"You don't know…" Nuwa's voice turned cold again. Then, as if she realized something, she paused.
"Speak!" Chu Bamboo suppressed the turmoil in his heart, his tone clipped.
Nuwa's one good eye flickered, still seemingly torn with hesitation. But her mouth, completely out of her control, ignored the struggle in her eye and spoke: "He who bears the filth of the nation is worthy to be called its sovereign."
Chu Bamboo's brow twitched as he calmly processed this. 'This sentence comes from Chapter 78 of the *Tao Te Ching*. It means that only one who can bear the nation's humiliation is fit to be its monarch. It embodies the sense of duty and magnanimity a leader should possess… But clearly, what Nuwa means here is—'
"This is the grand ritual established by your *other* good son, King Wen of Chu!" Nuwa said unhurriedly.
'King Wen of Chu… the founding monarch of the Great Chu… So he's also my so— The hell he is!' Chu Bamboo thought.
