Chapter 435 – The Fall of Tiger
April 30th, 193 AD.
An envoy from Cao Cao arrived at Jianye City, bringing gifts to the Sun Clan. They stopped in front of the city wall.
At the gate of Jianye, merchants and civilians queued to get inside the city. When they saw a tribute convoy, they looked at the banners of the group and exclaimed.
"Cao Cao!?"
"Cao Cao's men are here!?"
The commotion attracted the gate guards. They informed their superiors, who rushed into the palace and told their lord.
Within an hour, Sun Jian came out to welcome them.
Cheng Yu led the group himself to ensure the negotiation. Behind him, Pu Jing also followed after the strategist, acting as his bodyguard.
When Sun Jian met Cheng Yu, the latter cupped his fist and bowed.
"I'm here as a representative of Marquis of Wei. We're here to apologize for the past events and restore our relationship."
Huang Gai, Han Dang, and Cheng Pu had followed Sun Jian to meet them. When they heard that Cheng Yu wanted to apologize for the past, they snorted and spat in disgust.
All of them almost died from Cao Cao's previous ambushes. Now, they simply wanted to beg for their forgiveness and wanted to end the feud just like that?
"My lord, can we kill this bastard and send his head to Cao Cao?"
"Yeah. We're supposed to be controlling Xu Province, but that bastard stole it from us!"
"I don't think we can forgive them just like that, right?"
Listened to his men, Sun Jian nodded.
He, too, could not forgive Cao Cao for what he did.
"I'm afraid that you've come in vain. We have nothing to talk as long as you're still attacking our men in Guangling. If you want to talk, bring Cao Cao here!"
Cheng Yu and Pu Jing frowned. Although they knew that this matter was not easy, they never expected that Sun Jian would be this direct.
"Shouldn't you inspect what we've brought to you?
Sun Jian snorted, "Gold and provision? We don't need it here. Get lost before we kill you."
Cheng Yu smiled and turned to Pu Jing. The latter took out a cubic object, wrapped in clothes.
Pu Jing peeled off the clothes and revealed what was inside.
The Imperial Seal!
Sun Jian was taken aback by the item, "What are you trying to instigate here!?"
Because they talked in front of the city wall, many soldiers and civilians could see the seal and witness the secret deal. Many merchants paid attention to the detail as they would reap benefits selling this intel to other territories or other lords.
Cheng Yu smiled. He did not bother trying to hide the seal. In fact, he wanted everyone to see it and spread more rumors.
With a loud voice, the strategist declared, "I'm here to form a friendly relationship between Lord Cao Cao and Lord Sun Jian by gifting Lord Sun Jian the Imperial Seal!"
Sun Jian widened his eyes in shock. He realized now that it was a scheme by Cao Cao to trick his people that they became allies.
In anger, Sun Jian yelled at Cheng Yu, "GET LOST!! TAKE THAT SEAL AWAY AND TELL CAO CAO THAT I WILL NEVER FORGIVE HIM FOR WHAT HE HAS DONE!! GET LOST BEFORE I KILL ALL OF YOU!!"
Soldiers were alarmed by their lord's bellow. They drew their swords while the archers on the wall aimed at the visiting caravan.
Cheng Yu's face was as calm as ever. He was not panicked in front of many soldiers.
"Then, I shall inform our lord. What a pity."
Cao Cao's caravan retreated from Jianye in peace while the citizens spread the news about the Imperial Seal's existence. They began to question the authority of the emperor and his relationship with Cao Cao.
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As the caravan got out of the range of Jianye's archers, Cheng Yu whispered to Pu Jing.
"Kill Sun Jian and everyone inside the city."
Pu Jing grumbled, "I can kill only Sun Jian. If I kill more than one person a day with my soul, I'll be crippled by the goddess."
"Then, kill Sun Jian. Don't disappoint us."
Pu Jing clicked his tongue. He regretted choosing to side with Cao Cao.
'All of them never trust me, don't they? Well, they were merely tools for me. I don't care any of them dies anyway.'
He sent his souls to Jianye.
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Meanwhile, Sun Jian reported Cao Cao's movements to his clan chat. Also, he asked about Sun Fang's wellbeing in Guangling.
Sun Jian: "Are you sure you're doing alright on your own? I heard Cao Cao is attacking that city at the moment. Do you need reinforcement?"
Sun Fang: "Nah, I'm fine. I've been soloing 10,000 soldiers three times now. Cao Cao Army is currently crippled because of my Qi Blast, so you don't need to worry about me."
