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WARNING! HOLY CRAP! THERE'S A VERITABLE BUTTLOAD OF POETRY IN THIS CHAPTER!
Yes, indeed, Chapter 37 is an important chapter in the story, in terms of plot development. I get that. Yes, Liu Bei's running out of options, and needs someone truly qualified to advise him in domestics and especially in war. I get that. But did they absolutely have to cram a shit-ton of poetry into this chapter? I mean, have mercy on the poor bastard that has to produce the audiobook. Of course, audiobooks, and indeed, recorded audio itself, was unknown to the people of the Han, and to their descendants who no doubt wrote this story, so I guess I can't really bitch too much. After all, I DID get through it.........eventually.
Anyway, this is one of those rare chapters where there's not really any battle. Usually, there's at least a little bit of military action going on, since that sort of thing happened all the time at the end of the Han. But the chapter does kick off with someone dying. Lady Xun, the strong-willed mother of Xu Shu, who in the last chapter pretty much told Cao Cao to run along and stop bothering her, does not take the return of her Son very well at all.
She screams at him and then kills herself. Okay. Now let's rewind a bit. This part of the story, in my opinion, is utterly ridiculous. I can understand Lady Xun being pissed off because Xu Shu left Liu Bei's service in falling for Cheng Yu's ruse. But seriously. Killing herself because of it? That's ridiculous. What she should have done was turn him around and send him back. So WHAT if he would have suffered a bit of humiliation out of the whole deal? He would have been back with Liu Bei, serving a "worthy" master and his ability would have been more than enough to shut up all the naysayers.
It's not often that the values of the ancient people of the Han are incomprehensible to me, but Lady Xun's decision to just kill herself for no valid reason completely baffles me. However, she got a poem out of it, I guess. But then again, EVERYONE in this damn chapter seems to have gotten a poem. lol
The main theme of this chapter, of course, centers around Liu Bei's search for the "one man to advise him" referred to not long ago by the sage hermit Sima Hui. Thanks to Xu Shu letting the proverbial cat out of the bag at the end of last chapter, Liu Bei now knows the names of the two men recommended by Sima Hui. He knows Young Phoenix to be Pang Tong, and Sleeping Dragon to be Zhuge Liang. Now if he could simply FIND one of them.
At the end of the last chapter, Zhuge Liang was made fully aware of Liu Bei's search for him, due to a visit by Xu Shu. However, he clearly showed some reluctance to join anyone in the ongoing civil war which was ripping the Empire of the Hans apart, so the reader/listener can hardly be surprised to find that Zhuge Liang, the Sleeping Dragon, just simply isn't home in this chapter, when Liu Bei keeps coming around looking for him.
Liu Bei, however, DOES meet just about everyone in Zhuge Liang's family, except for maybe his wife Huang Yueying. One of them, Cui Zhouping, even gives him some excellent advice: "Don't bother wasting your time and energy on trying to stop something that is destined by Heaven itself. The Empire is SUPPOSED to break apart, so that a new one can be forged eventually. It's part of the cosmic plan."
But Liu Bei, while perhaps the most virtuous of the leaders during the Sanguo Period, also appears to be the most obtuse. Time and time again, he acts clearly contrary to reason, choosing rather to follow his personal code despite the obvious consequences. In that, I suppose I respect the hell out of him, since I usually do about the same. But, wow, are we both stupid....Cui Zhouping's advice is perhaps the most solid, most reasonable advice that Liu Bei has ever received, and if Liu Bei had listened, he would have conquered a great portion of the country, starting with Jingzhou, and would probably have ended up winning the damn thing, and making HIS dynasty be the one that replaces the Hans.
But I'm getting ahead of myself here.
At any rate, it's the middle of winter, and Liu Bei keeps going off on a wild-goose...or perhaps, a sleeping-dragon-chase. His Brothers, obviously, lack the faith that he has, because they clearly do not approve of all this running around in the snow clearly for no good reason...
Will Liu Bei ever find Zhuge Liang? And having found, will he be able to enlist the Sleeping Dragon's help in restoring peace to the land? Keep listening to this audiobook to find out. Thanks.