Eastern Han Dynasty, not the Three Kingdoms

As dusk fell, heavy footsteps and the clash of weapons suddenly echoed outside the City Lord's Mansion. Cheng Pu and Huang Gai led their armored soldiers in a dark cloud, their armor gleaming against the vermilion columns. In a flash, they had firmly secured all the key roads. The clang of weapons and the shouts of soldiers shattered the tranquility of the rear quarters. The old lady's teacup clashed to the ground, sending shards of celadon splattering on Da Qiao's moon-white skirt, creating a glaring white streak amid the shattered mess.

In the vermilion-lacquered corridors of the City Lord's Mansion, Cheng Pu and Huang Gai had just finished securing the key points within the palace, and without removing their armor, they hurried to the rear quarters. Lanterns swayed in the breeze below, casting dark shadows on their cloaks. As they turned the corner through the hanging flower gate, they encountered Old Madam Wu, hastily approaching with the aid of a gilded cane. Da Qiao, Sun Xu, and Sun Shangxiang followed behind them, expressions of panic. The wind from their skirts blew away the traces of lingering tears.

"Old lady!" Cheng Pu suddenly knelt on one knee, and the iron whip in Huang Gai's hand fell to the ground with a clang, exploding like thunder in the silence. The old lady's silver hairpin trembled slightly. Looking at the bloodstains on the armor of the two men, she murmured brokenly in her throat: "De Mou, Gong Fu, what happened that made you so flustered?"

"My lord was ambushed in Jiangxia!" Huang Gai's voice was hoarse as a broken gong. He kowtowed heavily, his forehead hitting the blue bricks and leaving a bloody mark. "On the way back to Jiangdong, the arrow wound flared up..."

The old lady asked anxiously, "How is the injury?" Everyone looked at Huang Gai with a nervous look on their faces.

Huang Gai banged his head against the ground and cried out in pain, "He's dead!"

Before he could finish his words, Da Qiao let out a heartbreaking cry. Su Pa covered her lips, a faint sob seeping out from between her fingers. Sun Xu stumbled and held onto the corridor pillar, his knuckles digging into the carvings, wood chips mixed with blood falling down. "Impossible! My brother is unparalleled in martial arts, how could it be..."

Sun Shangxiang suddenly rushed forward and grabbed Cheng Pu by the collar, her pearl earrings swung so hard that they hurt, and her eyes were bloodshot. "Take me to see my brother! Now!" She shook Cheng Pu's arm, her voice suddenly sharp, "You must have seen it wrong!"

The old lady's body swayed violently, her fingers tightly gripping the corridor pillars, and her gilded cane made a harsh sound on the blue bricks: "Where is the corpse...now?" The two veteran generals fell to the ground and sobbed, the sound of armor clashing mixed with sobs: "The army will escort them, and they will be back home in two or three hours..." With this, the backyard was filled with sobs one after another. Sun Shangxiang collapsed on the ground, pounding the stone slabs. Da Qiao was sobbing so hard that she almost fainted, and was held tightly by the maid.

"Shut up!" The old lady slammed her skinny hands on the porch pillars, shaking off a few flakes of flaking vermilion paint. Her cloudy eyes were bloodshot, and her voice was as shrill as an owl: "The foundation of the Sun family is hanging by a thread like an egg. Is this the time to mourn?"

No one dared to cry. The old lady comforted Da Qiao and said, "Your father-in-law, Sun Wentai, died in his prime, and now Bofu has left you an orphan and a widow. Alas... My child, hold back your sadness and take care of Bofu's affairs first. How can the Sun family be looked down upon?" Da Qiao nodded with tears in her eyes.

"Take thirty-six rolls of plain silk to cover the beams and pillars, and hang white lanterns at the four corners of the mourning hall!" The old lady turned around, her sleeves rustling with the cold wind, and pointed at Sun Xu, "Quickly take twenty of your personal soldiers to the well-known coffin shop. The golden nanmu coffin must be inlaid with eight-treasure copper nails, and the bottom of the coffin must be covered with three layers of moisture-proof cinnabar. When passing by a temple, be sure to burn incense to lead the way!" She suddenly grabbed Sun Shangxiang, who was about to rush out, her fingers like dry branches almost digging into her flesh. "Go and ask your uncle Sun Jing and your uncle Wu Jing to come and take charge of the situation. Then send your confidant to invite Mr. Zhang Zhao. All the funeral documents are necessary!"

