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“…Xu Province was not my finest hour,” Cao Cao continued. “There was
many a man that probably died needlessly at Guandu, on both sides; such is
life. And I lost Chen Gong because he could not make that which I desired at
that moment, which was the utter destruction of Xu and all of its peoples.
Cheng Yu, Xun Yu, you… you all went
along with it, but who was to blame? Should you be held responsible for a
cruelty of my design alone…?”
Xiahou Dun shook his head and said, “Xu was-!”
“Just as smashing a craftsman’s tools does little more than force him to
acquire new ones, so killing a craftsman for accepting work and carrying it out
effectively is irrational if you then spare the patron,” Cao Cao continued. “I
must learn to tolerate Jia Xu, we all must, because he is a master craftsman
that will help us to build the things that we
want built now.”
“And the ‘patron’…?” Cao Xiu asked. “What about Zhang Xiu, his lord, the
man that ordered him to plot the deaths of our kin…?”
“He did what he did because I ‘defiled’ his aunt and plotted his death,”
Cao Cao replied. “There is no sense in denying that; if I had shown him proper
courtesy - deserved or not - then Ang, Anmin and Dian Wei would still be alive
and Yuan Shu wouldn’t have dared declare himself an emperor when he did.”
“But… I cannot hate you,
Mengde,” Xiahou Dun whimpered.
“…You do not need to, for I hate myself enough for our entire clan,” Cao
Cao replied. “Now, Yuanrang, do I have your word - your solemn word this time -
that you will not harm Jia Xu or try to scare him away anymore?”
Xiahou Dun nodded silently.
“Good,” Cao Cao said. “Go and rest.”
Xiahou Dun nodded, smiled sadly and turned to Cao Xiu, saying, “You were
right to tell Mengde about what I did, Wenlie… someone has to control my temper
if I can’t.”
Cao Xiu nodded, and Xiahou Dun left the house.
“…My head is clouding,” Cao Cao fretted. “Please, let it not be my
affliction… if it can just leave me be for a few days more…!”
“Go and rest, Father,” Cao Pi suggested.
“…I shall, my son,” Cao Cao replied. “I shall…”
Cao Cao retreated to his sleeping quarters; Cao Pi turned to Cao Xiu
once his father was gone and said, “You’d better change clothes now, Wenlie.”
“Oh, right, yes, I’m still in uniform,” Cao Xiu realised. “I’ll be back
soon, Zihuan.”
Cao Pi nodded, and Cao Xiu left the house; Lady Bian entered the room
once again and whispered, “Do not be angry at your father for loving us all
equally.”
“If that is so, Mother, why would I be angry…?” Cao Pi retorted.
Lady Bian sighed and retreated to Cao Cao’s sleeping quarters.
“…Who… what… will I be…?” Cao Pi wondered; he could not know at that
moment that the answer was quite incredible.
*************