Liu Bei POV

“Oh? I see.” Xu Shu replied blandly and continued sipping her drink, as though she expected that I would say this. Is she overestimating herself or is this how talented people are like? As I looked at Yuan Zhi’s airheaded gaze, I could not imagine her as an arrogant person whatsoever.

Ah, I should be getting into the main topic soon. I can also see how she would function as a military adviser.

“By the way, Yuan Zhi.” I said as I sat down on a cus.h.i.+on beside her, “I happen to have something I need to discuss with you.”

“Un.” Yuan Zhi nodded.

I then explained to her what Yun Chang and Wen Yuan to,d me without leaving out any detail. In particular, I emphasised what I was most worried about, Meng De’s preparations for a southern campaign. I included details on what I knew about Meng De. To put it simply, I told her that I believe that Meng De is a very level-headed person.

While I spoke, Yuan Zhi did not move at all and only blinked now and then. I am fairly certain she is listening to me but whether her brain is actually functioning is a question mark.

“Un, alright.” Yuan Zhi nodded when she saw that I was done, “In short, the issues we face are no longer limited to Liu Biao’s side. Because of what happened to you, Jing state is now unstable and Cao Cao and Jiangdong are now involved. Under these circ.u.mstances, you have your doubts about whether you should continue hiding the truth about your survival, is that correct?”

“Ah, un. Yes, that’s the gist of it all.” I said a lot but Yuan Zhi was able to shorten everything I said to just a few lines. Just this alone was enough to qualify her as an adviser.

“Un… About this problem…” Yuan Zhi sank into silence and took a short sip of her sweet water, “Xuan De, what do you think about your relations.h.i.+p with Cao Cao Cao Meng De?”

Eh?

“Un… Our relations.h.i.+p huh…” I found it a bit difficult to respond to this sudden question. If I think about it, our relations.h.i.+p is rather complicated.

I cannot really call us friends since we were after each others’ lives in Xu state and at Guandu. But at the same time, calling us enemies would not be right either. If I were to say how our relations.h.i.+p feels like…

“Our relations.h.i.+p is rather good I guess.” I said as I thought back to the days we spent in Xuchang, “By the way, why are you asking this?”

“Un… If your relations.h.i.+p is good then it’s fine for me to tell you this. Or rather, it’s a good thing that your relations.h.i.+p is good.”

“Eh? What do you mean by that?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Yuan Zhi said as a matter of fact, “Xuan De just needs to speak with Cao Cao and explain the situation. Then you can both cooperate in a joint southern campaign.”

“Eh?! That’s…”

“Vengeance will be sufficient for your casus belli.” Yuan Zhi did not stop when I tried to protest and continued looking ahead in a daze as she explained further, “From there on, everything will be simple. We will take Jing state and split it fairly between our 2 sides. Later on, we will wait for an opportunity to enter into an alliance with Liu Yan and Liu Zhang before retaking the entirety of Jing state using the Liu clan owners.h.i.+p as our casus belli. Finally, we will enter into an alliance with Jiangdong’s Sun Quan and lead a joint invasion northwards–”

“Umm, Yuan Zhi, please wait.” I hurriedly raised my hands and stopped her when I saw that

she was going too far.

“Un? Is there any problem?” Yuan Zhi looked at me and frowned, seeming a little displeased at being interrupted but her expression quickly returned to how it usually was.

“Ah, I don’t have a problem with what Yuan Zhi proposed but before that is a more fundamental problem.”

“What is it?”

“I cannot attack Liu Biao.”

“Un?” She frowned again and seemed puzzled, “And why is that?”

“That should be easy to understand right?” Now, it was my turn to explain things to her, “Jing state belongs to Liu Biao. I’m already very grateful that he could give me refuge and now I’m supposed to defend Jing state. Attacking him instead is a little too much. And the one who forced me into my predicament was his retainer and this was not his intent at all. So I don’t think I should–”

“Ah.”

“Un?”

I was about halfway through when Yuan Zhi said something as though she just realised something. The room was rather noisy so no one else noticed it but I was really surprised as her eyes were bulging. Compared to before however, her bandana was pushed up, revealing a pair of bright, large eyes that beheld charm that exceeded a quiet Zhou Cang.

“Ah… I remember now… This should be… Ah…”

“Un? What is it?”

“I already decided not to think about such useless things already…” She muttered as she pulled down her bandana, completely covering her eyes, “Eh! How could I have forgotten this… But n.o.body told me about this scenario at all…”

“What did you forget?”

“…”

She continued to ignore me and sank into silence. As for me, I have no idea whatsoever what that soliloquy was about. It seemed as though she regretted what she just said to me.

“Ah… Yuan Zhi?” I called out softly as I carefully poked her shoulders.

“Ah, it’s nothing.” Only now did she react and nod towards me with her bandana still covering her eyes, “I hope that Xuan De will not listen to what I just said. It was all just nonsense.”

“Ah… I don’t think it’s that much–” I began to feel nervous when Yuan Zhi said this as I was afraid that it was my att.i.tude that irked her, “That’s my issue. Your proposal was very good. Seriously.”

“No no no no…” Yuan Zhi bit her lip and shook her head as she denied what I said. Though her eyes are covered, I could still see that she felt regretful, “In any case, I hope that Xuan De can forget what I just said.”

“Umm…” I still had more to say but Yuan Zhi was being strangely adamant about this so I decided against it, “Alright, I’ll forget it. Will that do?”

“…” Yuan Zhi lightly tugged at her bandana, revealing half an eye and nodded before sinking into thought again, “Un… So you want to ask me what you should do right?”

It seems like she chose to act like our prior exchange never happened and turned back the clock to where I first asked her the question.

“Ah… Un.” I did not know why she had to do this but decided to go with the flow and nodded.

“Un…” But this time, Yuan Zhi sank into thought even longer than the last time, “I don’t know about the details but for the sake of safety, Xuan De should spread the truth about your survival.”

“Really?”

I did not expect that the answer she would give me this time was the same from the one she gave me before. But I could not ask her why as I had already promised to forget it.

“And we should stay here and not invade southward.” Yuan Zhi said somewhat mechanically but resolutely, unlike before.

“I… I see… But why should I announce that I’m alive?”

Perhaps Yuan Zhi is a lot stranger than I thought. All this while, I thought that she was just a clean freak, airheaded girl.

“Un, un.” Yuan Zhi nodded and stared at the candle hanging by the central pillar as she explained, “Xinye is the bridgehead into Jing state. Now that Cao Cao is gathering her troops at the border, it’s clear that she intends to invade Jing state. If we announce the truth, Cao Cao might not attack us.”

Now I get it.

“That means that… I am to be a neutral party then.”

Yuan Zhi nodded, “Based on my rough estimates, we should have 20-30,000 troops. In contrast, Cao Cao’s entire punitive force will likely be several hundred thousand strong. Our force is like a little bean to her. So before Cao Cao has sent an attacking force to our position, we should announce that Xuan De is alive and maintain neutrality. This way, Cao Cao will likely choose to go around us.”