Jiangshan Commentary
Gu Yi and Li Wujiu are both men who can influence the course of history. They have never been close to women, have no family or relatives, and seem to have virtually no weaknesses. Why then, by such a coincidence, have Xiao Yu and her appeared in their lives?
Gu Yi barely managed to remain calm and asked, "What exactly did Xiao Chang'an gamble with him that almost drove him to suicide?"
Xiao Yu seemed to see that day again, his master standing beside the stone in his gray robes, while Xiao Chang'an in his blue robes fluttered, the young man's brows showing a confident air of victory.
She looked at her brother's features and felt a sense of familiarity; they were still the same as when he was a child, yet many unfamiliar things had been added to them.
She wanted to tell him not to make things difficult for her master, but deep down she knew that her younger brother, who always listened to his sister, would probably never come back.
Because of her betrayal of the family, he has become the head of the Xiao family in this generation. She has also forever lost the right to order him around as her older sister.
Xiao Chang'an's eyes flashed like lightning, with strange sparks within them, and he said firmly, "On behalf of the Lanling Xiao Clan, the bet I want to make with the Li Clan Master is: I bet that within ten years, the iron hooves of the Northern Qiang army will surely trample into Jianzhang, and the Northern Qiang will unify the world!"
Even though Ah Qiu was an outsider, he was so shocked by the bet that he was speechless.
Not to mention Gu Yi, who was caught in the middle of it all.
This gamble seems pointless. Whether the Northern Qiang can conquer the Southern Dynasty has absolutely nothing to do with whether Xiao Chang'an makes this bet or not, especially since Xiao Chang'an is betting on something ten years from now.
Even if Li Wujiu accepted his bet now, how could he know who would win and who would lose?
However, A Qiu was still deeply shocked, because the person who proposed this wager was the Xiao clan of Lanling, and the wager was the future of the world within ten years. The Xiao clan of Lanling possessed the power to influence the Northern Qiang court, and was also a representative aristocratic family of the Han people in the north. If they proposed this wager, it was by no means unfounded or baseless.
Gu Yi swayed slightly and said coldly, "What a ruthless plan, what a vicious intention."
A Qiu had never seen Gu Yi so emotional. Forgetting about the others present, she instinctively pressed her entire body against Gu Yi's side to support him and keep him steady. Gu Yi, seemingly needing her support as well, immediately leaned closer.
A-Qiu felt that his body was very cold at that moment.
Gu Yi leaned against A Qiu, catching his breath, before saying, "He wasn't betting on what would happen ten years from now, but rather on whether Li Wujiu would reveal the secrets of heaven!"
He paused again and said, "Everyone in the world knows about my relationship with Li Wujiu. But my statement that Li Wujiu never performed divination for others is not entirely accurate. He only divined the fate of the world once in his life, and that was before I came out of seclusion."
A Qiu immediately understood one thing: Gu Yi's entry into the world and Li Wujiu's seclusion were actually two sides of the same coin, with countless subtle connections between them.
Given the relationship between Li Wujiu and Gu Yi, it was precisely before Gu Yi decided to enter the world that he went so far as to use his own lifespan to divine the general trend of the world, naturally in order to help Gu Yi act according to the times and seize opportunities.
But apart from Gu Yi, no one knew the result of his divination.
The result was presented to the world in a different way: Gu Yi spent ten years transforming the Southern regime, which was under the Han rule, from chaos to order, establishing the impregnable Jiangdong Alliance, ensuring the prosperity and stability of half of the country, and this regime still showed a thriving and vibrant vitality.
This result does not mean that Li Wujiu's divination indicated that the Southern Dynasty would eventually unify the world. There is no such definitive and clear answer in the world. It only means that Li Wujiu saw a certain trend, and Gu Yi either followed the trend or went against it. The trend is the game board, and entering the game is the piece. Regardless of whether it is an attack or a defense, a piece is just a piece and cannot change or determine the original balance of power or the support of the people on the board.
However, Xiao Chang'an forced Li Wujiu to accept the bet so that Li Wujiu could clearly state his judgment on the fate of the world after that divination.
Since Gu Yi's emergence, the political landscape of the north and south of the Yangtze River has changed dramatically. The current situation is quite clear: in the north, after Han Chinese entered politics, the Northern Qiang are the most powerful, while in the south, the Dayan people are united and working diligently to govern. Both sides know that two tigers cannot share one mountain, and unification is inevitable. It will either be a matter of the south unifying the north or the north unifying the south, and this will become clear in the short term.
The Xiao family's proposal was that the Northern Qiang would surely defeat Jianzhang within ten years, thus completing the unification of the south from the north. Li Wujiu only had two choices: agree to the gamble or disagree.
Agreeing to the bet means siding with the Southerners and believing they will win.
The reason for disagreeing with the gamble is that they know it will inevitably end in defeat. Xiao Chang'an can also understand from this that the unification of the south from the north is an inevitable trend.
From another perspective, the Xiao family is also hedging its bets. Xiao Yu and Xiao Chang'an are two pawns the Xiao family has placed in the Southern Dynasty's camp. However, the Xiao family is now forcing Li Wujiu to make a statement in order to further ascertain the general trend and determine the family's inclination in advance.
From this perspective, the person in charge of the Xiao family has a far-sighted vision, perhaps even surpassing that of the Shangguan family, a family with a long history of integrity and uprightness, from which Shangguan Yuqi originated.
It's understandable, though. The "pure stream" movement for a century praised integrity, not opportunism or a knack for political maneuvering.
