Power (2)
Having pried Sima Yi off me, it took little time to reach Wang Yun's residence.
"General-in-Chief. I have been awaiting you."
Word of my visit must have reached him in advance, for Wang Yun had already come out near the front gate to meet me.
I let a trace of bewilderment show at the sight of him.
"Really, why would you come out into this cold just to greet me?"
"Hahaha! An old man who has already laid down his office has little use for such formalities."
Wang Yun smiled back, looking as hale and hearty as ever.
"Even had you simply waited inside, no one would have thought the worse of you for it..."
"It is quite all right. Please don't give it another thought."
Was this what you'd call old-fashioned propriety? Or a calculated move to drape me in a sense of obligation?
Seeing Wang Yun's household staff fluttering about anxiously around him, I spoke up.
"It's a cold day. Best we head inside without delay."
"Gladly. My thanks for your consideration."
Wang Yun let out another hearty laugh, then turned to look behind him.
"What are you all standing around for? Attend to the General-in-Chief at once."
"Yes, sir."
At his word, one of the servants in his train approached me with a respectful bow.
"The feast is already prepared. You need only come inside and dine."
"...Right."
A feast.
Which meant Wang Yun had invited someone here besides me.
It wasn't as though I hadn't seen it coming, but I couldn't help feeling a faint headache coming on all the same.
Still, what could I do? Unless this person had come bearing genuine malice, persuasion was the only way forward.
And Wang Yun would hardly invite just anybody, so the guest was surely a figure of no small renown.
"This way, please."
The servant's escort was not a long one.
Once seated, I swept my gaze around the room at once.
Furnished with only the barest necessities, the interior felt almost barren.
He had since retired from office, yes—but it was frugal to the point that you would never guess this man had once occupied a seat among the Three Excellencies.
Stubborn old men usually have a curious habit of being generous to no one but themselves, don't they?
Yet Wang Yun was unwaveringly strict even with himself.
No wonder no one could say a word against him. When a man leads by example like this and then presses his subordinates—I do it, so why can't you?—there is nothing left for them to say.
...
I had braced myself at the word "feast," but there were fewer seats than I'd expected.
Three, at most?
Which meant that besides Wang Yun and me, only a single person would be attending.
Barely moments after my quick survey of the room, Wang Yun appeared.
"I'm ashamed to have kept you waiting so long."
"I think no such thing, so please don't worry yourself."
I shook my head at once. It hadn't even been three minutes since I'd taken my seat—what on earth was he talking about?
Wang Yun was humbling himself so far beyond what I'd expected that it was almost discomfiting.
"Hearing you say so puts my mind at ease."
Keeping his smiling expression, Wang Yun explained.
"The truth is, I was delayed a little checking on word of my other guest."
"I see."
I answered evenly, and Wang Yun, watching me, continued.
"They say the guest will arrive shortly. Shall we begin the feast then?"
"Gladly."
A guest worthy of being treated with such extraordinary deference by Wang Yun.
Lu Zhi, perhaps? Or Huangfu Song?
It might even be Ju Jun.
Every one of them had taken the court's orders and crushed the Yellow Turban army in the days of the rebellion—and they were also the first names that came to mind at any mention of the imperial faction.
Unable to master my curiosity, I put the question to him.
"This may be an impertinent question, but might I learn whom you have invited?"
"Someone the General-in-Chief remembers as well."
Wang Yun answered with an easy smile.
...
Yes, and just who is this person I supposedly remember?
But as though he had no intention of revealing more, even under my pointed stare, Wang Yun kept his lips firmly sealed.
"Elder. The guest has arrived."
"Good. Show them in at once."
Apparently the guest really had been waiting nearby all along. The one Wang Yun had invited arrived not long after our conversation ended.
As I watched the servant slip out of the room, Wang Yun spoke.
"General-in-Chief, did you know? The guest I have invited today is someone even I do not know well."
That, I had not expected in the least.
Seeing my bewildered face, Wang Yun continued calmly.
"I have heard only in passing that she possesses remarkable ability. Never once have we spoken in earnest."
...
"And so I invited her here, hoping at last to exchange words with her."
...Her?
"Another woman?!"
Naturally, Lü Bu's face soured the instant she heard the word "her."
"Haha! As popular as ever, I see."
