As Liu Bang, Zhang Jiao, and Zhu Yuanzhang pondered the video of Zhang Jiao's personal song that the administrator had played, the translucent rebel army group interface reappeared before them.
[Administrator: Next up is Zhu Yuanzhang's song, "Half a Life Ahead."]
The image changed immediately.
A figure appeared who was clearly drawn, with an out-of-proportion head and body, an oversized head, and rather comical facial features.
Dressed in a bright yellow robe and a bright yellow crown with two projecting flaps, his exposed hair and beard graying, he sat in a study, sobbing.
"My eldest grandson, my dear wife, my Biao'er!"
Zhu Yuanzhang frowned at his first glimpse of the scene.
Why was the animation-the moving picture-accompanying his song so crudely made, even laughable? Was this administrator deliberately mocking him?
But when he heard what the animated figure was crying out, his attention immediately shifted.
Although the figure's robe differed considerably from the current everyday attire of a Great Ming emperor, he clearly represented Zhu Yuanzhang himself.
It had been nearly ten years since he founded Great Ming. Though he had yet to defeat the Remnant Yuan completely or take Yunnan, he had conquered Sichuan, Gansu, and other regions. Under his rule, Great Ming had well-trained troops and ample provisions. Once he had another three or four years to put domestic affairs in better order, he could seize Yunnan in the south and campaign against the Remnant Yuan in the north.
It was no exaggeration to say that he was now brimming with confidence, his ambitions fulfilled and his spirits soaring.
Yet his animated self was sobbing, crying, "My eldest grandson, my dear wife, my Biao'er!"
If this animation, like the one Zhang Jiao had received, foretold the course of future events, did that not mean that something might happen to his eldest grandson, his wife, and Biao'er?
"If it were merely some ordinary misfortune, I wouldn't sob like this. Surely they couldn't... all die before me?"
"Impossible. Absolutely impossible!"
When that terrifying conjecture inexplicably surfaced in his mind, Zhu Yuanzhang hurriedly shook his head to drive it away.
But even as he thought this, the scene changed.
The figure representing him stood before a coffin, in which lay a boy not yet grown. Another man sobbed beside it, also dressed in a bright yellow robe and unmistakably wearing the crown of Great Ming's crown prince.
Then his animated self collapsed against the coffin as well, weeping uncontrollably.
Zhu Yuanzhang froze.
"Is that really Xiongying?"
"My eldest grandson... died young?"
Just then, mournful background music and a woman's singing began.
"Half a life ahead, so desolate; falling blossoms tear the heart apart, you and I at opposite ends of the earth. I chase your moonlight, but tears soak my eyes. How can I forget the past borne away upon the wind..."
As the song played, the animation that had initially looked rather comical suddenly took on a tragic, sorrowful air.
Meanwhile, its scenes continued to change.
A group held a funeral for the young boy who appeared to be Xiongying. Once his tombstone was erected, the inscription stood starkly upon it: "Tomb of Zhu Xiongying, Prince of Yu"!
That all but confirmed Zhu Xiongying's untimely death!
Before Zhu Yuanzhang had time to think further, he saw a scene that left his heart hanging in dread.
A dignified woman, her face ravaged by illness, lay in bed, coughing from time to time. After taking her pulse, the imperial physician could only shake his head.
The animated figure representing him appeared. After questioning the physician, he flew into a rage, shouted something at him, and summoned men to drag him outside.
The imperial physician wept bitterly, pleading over and over for mercy.
He remained unmoved.
Only when the dignified woman on the sickbed summoned the strength to plead with him did he spare the physician.
"Not long after Xiongying dies, my dear wife develops an incurable illness and is about to die too?"
Having understood the scene, Zhu Yuanzhang refused to believe it. Yet his clearheaded mind told him that ordering an imperial physician executed for failing to cure Ma Xiuying was indeed something he would do.
And Ma Xiuying would certainly plead with him, just as she did in the animation.
She was that kindhearted.
In the animation, he personally fed Ma Xiuying her medicine and kept her company, chatting and recalling their younger days together.
A circle with rippling edges appeared within the main picture, showing animated scenes of their memories.
Not long after he married Ma Xiuying, Guo Zixing's suspicions had landed him in prison, where he nearly starved to death. Empress Ma had hidden flatbreads against her chest every day and brought them in when she visited, keeping him alive.
It was also Ma Xiuying who pleaded his case before Guo Zixing and secured his release...
