Liu Bei POV
I suppressed the impulse and awkwardness in me and hurriedly replied him to prevent him from saying too much.
Thereafter, I immediately turned around and looked at the other 2 and found that Guan Ping was looking about at the decor while Liao Hua was looking ahead with dazed eyes as though she wasn’t interested in our conversation whatsoever.
When I saw this, I heaved a sigh of relief. It’s not like I’m not inclined to discuss topics involving the other sex but under current circumstances where there are girls about, I feel like it’s not too respectful to do so.
“Aiya, I didn’t think that blood brother is quite the shy type huh.” Liu Biao seems to have lost interest as he ended the conversation with this and put his hands behind his back as he strode forward.
“By the way, elder brother.” I called out as I followed closely behind him. I’d just remembered the matter about the fake driver and wanted to cut to the chase but felt that it was too complicated and required a good amount of explaining on my part so I decided to begin from the very beginning with what Liu Biao ought to know, “Did you send someone to my residence to notify me to wait at the backdoor?”
“Un? Yes, did you not see the letter and the seal there?”
“Yes, I did,” I nodded and smiled helplessly, “But how could I recognise elder brother’s handwriting when I have never seen it before?”
When he heard me say this, Liu Biao raised his eyebrows and he stroked his goatee, his face was serious for a moment before breaking into smiles, “But even so, blood brother came, no?”
Well, that’s easy for you to say when you don’t know everything that transpired between then and now…
“Yes, because I trust elder brother.” I said despite what I felt deep down inside.
“But why did elder brother have to go to such trouble? From front door to backdoor, couldn’t you have just notified me to come over?”
“About that,” When he heard me say this, he chuckled, “All I wanted was to simulate a royal conspiracy. That’s all. There’s no other special meaning behind all that.”
… Ah, I should have known.
From the very beginning when I just arrived in Jing state, he has been doing such things. I should have realised that this was just his playfulness at work. Now that I think about it, if it weren’t for that fake driver, I would have probably guessed it.
“Why? Did you all get nervous for a bit?”
“Yes, we were rather tense.”
“Haha, no need to be so serious.” Liu Biao said as he laughed relaxedly.
Liu Biao would never have imagined that his prank would have caused so much trouble. It’s a good thing that Liao Hua and Guan Ping are a little ways behind so they can’t hear what we’re saying too clearly or they might say something they shouldn’t.
“Of course, I actually do have a reason why I summoned blood brother here today.” Liu Biao withdrew his smile slightly and turned the conversation around. Though he was still all smiles, it was bland and from my point of view, I could tell that Liu Biao was brooding about something.
The something that he is troubled about is probably the difficult topic he mentioned before. When I realised this, I could already identify a few things that he could be troubled with. Even so, I wasn’t ready to answer his questions.
After passing through a corridor, we walked through a courtyard. It wasn’t particularly big but the room on the other side of the courtyard was rather large and spacious.
I looked about, but the room seemed surprisingly plain from the outside. Apart from 2 doors, there didn’t seem to be any annex rooms. It was just a big empty room about the size of a billiards hall.
“Let’s go there.” Just as I’d expected, Liu Biao pointed at the big empty room and led on.
It’s a bit weird to say this now, but from the beginning till now, I’ve not seen a single guard or attendant. Even though Liu Biao told Liao Hua and Guan Ping to hand over their weapons, I don’t recall seeing any attendants pick them up.
Could it be that Liu Biao doesn’t actually care about his safety? Or are there actually a lot of guards present but that I can’t see them?
I looked at Liu Biao but it didn’t look like this was the case.
The big door opened with a creak. As we entered, the room was indeed every bit as big and spacious as it looked from the outside. Unlike my initial observations however, there were indeed annex rooms. They just couldn’t be seen from the outside.
“Blood brother, this is the room I sleep in most frequently. That side is where I sleep with my lady while the other side were where my 2 daughters sleep in originally but they’ve moved out now that they have grown up.”
“So that’s how it was huh?”
I was rather surprised to hear that they lived together in the beginning.
I looked about and felt that the reason why the room was so spacious was because it used to house 2 children. When I looked at the roof, I found that there were ink marks on the rafters which were not too high up. Some were words while others were drawings.
Though I don’t have any proof for this, I believe that Liu Cong and Liu Qi may have got along rather well in their childhood.
“About how old were my nieces when they first moved out?” I asked when this question arose in my mind.
“Un? Is blood brother interested in this?” Liu Biao was rather surprised which made me think that I said something wrong and was about to apologise when Liu Biao said with a wry smile, “Ah, do you mean to ask how I raised my children?”
“No, that’s not what I meant.”
“No no no, no need to hide anything from me. Could it be that one of your generals is pregnant?”
“No, it’s nothing like what elder brother is thinking.”
(Mother has been complaining about backache and pain in her legs lately.)
(So that’s what it is huh…)
Ah, Guan Ping, can you not give such comments without any basis to Liao Hua. My relationship with Yun Chang is still rather wholesome and proper.
… Though I have slept with her and Yi De once before, I am not going to talk about that until Yi De regains her memories again.
And for some reason, Liu Biao is being especially mischievous today.
“Please elder brother, stop making fun of your younger brother…” I was beginning to turn red and slowly sat down at the second seat beside Liu Biao.
“Alright, I’ll stop making fun of you now.” Liu Biao blinked and sighed deeply, “Ah, now that I think about it, it’s been a while now. Liu Qi first moved out when she went to study in the military. At the same time, I also let Liu Cong move out. She should be living with Cai Mao now.”
“By the way, why did you have to have them move out? Isn’t it fine to let them stay with their father?”
“As the descendents of the royal family, they must bear their fair share of hardships.” Liu Biao said somewhat melancholically, “Of course I wish to stay with my daughters. But I must also remember who I am. As a direct descendent of the royal family, my offspring bear the same responsibility I do. When I was a child, my father treated me the same way and as for me, I have to do the same to Qi’er and Cong’er.”