Liu Bei POV

Eh? I was rather astonished when I heard this.

“Could you be thinking too much?”

“Even if I am thinking too much about it, I must.” She leaned in and placed her hands on top of mine and continued in a serious tone, “If what I said is true, then we are in great peril. Even if we die because of an error committed by these 5,000 troops, they will probably be let off lightly because they are the elites. What a wicked and devious scheme!”

She got more and more agitated as she said so.

Un… If I think about it, there is that possibility. I’ll have to check with Chen Dao on how the battle went when I get back to see if it was like what Liu Qi said.

“But even if it is as you said, you and I have to bring these troops right?”

“We do, but we must stay vigilant.” Liu Qi took out a token as she said so, “As a precautionary measure, I slipped in 500 of my personal troops at the last minute amongst these 5,000.”

She broke it in half, and pa.s.sed 1 of the halves to me.

“You have quite a bit of strength huh.”

These were my first thoughts when I received the token.

“It was 2 to begin with. I was planning to keep all 500 of them for my own use but I’ll have to divide them amongst us for now. If uncle has a half, that means that uncle has 250 troops that are absolutely loyal to uncle amongst uncle’s 2,500 troops. As long as uncle hangs this token by his waist, those personal troops of mine will keep watch over you and it can ensure a modic.u.m of safety.”

“Un, I understand.” I nodded, “But will it be alright at your side? Compared to me, you should be in greater danger.”

“We’re both in danger so there’s no point differentiating between who is in more or less danger.” She said as she loosened her hair bindings, letting her whitish hair fall onto her shoulders, “Uncle should first take care of uncle’s safety. Don’t worry about my side. I just hope that uncle doesn’t forget the danger we are in and doesn’t act naively. As for your subordinates, please don’t tell them about this so that nothing leaks out.”

“I believe I can trust my subordinate generals…”

“Trust is one thing, and leaking it out is another. I hope that uncle will abide by this.” When she finished, she got up and turned around. From her shadow, I can tell that she was yawning. Looks like she’s really sleepy.

What she said does make sense. Chen Dao and Zhou Cang are loud and easily exciteable so they might make a commotion about this if they hear about it.

“I understand. Thank you.” I got up as well when I said so, “I’ll be heading back now then. Thanks for the half-token.”

I placed the half-token at my waist as she instructed, and readjusted my belt so that it could be more visible.

“Un, it’s not getting any earlier so we should rest.” When she saw that I was leaving, Liu Qi bowed and saluted. From how she bowed, she’s probably exhausted.

I returned the bow and walked out of the tent. Not too far away, I saw Yi Ji standing and watching the tent.

She’s not asleep yet even though it’s so late?

I felt that it was weird of her, and made to head over as I thought that she might have something to say to me.

Un?

When she saw that I was about to walk over, Yi Ji bowed, which meant that she didn’t mean for me to come over, and bowed in return.

“Liu Qi is asleep.” I called out in a slightly loud voice. Yi Ji nodded and yawned as well, before bowing once more and going back into her tent.

Looks like she stood there so that she could be ready to answer any summons by Liu Qi. Only when she heard that Liu Qi was asleep did she return back to her tent.

Liu Qi is quite blessed to have such loyal retainers huh.

That night, I asked Chen Dao about what happened in the afternoon when I returned to the tent, and it was as Liu Qi said. And so I fully believed what Liu Qi said, that there was indeed a nefarious plot brewing amongst the troops. At the same time, I also listened to her and didn’t divulge this to my companions.