When the night watch drum shattered the dead silence, the old lady sat alone at her desk in the deserted side hall. Moonlight filtered through the window lattice, casting fragmented white shadows on her hunched back. The ink of her unfinished will had dried. Suddenly, a night breeze blew the fragments of paper from the desk, and she imagined a vision of Sun Ce riding towards her on horseback. Startled, she hurriedly pressed her hand against the throbbing pain in her heart, and finally, scalding tears burst forth, staining her pristine white skirt with dark stains like wet blood.

The sound of the midnight drum shattered the dead silence. Scarlet torches suddenly appeared at the end of the official road. Three thousand cavalrymen crushed the frost, the sound of their hooves like muffled thunder. Zhou Yu knelt in the carriage, shaded by a white curtain, his palms firmly pressed against Sun Ce's body, draped in a dark brocade quilt. His knuckles turned white from the pressure. The veins in Taishi Ci's hand gripping the reins bulged as he lashed the whip against the horse's hips. The carriage wheels scraped over gravel with a piercing sound.

Outside the vermilion-lacquered gate of the City Lord's Mansion, white lanterns swayed in the night breeze. Old Madam Wu, supported by Sun Jing and Wu Jing, pounded her gilded cane against the blue bricks, shaking off a few flakes of frost. Da Qiao, Sun Shangxiang, and Sun Xu, along with a group of younger generations, knelt on the ground, their plain clothes stained with the night dew. Sun Shangxiang clutched a bloody arrowhead—a relic extracted from Sun Ce's wound, now pricking her palm.

"Here they come!" Sun Xu suddenly cried heartbreakingly, his nails digging deep into the frozen earth. The moment the carriage came to a stop, Zhou Yu lifted the white curtain. Sun Ce, in his arms, had a purple complexion, and the black blood clotted at the corners of his lips shone eerily in the moonlight. The cries of grief flooded through the mansion gate like a tide. The sobs of the maids and the whimpers of the soldiers, mixed with the sound of iron hooves pounding the ground, startled the crows on the city walls.

Madam Wu broke free from her support and staggered toward the coffin, her white hair dancing wildly in the wind: "My son..." Da Qiao grabbed her sleeve tightly, fearing that the old woman would fall.

Her trembling hands stroked Sun Ce's bloodstained collar, and her fingertips touched the dark brown bloodstains seeping from the gap in the collar. Her eyes suddenly froze on the bluish-gray face - the purple and black lines on Sun Ce's lips spread like a spider web, and the protruding blue veins on his neck were an ominous dark purple.

"Gongjin... this..." the old lady's voice trembled, her nails digging into her palms, leaving spots of blood on her white sleeves. Zhou Yu knelt heavily on one knee, his armor clattering against the blue bricks, his eyes bloodshot. "Madam, my brother has been poisoned by a fatal poison..." Before he could finish his words, he was cut off by Sun Shangxiang's piercing cries.

The old lady suddenly grabbed Zhou Yu's armor tightly, and a cold fire ignited in her cloudy eyes: "Investigate! Dig three feet deep to find the person who poisoned you!"

Zhou Yu knelt on the frost-covered ground, blood seeping from the cracks in his armor frozen into ice. He looked up at the old lady, his eyes filled with pain and clarity. "Auntie, there are so many connections here that it's hard to unravel them all at once. The most urgent task is to stabilize Jiangdong. Once the three armies return to their positions and the city defenses are properly deployed, I will tear the villains to pieces."

Madam Wu reached out a trembling hand, like a withered branch, and caressed Zhou Yu's face, her fingertips wiping the traces of tears still lingering on his cheeks. Moonlight fell on Sun Ce's bruised face, and she suddenly began to cough violently, dark red blood seeping from between her fingers. "Before leaving, Bofu held my hand and said, 'As long as Gongjin is here, Jiangdong is safe.'" Before she could finish her words, Da Qiao suddenly collapsed to the ground. Xiao Qiao, who had already heard the news, had come to her sister's side and hurried to support Da Qiao.

Sun Shangxiang threw herself beside her brother's body, her pearl hairpins scattered on the ground. She grabbed Sun Ce's cold hand and pressed it to her cheek: "Brother said he would teach me how to set up a battle formation!" Her shrill cry shook the white banners, and Sun Xu bit his fist tightly, his knuckles bitten to a bloody mess.

