Pausing to Laugh on Horseback

Chapters 53-54

We’re over 900 pages into the book, and we’re still meeting significant characters. Chapter 53 brings us Huang Zhong. At first, he seems to be an enemy of Liu Bei, but instead he joins him. In the same chapter, we lose a minor character (Taishi Ci). I liked him, but I concede that his death serves a good purpose narratively. It shows that Sun Quan is too eager to enter the battlefield, when he should be away from the battle lines ruling the people.

The conflict between Sun Quan and Liu Bei grows. Zhou Yu and Sun Quan scheme to lure Liu Bei into the Southland kingdom with a promise of marriage to Sun Quan’s younger sister. They hope to murder him there. But Liu Bei sees through the trap, and with the help of Kongming’s guidance, Liu Bei brings Sun Quan’s mother to his side and thwarts Zhou Yu. By the end of Chapter 54, Liu Bei has a new wife, Lady Sun.

There is a lot of plot here. The best parts of these chapters are pauses in the plot when Sun Quan and Liu Bei are together. It is after they both realize that Sun Quan’s scheme to kill Liu Bei will fail. Together, they each split a stone apart with their swords (p. 939). And later, they laugh as they enjoy riding their horses (p. 941). It’s a nice moment to show the heroes together, even if they will surely return to conflict soon.

For Magic cards, both Huang Zhong and Lady Sun have cards (technically, Lady Sun was mentioned in Chapter 7 when the family was introduced, but this is the first time she’s in the plot).

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Head is a Hot Potato

Seriousness replaced absurdity