Liu Bei POV

“Why are you here, Yuan Zhi?” I asked, somehow squeezing out a smile even though the cold sweat had not yet dissipated. Right now, it felt like I was playing truant and b.u.mped into a fellow cla.s.smate who did the same. So I was filled with expectant and relieved feelings.

“I…” Yuan Zhi trailed off just like earlier today and withdrew the branch like it was a sword as she sat down on her rock and picked up her cup, “I’m just out here to get some fresh air.”

As I looked at Yuan Zhi, I saw that she seemed a bit tipsy even though she only had 1 cup of liquor.

“Then I’m the same as well.” I said. At this time, I cannot leave yet as I have many questions to ask and things to say to Yuan Zhi.

As I got off my rock and sat down on a rock closer to hers, I asked, “Umm, can I have some as well?”

I have had a lot of liquor of various sorts tonight and after coming out here and taking in some wind, I am beginning to feel inebriated.

Yuan Zhi bit her lips and looked at me before flicking the branch and picking up a bowl with it and then flicking it again, making it land right on top of my lap. Her actions seemed exactly like the sort you would see in a wuxia movie and made me think back to Zi Long’s a.s.sessment of Yuan Zhi.

“Here.” Yuan Zhi said as she pa.s.sed me the gourd with her hands. She had tried to use her stick at first but gave up halfway. Before she pa.s.sed it to me, she shook the gourd and it seemed like there was not much left but she still pa.s.sed it to me.

“Ah, many thanks.” I said as I received the gourd. There really was not much left but I still suppressed the desire to drink it all from the gourd directly and poured it into my bowl.

But Yuan Zhi has been able to keep production of this sugar water up huh? Could it be that she brought the original materials along with her and has been making it along the way? As I thought so, I took a sip.

Un… It’s good as always. But no matter how many times I drink it, it does not seem to be a simple mix of just sugar and water to me.

“I saw you sighing just now, is it too stuffy inside?”

“No.” Yuan Zhi shook her head, “I’m just troubled by various things that can’t be resolved in a short while so I needed to take a breather.”

Yuan Zhi’s bandana was covering more than half of her eyes so I cannot tell if what she is saying is true or what she is feeling right now. But I do know that she has been feeling troubled since this afternoon. And there was that apology earlier today to everyone. Looks like she’s really troubled.

“Why are you sighing even though we scored a resounding victory?” I asked and found that Yuan Zhi’s lower eyelid jumped when she heard this. Seems like those words attracted her attention and her eyes swiveled to look at me before s.h.i.+fting back to the night sky.

“Was it really… A resounding victory?”

I do not understand why Yuan Zhi is saying this. If that was not a resounding victory then there cannot be any. Of course, I can more or less guess what Yuan Zhi is thinking right now which made her say this.

“Why? Still thinking about Yi De?” I raised the topic of Yi De and did my best to look as serious as possible while tossing out what happened with Yi De earlier out of my mind, “No one, and that includes Yi De herself and everyone else, blames you. And this can’t be the fault of Yuan Zhi to begin with anyway.”

I am not just consoling her. I really do think so. And moreover, I do not want this to leave a mark on h

er enthusiasm as there will be many more battles to come and I do not know how many more we can last but Yuan Zhi is definitely a great boon for us.

“I am grateful to everyone for that.” Yuan Zhi said as she slowly lowered her head which she held with her hands and began to scratch her head, seeming very uneasy.

“But that’s not all that I’m thinking about. There are other things.” Yuan Zhi sighed, “Lu Xiang escaped and the enemy was not completely eradicated.”

“There was a difference between the expected and actual enemy numbers so that can’t be helped.”

“But the enemy…” Yuan Zhu began indignantly and then stopped before continuing in a deflated tone, “But the enemy was supposed to be bringing only 5,000…”

I do not know why Yuan Zhi thinks that way but if the enemy really numbered a mere 5,000, we would have most definitely wiped them out completely. But Yuan Zhi is being too harsh on herself. If she can even guess troop numbers, then she would be a G.o.d and not human.

“But it’s not a bad thing right?” I said as I shrugged, “The enemy brought 9-10,00 and lost 6-7,000. We even gained gear and supplies to boot. That’s a lot better than eradicating 5,000 men right?”

“Un…” Yuan Zhi sank into silence and seemed like she had gotten convinced by me slightly but was still troubled inside. Seems like she has other considerations.

“Perhaps it is as you say with troop strength.” Yuan Zhi said as she pulled down her bandana further and frowned, “But what I’m worrying about now is Lu Xiang…”

Lu Xiang the lieutenant huh? From what happened today, she should be siblings with Lu Kuang who was killed. Now that the elder brother has died, I wonder what the younger sister will do. I tried to think what would happen if it were Yun Chang and I instead and the consequences were horrifying.

