The Battle of Jiangxia has already concluded and Lu Bu’s skirmish with the band of robbers from Jiangxia is now over.

As for Xiangyang city, it is still the very picture of peace and harmony as always. To be honest, this is thanks in large to the Jing state central government. No matter how many battles occur, unless peril falls upon Xiangyang city, it will flourish no matter what.

Hai–

However, Liu Biao, who was currently sitting in the large courtyard of the official residence, was not at ease at all as he gave a big sigh once more.

The 2 strategists, Kuai Yue and Kuai Liang, were helpless in alleviating their lord’s troubles. Jiangxia’s loss was something that was set in stone after all.

Just this morning, Han Song left Xiangyang and made his way to Jiangxia bearing a peace proposition. And Liu Biao, who had gone to see him off personally, had an even more stormy expression than now.

“My lord, you needn’t be so down.” Just then, Kuai Liang smiled as she took a step forward and said slowly as she bent down, “Though the city has been lost, the Jiangdong fiends will find it difficult to hold the lone city, let alone advance.”

“That’s right, my lord.” Kuai Yue too walked out from the side and said in a righteous tone, “I’m willing to bet that we will regain Jiangxia city within days of Han Song’s departure.”

“… Ah, we will regain it.” Liu Biao continued immediately after Kuai Yue finished in a slow and melancholic voice, “But can you both tell me; about Huang Zu the Administrator of Jiangxia, Huang Zu who is like my own blood daughter, can I regain my daughter as well?”

“That…” Kuai Liang’s face blanched immediately when she heard this. Though Kuai Yue seemed unmoved on the surface, she involuntarily took 2 steps back, afraid that she had misspoken.

“I should never have listened to Cai Mao from the very beginning and sent such meagre reinforcements.” Liu Biao said as he got up and softly placed his hand on the table, making a soft *pa* which jolted the 2, “I should never have sent so few, nor should I have sent blood brother and Qi’er to command the reinforcements.”

(TL: Qi’er refers to Liu Qi.)

“The young mistress is strong and she is well-versed in both the art of war and martial arts. Though she may have lost, the young mistress will definitely return safe and sound.” Kuai Liang softly said.

Compared to her little sister, she finds it hard to deal with such circ.u.mstances. And even at this time, Kuai Liang has avoided even speaking the name of Liu Bei.

“I hope so. I hope they can return safely.” Liu Biao nodded, “Should they meet their end in battle, then the world would have 2 fewer royal relatives. How can I possibly atone for that to my ancestors?”

“They failed?!” A shrill female voice pierced the air behind the official residence, Liu Biao’s inner residence.

“Are those 5,000 all useless pieces of tras.h.!.+? How could they have been defeated by the personal guard of a mere few hundred!?”

“Elder sister should be grateful that my officer had the heart to send out a letter or we’d still be in the dark about this.” Opposite the shrill woman was another woman with short hair, Cai Mao, who softly answered with no expression at all on her face.

“Ah! It must be Liu Bei! It must be that Liu Bei who ruined my plans!” The woman was ballistic as she began to bite her sleeves in frustration.

“Please don’t be like this, elder sister. It’s too unsightly.”

“I don’t care,” Cai Mao tried to stop her but the other woman swung her aside, “Little sister, if we want to get rid of Liu Qi, we must first deal with that Liu Bei. Additionally, we must move quickly with Liu Biao.”

“… I am of the same opinion.” Cai Mao nodded after a brief moment of thought.

“Mother… Auntie…” Just as the 2 of them were scheming, a girl was listening inside the room. She was just 14 years of age and did not know what the 2 of them were talking about but she knew that it was nothing good.

In her young heart, anxiety began to surge.

Liu Bei POV

Ah, it’s so hot.

I sighed in my heart as I looked up at the big sun hanging in the sky.

In the blink of an eye, March and April seems to have pa.s.sed. And in Jing state, the May weather was really hot.

Though I’m in the humanities track, my knowledge of geography isn’t very good. In fact, it’s even below that of my knowledge of history. And even if it were good, what use would it be? How could I possibly know where our coordinates were?

Let’s stop playing around.

All I know is that we are somewhere in the central-bottom area of China (within 21st century territory). Ah, saying that we are in the southern part of central China would be better. Yes, that sounds more academic.

Let’s think about the positives. At least there are fewer mosquitoes in the day than at night.

“Ah, marching feels so carefree now that all the traitorous troops have been taken care of.” Liu Qi, who was marching at the head with me, said in a tone that allowed me to detect an emotion I rarely felt from her.

“Un, yes.” I only gave a simple nod in affirmation though I very much agreed with her.

