Liu Bei POV

Does this sort of exchange between Liu Cong and Liu Qi happen on a daily basis? If that’s the case, then Liu Cong is really too pitiful.

“Alright, Liu Cong. Meeting you here was my mistake.” Liu Qi continued in an aggressive tone, “If you wish to tell your mother about our movements, then go and do that. I will still help uncle escape nonetheless.”

“Eh? Escape? Why does he have to escape?”

“Liu Cong, you don’t need to put on an act anymore.”

“I’m not acting! I know that mother doesn’t like uncle but if uncle goes to Xinye, mother won’t do anything to uncle!” Liu Cong’s voice grew louder as she felt maligned but this only ignited the fury in Liu Qi.

And the most lethal of attacks are the ones that are done calmly.

“Your mother and aunt have surrounded uncle with troops. Don’t tell me you don’t know that.”

“Eh?”

“Stop pretending anymore will you?”

“Liu Qi…” I said as I held back Liu Qi who’d begun to storm over to Liu Cong, “Don’t be too ras.h.!.+” I may be an outsider but I couldn’t take it anymore, “Look at Liu Cong now, how could that be an act?”

I pointed at a frowning Liu Cong whose lips were gaping up and down as her eyes bulged. She was clearly very surprised by what Liu Qi said, and shocked that her earlier presumption was very incorrect.

“This is a little too real for an act.”

“…” Liu Qi didn’t say anything. Clearly, she didn’t want to admit my point was valid.

“Uncle, let’s go.” She said as she lightly pushed my arm away and ignored Liu Cong while pulling me towards the back door.

Because of the urgency of the situation at hand, I couldn’t do anything much. When Liu Qi didn’t notice me, I turned back to look at Liu Cong and made a fist as I did a gesture to tell her to keep working hard.

Liu Cong noticed my gaze and looked up. She nodded when she saw my gesture but from how disheartened she looks, I doubt I’ll ever see that optimism and energetic look I saw before. But that can’t be helped, I definitely wouldn’t be able to optimistic if I was on the receiving end of Liu Qi’s hostility. But what can I do? The me now can only watch as Liu Cong gets further and further.

“Liu Qi, is that really alright? That’s your little sister there.” I couldn’t help but say this to an enraged Liu Qi after we rounded a corner. I said this after seeing Liu Qi calm down somewhat and seeing a tinge of regret in her expression.

“… I don’t recognise her as my little sister.” But then, she seemed to have made her resolve and swung her hand to the side as she continued to walk on angrily.

Liu Qi doesn’t know that Liu Cong has told me about what started the divide between them. From my perspective, Liu Cong was indeed in the wrong but it wasn’t fair for Liu Qi to place all of the blame on Liu Cong and bearing a grudge on her.

But even if what Liu Cong told me was the truth, it will be difficult to convince Liu Qi. Their conflicts have gone on for too long. Just hoping for a normal conversation between Liu Qi and Liu Cong is hard enough. I just hope Liu Cong’s efforts with her flowers pays off eventually.

“Uncle, here. We’ve reached our destination.” Liu Qi poked her head around a corner and said after we’d pa.s.sed through an intersection and rounded a few more corners.

Looks like we’re at the backdoor now. I nodded and hu

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rried forward to where Liu Qi was. By the time I reached the back door, Liu Qi had already opened it. She poked her head outside and looked about before turning back and pulling me out.

“Uncle, after leaving by this door, continue straight until you’ve pa.s.sed 2 alleys. Go west after that for about 100 paces and you will see the west gate. After you exit the city, don’t continue straight, there’s a small road to your left– Uncle, are you listening?”

“I was. Just go straight right?”

When she heard what I said, Liu Qi looked like she was about to break down in tears.

“Go straight and turn west after 2 alleys.”

“Ah… West…” I stammered. It’s a little inappropriate of me to say this now but I’m still not too familiar with the city,

“That’s… Never mind, come over here, uncle.” Liu Qi gave up and pulled my by my sleeve to her eye level and pointed ahead as she said, “Look uncle. That alley there, do you see it? After you pa.s.s it, turn right.”

