Liu Bei POV

“Blood brother!!!!!!”

I seemed to hear a somewhat crazy-sounding voice call out from afar. I walked out onto the deck as did everyone else.

In the distance, there were a small group of people gathered at the sh.o.r.e.

“Xuan De, what was that?” Feng Xian asked first.

“What’s ‘bao mi’ ahhhhh~~” Wen Yuan asked as she yawned.

“It means maize (yu mi).” Zhou Cang said as she bit furiously into a stick of maize.

(TL: Liu Biao calls Liu Bei 胞弟 or ‘bao di’ which is used when referring specifically to a blood brother. Wen Yuan asks what is 苞米, while Zhou Cang, who is an idiot, says it is 玉米.)

“Big brother, could that person be…” Yun Chang asked as she came up to me. Looks like her hairpin isn’t fixed properly yet.

“I know what you want to say… But apart from him, it can’t be anyone else.” I nodded, but shook my head inside my heart. I never knew Liu Biao would be such a weirdo, and felt embarra.s.sed at his behaviour.

I turned around, and happened to meet eyes with Zhang Zhao who stood some ways away. After we held each others’ gaze for a few seconds, she sneered at me and turned away to leave.

Did Zhang Zhao predict that something like this would happen? No wonder she told me all that.

“Blood brother!!!!!!!” The voice continued unabated.

I was beginning to really judge this Liu Biao person.

“Xuan De, what are you doing?”

“Ouch!”

Zi Long came over and elbowed my back.

“He’s waving at and calling out to you so the least you could do is reply him. Don’t forget that we’re the guests here. How could you not understand something so simple?” Zi Long admonished me. I know what I ought to do, but whether I want to or not is another matter altogether.

It was honestly a little silly to be doing so.

“Oi~~~~ h.e.l.lo!”

“Oi!!! Have you prepared food!!!”

“… h.e.l.lo everyone~~~”

Just then, I saw that some people nearby had begun to reply. I looked over, and saw that it was the harebrained Guan Ping and Zhou Cang, as well as Mi Zhen and the rest.

“Oi, Liao Hua, why are you following them?” I said when I saw Liao Hua waving as well. She didn’t say anything but it still looked rather dumb.

“I too think that this is very silly… But this can’t be helped.” Liao Hua calmly said with a rare tinge of red on her cheeks, “My lord ought to yell back really.”

Yes… From how things look, I have to reply.

“But what do I say?”

“… Call him elder brother.” “Then say ‘Your foolish little brother is blessed and surprised at your warm welcome!’ Or something like that.” “Don’t forget to wave your arms and yell out ‘May the royal graciousness be abundant and ever-present!'”

They really know what to do during such times huh. Alright, good! I’ll do that then.

And so, I raised my arms and yelled out just as they taught, “May the royal graciousness be abundant and ever-present!!!!!”

Just as I finished calling out, the other side gave a reply. First it was some of the usual niceties, next he began asking some questions.

“Blood brother! Is the Son of Heaven safe and healthy!”

Why is he asking after the Emperor and not me?

But now that he asked, I finally remembered that fatuous, snotty ruler. I really wanted to tell him ‘it’s better for us all if he’s dead’ but of course I didn’t do that.

“Still good, still good! The Son of Heaven is a prodigy and is a worthy ruler in the making!”

After I finished yelling out, I felt that I went a little overboard in my exaggerations.

“Very good, very good!”

He seems to have believed it, and seems very happy about it too.

But come to think of it, I don’t recall hearing anything about Liu Biao comeing to Court. Does that mean that he has not left Jing state at all? That’s odd given how much emphasis he places on being a royal.

So I thought, and felt that I should inquire about this later on when I got the chance, as I looked at the approaching sh.o.r.e.

“Right, Yun Chang, Feng Xian, are the troops ready?”

“Yes, all preparations are complete, big brother.”

“We are ready to abandon s.h.i.+p and get the h.e.l.l out of here anytime.”

How can we abandon s.h.i.+p at this time! We’re almost there already!

I smiled bitterly, and realised that Feng Xian told a cold joke to help relieve some of my tension. It was still fine before, but my heart was beginning to race.

I am keenly aware that in the coming days, I’m going to be interacting a lot with that lunatic.