Liu Bei POV

“That’s fine. If you’re not comfortable sharing it, then you don’t need to. I was just asking on a whim.” I said as I nodded to avoid things getting even more awkward.

“No, it’s not like it’s something unspeakable.” Liu Cong said as she raised her head and revealed a stiff smile. She s.h.i.+fted her gaze to me and stared at me for a long while before asking, “But before I share this, can I first ask uncle a question?”

“Un? What is it?”

That’s really surprising. Does Liu Cong have a strange curiosity towards me like Yi Ji does?

“Umm,” Liu Cong seemed to have some difficulty expressing herself and sank into thought for a moment before slowly saying, “Does uncle have any intention of forcefully taking over our family’s Jing state?”

Pu! I nearly choked when I heard her words.

“*Ke* *Ke*… Liu Cong, who told you– That I want to take over Jing state?” I asked as beads of perspiration began to form on my forehead at this utterly unantic.i.p.ated question.

“My mother told me that.” She said as she took 2 steps back and seemed a little apprehensive at my shocked look.

“Ah, you don’t need to be too worried. I have no such intentions at all.” I hurriedly replied and waved my hands as I did so.

Even though I’ve explained myself umpteen times over, Lady Cai still adamantly insists that I could do something. And it seems like that influence has spread to Liu Cong. No wonder she recognised me so quickly before. She’s probably been warned about me from Lady Cai much like I have been about her from Liu Qi.

“Is that so?” She was still doubtful about me and her eyes had begun to get a little watery.

“It is so. Your mother’s suspicions have no grounding whatsoever.” I said as I raised both hands and rested the blade against my chest, hoping to appear as honest as possible, “Besides, I’m about to move out to Xinye soon so I can’t possibly intervene in the struggle between Liu Qi and you.”

Of course, interventions are very possible. As I told Yi Ji earlier, though we may be in Xinye, should Liu Qi require my a.s.sistance, I will be here to help.

But for the sake of placating Liu Cong, it would be wise to leave out these sentiments.

“Un…” For some reason, Liu Cong bit her lips and lowered her head, appearing very deflated when she heard what I said. She held up the box in her hands and looked at the seeds inside once more, but the elation from before was gone.

Un? What happened? It’s almost as if mentioning Liu Qi triggered this reaction. Could it be…

“Liu Cong, if my guess is wrong, I apologise in advance,” I took a deep breath and did a quick final run through of my thoughts before continuing, “These flower seeds have something to do with Liu Qi right?”

Eh? Liu Cong gave a soft cry and her eyes bulged, as though she couldn’t believe that what I’d just said had come out of my mouth.

“That, umm… How did uncle know?!” She cried out in surprise.

I see, so my guess was right.

“Nothing much really.” The atmosphere had gotten heavy so I tried to lighten things up by smiling but it only came out awkwardly, “Liu Qi has spoken to me about you before.”

I paused and breathed out slowly before continuing, “Ah, you know, that secret garden you sisters had when you were kids.”

Flower seeds, Liu Qi, secret garden, they should all be linked.

“… Ah, so elder sister has told you huh…” When she heard what I said, Liu Cong looked deflated once more as she nodded. With every nod, her head seemed to droop even lower. Looks like this is a sad incident for her.

Un…

“Umm, so what are these flower seeds for?” I asked as I pointed at the wooden box in her hands as I still couldn’t understand what the purpose of the seeds were.

“This huh…” She raised the wooden box and stared at it before lightly sighing, “I’m still very guilty about what happened back then.”

Her expression seemed even heavier. Probably because that incident was playing out in her mind once more.

“Speaking of that, it seems like you told on her secret back then?”

Un… I don’t actually know what exactly happened but was it really Liu Cong who told on Liu Qi? Though we’ve only exchanged a few words, I don’t feel like Liu Cong is the sort of devious, despicable person.

Or perhaps I’m wrong in my judgement.

“… Looking at the result, that’s what happened more or less.” Liu Qi bit her lips as she said so. She was probably trying to smile but it looks like a total failure from my point of view.

“But why did you do that? Was it for the inheritance…”

“I don’t even care about inheriting Jing state!”

This is probably the 3rd time today that I’m treading on Liu Cong’s heartstrings. This time, her voice was even louder and she even interrupted me.

