"Am I about to die?"
In the dark and dilapidated old house.
Song Dongyang lay quietly on the sickbed, staring blankly at the water dripping through the cracks in the roof.
The sound of the droplets was particularly distinct in the empty room.
They fell, one by one, into uneven pits in the dirt floor, slowly forming a tiny puddle.
Splashes from the rain dampened the surrounding soil, filling the room with a faint earthy odor.
Breathing in this smell and listening to the distant snores of soldiers asleep in the rain-soaked night.
Song Dongyang's mind seemed to flash with clarity, fleetingly sweeping through the entirety of his life.
Born into a merchant family, prosperous and well-off, with no worries for food or clothing from an early age;
