Chapter 5: When fish meets water (1)
A genius who works hard.
That was the impression I got when I first saw Zhuge Liang. There wasn’t a day he didn’t study, and he always had various books in his hands, except when he was sleeping.
He had high aspirations, and he met many good friends, so he was a scholar of the age. Moreover, he was naturally good at intelligence, so it didn’t seem like there would be anyone in this world who could penetrate his thoughts.
…Except for one person, me.
“……”
Well, if we were to compare only personal abilities, I was indeed overwhelmingly inferior to Kongming. I couldn’t manage people like him, nor could I manage internal affairs.
However, unlike him, I knew what would happen in this world for the next hundred years. I knew who would die and when, and I knew which country would fall and how.
My memory from 2000 years later was a factor that couldn’t be ignored. And this was one of the reasons why I was confident that I could help Liu Bei, and one of the reasons why I could now engage in a war of wits with Zhuge Liang.
‘Okay.’
……After thinking about something for a while, I gave the paper and brush placed in the guest room to Liu Bei and said.
“I’m sorry, but Your Excellency, please leave a letter to my older brother.”
“Yes? Yes…, I understand.”
Liu Bei, who held the brush as he was told, although he was bewildered by my sudden request. I told him the contents of the letter.
“…First, write about Your Excellency’s sincere feelings for my older brother, and then, you could leave a letter saying you’ll visit again around this winter.”
“I understand.”
Although he could have raised several questions, he began to write the letter with all his heart without any complaints, as he would become the emperor of Shu Han later.
“……”
And then came a moment of silence.
The only sound that echoed in the room was the friction between the brush and the rough paper.
“…I’ve finished writing.”
“Well done.”
Liu Bei finally put down the brush after 20 minutes.
As he had written with so much effort, there were so many letters that it was impossible to find a blank space on the paper.
“Hmm……”
I picked up the letter and started reading it, slowly scanning it with my eyes. [This Bei, I write to you.] a letter that opened with a polite sentence. Even though I was just reading the characters, I felt the sender’s emotions with all my heart.
“……”
The desire to lift up the fallen Han Dynasty,
The warm heart that cares for the people,
The desire to be with Zhuge Liang.
The sincere letter was finished with the sentence [I will postpone the day I see your face until this winter. Please continue to consider my intentions during that time.].
“Good!”
I smiled brightly at Liu Bei at the content of the letter, which was much more satisfactory than I had expected.
“Now, Your Excellency, you should visit our house again in the autumn, not in the winter.”
…Originally, in history, Liu Bei visited Wolong Mountain in the summer, winter, and spring respectively, and Kongming recognized those periods well and avoided Liu Bei.
Then, to get them to meet earlier, wouldn’t it be enough to have Liu Bei visit in the autumn, not in the winter when Kongming was away from home?
The history of ‘Liu Bei visited Zhuge Liang in the winter and they didn’t meet in the end’ would be corrected to ‘Liu Bei visited Zhuge Liang in the autumn and finally, they were able to meet for the second time’.
Simply put, it meant that by forcibly adjusting the time when Liu Bei would visit Kongming, the Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage would be changed to the Two Visits to the Thatched Cottage.
The letter to Liu Bei to visit in the winter was just a role to make Kongming let his guard down.
When I saw Kongming’s appearance in history, who happened to be away from home in the winter, he would also have roughly expected that Liu Bei’s next visit would be in the winter.
My general plan was to reinforce that belief with the letter written by Liu Bei himself, and then have them meet in the unexpected autumn.
‘Okay.’
A plan that could be drawn because I knew the future.
If I were just an ordinary person of this era, I would have just waved my hand, saying ‘See you in winter!’ and sent Liu Bei away. In that case, the Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage would have been repeated perfectly.
It was a moment when I felt proud in many ways.
“……Yes?”
…However, Liu Bei frowned as if he didn’t like my thoughts.
Then, he asked me in a serious voice.
“Didn’t you say to come in the winter, ma’am? I was also planning to come again in the winter, and I wrote it in the letter without any complaints, so why are you changing your words now and telling me to come in the autumn? This will be a matter that goes against etiquette.”
“……”
He was scolding me for changing my words.
