Meng De POV

My lord… My lord…

Imperial Chancellor…

“My lord!”

“Ah, ah?!”

Several voices that called out to me jolted me awake. I got up and looked about and found that I was sitting on a chair and looking up at the ceiling. I tried to look down and found that my neck was exceptionally stiff.

Ah… It took me some effort but I managed to return my head to a more natural position and looked to the side where I saw several people standing there. They were all frowning and looking rather anxious and troubled as they looked at me.

“What’s the matter?” I asked as I looked at each of their faces, curious as to why they were like that. I looked at Cheng Yu and Xun Yu first. Their expressions were bland but it was still there. When they caught my gaze, they gave a long sigh.

I looked to the right next and saw Jia Xu who is quite the tall one. She always has a distressed look on her and usually wears clothing that resembles that of Taoist priests. Today is no exception. She looked at me quietly and nodded with her hands in her sleeves.

Further back were several more people who were looking over at me. They were the new recruits, Chen Qun, Mao Jie and Yang Xiu. They were currently huddled together and discussing something. They usually put on airs but they’re almost like completely different people now.

And since I spoke, n.o.body has answered me.

“As I asked before, what’s going on?”

I rubbed my eyes, and found that my eyes were rather dry, and s.h.i.+fted my body, only to find that my body was rather stiff. Every motion made my bones crick.

If I’m already like this when I’m so young, how bad will it be when I get old? I involuntarily shuddered from the prospect.

This feels like the most busy period 2 months ago. There were so many things to do with respect to internal and external affairs so I had to pull many all-nighters and put up with much hards.h.i.+p. After the ordeal, my body was stiff and ached all over, just like it is now.

Haa… Ahh… I gave a big yawn. But n.o.body still responded to my question which made me begin to feel irritated.

“Everyone, what is it that has made you all look so surprised? Will someone please say something?”

I was very perturbed and reached out instinctively for my tea cup and opened the lid only to find that the leaves had already disintegrated. There wasn’t much water inside and it had more or less become a tea stain.

Eh… When was this tea made? I put down the tea cup and had no choice but to swallow some saliva to whet my thirst for now.

“Aiya, umm… Meng De…” Just then, a figure came from behind the crowd. Xun Yu and Cheng Yu deftly parted to allow the person over.

Her expression was grave as well and she looked at me aggressively at first but her aggression quickly subsided. When I looked closely at her, I saw a black eyepatch which meant that it was Xiahou Yuan Rang.

“Yuan Rang, you came at the right time. Can you please explain to me what is going on? Why is everyone looking at me like that?” I asked as I pointed at everyone around. Unexpectedly, they turned away when I pointed at them.

“Meng De… Have you really forgotten?” Yuan Rang seemed at a loss for words as her only eye bulged while she said this.

I, however, had had enough. I raised my hand and slammed it on the handle of the chair, “As I was saying! Tell me what exactly is–”

“Lord Liu Bei has pa.s.sed away.”

“Going on…”

Before I could finish, Yuan Rang

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

interjected in a soft voice. She said something but because I was talking at the same time so I couldn’t quite hear what she said.

“… What… Did you say?” I asked again as I lowered my head. I don’t know why but I feel like I don’t like what she just said, “Yuan Rang, you better not–”

“Based on the reports from our spies, Lord Liu Bei has pa.s.sed away.” Yuan Rang, cutting across my weak attempt to silence her, and so I was able to hear loud and clear what she said.

Lord Liu Bei has pa.s.sed away.

Xuan De has pa.s.sed away.

I lowered my head and everything I’d forgotten came back to me now.

“When you heard this news, you didn’t say anything at first. After a while, all you said was ‘leave me alone for a bit’ before driving us out.” At the same time, Yuan Rang helped me piece together my lost memories by recounting what happened, “That, was what happened 3 days ago.”

“… Eh?” I raised my head in disbelief at what she said.

3 days… Ago?

