But the next time he saw General Wang Qing... The general was dead. Wang Qing was dead. This was the moment he…
But the next time he saw General Wang Qing... The general was dead.
Wang Qing was dead.
This was the moment he'd spent years longing for, dreaming restlessly of, waiting for his next meeting with the general.
On Zhongdu Bridge, the general still wore his armor, just as he had the very first time they met.
Except now, there was a sword driven through his heart.
His eyes numbly traced the path from the sword's hilt to the hand holding it, then fixed on Jiang Yan's hand, and finally, Jiang Yan's face.
He didn't understand. Hadn't Jiang Yan already had enough? He'd already gotten the general's special attention, his smiles, his scoldings, and his time. Why did he have to take the only thing He Ran had, Wang Qing's very existence, and any hope of seeing him again?
If someone's life can sustain you through the first half of your own, then their death can carry you through the rest. In that moment, his whole life became trapped in someone else's death. And maybe, some people are willing to stay trapped in that moment forever.
Life is a long, winding road.
Yet for some, the blood and mud along the way mean nothing. The only purpose of that road was to bring you to the moment you meet someone in the pouring rain.
Now, his path had dried up, empty.
He no longer needed to be remembered by anyone.