The Last Bond

Wang Dafa fell silent for a moment, then pressed on, "Then why did you come to save me?"

"Because I noticed one of your habits." Shi Tiexin raised a finger and said earnestly, "Whenever you were plotting against me, you called me 'A'zun.' But whenever you called me 'Shi Tou,' you were telling the truth. Thank you for having told me at least half the truth in the past. Thank you for truly having considered my sake. If you were in trouble, I had to save you at least once, no matter what."

Wang Dafa froze, staring blankly at Shi Tiexin. He took a drag from his cigarette and smiled. Bitterness, sourness, desolation, relief, regret, gratitude—his feelings were tangled beyond words, their flavor impossible to name.

Only after a long while did Wang Dafa slowly sigh. "I never even noticed it myself. Who would have thought you were my soulmate?"

A soulmate was hard to find, yet they had somehow ended up in this state.

As if recalling something, Wang Dafa changed the subject. "Right, how have you been lately?"

"Not bad." Shi Tiexin's voice grew a little lighter. "Things have been progressing rather smoothly for me, and I have you to thank for that map."

"A map?"

"The strategic map you showed me atop Tenshu-kaku that day. Advance southward and press northward, unify the east and push westward. I have to say, your grand strategy was extremely sound. You truly weren't an ordinary man."

"Of course." Wang Dafa smiled faintly. "Want to talk about it?"

"Let's talk. And please offer me some pointers."

Shi Tiexin and Wang Dafa chatted idly, unhurried and at ease, as though old friends reunited upon a hillside beneath the night sky, amid the evening breeze and the chirping insects.

He still remembered that day: