Liu Bei POV

“… Big brother.”

“Yes.”

As I expected, Yun Chang began to speak to me.

“I’m not trying to be difficult or unreasonable here, nor am I trying to stir up trouble when there is none, but I really don’t understand why Yi De has to be deployed in our pivotal first battle. Especially when Lord Lu Bu or Wen Yuan could have been instead.” Yun Chang said with a dubious expression.

I too am similarly troubled about this. I really did not understand the reasons behind her deployment. During the conference, I was only thinking about how the deployment seemed to be the same as the history I knew and felt that it would lead to our victory. I did not think that something like this would have happened.

“She probably has her own reasons for doing so. No, Yuan Zhi definitely has a reason for deploying her. Moreover, this incident was completely unforeseen by all of us.” I explained, doing my best to defend Yuan Zhi.

At the same time, I did not dare to say too much. Yun Chang has never bickered with me after all as our views have always been aligned and because of our relations.h.i.+p. I did not want to be too harsh and make her feel that I was disregarding her concerns.

“I’ll ask Yuan Zhi about this later.” I said to wrap up this discussion. I do feel that she has a reason for deploying the amnesiac and unstable Yi De. It’s not going to be much use now that something has happened but it’s still better than nothing.

“Hai… Forget it.” Yun Chang sighed as she suppressed her rage and flicked her l.u.s.trous hair back, “It’s fine if you don’t raise this with Lord Xu Shu. Looking at the big picture, we won the battle in the end and this is thanks to Lord Xu Shu.”

“Yeah, a solid victory too.” Zhou Cang seemed energetic the moment we started talking about the battle and began waving her fists about as she continued, “I took a quick look after the battle ended and it seems like our losses were really few.”

“The only regret I have is that we let some escape.” Yun Chang added on. I agreed with this.

“I could have caught up to that Li woman!” Zhou Cang exclaimed unhappily.

As we looked at the beautiful face besmirched by dirt and dust, Yun Chang and I smiled in spite of our gloom. I have to say, Zhou Cang is very energetic on the battlefield, and whenever we talk about battles.

“Alright, I’m going to return to my room to rest.” Yun Chang said as she pressed her knees and got up before looking at me, “Big brother should rest too. There will probably be a celebratory banquet tonight and everyone will definitely be rowdy.”

“Ah, un. Yun Chang should have a good rest too. Thanks for your hard work in this battle.” I said as I nodded at Yun Chang who snickered in response.

“Fighting is my duty. Apart from what happened to Yi De, everything was perfect.” Yun Chang delivered her a.s.sessment of the battle once more before leaving. When she finished, we saluted each other and she returned to her room.

“Haa~~ I’m exhausted too.” Zhou Cang yawned boorishly and tucked her hands behind her back as she continued, “Maa maa maa… I’ll go and have a nap too.”

“Yes, thanks for your hard work too, Zhou Cang.” I said while s.h.i.+fting my gaze which had wandered to her tender, white thighs back to her face. But when I saw how filthy she was, I began to feel worried about her lifestyle.

“If you can, I hope that Zhou Cang can go take a bath before sleeping.”

&ld

quo;A bath huh~”

“Un? Could it be that there are no bathtubs available?”

Back in Xuchang and Xiangyang, I always used bathtubs for bathing. But in this era, having a hot bath is no easy feat at all as you had to pour in the hot water bucket by bucket. This meant that hot baths were not very accessible and I wondered if this mansion had the facilities for it. At the very least, a cold bath would be good as well as it would relieve the tension and stress of the day’s exertions.

“There are but…” Zhou Cang gave a disgusted look and turned away as she continued, “But to be honest I don’t really like bathing. Bathing is really troublesome too.”

“I suppose…” I said as I smiled stiffly, having guessed that this was why she was always dirty. But on the other hand, despite her perpetual filthiness, her natural body scent was strong enough to cover the acrid smell of mud.

Could it be that all girls have sweet smelling sweat? Ah, I better not go there. If I keep thinking about it, I might enter a realm I do not want to enter.

