Yun Chang POV

As we brought Gan Qing, Mi Zhen and Hua Tuo into the residence, we saw that the furnis.h.i.+ngs were really simple and crude as well.

An ordinary household would have some extra cutlery and bowls about, or perhaps other stuff lying about, but because this was the guest room, it appears that these have been deemed unneeded and are not present. The only things in this room were a table, and some thin cus.h.i.+ons.

“Everyone, let me introduce you.” Han Fu walked in first and gestured as someone came out slowly from behind the curtains leading to the inner residence.

This person did not look as decent as Han Fu, and had glazed over eyes, a somewhat hunched back and a 八-shaped moustache. He wore the same sort of dilapidated plate armour as Han Fu. Because of what Wen Yuan said before, I looked at the gown he wore inside, and saw that it was plain and had nothing unusually ornate like Han Fu’s.

“This is my second-in-command, Meng Tan.”

“I’ve heard of everyone’s esteemed names for a while now. That I, a lowly official, should be able to meet with you all is something thankful.” Meng Tan bowed deeply as he said so.

In response, we bowed as well. Meng Huo and the rest of the Nanman didn’t know about such customs and just sat down as they looked about lazily.

“Meng Tan, go make some tea.”

“Yes, I will go at once.” Meng Tan bowed and left.

When they heard that there was tea, Meng Huo and the rest of the Nanman seemed to have gotten excited as they engaged in a flurry of secret discussions with a gleam in their eyes.

By right, they should have tea or something similar where they came from… Or perhaps, this is a misconception of mine.

“Let’s leave everything else aside first and speak about the matter of crossing the pa.s.s.” Han Fu said with a serious look after Meng Tan left, “I’ve heard about it already and the mess you all created before.”

“Un, we’re really ashamed about what happened. There were some circ.u.mstances behind that back then.” I did my best to make things as unclear as possible as what happened back at Dongling Pa.s.s wasn’t something that could be just waved away with ‘some circ.u.mstances’ after all.

I’d thought Han Fu would probe further when I used such language but he actually accepted it easily without suspicion at all.

“Un, I understand Lord Guan Yu’s troubles.” He gave a wide smile that made his eyes narrow.

Perhaps it’s me being biased, but this smile raised some red flags.

“Then does the Administrator intend on letting us pa.s.s or not?” Lu Bu went straight into the main topic, perhaps because she had just fully awoken and couldn’t hold back anymore. Looking at her face, you could still see a long red mark made from the horse’s mane pressed against her face from when she fell asleep. That was really embarra.s.sing.

At this question, Han Fu paused and sank into silence, and laughed as though he were trying to hide something. This smile seemed extremely unnatural and odd. Unlike when we first met, the air of sincerity and decency seemed to have disappeared.

But no matter what, I can’t say such things. Perhaps this is how Han Fu is usually. Instead of such things, I’m more concerned about his answer.

It wasn’t just me either, everyone else was waiting with bated breaths. In this room, the only sound that could be heard was Han Fu’s laughter. Even Mi Zhen was, at this moment, staring quietly and fixedly at the goatee man.

“Ah, that huh.” He gave another laugh and stopped before continuing, “Of course I can let you pa.s.s. I’ve respected you esteemed generals for a long time now, and will not stop you all.”

Of course I can. Will not stop you all.

I only realised what those words meant after they reverberated in my ears for a long while. So that means we can pa.s.s then.

Hu.

I, Wen Yuan, Hua Tuo, Gan Qing and Mi Zhen heaved a sigh of relief. As for the rest, they were either oblivious or didn’t care how they needed to get through the pa.s.s.

“Then when can we leave?” Wen Yuan asked in a refres.h.i.+ng voice that carried her intention to leave as soon as possible.

“Ah, ah!” Han Fu was clearly shocked, and hurriedly said, “You all can leave now.”

“I understand. Thank you very much for your understanding, Administrator. We will be leaving immediately then, to prevent troubling the Administrator further.” I helped Gan Qing up after I finished.

“But… Ah! Wait, I’m not done yet!”

“Eh? What other matter does the Administrator have with us?”

Han Fu hurriedly got up and pulled us who had gotten up and were ready to leave, perhaps he was surprised at our reaction.

“Ah… No, umm…” Even though he had stopped us, he was stammering and kept stealing glances toward the inner residence.

“Ah, if it’s the tea, we don’t need it.”

“That’s right, you can just give us the tea leaves if you want.” Meng Huo said from behind us. I used my eyes to tell him to be quiet but he clearly didn’t understand. Or rather he wasn’t even looking at me.

“An, ah! Of course I can. It’s just that… This…”

Report! Just as he was still blabbering, a military courier came running in.

“Don’t be alarmed! Report what it is you have to repot!”

For some reason, I was attacked by a wave of pain in my stomach when the military courier came.

And so, at the command of Han Fu, the military courier yelled out the news he bore clearly to everyone at the scene

— The Yellow Turban General Du Yuan has surrounded Luoyang city with over a thousand men!