Vol 5 Chapter 39 (2/2)

Liao Hua was pleased at my answer and nodded, “Then let me give you an example. Let’s say that Han Fu and Meng Tan were truly virtuous and upright men. Would you still kill them under those circ.u.mstances?”

“Then… I’ll save the girls without killing them then.”

I would probably be able to achieve this. Lu Bu and Wen Yuan could probably do so as well.

“Then, what if the ones you faced weren’t the weak Han Fu and Meng Tan but yourself?”

“You mean someone who is as strong as me and is also a virtuous individual?”

“Un, you can say that.”

“No, that’s impossible.” I shook my head as I said so, “If I were the Administrator, I would not take the weak and unarmed as hostages.”

“But, had General Guan ever thought that–” Liao Hua paused and waited for all my attention to be on her before she continued, “The other side has done so in adherence to his or her own treasured virtues, and is following his or her own path in doing so?”

Adherence to own virtues… Did they have their own path as well?

“Impossible, what sort of virtues would condone taking the weak as hostages?”

“General Guan, do you know of the importance of a permit when crossing the pa.s.s for a gatekeeper general?” Liao Hua continued when she saw my contempt, “If the gatekeeper general lets someone of grave importance cross the pa.s.s without a permit, they will be executed.”

“Eh?”

There… Was such a thing?

“Whether it’s Yu Jin of Dongling Pa.s.s or Han Fu of Luoyang city; to them, having a permit to cross their pa.s.s is their ‘path’ to follow. And so, what you think General Guan and your companions are to them?”

Dishonourable people… Huh?

I slowly recited the answer in my heart.

As Liao Hua said, our request was unreasonable to the gatekeeper generals.

All this while, I’ve always believed that the path I walked was the right one, and all those who were in my way were wrong. But in reality, they were just trying to follow their own path, and being loyal to the ones they should be loyal to.

Then if my path wasn’t wrong, and neither was theirs, then… What is virtuous? What is not virtuous?

“…”

When she saw me sink into thought, Liao Hua slowly blinked and began to speak again, “The path of virtue is one that is contradictory to begin with. Even if you can judge yourself, you cannot judge others. And this is the path that General Guan has chosen. I don’t know what path the other 2 generals have chosen but I feel that they should be lost as well.”

Liao Hua wasn’t very old but she could see through many things. Perhaps it’s a gift, or perhaps she acquired it.

But I must say, her words are starting to raise a lot of questions inside me.

“Then could it be that the path of virtue is one that leads to nowhere?”

“No,” Liao Hua replied and smiled at me for the first time when she heard my muttering, “I feel that General Guan can find a way to resolve this conundrum, and that is why I have chosen to follow General Guan.”

“Eh?”

I can resolve it?

“General Guan is decisive, when you meet with trouble, you do not get anxious, and you do not act without thinking things through. As a virtuous and upright individual, you are already excellent. Perhaps you may not have detected it yet but you have already unknowingly found a way to resolve the contradiction.”

She seemed to have said all she wanted to say, and put her veil back down, “My oath is to be witness to history, and the path of others. And I am willing to follow General Guan on your journey down the path of virtue.”

Liao Hua was finished, but I wasn’t.

Xuan De, is my path really correct?

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