Vol 8 Chapter 16 (2/2)

“Ah, it’s good that everything’s good.”

Yi Ji stood up straight and very respectfully bowed and saluted to me. I felt embarra.s.sed about it and saluted back.

“Here, I would like to represent my lord and thank Imperial Uncle.” She bowed once more as she said so, “If it weren’t for Imperial Uncle’s a.s.sistance today, we would not have been able to join up with General Huang Zu and would be in grave danger.”

“Ah, that’s what I should have done. We’re both part of the same reinforcing army so we should help each other. If it weren’t for Liu Qi who charged in first, I would not have been able to learn about the enemy’s formation, and I wouldn’t have been able to draw them away.”

“I am actually quite curious about that point.”

“Eh?”

Yi Ji’s curiosity was piqued once more and her serious look made me tense up.

“Imperial Uncle was able to oversee the entire battlefield and read the flow of battle. If it were someone else, they would either charge into the enemy and decisively end the battle one way or another, or wait for this opportunity to present itself. You did neither. Instead, you sacrificed yourself for us, and drew away the enemy. This could have led to the enemy taking notice of you and concentrating their entire forces on you. Why did you do so?”

Haha… I was indeed noticed. And I nearly died too.

I was planning to laugh it off, but seeing how serious she was, I decided to be honest.

“Back then, Chen Gong did say we should wait. But the reason why I didn’t do so is only because of 1 reason, and 1 reason alone.” I said, and instinctively raised 1 finger as I said so, and Yi Ji, for some reason, stared fixedly at this finger, “That is because I don’t want you all to think that I’m treating you all as bait.”

“Eh? That’s it?” She asked while still staring at my finger.

“That’s it. Of course, I felt that this was an effective way to save you all.” I nodded and moved my finger to the side.

“… Imperial Uncle is really weird.”

Interesting, her gaze was following my finger still.

“Eh? Really?” I said as I moved my finger again.

“Really.”

She continued to follow my finger.

Hahaha… I laughed dryly and didn’t know how to continue the conversation so I just moved my finger about and toyed with Yi Ji who followed my finger with her eyes.

By the time she realised what I was doing, I’d had 5 minutes of fun.

We were still in the midst of setting up camp when Huang Zu’s officer came to get us.

And this officer was Gan Ning.

“We aren’t done yet though.”

“It’s fine. Just leave it be. I’ll send some people over to help you out later.” Gan Ning’s voice was slightly m.u.f.fled because of her scarf but I could still make out what she said.

“That will be great then.”

Since she said as much, then I’ll just go with it, and hurriedly followed Gan Ning with my 3 companions to the welcome banquet.

I was rather surprised though. Based on Gan Ning’s capabilities, she should at least be a middle-upper ranking officer. I wonder if this means that Huang Zu thinks highly of us if she sent someone that high up to receive us.

Though I was thinking about such things, the 3 people beside were clearly not thinking about such serious things at all.

“When we get to banquet, I’ll empty every plate on the table!”

“Lord Zhou Cang being lively and energetic is good. But please pay attention to your decorum when emptying the plates. Don’t throw our lord’s face.”

“Why are you lot so dumb? It’s obvious that you should be as parsimonious as possible at such banquets. That way, we have more to take away when the banquet is over.”

These 3 are practically mad from hunger. Even Chen Gong is saying such unbecoming words.

Un, I won’t lose to them.

“Ah, right. What about Lord Liu Qi?” I asked when I remembered that though we were camping in the same place, I only ran into Yi Ji but not her or Wen Ping.

“We invited everyone in batches. Based on etiquette, the guest of honour will be invited first followed by the other guests. And so the Young Mistress was invited first. I seek your understanding on this.”

“Ah, un, I understand.”

I was a little surprised. In my impression, Gan Ning should be a more lively person. I’m really sorry about my use of adjectives but that’s all I know. I don’t know what Gan Ning did, but I know that Gan Ning is a formidable person, like really formidable.

But looking at Gan Ning now, apart from her special get-up with her scarf and the bell, I don’t see anything special or different about her.

Ah, and the way she holds her blade. Perhaps she’s a peace-loving person like Feng Xian?

Along the way, all I did was basically observe this Gan Ning person. She should have noticed me doing so, but she didn’t say anything to me. As for me, I didn’t actually observe anything special.

“Imperial Uncle, everyone, we’re here.” Gan Ning said after she brought us to another encampment.

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