Liu Bei had no habit of traveling by carriage. He preferred the wind in his face and the solid ground beneath his horse's hooves.
However, once the initial excitement of their reunion settled, common sense took over. Dragging Lu Su away from his elderly mother on horseback would be rude. It violated every principle of filial piety and diplomatic etiquette.
Liu Bei was many things, but he was not that rude. Especially not to the mother of a friend.
After riding alongside the carriage for a short while, he dismounted and tossed the reins to one of his personal guards without even looking back.
The guards stared, too shocked to speak, as their lord casually climbed aboard Lu Zijing's private carriage. After a brief exchange of polite refusals that neither man genuinely meant, Liu Bei and Lu Su ended up sitting side by side at the front of the vehicle.
One held the reins. The other held the whip.
Liu Bei even let one leg dangle over the edge, swinging it lazily as the carriage rolled down the road. He looked completely at ease, like a farmer heading home after a long day in the fields.
"Has the Zuo General met the envoy from Jiangdong yet?"
Sitting together without speaking suddenly felt awkward, so Lu Su blurted out the first question that came to mind and immediately regretted it. Given his sensitive political position, he should have chosen a safer subject. The beautiful scenery of Guanzhong. The weather. Perhaps even some harmless gossip about the local girls.
Anything but politics.
"I met him. You mean Bu Zhi, right?"
Liu Bei laughed. "Yide captured, cough. I mean, invited him over recently. I never expected we'd cross paths again here in Chang'an."
"Oh, right. I saw Bu Zhi back there as well."
"His expression at the time..." Liu Bei trailed off, shaking his head with a grin. "Priceless."
He then pointed a thumb over his shoulder.
Lu Su knew exactly what he was pointing at.
The humiliating rest pavilion. The magnificent structure built specifically to wait for him.
He decided that saying nothing was the safest possible response.
"Oh, right. Bu Zhi is still inside Chang'an. If Zijing is interested, or perhaps you simply want to meet an old acquaintance, you can visit him in a few days."
Absolutely not, Lu Su thought firmly.
He preferred never seeing Bu Zhi again.
For the first time, he was genuinely grateful that Bu Zhi had traveled ahead. Arriving at the city gates together would have been a political nightmare. The rumors alone would have been unbearable, and the awkwardness between the two of them would have been even worse.
Seeing Lu Su fall silent, Liu Bei gently flicked the reins.
"What does Zijing think about..."
Lu Su immediately straightened.
His heart began pounding.
Here it comes.
Asking for grand strategies to pacify the empire. Asking for policies to stabilize the nation. Asking... bla. Bla. Bla.
He had been waiting for this.
Even though he had not yet decided whether to remain in Liu Bei's territory or eventually return home, he was sitting beside Zhuge Kongming's lord. If Liu Bei wanted his counsel, Lu Su would give it everything he had. He would offer wisdom worthy of a sage.
"...hmm... dinner tonight? Guanzhong spicy or Bashu sweet? Which one sounds better?"
Cough. Cough.
"Whoa, careful there, Zijing!"
Lu Su had just inhaled a huge breath of pure political ambition and nearly choked on it. He lurched sideways and nearly tumbled off the moving carriage.
Fortunately, Liu Bei immediately reached out and caught his arm, steadying him with surprising strength.
When Lu Su looked back, he saw genuine concern on Liu Bei's face.
There was no hidden agenda. No political trap. No test of his wisdom.
The man was simply worried that his guest might fall off the carriage.
For a moment, Lu Su could only stare at him.
He thought about the unpretentious sincerity Liu Bei had shown from the very beginning, from the custom-built pavilion to this completely casual question about dinner.
A long, shaky breath escaped him before he finally laughed.
"Hahahaha... Trying something new and spicy sounds great."
He wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes and gave Liu Bei a helpless smile.
"The sweet flavors of Bashu are excellent as well. How about half and half?"
"Easy!"
Liu Bei slapped a hand against his chest with a laugh.
"Consider it done."
---
That evening, peasants returning from the fields happened to witness Liu Huangshu personally driving a carriage back from outside the city.
For the common people of Chang'an, who had little entertainment beyond gossip, this was premium news.
By the time they reached their destination, Lu Su had the uncomfortable feeling that the entire city already knew his face.
"That's the great talent from Jiangdong? He really came to our Chang'an? Huh. He's not that handsome."
"What do you know? Not everyone can look like Mister Kongming. At least Mister Lu looks better than Strategist Pang. Hey, is he married yet? My niece is..."
"Your niece is twelve."
"Twelve is a perfectly good age! My grandmother was married at thirteen!"
"Is Liu Huangshu taking over Jiangdong too?"
"Are you stupid? Didn't you see the Jiangdong envoy a few days ago? They nearly got into a fistfight at the gate! Things are tense!"
"Mister Lu is truly a genius. Abandoning the dark for the light. The man has vision."
"Heh, you certainly know how to talk, old man. Yesterday you said exactly the same thing about the Jiangdong envoy."
"That was different!"
"How?"
"The Jiangdong envoy didn't get a pavilion built for him!"
