Vol 9 Chapter 115 (1/2)

Chapter 115

OLUME 9 CHAPTER 115: DON’T TELL ME THIS IS THE AFTERMATH OF OUR DEFEAT (2)

Liu Bei POV

As I said so, I shook Yuan Zhi’s shoulders.

“Ah…” After a while, Yuan Zhi seemed to have regained her senses and her eyes began to be focused again, “I… I am…” She said as she looked at her surroundings and then at me.

“Yuan Zhi, are you alright?” I asked as I held her hand.

Yuan Zhi opened her mouth slightly but remained silent as she frowned and after a moment, her frown tightened as she said, “I knew it, I knew that their vanguard was 30,000 strong!”

“Eh?”

“Excuse me.”

“Ah, Yuan Zhi!” I tried to grab her again when she flung my arms off but was not able to.

Ah… All I could grab was Yuan Zhi’s bandana. It seemed like Yuan Zhi had realised this and reached up to her forehead but her bandana was by now in my hands and she did not slow down. When she reached the courtyard, she tripped over a rock and fell over but continued to run out of the mansion.

“Yuan Zhi!”

“Xuan De, don’t bother.” Chen Gong stopped me just as I was thinking of going after her.

“But–”

“There’s no use chasing her now. I know saying this now is not very nice but she screwed up and because of her mistake, we could very well lose this battle.” Chen Gong said and frowned as she continued to look at the report, “If Xuan De wants Lord Xu Shu to get over it, you need to give her some time.”

“…” I stayed silent as I thought back to how Yuan Zhi reacted before and concluded, “I should not have pressed her like that so soon, I guess.”

“Yes,” Chen Gong nodded, “Lord Xu Shu might try to act cold and aloof but that’s just the image she is trying to project. And though the genders may be equal, she is still a girl after all.”

Wu… I do not know why but it felt like her last words seemed to be pointed at me…

But leaving that aside, what did Yuan Zhi mean before? Ever since she joined us, she always says things that I cannot quite understand now and then. Not to mention that the reason why she joined us is still a mystery. As I looked at the red bandana in my hands, my emotions became a mess.

Soon, we received a report that the battle outside the city ended. I did not look at it but it seems like our losses are slightly more than the enemy’s due to their initial surround and their superior unit types. At best, we suffered a small loss in that battle. I initially thought that Feng Xian and Wen Yuan would return soon but they did not show up even after a long while. Later on, I asked Chen Gong and learnt that they had gone to the encampment after they cleaned up the battlefield.

It has also now also been 2-4 hours since Zi Long and Chen Dao have left but they, and Yun Chang and the rest, have yet to return. I was not particularly worried about their safety but still felt uneasy nonetheless after waiting for this long.

“Construction work in the northern side is about 50% complete. Structural integrity is not sufficient however so we need to think of a way to further strengthen the foundations.”

The generals of the 2 main units were not back yet, nor was Yuan Zhi. As of now, there was only Huang Zu, Liao Hua and Chen Gong in the room discussing the city defences. At this point, with losses on both fronts of the battle just now, city defences have now become much more important than before.

“Un… We have only just laid down the foundation for construction works so we can’t expect to build much higher than this. I think that we ought to f

ocus on strengthening the planned structure before building further.”

As Huang Zu sank into thought, she would spin the gourd with her hand. It was really strange behaviour but this was probably an idle action that she would do whenever she was thinking. And now that Huang Zu had her hair down, she looked even more beautiful than usual, making this behaviour look even stranger.

“Chen Gong, how are things on your end?” I asked Chen Gong who was sitting behind them. I could tell from their discussions that Chen Gong, unlike Liao Hua, was not fully focusing on bolstering the city defences as she was helping out in the encampment a while back. Chen Gong’s role with respect to the city defences, is a little more specialised after all.

“Is Xuan De asking about the traps?” Chen Gong asked as she looked at me while continuing to write on her piece of silk. This is undoubtedly a necessary skill for all strategists.

“Yes, how many have you made now?” I asked. But before I finished, Chen Gong had begun shaking her head.