Water Margin: Lu Bu sits on Mount Liang

The wind blew through the courtyard and in through the doors and windows. In the backyard of the government office, Wu Qing's personal maid silently closed the gate and stood beside the door, her face flushed and her eyes full of excitement.

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The red scabbard hit the ground, and little Lu Wen shouted "da da da!" and walked around the room clumsily.

Wu Qing walked over and patted the little guy's butt: "Go play outside. Mother and the two little girls have something to say to your father."

The little man responded, holding the scabbard and hitting the ground along the way, and walked out unsteadily on his short legs.

"My dear..." Su Jinniang stood up and poured the squeezed juice into a cup and handed it to Lu Bu: "Are you planning to give Liaodong to the Song Dynasty in the south?"

The sweet and sour juice enters your mouth.

"Song Ting? If you can't defeat him, just call him brother and give him money and food to buy peace on the border." Putting down the porcelain cup, Lu Bu sneered, his mouth almost curled up to the back of his head: "Why should I give Liaodong to such a heartless, weak and incompetent person?"

Su Jinniang glanced at the other two women. Wu Qing walked forward and sat down gracefully: "Then... Sir, are you talking about Liu Han, who lived thousands of years ago? Do you want to find another person with the surname Liu to be placed above your head?"

A strange look flashed across Lu Bu's face, and he shook his head slowly: "The Han Dynasty is dead, and the past cannot be brought back."

"Then..." Wu Qing's face also turned red: "Does my husband agree to my becoming emperor?"

"...I didn't say that." The voice was barely audible, and there was some struggle on Lu Bu's face.

Hu Sanniang rolled her eyes, put her hands on her hips and looked at her husband: "It's not this, it's not that. When did you become as fussy as a woman? Why can't you be more straightforward?"

"I will think about it again, think about it again..." The tall figure stood up, with a confused look on his face, turned around and walked two steps towards the bedroom at the back, and repeated softly: "Let me think about it."

"Lang Jun!"

Wu Qing's voice came over, and Lu Bu paused, turned around and looked at the three women behind him.

"No matter what decision you make, I will support you. I hope you won't be bothered by external affairs and let them disturb your mood." Wu Qing curled her lips and smiled at the man. She crossed her hands to her chest, bent her knees slightly, lowered her head, and said, "Long live my husband."

"Hello, my dear."

Hu Sanniang and Su Jinniang also stood up and saluted behind Wu Qing.

"Uh-huh……"

He looked stunned for a moment, although he was a little confused as to why the three women were bowing at this time, Lu Bu inexplicably felt much more relaxed. He raised his hand and bowed to the ground, then turned back to the room, sat on the chair in silence, staring at the sunlight coming in through the window with empty eyes.

After a while, he turned his head and looked at the bronze mirror. There was a strange yet familiar face in it. Gradually, as time passed, the face seemed to have changed. It had stubble, sunken eye sockets, and loose skin with an unhealthy paleness. There was a sense of weakness as if the body was hollowed out by alcohol and sex. The face was staring at him with lifeless eyes.

He shuddered and was instantly soaked with cold sweat. He looked at the person in the bronze mirror and saw that he still had the same handsome and rosy face as now. He clenched his hands on the table into fists and slowly clenched them.

"Nowadays, things are different..."

Bloodshot eyes.

……

The golden sun moved slowly towards the west in the sky, and the wind blew over the city.

People were coming and going on the street, their noises echoing over the city, the peddlers and the women buying things were arguing over the interest of two copper coins, and the playboys were walking arm in arm to brothels.

Several generals in military uniforms hurriedly walked through the street. Their sturdy bodies, swords at their waists, and personal soldiers following behind them made passers-by scramble to avoid them. They arrived at the restaurant unimpeded. The waiter waiting outside the door hurriedly opened it. The moment they entered, countless eyes looked over.

Du Fu stepped into the door with his feet in his shoes, looking at the generals and officials from the prefecture government office in surprise. Feng Tai, who was following behind him, turned around and ran out of the door. He looked up at the name of the restaurant outside. Yes, it was the business left by Cao Zheng. He walked in again: "Wow~ Everyone is really here. It's just that the general is not here, otherwise I would have thought I had come to the wrong place and came to the central army tent."

Wang De laughed and waved while holding the wine jar: "Ugly ghost, come this way."

"Who are you calling ugly?" Feng Tai was furious: "Who is uglier between us?" He apologized to Du Fu and Niu Gao and strode away.

