Liu Bei POV

“Lord Xu Shu…” Guan Ping seemed to have understood how she felt and pa.s.sed her cup of liquor to Yuan Zhi.

“Big brother had already toasted you before. Now, I would like to show my personal appreciation and grat.i.tude.” Yun Chang said as she raised her cup.

At the same time, everyone else, whether they took part in the battle or not, all raised their wine cups and toasted Yuan Zhi. Yuan Zhi seemed like she was at a loss as to what to do but raised her cup anyway.

“Cheers!” Everyone roared out in 1 voice. Liquor splattered about once more as everyone raised their cups and drank.

I too raised my cup as I looked at Yuan Zhi, who looked at me like a helpless puppy. I knew that she did not understand, why even though she made a mistake and Yi De ended up like this, everyone thanked her.

But this is what everyone is like. No matter what, just looking at the results, Yuan Zhi had proved herself to be an outstanding strategist. As I thought so, I tipped my cup at Yuan Zhi before taking a sip. Yuan Zhi was still in a daze but when she saw what I was doing, she did the same as well.

*Ke* *Ke* *Ke*… Almost immediately, Yuan Zhi began coughing and she stuck her tongue out as though she were trying to get rid of the taste.

Ah yes. Yuan Zhi does not like drinking liquor. And the cup that Guan Ping handed to her earlier seems to have been Guan Ping’s so it did not contain sugar water. As I watched Yuan Zhi, she hurriedly sat down and hid her discomfort before picking up her own bowl and taking a swig of sugar water to calm herself down.

“But the number of troops we brought this time were a bit too few.” Zi Long said as she began eating once more after she finished drinking, “If we had another 3-4,000 more troops, we wouldn’t have been thrown into disarray by the enemy’s cavalry and they would not have gotten past the surround.”

“Wu.” Yuan Zhi frowned and winced when she heard Zi Long start discussing the battle once more. When I think back to our earlier conversation, it seems like she was very surprised at the enemy’s numbers. Could it be that she thinks this is her fault as well? She’s being too harsh with herself.

“Well, that can’t be helped, really.” Chen Dao said, “That’s how our forces were divided to begin with. And besides, if we had more troops, it would have been difficult to stay hidden long enough to spring an ambush.”

“Yeah, we never thought that the enemy would bring that many troops.” Zhou Cang said as she drank liquor like a good-for-nothing drunkard.

But they are both right. And it seems like Yuan Zhi had thought that the enemy would only bring about 5,000 troops, which would have been very manageable for us. Of course, it’s easy to say all this with hindsight.

Yet, Yuan Zhi still seemed troubled and her expression only relaxed slightly after taking a few deep breaths.

It was a good thing that the cheerful atmosphere of the party was not dampened by the serious topics discussed before. This was thanks to the musicians and people like Zhou Cang. A party is something that needs energetic and boisterous people to breathe life into after all.

That said, I really do need to speak with Yuan Zhi later on. I really do not know what she is thinking or how she is feeling right now.

“Yun Chang, are you alright?” I asked, worried about how she might be feeling now. Yun Chang turned to look at me and sank into silence for a moment before smiling and nodded.

“Of course I am. So is Yi De, and I believe that Lord Xu Shu will bring us many vic

tories in the days to come.”

Yun Chang seemed to have cooled down compared to earlier today perhaps because she had some time to rest, and also after learning that Yi De would be fine.

Ah… A sudden urge came from my lower abdomen and I shuddered. Looks like I drank a little too much today.

“Umm, Yun Chang, Wen Yuan, I’ll be right back.” I said softly as I got up to exit the main hall. Both of them understood what I meant and nodded silently in response.

“Un? Xuan De, where are you going!?”

Wu! I thought that everyone would have understood the implicit meaning of my exit here but when I pa.s.sed by Feng Xian, she spoke to me loudly and mercilessly. To the point where I turned pale and even blushed a little.

“I’m going…” But I could not possibly say such things so publicly in such a venue.

“My lord!” Wen Yuan called out to Feng Xian softly before going up to her and whispering into her ear.

“Ah…” Feng Xian gasped when she realised what I meant and her cheeks turned a faint red. This was at odds with her ferocious eyes however, and only made her look even more domineering.

“Xuan De… I’m sorry…”

“Ah no, it’s alright.” I chucked and shook my head as I made my way outside. It was really awkward but I was approaching my limits.

Huu~ A cool gust of wind blew by just as I stepped out of the main hall, taking away some of the heat and sweat from me. It was really cool and comfortable tonight. When I looked up, I saw that the moon was in full view and took a deep breath as I headed for the back.

“Is there anyone inside?” I yelled out loudly as I made my way to the toilet. I know that everyone is in the main hall but I still did so as many awkward moments have resulted ever since I came to this era because of my carelessness.

As a result of my experiences, I have decided to make sure that I think before I act. Like now for instance. Of course, I have to say that I have no desire to walk in on someone. For one, it’s not like there’s much to see when someone is squatting over the hole. And if I ever do so, I will be lambasted terribly.

After more than 10 seconds or so had pa.s.sed, I yelled again. When no one replied, I carefully opened the door and went inside to solve the problem. By the way, even though this mansion is the best in the city, the toilet is actually pretty poorly equipped and is even worse than the one in my dad’s old home in the countryside.

But now that I think about it, life here is truly inconvenient compared to my era. I have not mentioned this before and I have adapted well to this era, it’s not like it’s made it any easier.

Only when those things were no longer available did I start to see how important they were. Unfortunately, I am not a genius scientist, nor am I a hero with a cheat. Things would go awry if I were to make a TV or some other machine here.

Yes, I still feel like punching myself from regret sometimes. Regret that came from not grabbing a copy of [The Romance of the 3 Kingdoms] or maybe a gun or a torchlight. Anything would have been highly useful.

But all I brought was a useless feather fan.

Never mind.

By the way, there are no basins and taps to wash your hands with naturally so there is no way to wash your hands directly after you are done with business. There is a small tub of water outside for this purpose however, and you were supposed to rinse your hands with the water in the tub, which is what I did. Ah yes, I am the type who washes his hands regardless of whether I get any on them.

Un? As I stepped out of the toilet and took a deep breath of fresh air, I cast my eyes around and saw that 1 room had its lights on. Inside, there was a single figure sitting in the room and seemed like that person had their back to me.

That’s… Yi De’s room. Has she awoken?

When I saw that she had woken up, I felt relieved from the bottom of my heart. My first reaction was to run back and inform Yun Chang and the rest but then I felt that it would be better to check on Yi De’s status first and made my way towards her room.

“Yi De– Ah, Lord Zhang Fei?” I called out as I gingerly pushed her door in and entered. However, it seems like Yi De has not realised that I am here.

Un? What’s going on?

“Yi De, are you–”

“Eh?”

As I stepped in, Yi De gave a small cry of surprise. At the same time, what I saw stopped me from completing my sentence.

If this is not a dream, then Yi De is presently naked in front of me. Her long gown was completely off and her immature body was dyed red under the candlelight. At the side was her red inner garment.

(TL: Reminder that this inner garment was more like an ap.r.o.n than underwear.)

Ah… Yes, she has a bronze basin filled with water beside her and she was wiping her stomach with a towel. Looks like she just woke up and felt sweaty so she was wiping it off.

“Ah!” In the next instant after the 1-2 seconds I took to understand the situation, Yi De let out a scream not unlike Zhou Cang’s when I first entered the mansion.