Chapter 38: The Hero (Part 1)

“Hmm, how did Lord Commandant sleep last night?”
Pu Da Chui winked at Li Kuo, trying hard to suppress a smile. The dark circles under his commandant’s eyes were clear evidence—yes, clear evidence!
Li Kuo shook his head helplessly. “I was studying the topographic map drawn by Yu Cheng last night. How could I possibly think about sleeping?”
People had been asking him this question since early morning. The young man had no idea what on earth they were up to.
“Oh, you didn’t sleep? Well, the weather’s nice. I’ll go take a walk at the bow.”
With that, Pu Da Chui immediately left, not giving Li Kuo a chance to ask further questions.
“Sigh, Da Chui!”
The young man waved his hand but found that Pu Da Chui had already gone to the bow. He could only sigh deeply.
“General Li, come taste the barley fried rice I just made,” Cui Hua said, sticking her head out of the cabin and holding up a bowl of golden, green-colored fried rice. “Hmm, why does it smell so good? It must be you who prepared it, sister!”
Li Kuo’s mood improved instantly as he smiled and stepped forward. Taking the porcelain bowl, he began eating heartily. After days of fighting, he had only eaten dry foods like flatbreads and baked cakes, with no fat at all. After enduring such hardship, how could he not be delighted to taste delicious barley fried rice? “It’s really tasty! Your cooking skills are amazing, sister!”
Li Kuo raised his head and smiled slightly.
Seeing a few rice grains still stuck to Li Kuo’s lips, Cui Hua burst into laughter. “General, you eat just like my husband.”
“Oh, is that so?”
But Li Kuo didn’t slow down his eating at all, continuing to devour the food eagerly.
Cui Hua was surprised that a high-ranking military officer could be as down-to-earth as an ordinary farmer, without any airs. She was very pleased.
“General, eat slowly. We peasants don’t have many fancy skills, but we’re good at making fried rice. If you like it, we’ll make it for you every day.”
Cui Hua spoke warmly, her accent gradually becoming more rural.
Hearing this, the rice Li Kuo had just swallowed sprouted out instantly, causing him to cough violently.
At the thought of Cui Hua saying she would make fried rice for him every day, he reflexively thought of A Tian’s fried eggs.
“You little rascal, get up quickly! I made your favorite fried eggs for you!”
“You little rascal, come back early, and I’ll make your favorite fried eggs for you!”
At these thoughts, tears streamed down the young man’s cheeks. It had been nearly a year since he left Chang’an. He wondered if A Tian was still okay.

Cui Hua didn’t know which words had been inappropriate and upset the general. While patting Li Kuo’s back, she hurriedly said, “Please forgive me if I said anything wrong. I’m just a commoner who doesn’t know many rules.”
Li Kuo waved his hand, looking somewhat embarrassed. “Sister, I’m not blaming you. I just suddenly thought of an old friend.”
“General, general! The wind is coming!”
Pu Da Chui, who was standing at the bow of the ship, suddenly shouted and ran over, waving his hands from time to time.
“Speak slowly. Don’t rush,” Li Kuo said calmly, putting the fried rice aside.
“I went to the bow a while ago. It was clear skies, but suddenly dark clouds appeared from nowhere. The clouds were very heavy, as if filled with lead. At first, I thought it was nothing, but then the dark clouds rushed toward our fleet from the east. I asked those Qiang fishermen, and they said it might be the Dragon King of Qinghai showing his power!” (Note 5)
Li Kuo was confused. “What’s the Dragon King of Qinghai? What does this weather change have to do with him?”
Pu Da Chui replied, “Those Qiang people say there’s a Dragon King in Qinghai Sea. Every odd-numbered month, he appears from the sea’s center, bringing rain to nourish all living things.”
Hearing his mysterious explanation, Li Kuo smiled bitterly. “There’s no such thing as a Dragon King. It’s just rumor after rumor. Who has ever really seen him?”
Before he could finish speaking, the dark clouds above quickly spread, covering the entire sky in an instant. The distant mountain peaks were completely hidden by the clouds, turning the land as dark as night.
Then came a thunderous roar, and the ship seemed to shake three times. Silver flashes cut through the sky, causing fear. It seemed as if the Dragon King of Qinghai had heard their conversation and was enraged, determined to punish these ignorant people with a violent storm. A sharp crack of thunder split the sky, and sparse raindrops began to fall, hitting the ship’s edge and people’s faces with a pattering sound. Gradually, the wind grew stronger, carrying stones and sand that hit people’s faces, making it impossible to stand.
“Quick, go inside the warehouse!”
Li Kuo protected his face with his arms and ran toward the warehouse as fast as he could. During his time at the Imperial Academy, he had read an ancient scroll given by the envoys to Tang China, which said that in case of a severe storm at sea, the best thing to do was to hide in a warehouse. A storm was even more fierce than the Tubo barbarians. Staying at the bow would mean being swept away by the wind in no time, leaving not even bones behind!

