I did it all for the Han Dynasty!

Chapter 23 Madam Wu, the Lady Sun

Liu Miao entrusted the task of persuading Sun Ce to Zhou Yu, but that doesn't mean Liu Miao himself had nothing to do.
"Gongwei! Listen to me!"

"Gongwei! Don't be like this!"

"Gongwei! How about I invite you to a brothel to listen to music?"

Chen Yu finally paid attention to Liu Miao and asked with some curiosity, "What is meant by 'listening to music in a brothel'?"

"It's about finding some girls you like to sing, dance, and play musical instruments for you!"

"Ah!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Yu lost interest once again.

As the son of three high-ranking officials, what kind of scene hadn't he seen? Listening to music in a brothel held absolutely no appeal for him!

Seeing Chen Yu looking like a wronged little wife, Liu Miao hugged Chen Yu from behind and gestured to explain to her—

"Gongwei, think about it!"

"That knife was in Sun Ce's hands back then!"

"In all my years of traveling, I, Liu Zhongshan, only know two kinds of people you shouldn't mess with. Do you know which two kinds of people I am?"

Chen Yu was still angry with Liu Miao, but Liu Miao had piqued her curiosity.

"Which two?"

"One type is the ruthless desperado who kills without blinking an eye!"

"The other type is the mischievous teenager who is not quite grown up and whose energy and blood are at their peak!"

Liu Miao held out two fingers to Chen Yu, then suddenly put them together again!
"To put it bluntly, these two types of people are the same: they act without considering the consequences and act impulsively!"

"Like Sun Ce, did you really think he wouldn't dare to cut you down just now?"

"Dare he?"

"Is he afraid?"

"Does he dare?"

Chen Yu's momentum weakened somewhat, then he suddenly seemed to remember something and brought up Yuan Shu again: "Isn't he afraid of being punished by the General of the Rear?"

"What a joke! If a hot-blooded youth like that were to actually fight, he wouldn't be thinking about anything else."

Liu Miao and Chen Yu put their arms around each other's shoulders: "Besides, even if Sun Ce is afraid of the General of the Rear, that's after he's killed you! Do you think I'd just stand by and watch Sun Ce hurt you?"

Chen Yu rolled her eyes: "So, I should thank you?"

"That's not necessary!"

"..."

When Chen Yu thought about how Sun Ce's murderous aura just now seemed genuine, his anger subsided somewhat.

"Zhongshan, tell me the truth!"

Chen Yu turned his head and took Liu Miao's hand; the distance between their eyes was less than three inches!

"Tell me, is it truly only for the sake of Sun Jian's widow that you are acting so stubbornly?"

"If you have ulterior motives, feel free to tell me! With General Hou as our backer, why take such a risk? Hmm?"

Liu Miao stared at Chen Yu's slightly brownish pupils and blinked twice.

"How could it be fake?"

"The first thing I said to Gongwei when we met was 'What a beautiful woman!' Has Gongwei forgotten? Hmm?"

Chen Yu's eyes, which had been shining brightly, immediately dimmed.

"I see."

With that, Chen Yu turned and left, leaving Liu Miao chasing after him, calling out, "Gongwei! Gongwei! Slow down, Gongwei!"

"..."

Just as Chen Yu and Liu Miao stepped out of the Zhou residence, the two pairs of eyes that had been watching them finally disappeared.

Sun Ce shook off Zhou Yu's arm, which was pressing down on him, and looked at his close friend with impatience.

"Gongjin! Does Liu Miao truly intend to marry my mother?"

"Exactly."

Seeing that Sun Ce was about to fly into a rage, Zhou Yu quickly pulled him back.

“Lord Liu, you are not truly intending to do anything immoral,” Zhou Yu explained to Sun Ce, dissecting Liu Miao’s intentions layer by layer, gradually calming Sun Ce down.

Sun Ce then understood.

"Liu Miao, do you want to incorporate the troops left behind by my father?"

"Exactly."

"Why? Is he going against the General of the Rear?"

