It was a bit slow to eat, but Xiang An finally finished the large portion of the spicy Mapo Tofu.
"Okay, so spicy, but delicious..."
Xiang An's lips were a little swollen.
Emiya Shirou didn't know why he was a little less willing to try it next time...but he was still ready to try it.
"Okay - I'm full now, so boy, what do you want to talk about?"
Patting his belly, Xiang An sat up straight and looked at Shirou Emiya next to him.
"...It's Sister Jie's business."
"She used to call herself...poppy poppy, I remember."
"I'm not doubting it, but is Sister Jie really... the poppy who was next to the overlord of Western Chu during the Chu-Han struggle for hegemony?"
Emiya Shirou's hands rubbed restlessly.
At the very least...the authenticity must be confirmed first.
"There's no need to doubt it. I call her sister-in-law. I only have one sister-in-law in this world."
Xiang An waved his hand.
"What you actually want to ask is whether my sister-in-law has lived for thousands of years, rather than being an existence similar to a heroic spirit."
Xiang An smiled and sat across from Shirou Emiya.
"...Really, can any life be able to endure such a long period of loneliness?"
Emiya Shirou clenched his fists.
He couldn't imagine it.
After seeing...the love of her life commit suicide in front of her, and then seeing her remaining relatives die in another place, Sister Jie...can actually endure this
He felt so sad that he stayed there, looking for a way to resurrect his lover.
What kind of horrific loneliness and pain is this?
"Sister-in-law, this is the kind of person she is...don't take it too seriously."
"In fact, in her life, the eldest brother's time with his sister-in-law was very short."
"Thousands of years before my eldest brother and I were born, my sister-in-law had already started wandering around this planet."
"As she said, she is an immortal fairy and a body-bearing elf, also known as a poppy."
"It's just that before she met my eldest brother and I, she was in a state of not owning herself."
Xiang An recalled what happened at that time with a smile on his face.
"Speaking of which, my encounters with my eldest brother and my sister-in-law were actually a bit strange."
"Weird...?"
Emiya Shirou's brain was a little down.
A strange encounter...what kind of encounter is it?
"At that time, my eldest brother and I were hunting on the plateau. My sister-in-law was only pursuing nutrition at that time. Although she was in human form, my eldest brother and I were able to see her true nature, so we started a battle."
"In that battle... my eldest brother and I were already stronger than my sister-in-law, not to mention the two of us working together, so my sister-in-law... was beaten quite badly by us."
"Probably the head and spine were pulled out by the big brother at the same time, the skull was broken by a punch from me, or the limbs were cut off by the big brother at the same time... something like that?"
Emiya Shirou:......?
Listening to the story told by Xiang An, Emiya Shirou has completely entered a state... where his brain is almost shaken.
No, is this something?
Although after hearing Xiang An's description, it was a strange encounter, Emiya Shirou was somewhat prepared, but——
This is too weird!
Is this an encounter that can only be described as bizarre?
"My eldest brother and I were created to save the Central Plains, while my sister-in-law will constantly sweep away the existence of life along the way. Even if we can't kill her, my eldest brother and I can only find ways to continue fighting her - originally I thought
The battle will last longer, after all, my sister-in-law will never die, but after fighting... it should have lasted for several days or more than ten days, and then the battle stopped."
"Because my sister-in-law was beaten and cried."
Emiya Shirou: Is this still the earth? Where did this come from?
"To sum it up, it means that during the battle with eldest brother and me, we had a lot of exchanges. My sister-in-law was hidden in her body, and it seemed that the humanity she had long ago was awakened, and then...because
I was in pain and aggrieved, so I burst into tears."
"Because we were both inhuman beings, the eldest brother who still had feelings at the time felt pity for my sister-in-law, so he let her go...at least he didn't continue to beat her, but left with our father.
I left my sister-in-law where she was."
"If we meet again later, it will be in the Central Plains."
Xiang An didn't know what he thought of, and a dragon-like expression of suppressed laughter appeared on his face.
"There was a lot of chaos at that time, but my sister-in-law finally found the life that gave him humanity and mercy, that is, the big brother, and she developed a good impression of the big brother."
"Afterwards, they got married and joined together, but due to the nature of life they were unable to produce offspring, but it doesn't matter. As long as they can be together, it doesn't matter to the two of them."
"But what happened next...you should be able to find it in the history books."
The smile on Xiang An's face disappeared and he sighed.
"My eldest brother and I had a big quarrel because of our different ideas. After a battle along the Yellow River, we parted ways. From then on, the state of Chu was divided and became my Northern Chu and my eldest brother's Western Chu."
"Then our two Chu states were in a difficult situation when facing Liu Bang's Han state. Finally... the Western Chu was destroyed first, and the Northern Chu was destroyed later. My eldest brother and I died one after another in a very short period of time. Liu Bang unified the world and became the
The new leader of the Central Plains Communist Party, and my sister-in-law, after witnessing my death...have disappeared since then."
He shook his head and lay back on the chair in the Sichuan restaurant.
"No one knows where Xiang Yu's poppies have gone."
"She told me that she changed identities one after another, wandered around the world in one country after another, stayed in the Central Plains for a long time, and also visited Europe, North America, and Africa. Finally, because of the Holy Grail War, she ran away
I settled down in this small island country, waiting for the opportunity to use the power of the Holy Grail to resurrect my elder brother, and at least meet him once... until now."
"So, kid, you probably understand."
Snap!
"Ouch!"
Emiya Shirou felt a sharp pain from being slapped on his back.
"Sister-in-law, why is she so angry with you?"
Xiang An looked at Shirou Emiya seriously and said this.
Emiya Shirou opened his mouth.
"She originally planned to summon the eldest brother during this Holy Grail War, but because of the eldest brother's momentary hesitation, the person who appeared from the summoning circle became me."
"So for her, she has been looking for opportunities for more than two thousand years, and only the Holy Grail is left."
"The pain and sorrow accumulated over time, a word of justice will never convince my sister-in-law... You have to find a better way."