Fatty Tactics

"Let there be light!" The fat man woke up from a nightmare and frantically shouted out the three words that God had uttered when he was idle years ago, as if a new life was about to begin... He stood up, rubbed his eyes, and looked into the distance. All he could see were mountains, and it wouldn't be easy for him to descend from any direction. As the fat man was filled with worry, a beautiful fawn came into his view, pursued relentlessly by a hungry wolf. In the afterglow of the setting sun, a life-or-death race was unfolding on a mountain ridge not far away. If time could freeze at this moment, the fat man could name it "Chasing the Deer," and the voice-over would certainly be more somber—Chasing the deer is always connected to the world, and whoever wins the battle makes no difference to the deer. The lament of the musicians, "When the dynasty prospers, the people suffer; when the dynasty falls, the people suffer," is precisely the deer's awareness of their final fate. "Su Yunfan... Su Yunfan..." Watching the deer and the hungry wolf gradually disappear into the distance, the fat man thought of his son who had been gone for more than two months, but his cries, no matter how loud, received no response. At this moment, the mountains were silent, and heaven and earth were also silent. The fat man called out the child's name, and finally collapsed to his knees on the deserted mountaintop, utterly exhausted. After exhaustion, his memories slowly became clearer, and the fat man recalled the bits and pieces that had happened more than two months ago—the last place he parted from his son was a cave they had planned to visit for a long time. About half an hour after they entered the cave, the underground river suddenly surged and flowed back. At the time, the fat man was not sure whether it was an earthquake or some secret base nearby conducting a nuclear explosion experiment. As he was swept into the river by the current, his son's cries echoed in the cave for a moment, but he had no way of knowing what happened afterward. Perhaps, after he fell into the water, his son stood helplessly on the bank; or perhaps, Yunfan also jumped in without hesitation? The fat man shook his head to clear his mind and looked into the distance again, only to find that the scenery beyond the rolling mountains to the north seemed both strange and familiar. "So..." Suddenly, a map of the area flashed into the fat man's mind—the Yellow River flows north from the Kunlun Mountains, crosses the eastern side of the Qilian Mountains and the northern side of the Liupan Mountains, follows the Helan Mountains northward until it reaches the Yinshan Mountains, completing the first stroke of the character "*" (ji). The Yinshan Mountains are horizontal, then it flows south along the Lüliang Mountains, merging with the Wei River north of Mount Hua, and then flows eastward along the Qinling Mountains. Not far away are Hangu Pass, Sanmenxia, Xiaolangdi, and so on. "It's Tongguan!" the fat man exclaimed in surprise. The Wei River, which nourishes the Guanzhong Plain, joins the Yellow River, which rushes in from the north, at Tongguan. It is here that the Yellow River completes its final large bend in the "*" (ji) shape. To the northeast of the opposite bank, a peninsula-like area is surrounded by the river at an angle – this is the famous Fenglingdu. The first thing that came to Fatty's mind was the snowy night that Guo Xiang and her siblings spent in *The Return of the Condor Heroes*. That place was once the largest ferry crossing on the Yellow River; for thousands of years, countless people have passed through here, traveling between Qin and Jin. During his two-month survival adventure in the wild, Fatty encountered countless dangerous beasts in the mountains and narrowly escaped death several times. However, as he was about to leave the mountains, he became afraid of encountering people, afraid of meeting those humans who were just like he imagined. The numerous large wild animals in the mountains and forests, as well as the towering ancient trees everywhere, made the fat man think that he was dreaming. He had his own guess about the surrounding environment, and this guess was getting closer and closer to reality—he had traveled through time! The moment he saw Tongguan, his conjecture became a certainty. "I must find my son, I must." The fat man encouraged himself, tightened his grip on his homemade bow and arrow, and cautiously watched for any wild animals or people that might appear. In the past few days, the fat man had discovered some traces of humans, but his complicated life experiences had instilled in him a sense of unease, and he assumed that everyone he met was a bad person. In April, when all the flowers in the human world have faded, the low-lying wild jujube trees in the early summer mountains are already covered with "little yellow flowers from the story." Fatty has experienced the four seasons without any major incidents. More than once, he looked up at the sky at a 45-degree angle, searching for that bright sadness, but his tears had long since run dry, even though the green bamboo in the valley had already blossomed. "So, how do we begin?" With this question in mind, the fat man