Seeing this, Zhou Yu decided not to hide anything and told Sun Ce everything he had previously been unable to tell him.

"Bo Fu, have you really not noticed that General Yuan Shu, though he has a great reputation, has no foresight whatsoever?"

"I didn't want to criticize General Hou before, but now that he's come to Huainan, you'll probably be able to see his true nature more clearly."

Zhou Yu held up three fingers.

"Yuan Shu was first defeated by Yuan Shao, then by Liu Biao, and then by Cao Cao... How could such an incompetent ruler be worthy of our loyalty?"

"Back when your father attacked Luoyang, Yuan Shu was afraid that your father would steal the credit, so he actually ordered your father's supplies and provisions to be cut off! If your father hadn't rushed to Yuan Shu's camp overnight to explain the advantages and disadvantages, your father would probably have died in Luoyang!"

As the saying goes: "A general without strategy can cause the death of a thousand soldiers; a commander without strategy can lead to the defeat of ten thousand troops!"

"Even if you have the talents of Zhang Liang and Xiao He, you will be killed by Yuan Shu sooner or later if you are loyal to him. Why is Bo Fu still so stubborn?"

"..."

Sun Ce was speechless.

Although Sun Jian was killed by Huang Zu, a subordinate of Liu Biao, as Zhou Yu said, when Sun Jian attacked Luoyang, Yuan Shu suddenly cut off his supplies, which ultimately left a thorn in the hearts of Sun Jian's generals.

Now that Zhou Yu has brought up this matter again, it's a thorn that's really hurting Sun Ce!

Sun Ce could only hang his head dejectedly: "Then this Lord Liu should not have brought up my mother, damaging her reputation!"

Zhou Yu also sighed, unsure how to persuade Sun Ce.

The reason was that Liu Miao's move was unconventional, leaving Liu Miao unsure how to respond.

What troubled Zhou Yu the most was that even if he dared to tell Sun Ce about this, how could he dare to tell Sun Jian's wife, Lady Wu?
This is difficult!
"What are you two whispering about here?"

A woman emerged from the corner of the mottled wall.

Her jade-like face was still shrouded in shadow, and her slender figure was wrapped in a plain linen robe. Her raven-black hair was hastily tied up with a thick wooden hairpin, revealing a section of her alabaster neck. A few strands of hair fell loosely on her alabaster cheeks, fluttering and then falling back down in the autumn wind. Her willow-leaf eyebrows were frosted with the color of years, while her naturally red lips were tinged with a thin red, like cinnabar fallen on snow.

With her looks and figure, she doesn't look like a woman in her thirties at all.

"mother?"

"Meet Madam!"

The person who came was none other than Wu, the mother of Sun Ce and also the widow of Sun Jian!
Upon seeing Wu, Zhou Yu immediately panicked: "There's nothing else."

Wu's long, phoenix-shaped eyes swept over Zhou Yu, then looked toward the gate of the house.

"I was already waiting on the side while you were inside the hall."

The moment the cold words were spoken, Sun Ce and Zhou Yu couldn't help but panic.

"Mother, no, let me explain, it's not like that..."

Wu took a light step, and even though she was dressed in hemp clothing, it could not hide her tall and graceful figure.

“Bo Fu, no matter how important things are now, nothing is more important than burying your father! This concerns your own reputation, and you must not be distracted by it, understand?”

"Yes, Mother!"

Then, Wu looked at Zhou Yu, but turned away gently.

"Gongjin, come with me, I have some questions for you."

"Here."

Zhou Yu dared not refuse and quickly stepped forward.

When she reached the vicinity of the back hall, Madam Sun finally stopped.

"Gongjin, I only have one question for you."

"Madam, Gongjin will certainly tell you everything he knows!"

Wu slowly raised her head, her swan-like neck stretched out like a jade pillar, and the sorrow in her eyes seemed to hide half of late autumn.

"Let me ask you... can Lord Liu Miao truly protect Bo Fu for life? Can he protect my entire family for life?"

(End of this chapter)