Vol 5 Chapter 8 (1/2)

WRITTEN BY XAPHHJULY 6, 2016

VOLUME 5 CHAPTER 8: DON’T TELL ME THIS IS A CONVERSATION WITH XU YOU

Liu Bei POV

Honestly, I’ve always found it difficult to understand how Meng De and Ben Chu were able to stand out at such a young age and raise and command armies numbering tens of thousands.

I kept thinking about it the entire way back only to realise how foolish it was of me. Why am I applying common sense from the original history to this Three Kingdoms which is significantly different?

And so, I gave up trying to think about it after that.

Because my side was considered an outsider, our encampment was at a middle-outer region of Liyang. Just walking over from the canteen took close to an hour.

As I brought dinner back, I brought Xu You’s portion as well apart from my own portion.

“Here, Xu You.”

“Ah, thanks Imperial Uncle.” Xu You respectfully received her dinner and seemed a little shy.

It may be a bit strange but Xu You is currently in our encampment.

Xu You was pet.i.te but she had a good figure. Her hair was messy but she still wore an official hat and a hairpin on her head. She looked like she was asleep, and seemed exhausted and devoid of strength. Xu You doesn’t look old from her figure or looks but she said that she was already 25. She’s probably one of the oldest people I’ve met thus far.

“Umm,” Just then, Xu You set down her bowl, tidied her clothing and sat up before saying to me, “I am really thankful to Imperial Uncle. If it weren’t for Imperial Uncle, I would not have the good fortune of being able to eat today’s dinner.”

“Ah, it’s alright, you’re being too polite.” I smiled as I waved my hands, “You have your own troubles after all.”

That’s right, Xu You hasn’t eaten in days now.

I do go and get food everyday but the soldiers can’t seem to see me so they always just stand in front of me, Xu You had told me earlier before.

And it seems like she had just gone out to get dinne so I went with the flow of things and invited her here so that she could have dinner with us. By the way, Zi Long and Gong You have already eaten and are now doing their own things. They had offered to help me take dinner but it still feels weird to have others take care of me so I turned down their offer.

“But Xu You, even if your existence is a bit weak, it can’t be to the level where you can’t get food right. And even if so, you could have gotten help from your own guards.”

“… No, one’s own things must be done by oneself.” Xu You shook her head at my words, “When I was an official in Luoyang, times were tough and I got used to it then.”

“Un? Life in Luoyang was tough?”

“It was alright at first but after the previous Emperor (Ling of Han) a.s.sumed the throne, the eunuchs began to abuse their power and many officials were accused of corruption and locked away. To prevent such false allegations, we could only live austerely.”

“I never knew…”

“Of course, it doesn’t seem so bad once you get used to it.” At my surprise, she only smiled and began to devour the not-so-tasty food.

I began to feel respect for Xu You as I quietly looked at her.

In my impression, Xu You was only a traitor who leaked vital information. No matter how good of a strategist she was, the only thing that came to mind was that.

(TL: Xu You is supposed to be greedy and is the one who leaked the information about Wu Chao to Cao Cao.)

But it was clear that this Xu You here wasn’t like that.

“Hai…” Xu You sighed and set down her bowl.