Mi Zhen brought Zhen Mi and Cao Xian into the house and was about to leave when she heard Zhen Mi say, "We are all women, so there is no need for girls to be shy."
Mi Zhen hesitated for a moment and said softly, "This is too rude of me."
Zhen Mi smiled and said, "I don't care, why should you care?"
Mi Zhen thought so too. She saw Zhen Mi take off her outer clothes by herself, took the clothes handed to her by Cao Xian, and put them on easily and neatly.
Mi Zhen was very surprised. Women from aristocratic families usually needed several maids to help them dress, but Zhen Mi dressed herself, and seemed to be very familiar with it, as if she was used to it?
She was full of suspicion and tried to ask a few questions. Zhen Mi smiled and said, "My husband doesn't like to have a large group of people serving him, so if there are some things I can do myself, I won't ask for help."
"Is the girl from the Mi family the elder sister or the younger sister?"
Mi Zhen hesitated for a moment and whispered her birthday. Zhen Mi heard it and exclaimed, "It turns out that the girl is one or two years older than me. I should call her sister."
Mi Zhen said quickly: "I dare not. I am a lowly concubine, how dare I be compared with Madam."
Zhen Mi shook her head and said, "Sister, you are too kind. My family background was not much higher than yours."
Mi Zhen said softly: "The current envoy is now the ruler of a state, madam..."
Zhen Mi waved her hand and said, "Youzhou is still far inferior to Xuzhou."
"I would like to ask you, what do you think of your marriage with Liu Yuzhou?"
Mi Zhen was startled and said hesitantly, "Madam, it is difficult for me to answer your question."
"This matter is decided by my parents and brothers. As a woman, I cannot speak rashly."
Mi Zhen felt a little unhappy. She felt that Zhen Mi was making fun of her intentionally or unintentionally.
She and Zhen Mi were both daughters of merchant families. The other married a man of her dreams, but she was trapped by her family and had an accident, so she never got married.
Not to mention that Liu Bei is almost twice as old as her, and his appearance and family background are not as good as Yuan Xi's. Did Zhen Mi say this just to show off?
She lowered her head slightly and bit her lips lightly. Somehow, she felt a little annoyed.
Zhen Mi heard Mi Zhen's tone and knew that she had misunderstood, so she smiled and said, "I don't know how to take my words seriously, please don't blame me, sister."
"I just want to ask, sister, what do you think of my husband compared to Envoy Liu?"
Mi Zhen thought to himself, you still say this is not showing off?
She said indifferently, "I have no other thoughts about Master Xianyi, Madam, don't worry."
Zhen Mi smiled bitterly and said, "I didn't explain it clearly, which caused Sister to misunderstand. It's my fault."
She lowered her voice and asked, "Sister, do you know why my husband came here this time?"
Mi Zhen heard some hidden meaning in the words and looked up in surprise.
In the front hall, Guo Jia was still trying to explain the severity of the situation to Mi Zhu, but Mi Zhu looked unhappy.
Mi Zhu was struggling, and Yuan Xi was actually also struggling.
Guo Jia's strategy was to use Mi Zhen as a bargaining chip in the plan, at the cost of sacrificing Mi Zhen's happiness.
Regardless of whether Mi Zhu has figured it out or not, he will definitely not express his opinion now and then ask Liu Bei for instructions on how to make a decision.
However, this was exactly what Guo Jia wanted.
Guo Jia believed that although Liu Bei was fond of women, he would never ruin things because of a woman.
Since Liu Bei's wife had been sent back, Liu Bei could no longer bring himself to marry Mi Zhen, but he still needed to give an explanation to the Mi family.
Moreover, Liu Bei's wife was rescued by Yuan Xi. In order to exchange this favor, Liu Bei was very likely to go with the flow and act as a matchmaker for Yuan Xi.
Marrying the sister of Mi Zhu, a capable subordinate, to Yuan Xi could not only repay a favor, but also strengthen the alliance with Yuan Xi. The price was just a girl from the Mi family, so it could be said that Liu Bei made a big profit.
