Mythical Three Kingdoms

”Have you calmed down now?” Liu Bei asked.

”I’m curious what you were thinking just now,” Chen Xi sighed. The things he himself still hadn’t seen clearly, Liu Bei had somehow seen through.

”Simple. Compared with my own judgment, I trust yours more. You’ve explained to me in detail how to take the Central Plains while preserving the Vital Energy of the realm and not crippling its talented men of ambition, and I don’t believe your judgment is wrong,” Liu Bei turned, stopped, and looked at Chen Xi as he spoke.

”You also explained in detail what the Emperor’s Position means to me. In truth, it doesn’t mean much. What matters more is the promise I made to you back then. A bit earlier or a bit later—does that really matter?” Liu Bei said, looking at Chen Xi.

Chen Xi tilted his head back to stare at the sky. It seemed that when he’d been caught skipping work by Liu Bei, he really had rambled on to Liu Bei about all sorts of things. He hadn’t expected that years of slacking off would actually end up saving him.

”The meaning of the Emperor’s Position lies in there being no one above—that’s what you told me. And right now, it’s also the case that there’s no one above. Since that’s so, fighting for it or not makes little difference—if anything, not fighting is even better than fighting.” Liu Bei slowly explained his thinking to Chen Xi.

”So reality has yielded to idealism?” The corner of Chen Xi’s mouth curled up slightly, but before he could grin, Liu Bei had already smacked him on the hair knot. ”The Emperor has passed—show some grief.”

The corner of Chen Xi’s mouth twitched, and a weight in his heart lightened a notch. He’d actually been lectured by Liu Bei. All along he’d been the one playing the guide, and this time he’d really tripped.

”Leave the rest to me. One year—just one year. I’ll return to you a Central Plains that everyone submits to, and I guarantee next year will be better than this year,” Chen Xi said to Liu Bei in all seriousness.

”Alright, I’ll be waiting,” Liu Bei nodded, without any extra words.

”Thanks,” Chen Xi suddenly said to Liu Bei.

”You don’t often thank me with such sincerity,” Liu Bei said as he walked on. Chen Xi looked a bit embarrassed.

[The Emperor’s Position, huh. If you took it now, Zichuan, your ideals would probably collapse, right? Xun Wenruo, Zhou Yu and the others are indeed outstanding ministers under heaven—lose them, and your ideal would likely die then and there. You, who don’t covet power or lust, are probably doing all this for that one goal.] Liu Bei thought to himself in silence.

[You’ve helped me, a fallen member of the Imperial Clan, all the way to where the throne is within arm’s reach. It’s about time I helped you. Getting the Emperor’s Position a bit earlier or a bit later doesn’t matter at all.] Liu Bei was utterly calm inside. Seeing that Chen Xi beside him was in much better spirits, he patted him again, and Chen Xi hurriedly straightened his expression.

[Delay it by a year and you’ll be one step closer to your goal. If it were a year earlier, you’d probably have no choice but to see your dreams shattered in Chang’an. Still forcing yourself not to speak—if Fengxiao and Wen He hadn’t both used Voice Transmission to tell me everything on your mind, you’d probably be crying now.] Liu Bei thought helplessly as he watched Chen Xi stretch out his hand, trying hard to keep a straight face.

To be fair, Liu Bei had indeed entertained thoughts of taking the Emperor’s Position. But fortunately, all these years Chen Xi had been educating him properly, and Guo Jia and Jia Xu had both used Voice Transmission to clearly explain Chen Xi’s thoughts. Otherwise, Liu Bei might really have chosen to summon the Senior Ministers.

”Zichuan, don’t hide things from me in the future. If Fengxiao and Wen He hadn’t both used Voice Transmission earlier, I really might have summoned all the Senior Ministers to discuss and elect a new Emperor. Once it got to that point, even if I didn’t want to ascend, I’d have no choice.” Liu Bei decided to lay his cards on the table with Chen Xi. Since he was telling Chen Xi not to hide things, he himself should be frank about everything with Chen Xi as well.

”Uh...” Chen Xi scratched his cheek. ”I just panicked. My head was a mess, and I really didn’t want to be making irresponsible remarks about the Emperor’s Position.”

”That wasn’t irresponsible talk. That was a sincere, reasonable proposal,” Liu Bei said evenly. ”We’ve known each other for so many years. Have your proposals ever been wrong? So long as you lay out your reasoning in detail for me, when have I ever not supported you?”

”But this time it involves the Emperor’s Position. I really didn’t feel it was my place to say anything,” Chen Xi lamented.

