Chapter 578: Hero (Part 2)

In the sixth month of the tenth year of the Chongzhen reign, at the Xuelizhan post station in Fenghuang City, Liaodong, a passenger carriage stopped. Chen Ying, dressed in commoner's clothes, jumped down from the carriage, then helped his two small children down, and finally his wife.

A banner squad leader garrisoned at Xuelizhan came over, about to question them, but first saw the row of medals on Chen Ying's chest and immediately gave a military salute.

"I'm going to Chen Family Village." Chen Ying took out the discharge and resettlement booklet issued by the Military Affairs Department. He had been assigned to his hometown, given fifty mu of land, and had taken away his shares in the trading company. At the same time, he also held a concurrent post as a reserve battalion officer in the Fenghuang City Mobilization Command.

The banner squad leader saw that Chen Ying's rank before discharge was Vice Battalion Commander, and at once called over several soldiers, telling them to help Chen Ying move his luggage. The group talked about military matters along the way, and before they knew it, they had walked for about a shichen and arrived at a village in the mountains.

Chen Ying strode ahead. He did not go directly into the village, but instead walked toward the foot of a small hill beside it, where a few grave mounds lay.

Compared to when he had left home, this place had changed a great deal, but Chen Ying still clearly remembered the location. He walked before several grave mounds, lit the incense and candles he had brought, then knelt down with a thud and kowtowed several times in succession.

His wife also came over and knelt down beside him. The two children ate candy and watched their parents' actions with curious expressions.

Chen Ying raised his head and said loudly toward the grave mounds, "Father, Mother, Elder Brother, I have returned. I have avenged you. From now on I will live here, and during the festivals you need not fear that no one will tend your graves."

Tears hung on Chen Ying's face. He pointed to his son and wife beside him. "I also have a wife and a child now. The Chen family has an heir."

He kowtowed several more times, then stood up. His wife beside him looked around curiously. "The child's father, so this is where you lived as a child."

Chen Ying wiped away his tears and put on a gentle, smiling face. He scooped up his son beside him and pointed to the village not far away, saying to him, "This is our home. Your father grew up right here. We have returned today, and you will also grow up here."

The eldest son asked curiously, "Then Father, why did you leave in the first place, and why have we come back?"

"Back then we could not defeat the Tatars. Now the Tatars cannot defeat us."

"Why can't the Tatars defeat us now?"

Chen Ying patted the medals on his chest. "Because now there are many heroes just like your father."

The child clapped his hands and laughed loudly. His wife beside him picked up the other child. The two exchanged a smile, and the family slowly walked toward the village where cooking smoke was rising.

。。。。。。

Thirty-five years later, in Jingshi.

Faint weeping drifted from the imperial palace. Inside a bright bedchamber, the gray-haired Liu Minyou sat beside the bed. The old man on the bed was already fading. Chen Xin slightly opened his eyes, stretched out a hand, and said in a faint breath, "I wish to be buried outside Tianjin. I entrust the other matters that follow to you."

Liu Minyou gently held this old brother's hand and nodded lightly. Chen Xin let out a long breath. "These decades have worn you out, accompanying me in a dream of kingly ambition and hegemony. Looking back now, I feel deep guilt toward many people. Many people perhaps did not have to die."

Liu Minyou said softly, "You did very well. You wiped out the Jianzhou Bandits, distributed the imperial estates and shops of the former dynasty to the common people, established a national constitution, and created the separation of three powers. Now the people are prosperous, commerce flourishes, the territory expands day by day, and this nation is thriving."

Chen Xin showed a faint smile. "No need to flatter me. I am just an ordinary person. Without that pyramid, I might have retired as an office director…"

"You are too modest. You should have reached general manager or chairman of the board." Liu Minyou interrupted with a smile. "At least vice president."

"Perhaps." Chen Xin also smiled. "You might have retired as a technical director."

The two laughed together, and distant, blurred memories surfaced before their eyes once more.

After laughing, a little color returned to Chen Xin's face. He sat up and coughed loudly. Liu Minyou hurriedly helped pat his back for a while. Chen Xin gasped for a long moment, then slowly lay back against the high backrest. Suddenly he asked Liu Minyou, "Am I a ruthless tyrant or a hero?"

"Does it matter?"

Chen Xin nodded firmly, his breath growing even fainter. "What I most want to hear is from you, because you will not lie to me."

Liu Minyou lowered his head and pondered for a moment. When he raised his head again, he saw that the color on Chen Xin's face had faded, and his eyes were already closed.

Liu Minyou felt for the pulse at Chen Xin's wrist. Two teardrops fell from his eyes. Liu Minyou patted Chen Xin's hand and said, choking with emotion, "You are a hero."

。。。

Ten days later, Tianjin under the night sky. A full moon hung on the horizon. A solitary figure sat beside the stone table in the small courtyard on Erdaojie in Jingdongfang.

The moonlight cast the shadows of Liu Minyou and the stone table onto the ground. Liu Minyou stared at the shadow on the ground in a daze. After a long while, he patted the stone table beside him and said softly, "We have both grown old, but you, Stone, are still so young. How fortunate that I kept you back then."

Liu Minyou raised his head and switched to Chen Xin's tone, saying, "But a stone has no happiness."

Liu Minyou immediately switched back to his own tone and said, "You are not a stone, so how can you know the joy of a stone?" Then he laughed quietly, laughing for a good while before stopping.

The courtyard was silent. Liu Minyou picked up the wine pot on the table and filled a cup full. He raised the cup in the direction outside the city. "Old brother, until we meet again in the next life."

A gentle breeze stirred. In the small courtyard, the moonlight was like water, just as it had been forty-six years ago.