Liu Bei POV

“Yuan Zhi, we won today.” I said with a smile as I went over to where she was. What happened today was indeed something worth being happy about after all.

“It’s thanks to you that we won. If it were not for your strategy, we might still be fighting right now.” When I finished, Yuan Zhi shook her head with a dazed look. To be honest, she always looks dazed out as long as she does not speak.

“No, this was just the first battle. There will be many more to come.” Yuan Zhi replied. Though she said as much, she seemed a little happy when she heard me say that we won.

She then s.h.i.+fted her gaze from me to somewhere behind. Naturally, I knew that she was looking at Yi De’s room.

“Lord Zhang Fei can’t have collapsed due to exhaustion alone.”

Looks like my lie was seen through immediately.

“That is… But it’s not like it’s anything serious anyway.” I said as I smiled stiffly. But when I saw Yuan Zhi looking right at me, I realised that I could not avoid the issue and decided to fess up, “Because of her amnesia, Yi De was not able to properly fend off an enemy general. Well, she was also exhausted after that so…”

The more I said, the more I realised that I did not know what to say. We did not know why Yi De fainted after all. All we knew was that it was related to her fight during the battle.

“I see…” Yuan Zhi reacted blandly and sank into thought once more. I do not know what she is thinking about now but it’s probably related to the battle. Or perhaps she’s modifying her upcoming deployment plans.

— Yuan Zhi, why did you choose to deploy Yi De?

Though I promised Yun Chang that I would ask Yuan Zhi this question, the words got stuck in my mouth. The myriad emotions relating to this question swirled about inside me and in the end, I could not force the question out.

“Ah…”

Un? Just then, Yuan Zhi’s jaw widened.

“Yuan Zhi–”

“Xuan De.” I was about to ask her what was going on when she called out to me.

“Yes!”

“You said that Yi De was unable to fend off her opponent, who was it?”

“Ah… She later broke through the surround with Li Dian and escaped with some survivors.” I said and thought back to the name which Li Dian had yelled out, “Her name seems to be… Lu Xiang?”

“What?!” Yuan Zhi immediately cried out in surprise.

“You said Lu Xiang escaped? And there was someone else called Li Dian?” Yuan Zhi said as she gasped. Is she unhappy with us for letting them escape?

“Xuan De, let me start from the beginning. How many generals were there?”

“3.”

“Who else was there besides Li Dian and Lu Xiang?”

“Someone called Lu Kuang who was killed by a fatal wound to the neck by Zi Long’s spear.”

Yuan Zhi nodded, “How many troops did the enemy have?”

“Ah! … About 8-9,000.”

“What!”

(… Wasn’t it supposed to be 5,000?) Yuan Zhi muttered under her breath but I could not hear what she said very clearly.

“The enemy was able to tear a hole in the surround.” I continued to explain what happened, “Yun Chang’s troops engaged the enemy’s rearguard first. In total, we had about 12,000 or so. The surround worked very well in the beginning but some cavalry troops charged in later and messed up the formation, giving them a chance to break through.&rdquo

;

As I explained, Yuan Zhi continued to stare at the ground with a dazed look in her eyes and seemed to lose her balance as she leaned against the wall.

“How many escaped?”

“I don’t know the specifics,” I said as I shook my head, “That will have to wait till Zi Long and Chen Dao return with the numbers.”

“Un un un.” Yuan Zhi nodded, looking very dazed. When I took a closer look at her, I found that there was no trace of any other emotion. It seemed like she had turned to stone.

“Yuan Zhi?”

“… Ah,” She took a long while before responding and looked at me before quickly pulling down her bandana, “I understand what happened now. We’ll discuss the specifics tonight then.”

Ah… Before I could say anything, Yuan Zhi went around me and left. I turned back and saw that Yuan Zhi was walking very quickly without paying attention to the mud and water under her feet. This was completely different from how graceful and light her steps were earlier today. She’s also a clean freak too…

It was clear that Yuan Zhi was panicking. I do not know why though as Yuan Zhi seemed to be unwilling to tell me anything for now. Honestly, I am rather worried by this. But at the very least, we won the battle, and thoroughly at that.