Chen Xi felt utterly helpless. Had he known, he wouldn’t have overthought it. He’d have just laid it out to Liu Bei directly: if you ascend this year, what you’ll get is just a broken Purple Outfit—it’ll take several years of mending before you can even really wear it, and it might well be knocked off you besides. Next year I’ll forge you a full set of bound Orange Equipment, and then we can go hack people...

”In the future, if you have any proposals that concern me, just say them straight. After all these years together, whatever else, I fully recognize your capabilities, and you should know the measure of my tolerance,” Liu Bei said, sweeping his sleeve expansively.

”I used to think you were a bit petty. This time I really do feel your tolerance is pretty good,” Chen Xi nodded.

”You actually thought I was petty?” Liu Bei said, depressed. ”Among all the Monarchs, I’m already considered extremely magnanimous.”

”Third from the bottom, right,” Chen Xi joked. Cao Cao and Sunx Ce got shot for no reason.

”It seems you’ve let it go. Now I want to know—about this matter, do you have any leads?” Liu Bei changed the subject and asked.

”Lord Xuande, based on what I’ve learned so far, the likelihood that the Emperor’s passing was an accident is far higher than that it was a plot,” Chen Xi said helplessly. ”Because no one has a motive for regicide.”

”Is that so?” Liu Bei sighed. ”Does Wen Ru have a motive?”

”No!” Chen Xi said firmly. ”He has no motive to kill the Emperor. And when the Royal Teacher was young, he was a Breakthrough Level expert. Wen Ru doesn’t have such a piece on the board!”

”Good. In that case, I won’t ask further.” Liu Bei nodded, indicating he wouldn’t ask more about this matter, nor would he ask things like whether Li Youu was actually Li Ru. Li Youu was Li Youu!

”The Royal Teacher’s death is actually the biggest suspicious point in the Emperor’s passing. To kill the Royal Teacher, there was simply no need to set a fire,” Chen Xi fell silent for a moment before voicing the biggest question in the case.

”Actually, Zichuan, you don’t need to delve too deeply into this. I’ve asked Cao Mengde and Sunx Bofu to investigate the Emperor’s passing. I imagine you also know that this simply can’t be investigated to the bottom. Even I know there were too many people making moves,” Liu Bei sighed.

”Yeah. Right now, the biggest problem is that too many people made moves, and everyone was far too confident at the time, all remote-controlling from behind the scenes. As a result, now there’s simply no way to determine, with everyone entangled with one another, just what actually happened,” Chen Xi said, equally helpless.

”So Cao Sikong and Sunx Bofu are bound to find nothing,” Chen Xi said with a helpless expression. ”Anyone qualified to investigate this matter definitely has issues of their own. I can’t even be sure whether I myself have a problem.”

”Let this matter remain stuck as it is for now. That does everyone good. Anyway, as we drag it out, we’ll make them submit,” Liu Bei said proudly.

”That’s about all we can do,” Chen Xi spread his hands. ”Relying on external forces and whatnot is worse than doing it ourselves. After all, we can solve all the problems on our own. And the fact that you’ve now given up the Emperor’s Position is enough to show your...”

Mid-sentence, Chen Xi’s voice trailed off. Liu Bei didn’t mind, and continued walking toward the palace gate. Liu Zhang—he’d come at too coincidental a time, so coincidental that Liu Bei couldn’t help but suspect Liu Zhang had done it. After all, besides Liu Bei, Liu Zhang was the most suitable to inherit.

[I think I might understand what happened. In that case, Wang Yue really did die by accident. It should even be said that killing Wang Yue wasn’t the original intent—regicide was the core?] Chen Xi thought grimly. Thinking of it that way, many details instead became reasonable.

When Chen Xi and Liu Bei walked out side by side, Liu Zhang’s carriage had already reached the outside of the Palace Gate. By then, Zhang Song had compiled the words of the people of Chang’an and presented them to Liu Zhang, and Liu Zhang’s face instantly went pale.

Had he known there was this kind of mess, not even if you beat him to death would Liu Zhang have come to Chang’an. Now he’d really become a suspect. As for the Emperor’s throne and all that, Liu Zhang was indeed interested, but that seat still depended on who had the muscle. Liu Zhang didn’t feel at all that he had more right to it than Liu Bei.

If Liu Bei ascended today, a chamber pot of shit could be dumped right on his head, then Liu Bei could directly take him down. He wouldn’t even get to go on being the Local Tyrant of Yizhou—he’d just die on the spot.