Any ordinary man would have been far too busy gauging Lü Bu's mood to manage anything else. But Wang Yun, catching the faint displeasure on her face, simply threw his head back and laughed.
The man certainly had nerve. So that was the measure of boldness one needed to pull off the Chain Strategy?
Wang Yun said,
"Do not worry. That much, at least, I can say with certainty—it is not my intent."
"Hnnngh..."
At his explanation, Lü Bu let out a low grumble. Apparently even she couldn't bring herself to spit in the face of that beaming smile.
...
Seo Yeo remained as impassive as ever, so I couldn't begin to guess her thoughts.
She looked entirely unbothered by however many more women might join the fold.
Seo Yeo had once told me this, plain as day.
"As long as you stay by my side, it does not matter how many women you have."
Words befitting some apocalyptic overlord, to be sure. What a monumentally devoted romantic she was.
How long did we pass the time like that, trading light conversation in the easy atmosphere?
Before long, the door swung slowly open, and a woman appeared.
...
The moment I laid eyes on her, I could not hide my astonishment.
She was, just as Wang Yun had said, someone I remembered.
How could I forget the person who had laid a proposal before the court—one that bandied about talk of a successor and threatened to turn every last one of us, myself included, on our heads?
The woman, a picture of intellectual elegance with brown hair, offered her greetings the moment she stepped into the room.
"It is an honor to be invited to so distinguished a gathering."
"It was nothing so grand as all that. Spare me the ceremony."
Watching her for a moment, I sensed something odd.
It wasn't that I found it strange for her and Wang Yun to trade pleasantries with such easy familiarity.
Bright brown hair, vivid as sunlight.
And in contrast, eyes of a deep, dark crimson.
Something in her features stirred an inexplicable déjà vu in me.
She was quite petite, and wore her hair differently—but once I had noticed it, I couldn't stop noticing.
...
Only now did it finally dawn on me.
The woman standing before me bore a face strikingly similar to someone I knew.
No... it couldn't be.
Just as that thought crossed my mind, the woman, mid-conversation with Wang Yun, turned her gaze on me and spoke.
"If it isn't the General-in-Chief."
"...It is. This is the first time we've spoken privately like this."
I held her gaze squarely.
"I never managed to ask until now, but I'll take this opportunity. Who are you?"
"Ah. I half suspected it—but you truly did not know."
...I had no defense for that.
In this world, the more extraordinary a person's talent, the more their appearance received a certain "correction."
Her striking looks had caught my eye once before, and I do recall resolving to look into who she was—but the moment some urgent matter was settled, it vanished clean from my mind.
In other words: the culprit was my own hopeless brain.
When she saw the sheepish look on my face, the woman answered with a smile reminiscent of someone else I knew.
"My family name is Xun, my given name is Yu, and my courtesy name is Wenruo."
...
"I would not presume to dictate what the General-in-Chief calls me, but..."
Letting the words trail off for just a moment, she pressed on at once.
"If it is all the same to you, I humbly beg that you call me Xun Yu, rather than Xun Wenruo."
So a talent of the very highest order had been hiding here all along.
Unable to keep the dazed note from my voice, I answered.
"...Then that is what I shall call you."
"Hmhm. Thank you."
Xun Yu's smile was the very image of her niece Xun You's.
Blood will out, as they say—even their smiles matched.
Hearing the word "niece," one might assume Xun Yu was the elder of the two, but in truth she was a full six years younger than Xun You.
You know how every so often there's an uncle younger than his own nephew? It was precisely that.
Though in this case, I supposed the word would have to be "aunt" rather than "uncle."
And there was a reason the Xun Yu before me looked younger still than Xun You did.
...Let us simply overlook the fact that she looked young for a woman long since grown. This world had always been built that way.
"You all seem to be getting along splendidly. I am truly glad to see it."
Just then, Wang Yun, who had been observing our exchange, spoke in a warm, benevolent voice.
"Then it is high time we turned to weightier matters."
Wang Yun drew a hand slowly down his beard.
"General-in-Chief."
...
"What manner of future is it that you envision?"
So it begins.
Wang Yun, hurling the hardest question of all from the very first throw. Xun Yu, fixing me with a bright, keen gaze of interest.
Facing the two of them, I opened my mouth slowly.