The argument dissolved into laughter, only for another woman somewhere in the crowd to loudly ask whether Lu Su was taller than Zhuge Liang. Her neighbor admitted that she had no idea, which somehow sparked a heated debate involving five people, three conflicting opinions about the proper height of a great strategist, and at least two completely unrelated arguments about whose turnip harvest had been better that year.
Lu Su listened to the bustling chatter as farmers carried their tools home and families began preparing their evening meals. Cooking smoke rose lazily from the chimneys along the road, drifting above the rooftops and catching the last light of the setting sun.
Beside him, Liu Bei watched the same scene with surprising focus.
He was not looking at the city walls or the grand avenues. He was watching the people.
Lu Su found himself doing the same.
For some reason, he suddenly remembered an ambition he had dreamed about as a young man.
It was a simple dream, embarrassingly naive: a world where a farmer could leave his gate unlocked, where rice paddies smelled of rain instead of smoke, and where children did not instinctively flinch whenever they heard the thunder of approaching hooves.
He had never told anyone about that dream.
It sounded childish when spoken aloud. The world had always been too cruel, and men like him were expected to think about armies, alliances, grain, territory, and the rise and fall of states. There was little room for something as simple as wanting ordinary people to sleep peacefully.
Yet now, standing on a carriage rolling through the outskirts of Chang'an, he heard someone behind him laughing.
The smoke drifting over the rooftops smelled like dinner.
It was not perfect. The farmers still worked until sunset, the roads were still dusty, and the empire was still divided by war.
But the people were laughing.
The children were running.
The smoke rising from those little houses smelled like a family preparing its evening meal.
It was not the world Lu Su had once dreamed of.
But it was alive.
---
The estate the Zuo General had selected for Lu Su was not luxurious, but it had everything they needed. It was spotless, the floors gleamed, and the curtains were freshly washed.
Mother Lu loved it.
Within half an hour of moving in, she was already leaning over the low courtyard wall, happily chatting with the neighbors. Not long after that, she casually announced that they had been invited next door for dinner, which would save them the trouble of lighting the stove themselves.
Lu Su stared at her in disbelief.
"Mom...?"
His expression clearly suggested that he could no longer decide whether to laugh or cry. Mother Lu, however, had already prepared a flawless argument.
"Son, the Zuo General specifically asked about your favorite flavors. If you refuse to go, wouldn't that make the General lose face?"
Lu Su considered this.
Fair point.
With little room left to argue, he finally stepped out of the estate.
A cavalryman was waiting outside. He helped Lu Su mount a huge Liangzhou warhorse before taking the lead down the road.
In Jiangdong, a horse of this size would have been kept behind the walls of some wealthy nobleman's estate. It would be draped in silk, decorated with silver, fed the finest grain, and carefully preserved as a symbol of status.
The beast beneath Lu Su was nothing like that.
It wore no gold or silver ornaments. Its tack was practical, its coat dusty from travel, and its enormous muscular frame seemed to radiate barely restrained ferocity.
Lu Su was no cavalryman, and he had never considered himself particularly knowledgeable about horses. Yet as he looked down at the animal carrying him effortlessly through the streets, a sudden thought crossed his mind.
This would make a brilliant warhorse.
The welcome banquet at the Zuo General's estate lasted deep into the night.
As the man who had played a central role in forging the Sun-Liu alliance before the Battle of Red Cliffs, Lu Su recognized almost everyone in Liu Bei's camp. The only unfamiliar face was Fa Zheng.
Even Pang Tong was hardly a stranger. He had once served under the Marquis of Sun, so the two men were already acquainted. He wandered over with a grin, raised his cup, and shared a drink with Lu Su as though they had simply picked up an old conversation.
The reactions from everyone else, however, were far more intriguing.
Zhang Yide eventually squeezed his way through the crowd, slapped Lu Su on the shoulder hard enough to make him wince, and practically shouted, "Zijing! Aiding a man with such a reputation is truly no easy task!"
Lu Su stared at him in confusion. What did I miss? What reputation?
Before he could ask, even Ma Chao, someone Lu Su had never met before tonight, walked over to offer him a toast. The Western cavalry general raised his cup, studied Lu Su for a moment, and muttered something about how rare it was to see a living Lu Zijing.
Lu Su smiled politely and decided not to ask.
There was clearly some strange story circulating around Chang'an, and he had a feeling he was better off not learning about it while sober.
Aside from the odd comments, however, the banquet itself was flawless.
The spicy Guanzhong dishes were exactly what Liu Bei had promised, and Lu Su quickly discovered that he had developed a dangerous fondness for them. The sweet treats made with refined cane sugar were even worse. He had eaten his fill long before the night was over, yet somehow kept accepting another serving whenever someone placed it in front of him.
The atmosphere was warm, the wine was excellent, and nobody tried to drag him into a discussion about war, alliances, or the future of the empire.
In fact, right up until the moment Lu Su finally passed out drunk, nobody asked him the one major political question he had spent the entire journey preparing to answer.
---
Waking up hungover in a strange room left Lu Su staring at the ceiling in a daze. After six grueling months of crossing rivers and seas, this rare moment of complete relaxation felt almost precious.
Then a troubling thought surfaced.
