act49side

<p=1>Year 593</>

Better to sacrifice a few stones... than to lose the initiative...

One wrong move... and all is lost!

And all is lost...

Lost...

...So you found me.

You've been following me for quite a while. Show yourself.

Wang looks back. The mixture of weeping and lament moves away gradually, but it does not stop for even an instant.

Hmph.

Let me see what you've got.

Wang follows the eerie voice to a decrepit weiqi stall.

A man, presumably the owner of the stall, sits on the ground weeping. There is no one around.

One wrong move... and all is lost...

And all is lost!

Before Wang has a chance to take in the situation on the weiqi board, the man falls upon it and begins to wail, sending stones flying.

Ridiculous.

As Wang turns around to leave, the man's crying begins to abate.

Don't go, sir, please, I'll set up the board again...

This game cost me my life savings, my home, my farm, even my family scattered and some of them died because of it... I am very sick and don't have long to live.

A game. A game of weiqi, that cost me my home, my family, my life...

I couldn't let it go. Take a look for me. If you can find a solution...

...Perhaps fate can still be changed!

The man goes from sobbing to howling. As Wang stands motionless, the man picks up the stones from the ground, and quickly sets up the board.

Setup, probe, entrap, sacrifice, fight, exchange...

The man's hands move at a breathtaking pace. The game begins to grow as though it is alive, the war raging from the corners to the center, then to the other side which still lies empty, so fast the eyes can hardly keep up.

Before Wang can react, the man has put a black stone in his hand.

Your turn, sir.

...How?

Yes. How, indeed?

Black and white should have taken turns placing stones. But no black stone can be seen on the board, once you hold one. How should the game proceed?

This is ridiculous... I'll take my leave.

You ought to understand, sir.

This board is like an abyss. Every white stone is the size of a mountain, while the black ones that I have presumptuously placed upon it... are no more than game pieces.

We are so far from the board that even the mountains are no greater than the size of a thumb. How could we possibly see a tiny weiqi stone?

I held on as long as I could, but at this point I was dazed and exhausted. One wrong move...

The man begins to weep bitterly again—

...And all is lost!

Look! I gave each stone a name, but I couldn't save any of them! There is no way out for any of them!

This one is Shuo. This one is Wang. This one is Ling. This one is Jun—

Wang draws his blade and stabs at one of the white stones, only for it to make a sharp cracking sound as it bends, as though he were stabbing a boulder.

Pointless, like striking a rock with an egg...

Why did I play this game? I shouldn't have. Why...?

The sword turns and pierces the man's throat. He slumps to the ground, but no blood flows from the wound. The weeping grows even louder, though it is no longer intelligible.

The man's eyes glow with a strange expression. Is it fear or joy? He stares straight at Wang's face.

Wang instinctively reaches for the writing knife on his belt, but stops mid-way.

Finally, he ponders for a moment and puts the black stone in his hand on the board.

All is lost? Nonsense.

Set it here, and the game remains a toss-up.

No sooner have the words left Wang's mouth than the body on the ground turns into smoke, and the invisible black stones on the board reveal themselves.

Mr. Wang!

You...

I watched you stand in front of the door to the Sui Regulator before turning around again. I came to find you as I thought you might have met with a strange happening too.

Strange happening? You already know?

Yes.

...I suppose I shouldn't be surprised.

There was a madman here crying about some omen of misfortune. He didn't make any sense.

Where is he?

Vanished. His weiqi game remains.

Understood. I'll have someone copy it down.

One more thing. The Supervisor says Jie should be about done with the book copying, and that you probably brought the copies. Have you...?

Here.

One moment please while I count them.

Three poetry anthologies for a total of thirty-two scrolls...

Five volumes on philology for a total of sixty scrolls...

One volume on divination for a total of five scrolls...

This is... the <i>Jijiuzhang</i>? Looks like it got mixed in with the divination books.

Jie is such a genius. She wrote this in a single night, all one thousand and four hundred words of it, without a single character repeated.

Her calligraphy is still so beautiful. There is truly no equal.

The Candleholder heaps praise upon the scroll. Wang follows his gaze—

And sees an empty piece of paper.

I remember this... five hundred years ago, in the capital.

The first time she proposed an actionable hypothesis for destroying Sui.

She gave me the writing knife, but I don't remember what the article was about, what she wanted to tell me...

Hah. By 'repeat', did you mean making me repeat the events of the past in dream?

Only to make you see for yourself how many fantasies have appeared in your dreams over the past thousand years, dreams about destroying me, dreams that were doomed to fail.

I should turn these memories into a cage, and drown you in the shame of countless failures.

See, now... all the memories that you have forgotten.

You forgot?

Sorry.

It's nothing. I'm just thinking too much, if the Sui Regulator didn't say anything...

I would like to have my writing knife back.

*sigh*... I don't know why you always seem so aloof. We don't see each other very often. Are you not happy at all?

I wonder if you'd regret it, if one of us suddenly disappeared forever.

I'd rather not be called 'the Fifth Sui' my entire life. As if Its mark were still on me.

The ones who create characters helped me think of one to use as a name. Could you read this for me, brother?

I shall write it and recite it for you.

The characters '■' and '■', '■' and '■', come together to form '■'.

Mr. Wang?

Is something the matter?

I remembered something.

My sister said she did the <i>Jijiuzhang</i> in a hurry and asked me to check it for errors. I forgot.

Give me some time.

Not a problem.

I'll leave this one for now, then. It's getting late. You can bring it back tomorrow.

A cage of memories?

Ridiculous... You won't get your wish.

The sky has completely darkened by the time the proxy arrives at the inn.

<i>'Ji Jiu Qi Gu Yu Zhong Yi, Luo Lie Zhu Wu Ming Xing Zi.'</i> The <i>Jijiuzhang</i> is distinctive, unlike other books: it lists the names of many things and persons.

...I should have remembered.

A breeze turns the pages. Wang seems to see a piece of paper in a different color on the back cover.