Du Fu looked at his deputy general with amusement as he walked over to compete in drinking with others. He heard a voice: "General Du, General Niu, this way." Du Fu turned his head and saw Ma Ling standing up and waving at him. Seeing that there was still room, he walked over with Niu Gao and sat down next to Ma Ling. Yang Zaixing was also sitting at the same table. Seeing the two of them coming over, he quickly stood up and saluted: "My nephew greets Uncle Du and Uncle Niu."

Du Fu patted him on the shoulder and said, "No need to be polite, sit down." He looked at Ma Ling and said, "What's going on? The military advisor told us to gather here, but what does the general want us to do?"

Ma Ling scratched his head and said, "I don't know. Master didn't tell me. I thought General Du might know something."

The two looked at each other, and Du Fu chuckled: "Then we can only wait for the military advisor to come and see what he can say."

Ma Ling scratched his head and shrugged, "It's the only way."

There was a lot of noise in the restaurant. Soon, Wang Zheng, wearing summer clothes, walked in with his sleeves swinging. The waiter outside closed the door. The sounds of drinking and playing stopped, and everyone looked at the lazy young man standing at the door.

"Generals, colleagues." Wang Zheng raised his hand and bowed, then stood up and smiled. "I have something to discuss with you. Now, please leave if you are not interested!"

A sergeant came forward and started to chase the shop assistants away.

……

"Grandpa Hu, this is how it is. I hope you can talk to Miss San more and ask her to persuade the general with Miss Wu and Miss Su." Li Zhu sat at the bottom and stretched out his hand to twirl his beard. "As the saying goes, 'one person's success brings prosperity to the whole family'. If you can make further progress, won't your and Hu Cheng's status also rise? If you give birth to another child..."

Hu Taigong leaned on a cane, his expression unchanged, but his eyes widened. He reached out and touched his gray beard, "I am not coveting the status of a royal relative... it's just that the general has always been very kind to my daughter, and I hope he can make further progress." Two streams of hot air spurted out of his nostrils, and his plump face became even more rosy. "Don't worry, Li Zhubu, I will send someone to ask my daughter to go home, and I will inform you if there is anything."

Li Zhu smiled and put down his hand, stood up, and bowed: "In that case, thank you for your hard work, Master Hu. I have been in the government office for the past two days. If there is anything, send someone here to find it."

"Of course, of course." Hu Taigong grinned and tried to persuade us to stay: "It's already past noon, why don't you have some tea and snacks before leaving."

"No need, I still have things to do, please stay here, Grandpa."

With that, Mr. Jin Jian turned around and left in a hurry. Master Hu stood there and watched Li Zhu walk away. He suddenly laughed up to the sky, "Hahahaha--" For a while. Amid the worried eyes of the servants outside, the old man threw away his cane, strode out of the door, and shouted with full energy: "Butler, butler!"

"Hey, my lord, I'm here."

"Go, go find Miss San and tell her that I have something to do... No, just tell her that I am sick and ask her to go back to her parents' home! Quick -"

"Yes."

After hearing this, the housekeeper turned around and ran away, muttering in his heart, "You old man said you were sick with a rosy face, don't let the third lady beat me to death later."

……

The sunlight in the sky was moving slowly. Pedestrians who were wiping sweat on the street were suddenly startled by the noise in the restaurant. They turned their heads and saw dozens of soldiers with guns and knives standing outside the restaurant. The hotel waiters were also driven to the side and squatted in a circle. Curious people walked over and squatted down.

"What's wrong with you guys? Why are you squatting here in broad daylight instead of working? Hey, what's going on in there?"

"I don't know..." The shop assistant shrugged, "Just now all the lords and generals in the city came and drove us out. I don't know what they said behind closed doors."

"Didn't you eavesdrop?"

"What are you listening to? Soldiers are standing in front, behind, and on both sides. Who dares to get close?"

"That's right...what's going on in there?"

Amidst the buzz of speculation, many people stretched their heads to look over there. Not long after, there was another round of banging on the table and shouting, and then the door of the restaurant was slammed open, and a group of big men in military uniforms and official uniforms came out, each of them suppressing the smile on their faces, calling out to their personal soldiers, and hurriedly running towards the military camp outside the city.

At the very back, the lazy young man walked out, put his hands on his hips, took a breath, and then yelled, "Go back!"

The sound of hurried footsteps faded away.

The remaining group of curious people and shop assistants stood there with their hands folded, confused: "What on earth is going on?" (End of this chapter)