Vol 8 Chapter 81 (1/2)

VOLUME 8 CHAPTER 81: DON’T TELL ME THIS IS A CONVERSATION WITH LIU CONG (2)

Liu Bei POV

“That’s fine. If you’re not comfortable sharing it, then you don’t need to. I was just asking on a whim.” I said as I nodded to avoid things getting even more awkward.

“No, it’s not like it’s something unspeakable.” Liu Cong said as she raised her head and revealed a stiff smile. She s.h.i.+fted her gaze to me and stared at me for a long while before asking, “But before I share this, can I first ask uncle a question?”

“Un? What is it?”

That’s really surprising. Does Liu Cong have a strange curiosity towards me like Yi Ji does?

“Umm,” Liu Cong seemed to have some difficulty expressing herself and sank into thought for a moment before slowly saying, “Does uncle have any intention of forcefully taking over our family’s Jing state?”

Pu! I nearly choked when I heard her words.

“*Ke* *Ke*… Liu Cong, who told you– That I want to take over Jing state?” I asked as beads of perspiration began to form on my forehead at this utterly unantic.i.p.ated question.

“My mother told me that.” She said as she took 2 steps back and seemed a little apprehensive at my shocked look.

“Ah, you don’t need to be too worried. I have no such intentions at all.” I hurriedly replied and waved my hands as I did so.

Even though I’ve explained myself umpteen times over, Lady Cai still adamantly insists that I could do something. And it seems like that influence has spread to Liu Cong. No wonder she recognised me so quickly before. She’s probably been warned about me from Lady Cai much like I have been about her from Liu Qi.

“Is that so?” She was still doubtful about me and her eyes had begun to get a little watery.

“It is so. Your mother’s suspicions have no grounding whatsoever.” I said as I raised both hands and rested the blade against my chest, hoping to appear as honest as possible, “Besides, I’m about to move out to Xinye soon so I can’t possibly intervene in the struggle between Liu Qi and you.”

Of course, interventions are very possible. As I told Yi Ji earlier, though we may be in Xinye, should Liu Qi require my a.s.sistance, I will be here to help.

But for the sake of placating Liu Cong, it would be wise to leave out these sentiments.

“Un…” For some reason, Liu Cong bit her lips and lowered her head, appearing very deflated when she heard what I said. She held up the box in her hands and looked at the seeds inside once more, but the elation from before was gone.

Un? What happened? It’s almost as if mentioning Liu Qi triggered this reaction. Could it be…

“Liu Cong, if my guess is wrong, I apologise in advance,” I took a deep breath and did a quick final run through of my thoughts before continuing, “These flower seeds have something to do with Liu Qi right?”

Eh? Liu Cong gave a soft cry and her eyes bulged, as though she couldn’t believe that what I’d just said had come out of my mouth.

“That, umm… How did uncle know?!” She cried out in surprise.

I see, so my guess was right.

“Nothing much really.” The atmosphere had gotten heavy so I tried to lighten things up by smiling but it only came out awkwardly, “Liu Qi has spoken to me about you before.”

I paused and breathed out slowly before continuing, “Ah, you know, that secret garden you sisters had when you were kids.”

Flower seeds, Liu Qi, secret garden, they should all be linked.

“… Ah, so elder sister has told you huh…” When she heard what I said, Liu Cong looked deflated once more as she nodded. With every nod, her head seemed to droop even lower. Looks like this is a sad incident for her.

Un…

“Umm, so what are these flower seeds for?” I asked as I pointed at the wooden box in her hands as I still couldn’t understand what the purpose of the seeds were.

“This huh…” She raised the wooden box and stared at it before lightly sighing, “I’m still very guilty about what happened back then.”

Her expression seemed even heavier. Probably because that incident was playing out in her mind once more.

“Speaking of that, it seems like you told on her secret back then?”

Un… I don’t actually know what exactly happened but was it really Liu Cong who told on Liu Qi? Though we’ve only exchanged a few words, I don’t feel like Liu Cong is the sort of devious, despicable person.

Or perhaps I’m wrong in my judgement.

“… Looking at the result, that’s what happened more or less.” Liu Qi bit her lips as she said so. She was probably trying to smile but it looks like a total failure from my point of view.

“But why did you do that? Was it for the inheritance…”

“I don’t even care about inheriting Jing state!”

This is probably the 3rd time today that I’m treading on Liu Cong’s heartstrings. This time, her voice was even louder and she even interrupted me.

“Back then, I got along very well with elder sister. She’d told me about her secret garden and brought me there as well.” She slowly squatted down, her eyes revealing a very profound sadness as she did so, “I too can’t come into contact with flowers so I was truly happy when I found that I could get so close to flowers there.”

“Eh? You’re allergic to pollen as well?”

“Pollen… What?”

Right, they don’t know what that is.

“Ah… So you will get triggered when you get close to flowers too?”

“Liu Qi even told you about such a weird reaction?”