Xi Shi took a few more steps forward. The strange sound rang out again. This time, it wasn’t thunder, but the sound of galloping horses and clashing drums, as if thousands of armies were shouting and fighting around her, shocking and heart-stirring. Xi Shi’s delicate face instantly turned pale. Was there another war?
It felt like thousands of troops were right in front of her. But Xi Shi couldn’t see a single soldier or horse.
Xi Shi panicked and turned around, crying out in fear: “My Lord! My Lord!”
She ran towards Fu Chai.
Who else could protect her but Fu Chai?
As Xi Shi ran, the surrounding sounds changed, turning into a series of pleasant and moving musical notes, ethereal and touching, alternating between crisp, deep, loud, and distant, seeming to come from the sky or from the depths of the earth.
Xi Shi was even more shocked.
Everything seemed unreal, like a dream.
Fu Chai stretched out his arms from the corridor and tightly embraced the panic-stricken Xi Shi running towards him. Xi Shi trembled all over and asked: “My Lord, what happened?”
After all, she was a woman, timid as a mouse.
At that moment, Goujian was somewhat tempted.
He wanted to see the pleasure of Wu Zixu tasting his excrement.
Unexpectedly, Fan Li objected. He said: “My King, haven’t you learned from the lesson that Wu did not destroy Yue in the past? You must not follow Wu Zixu’s old path.”
Goujian thought about it, found it very reasonable, and could only regretfully tell Wu Zixu’s envoy: “No.”
Wu Zixu was desperate; he didn’t have the chance to taste Goujian’s feces. In his grief, shame, and frustration, he wrapped his face with three layers of gauze. At the moment of drawing his sword to commit suicide, Wu Zixu’s tears fell like rain, saying: “I regret not listening to Wu Zixu’s words!”
But in this world, there are no pills of regret.
On the night Wu Zixu died, Xi Shi danced all night. This was Xi Shi’s last dance, for herself and for Wu Zixu, who might have gone to heaven or hell. The wooden clogs stepped on the wooden boards, creating a heavy echo, and the small bells on her skirt made a crisp sound, intertwining to form an ultimate sound.
