Yuan Xi didn't know what Kong Rong's daughter was thinking. He cast his eyes on the girl and found that she had big eyes and a rosy face, which was very cute.
Under the gaze of Zhen Mi and Kong Shi, the little girl made babbling sounds and walked forward steadily.
The more Zhen Mi looked at him, the more she liked him. She said to Yuan Xi, "I wish I had a daughter like this too."
Yuan Xi said gently: "Don't worry, there is still a long way to go, there will always be a chance."
After hearing this, Zhen Mi blushed and leaned on Yuan Xi's shoulder unconsciously.
Mrs. Wu watched from the side and suddenly felt a surge of envy in her heart.
Although her deceased husband Sun Jian was extremely brave on the battlefield, he was only slightly better than a stranger compared to her.
As for the harmony of husband and wife and the warmth of love between husband and wife, Mrs. Wu has never felt it in all these years.
Yuan Xi squatted on the ground and teased the little girl with Zhen Mi for a while, then stood up and said, "You guys go ahead, I have something to talk to Zhao Ji about, and I'm going to leave the city after dinner."
After hearing this, Zhen Mi asked worriedly, "Is there any danger outside?"
Yuan said, "Don't worry, Ziyi and I will be together, nothing will happen."
Only then did Zhen Mi feel relieved.
At this time, in a house in the corner, an eye was secretly watching the conversation of people in the yard through the crack of the window.
This was Liu Bei's eldest daughter. Seeing the other girls having fun outside, she couldn't help but feel envious. She turned to Madam Liu and said, "Mother, we have been here for several days, why don't we go out?"
Mrs. Liu Bei hugged her young second daughter and said disdainfully, "What's the point of talking to those people? They are all girls from rich and noble families. Who are our backgrounds? How can we mix with them?"
Liu Bei's eldest daughter was puzzled when she heard this: "Father is also the ruler of a state, why is he different from them?"
"I think the young master of the Yuan family who saved our family doesn't look like a bad person, and he doesn't have the problems of the young masters of the aristocratic families. I heard that he is also very good at fighting."
Mrs. Liu Bei sneered and said, "We will never forget the favor of saving our lives. We must find a way to repay the favor."
"But look at how he has so many wives and concubines. How is he any different from your father?"
"Your father took Gan as his concubine, was obsessed with women, and ignored the three of us, which is fine, but when we became prisoners, he actually arranged to marry the girl from the Mi family in Haixi?"
"I think the three of us have become a thorn in your father's side. I'm afraid he doesn't want us to go back."
After hearing this, Liu Bei's eldest daughter bit her lip and said, "Father is not that kind of person."
"My father is old and has no son yet. It will be very troublesome to inherit the family business in the future."
After hearing this, Mrs. Liu Bei was furious and said, "You kid, your brain has become smarter now!"
"Are you saying that your mother can't give birth to a boy?"
"Be careful when you get back and I'll let you get married!"
Liu Bei's eldest daughter shrank back in fear and said angrily, "Mother is so fierce, no wonder father didn't come to see her."
Mrs. Liu Bei was furious when she heard this. "When I married your father, both our families were very poor and could only make straw sandals for a living."
"Sometimes your father goes to meet his bad friends, so I have to go out to sell straw sandals. If I didn't have a temper, I would have been bullied to death!"
"Let me tell you, if a woman is like those women from the noble families out there, only knowing how to rely on men to survive, she might be abandoned one day and starve to death!"
"I'm not afraid of your father now. I'm just ugly. If he wants to find a woman, he can find one. The worst that can happen is that I can go back to my hometown and make straw sandals!"
"And you, stop thinking about marrying a man from a scholar family. He's good-looking but useless. It's better to marry an honest man!"
"You're almost getting married, so I'll keep a close eye on you. Those who have a lot of women around them, hang out with their friends all day, and talk slickly are not acceptable!"
Liu Bei's eldest daughter listened to her mother's rambling and could not help but cover her ears and shouted, "I know, mother, please stop talking."
Over there, Yuan Xi went into the study to look for Zhao Ji, and when he entered, he found that not only Cao Xian was there, but also Mrs. Kong Rong was sitting at the table writing something.
Yuan Xi bowed and said, "Meet the Madam."
Cai Zhaoji smiled and said, "It's a pity that you ran into me. I just happened to have some questions about Wen Jugong's books, but it was not easy to ask him directly, so I had to ask Madam to come here. Sorry for the trouble."
Mrs. Kong Rong smiled and said, "No, Zhao Ji is determined to compile a book of enlightenment, which will benefit the present and future generations. How can I not help her with such an ambition?"
When she got to this point, she said to Yuan Xi in a tone of reproach: "You are so rude!"
"Zhao Ji is the daughter of a great scholar. Her talent is unrivaled among all our women. You asked her to do so many stressful and stressful things, and you treated her like a concubine or maid. This is too much!"
Yuan Xi thought that at night, he would do something even more excessive to Zhao Ji.
He hurriedly smiled and said, "Madam, calm down. Zhao Ji's identity makes it difficult for me, but I don't want her to leave, so I can only shamelessly keep her by my side."
Cai Yan and Cao Xian laughed out loud when they heard this. Mrs. Kong Rong said contemptuously, "Listen, is this human language?"
Perhaps it was because Yuan Xi had saved her and her daughter twice, Mrs. Kong Rong did not notice that she was talking to Yuan Xi in a more casual manner.
