Liu Bian at the start, so you're called Dong Zhuo, right?

Liu Bian paused for a moment, then asked:

"A big step?" He looked up. "What does the Grand Tutor consider a big step?"

Xun Shuang did not argue with him, but slowly said, "The great thing is not the magnitude of the matter, but the lack of understanding of people's hearts."

"Lifting the ban on factions, purging the eunuch faction, setting up the chaotic bureaucracy, establishing the Chamber of Commerce and the charitable granary... The prince's steps, one after another, are all on the verge of disaster. Before the people's hearts can warm up, the knife has already been wielded several times."

"I fear—" he paused, "that Your Highness might move too quickly, and people might think that Your Highness intends to seize power through extraordinary means."

Upon hearing this, Liu Bian felt a surge of anger rising in his chest.

He wanted to say: What you see is "extraordinary," but what I see is "inevitable destruction." You think there's still time to talk about "delaying," but he knows when this building will collapse, how it will collapse, and how many people it will kill.

But he couldn't say these things.

He could only suppress that urgent feeling into an even colder voice:

"The Grand Tutor is wrong."

Xun Shuang raised his eyes.

Liu Bian looked at him and said, slowly and deliberately, "It's not that I'm taking big steps, it's that I have to be fast."

"The Yellow Turban Rebellion has begun, and the world is in chaos. If we wait for people's hearts to slowly warm up and for the laws and regulations to slowly be restored, what we will get is only greater chaos."

He stopped there.

He swallowed back all the real reasons—he knew the course of history, he knew the Han Dynasty was doomed, he knew the next step would be Dong Zhuo, the fire in Luoyang, or fratricide.

He left behind only one sentence that everyone could understand, yet no one could refute:

"Grand Tutor, if I am not pleased, the world will fall into ruin even faster."

Xun Shuang's fingers tightened slightly, but he ultimately said nothing more, only lowering his eyes and bowing:

"Your subject...is enlightened."

He didn't say another word.

He turned around and walked out.

Xun Yu stood up, bowed to Liu Bian, and followed Xun Shuang out.

The curtain of Chengde Hall fell down with a very soft sound.

The room fell silent again.

Liu Bian sat at his desk, watching the curtain fall, without moving.

The wind outside the window made the lamplight sway slightly, then swayed twice before settling back down.

-

Xun Shuang walked very slowly under the corridor.

Xun Yu followed beside him, walking lightly without saying a word.

The two walked out of the East Palace's corridor and onto a deserted open space. The moonlight shone down, casting long shadows of them.

Xun Shuang stopped and stood there, looking up at the night sky.

The moon was mostly hidden behind the clouds, with only a small corner of its light showing.

Xun Shuang stood there for a while, then suddenly spoke, his voice very low, as if he were talking to himself:

"Wenruo, what do you think the Crown Prince meant by what he said today?"

Xun Yu did not answer immediately, but stood aside and waited for him to finish speaking.

"He said, 'If we don't hurry, the world will deteriorate even faster.'" Xun Shuang repeated the sentence, paused, and then asked, "What did you glean from that statement?"

Xun Yu remained silent for a moment before speaking:

"I can tell that Your Highness has something on your mind that you haven't finished saying."

Xun Shuang turned her head, glanced at him, and then looked back at the night sky:

"It's not just that he didn't finish speaking."

He paused, his tone calm, yet carrying an indescribable heaviness:

"Wenruo, you've served the Crown Prince for these past few years. Tell me—are all these things he's done ultimately for the Han Dynasty, or for his own personal path?"

Xun Yu was taken aback.

He hadn't expected Xun Shuang to ask that question.

Or rather, he didn't expect Xun Shuang to ask that question tonight.

He stood there, not saying a word for a moment.

Xun Shuang didn't urge him, but just waited.

The moonlight shone on them, casting long, overlapping shadows that looked like something indescribable entangled together.

Xun Yu remained silent for a long time before speaking:

"Uncle, these two things may not be mutually exclusive."

After listening, Xun Shuang lowered his head and glanced at the floor tiles under his feet.

He sighed softly.

The sigh was very soft, so soft that it seemed as if he didn't intend for anyone to hear it, but Xun Yu was standing right next to him and heard every single word clearly.

