Li Dian POV

Eh?! My heart skipped a beat when I heard this, “You said… A letter from Guan Yu? Did the sender really say that?”

“That is so.” The soldier said as he pa.s.sed it to me, “This one.”

“Guan Yu’s letter?” Cao Ren asked as she sat upright all of a sudden. Looks like she was not completely asleep the whole time after all and had heard some of what the soldier had been saying.

“Pa.s.s it to the commanding officer.” I said as I pointed to her and the soldier promptly went over and pa.s.sed it to Cao Ren. I was going to open it in lieu of Cao Ren but since she is awake, she should have a look first.

Cao Ren and I exchanged glances before she opened it. She looked a lot more serious than before and seemed to be closely inspecting every line while I sat here and tried to guess what the contents of the letter were.

After a few minutes and several read-overs, she sank into thought and asked the soldier, “Did Guan Yu’s representative say anything else?”

“No, nothing in particular.” The soldier shook his head as he frowned, “Ah… Before he left, he said that Lord Guan Yu would be waiting for Lord Cao Ren’s reply.”

Un… Cao Ren sank into thought once more at the soldier’s words.

“Alright, you’re dismissed.” I said to the soldier when I saw her sink into thought. He nodded, saluted us and left. After he left, I hurriedly took off my hat and went over to where Cao Ren was and asked her excitedly, “How is it? What did that Guan Yu fellow say?”

“Un…” Cao Ren did not know what to say and merely felt her chin as she looked at me and pa.s.sed me the letter. As I received it, Cao Ren went ahead and told me the main message of the letter, “That is… Guan Yu plans on defecting.”

“Eh?!” I uttered in surprise and I completely froze for an instant, “Let me see!”

“Not just that,” Cao Ren continued as I took the letter, “There seem to be others apart from Guan Yu as well.”

I ignored Cao Ren and stared at the letter. It was not long and only a few words were really important. “‘I, Guan Yu, am willing to bring Zhang Liao Zhang Wen Yuan and Chen Gong Chen Gong Tai to join Lord Cao Ren’… This huh?”

“That is it.” Cao Ren nodded with a serious expression as she stared at the letter in my hands, “From what was written, it seems like they plan on defecting to our side.”

Un, that does seem to be the case. I continued to read and found something even more shocking, “Lord Cao Ren, it also says…” I paused and checked it again to make sure I had not read it wrongly, “They will bring their troops along with them…”

“Yes, their troops.” She nodded very quickly and with a tinge of excitement, “Though I don’t know who this Chen Gong is, the other 2 are definitely top ranking commanders in the enemy.”

Yes, I know that even without saying. But… I just cannot get happy about it.

“Hu~” Similarly, Cao Ren did not seem very happy either and sighed as she looked at me. I too returned the gaze and after a while, we both spoke at the same time.

“This defection–”

“… Is it real?”

Un… After we both finished, we sank into silence.

“Hai~” I sighed and tossed the letter on the table as I put my palms onto the ground.

“If you think about it, it’s not strange for the enemy generals to have this thinking a

fter Xinye city has been reduced to this state.” Cao Ren said, probably in an attempt to convince both me and herself, “And on the other hand, we’ve also tried to persuade them to do so many times and have given a strong signal that they are welcome, which is why they have sent a letter now.”

“But, leaving aside the third person mentioned in the letter, the first 2 reacted in a way that seemed like they would never defect when we tried to persuade them.” I said as I thought back to how those 2 were like back then. Would such people change their att.i.tudes so drastically in such a short period of time?

“Maybe something happened between them. At times, what seems like a solid and cohesive unit can break down very easily.” Cao Ren continued and stared at the letter on the table, “And besides, Xinye city and their faction as it is now is by no means una.s.sailable.”

… That is true. And now that Liu Bei is more or less dead, and the battle has gone bad for them, finger-pointing has probably begun.

“So what do we do now?” I asked first before Cao Ren could ask me and render me speechless. As expected, Cao Ren was rendered speechless.

“Un…” Cao Ren thought about it for a moment before she looked up at me and said, “No matter what, we need to act immediately. The only thing is that we still don’t know if they are sincere so we shouldn’t commit too much and test the waters first.”

“Un… About testing the waters, how–”

“Commanding officer, Lord Shen Pei is here.” The guard outside spoke just as I was about to ask Cao Ren further.

When we heard that Shen Pei was here, Cao Ren and I looked at each other before we got up and tidied our clothing.

“Please come in, Lord Shen Pei.” Cao Ren said loudly before answering me softly, “We can pick Shen Pei’s brains on this.”

“Un un.” I nodded. I have some concerns over sharing this information with Shen Pei but she is indeed the one we should consult on this.

“I’m coming in.” A soft and weak female voice wafted in. When I looked over, I saw Shen Pei parting the curtains with her shoulders as she held her hands in her sleeves, muttering to herself as she did so.

“Ah, Lord Shen Pei, please sit.” Cao Ren said as she gestured to the first seat in the row opposite where we were sitting. Shen Pei lightly nodded but did not say anything in response. When I took a closer look, I saw that her teeth were chattering.

“Lord Shen Pei, are you feeling cold today?” I asked to which Shen Pei nodded and smiled stiffly.

“The weather sure does change drastically huh? With the strong winds began blewing out of nowhere since 2 days ago.” Shen Pei said as she walked over to the candles instead of sitting and warmed her hands, “I thought that the weather down south would be better than the weather up north so I didn’t bring too many warm clothes…”

Shen Pei’s voice now was her usual one and she would get softer and softer as she spoke. Her demeanor was also weak. Looks like she did not use her breathing technique beforehand.

“Umm, I just saw the troops return to Fan city. May I ask how it is with the supplies?”

“Ah, they all arrived safely. I personally inspected them.” I nodded and picked up the letter from the table before folding it nicely so that I could hand it over anytime.

“How is Lord Lu Xiang now?” Cao Ren asked, “Is her injury serious?”

“Un? Ah, Lu Xiang is still alright.” Shen Pei frowned and seemed rather nervous as she finally separated herself from the candles and came to the table, s.h.i.+vering as she did so, and sat down as she continued, “Though she lost a fair amount of blood, her injury was not fatal at all. In fact, one can say that there was almost no wound.”

“Eh?” I was surprised and exchanged glances with Cao Ren as I asked, “What do you mean by that?”

“Un, how do I put this, even though Guan Yu could have cut Lu Xiang into 2 parts easily, she only cut through her abdomen very shallowly.” Shen Pei continued as she rubbed her face, “I don’t know the specifics but from what the troops told me, Guan Yu did not seem to have the intention to finish off Lu Xiang. It seems like she either thought that one attack was enough or she spared her.”

“Impossible. If the cut was shallow, she would definitely have detected it.” I replied immediately. I am proficient in glaives and I know this. Glaives are different from spears, the sensation you get from slicing through something is very acute, unlike the feeling from stabbing something.

“So that means that…” I continued but Shen Pei continued as well and interrupted me.

“So that means that Guan Yu had no intention of killing Lu Xiang for some reason… Ah, I’m sorry.” Shen Pei apologised immediately and frowned as she covered her mouth.

“Ah… Could this be…” Cao Ren said as her eyes bulged.

— Could this be a sign of goodwill before defecting…