Haa~ I yawned and stretched my back.

Looks like I have no choice but to leave what was undiscussed with Yuan Zhi for tonight.

Like Yi De, Yun Chang and Zhou Cang, I will now go to sleep. If possible, seeing a dream of Zhou Cang bathing would be nice.

I laughed at my rather improper joke inside as I made my way back to my room. I was really exhausted this time, to the point where I lost consciousness shortly after I hit the bed.

By the time I woke up, several hours had pa.s.sed.

*Dang* *Dang* *Dang*! *Dang* *Dang* *Dang*!

“Uncle! It’s time to get up~” A very energetic and loud female voice came from outside the room. Honestly, the first knock was loud enough to jolt me awake. The other knocks, and the boisterous yell, drove away my sleepiness right away.

As I lay in bed, I kept my eyes closed, wis.h.i.+ng that I had not been awoken. But after a few seconds, I knew I could not fall asleep again and got up. When I looked about, I saw that the room, and outside, was very dark.

*Dang* *Dang* *Dang*! *Dang* *Dang* *Dang*!

“Mother! It’s time to get up!” Guan Ping’s voice could be heard once more. Looks like she went to wake up her ‘mother’ this time.

“… Got it!” Yun Chang yelled back in a voice that was just as loud. Her voice was calm however, and did not sound like she just woke up. I do not know whose idea it was to get Guan Ping to wake us up, but I cannot say that I like it.

I thought about it for a little while longer before finally giving up. We got at least 4 hours of sleep after all and my stamina has mostly recovered.

When I stood up, I found that my legs were still a bit soft. One reason is because of the horse riding I just did in the battle but part of it was mental. This feeling is just like when I play those virtual reality games. Yes, I have virtual reality sickness.

Ah… I groaned as I slowly made my way to the door with the support of a nearby table. My mind was still blank. After a moment, the first thing I thought about was to try to remember the dream I just had. However, like what always happens, I do not remember if the dream I had was the one I wished for. Try as I might, I cannot recall a single thing.

Of course, it’s possible that sometimes your desired dream does not happen even if you strongly desire for it. Perhaps I might have been delightfully surprised if I did not try and make it happen. I sighed as I thought so and shook my head as I pushed open the door.

“Ah, uncle is awake huh?” Guan Ping said when she saw me come out.

“Guan Ping, what time is it?”

“I don’t know, I’m not too good at counting time.” Guan Ping smiled stiffly as she looked at the night sky. I too looked at the night sky and after doing a rough estimate, concluded that it should be 6-7pm right now.

“Is the celebratory banquet about to start?”

“Yes, which is why I cam to wake uncle up.”

Ah… The way she addresses me makes me feel like an old man though I am not as against it as Yun Chang is to ‘mother’. In any case, it feels good to be addressed as an elder, no matter what it is.

“By the way, uncle…”

“… Un?”

Of course, it gets a bit tiring to hear it so many times.

“What is it?” I asked, seeing that Guan Ping looked like she had something to ask of me. I tried to read her but could not fathom what this energetic, twin-tailed girl wanted to say.

“Umm, today’s battle ended with a great victory right?”

I do not know if Zi Long and Chen Dao had told everyone when they came back but if Guan Ping knows, then everyone should know by now.

“Un, I suppose so.”

Apart from what happened to Yi De and the escapees.

“Umm, umm–” Just as I finished, Guan Ping tiptoed towards me which surprised me a little as she continued, “The lieutenant that mother brought today was Lord Zhou Cang right?”

“Ah… Un.” I nodded.

“How was her performance?!”

She looks very expectant to hear it.

“Ah… Not bad?” My answer was more like a question directed to myself as I had not thought about this.

Overall, she did what she had to. It would have been very difficult for me to protect Yi De and repel Lu Xiang alone. The only thing she failed to do was catch up to the escapees. But then again, she was not riding a horse so it cannot be helped that she could not catch up to them.

“I see…”

Eh? Guan Ping seemed like a deflated ball when she heard this and her energy was drained away.