Prejudice of the Pride Kingdoms
Author's note: After posting Chapter 53 of Pride & Prejudice and Chapter 100 of Romance of the Three Kingdoms a week apart, I received this comment:
So now here's this. It takes place after each of those chapters.
Checking back in at the Wu-controlled province of Jing, all is largely quiet at the Bennet household the next few days. This lasts until a letter once again brings devastating news from Lydia: shortly after arriving at his new posting in the north to serve under Sima Yi, the unfortunate Mr. Wickham was cut down in battle by Wei Yan. The saddest part of this is that it happens off-screen.
Mrs. Bennet is inconsolable. She demands Mr. Bennet send his troops to attack Shu immediately, but he tells her that Shu and Wu are technically allied right now, and he couldn't go against that alliance simply because Mr. Wickham had burnt all his bridges at home and used his commission in the Wei army as a means of escape. Trying to regain some semblance of control, Mrs. Bennet then attempts to persuade Mr. Bennet to allow Lydia to return to their estate; yet again, Mr. Bennet argues that Lydia's fixation on marriage was a clear indication of her desire for independence, and who is he to deny her that independence now that's it's suddenly inconvenient for her?
Stewing, Mrs. Bennet at last pins the blame on Liu Bei, griping that if he hadn't gone against Wei and declared himself emperor in the first place, none of this would have happened. This, of course, completely ignores the fact that her own liege, Sun Quan, also declared himself emperor just a couple chapters ago. To console herself, Mrs. Bennet invites Mr. Bingley over for dinner like she's been threatening to do the entire book, figuring that at least if Lydia was going to miserable the rest of her life then perhaps Jane ought not to be.
Recalling that Mr. Bingley and Mr. Darcy both hail from Wei, Elizabeth has the realization that if Mr. Bingley's recent change of address has been reported to Zhuge Liang (and since everybody was talking about it, there is no chance this isn't the case), he might predict her mother's determination to get Jane and Mr. Bingley together and set up an ambush en route to the Bennet house. She tries to warn her father, who doesn't suppose that Zhuge Liang could have received the news and deployed troops to Jing so quickly—as though Zhuge Liang wouldn't have understood Mr. Bingley's intentions as soon as he entered Wu. Failing that, she writes to Mr. Bingley himself, but he simply doesn't believe that Shu would prepare an ambush for Wei in Wu territory; and anyway, it would be impolite to back out of the invitation now that it's been accepted.
Desperate now and lacking any other options, Elizabeth pens a letter to Mr. Darcy, pleading with him to stop his friend. Darcy realizes at once that her reasoning is spot-on, and he rides furiously to stop Mr. Bingley's march. However, by this time it's too late; Jiang Wei launches his ambush from the wheat fields as Bingley's troops pass by. Bingley duels with Jiang Wei for a couple rounds, but he's dressed for dinner and not warfare, so he has to retreat in short order, and Jiang Wei presses the advantage.
Mr. Darcy arrives in time to spar with Jiang Wei shortly after Mr. Bingley flees. After a dozen rounds, Jiang Wei withdraws, but only because his mission was already a success. All in all, it's a total rout for Bingley's unit.
Once news of the defeat reaches Elizabeth, she thinks, if Mr. Darcy hasn't already been completely put off by her family's foolishness, he certainly will be now. At the very least, the dinner invitation could be considered ill-advised; but it wouldn't be unreasonable either to think it had been an intentional ploy to deal a blow against Wei. And so soon after Mr. Darcy had graciously—and at great expense—resolved the sordid affair between Lydia and Mr. Wickham! What could he do, but think himself ill-used indeed?