“
Don’t worry, your highness, I shall do so.”
“
I’ve got to go now. I shall see you again.” And Yu Wang disappeared into the thin air.
The next day, the Qin emperor had already thought of a punishment for the sons of Yu Wang. He brought
them to the current end of the Great Wall and told them to finish it. However, before they had started, they were
arguing about whether the western or the eastern route was easier. After hours, they started to build the wall, but
they could not put the rocks in place perfectly, which made them quarrel again.
The next day, they found that the walls that they built the day before had collapsed. They accused others of
ruining the work but spent no time actually working. Three days later, more of the walls fell down. After a week,
the rocks used to build the Great Wall had worms crawling in them. And even worse, some of the towers were
on fire all of a sudden. They were very angry at each other and made Yu Wang extremely furious. He cried out
from the heaven, “You all! Stop it!”
“
Father?” questioned the brothers.
“
Yes, I think you all are disappointing me. You have learned nothing from the war, and now you are still
bickering. I was the one to break the walls and put worms in the rocks! If you keep this misbehaviour, then you
shall stay on Earth and be banished from heaven forever!”
“
Father……” Zhao called, but there was no response. The brothers were deeply hurt by their father’s words.
That night, they sat in a circle and talked about Yu Wang’s words. Zhao suggested, “What about working
together?”
Wei responded, “Are you nuts? We tried that once and almost got beheaded!”
Zhao cried, “Because we still do not trust each other!”
Qi stood up and said, “He’s right. We have to have faith in each other. Otherwise, the situation will get
worse and worse. Say, who wants us to be like that?”
No one raised their hands.
“
You all want to go back to heaven, don’t you? We have to co-operate and work hard!”
“
Yeah, but how?” Wei asked.
“
Trust each other!” Qi answered, “That’s the only way to do so! Zhao! Let’s work!” and they went off.
Others, except for Wei, who was still worrying about whether to cooperate with them or not, followed Qi.
On the next day, most of the problems were fixed, including the worms in the rocks. Only Wei was
procrastinating. He saw the other brothers working incredibly hard and caring about each other, which surprised
him, as this had been their first time. He thought the hearts of Qin state were truly tied together, which was an
example of being cooperative, and decided to join them. He apologised, “I am sorry about doubting you all. I
should have trusted you, brothers.”
Qi replied, “It is okay, Wei. We have to cooperate and build the wall fast.”
“
Cooperate!” the brothers chanted, and they continued working.
After a week, the Great Wall was almost finished. When they put the last rock in place, the Qin emperor
went to check the quality and he was astonished. He freed them when a voice from the sky boomed, “My
dearest sons, you have finally understood the meaning of cooperation and working together. You shall all be
able to return to the heaven in no time.”
“
Thank you, father,” replied the six sons.
“
Go now,” said the Qin emperor, “your father is calling you.”
“
Thank you, your highness, and we shall visit you again,” responded Chu.
The six sons, stepped on the flight of stairs to heaven as they waved to the Qin emperor, promising that they
would visit him some time. They became less opposing to each other, and made good friends with the Qin
emperor. Whenever they were about to start an argument, they looked down towards the Great Wall,
remembering their cooperation. They sometimes helped people on Earth to learn the importance of cooperation,
so that there were fewer arguments. In the end, the Great Wall became a symbol of cooperation and the
relationship between the brothers was forever admired by the later generations.
* * *