At this moment, a thought suddenly came to her mind. It was a pity that outstanding young men of this age were rare. If her daughter could be born a few years earlier, she might have the opportunity to marry such a man. He should be better than the son of the Yang family, right?
But there is no hope now. Mrs. Kong Rong has inquired about the women around Yuan Xi these days and found out that none of these women are ordinary people.
Not to mention Cai Zhaoji and Cao Xian, his wife Zhen was also a very opinionated person. Her admirable qualities were not only her looks. She was willing to give up her reputation, be kicked out of the house, and then recognize Bian Rang's widow as her stepmother. This shows that she had an extraordinary character.
Yuan Xi looked out the window and said, "I'm going to the military camp in a while, so I won't eat with you guys."
"In order to prevent any accidents in the city, I have arranged for Sun Li to protect you. If anything happens, you will all follow his instructions."
After hearing this, Cai Yan asked worriedly, "My lord, are you going to take risks again?"
"What if there are enemy troops lurking nearby?"
After hearing this, Yuan Xi said, "That's true. Ziyi and I won't go far. We'll just take a walk and be back soon."
After hearing this, the girls felt relieved.
Yuan Xi left the house and gave Zhen Mi a few more instructions before going to see Taishi Ci to mobilize troops from the barracks.
On the way, Taishi Ci said, "Qiao Rui has been asking to see you these days."
After hearing this, Yuan Xi asked, "He wants to surrender?"
Taishi Ci said, "No, he said Sun Ce is a great man of the time and he wanted to persuade you not to become his enemy, lest you seek death."
After hearing this, Yuan Xi smiled and said, "It seems that Qiao Rui really appreciates Sun Ce. I will just leave him alone. If Sun Ce also appreciates him, he will naturally offer conditions to take him back."
Taishi Ci listened and laughed, "That's true, but Sun Ce has made a great name for himself in the past two years, so he must be a real talent. I would like to meet him."
After hearing this, Yuan Xi smiled and said, "It's possible. Maybe he is outside the city."
The two men laughed and thought it was a joke. It had only been five or six days since they captured Guangling, and the enemy had been traveling day and night. They might even tire their horses to death and still not be able to make it.
When Yuan Xi arrived at the military camp, he had dinner with the soldiers. Then he and Taishi Ci took a hundred or so cavalrymen and went out of the city to inspect various places.
Although Yuan Xi said it with ease, he was actually a little timid in his heart. He and Taishi Ci patrolled around the area more than ten miles outside the city several times. The sun was about to set in more than an hour, and there was only one hill left to climb.
Yuan Xi hesitated for a moment, then rode up the mountain with Taishi Ci and ordered his cavalry to patrol separately.
As they were walking and walking, they were about to reach the top when they ran into a group of more than a dozen horsemen on the hillside path. The leader was a handsome young man.
When Taishi Ci saw that the other party was dressed as hunters, he stepped forward and shouted, "Who are you?"
He always felt something was wrong. How come these people had horses to ride? Are the hunters in Xuzhou so rich?
Yuan Xi frowned. He felt vaguely that the scene before him seemed familiar.
As a result, the leader on the opposite side laughed loudly, and pulled off his robe, revealing the armor underneath, "I didn't expect to run into Yuan's scouts here!"
"Now that you're here, don't even think about leaving!"
Taishi Ci heard this and thrust his spear in the air, angrily saying, "What a big mouth you have!"
"You are Sun Ce, and I will make sure you never return today!"
As a result, the leading young man laughed out loud, "I am Sun Ce!"
"You guys don't know how high the sky is or how deep the earth is. Today I will show you how powerful a certain family is!"
His men heard this and cheered in unison.
When Yuan Xi heard the name Sun Ce, he almost peed himself on the spot.
He tried hard to suppress his fear and thought to himself, "damn it!" As expected, an accident happened. He didn't know where he got the confidence to dare to leave the city. Now he has become a young general of Dong'a!
He never thought that Sun Ce would appear so close to Guangling City!
How did he get here so fast?
Neither Yuan Xi nor Taishi Ci expected that after Zhou Yu escaped, he rushed to Tancheng day and night to report the news. Sun Ce immediately set out and led the cavalry to Guangling day and night.
After several days and nights of forced marching, many horses died of exhaustion and many subordinates were separated. Fortunately, Sun Ce had agreed on a meeting place in advance and only waited for half of the troops to arrive before launching a night attack on Guangling City.
As a result, only a few dozen people arrived in the first batch. Seeing that it was not dark yet, Sun Ce brought people to investigate. As luck would have it, he ran into Taishi Ci and Yuan Xi.
Seeing that the situation was extremely dangerous, Taishi Ci immediately whispered, "Master, hurry up and leave. I will stop them!"
Yuan Xi whispered, "If I run away, Ziyi will surely be trapped. The only way to survive now is for Ziyi to go up and fight Sun Ce in a duel. I will figure out the rest!"
Taishi Ci thought that this was the only way, so he rode forward and shouted, "Are you the fierce tiger of Jiangdong?"
"Do you dare to fight me?"
When these words were spoken, Sun Ce's subordinates burst into laughter. How could anyone dare to challenge Sun Ce in a duel?
Sun Ce laughed loudly and raised his spear: "Who is coming? Tell me your name!"
Taishi Ci shouted, "Taishi Ci of Donglai!"
When Sun Ce heard this, he glowed in the dark: "I know you!"
"I heard that you fought Liu Bei and Gongsun Zan and made great contributions. Now that I meet you today, I will fight you!"
After saying that, he shouted loudly, rode his horse and rushed forward with spear in hand!