Liu Bei POV

Spring was now here, and the buds on branches were no longer just buds. If you looked closely, the bare branches were now covered by a green layer.

There weren’t many trees in the courtyard, only 2. I looked at 1 tree for a long while but couldn’t identify it. I then looked at the other but couldn’t identify it either. As an ordinary student, I can’t quite differentiate between trees. The best I can do is identify between pine trees and trees that are not pine trees.

I was curious though and wanted to ask but when I saw how serious Gong You was in conducting her lesson, I didn’t have it in me to interrupt her.

I was wrong to be distracted to begin with so how could I interrupt her? What I need to do now is to nod every now and then.

As I came to a conclusion, I continued to look outside. The more it got closer to mid-late spring / early summer, the more I felt that this era’s weather is unnaturally good. Every time when I look up at the sky, I would always be filled with an urge to go outside and play like a child.

My lessons were the only time when I didn’t need to think about anything else after all.

“… My lord, the lesson has ended.”

“Ah, ah! Right, thanks for your hard work.”

I looked at Gong You as I regained my senses. Gong You had already packed up her bamboo scrolls and put them in her bag. Looks like I was in a daze for quite a while.

“… Un, I hope my lord can finish his homework by the next lesson.”

I can’t tell if Gong You knows if I’m concentrating during her lessons but she didn’t say anything about it to me.

This made me feel terribly guilty, and I couldn’t even ask what the homework was.

“Yes, I understand.” I bowed to express how guilty I felt.

“… My lord is being too courteous.” At this, Gong You seemed surprised at my actions and bowed deeply as well. Of course, her surprise couldn’t be seen on her face at all and this was just my guess.

“Oi, Gong You, my lord, what are you both doing?”

“Waa!” I got a shock from the sudden voice.

I raised my head and saw xiao Yong who appeared out of nowhere. She held her waist with 1 hand and was ruffling her hair with the other and was looking at me with listless eyes. You really couldn’t tell that she was 1 of my advisers.

“… It is as Xian He sees it, we are both paying respects to each other.”

“I can see that, what I meant was why do you have to… Eh! Never mind… Xiao Bei, you better make sure you pay attention when you’re studying.”

“Ah… Un.”

Xiao Yong looked like she wanted to deliver another tsukkomi but she didn’t continue and instead delivered a lecture to me. At this, I knew that it was clear that they knew I wasn’t paying attention and could only mumble a grunt in reply.

Eh? Wait, something’s not right.

“Come to think of it, there shouldn’t be any lessons after this right? Why is xiao Yong here?”

“Can’t I come to see you when there aren’t any lessons? Xiao Bei, why do I get the feeling that you’re becoming a little brazen now that you’ve gotten a lot more subordinates huh?”

“Eh– I haven’t!”

Hmph! Xiao Yong turned her face away and didn’t seem like she was going to listen to me. Looks like she’s throwing a tantrum.

Just as I was feeling helpless about the situation, I turned to look at xiao Yong and found that something was different about her, “By the way, xiao Yong, did you change your hairpin?”

“Wu!” When she heard me, xiao Yong’s face reddened and she covered her face as though she was trying to push down her blush.

“I, I just thought I’d change things about once in a while…” She tried to speak nonchalantly, but her frown gave her anxiousness away.

“I see,” I nodded as I continued, “But you will probably look more beautiful with straight hair.”

“Wu…” She buried her head into her loose clothing up to her mouth when she heard me, making this 16-17 year old girl look really cute.

“Why do you care…” She replied after mulling for a long while.

“… Xian He–”

“Gong You, don’t say anything!”

Xiao Yong quickly shut her up just as Gong You was about to speak.

“… I haven’t even said anything yet.” Gong You protested. But her tone was calm and flat, nor did she have much of a reaction on her face, which made one feel that she didn’t actually have anything to say.

*Pa*– *Pa*–

“Alright, you both. And my lord.” 2 claps came from the doorway along with a candid voice.

Since xiao Yong and Gong You were here, Zi Zhong had to be here as well.

I looked over, and it was her as expected.

“Zi Zhong’s here too huh?”

“Is there a reason why I can’t be here?”

“… No, none at all.”

Her hair was coiled up behind her as usual, and she looked at me with a smile that wouldn’t lose out to Meng De’s. What was different was that there was usually nothing good waiting for me behind this smile. Or perhaps I should say that there is almost always something difficult.

She always gets me to copy doc.u.ments, do accounting, count our inventory of weapons etc etc. Even though she knows I’m inefficient, she still hands me the most difficult jobs. Thanks to her, I know how to do accounting for an army’s finances and logistics management.

“So what’s this meeting about?” I asked but Zi Zhong didn’t answer. She looked at xiao Yong and Gong You who also looked at each other before they got in line beside each other. It felt like I was in a reality tv show and they were about to give me their opinion about my performance.

“… Actually, we’ve discussed amongst ourselves.” “We’ve also sought the opinions of all the other generals.” “And so we’re here to notify xiao Bei.”

As expected… They got in line for the sake of speaking in this format huh. But that means that what’s coming next should be different from the usual,

“I understand, please go on.” I said as I gestured for them to continue.

For some reason, they looked at each other again and only continued after Zi Zhong nodded, “… We’ve decided that we should leave soon.” “For Jing state or to borrow pa.s.sage to Xichuan.” “We can’t carry on like this, my lord.”