“Ah… Un…”

While Liu Qi spoke from up close, my eyes did not follow her fingers but were drawn to her face. As expected of royalty, her skin is much smoother and nicer than almost everyone I’ve met so far.

“Uncle? Are you…”

“Wu…”

Liu Qi turned towards me as she said so, without distancing herself, resulting in us coming face to face with each other up close. Our noses were practically touching and I could smell her breath.

“Ah…” Almost immediately, Liu Qi gave a grunt like a broken machine and her face reddened as she stood rooted to the spot. Of course, I too had the same reaction.

In the next instant, we both turned our faces away. I didn’t say anything as my emotions were running wild. Liu Qi too didn’t say anything. As for how she felt, I can’t say I know.

We’re clearly uncle and niece, why are we acting like an idiot couple that just got together…

“Umm, uncle…” Liu Qi managed to speak up first while I was still gathering myself together.

“… U, un?” I stammered and felt embarra.s.sed at myself. When I turned back, I found that Liu Qi still had her back to me and had her hands in front of her chest. Her head was lowered as though she were thinking about something.

“When everything is over, I will host another banquet for uncle in my name as someone who isn’t just your niece.” She said after a moment, and then nodded as though she made her resolve and said, “Un, I promise I’ll be able to do that.”

Liu Qi’s words clearly had a deeper meaning. This much, I can tell. That said, as far as holding a banquet goes, I have no doubt she can pull it off. And I can’t confirm much, but I did hear from Liu Biao’s mouth that he wishes to make Liu Qi his heir. So I will wait for it.

But, of course…

“When the time comes and you need help, I’m here for you.” I said confidently as I mounted Dilu.

Of course, I’ll still be supporting Liu Qi when the time comes.

“Yes, when the time comes, I’ll be counting on uncle.” Liu Qi smiled and stepped towards me with cheeks that were still reddish.

“From what I can see, you have no intention of counting on me though.”

“Haha, when I absolutely have to, I’ll look for uncle.”

We laughed as we looked at each other.

“Well then…”

“Alright,” Liu Qi said as she nodded and saluted me, “I hope uncle’s escape goes well.”

“Un, many thanks, niece!” I said as I nodded and swung my reins, eliciting a loud neigh from Dilu before it galloped away.

I could feel Liu Qi’s gaze lingering on me. I very much wanted to turn back and look at that mature and cute niece once more but time was of the essence and in the blink of an eye, I’d rounded the corner and headed west as Liu Qi told me to.

This time, there was no one else by my side. No Zi Long, no Liu Qi, and no Yun Chang and everyone else. Just me alone escaping. No matter how dense I am, even with the heartwarming exchange from before, I’m still filled with anxiety and urgency.

Galloping wildly in this narrow alley certainly doesn’t help. It feels like the narrowness of this alley is giving me claustrophobia and is suppressing my anxiety, making it difficult for me to breathe.

Luckily, my psyche is strong enough to keep me calm enough. I’m still very nervous and anxious but I’ve had similar experiences under more harrowing circ.u.mstances. What’s more, I have Dilu with me this time.

If this really is the Three Kingdoms, I really am Liu Bei, and this horse really is Dilu, then I have no reason to believe that my escape will fail. I don’t remember much of the Three Kingdoms but I know what scene will happen next. This is one of the more famous and dramatic ones after all.

Before I knew it, I was past the alley and if I turned right, I would be at the city gate. O steered Dilu to the right but he wasn’t very obedient. It took a lot of effort, but I was able to make him veer to right after we exited the alley.

As Liu Qi said, the tall gates were there in the distance to the right. I’m not too confident about my ability to figure out north, south, east and west but that should be the west gate. I looked up at the tower and saw that there weren’t many troops and they didn’t seem like they were going to stop me so they should be Liu Qi’s men as she said.

Good, victory is within reach. I heaved a sigh of relief at not having met with any pursuers so far. If I had then things would be much worse.

— Halt, Imperial Uncle!

Un?!