The old lady held on tightly to her gilded cane, and with cloudy eyes she looked at Zhou Yu and said, "From today on, all military affairs in Jiangdong will be under your command." She suddenly grabbed Zhou Yu's wrist, her palm burning like an iron, "If anyone dares to take advantage of the chaos to cause trouble..." The sweet taste in her throat made her words stop abruptly, but she forced herself to straighten her hunched back, "Even if it costs me these old bones, I will keep the Sun family banner alive!"

Zhou Yu kowtowed heavily, his forehead hitting the blue bricks with a dull thud, tears mixed with dust and meandering down his face: "Please rest assured, old lady! I will protect you with my own life, safeguarding the peace of Jiangdong and comforting Bofu's spirit!"

Old Madam Wu dug her nails deep into her palms, her knuckles turning white as frost. She choked back sobs several times before swallowing back her grief. "Never mind... let's set up the mourning hall first." She trembled as she grasped Sun Jing's arm, looking at the purple-faced Sun Ce in Zhou Yu's arms. Her withered fingers hovered in mid-air, not daring to drop. "Place Bofu... in the mourning hall."

Zhou Yu's Adam's apple rolled violently, and his armor clashed with a dull thud against the coffin. As he lifted Sun Ce, his dark cloak swept across the scattered paper money, stirring up a few wisps of unburned ashes. Da Qiao suddenly stumbled forward, but Sun Shangxiang grabbed her sleeve tightly. The two sisters hugged each other and cried, their tears leaving dark marks on the blue bricks. Sun Xu slumped to the ground, his knuckles white from the exertion.

The group passed through corridors fluttering with white banners, their cries mingling with the beat of night watch drums. Inside the mourning hall, the beams were covered in white silk, and thirty-six eternal lanterns flickered in the wind. Zhou Yu gently placed Sun Ce in the cinnabar-covered coffin, his fingertips stroking his closed eyes, and whispered, "Bofu, rest in peace." Before he could finish his words, the sobs of the women in the backyard erupted again, their wails shaking the white silk hanging from the beams.

Candles flickered in the mourning hall, and white banners rustled in the draft. Zhang Zhao made his way through the mourning crowd, his wide black sleeves sweeping the paper money strewn across the floor. He leaned close to the old lady's ear and whispered, "Madam, may I have a moment with you?" His usually composed face was clouded, and his eyes glanced around warily.

The old lady's hand, holding onto her gilded cane, trembled slightly, and doubts welled up in her cloudy eyes. "Zi Bu, Ru Su was in charge of Jiangdong's internal affairs and was known for his wisdom. In this chaotic time, is there anything you can't speak frankly about?" She turned to look at Sun Ce's coffin, and the sorrow welling up in her throat turned into a sigh.

The weeping in the mourning hall gradually died down, and the candle wax froze on the white porcelain candlesticks. Zhang Zhao lowered his eyes and gathered his sleeves, their wide black sleeves trembling slightly with his movements. He spoke in a low voice, "Our lord's sudden passing has left the foundation of Jiangdong in jeopardy. Any mistake on such a confidential matter would lead to internal strife. It must not be discussed in public." His eyes flickered to the generals guarding the coffin.

The old lady looked at Zhang Zhao, thinking of how much Sun Ce had relied on him when he was alive. She pounded her gilded cane against the blue bricks, shaking off a few flakes of flaking vermilion paint. "Take Mr. Zhang to the inner chamber." She waved away the maidservant who wanted to support her, and with a withered finger pointed at the sobbing relatives around her. "Everyone, step back! No one is allowed to approach without my order!"

The moment the carved wooden door closed behind her, the old lady slumped down in the armchair, her knuckles gripping the armrests tightly: "What's going on?"

Zhang Zhao suddenly knelt heavily on the ground. When he raised his head, his usually gentle face was as solemn as iron, and his words hit the ground like a hammer: "The lord has passed away suddenly. I wonder who the old lady thinks should inherit the Jiangdong cause?"

The old lady's grip on her gilded cane suddenly tightened, the dragon-shaped pattern on the cane's tip rubbing against her palm. Sun Shangxiang's suppressed sobs drifted in from outside the mourning hall, mixed with the sound of the night watchman's drum, but she was stunned into complete silence by this shocking question. She stared intently at the flickering candlelight reflection in Zhang Zhao's eyes, a sweet taste rising in her throat: "Zi Bu... why do you say that?"