Crouching Dragon: The Journey of Zhuge Liang sample (Act I) -- T. P. M. Thorne
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“Uh-uh-uh…!” Kongming interrupted with amusement. “Remember, be impartial. You may one day need to question the man’s motives openly… don’t lose sight. He has ambition… sometimes that can steer a man onto a path he’d swore he’d never tread… even a man like Lord Liu has his faults. …But I’m happy for you.”
“Kongming… you are a true and trusted man of good faith, and I will always remember this day,” Ma Liang said with warm respect.
“…Fair enough,” Kongming replied with a smile.
That evening, Kongming and Yueying sat together thoughtfully. Kongming played a favourite tune of theirs on his qin, which was a type of seven-stringed zither. His playing was precise, fluid, and yet tense and restless.
“I hope I have not embroiled Jichang in something terrible,” Kongming said after a long, painful absence of words: he stopped strumming the qin, and relaxed.
“I heard your confusion in your playing,” Yueying sighed. “You held the notes in a mournful way… don’t blame yourself for any future calamity… you were doing something that was meant as a gesture of kindness.”
“…I am struggling with my own soul,” Kongming admitted. “I… I feel as though I was sending him to Lord Liu, so that I would be among friends when… not if… I joined him later on. Have I already decided…?”
“You have,” Yueying replied.
“But how…?” Kongming asked with bewilderment. “I’m not normally so easily won over. I’ve seen what he’s capable of… the burning at Bowang was bad enough, but the way his subordinates hacked the survivors to death… was that so different to the sins committed by Cao Cao…?”
“Cao Cao killed civilians,” Yueying noted. “Liu Bei killed soldiers in self-defence.”
“…That’s what I keep telling myself,” Kongming sighed as he pushed the qin away a little. “But… I’m still not clear.”
“Of course,” Yueying suggested. “You still do not fully trust him.”
“But then, if that is so, how can I send my sworn brother - no, not just Jichang, but the whole Ma family - to Liu Bei?” Kongming despaired. “If I do not trust him, then I am guilty of sending them to him, and-”
“You recommended them,” Yueying interrupted. “It is their choice to accept. Would you not need to blame Mister Sima if you are destroyed by Liu Bei…? After all, he recommended you to Liu Bei… didn’t he…?”
Kongming pondered the point, exhaled, and nodded silently.
“Now come,” Yueying said encouragingly, “play something more cheering… more optimistic. I should like that.”
Kongming smiled warmly, nodded, and pulled the qin forward a little. This time, he played with vigour and strength; Yueying listened, and smiled.
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