Later, when he assembled his own forces and struck out independently, Ma Xiuying not only managed their household but repeatedly stepped forward at critical moments to keep his rear secure. She also counseled him many times, safeguarding their greater interests.
Ma Xiuying was, in every sense, a model of a devoted and capable wife.
Without Ma Xiuying, he, Zhu Chongba, would most likely never have come this far!
As the remembered scenes within the rippling circle disappeared, Ma Xiuying in the main picture reached the end of her life. At last, her hand fell away, and she departed from him!
At that moment, the song shifted into an even more mournful melody, sung in an operatic style.
"Flowers bloom and fade, filling the sky; you flicker in and out of sight. Morning after morning, dusk after dusk, yet I cannot trace the outlines of your face..."
"My dear wife, my dear wife..."
Although he still could not be certain that the animation depicted the future, the mere thought of Empress Ma passing away filled Zhu Yuanzhang with anguish.
Before he had much time to grieve, the animation showed something even more painful, something he could scarcely accept.
An unknown number of years passed. His animated self now had snow-white hair and beard, yet still reigned as Great Ming's emperor. Then the figure representing the crown prince suddenly fell ill and died!
"Biao'er!"
In the animation, his aged self collapsed over the coffin, sobbing.
Watching the song video, Zhu Yuanzhang could no longer hold himself together either.
"Biao'er will die before me too?"
"How is that possible?"
"Surely I don't live so long that I outlast Biao'er?"
"But his hair and beard in the picture are still black. He clearly dies in his prime... impossible, absolutely impossible!"
"If Biao'er leaves before me too, who am I supposed to entrust Great Ming to? Xiongying? But Xiongying dies young too..."
At this thought, Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly recalled the song's two alternate names.
"The Great Ming Misfortune Song, Zhu Di's Happy Song... could it be that, because Xiongying dies young and Biao'er passes away, I give the throne to my fourth son?"
"That isn't very likely either... passing the throne down through the eldest legitimate line is national policy. It keeps the realm stable and prevents fathers, sons, and brothers from slaughtering one another over the throne, as they did in Li Tang."
"Even if Biao'er dies and Xiongying passes away young, surely he would have other children?"
"Besides, even if Biao'er's line dies out, I would consider my second son first... forget it, that boy is a disappointment. But there's still my third son. Only after him would I consider my fourth."
Thinking that this animation might very well be a prophecy of the future, Zhu Yuanzhang was filled with sorrow, anxiety, and countless questions.
Unable to make sense of it, he could only hope that the rest of the animation would offer a clue.
But it offered none. After the figure representing Zhu Biao died, he walked into the snowstorm sweeping through the Forbidden City. His once-upright frame grew increasingly stooped, while the people following behind him dwindled until he stood alone, looking utterly lonely and forlorn.
By then, the song had reached its second repetition of that desolate melody.
"I sigh softly for this fleeting life, sigh for a lovely face; coming and going, how many years have passed? Who will write the regrets of half a lifetime? Only passing travelers remain in this world..."
When Zhu Yuanzhang first heard the song, he had found it somewhat novel. Now, he felt only that it magnified the sorrow and anxiety in his heart without end.
He slammed his fist against the imperial desk and roared, "Enough!"
Yet the song in the rebel army group carried on regardless, still pouring into his ears.
Rather than sinking into despair at this sense of helplessness, Zhu Yuanzhang drew a deep breath and clenched his fists.
"If what this song's animation shows is true, then now that I know, I will never let it happen again!"
"Xiongying is only four this year, still a small child, while in the animation he looks half-grown when he dies. My wife and Biao'er both die of illness after him... there's still time!"
With that thought, Zhu Yuanzhang finally calmed down, and his thoughts grew clearer.
First, he questioned the administrator directly.
[Zhu Yuanzhang: Administrator, are the scenes depicted in this song's animation prophecies of what will happen to us?]
The administrator did not answer, but Liu Bang did.
[Liu Bang: As far as your old man here can tell, it's probably fake-Zhang Jiao, can you summon heavenly lightning?] [Zhang Jiao: I cannot summon heavenly lightning, nor do I know any other magical arts. I only know a few tricks for deceiving people with talisman water to cure illnesses. However, the other things shown in my song's animation, such as the people of Great Han being unable to scrape together a living today, are true.]
Seeing that the administrator showed no reaction whatsoever, Zhu Yuanzhang finally abandoned all hope of receiving an answer.
[Zhu Yuanzhang: Han Gaozu, here is the first matter on which I need Xiao, Zhang, and Chen to advise me. If what my song's animation depicts is true, how should I avert it?]