"Wenruo".

Xun Shuang spoke again, his voice even lower, as if he were talking about something he had thought about for a long time, "I have taught you the principles of Confucianism for so many years, you should know that the way to govern the world lies in following the proper order and in understanding the fundamentals."

He paused:

"Your Highness's heart is good; I have never doubted it."

"But if you're in a good mood and walk too fast, you might easily slip and fall."

"Trade routes, charitable granaries, and imperial examinations—these are all good things, but behind each of them are people. Those people are powerful families, local magnates, and those in the imperial court who haven't yet expressed their opinions."

"Your Highness is pressing them down one by one; those people will rebel sooner or later."

"If the roots haven't been firmly established by the time they rebel, the tree will fall."

Xun Yu stood to the side, listening to Xun Shuang's words, neither refuting nor nodding.

He knew that his uncle was right.

But he also knew that behind Liu Bian's words today lay a certainty that he couldn't quite put his finger on.

It wasn't the youthful impetuosity, but a kind of certainty, as if one had already seen something.

That certainty sometimes made him feel that the Crown Prince held something he couldn't see.

After Xun Shuang finished speaking, he turned around and looked at Xun Yu.

The moonlight shone on his face, making the wrinkles appear even deeper. But his eyes remained as clear and bright as when he was young.

"You are his strategist; there are some things you are better suited to say than I am to say."

Xun Yu raised his head, looked at his uncle, and did not speak immediately.

Xun Shuang's eyes were calm, but beneath that calmness lay something he was very familiar with—not blame, but worry.

It's the kind of worry one feels when someone who has spent their entire life following the Confucian path sees their nephew standing at a crossroads, unsure of which way to go.

Xun Yu lowered his head. For the first time tonight, he truly felt that his uncle was standing on one side, the crown prince on the other side, and he was standing in the middle.

The ground beneath his feet was narrower than he had imagined.

-

After the two left, Liu Bian stood there for a long time without moving.

Liu Bian stood there, watching the falling curtain, motionless for a long time.

Xun Shuang's words were still ringing in his ears—"I'm afraid Your Highness is moving too fast, which might make people think that Your Highness intends to seize extraordinary power through extraordinary means."

He gave a wry smile.

Extraordinary measures to seize extraordinary power? He wasn't trying to seize power; he was trying to save lives.

He took a deep breath, suppressed the surging emotions, and turned back to his desk.

He sat down, unfolded a blank scroll, and picked up his pen.

Liu Bei's official position needs to be finalized as soon as possible. He should be appointed as the General Manager of the Tian Shang Guild in Ji Province, plus the honorary title of "Commander of Agriculture"—

This official position isn't high-ranking, but it's enough to make a difference; enough to open a loophole in the local government.

Xun Yu is right. The title should be given just right, neither too high nor too low.

He wrote a few lines, then suddenly stopped writing.

Footsteps came from outside the hall, very hurried.

Liu Bian raised his head.

Cao Ren strode into the hall, cupped his hands, and said:

"Your Highness."

Liu Bian put down his pen: "Speak."

Cao Ren took a step closer to him and lowered his voice:

"The three people Your Highness instructed me to keep an eye on a few days ago... something has happened to them."

Liu Bian's brow twitched slightly: "What is it?"

Cao Ren looked up, a strange look in his eyes: "One of the big, dark-skinned men... got into a fight with someone near the East Market."

"A big, dark-skinned man?" Liu Bian narrowed his eyes, and the images of the three men immediately came to mind.

Zhang Fei.

The people he had Cao Ren keep an eye on were never ordinary people.

"What kind of conflict?" he asked.

Around 9 PM tonight, he left the post station alone, saying he wanted to go for a walk outside.

"My men didn't stop them, they just followed from a distance."

"When we got to the alley at the East Market, we ran into a group of about ten people. Judging from their clothes, they looked like... the kind who specialize in doing shady work at night."

"Zhang Fei got into a fight with them?"

Cao Ren nodded, his tone carrying a hint of something unreadable:

"It wasn't a fight, it was that the group attacked right away, and Zhang Fei single-handedly took down all of them, more than a dozen of them."

Upon hearing this, Liu Bian's lips twitched involuntarily.

This Zhang Yide is really fierce.