As soon as Xiao Chang'an finished speaking, Xiao Yu's face turned pale.
Firstly, she hadn't expected that the gamble involved the fate of all people. Although she was the daughter of a powerful northern family, the thought of the Northern Qiang's iron hooves trampling into Jianzhang, burning, killing, looting, and even massacring the city, causing the Jiangdong gentry to suffer, and the southern people to be displaced and their cries of sorrow to fill the land, still sent chills down her spine.
Although she was still young when Chang'an and Luoyang fell, she witnessed all of these events firsthand. Although her elders, being extremely shrewd and opportunistic, had long since allied themselves with the most powerful of the Hu tribes, the Northern Qiang king, the Xiao family not only escaped disaster but also rose through the ranks, gaining immense favor and becoming a highly influential force in the court. However, Xiao Yu had witnessed firsthand the cruelty of war and the oppression and exploitation of the Han people by the Hu rulers. Frankly, she was determined not to let the Southern Dynasty repeat its mistakes.
Therefore, when she heard the contents of Xiao Chang'an's bet, she was inexplicably alarmed, even though she knew that it was still just an estimate of the future.
Secondly, she knew better than anyone that the Xiao family's agreement was aimed at the relationship between Li Wujiu and Gu Yi.
Regardless of who will truly rule the world ten years from now, if Li Wujiu refuses to accept the bet now, it means he doesn't have faith in the Southern Dynasty. Once this news gets out, the Southern Dynasty's leadership, where Gu Yi is located, will likely immediately disintegrate. Gu Yi's ten years of hard work and planning will be in vain.
If the land is destined to belong to others, the benefits of surrendering early far outweigh those of resisting stubbornly.
Therefore, regardless of the outcome, judging solely from Gu Yi's perspective, Li Wujiu must take the gamble, and he must gamble that the Southern Dynasty will be the winner.
What she didn't know was that if Li Wujiu was willing to make such a bet, it was certainly not just empty talk.
He was a born diviner, who should have remained aloof from the world and detached from worldly affairs. Once he placed a bet, he was already in the game. If he insisted on accepting the bet, it would be for a result he was certain to lose, which would be tantamount to a diviner going against the will of heaven, using his own life and fortune to defy fate.
For reasons of friendship or righteousness, Li Wujiu had no choice but to stand by Gu Yi's side; as for Tianji, whether he should gamble or not, he would pay a fatal price.
When Xiao Chang'an proposed this bet, Li Wujiu had no way out.
Gu Yi closed his eyes and, with his last remaining strength, imagined the final battle that Xiao Yu had described for Li Wujiu.
Looking back now, Li Wujiu was the most ethereal man he had ever seen. He had a fair and delicate face, thick and clear eyebrows, and what was most captivating was his eyes. They were as pure and clear as a child's, yet they seemed to see through everything, as if they were always radiating curiosity about the world.
He never harbors hostility towards anyone, but only explores with genuine affection.
Of course, nothing could escape his notice.
Gu Yi really wanted to know what Li Wujiu thought when he faced Xiao Chang'an, who had no grudge against him but was so scheming to destroy him.
He also remembered the complex emotions that Xiao Chang'an showed when he spoke to Xiao Chang'an, who had ambushed him with the Green Bee Needle, on the Yangtze River: "Li Wujiu's disciple can't be a bad person, I believe him."
Is there anyone in this world who could hurt Li Wujiu without feeling any remorse?
Xiao Yu closed his eyes and said sadly, "Master was silent for a moment, and finally replied: I bet."
Li Wujiu had his back to Xiao Chang'an the whole time, gazing at the mountains where mist rose leisurely in the distance. His mind seemed to be immersed in the vast and secluded forest fairyland of Dayuan Mountain, and he was not shocked or surprised by Xiao Chang'an's words. Even when Xiao Chang'an blurted out the bet that was enough to shock the world, his posture did not change in the slightest.
When Xiao Chang'an uttered the last word, Li Wujiu finally turned around and looked directly into his eyes.
At that moment, Xiao Yu clearly saw the change in his master's eyes.
It was a radiance that gradually brightened from the depths, clear yet profound, carrying a strange power that penetrated the human heart.
That gaze was fixed intently on Xiao Chang'an, as if trying to see into his heart, and even to see through all the causes and conditions, people and events behind him, and even the state of the world and the personal fate within it.
In an instant, it seemed as if the entire mountaintop lit up, and this world was filled with a strange dynamism and rhythm.
Xiao Chang'an, who was confident of victory, suddenly turned pale.
Li Wujiu spoke softly, but his voice was like a thunderbolt, striking his eardrums heavily: "I see that you will fall in love with a woman you cannot have. That will be the only chance in your life for you to understand love."
If someone had said such things to Xiao Chang'an under normal circumstances, he would have scoffed and laughed it off.
He has always looked down on emotions, let alone being moved by anyone.
But at this moment, he found himself speechless. Li Wujiu's curse, which seemed like a curse of destiny, was directed at his very heart.
It resonated in his heart, as if he were talking to himself. And at that moment, he felt a violent jolt in his heart, followed by a sharp pain as if struck by lightning.
His body was unharmed, but his soul struggled in excruciating pain, wondering: Is this Li Wujiu's revenge?
He immediately realized that Li Wujiu hadn't done anything; he had simply stated what he had seen.
That would be enough to damage his resolve.
At this moment, he also understood one thing: if it were a bet, no one in the world could beat Li Wujiu's Heavenly Eye.
Li Wujiu's voice, as thunderous as a mountain range, resounded ruthlessly across the hilltop: "I bet."
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