Vol 10 Chapter 45 (2/2)

“Well you can just call me Liu Bei.” I said and then pointed behind, “And this is Guan Yu, and this is Zhang Fei.”

“Just give me 1 name.”

“I am Liu Bei.”

“Liu Bei huh?” He nodded and took out a piece of silk from his sleeve pocket, “Umm, you’d best write your name here in case any misunderstandings occur.”

“Eh? Write my name?” I asked, feeling like something was not right and decided to peer into the house.

Just as I sensed that no one was inside, Yun Chang asked, “Umm, may I ask if the master of the house is not in?”

“Ah, un.” The child nodded.

Hu… So she is not in huh? But this really cannot be helped since we decided to come on over without even sending any greeting beforehand, I thought as I wrote my name on the piece of silk. By now, I have gotten somewhat adept with the traditional script. In the beginning, they all thought I was very untidy when I wrote in the simplified script by reflex.

“Here,” I said as I got down on my knees and handed the silk back to the boy, “When your household’s master comes back, please let her know about our visit today and tell her that Liu Bei has something very important to speak with her about.”

“Un, alright.” He said as he looked at the piece of silk.

Ah… What a pain. I thought as I sighed and looked up at the sky. I did not think that something which should have been simple has now become rather complicated.

The journey here has not been easy either and now I will have to make it another time. Once I think about this, my nervousness vanished into thin air. I feel like an idiot after getting so excited about this too. But there’s no use complaining if she is not here after all.

… Ah?

“U-umm, child!”

“Ah?!” He got a shock and squealed when I suddenly spoke to him again and nearly dropped the piece of silk, “Is there anything else?”

“Just in case, I would like to ask when the Teacher will be back? If she isn’t going to be out for too long, I would like to wait for her.” I said and turned back to look. There was not really any place that we could comfortably sit at but that was not too much of a problem.

“Oi, big brother.” Yun Chang called out and continued with a doubtful tone, “Do we have to seek out this hermit? Lord Sima Hui has recommended others to us right? It’s still not late so shouldn’t we go and find the others while we have time?”

“No can do,” I shook my head, “One must be patient when waiting for others and not seek out alternatives at the first sign of trouble. Especially when one is dealing with hermits.”

“Ah.”

I just uttered whatever came to mind but it actually convinced Yun Chang who kneaded her forehead as she lowered her head.

“Big brother is right. Looks like I’m still lacking as a warrior huh?”

“Un, there’s no problem if you want to wait here.”

“Eh?! Really?” I uttered in surprise as I held the child’s hands.

“But it might take a while.”

“That’s fine, that’s fine. I’ll wait.”

“Ah, Xuan De, the ground is dirty.”

“That’s fine, that’s fine.” I said as I sat down on the ground. Yi De tried to pull me up but I dissuaded her against it and looked at the child expectantly, “So how long will it take for the Teacher to be back?”

“As short as a day or 2 or perhaps more than 10.”

…

I looked at the child’s calm face for a moment before calmly getting up and dusted my b.u.t.tocks before turning to Yun Chang and Yi De, “Alright, it’s not getting any earlier so let’s go back now.”

“Ah, you’re going back now?” The child asked.

What do you think? ‘As short as a day or 2 or perhaps more than 10’, what kind of answer is this? You might as well have told me to wait for a lifetime. If it really was just a day or 2, I would actually wait but there’s no way I am going to squat around in a remote forest for weeks.

Naturally I had to observe proprieties so I did not voice these and left the child with some final words, “Child, we’ll be leaving, yes. When your house’s master returns, please tell her to send us a letter and we will come right away. When the time comes, I hope that she will be present.”

“Alright, I’ll let her know.” He nodded.

“Un.” I replied and mounted my horse before slowly riding off. When I turned back, I saw that the door was already closed. Looks like the child does not think too positively about us, “Hai, our timing was really bad huh?”

“Yes, I didn’t think that n.o.body would be present.”

“Looks like my a.s.sumption that a hermit would be residing in his or her residence for all 4 seasons in a year was too naive huh?” I thought as I looked up at the skies, feeling extremely downcast.

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