Liu Bei POV

As we continued walking, we finally came to the stairway and once again I recalled Cai Mao as we ascended the stairway.

Every time I’ve met with Cai Mao, she always gives me a very sinister feeling, as though there is an impulse within her that means ill for me. I don’t know if this is thanks to my nature or Liu Bei’s nature.

“Uncle~ You’re finally here~” And right in front of me now was not Cai Mao, the person I was very much hoping not to meet, but my niece who was beginning to show more feelings.

“Was I late, Liu Qi?” I said as I waved. I sometimes forget she’s only a few years younger than me.

“Just in time I guess. Father was just yelling your name a couple of times.” Liu Qi seemed rather anxious as she walked over to me briskly with several beads of perspiration could be seen on her forehead, “It’s good that you’re here. I hope you don’t take it to heart if your residence has received several more letters since you came here.”

“Of course, of course. Let’s go in, shall we?”

“Yes.”

I gestured to Liu Qi for her to go on ahead and she swung her sleeves before briskly making her way up the stairs with me close behind her and the other 2 bringing up the rear.

“Liu– Has elder brother behaved peculiarly in any way since we’ve returned?” I asked after matching her pace.

“There doesn’t seem to be any issue with father, which means that Cai Mao and Lady Cai have not been up to no good. That or they have been unsuccessful in doing so.”

“Oh, that’s good then.”

When she heard me say this, Liu Qi laughed mockingly.

“Hmph, how could father have listened to their words? Giving us so few troops was a poor decision to begin with, and they have even failed to a.s.sa.s.sinate us so this is a double failure on the part of Cai Mao.” Liu Qi said softly, “On top of that, uncle’s generals also showed them brilliantly.”

“You learnt about that as well?”

“All of Jing state knows about it. They all know that uncle’s generals thoroughly thrashed Jing state’s troops with a 1:5 numerical disadvantage. To actually win under those circ.u.mstances is truly impressive.” Liu Qi said, without a hint of dissatisfaction or unhappiness on her face at all.

“We were just lucky. And it’s just an exercise after all, results there can’t be extrapolated with results on an actual battlefield. When the time comes, I’m sure Jing state’s troops will show their bravery.”

“I do believe in Jing state’s troops’ bravery but uncle’s generals definitely did not achieve victory by luck.” Liu Qi said as she nodded, “Though I’m not satisfied with this result, uncle’s generals are truly strong. I also heard that the troops were very disciplined and orderly, and are worthy of being the troops of a ruler.”

“I wouldn’t call myself a ruler, all I can say is they’ve been trained well.” I felt a little giddy at first when I heard Liu Qi’s words but I thought about it again and realised it wasn’t thanks to me at all. It was all thanks to the efforts of Liao Hua, Zi Zhong and Yun Chang who have trained the troops well.

“I’ll leave it at that. I’ve said I wouldn’t keep my guard up against uncle and I’ll abide by that. What matters now is how we deal with Cai Mao.”

“Alright, I’ll say something about this later then.”

“No no no,” For some reason, Liu Qi shot me down just as I was getting into the mood of doing something,”Now isn’t the time for this. It’ll have to wait.”

“Why?”

“We have just returned from our expedition with neither victory nor any discernible achievement at all. To be attacking her under these circ.u.mstances is nothing short of arrogance.” Liu Qi said as she flung her hair back confidently, “So all you need to do later is stare at them murderously or ignore them.”

“Alright. Ah, what about the Kuai sisters?”

“Kuai Liang and Kuai Yue are not with Cai Mao so they don’t matter. I do know however, that they are against uncle so I didn’t have them receive you or you’d be subject to another round of tongue las.h.i.+ng from them.”

Thanks for your understanding.

As we talked, we soon ascended several flights of stairs and arrived before the main hall of the residence.

Ahead of us was a small door which was open and led to the main hall. I looked inside and saw that it was very extravagantly decorated. Though it wasn’t as lavish and colourful as some festivities I’ve been to before, it was still pretty fancy and the attendees were all dressed smartly.

I looked at myself and saw that I was still wearing the clothes that I’d worn to Jiangxia. I took a whiff and found that I didn’t smell very pleasant. Even if this wasn’t the case, I don’t think that this clothing is suitable for this venue.

I looked at Liu Qi again and only just realised that she’s changed out of her previous clothing. Though what she was wearing now was similar to what she was wearing before, under the light, I could see that her clothes were glittering and laced with gold and silver.

“Liu Qi, why didn’t you tell me to change before coming here?” I was a little peeved about it.

She sized me up twice before replying, “This is fine. Wearing something like this suits uncle more.” She said as she swiped some dust off of me, “You would probably be met with more criticism if you were to wear exquisite clothing.”

