"Third, come have a bite." Xiang Yu put some fried beans into a bowl, sat on a stool, and tilted his chin at Xiang Jing.
Xiang Jing stretched lazily, sat opposite Xiang Yu, pinched up two crisp fried beans, and crunched them loudly between his teeth.
"Are we fighting again next? Keep pushing forward? Linji isn't that far from us." Xiang Hundred Punishments looked at Xiang Yu while chewing beans.
"The original strategy was to hold this position, but judging by the General's intentions, we should keep pushing west." Xiang Yu set the bowl on the table, picked up a small jug of wine from beside him, and untied its cord himself.
Xiang Jing's eyes lit up. "Wine!?"
Then he hesitated again. "But we're defending the city. Can we drink?"
"All sides are at peace for the moment. This is practically a tacit ceasefire—why can't we drink? Are we supposed to keep fighting until we die?" Xiang Yu smiled indifferently, poured a bowl of wine, and raised it toward Xiang Jing. "Come, have some. If normal people fight for too long without using wine to vent some pressure, they'll go mad."
"Alright." Xiang Jing swallowed, took the wine from Xiang Yu, tipped his head back, and gulped it down along with the beans he had not fully chewed, draining the bowl in one go.
"Haah—now that's satisfying. Feels damn good." Xiang Jing wiped the remaining wine from the corner of his mouth and laughed heartily. "Too bad Second Brother and Little Four aren't here. If they were, this wine would taste even better!"
"Yeah." Xiang Yu sighed, and a trace of loneliness entered his usually calm eyes. "When the war ends, the four of us siblings can have plenty of drinks together."
Zi Huai crouched in his tent, endlessly rubbing