The Inevitable Parting
The phrase hoejajeongni—those who meet must part—felt like a fitting epitaph. As the year, filled with talk of war and chaos, drew to a close, the long-quiet west began to stir once more. The funeral rites for King Zhaoxiang of Qin, which had dragged on for nearly a year, were finally concluding. Preparations were underway for the enthronement ceremony of the new King of Qin, signaling a true fresh start.
Across the various states, envoys were being hastily assembled to attend Qin's coronation. Everyone knew what would come next: once the new king completed the ceremony and turned his full attention to governing, those sharp claws would once again be bared toward the other states. It was a foregone conclusion, something even a child could understand. In truth, the war had already begun under the guise of diplomacy.
The states would use their envoys to legally spy on Qin, while Qin would flaunt its strength during the enthronement to crush the others' will to fight. Behind the scenes, the carefully chosen diplomats would wage a fierce battle of tongues, each seeking to harvest valuable intelligence. Though no swords were drawn, this was undeniably a war—one fought in the shadows.
While this invisible conflict raged beneath the surface, the world above continued its daily rhythm unchanged. Farmers tended their fields as always, scholars wrote and debated the state of affairs, and merchants rose early to inspect their wares for the day's business. I was no different.
Our trading company had recently launched a major expansion, fueled by the capital we had accumulated. Under Lord Xinling's leadership, a branch had been established in Wei, and we were diversifying our product lines. Such routine operational matters I left to others. Though I could now move freely about Handan, I could not leave the city. Fieldwork had to be entrusted to capable hands.
My role was not in day-to-day management, but in developing specialized new products unique to our company.
"As you instructed, we have secured a large supply of wuzhuyu from Chu. According to the last regular report, it has already been transferred to the Wei branch, so it should arrive soon."
Nokucheon, who was reporting to me, now carried himself with the unmistakable air of a true merchant. Even after Jang-i had left to head the Wei branch, Nokucheon had managed the main company without major difficulty. In fact, with more experience under his belt, he handled affairs even more efficiently than before.
Still, Jang-i's absence left a significant gap. Nokucheon had excellent practical skills, but he lacked the broader strategic vision that defined true business talent. Jang-i had perfectly complemented that shortcoming. Yet somehow, the main branch in Zhao continued to run smoothly without my direct intervention.
Honestly, while I was adept at setting grand goals and general methodologies based on my future knowledge, I had little talent for the long-term execution required to reach them. Despite that, Jang-i's absence was barely felt. Someone new had appeared to fill that void perfectly.
"Sima Shang truly is a remarkable talent. Her personality is... a bit much, but her work is even clearer and more decisive than Jang-i's."
Jang-i had been exceptionally sociable, getting along even with the lowest laborers. Sima Shang, true to her noble origins, was cold and strictly businesslike in her dealings with people. As a result, the workers' enthusiasm was somewhat lower than before. However, Sima Shang excelled at optimizing workflows and task allocation, dramatically increasing overall efficiency.
Despite lacking extensive experience, she could glance at an operation and immediately identify improvements. It made me wonder just how extraordinary she must be in her true field of military strategy.
I can't even begin to imagine how great her mentor, Li Mu, must be.
My decision not to make Li Mu an enemy had truly been the best possible choice.
To be honest, I never intended to place Sima Shang in such a key position.
This trading company was one of my few true assets. While I had some connections in Yan now, the Yan branch that maintained them was under Jing Ke's care. My relationships with Lord Xinling, Lian Po, and Li Mu were valuable, but the only power that was purely my own was this company. The core secrets of its operation—marketing strategies, division of labor, and the like—had only been fully shared with my closest aides: Nokucheon, Jing Ke, and Jang-i, who worked for Lord Xinling.
I had been hesitant to reveal such things to Sima Shang, whom I still couldn't fully trust as one of my own. Yet wasting her talent would also be a loss. If I intended to stay aligned with Li Mu until the end, it was better to demonstrate my capabilities by showing her this much.
In the end, her timely arrival as Jang-i's replacement had allowed the company to run smoothly.
As I was discussing the company's affairs in greater detail with Nokucheon, the door suddenly opened and someone barged in.
"Young master. Oh, the manager's here too? Perfect."
The girl spoke boldly, showing no fear whatsoever toward the rather intimidating Nokucheon. Speak of the tiger and it appears... It was Sima Shang, of course. By the way, "manager" was the title we used for Nokucheon. Naturally, I was the company head.
Since we hadn't established a strict knocking policy or ordered that no one enter, I didn't scold her for the intrusion and simply asked why she had come.
"What is it?"
"It's here. The wuzhuyu you ordered."
I had already covered most of what I needed to discuss with Nokucheon, so I stood up, brushing off my clothes. It was time to work.
From a corner some distance away, Ying Zheng secretly watched Ji Dan as he worked at the trading company.
With Nokucheon and Sima Shang on either side, Ji Dan issued various instructions, a gentle smile playing on his lips. He always smiled when he was with her, but the smile he wore now was somehow different in texture from the one he showed her.
It was a smile full of deep satisfaction, the kind that naturally emerged when he was completely absorbed in his own work—a smile he had never shown her.
Ying Zheng watched him quietly. Even after Ji Dan took the newly arrived goods and went back inside, she could not tear her gaze away for a long time.
Only after a considerable while did her lips finally part.
"You said an envoy from Qin will arrive soon, correct?"
"Yes, that is so."
The answer to her sudden question came from behind her.
A sturdy, well-built man stood there. She didn't know how long he had been present. He was Bi, the agent dispatched from Qin to retrieve Zhao Ji and Ying Zheng—wife and eldest daughter of Ying Zichu.
However, his mission was not to forcibly extract the two through solo action. Instead, he was tasked with persuading them to return to Qin and helping them settle their affairs in Zhao.
If they were simply kidnapped, Zhao would not stand idly by. They would attempt to stop it, detain the two, or worse, try to kill them. Therefore, Qin's plan was to first convey their intentions through Bi to ease the transition, then send a formal envoy to officially reclaim them.
"His Majesty, who has now ascended the throne, is a benevolent ruler who does not desire war. Since the Crown Prince returned to Qin, Zhao has lacked a proper hostage from our state. Therefore, we have decided to exchange hostages formally during this enthronement ceremony as a means to strengthen friendly relations between our two countries. You may consider this procedure as being for the purpose of escorting the noble lady and the madam back."
The newly ascended King of Qin, Ying Zhu, was quite different from King Zhaoxiang. He had little interest in war. Originally, he had not even been the crown prince. He had inherited the throne almost by accident after his elder brother, the previous crown prince, was killed while serving as a hostage in Wei.
Rather than a war that offered little appeal, Ying Zhu much preferred to live comfortably in Qin, indulging in pleasure. Knowing this, King Zhaoxiang had bestowed upon him the title of Lord Anguo—implying a man who lived too easily in his country—as a form of gentle rebuke.
Ying Zhu wished to use the enthronement as an opportunity to build friendly ties with Zhao, the state with which Qin had fought most fiercely. Through envoys sent by Zhao, he had already proposed exchanging the long-absent hostages and establishing a truce. Zhao had accepted his expressed desire to also retrieve the wife and children his son Ying Zichu had left behind in Zhao.
Zhao, still reeling from the aftermath of the Battle of Changping, was equally eager to avoid war. The practical officials of both states had already completed the behind-the-scenes negotiations through their envoys.
However, if the person in question stubbornly refused to go, it would create complications. Thus, Bi focused on persuading Ying Zheng in accordance with his given mission.
Zhao Ji had immediately thrown a tantrum, demanding why they had taken so long, but quickly became cooperative, leaving little for him to do. The problem was Ying Zheng, who had been firmly refusing to leave.
Yet today's Ying Zheng felt distinctly different from usual. Unlike all the previous times she had flatly rejected the idea, this was the first time she had asked Bi a question.
"If I go to Qin... if I become king... can I have him?"
Even though her question was somewhat disjointed, Bi answered with strong affirmation.
"Yes. Anything at all. If it is what you desire."
At those words, Ying Zheng closed her lips and quietly gazed across to where he had been. Though she could not see him with her eyes, his image was vividly etched in her heart. The times they had spent together. The memories. His face.
Zhao was a land of hatred. She felt not the slightest affection for it as her mother's country. What Zhao had given Ying Zheng was nothing but boundless human hatred, rage, and pain.
Yet there had been light.
Dan. Ji Dan.
Like her, he was a royal from another state who had been brought to Zhao as a hostage. Only he had taught her the beauty of humanity. He had given her warmth. He had given her love.
To Ying Zheng, who had even resented the fact that she was the same kind of creature as those people, he had made her feel grateful to have been born human.
She had wanted to live.
You gave a reason to live to someone who was merely existing because she could not die.
You taught me how joyful it is to possess something that is truly mine.
You showed me that being with someone can be a happy thing.
Therefore, she would have it all.
The Qin that had abandoned her. The Zhao that had hurt her. This world that had never known her. And...
The man who had loved her.
"I'll go."