Vol 10 Chapter 7 (2/2)

“Sorry.” I honestly apologised and bowed.

“That’s fine, we got it in the end anyway.” Zi Long said casually. If I think about it, it might be more difficult to predict if we could win if we had occupied Fan city to begin with. It would have been difficult to deal with 2 p.r.o.nged attacks on both Fan city and Xinye city after all.

She did not seem to be in very good shape as her hair was curlier than usual and there were dark circles under her eyes.

“Zi Long, are you alright?”

“No, I’m not at all to be honest.” Zi Long said as she shook her head and rubbed her face, “There’s been a lot of work to do these few days and I’m planning to catch a nap later.”

“That would be good.” I nodded approvingly, “Ah yes, how is the staffing and manpower re-organisation going on? Are there any major changes?”

“Right now, we are sticking with the current staffing schedule but we can’t go on like this for long, that’s for sure.” Zi Long said as she turned to yawn, “I’ll have to think about this again when I go to Fan city… Haa… The battalion that Chen Dao and I lead may or may not need to be disbanded but let’s see. I’m fine with it either way. If I have to restart from scratch and retrain new troops, so be it.”

When she finished, she yawned again, “Haa… Un? Xuan De, what’s that in your hands?”

“Ah, this is… Ah.” I was about to explain that this was just an ordinary feather fan when Zi Long s.n.a.t.c.hed it away and looked at it.

“A… Feather fan?” She said after looking it over.

“Yes.” I nodded.

“This fan… Looks rather ancient.” Zi Long said and then turned to look at me with pity in her eyes, “Ah, Xuan De, you know? I used to aspire to be a renowned strategist when I was young and achieve grand victories through my machinations. But later I found that I was just a little smarter than most people and this was insufficient to be a strategist of course. So Xuan De had best give up on being one.”

She had misunderstood me yes but I cannot deny that her barbs worked. I have indeed gotten used to her poisonous tongue but it would be a lie to say her words did not get to me at all. Moreover, I could not deny that what she said was the truth.

“No, I never thought about being a strategist.” I said as I shook my head and pointed at the feather fan, “Besides, there isn’t a rule that states that strategists have to have feather fans.”

I mean, look at Yuan Zhi, she does not have one.

“Un… Is this an antique? I’ve seen you carrying it with you for a while now.”

“Un, not quite.” I shook my head, “It’s really something that belongs to a friend.”

“Then are you going to return it?”

“I am, I just haven’t had the time.”

Zi Long nodded and returned it to me, “Is that friend far from here?”

“Ah… Not, I think?”

“Why the question…”

I really do not know where she is to be honest but she cannot be too far.

“She’s somewhere in Jing state, I guess.”

“That’s not too far then.” Zi Long said as she smiled stiffly, “Why don’t you go and find that friend while there’s nothing going on now? Where is that friend? Maybe you can look for information.”

“Now huh…”

Looks like this event has come faster than I thought. Perhaps I should indeed start proactively searching for her then…

“Well in that case…” I said as I looked at Zi Long, “Zi Long, I have something I need you to help me handle.”

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