Wait.
Had he forgotten something?
Fifteen minutes later, a voice like a thunderclap exploded right outside his door.
"Zijing! Zijing! Are you home?"
"The Light Screen is about to open! I'm here on my brother's orders to pick up Military Advisor Lu!"
Oh no.
Lu Su finally remembered. Yesterday, the Zuo General had mentioned twice that they would watch some kind of Light Screen together that morning. Lu Su had barely paid attention at the time because he had absolutely no idea what a Light Screen was.
He hurriedly threw on his clothes, splashed water over his face, and stumbled toward the front gate. Before he could even ask what was happening, Zhang Fei grabbed him, effortlessly hoisted him onto a horse, slapped its rump, and sent them galloping toward the city.
By the time Zhang Fei dragged a thoroughly flustered Lu Su into the main hall, Lu Su had barely managed to tie his belt properly.
He turned toward Liu Bei.
"Zuo General, what exactly is a Light Screen?"
"Just take a seat, Zijing."
Liu Bei smiled and gestured toward an empty chair.
Lu Su followed his gaze.
The seat was positioned directly between Zhuge Kongming and Pang Shiyuan.
He immediately remembered Zhang Fei calling him Military Advisor Lu only moments earlier. Then another piece of intelligence from Jiangdong surfaced in his mind.
According to what he had heard, Liu Bei's inner circle held secret strategy meetings every three months.
Lu Su slowly looked around the hall.
A dozen men were present. Top civil officials. Top military generals. The most trusted men in Liu Bei's administration.
These were the Zuo General's core confidants.
For a brief moment, Lu Su felt a sting of grievance.
Does this Zuo General really think he has me completely figured out?
Am I just another piece on his board?
Before he could decide whether to feel insulted or flattered, Zhang Fei grabbed him by the shoulders and firmly planted him in the chair.
Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong offered him warm smiles from either side.
Lu Su lifted his chin and deliberately gave them nothing in return.
Fine.
You people can plot your conquest of the world all you want. Don't expect a single word of advice from me.
Across the room, Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong exchanged a look filled with amusement.
They had seen this before.
Just watch.
Lu Su's carefully constructed tough-guy act lasted less than a minute.
Liu Bei sat at the front of the hall without saying a word. Instead, Zhang Fei began bustling around the room like a tavern waiter who had somehow wandered into a military headquarters. He dropped steamed buns, meat paste, canned fruits, and dried nuts onto everyone's desks with the casual efficiency of someone who had done it a hundred times before.
The two old friends sitting nearby treated the whole thing as perfectly normal. They leaned back in their chairs, relaxed and comfortable, as though they were settling in for an ordinary morning.
Lu Su became increasingly suspicious.
What kind of top-secret military strategy meeting involved snacks?
Then again, food was food.
He had skipped breakfast, after all.
He reached for a bowl of canned lychees. Shiyuan had taught him the previous day to dip them in sugar powder, and Lu Su had delivered his official verdict at the time: ridiculously sweet, therefore an excellent delicacy.
He picked up one of the sugar-coated lychees and popped it into his mouth.
He barely had time to chew.
The empty air in the center of the room suddenly tore apart with a violent flash, and a glowing Light Screen appeared out of nowhere.
Lu Su nearly jumped out of his skin.
"What... cough, cough, cough! What is that?!"
The sweet fruit went straight down the wrong way. He doubled over, coughing violently, while a terrifying thought flashed through his mind.
Did I... die at sea months ago?
Is all of this just some kind of dream in the underworld?
He had heard plenty of ghost stories back in Jiangdong. At this particular moment, they seemed like the most reasonable explanation available.
How else was he supposed to explain Chang'an, a room full of powerful officials, and a glowing floating screen that had just ripped a hole through empty air?
Beside him, Kongming paused for only a moment.
Then, with complete composure, he picked up a freshly written note and casually tossed it straight into the Light Screen.
The message vanished.
Kongming laughed.
"Hahaha.... Lu Zijing, a man whose benevolence will be praised by later generations, cannot even tell whether he is dead or alive?"
Lu Su froze. Later generations? Benevolence?
His brain was melting.
Then, a steady, casual voice echoed from the Light Screen. Lu Su instinctively held his breath and listened.
[Lightscreen]
[Hey hey hey, what is up my lords and ladies! It is your favorite punctual, historically uploader from the history zone, Wen Mang!
Wait, why does that intro sound so weird?
Anyway, skipping the small talk, let us jump straight into today's topic!
Last time, we talked about climate, plagues, and how they drive the rise and fall of dynastic cycles.
Today, we are taking a similar angle to talk about the women who stubbornly forced their way to the poker table during the feudal era and played a brilliant hand.
And when it comes to this topic, there is really only one absolute heavyweight.
The female emperor of the Wu Zhou Dynasty. Wu Zetian.]
[Server Chat Log]
[Zhuge Liang: Today, Lu Zijing from Jiangdong has traveled far to join us. We watch the Light Screen together. What a joy!
Li Shimin: Lu Su is not dead yet? That Sun Shiwan actually let a talent capable of commanding tens of thousands slip away? No wonder they call him Shiwan.]