Sun Fang: "By the way, how are Bofu and Gongjin? Are they throwing a tantrum again?"
Sun Jian: "Yeah. Bofu keeps saying that Da Qiao is his even though she married Zhang Tong."
Sun Ce: "She is my wife, Dad! She married me in her previous life!"
Sun Jian: "Stop that previous life nonsense! I can't believe you're into something superstitious!"
Sun Ce: "It's true, dad! We're all born in this era once without all immortals! Da Qiao is supposed to be my wife, and Xiao Qiao is Gongjin's wife! That bastard has stolen them from us!"
Sun Jian: "That's enough, Bofu."
Sun Ce: "What if someone steals your mom, dad? Won't you get angry like me?"
Sun Jian: "You've crossed the line, Bofu. Shut up and stop spamming the clan chat!"
Everyone was helpless against Sun Ce's raging comments. He kept drinking and complaining about his previous life and his memory about the past.
It became worse as Zhou Yu also confirmed the story of their marriage life. They also blamed Sun Fang for the cause of this chaos and civil war, telling everyone that he should not have existed.
This enraged Sun Fang. Because of their actions, Sun Fang stopped talking to them or confirming their stories, pretending that they had lost their minds.
Sun Jian could tell what everyone was thinking from his observation.
'Fang'er and Bofu can't get along. Now, Gongjin is siding with Bofu and making things worse. What should I do?'
He had a severe headache.
His family issues were troublesome enough. Then, Cheng Yu brought the Imperial Seal to stir chaos in his territory, which was even more disturbing.
While Sun Jian was resting, 11-year-old Sun Quan and his wife, Wu Guotai, visited him.
"Dad!"
The boy was cheerful and outgoing. He ran to his father and jumped onto Sun Jian's seat, sitting on his laps.
Sun Jian laughed and hugged his son, "What are you doing here, Zhongmou?"
"I wanna be with you! Let's play!"
"Hahaha! Okay!"
Among all of his sons, Sun Jian liked the innocent Sun Quan more.
Being with his family let him forget the cruel world of chaos.
Wu Guotai watched the two father-and-son playing a tag game with a bright smile. While she was watching, she touched her belly, savoring the happiness.
This month, her period had not come.
To the local people in this world, this signified two things, a disease or a pregnancy.
Wu Guotai's instinct told her that she had gotten another child with Sun Jian.
Getting another child and watching her husband playing with her son, Wu Guotai, was a happy wife …
.
.
.
Until a ghost being with a wound on its chest appeared behind Sun Jian.
.
.
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*SWUA*
The ghost's hand entered Sun Jian's body from behind and pierced through his front chest.
Blood gushed out from the wounds from the front, and the back as his heart was destroyed.
Sun Quan, who was running toward his father, froze. His eyes stared straight at the bloody hand as his father's red fluid splashed onto his face.
Wu Guotai's world had frozen as she could not comprehend what had happened. Her stomach churned, and her sight blackened.
She fainted!
Pu Jing's soul withdrew his hand. It waved its bloody hand to get rid of all liquid on its transparent body.
It glared at the shocked Sun Quan with a smile.
The smile disappeared, replaced with an angered expression.
"Lucky you, brat."
The soul spoke and left, disappearing into the ceiling.
Sun Jian lost his strength. Yet, his body did not fall down to earth.
He kept standing before his favorite son and used his final strength to smile at Sun Quan.
For his one wish, even in his death, he did not want to show his son his weaknesses.
Still, he regretted dying before he could see any of his sons thrived.
'I'm sorry, Zhongmou. It was my mistake. I should have surrendered to Zhang Tong and took all of you to Ye. I'm sorry.'
As if Sun Quan could hear his thought, the boy's eyes swelled as tears rolled down on his cheeks.
"… Dad?"
Sun Jian burnt the image of his child's face into his mind, swearing that he would not forget his son's face in the afterlife.
'If there were next life, I want to be a better father to you. I'm … sorry.'
Sun Jian's consciousness faded.
.
.
"NOOOOO!!!"
All members in Sun Fang's clan, Sun Ce, Zhou Yu, Huang Gai, Cheng Pu, Han Dang, and Zhu Ran, could not believe what the system message told them.
On the other hand, Sun Fang laughed, celebrating his father's death.
"Good job, Pu Jing! Now, the conquest is going to get easier!"
