Chapter 1084: A Fortuitous Encounter

Liu Bei and his group often strayed off topic when discussing wars that didn’t affect their own strategic interests. However, this was of little consequence, as even Liu Bei himself didn’t mind. Stabilizing internal affairs and steadily widening the gap between their forces and the enemy was the most important thing. Nothing could be better than that.

During their conversation, the topic shifted to comforting the families of the soldiers, and Liu Bei, after thinking it over, decided to wait for Lady Gan to arrive so she could accompany him.

"It would be wonderful if the Han Dynasty could enjoy such peace every year," Liu Bei sighed, feeling sentimental. After all, this year’s external battles were clean and swift, and at this moment, both Cao Cao, Sun Quan, and Liu Bei were focusing on developing their territories. The people were living far better than they had in the past.

"It will get even better," Chen Xi said, raising his hand. "When we reach a point where every household can have meat for the New Year, and later where they can eat it monthly, and finally, when they can have it daily, that’s when we’ll know we’ve achieved our goals."

Liu Bei laughed heartily, saying no more, but internally, he couldn’t help but feel a touch of emotion. Some things seemed simple, but in reality, they were incredibly difficult to accomplish. However, the harder a task was to complete, the more fulfilling it became, drawing people in with its sense of achievement.

At Liu Bei’s stage in life, what remained were the pursuits of honor, accomplishment, recognition, and self-actualization.

"The Way is simple, yet firm," Li You said calmly. "Whether it’s done well or poorly, you can see and hear for yourself. While what you hear may not always be true and what you see might be deceiving, in the end, hearing many sides clarifies the truth, while partial information leads to blindness. My lord should go see more for yourself."

"Using the most direct means to understand the changes of the times—given your current abilities, there’s no one who could cloud your vision," Chen Xi added with a smile.

"That sounds good," Liu Bei nodded and changed the subject.

As they sat eating, drinking, and chatting idly, Chen Dao suddenly remembered something, a smile creeping onto his face. "Do any of you know how Zilong is doing lately?"

"Zilong?" Chen Xi and the others exchanged glances and shook their heads. "Wasn’t he in Taishan fetching the families of all present? Why hasn’t he returned yet?"

"Look at you all—not one of you cares about your comrade. None of you know that Zilong has recently taken a fancy to a young woman!" Chen Dao chuckled, taking over the conversation.

"What?!"

"Who’s she?"

"Seriously?"

"How come I didn’t know about this?"

"I haven’t heard a word!"

Everyone immediately erupted in questions. Even the usually aloof Guan Yu put aside his cold demeanor to glance at Chen Dao for answers.

"Hehe, Zilong has taken a liking to the eldest daughter of the Ma family. I’ve heard she’s quite beautiful, but it seems she hasn’t returned his feelings yet," Chen Dao said after taking a sip of wine, his tone teasing as he noticed how curious Liu Bei looked, leaning forward with his neck craned in eagerness.

"The Ma family’s eldest daughter? Which Ma family?" Everyone looked to Chen Xi.

"How would I know? There must be a thousand people with the surname Ma in this world, if not more," Chen Xi replied, exasperated. He hadn’t even memorized all the prominent families that had arrived recently.

"General Zhao must have fallen for her reverse psychology. Think about it: with his appearance, charisma, and strength, how many people in this world could compare to him?" Yu Jin, usually reserved, suddenly joined the conversation, clearly excited by the gossip about Zhao Yun.

Everyone couldn’t help but label Yu Jin as a "silent schemer" in their minds, realizing he could be quite fun to have around, contrary to his usual stoic demeanor.

"Exactly. General Yu is right," Fa Zheng agreed, raising a thumbs-up. "Trying to use a little reverse psychology to win over General Zhao? Let’s help him come up with a strategy to turn the tables!"

"You all talk like you’re love experts, but if I remember correctly, didn’t you leave it to others to find a wife for you, Xiaozhi?" Guo Jia teased, causing Fa Zheng to nearly spit out his wine.

"You’re acting like any of you have succeeded in this department either!" Fa Zheng shot back, his words hitting everyone at the table. Immediately, they all glared at him before turning their gaze to Chen Xi, and then collectively shook their heads, realizing not a single one of them had much success when it came to romance.

"Ahem, why are you all looking at me? Look at Shuzhi!" Chen Xi grumbled. In truth, none of them had great stories to tell about their love lives—whether it was him, Zhang Fei, or any of the others.

"By the way, how did you find out about this?" Hua Xiong asked, leaning in closer, as everyone’s curiosity grew. They hadn’t heard a word of this before!

"When I was escorting Kongming, I noticed Zilong seemed a bit distracted. I asked him about it, and Zilong, not one to hide things, told me," Chen Dao chuckled. He had escorted Zhuge Liang to visit Zhao Yun, who was spending time with Huang Yueying.

"Oh, and I ran into those three kids of Boyan. The youngest is starting to look a bit like Wenhe," Chen Dao added.

"Which family’s daughter is it? Zilong is no spring chicken anymore. He may look young, but he’s not much younger than the rest of us," Liu Bei said, scratching his cheek, subtly suggesting that he could help set up the match.

"The Ma family from Liangzhou," Chen Dao revealed, dropping a bombshell that instantly turned the conversation into a lively market. Wasn’t that Ma Chao’s younger sister? And Zhao Yun courting her? Who would have thought! Despite Zhao Yun seemingly remaining ageless, everyone knew he wasn’t as young as he looked.

Drawing from the information Chen Dao provided, everyone pieced together bits of the story and decided they would help Zhao Yun pursue the match. It felt like they were plotting a romance game, relying entirely on their imagination.

Still, as the saying goes, many minds make light work. Even if it was all speculation, the group managed to come up with a plan so convincing that when Zhao Yun eventually heard it, he would be left speechless.

To be fair, it was New Year’s, and everyone was feeling idle. They had gathered to chat, and Lü Bu’s recent events had just come up by chance.

But compared to the chaos with Lü Bu and the Xianbei, this group seemed far more interested in Zhao Yun’s love life.

After all, with Lü Bu and Chen Gong at the helm, they could handle the Xianbei without any trouble. Liu Bei figured he would write to Emperor Liu Xie to request a promotion for Lü Bu, which would be more practical than anything else.

"But the end of the year is approaching..." Liu Bei mused, looking toward the rafters, and then fixing his gaze on Zhang Fei. "Do you have any definite news from your wife?"

Zhang Fei flinched. He had noticed that Liu Bei’s thoughts could jump around quite drastically sometimes. Still, this was no time to back down. "I’ll go ask her, how about that?"

"Lady Ma and Lady Xiahou are both in Yongzhou for the New Year. It would be fitting for me to deliver gifts to His Majesty on their behalf," Guan Yu suddenly interjected, opening his eyes.

Liu Bei was stunned for a moment, then nodded slightly. He trusted Guan Yu’s handling of the matter, and with the situation among the three factions stable, there was little chance of conflict breaking out. It truly was a good opportunity. If war erupted again, who knew when Zhang Fei and Zhao Yun’s affairs could be resolved.

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