Genius Club-Chapter 604 - 24: In My Name, I Crown You with My Surname (A Merged Double-Length Chapter)
With the strength to lift mountains and spirit to cover the world,
Yet with time not on my side, my steed refuses to advance.
The steed refuses to advance, what can be done,
Oh Yu Ji, oh Yu Ji, what fate shall you have?
...
This was the "Song of Gaixia" sighed by Xiang Yu, the Western Chu Overlord, when defeated at the Battle of Gaixia and surrounded by hundreds of thousands of Liu Bang’s troops.
At that moment, for Xiang Yu, the situation was irredeemable, with enemies closing in on all sides.
He knew in his heart that continuing the battle would only lead to certain death, so he uttered a mournful song and wrote this poem.
On the surface, the poem reflects Xiang Yu’s lament of his heroic spirit, once with the strength to overturn mountains and a mighty presence that commanded the age; then it follows with lamentations about his plight, with unfavorable destiny leading to his steed’s inability to charge...
But in reality, it wasn’t just the dark steed that could no longer run; Xiang Yu was the same.
Even with his bravery, faced with the adversity of fate, he was powerless, a feeling of helplessness known only to a few.
At this time, he had given up inside, succumbing to despair.
The steed refuses to advance, what can be done?
Xiang Yu already knew his end, but he also faced it calmly, with no regrets and no remorse, only a hint of helplessness. Especially when he looked at Yu Ji, who had always been by his side, he couldn’t help but worry about what would become of her fate after his death.
In that era of chaos, where human lives were deemed as insignificant as weeds, what would happen to a beauty like Yu Ji? It was obvious.
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As the Overlord, he could protect Yu Ji from harm, but now he was about to be decapitated by his enemies; what about the Yu Xi after that... what should she do?
That is the context in which this poem was created, and it is also a synopsis of the well-known story of "Farewell My Concubine."
What happened next is widely known.
Yu Ji immediately committed suicide with the poem, hoping that her death would sever Xiang Yu’s worries and ignite his fighting spirit to battle once again! If he could break through, there might still be a chance for a comeback in the future!
But in the end, Xiang Yu still chose to end his life by the Wu River, fulfilling his heroic destiny.
Some say...
He ultimately couldn’t face the people of Jiangdong.
Others say...
Perhaps, he just couldn’t bear to part with the woman who sang "The king’s spirit is gone, why should his concubine live?"
This is history.
Silent about right or wrong, victorious king and defeated bandit.
Only the victors have the right to write history, even if... it isn’t the true history.
...
By the Wu River, Xiang Yu fell.
By the shallow sea of Copenhagen, Huang Que disappeared.
Lin Xian gazed at the distant turbulent black waters.
Yu Xi.
In the final moment of parting from Huang Que, the request, almost a plea, was for me "never to leave Yu Xi."
But...
Who exactly is Yu Xi?
Lin Xian had always believed that Huang Que was the Yu Ji from her "Farewell My Concubine" story.
But on the skyspace aircraft, as Chu Anqing plunged from twenty thousand meters to capture space-time particles for him... he understood in that moment that perhaps the real hero, Yu Ji, whom Huang Que spoke of, was Chu Anqing.
And just moments ago, the sudden change in a flash... it was Lin Xian remembering the space-time traveler who disappeared into his arms, vanished without a trace.
If this Copenhagen’s shallow sea leading to the Atlantic is my uncrossable Wu River, then the one truly befitting the name Yu Ji, wouldn’t it be Huang Que who guided me with her life’s teachings and gave her life to teach me one last lesson?
But...
Both of them are already gone!
Never to leave Yu Xi...
Just what was I not supposed to leave?
At the end of it all,
Yu Xi itself isn’t a name but merely a term of exclamation in a poem.
If Yu Xi is but a code, a metaphor, the last riddle that Huang Que had to leave due to space-time exclusion and forced evasion...
Then who is it about?
Lin Xian believes that there aren’t many women left with whom he has a good relationship, especially in this era – nearly only Zhao Yingjun remains.
But she is an outsider, after all...
With so many precedents, how could Lin Xian possibly make the same mistake again, make another error, remain unrepentant... and drag Zhao Yingjun into this dark vortex that has already claimed so many?
Recalling the riddles Huang Que had given him before,
They were actually very simple, very straightforward.
She [directly] told me the invitation was fake;
She [directly] told me "Catch Me If You Can" had begun;
She [directly] led me to Zheng Chenghe, only I didn’t understand;
She [directly] told me that what I wanted was in the Mirror, just look in the mirror... and in the end, it’s proven that Huang Que isn’t much of a riddler; her riddles were already straightforward and direct enough, it was just that sometimes my understanding was off.
So...
Lin Xian believes.
The final advice Huang Que left, "do not leave Yu Xi," must not be as complex as I imagined, it should also be [straightforward].
At that time, I noticed the expression on Huang Que’s face when she last spoke the words Yu Xi; it was a look filled with tenderness, longing, heartache, and also a begging feeling.
No doubt,
Yu Xi, for Huang Que, must also be an incredibly important existence.
Lin Xian turned his head to look at The Little Mermaid Bronze Statue, always gazing into the distance in the night.
Clenching his fist.
Since Huang Que had given such instructions,
He would not fail to uphold this trust.
He will work hard to find out who Yu Xi is and will heed Huang Que’s words...
[I will never leave her.]
