Vol 9 Chapter 150 (2/2)

She was right. As the little sister, I should be jumping for joy at hearing that someone would be willing to offer unlimited resources to help me search for my elder brother,

“Umm, Lord Cao Ren, please don’t raise that topic anymore…”

“Un?” Cao Ren uttered in surprise as she looked at Wen Yuan.

“Yun Chang has recently already… Given up thinking about this already…” Wen Yuan said with a sorrowful expression as she stole a few glances at me, “So if you can, please only inform us when you do have news of our lord.”

“Ah, I see. I’m really sorry for rubbing salt into your wounds.” Cao Ren said with an apologetic expression as she saluted me.

“No…” I replied softly and shook my head as Wen Yuan patted my shoulders.

Of course, only the 2 of us know that this is not a consoling pat but rather a congratulatory one on account of our successful ruse. But really, I was caught off-guard by those sudden words that I nearly let it slip that big brother was not dead. Looks like I am still a little too relaxed.

“We’ll be leaving then.” I said, feeling that it was best to leave before we stepped into any traps unwittingly again.

“I’ll see you out.” Li Dian said as she got up and made her way over, “We are still at war after all so it will not be safe for you to leave on your own.”

Un…

“Thank you.” Naturally, we could not turn her offer down.

In the corner of my eye, I could see Shen Pei sitting where she was. Be it her aura, expression or demeanor, she had reverted to how she was in the very beginning. Her hands were tucked into her sleeves, her eyebrows were creased in a ‘八’ shape and her aura was very weak. I really could not recognise her as the strong and forceful woman who nearly forced us to surrender our lives. And so, at th end, I would like to reinforce our position.

“Lord Shen Pei, did you know?” I said as I turned back, “When you have condemned someone as something you unilaterally believe in, then you can think of and use any reason to defend that position. So no matter what I say, you won’t believe me because you never intended to.”

It’s not time to unleash my finis.h.i.+ng move.

“May I ask how Lord Lu Xiang’s injury is?”

“Ah…” Lord Shen Pei’s jaw dropped at my question. She might have already guessed that I let off Lu Xiang intentionally but was unwilling to admit it.

Of course, I only just realised that I could use this to my advantage just moments ago. Back then, I did not think of this when I spared her. I never expected that a selfish sentiment of mine could actually serve my purposes now so well. And now, it has become a gesture of goodwill in showing our sincerity to defect.

“Open a path!” Li Dian yelled as I came over. Even though they were Yuan Shao’s troops, they still opened a path for us. When I looked ahead, I saw that it was a straight path to the gates.

“Please.” Li Dian said as she raised her hand.

“Please.” I saluted and left the encampment, not forgetting to turn and salute twice as I did so.

Cao Ren and Shen Pei had very different expressions on but they both returned the gesture. I do not know what Shen Pei is thinking about but she seems to be frustrated. However, she did not express it nor has she thrown a tantrum nor has she ordered her troops to attack. Instead, she shot Cao Ren glances from time to time. Looks like she blames Cao Ren more than she blames us.

On our end, I can say that we have done all that we can. Just planting the notion of deploying their troops into their heads took a lot out of us. I believe that I have done my best but I still cannot reveal my satisfaction and joy, and merely looked calmly as I left the encampment.

As I looked about, I saw that many troops in the encampment were looking at us now. Most of them were Cao Cao’s troops. I wonder if it’s because I served under Cao Cao before but it feels like a lot of them look familiar to me. Of course, this could just be a misconception of mine.

“A good number of them know you.” Li Dian said when she detected my glance, “To be precise, they know you, Lord Guan Yu.”

“Me?”

“Yes, back in Guandu, Lord Guan Yu did accomplish a good amount of merit.” Li Dian said as she gave me a rare smile, “Compared to you, all I did was charge into the enemy at the very end. My accomplishments during the entirety of Guandu cannot even compare to yours.”

“You’re over-exaggerating it. Besides, it’s all in the past.”

“The past huh… Without the past, how could one be the warrior he or she is now?” Li Dian said and sighed as she looked up at the skies.

“Lord Li Dian is a worthy warrior already.” I said to which Li Dian frowned and chuckled self-deprecatingly.

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