Chapter 88: Old Sha's Path to the Dao

Snitch was carried back by Hank and a group of his subordinates by sheer force. Fortunately, they had not gone deep into enemy territory, and the three-hundred-strong unit had not suffered heavy losses.

But after this battle, the morale of those few hundred ratmen warriors was bound to suffer a crushing blow, and it would not recover anytime soon.

Hank pressed Snitch down onto the bed. Snitch stared blankly at the ceiling, like a young man stricken by heartbreak, only far worse. Such inner demons were not easily cured.

He had been desperate to win back his honor, only to be played by the enemy once again. The frustration of it needed no words.

Hank, at his side, felt even more pain in his heart. He knew his elder brother too well. A creature of fierce pride, he had suffered a blow far too heavy to bear.

Hank sat at the bedside and let out a long sigh, regretting that he had not found the courage to stop his brother’s rashness in time.

“Brother, you’ve suffered so much.”

Lying on the bed, Snitch seemed drained of all strength, like an old man at the end of his years. The pressure in his heart was so immense it left him barely able to breathe. To survive this trial would be no easy thing.

Hank said nothing. Tears slid unwillingly down his cheeks as he longed desperately to change something, to break the deadlock.

But there was nothing he could do.

If only the Chieftain were here.

The Chieftain would surely have a way.

As the two brothers struggled to digest their bitter emotions, a warrior who had been standing watch outside knocked and entered.

“Commander Hank, Minister Shalidi and Minister Victor have arrived...”

The soldier, newly assigned to the night watch of the Black Banner Army, spoke in a hushed voice, afraid of disturbing the commander and earning his wrath.

Hank gave another helpless sigh.

“I understand. Let them come in.”

“Yes, sir.”

Less than a minute later, Old Sha and Victor pushed open the door one after the other, stepping lightly on their toes for fear of disturbing Snitch’s rest.

The moment Hank saw the two ministers, he rose to salute.

“No need. We’ve come to see your brother.”

Old Sha did not address Snitch as Supreme Commander, but simply as Hank’s brother, and at once much of the resistance in Hank’s heart melted away.

Old Sha’s tone was gentle. There was no trace of anger over Snitch’s unauthorized action; if anything, there was even a hint of guilt.

When Snitch saw Victor and Old Sha come to his bedside, he struggled to rise, but Old Sha gently pressed him back down with both hands.

Snitch was already full of guilt over acting on his own. He had just opened his mouth to say something when Old Sha gave a slight shake of the head.

Then he sat directly at the bedside and began straightening the bedding for him.

“Minister Sha, I...”

“I understand it all.”

With a sigh, Old Sha cut off the words that were about to follow.

“If you mean to apologize to me out of guilt, there is no need for that.”

“Victor and I did not come to blame you. We came sincerely, on behalf of our people, to thank you. And we two rats also wish to formally apologize to you. All of this was our negligence.”

Snitch stared at Old Sha with his single eye, mouth agape for a long moment, unable to say a single word.

Old Sha’s words struck straight into his heart, leaving him utterly at a loss.

Slowly, Old Sha took Snitch’s right hand, which had been trying to lift itself, and enclosed it between his own palms.

“You are hardly older than my own children. At your age, you should have been enjoying life, yet when the great enemy descended, you accepted this charge in a time of crisis and bore pressure no one your age should have to bear. That you were able to step forward at once—I truly thank you for it on behalf of our people.”

“Minister Sha, I...”

“You have done very well. The fault lies with me and Minister Victor.”

Old Sha gave Snitch no chance to speak, but continued on.

“As the Chieftain’s right and left hands, with a great enemy at our gates, we should have supported you without condition.”

“Instead, we neglected your feelings and left you to bear alone a pressure far beyond what your age should endure. The change from general to supreme commander is not something that can be accomplished just because we move our lips and say so. In the past, we followed the Chieftain wherever he pointed, fighting wherever he directed. Now we must think of our own solutions. Those are two entirely different things. This is our dereliction. Even if we died to atone for it, it would not be too much.”

“You may be our commander-in-chief, but in my eyes, you are still just a child. And yet I failed to care for your feelings, failed to keep you from carrying this unbearable burden alone.”

