Liu Bei POV

Jing state’s night scenery is as beautiful as ever. The half-crescent moon hung in the night sky that was untainted by artificial lights and was dotted by stars, making it seem like a lonely boat floating amongst the sea of stars.

When I moved, so did the moon. When the moon moved, so did the night sky. In the end, everything moved together. As the saying goes, it’s not the wind nor the flag but the observer who is moved. Looks like that saying is not without basis.

And so, I s.h.i.+fted my gaze back to the horizon. In front of me stood 2 women. Even though all I saw were their back, I could easily identify them.

The only girl I knew who wore tight fit clothing with her hair tied up in twin tails is just Liu Qi after all. As for the Tao robe wearing fellow, besides Hua Tuo, it can only be Yi Ji.

But… Even though I know who they are, I still don’t know why we have to walk on this empty street.

Come out, we have to talk. Just uncle.

Liu Qi told me these words the moment we met, which really was as uninformative as things can get. And so I followed her out, and found that Yi Ji was there too. They both had difficult expressions on them, and I could guess why, but didn’t feel like I should broach the topic and just followed behind them.

And just like that, we’ve been walking in Jing state city’s outskirts for a very long while now. During this period, they haven’t said a word and just continued walking. As for what those 2 were thinking or how they felt now, I have no clue at all. I got so bored that I began to indulge in fancy descriptions of the scenery like before.

But my patience has run dry.

“Liu Qi, that’s enough… If you have something to say then say it.” I said. I felt Yi Ji’s glance but I tried my best not to notice it.

Liu Qi continued to take a few more steps before she stopped and looked about.

“Looks like those people aren’t out today huh. But that makes sense. They can’t be too brazen today after all.” Liu Qi muttered to herself. I couldn’t make sense of this, however. Liu Qi then turned around and looked at me. She then bowed before she finally spoke to me.

“I apologise for this. Someone wishes for the deaths of uncle and I so I decided to wait things out for a while to see if they would act.” As she said so, Liu Qi shot Yi Ji a glance. Yi Ji seemed to understand, and left immediately.

My death huh, could Feng Xian’s a.s.sa.s.sin be one of those Liu Qi spoke of?

“What is it? Has uncle met them already?”

“Ah, you can say that.”

“Did you get hurt?”

“No, I’m fine. I just got a warning.”

“Oh? Haha…” When I finished, she lightly laughed before shaking her head and looking at me with a helpless smile.

“Uncle, you’ve already been warned yet you still nonchalantly came out to meet me? Most people would have turned me down or thought about it first, no?”

“Eh?”

I really hadn’t thought about it that way… Or perhaps I’d never thought about the likelihood that Liu Bei would get killed here.

“But never mind. You’re already here so you can’t deny it anymore.” Liu Qi said as she swung her sleeves and pointed at a teahouse nearby.

Does she want to sit down and talk?

“By right, we should be speaking in a private room in a teahouse but I forgot to bring money so we’ll just have to do it here.”

“If you didn’t bring money, then don’t act as if you are in the right. It’s almost as if you did something righteous.”

All you did was make me cold. d.a.m.n it… If I knew that I would be out for this long, I should have grabbed my coat.

“In any case, I shall give you a quick summary first.” She bit her lips, as though she was thinking of how to properly word what she was about to say before tilting her head and continuing all of a sudden, “Broadly speaking, I have been in conflict with my little sister over the rights to my father’s inheritance. I hope that uncle can support me in view of the bigger picture.”

“I see.”

“Un? Why aren’t you surprised at all? About the conflict between us sisters.”

Well… For someone who only knows the main events of the Three Kingdoms, I do know about that. Of course, I can’t say that.

“I’ve felt it here and there.”

“Hmph, as expected of an experienced royal. You’re only older than me by a few years but you’re already so sharp about political matters. Your niece is impressed.”

Stop trying to curry favour with me. If you really want to curry favour with me, then change the way you address me.

“It’s no use praising me. I don’t have any influence whatsoever. It’s no guarantee that elder brother will even listen to what I say.”

Or rather, Liu Biao hasn’t approached me about naming an heir yet.

“No, that won’t be necessary. I just want to have a proper fight with my little sister.”

“So, a catfight huh?”

“… Please don’t joke around.”

Hahaha… Ah, looking at her stern face makes it feel like I’m a crude person.

(TL: Liu Qi uses the phrase 決一雌雄, which means to have a showdown. The phrase itself is gender neutral altogether but the latter 2 characters (which are actually different, look carefully if you can’t spot the difference) mean female and male respectively. MC makes a joke that she should use 決一雌雌 instead because they are both female.)

“Ahem,” I cleared my throat to refocus, “Then how am I supposed to help you?”

“Un, it’s quite simple actually.” As she said so, she raised a hand all of a sudden and patted her not-so-impressive chest as she spoke to me in a clear voice, “You just need to ensure my safety in this expedition to Jiangxia. That will be the greatest support you can give me.”

“That’s too much of an exaggeration.” I shook my head, “You may be coming along to the battlefield, but you wouldn’t necessarily die–”

“No, someone might intentionally bring harm to me, and perhaps a.s.sa.s.sinate me in the chaos of the battlefield.” I wanted to refute her words, but her gaze wouldn’t let me. After I nodded, she continued in a serious tone, “Uncle may have guessed it already but Cai Mao is ruthless and will do anything to attain her objectives. And it is her who has sent us to Jiangxia with the intention of killing us both there.”