Well, he was a man so obsessed with righteousness, so it wouldn’t be good for him to have different letters and actions. But if I followed his opinion to come in winter, it would be difficult to make any changes to Liu Bei’s camp.
“This is a plan to make Your Excellency meet my older brother. If you can’t follow this, you’ll have to wait another year to meet him.”
Was this the heart of a mother looking at her child?
I spoke to him in an annoying way, as he was choosing to waste time. Liu Bei sighed with a worried voice.
“But how can I deceive Mr. Wolong before I even meet him? I’m just afraid of breaking the trust early on.”
At his words, I also suppressed my frustrated feelings and continued to speak.
“It’s an excessive worry. If trust is broken because you visited earlier than expected, it’s because of my older brother’s lack of generosity, not because Your Excellency did anything wrong.”
“……”
After trying to persuade him with good words, he finally lowered his head with a deep sigh.
It might seem like it was something to worry about in my position, but since he was Liu Bei, who was moved by righteousness to the point of disregarding territory, I had to understand this much.
Liu Bei, who had been in deep thought for a while, finally nodded with a firm expression.
“…I understand. As you, ma’am, who shared good wisdom, I’m sure you have thoughts. I’ll follow that.”
Liu Bei, who agreed to my suggestion to come in the autumn instead of the winter. I also smiled brightly and nodded.
“I’m grateful that you trust me so much.”
Fortunately, the conversation ended warmly.
It was my first meeting with Liu Bei, and it seemed that I had made a pretty good first impression.
“Brother, what did you talk about?”
“It seems like the sun will set soon. Let’s go quickly.”
“……”
As I came out of the reception room, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei approached us as if they had been waiting. Seeing them, who had the appearance of a beautiful woman, not the appearance of a hero I had seen in games or comic books, I felt fear again and escorted Liu Bei and his party to the gate.
“Then, we will meet again after the seasons change.”
“Yes, go with care.”
After a short farewell, the three siblings got on the horses tied outside the house and returned to Xinyang, the town they governed.
……And Zhuge Liang returned three days later.
.
.
.
“Older brother, this is the letter that Uncle Liu left.”
On the day Zhuge Liang, my younger older brother, returned, I handed him the letter that Liu Bei had left after dinner.
“Hmm….”
Zhuge Liang began to read the letter with a profound expression.
His expression also began to darken as his eyes moved to the bottom of the letter.
“Haa……”
He sighed deeply and put the letter down on the desk.
Then, a voice mixed with various worries echoed through the room.
“Why did Liu Bei want to drag me into a chaotic world, by insisting on coming again in the cold winter?”
“……”
I was pouring water into the cup and just listened to his words silently. Zhuge Liang took the cup of water and said to me.
“Lang, it’s not always good to jump out into the secular world and work for the world. You can find the value of that life by plowing the fields and weeding.”
Zhuge Liang, as if he was so reluctant to go out into the swirling world, lamented his fate several times. I smiled at him and said.
“Plowing the fields and weeding is, as my older brother says, a valuable thing, but it’s something anyone can do, and it’s only my older brother who can help Uncle Liu and correct the chaotic world.”
“……!!”
“Please think about that value.”
“……”
Even though it was a word that I had uttered without any meaning, it must have deeply touched Zhuge Liang. I could see his eyes, which always maintained a poker face, shaking.
After taking a deep breath and composing himself, he stroked my head and said.
“Your meaning is truly high! You could have gone to Uncle Liu instead of me.”
“Th, that’s a bit….”
I made an awkward expression at his praise.
I appreciate the praise, but I don’t want to go and die of overwork instead of you….
“Well, I understand your words, but I won’t go out into that chaotic world, and I won’t be a victim of politics.”
“……Yes, as you wish.”
I answered nonchalantly and poured water into his cup again.
Certainly, if I hadn’t been there, he would have had to go through Liu Bei’s visits three more times, and only then would he have gone out into the world.
But now, such a future would be gone forever into the flow of time.
“I will go on a trip this winter too. Liu Bei, you will be disappointed again.”
“……”
Zhuge Kongming, determined, looking at the ceiling.
…And that’s when he and Liu Bei met at the gate of the house, exactly a month later.