Deep within the Yu residence, eight household guards stood around a Bamboo Hut.
Inside the Bamboo Hut,
Yu Yuling sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, his lips parched and his face haggard.
This was the third day of his hunger strike.
Dressed in a blue-green robe, Yu Yi walked slowly into the room.
Yu Yuling weakly opened his eyes. Seeing his father, he braced a hand against the floor and tried to rise to pay his respects.
Yu Yi shook his head dismissively. "Enough. You don't even care about your life anymore. What use have you for these empty formalities?"
Yu Yuling stubbornly stood anyway and bowed to his father, his voice faint. "Propriety must not be abandoned."
"Propriety lies in the heart, not in appearances," Yu Yi said coldly. "You Confucians say that your body, hair, and skin are gifts from your parents. What do you call this, then? Coercion?"
"I wouldn't dare coerce you, Father. I only wish to return to the Commandery Academy."
Just then, an attendant announced from outside, "Master, the food has arrived."
"Bring it in."
Two servants entered with food boxes in hand, bowing as they came.
"Take it away," Yu Yuling said. "I won't eat."
Without a word, the servants laid out the dishes and utensils from the boxes: two bowls of plain congee, four small side dishes, and two plates of pastries.
"It isn't for you anyway," Yu Yi said mildly.
The servants prepared a cushion for Yu Yi, then bowed and withdrew.
Yu Yi sat down at his leisure, picked up a bowl of congee, and began drinking it without a care.
"A Han fu says, 'The richness of fattened oxen, accompanied by bamboo shoots and cattail.' Properly cooked bamboo shoots taste even better than beef. People in Kuaiji like steaming