“Ah yes, yes. What does my lord think of my helmet?”

“Ah…” Only now did I remember that I had hung the gra.s.s circlet on 1 of the bags hanging by my horse, “It’s alright, apart from my vision being slightly obscured and a bit of an itch occurring from time to time. It’s really cooling and rather unique.” I used the same word I used before.

I just hope that the gra.s.s circlet does not get eaten by my horse. By the way, Zhou Cang, are you insisting on calling it a helmet? Even calling it a hat would be a bit of stretch.

“Un… I see~ It’s good that my lord likes it.”

Oh? I found that Zhou Cang was being uncharacteristically shy after I gave her circlet some praise. Though I said that she was being shy, she was actually just covering her face which had a slight reddish tinge.

No, this is probably very feminine for Zhou Cang. Even her usually coa.r.s.e tone is much more tender now,

“Un un, I really like it.” I repeated myself with greater emphasis on ‘like’.

“I… I see…”

Oh~~ Zhou Cang’s cheeks turned even redder. Even though I had detected it back when I gave her the hair ties, I did not expect her to actually be capable of showing such cute and feminine behaviour.

If only she would act like this more often. I would praise Zhou Cang everyday if she would, even if I had to use flattery like I did with her circlet. As for saying really daring stuff like ‘you’re really beautiful’ or ‘your legs are really nice’, I have to say that I do not have the courage to say them.

“Never mind. I’ll be going to bathe now~” Zhou Cang spoke up first while I was preoccupied with my thoughts and made to leave as though she were trying to escape the awkwardness.

“Eh? Didn’t you say that it was troublesome?”

“E, even if it is troublesome, I should still have a bath…” Zhou Cang turned around and answered me, her cheeks still red, “I’m a girl after all.”

So she actually is aware of that fact! I thought that she had completely forgotten that she was actually a girl.

“Ah yes, my lord.”

Un?” I looked over when she called out to me and saw her fidgeting about as her cheeks turned into a deep red and she slowly said to me in a very feminine tone–

“Umm, would my lord like to take a bath with me?”

“Eh?!” I felt like a nerve snapped when I heard what Zhou Cang said.

What did she just say? Bathe together?!

— M… My lord…

Wu! In the next instant, my brain rapidly created an image of a naked and shy Zhou Cang sitting in the bathtub, waiting for me to join her.

“U… Ah… Umm…” I wanted to say something in response but could not shrug off the image in my head and stammered profusely.

W-w-w-what is it with this situation?! Could it be that this is the true meaning for my coming to this world?! Are things going to progress in that direction from now on?!

“Hahahaha!”

“… Eh?”

Just as something inside me was about to snap, Zhou Cang guffawed.

“Hahahaha~”

Eh? This is…

“My lord, I can’t believe it~” Zhou Cang stopped laughing when she saw my surprised look and continued, “I was obviously just joking with you.”

Eh? A joke…

When I realised that she was joking, I felt like I was being toyed with. But at the same time, I felt relieved that I did not get involved in all sorts of weird events. My legs felt a little weak but not to the extent that I could not stand. Of course, the expression I have on right now is undoubtedly terrible.

“Hehe.” Zhou Cang flashed a cute smile before leaving. When she left, I could still see that her cheeks were red.

I did not expect that her of all people would be able to pull a prank like an ordinary teenage girl. Is Zhou Cang really as simple-minded as I have seen? Perhaps, perhaps not. That’s not the problem though. I should still get Gan Qing to teach her some manners and propriety.

Now that Zhou Cang was gone, my mind drifted back to the original issue and my gaze s.h.i.+fted to Yi De’s room as I wondered if I should go in and have a look.

Ah.

Just then, I spotted someone in the distance. It was Yuan Zhi and she was looking over with a fist to her chest as she held the pillar with the other. It was obvious that she was concerned with Yi De’s condition.

My gaze wandered between Yi De’s room and Yuan Zhi before I finally decided to go over and speak with Yuan Zhi now that it was clear that Yi De was not in any danger.