Chapter 94: Dance Before the Battle

Liu Buwen and Luo Gan kept the beat, while Yanshan and Xiao Zhi worked the bamboo poles, opening and closing them in rhythm so that Jun Tao could dance between them. It was a lively scene, and Jun Tao had already grown fairly adept at moving with ease between the poles.

After a while, everyone took a break at the side. Jun Tao wiped the sweat from her brow, and Luo Gan handed her a waterskin.

"This dance is really interesting," Jun Tao said. "I’ve never seen anything like it before. It doesn’t seem like a Han dance at all."

Liu Buwen said, "The bamboo poles symbolize the harvest season, don’t they? It’s fascinating. Brother Aruo, is this a dance from your homeland? It’s truly eye-opening!"

Xiao Zhi said, "I wouldn’t exactly call it a local dance. I’ve been to their village before, and they didn’t use bamboo poles during the harvest celebration, though the dance was much the same."

Luo Gan puffed himself up with pride. "Never seen it? That’s perfectly normal. The bamboo pole dance comes from the customs of the Zhuang and Li peoples."

"The Zhuang and Li peoples?"

Luo Gan realized that in this era, the people of Tang had not yet made many precise distinctions among the ethnic minorities, lumping them together under broad labels like "barbarians," so the mention of the Zhuang naturally puzzled them.

"They’re minority peoples, you might say. Today the nation is united under one rule, and all these diverse peoples have come together. Isn’t cultural blending what matters?"

Yanshan and Xiao Zhi listened in complete bewilderment. Liu Buwen hurried into the room to fetch brush and ink, afraid he might forget something important.

Jun Tao, however, took it in stride. Smiling, she said, "You really are something else. Brother Aruo, you must be exceptionally learned. Sometimes the things you say are completely impossible for anyone around you to understand."

Luo Gan scratched his head, feeling ashamed. "Not at all. I simply have an unusual way of speaking. I don’t have much real learning."

Xiao Zhi said, "Brother Aruo, sometimes I just don’t get you! Clearly you’re so capable, so why do you always say you can’t do this or that?" He paused, head lowered, and went on, "People like us would fight tooth and nail for even the rarest opportunity. Brother Aruo, how come I never see even the slightest trace of ambition on your face?"

Luo Gan froze. Suddenly he understood: he was not a person of this age after all. Between two worlds, his attachment to this one was never deep. Even when he made money, he had little desire for worldly possessions. Instead, he had done many selfless deeds and saved countless common people.

Of course, none of them knew that Luo Gan possessed strong desires of his own. He wanted the grand reward of the real world, not the illusion before his eyes. The wealth and glory in the game were all but flowers in a mirror and the moon reflected in water. For Xiao Zhi or Liu Buwen, profit and renown were the very foundations of survival; without them, a person was good for nothing.

Thinking of this, he suddenly remembered what he had said to Jun Tao by the lake at Wangqing Pavilion that day. Perhaps it was precisely because one had no restraints that one could throw oneself into the fray without fear.

"Desire, you say? Who says a person has no desire?" Luo Gan said with a touch of melancholy. "Perhaps I just haven’t found mine yet."

To the others, Luo Gan was the key that bound their fates together, the core of the whole group. If his subordinates could not discern his thoughts, their minds would inevitably become a tangled mess, leaving them uncertain which way to turn.

Noon had already passed, and morning training was over. Jun Tao and Luo Gan went out into the streets for a stroll, heading toward the northwest, where the imperial palace stood.

The palace was solemn and imposing, a dragon coiled and a tiger crouched in the distance, overbearing and untouchable. At its center lay a broad square, vast and majestic.

Luo Gan pointed toward the square. "In not much time, you’ll be able to perform there, won’t you?"

Jun Tao said, "If all goes well, I hope so."

The two fell silent, watching sunlight pour into the imperial city while the imperial guards patrolled back and forth, searching for anything amiss. Officials who had just been honored with a palace banquet came out in groups from within the palace, each one impeccably dressed and carrying themselves with great authority.

"Shouldn’t a true man live like that?" Jun Tao said suddenly, watching the scholars and officials emerge.

Luo Gan only felt a chill in his heart. Those were things far beyond his reach, too distant from his own life.

"Each person has a different fate. Everyone must have some mission in this world that they are meant to complete."

Jun Tao said nothing. The smile that had been on her face slowly faded.

"Mortals can never escape death in the end," she said, a note of sadness in her voice as she crouched down. "Then why do I dance upon that square? Why do we struggle so hard just to stay alive? Is it all only a dream?"

From Jun Tao’s words, Luo Gan heard a trace of the same helplessness that lived in his own heart. Yet there was a difference: Luo Gan understood that this was a dream, while Jun Tao feared that it might be one.

"Death is only an end. We all run along the road, doing everything we can as we go. Perhaps it isn’t the outcome we seek, but the journey itself," Luo Gan said softly, lowering himself to sit beside her. "Take warriors going to the battlefield, for example. Some seek lasting glory, some fight to defend their homes, and some are merely driven by circumstance. Each has a reason, and all roads lead to the same place."

"Then..." Jun Tao twirled the handle of her peach-blossom fan in her fingers. "Then you want me to dance this battlefront dance to rally people’s spirits?"

Luo Gan was moved by her words. A dance he had thrown together in a moment of desperation had been understood as carrying such lofty purpose. If he told Jun Tao what he truly had in mind, she would likely only look down on him.

"Yes! To shine upon the world, to hold the whole world in your heart. The realm is still unstable right now, and I think His Majesty would also hope to let the world see a little light through this."

"Heh. Have you even seen His Majesty?"

Luo Gan shook his head.

"You haven’t even met him, and yet you dare speak as though you know what His Majesty is thinking? That’s rather bold," Jun Tao said sharply, though her tone carried no reproach. If anything, it sounded like consolation.

"Perhaps it is bold. But once you widen your horizons, you can’t help but sigh that the hardest thing in the world is finding a wise ruler."

"Since that’s how it is, let’s just do our best with our dance."

Jun Tao was still doubtful, unable to tell what Luo Gan was really thinking.

In truth, what Luo Gan had in mind was that if he made a fool of himself dancing before the emperor, the consequences would be serious indeed.

The next day, Luo Gan spent some money and brought in more than twenty young women to join in the bamboo pole dance as Jun Tao’s accompanists.

Yanshan said, "Guild leader, we don’t have much time left. Is it really going to be enough to bring people in now?"

Liu Buwen said, "I’ve heard that dance competitions are more spectacular with larger crowds, but this does feel rather rushed."

Xiao Zhi shook his head and said nothing, as though the outcome had already been decided.

Standing among the crowd, Luo Gan raised his arm and called out, "Don’t hold back! In these last few days, we have to sprint to the finish. Our vision has to be higher! What we’re going to dance is a battlefront dance! A dance to inspire everyone in the world and help them face life with courage! We must give everything we have to win this competition!"

Just then, a girl in the bamboo poles accidentally twisted her ankle, knocked into the girl in front of her, and like dominoes the more than twenty of them tumbled down one after another. By the time they were about to crash into Jun Tao, she leapt aside just in time and avoided being toppled.

Watching that sorry display from the women’s side, Luo Gan could only sigh from the heart.

"It seems the road ahead is still a long one."