It seemed that the Dragon King of Qinghai had no intention of forgiving anyone; roaring, he poured the waters of the Heavenly River down upon the world.
Violent winds mixed with rain lashes angrily at anything that tries to block them, scourging all creatures that refuse to obey them.
Another thunderclap, deafening! In an instant, the raindrops formed a line, and with a roar, the downpour poured down from the sky as if the heavens had collapsed.
“Go inside the warehouse, quickly!”
Li Kuo grabbed Cuihua’s wrist, who was still in a daze, and pulled her into the warehouse.
“Ah!”
Cuihua let out a cry and collapsed against Li Kuo’s chest.
“Be careful! It’s insane—just moments ago the sky was clear, and now it changed so suddenly!”
Helping Cuihua up, Li Kuo whispered warnings.
Wet to the skin, the young man was extremely frustrated and began cursing the heavens.
Outside the warehouse, the rain fell violently; the dark sky seemed about to collapse. The wind chased the rain, and the rain chased the wind, together chasing the dark clouds in the sky—everything was submerged in rain. The fierce wind and rain struck the wooden door like countless whips, emitting harsh sounds.
Even Qinghai, which had been calm earlier, now had huge waves—turbulent waves pounded against the ship’s sides, emitting primal roars like those of beasts. It seemed as though the entire world had fallen into a nightmare, everything in chaos.
“Have all the brothers gone inside the warehouse?”
Li Kuo shook the rain from his head and asked Pu Dachui, who was drenched.
“Everyone’s in. This damned weather is just like a woman’s mood—changes suddenly!”
Pu Dachui complained, then suddenly realized Cuihua was still nearby and quickly covered his mouth.
“Call that fisherman and Chen Xu over!”
Li Kuo’s anger made his voice rise.
“Yes!”
Pu Dachui went to get them, and soon brought the Qiang fisherman and Chen Xu up from the lower deck.
“Elder, what’s going on? Why was everything fine just now, and suddenly it turned into this mess?”
Li Kuo wiped the rain from his face and spoke solemnly.
Chen Xu was about to translate when the Qiang fisherman replied in broken Mandarin, “The Dragon King of Qinghai has manifested! He’s appeared! Someone must have done something wrong again—someone must have angered him.”
The fisherman was clearly furious, his beard trembling as he spoke.
Li Kuo was shocked—could this Qiang man speak Mandarin?
“Elder, is there really a Dragon King of Qinghai?”

“Right in the middle of the sea, right there in the middle. Wind blows every odd month. The wind has started! The Windy Sea is about to devour people again.”
Li Kuo listened to him in a daze, feeling anxious, but he patiently asked, “Elder, what should we do now? Is there any place where we can take shelter from the wind?”
Everyone felt helpless. The vast Windy Sea stretched endlessly, and they were currently sailing right in its center—how could they find a place to stop?
But unexpectedly, the Qiang fisherman’s eyes flashed with a glint as he said tremblingly, “Yes, there is! There’s a small island in the middle of the sea called Longju Island. We must be right in the middle now; only here can such a fierce storm occur!”
Li Kuo grabbed the old man’s hand and said, “Please steer the boat in that direction. The lives of these dozen ships and hundreds of people depend on you!”
Li Kuo lifted the curtain and looked outside the cabin. Dark clouds rolled by, and rain poured down like pillars.
It was at that moment that the young man truly realized the insignificance and fragility of life…
Note 1: Barley Fried Rice: Ingredients: a bowl of barley rice, one egg, appropriate amounts of green onions and salt.
Note 2: Cooked food: as opposed to cold food. The meanings of “cooked” and “cold” here are different from today’s usage. During the Cold Food Festival, ancient people did not light fires and only ate cold food. As recorded in Lu Xi’s “Records of Ye,” “In Ye, on the 150th day after the Winter Solstice, people extinguish fires and eat cold food for three days, eating dry porridge, which is what we call ‘qiu’ today.”
Tang Dynasty soldiers often ate cold foods like flatbreads to stave off hunger, resulting in many suffering from stomach ailments.
Note 3: Guokui: A traditional snack made of flour, popular among urban and rural residents in Guanzhong, Shaanxi. (I’m not a paid promoter!) It is said that during the Wu Zhou dynasty (Empress Wu Zetian’s reign), when soldiers built Qianling Mausoleum for her, due to the massive scale of the project, many laborers were needed to work hard. Since there were no cooking utensils at the construction site, the soldiers used their helmets as cooking tools to bake flatbreads, hence the name Guokui.
Note 4: In Shaanxi dialect, it means “I”.
Note 5: “Sea monsters” have been circulating among the indigenous herdsmen around the lake for hundreds of years. Ancient texts describe them as creatures with the body of a cow and the head of a leopard, white in color with black patterns, their fur a mix of red and green. They leap through waves at great speed, like startled magpies. When they see people near the shore, they dive underwater. No one knows what kind of beasts they are. It is said that those herdsmen who have seen these “sea monsters” are filled with fear and worship them, offering sacrifices of cattle and sheep to the sea gods. Thus, various legends about the sea gods manifesting spread from person to person.