Old Sha’s voice was filled with sorrow, and his expression matched it perfectly.

His every word of sympathy landed like a blow straight to Snitch’s heart, and in an instant Snitch, lying there on the bed, broke down into sobs.

These past days, as Old Sha had said, Snitch had been carrying enormous pressure with nowhere to pour it out. Though he was a general, he was still only a child.

Now Old Sha’s gentle, unbroken murmur struck the softest part of his heart. All the grievance and self-blame he had been suppressing burst forth like floodwaters through an opened gate.

Old Sha knew very well that one-eyed Snitch was not bad at heart. His only fault was an excess of pride. Though usually quiet in meetings, he was, in truth, fiercely determined.

Seeing that the mood had been sufficiently prepared, Old Sha began his own confession.

“When I was first promoted to minister, not a single one of those beneath me accepted me. No one supported me.”

“Simply because I was an outsider, a foreigner who had joined the tribe halfway through. But I knew that was not the main reason.”

“I wanted to win them over. I tried every way I could to make them like me, every way I could to blend into this great family. Yet still many of them would not accept me...”

“Later, the Chieftain once called me aside for a private talk. He told me that the reason others disliked me was not merely because I was an outsider. The greatest reason was that they did not trust me. They believed I would not truly work for the people in earnest.”

“At that moment, I understood at once, and I kept it engraved in my heart.”

“From then on, I stopped caring how other rats saw me. I simply did my own work steadily and earnestly, thinking always of the tribe, considering every question from the tribe’s point of view.”

“Every time I dragged my weary body home after work, the sight of my children’s happy smiles made it all worthwhile.”

“Over time, little by little, I finally earned the people’s recognition.”

“And from then on, doing solid, honest work became the creed of my life.”

By the time he reached this point, Snitch had already understood what Old Sha meant.

“No matter what position one holds, so long as one thinks of the greater good of the tribe and keeps one’s feet on the ground, doing one’s duty well is the greatest form of devotion.”

“Now Chieftain Yang Jie lies unconscious, and I have taken this burden upon myself. No matter what, I cannot collapse. I need not care what others think. I need only fulfill my duty to the tribe.”

Snitch clenched his fists and struggled to sit up as he spoke, fully grasping Old Sha’s intention.

Once he had understood what he needed to do, the answer was simple: make up his mind and devote himself to the work. What others thought did not matter. As long as he fulfilled his responsibilities, his conscience would remain clear.

At that thought, Snitch suddenly felt the pressure on his shoulders lessen greatly, as though he had cast off a heap of useless burdens.

Old Sha looked at Snitch, now enlightened, and nodded with satisfaction.

“With a great enemy before us, with the Chieftain critically ill and unconscious, at this moment that will decide the life or death of our ratfolk, we who are leaders must not fall. More than fifty thousand of our people are depending on us.”

“Only if we leaders stand united as one, sharing the same hatred for the enemy, can we survive the trial before us.”

“I understand your painstaking intentions, Minister Sha. No matter what, I cannot fall. At dawn tomorrow, the enemy will attack again. Our people are counting on us.”

“Exactly.”

“In times of crisis, with a great enemy before us, we ratfolk are weak by nature. Only by standing together can we unleash our strength.”

Victor, who had remained silent until now, finally spoke, joining Old Sha in expressing unconditional trust and support for One-Eye.

They both understood that at this moment, only One-Eyed Snitch could shoulder this heavy responsibility. No matter what, they could not allow him to collapse.

A temporary defeat was not what mattered. They had to find a way to rouse him again. Only then could the ratfolk turn defeat into victory.

Long afterward, Snitch, having cast off his burden and regained his resolve, rose from the bed and went outside to see off Victor and Minister Sha, who had come with such careful thought and kindness.

Thus ended his first private conversation with the two ministers.

...

The two great officials of the ratfolk walked side by side on the road back.

“When did the Chieftain ever say those things to you? It doesn’t sound like his style at all.”

“I made it up on the way here.”

“Your acting is excellent. Even I was moved.”

Old Sha shook his head and let out a sigh.

“But in truth, you know very well—you can’t fool me.”

The two rats gazed at one another in silence for a moment, then parted ways without another word.