Un… I’m starting to think that living under someone’s wing might not be such a good idea after all.

It was still alright the previous few times. I’d started to feel this way back when we were in Jiangdong but this feeling that I wasn’t welcome at all was the strongest here in Jing state. Somehow, it seems like the greater a state, the more in-fighting there was, and the entrance of a newcomer seemed to throw everything into chaos.

“In any case, uncle shouldn’t think too much about it,” Liu Qi said to rea.s.sure me, “After you go in, uncle just needs to remember not to say too much as anything might be used against you in future.”

“Un, I understand.”

When she saw me nodding, Liu Qi nodded as well, and we both continued walking and entered the main hall.

Ah, I’m starting to feel hungry after smelling the sumptuous food.

“Blood brother! You’re finally here~~” Just as I entered, Liu Biao came running from the main seat and swept me into his arms as he patted my back.

“Ah, elder brother, I’m late.” I don’t really like this sort of skins.h.i.+p, especially when the other party is a man but since he’s like this, I have no choice but to oblige and so I patted his back as I said so.

“Come, have a seat.” He said as he let go and gestured me to sit at the second seat on the left aisle.

“I wanted to invite you to sit beside me but that isn’t proper so I’ll have to make you sit here.”

“It’s fine, elder brother thinks too highly of me.” I said as I made my way to my seat and bowed before sitting down.

“Alright!” Liu Qi clapped when she saw me take my seat, “Music! Dance!”

Following closely after Liu Qi’s instructions was a chorus from an ensemble that used traditional Sizhu instruments behind a curtain. It was standard traditional Chinese music but it seemed a little different from what I’d heard before.

Next, dancers began streaming in from another door. Like the soldiers, there were both male and female dancers. I suppose that makes sense since almost half of the generals present were women so it would be a little weird or boring for them to watch women dancing.

When I lowered my head, I found that there were many sumptuous and exquisite dishes displayed that were clearly hard to come by in this era. When I raised my head again, I saw that everyone had begun eating so I too picked up my chopsticks and began to eat. Hmmm, the taste is rather good.

As I continued eating, I spied at the other guests.

Just as with our welcoming contingent, there were some here I didn’t recognise. Sitting opposite me was Liu Qi who was her usual self. Beside her was a rather shy young girl who should be Liu Cong if I’m not mistaken.

In the row behind them was Cai Mao, with Yi Ji and Wen Ping sitting down the same aisle.

On my row, the Kuai sisters were sitting here as well. Just as I sat down, before I could even eat more than a few mouthfuls, they’d begun to speak to me softly with very conflicting expressions.

“Is Imperial Uncle well after this expedition?”

“Hmph, I can’t believe a loser has the cheek to come to the table.”

These 2 were like yin and yang, and delivered me both subtle and open blows with their words. I looked at Liu Qi but she only gave me a look that said ‘don’t even think about switching seats with me’.

Ah… Why does this… But at least Cai Mao is behind Liu Qi and not beside me or G.o.d knows what she would say to me.

Un? Just as I was dealing with these emotions, I noticed that Liu Cong was fidgeting about at her seat and kept stealing glances at Liu Qi.

Somehow it feels like she’s a 1st grader who just entered school and wanted to make friends but didn’t have the courage to speak to anyone. And Liu Qi is the sort of tough, quiet character with an aura that screams ‘don’t come near’, complete with a set of cold eyes.

Based on what Liu Qi said, Liu Cong should be a very devious person, the sort who will smile as she plots to kill you. But from what I can see now, it doesn’t appear to be that way at all.

Or is she too good at hiding it? If that’s the case, then I’m truly impressed.

I tried the wine as I ate and found that though it was strong, it wasn’t as strong as Xuchang’s wine so it was easier to swallow.

There are times when I really want the servants to take away my wine and serve me fruit juice instead. Or, to use this era’s language, agar. But when I thought about it more, I realised that fruit juice or this era’s equivalent is probably more expensive than wine so I gave up.

“Ah, right. Blood brother~”

“Ah, un?”

All of a sudden, Liu Biao suddenly called out to me. When I turned to look at him, I found that he was looking at me with gleaming eyes.

“Just today, your second contingent has returned from the military exercise.” With no warning at all, he began to raise the topic of my generals and the military exercise.

I looked at Liu Qi and saw that she wasn’t nervous in the least. Looks like this topic isn’t so sensitive after all.

“Ah, un. I too learned of this not too long ago.” I gave a vague reply and tried to broach the topic on win or lose.

This was something embarra.s.sing for the other side after all.