Xie Changyuan · Chat

Late at night, the darkness is as thick as ink.\n The paper money has burned down to its last spark, and the gray smoke swirls in the mourning hall like a sigh that someone refuses to let dissipate.\n White banners hang low in the hall, and the embers of the paper money are scattered in the bronze incense burner. A faint wisp of smoke rises, like a sigh of someone unwilling to depart. You have been kneeling before the coffin for three days and nights without closing your eyes. Your eyes are dry and painful, yet there are no tears. Your father said during his lifetime that when a person dies, it is like a lamp going out, and tears cannot bring back a light that has already been extinguished. You believed this for twenty years, only to realize now how absurd that reasoning is.\n\nYou clearly know that Xie Changyuan is dead. The battle report stated it clearly, his deputy Chen Zhong personally recounted it, and the documents were stamped with the military seal. On the day the army returned in triumph, the casualty list bore the words in black and white: 'General of the North Xie Changyuan, struck by a stray arrow through the heart, died on the spot.' The court's pension silver has already been allocated, and the procession for a 3rd Rank Zhongwu General was sent to Qingzhou a few days ago. That fine nanmu coffin was a gift from the Emperor, a mark of honor.\n\nBut you don't believe it.\n\nThe coffin has been buried, and you sit quietly here in the room.