“But there’s no use trying to figure out what-ifs at this point. Specific plans will need specific information for a.n.a.lysis before countermeasures can be developed.”

Of course, I know full well the weight on Yuan Zhi’s shoulders. In the battles to come, if we want to keep Xinye city, we cannot afford to lose too many troops. I just do not want Yuan Zhi to overthink at this time.

And so, I got up and made my way to where she was and patted her back after a moment’s hesitation, “No matter what, Yuan Zhi needs to rest.”

“Xuan De.”

Eh? Just then, I could feel a sensation on my arm. I looked down and saw that it was Yuan Zhi who was pulling on my sleeve. She was not applying strength into her hand but I could feel like she was trying to send her feelings through.

She then raised her head and looked at me with quivering eyes as she asked, “Umm, do you think that I can really lead everyone?”

“Why are you asking this all of a sudden?”

“… I… Might not be as smart as you all think I am…”

Un… Yuan Zhi seems to lack self-confidence. I do not know if this is the result of the small mistake in this battle but Yuan Zhi seems to be very affected right now,

“I feel that you shouldn’t think too much.” I repeated my point and then felt that it lacked a recommendation and added, “You just need to do what you want to do.”

“… Do… What I want to do huh…” She muttered as she lowered her gaze again and sank into thought. After a moment, I could see the corners of her mouth turning upwards. It seemed like she was smiling but not as joyfully or as brightly as I thought she would be.

And then, she let go of my arm.

“I got it.” She nodded in her usual airheaded fas.h.i.+on, “I’ll reconsider everything from here on out.”

As she said so, she turned and looked at the rooms to the back, where Yi De was, “Besides, Yi De can’t be deployed anymore so I do indeed need to reconsider future deployments anyway.”

Ah, since Yuan Zhi said as much, I think I do not need to say it. I looked at Yi De’s room as well and saw that the lights had gone out. Looks like she went back to sleep.

Wu… I must not think about what happened again. I thought as I shook my head to clear it of wayward thoughts.

“Alright, I’ve had enough to drink.” I said, beginning to feel cold from the wind and decided to get up and go since my mind was beginning to run wild, “Let’s head back, Yuan Zhi.”

As I said so, I went to pick up the gourds beside her. When I tried to listen to sounds from the main hall, I found that it was silent. Have they fallen asleep?

“Un, alright.” Yuan Zhi said and then took out a piece of cloth and wiped the parts of the gourds which were touching the floor before. Yuan Zhi really is a clean freak huh?

“Let’s go.” Yuan Zhi said and walked towards the main hall while I followed behind.

Past the courtyard, up the stairs and into the main hall. When we entered the main hall, we found everyone sprawled out all over the ground. Several people were still seated but just a few. Even Liao Hua and Gong You were lying on the table. Perhaps the only ones still sitting up were Huang Zu who had been drinking a lot of water but strangely had no need to go to the toilet and Feng Xian who had high alcohol tolerance.

“Ah…” Huang Zu uttered a soft cry when she saw Yuan Zhi and I step in and gave us a pitiful look. I still did not know what that meant however and continued walking in.

“Haha! My lord! I finally caught you!”

Eh! Just then, a leg grabbed my calf and I got a shock.

“My lord~ Dance, dance~”

“Xuan De! We’ve been waiting for you for so long~”

“Ah~ I nearly fell asleep. So dangerous, so dangerous!”

“Come, come, come. Lord Xu Shu should join in too.”

Everyone who was on the ground suddenly sprang up like a demon and forcefully dragged me into the dance floor. Of course, Yuan Zhi was not spared too. Only now did I realise that they had set a trap for us. And this, was why Huang Zu had that look when she saw us. If I knew this would happen, I would have went back to my room directly.

“Music!”

On command, the musicians began playing again, and Yuan Zhi and I, who were by now sober, had to do a very silly dance alongside a group of drunkards. I thought that my moves were very shameful but when I looked at Yuan Zhi, I found that I was actually rather graceful. By the way, Yuan Zhi was blus.h.i.+ng hard the entire time.

Of course, the ending in the morning is easily predictable. Apart from a few of us, everyone was hungover. Because of the number of us who got sick, Hua Tuo had to pull out a few people from her medical team to take care of everyone. If Li Dian had attacked with all of their remaining troops, we would have been wiped out then and there.

Hai… Drinking really gets in the way of things huh? From then on, I swore to never dance in a drunken state ever again.

But for now, I had to give up to my fate.