To be honest, I bore some unhappiness towards Liu Qi as I haven’t had a good night’s sleep ever since she first told me about it. I really am not exaggerating when I say that last night was my first good night’s sleep in a while.

Ah, I really am dealing with stress and responsibility that is beyond my age.

“Zhou Cang! Did you steal my dried meat again this morning!”

“And so what if I did? So many people died already so we have an abundance of resources!”

“Go and take from your own stas.h.!.+ Din’t touch mine!”

“Calm down, you both. You’ve both been bickering the entire time, can’t you be a bit more cordial with each other for a bit?”

“”No way!””

I turned back and saw that the 3 of them were the same as always. Zhou Cang and Chen Gong were bickering while Chen Dao tried in vain to stop them from the side.

I don’t know if it’s just me but it feels like the content of today’s argument seems more childish than usual. Almost as though they were intentionally picking a fight with each other, or perhaps they had some steam they wanted to let out so they argued about whatever they could find.

What was different about the scene however, was that Zhou Cang had her ponytail on today with the accessory I gave her. Chen Gong too had her’s on surprisingly. I was already used to Chen Gong’s straight hairstyle so it was really refres.h.i.+ng to see her in a new hairstyle. Of course, Chen Dao isn’t wearing her’s as usual, probably because she thinks it’s too precious and has kept it away instead.

But really, looks like those 2 are intent on wearing those hair bands huh? I’m actually quite happy about this. Un un, Zhou Cang really looks good– If she washes her hair.

“Imperial Uncle? Is there a problem?”

“No, not at all.”

I hurriedly turned away and looked the other side when I saw Chen Gong’s angry gaze on noticing my stare.

On the other side, were Liu Qi’s silent subordinate generals. If I’m not wrong, those 2 should be staring ahead in a daze. As I thought so, I s.h.i.+fted my gaze–

“Imperial Uncle.”

Un? Just as I was about to turn my head, Yi Ji seems to have been totally prepared for it and immediately saluted and bowed.

“…” Wen Ping, who was beside her, did not move or speak and only nodded slightly when she saw Yi Ji’s actions.

Un… Is it just me? Why do I feel like Yi Ji has been watching me all this while? Is there something on my face?

“Uncle, I know you’re probably feeling a little bored now but please concentrate on riding.”

“Ah, oh.” I muttered as i hurriedly corrected my posture. I can’t believe I was actually lectured by my own niece. I better behave properly.

“But I can really rest easy seeing uncle behaving like this.”

“But why aren’t you feeling at ease?” I said as I shrugged, “All our enemies are either far behind or defeated. What else is there to be concerned about?”

“Uncle, don’t forget that we are returning in disgrace from defeat.”

Ah…

“Uncle, please don’t tell me you just remembered that.”

“No, how can that be?”

Ah– I did indeed forgot all about that in the euphoria of being more trusted by Liu Qi.

“Then should we be thinking about how to best present the battle results later?”

We did lose after all, and we should expect some questions when we return.

“Yes, I can imagine how Cai Mao will pour cold water on us when we do so.” She said as she turned back, “Moreover, we are returning with so few troops.”

Wu… Now that she said this, I recognised the reality before me once more.

We left with 5,000 men but now we don’t even have 100 men left. And amongst those losses, several hundred of them were inflicted by us. This is going to be difficult.

“Ah! Didn’t we capture a 100-man general alive? We can get him to explain things to Liu Biao.”

“That general has already been executed.”

Eh? I couldn’t comprehend what Liu Qi was saying immediately and those words reverberated in my head for a long while before I finally understood what she meant.

“Why did you have to execute him? Couldn’t he have been a useful weapon for us?”

“Uncle is too naive.” Liu Qi calmly continued, “Did you really think that man would explain everything honestly? He is Cai Mao’s personal troop after all.”

“That’s…”

“When the time comes, he might actually turn around and malign us instead. He could have said that we turned on them in the midst of battle, slaughtered 2-3,000 troops and retreated, leaving behind the rest.”

No way… No, that could indeed happen. I recalled how Cai Mao looks, that smileless, almost expressionless face where the greatest movements were merely slight curls of the lips. A mysterious chill ran down my spine and it felt like the temperature dropped several degrees when I pictured her.

“Hai… I thought that everything could be settled nicely with this.”

“No, our return to Xiangyang is actually the beginning of everything.” Liu Qi said as she flicked her twin tails back, “They will eventually learn about the decimation of her 5,000 strong elite force. And when we return, I believe Lady Cai and Cai Mao will begin a new round of attacks against us.”