Tears gushed from Xu Shu's eyes as he read, and with the letter in his hand he went to seek his chief, to whom he told the true story of his life.
“I heard that Liu Biao treated people well and went to him. I happened to arrive at a time of confusion. I saw he was of no use, so I left him very soon. I arrived at the retreat of Sima Hui the Water-Mirror late one night and told him, and he blamed me for not knowing a master when I saw one. Then he told me of you and I sang that wild song in the streets to attract your attention. You took me; you used me. But now my aged mother is the victim of Cao Cao's wiles. She is in prison, and he threatens to do worse. She has written to call me, and I must go. I hoped to be able to render you faithful service, but, with my dear mother a captive, I should be useless. Therefore I must leave you and hope in the future to meet you again.”
Liu Bei broke into loud moans when he heard that his adviser was to leave.
“The bond between mother and son is divine,” said Liu Bei, “and I do not need to be reminded where your duty lies. When you have seen your venerable mother, perhaps I may have again the happiness of receiving your instruction.”
Having said farewell, Xu Shu prepared to leave at once. However, at Liu Bei's wish, he consented to stay over the night.
Then Sun Qian said privately to his master, “Xu Shu is indeed a genius, but he has been here long enough to know all our secrets. If you let him go over to Cao Cao, he will be in his confidence and that will be to our detriment. You ought to keep him at all costs and not let him go. When Cao Cao sees Xu Shu does not come, he will put the mother to death, and that will make Xu Shu the more zealous in your service, for he will burn to avenge his mother's death.”
“I cannot do that. It would be very cruel and vile to procure the death of his mother that I might retain the son's services. If I kept him, it would lead to a rupture of the parental lien, and that would be a sin I would rather die than commit.”
Both were grieved and sighed. Liu Bei asked the parting guest to a banquet, but he declined, saying, “With my mother a prisoner I can swallow nothing, nay, though it were brewed from gold or distilled from jewels.”
“Alas! Your departure is as if I lost both my hands,” said Liu Bei. “Even the liver of a dragon or the marrow of a phoenix would be bitter in my mouth.”
They looked into each other's eyes and wept. They sat silent till dawn. When all was ready for the journey, the two rode out of the city side by side. At Daisy Pavilion they dismounted to drink the stirrup cup.
Liu Bei lifted the goblet and said, “It is my mean fortune that separates me from you, but I hope that you may serve well your new lord and become famous.”
Xu Shu wept as he replied, “I am but a poor ignorant person whom you have kindly employed. Unhappily I have to break our intercourse in the middle, but my venerable mother is the real cause. Though Cao Cao use all manner of means to coerce me, yet will I never plan for him.”
“After you are gone, I shall only bury myself in the hills and hide in the forests,” said Liu Bei.
Xu Shu said, “I had in my heart for you the position of leader of the chieftains, but my plans have been altogether upset by my mother. I have been of no advantage to you nor should I do any good by remaining. But you ought to seek some person of lofty wisdom to help you in your great enterprise. It is unseemly to be downcast.”
“I shall find none to help better than you, my master.”
“How can I permit such extravagant praise?” said Xu Shu. “I am only a useless blockhead.”
As he moved off, he said to the followers, “Officers, I hope you will render the Princely One good service, whereby to write his name large in the country's annals and cause his fame to glow in the pages of history. Do not be like me, a person who has left his work half done.”