walked towards Tongguan for another three days before finally feeling a sense of groundedness. It was the season of falling flowers, a time almost like the weather for burying fallen petals. The fat man was overjoyed to feel the long-lost warmth of human presence. The road ahead was mostly muddy, not the asphalt or cement he was familiar with, which reinforced his awareness as a transmigrator. Although he had discussed time travel with his friends before, he was never willing to agree. One reason was that he believed in the law of conservation of energy. He thought, if you were to travel to ancient times, wouldn't someone have to die? If not, wouldn't the time traveler become the butterfly's wing, causing a vast ocean to be flooded? And according to logical reasoning, people in later generations could read about this time traveler in history books. The conclusion is that the only way out for time travelers is to have no way out at all, that is, to grow old in obscurity and loneliness... Although the fat man was uneasy about this confirmed answer, he still hoped that his son had also traveled through time, and that the two of them would one day be reunited. Perhaps this was the driving force that sustained him through the desolate forest for more than two months. Just as the fat man was wondering where to go, he suddenly heard voices approaching from afar. After being lost for more than two months, he finally saw people for the first time, the people he had imagined. "It really was time travel!"—the fat man finally came to a conclusion with mixed feelings of sorrow and joy. On the official road stood several scholars dressed in ancient attire, swords at their waists, riding spirited horses. The fat man could only guess that this was pre-Song Dynasty clothing, because after the Song Dynasty, the court began to value literature over martial arts, so scholars after the Song Dynasty disdained carrying swords. What puzzled the fat man even more was that he could hear their conversation clearly, even though they were already more than twenty meters apart. “Zhongyan’s chess game of opening a school and teaching students is truly ingenious. I, Li Mi, am ashamed to admit that I am no match for him.” The scholar who said this had the most powerful voice and the most robust physique, but judging from his expression, he was clearly not being honest. “Xuansui is too modest. Isn’t your decision to resign from your post and shut yourself in to study also part of a grand strategy?” The man who said this had the longest beard, a slender build, and a pair of narrow, phoenix-shaped eyes. The weathered look on his face showed that he was the most experienced of the three. The remaining person was the youngest, and he simply listened attentively to what they were saying, occasionally squeezing in a few words. The three were casually chatting about life and ideals when a middle-aged man rode up on horseback. Behind him were several carriages and twenty or thirty guards, all dressed in black armor. The man in the lead had a feminine appearance, yet he was wearing armor despite the hot weather, looking exceptionally brave and valiant. "Brother Zong, I didn't expect to meet you here. How have you been?" Several scholars stood by the roadside. The most burly scholar was an old acquaintance of the newly arrived military general. The two exchanged pleasantries, and the four of them introduced each other. The fat man finally guessed the origins of the four people in front of him through their mutual introductions. The newly arrived military general was probably Li Yuan, who once "shot the sparrow on the brocade screen," while the one who resigned from his official post to travel and study was Li Mi, who "hung books on ox horns." These two were not just calling each other "elder brothers" in words. Upon closer examination, they both came from the Longxi Li clan. However, due to the difference between legitimate and illegitimate branches, Li Yuan had always been superior to Li Mi, and for many years he had always been ashamed of Li Mi's branch. The fat man let his mind wander for a while, silently comparing the two with the mindset of a fan meeting his idol; compared to the two Lis, the two next to him also left a strong mark on history, the tall and slender one was Fang Qiao Fang Xuanling, and the youngest handsome scholar was Du Ruhui Du Keming. The phrase "Fang Mou Du Duan" flashed through the fat man's mind. He thought about befriending them, but then realized the awkwardness of his status. They were high-ranking noble families, dressed in fine clothes and riding spirited horses. What was he? He didn't belong to any of the social classes of scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants. He wasn't even a savage! While the fat man was wallowing in self-pity, the four men from the underworld had already waved goodbye. Although they left without taking away a single speck of dust, they left a shadow in his heart. Li Mi has gone far away, Fang Du has gone far away, heading towards the magnificent capital city of Chang'an. Li Yuan had also gone far away. He was like a passerby, going from Fufeng to Chang'an, and then from Chang'an to Xingyang. But what about Fatty? Where could he have gone...?