn't mind.

All he cares about is the sentence Du Shanü just uttered.

That sentence kept swirling in his mind, gathering until it became a flood powerful enough to overwhelm him.

No need to always do what's right.

People don't have to only do what's right.

How come no one ever told him that before?

If twenty years ago, ten years ago...

No, even if five years ago, when the Yin Dynasty collapsed in defeat, had someone told him this then, he wouldn't be so anguished, would he?

Wherever the fire oil spreads, the land burns endlessly and fields can no longer be farmed...

He watched helplessly as the splendid lands the Grand Ancestor had won were destroyed in an instant!

He resents the Young Emperor for failing to save the nation.

But how could he not also resent himself for failing to save the nation?

No one can resist the fire oil, and no one knows where it comes from.

All we know is that once the foreign tribes got the fire oil, within three to five years they swept through the outer lands with unstoppable force and sent their cavalry straight at the Nine Provinces.

What was he thinking each day back then?

He thought he should have died back then in the orphanage, on the day his mother abandoned him.

At least, back then he was still fairly carefree.

If he'd slept eternally early enough, he could have avoided all that later suffering.

No one believes he's not rebellious.

No one understands his hatred of the Young Emperor.

No one realizes that just those five years of holding back the foreign tribes drained all his strength, leaving him still gaunt today.

Holding back the foreign tribes is nowhere near easy.

Even at sixteen it was extremely hard for him.

How to deploy troops, how to mobilize generals, how to supply provisions...

The front lines are strained, supplies low, the treasury empty.

Will the taxes be increased?

If we increase it, how much should we add?

How should we assign the Probity Bureau to oversee the law, so corrupt officials don't line their own pockets?

How do we verify this year's harvest and allocate enough grain, fodder, medicine, armor, and bedding?

I don't know.

He actually has no idea.

Taizong is gone.

The Imperial Tutor and Yuzi are still missing.

The Young Emperor was raised in comfort, knowing only sorrow, unaware of state affairs, only knowing to ask him what to do......

But who would know he wasn't born knowing how to handle these matters?

What should he do to be worthy of the Yin Dynasty's mountains and rivers?

What should he do to avoid making mistakes?

If he makes a mistake, what should be done?

Will this only add to the loss of many lives?

I don't know.

He doesn't know.

He only knows, and dares only to think, that he was born as a tool.

As a tool, he's born not needing to ask too much.

Otherwise, he couldn't bear the cost of a mistake.

That is a very painful, very painful thing.

Just a little thought brings sleepless nights, exhaustion, coughing up blood—all common.

But now someone tells him that people always make mistakes.

Why didn't anyone tell him this sooner!

Then what was all those years of self-torment for?

What is he, then?

He was not born willingly into a lowly station.

He never imagined he was born to be used.

Before him lies a chaotic forest, heaven and earth inverted, sun and moon entwined.

Afterward......

A sharp branch suddenly lashed out, cutting Chinu's cheek and leaving a thin line of blood like a hair.

The pain made him pause; Chinu finally came to, leaning against the tree and panting heavily, yet he did not fall.

He pressed a hand to his aching chest and abdomen; dark blood seeped from between his fingers, trickling down the back of his hand onto the dry leaves, soundlessly.

His chest heaved more violently, his breathing grew heavy, yet he held it in, as if afraid to disturb something.

He closed his eyes, brows furrowed, enduring the pain.

Sweat slid from his temple down his brow and hung on his eyelashes.

His head tilted back against the bark, revealing a neck as white as porcelain, his Adam's apple shifting slightly.

His lips were paler than usual, slightly parted, drawing in the forest's damp air.

Du Shanü arrived just then, tracking his whereabouts.

Her gaze darkened as it swept over a spot; she unconsciously pursed her lips before stepping forward.

"Are your earlier wounds still not healed?"

Chinu never expected him to follow; he snapped his eyes open and was about to shift position.

Du Shanü quickly stepped forward, grabbed him, and helped him sit against the tree.

"Enough, I'll bandage you."

"I'm not an idiot; seeing your condition, I naturally followed—how could you drive me off with a word and leave me here alone?"

Isn't that something only a fool would do?

You should know, being alone is always a major taboo!

Chinu's wound had already been torn in his emotional agitation; after being pressed down and taking a few breaths, he trembled as he opened his mouth to speak:

"You, stay still! Don't rub my belly!"

This person's hand, while pressing on him, kept feeling around!

It's definitely intentional!!!

Du Shanü snapped back to awareness, instinctively raising her hand:

"Oh oh oh! Sorry, I really didn't expect your abs to be so impressive......"

"No no! I was checking your wound! You're the one who needs to stay still!"

?? Yuzi: an honorific, referring to the female protagonist surnamed Yu from the previous book, namely Xiao Ai's mother. Highly esteemed, thus called 'zi'.