“Back then, I got along very well with elder sister. She’d told me about her secret garden and brought me there as well.” She slowly squatted down, her eyes revealing a very profound sadness as she did so, “I too can’t come into contact with flowers so I was truly happy when I found that I could get so close to flowers there.”

“Eh? You’re allergic to pollen as well?”

“Pollen… What?”

Right, they don’t know what that is.

“Ah… So you will get triggered when you get close to flowers too?”

“Liu Qi even told you about such a weird reaction?”

Well, she didn’t exactly tell me but I could tell what it was.

“More or less.” I gave an ambiguous reply, “What happened next?”

“Un… We went there multiple times and I once brought mother along as well.”

“Eh? You brought your mother?” I asked, to which Liu Cong nodded.

Ah, she brought Lady Cai huh? I don’t know why but I can more or less guess what happened afterwards…

“Back when mother saw the secret garden, she too was amazed.” Liu Cong continued, “Thereafter, I told father about this as well…”

“… Eh?” I sank into silence for a moment before continuing, “So you told elder brother about it?”

“… Un.” Liu Cong lightly nodded.

“And Liu Qi was berated afterwards?”

“… Un.” Another light nod from Liu Cong.

This, this is too–

I was at a loss as to what to say and was very suspicious as I asked Liu Cong, “But did you ever think that if you told your father about this, Liu Qi would be seen as someone who only engages in frivolous play?”

“… I never thought about it, because–” Liu Cong seemed a little displeased at what I said and continued in a defensive tone, “Because father too is hated by flowers! I was hoping to make father happy!”

… Eh? What did she just say?

“Liu– Elder brother too?”

He’s allergic to pollen as well?

“… Un.” Liu Cong nodded once more.

No wonder. So this allergy is something that’s pa.s.sed down the family huh?

(TL: Pollen allergy is inheritable.)

“Umm, so let me see if I got this right. You told your father that Liu Qi has a garden somewhere and before you could say anything else, elder brother sent men over to deal with it?”

“That’s what happened,” Liu Cong couldn’t resist anymore and placed the wooden box on her knees as she covered her face with both hands, “It’s all my fault! If only I’d said everything clearly then!”

“… B, but, doesn’t your father know that Liu Qi has an allergy– a weird reaction to flowers? If you mentioned that Liu Qi has a garden, wouldn’t that have aroused some suspicions?”

“… Back then, I didn’t say that Liu Qi had a garden. I said–”

Father, father! Liu Qi has a very secret wonderland, father will definitely like it!

… Eh? B, but…

“Then why didn’t you explain yourself further?”

“Father didn’t have any scary expression back then,” Liu Cong continued in a tearful voice, “I just left the house back then happily and only when I came home… *s.h.i.+ku*… Did I find out that father had sent men to destroy the garden.”

Ah… So that’s what happened.

Now everything makes sense. Liu Biao didn’t fly into a rage back then because he was concerned about proprieties and face and didn’t want to show his anger in front of Liu Cong.

But there are still things that aren’t clear.

“B, but…”

But then why didn’t you tell your father the truth afterwards? Or so I wanted to ask, but decided against it when I saw how tearful Liu Cong was.

Back then, Liu Cong was just a few years old. No kid would have had the courage to speak out after what had transpired.

Much less the second daughter of a feudal lord.

Everything. Everything happened because of coincidences and accidents of various sorts.

If Liu Cong hadn’t said anything or had been clearer, or if Liu Biao was willing to listen further, then none of all this would have happened. Or perhaps, it might have happened later instead.

Hai… I sighed, as I thought about how fate had toyed with their fates.

“And thereafter, elder sister no longer spoke to me. No matter how much I tried to explain myself to her, she wouldn’t forgive me.” Liu Cong continued in her crestfallen state with her tearful voice, “Elder sister then joined the army and suffered much there. I, on the other hand, engaged in studies in Court. Though it was difficult, it was much easier than what elder sister had to go through. Thereafter, we spoke even less.”

“Un… So you both haven’t spoken to each other for almost 10 years now?”

Liu Cong nodded and held down her skirt with one hand as she slowly got up. She then dabbed her eyes with her handkerchief which she used to blow her nose afterwards before sighing.

“But I can’t blame elder sister for what she did as everything was indeed a result of my actions.” Liu Cong said as she patted the soil off her clothing and smoothened the creases, “Though mother has told me not to interact with elder sister as we are approaching the turning point in the inheritance struggle, I still wish to do something for elder sister.”