“My lord, you’ve been sitting here and staring at the ceiling for 3 days now without drinking or eating.” Cheng Yu looked a little better now but she was still frowning as she continued, “No matter how much we tried to talk to you, you would just shrug us off.”

“But we need to wake you up now.” Jia Xu added in her perpetually depressed look. At this time, she’s probably only depressed about me…

“You have unfinished work after all.”

… Perhaps she’s just worried that there’s no one to do my work.

Ah… I sighed once more as I tried to make sense of the conversation that just happened.

Xuan De has pa.s.sed away…

In the next moment, Xuan De’s innocent, sincere face appeared before me as he called out to me and smiled. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes in horror. My body felt cold and my consciousness was starting to feel faint again.

“Meng De, are you alright?” Yuan Rang came over and offered to support me but I raised my hand and stopped her as I could withstand this ordeal.

“Xuan De, he… How… Did he die…”

It was just a few words but I had great difficulty uttering them. But in the end, for personal and official reasons, this question has to be asked. And I remember not asking this the first time they told me about it.

“Our spies learnt about this through Jiangdong.” Jia Xu said as she stepped forward.

Before she could continue, I felt an intense pressure and involuntarily gulped as my heart began to race at the prospect of this bad news.

“Liu Yu Zhou sought refuge with Liu Biao of Jing state after leaving Jiangdong. We heard that he had some issues with the Cai sisters and was planning on escaping to Xinye.” Jia Xu stretched her neck as she said so.

“Before he could leave, Liu Biao held a farewell banquet. Cai Mao seized the opportunity and set an ambush. Yu Zhou detected it and escaped to the west of the city but fell into the river at the end of the road. Jiangdong’s Lu Su happened to be on the way to Xiangyang for Jiangxia negotiations and saw this. He tried to save him but to no avail. Though search parties are still actively searching for him, it’s been 7-8 days since he fell into the water and I’m afraid–”

“Alright, that’s enough.” I interrupted Jia Xu and did my best to gather my feelings and then sighed.

“My lord, are you alright?”

“Un, I’m fine. I’m very good.”

I raised my hands that were crossed and recrossed them across my chest and closed my eyes as I rocked back and forth in the chair. These actions were to hide the deep fury in my heart.

Yes, I mustn’t show my emotions. What happened a few days ago cannot be allowed to happen again.

I then raised an arm and put it in front of my forehead as I tried to ease the creasing of my eyebrows.

Xuan De, oh Xuan De. I really didn’t think that you would fall at such a time. Your existence is much needed in these troubled times yet you fell to a countryside general.

It’s too sad. It’s really too sad.

I took my hand down from my forehead and covered my mouth in a gesture that looked like I was supporting my chin.

When I thought about Xuan De, my nose began to burn and I felt that maybe I caught a cold from sitting here like this for 2 days, But even so, I can’t let my mucus flow so I held my face even tighter and breathed lightly so that no one would be able to realise this.

It’s a good thing that everyone isn’t talking or asking me anything so I’m able to recover quickly.

Haa… I squeezed my nose and rubbed my eyes lightly as I gave a long sigh, feeling a little relieved.

Xuan De is dead. I should have accepted this reality 3 days ago.

Yes, I should have accepted it. In these troubled times, anything can happen. Or perhaps the heavens couldn’t allow the existence of 2 heroes.

And so, Xuan De had to die. Haha, I can’t believe the heavens can get jealous of heroes.

Haa…

“My lord, why are you sighing and laughing?” Jia Xu asked as she looked at me, her frown seeming to be even more p.r.o.nounced than before.

Eh? Laugh? I didn’t understand and reached up to touch my face only to find that I was smiling.

“Haha, it’s nothing.” I knew why but I had to dismiss their concerns, “Now that Xuan De is dead, I’m afraid there is no one left to fight with me for the word, hahahaha…”

I laughed softly. This laughter is probably the fakest of all in my life. There’s no way I can laugh under these circ.u.mstances after all.