Liu Bei POV

After I finished eating dinner, I felt that it was really warm and stuffy in the residence. Feng Xian had also gotten drunk and I had a bad feeling about it so I took my coat and decided to get some fresh air in the courtyard.

When I reached the courtyard, I found that it wasn’t very cold and the coat I had in my hands was unnecessary so I put it at the side. As I looked at the skies, I stretched my back and took a deep breath of the cool, fresh air.

“Wen Yuan, bring me my halberd, I want to do some moves.”

“My lord! Stop messing around. You might look steady on your feet but you’re already drunk right?”

“Just give her the d.a.m.n halberd, I would like to see some of her moves.”

“Lord Zhao Yun, don’t make things worse. When she gets going, even the 2 of us can’t stop her. Little sister, say something too.”

“Eh? You mean me?”

“Wu, please help Lord Zhang Fei.”

“I’ll be waiting at the back, I have my limits.”

“I’ll be stepping away from mother as well. Sister Mi Zhu, you should get the others to back off as well.”

“Un, Mi Zhen, sister Gan, come to the back and watch the show.”

Looks like something was just about to happen as I left. My intuition is getting more and more accurate huh.

But I feel better seeing how energetic they are. We’ve been wandering about and I’ve always been worried that they might be unhappy about our circ.u.mstances. I know I haven’t been doing as well as I should and if they were to tell me that they are unsatisfied with things as they are, I really don’t know what I ought to say then.

But from how things look now, perhaps I was just thinking too much. Or perhaps they are just used to dealing with my pathetic self.

Un… Let’s leave that aside for now, I thought as I took out the piece of silk that Liu Qi handed to me this afternoon.

There were only 3 rows of words written on it, first was [Be careful], second was [Beware of the lies people might tell you], and the third was [The next time Yi Ji Yi Ji Bo comes knocking, I hope that you can make an appearance. Both my father and I have words to speak to you].

Only the last line was rather long, and was the one that bothered me the most. Leaving aside Liu Biao, why didn’t Liu Qi speak to me if she had something? It was a good opportunity to do so today after all.

Or did it have to do with seniority?

As I’ve said before, I have read a little about the Three Kingdoms so I do know there’s an inheritance issue with Jing state that will result in a mess later on. But that has to do with Liu Biao. What business does Liu Qi have with me? Does she want me to support her bid to be the heir?

I don’t know but perhaps I should visit this father and daughter next time. When the time comes, I just have to deal things as they come.

“… My lord.”

“Ah!” All of a sudden, a soft, floating voice that sounded like a ghost’s moan gave me an awful fright,

I turned around immediately and felt at ease at what I said, “What, so it’s Gong You huh. Please don’t scare people like that!”

“… I will take note of it in future.” Gong You said as she sincerely bowed, but I know that the same thing will happen again.

“Never mind, I’m getting used to it anyway.” I said, though I clearly wasn’t used to it at all, and hurriedly sat down to calm my nerves, “Gong You came out too huh?”

“It’s too noisy inside and it doesn’t suit me.”

I can agree with that.

“What are they doing inside?”

“Showing their moves. And talking nonsense.”

“Hahaha…” I laughed dryly as I looked at the residence which was getting rather noisy and began to feel a little worried.

It should be alright, right? There’s Yun Chang and the rest after all.

Un?

“Gong You, do you have something to say?”

“… Me?”

“Un, you look rather melancholic and serious.”

It isn’t obvious at all if you look at her but we’ve been together for so long that I can see Gong You’s eyebrows slightly tighter than usual. This means that she’s brooding about something.

When she realised that I saw through her, she cleared her throat and stood upright, “It’s a little late to be saying this, but when I think about it, it wasn’t a wise choice for my lord to go to where Sun Bo Fu and Sun Zhong Mou was.”

“It is a little late to be saying that…”

“… Un.” She lowered her head and bowed, and wiped her mouth with her sleeve and covered her mouth with it before she continued, “You and Liu Biao share the same lineage and Liu Biao treats my lord well. If we knew this, my lord should have come here directly instead. That would have prevented the Jing state generals’ tongues from wagging. Some of them are saying that we are serial turncoats.”

“Un… That does make sense.”

I should definitely have chosen to come here directly. I just unilaterally made a choice that I shouldn’t have made.

“… And I have something else to say that I’m not sure if I should.”

“Un?” I nodded at her so she would continue.

She paused for a moment, and then she bent down and placed her lips so close to my ear that they almost touched as she slowly said–

“… We’ve discussed this amongst the 3 of us before and we came to the same conclusion.” Gong You said, “My lord does not have a base, which this Jing state is suitable for. My lord should therefore seize Jing state. If need be, the troops outside the city can charge in any time.”