As long as Liu Bei nodded, Mi Zhu would have no reason to object. Even if Mi Zhen was reluctant, she had to agree for the sake of the Mi family.
Even if Mi Zhen just refuses to agree, will it be of any use?
In this plan, the key is not the attitude of the Mi family, but the attitude of Liu Bei. Even if Liu Bei sees through Guo Jia's intention, he will not openly oppose it. Faced with interests, he actually does not have many choices.
This is the viciousness of Guo Jia's plan. It is an obvious conspiracy, but the other party has to be led by the nose.
Yuan Xi suddenly felt that this scene was vaguely familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere before. He raised his hand, rubbed his swollen forehead, and suddenly came to his senses.
Isn't this just Song Jiang marrying Hu Sanniang to the dwarf Wang Ying?
Song Jiang promised a marriage to Hu Sanniang, but he couldn't marry her himself, so he went around and took Hu Sanniang in as his sister and married her to Wang Ying.
Oh no, I have become that lewd tiger like Wang Ying!
However, this matter was a complete calculation from the beginning to the end, and the biggest victim might be Mi Zhen.
Just like Hu Sanniang, she was used as a bargaining chip and a bond between Yuan and Liu. Liu Bei did not have to worry about the loyalty of the Mi family. After all, she was just a woman and was nothing in front of the entire family. She could be abandoned by Mi Zhu at any time.
As for Mi Zhen's thoughts, who cares?
Yuan Xi felt that he was despicable for using the innocent Mi Zhen as a means of conspiracy. He knew that people who achieved great things did not care about trivial matters, and he was still too pretentious, but he just felt uncomfortable.
He turned his gaze to the Mi brothers in the field again. Mi Zhu never looked at this side from beginning to end, but Mi Fang frequently raised his glass to him, and the look on his face was as if they had become a family member.
Yuan Xi was even more troubled because this person was a heavyweight unstable factor!
No matter what the final result is, he will never let someone like Mi Fang work under him. Who knows when this jerk will go crazy and sell himself out?
While Mi's mansion was holding a banquet, Liu Bei's mansion was also holding a banquet, with only one guest at the table.
Tian Yu.
He had originally come here tonight to deliver Youzhou specialties to Liu Bei on behalf of Yuan Xi. Liu Bei invited him to stay for a drink, and Tian Yu hesitated for a moment before agreeing.
Seeing Tian Yu sitting down calmly, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei looked at each other. Looking at Tian Yu's expression, maybe he was still thinking about their old friendship?
The two men thought that Tian Yu had worked for Liu Bei for quite some time, and if they could think of a way to make him a spy on Yuan Xi's side, or even pull him over from Yuan Xi's side, maybe that would be a good idea!
Liu Bei ordered his men to serve wine and food, raised his cup and said to Tian Yu: "I have prepared a little wine to thank Guo Rang for saving Yun Chang."
Guan Yu also raised his glass and said, "Outside Guangling City, I was surrounded by enemies. If it weren't for Guo Rang, I might have died in the battle."
Zhang Fei saw this and immediately raised his glass and said, "Me too!"
Tian Yu saw this and raised his glass in response, saying, "Yu was just following orders."
The four of them drank it all in one gulp. Liu Bei looked up to the sky and sighed, "When Guo Rang left Qingzhou to join General Gongsun, I was quite disappointed at the time. I thought we would never see each other again."
"I didn't expect that two years later, everything has changed. General Gongsun has been buried in the ground, but you and I have gone from being enemies of the Yuan family to being allies. It's really unpredictable and makes people sigh."
After hearing this, Tian Yu said in a deep voice: "Yu is mediocre and just goes with the flow."
After hearing this, Liu Bei shook his head and said, "Guorang is too modest. If you are mediocre, how many people in the world would dare to claim to be talented?"
His words came from the bottom of his heart. Tian Yu had a very high level of comprehension and could master anything in a very short time. He was truly a rare talent.
Moreover, whether fighting on foot, on horseback, or on water, Tian Yu can be regarded as a talented general. Some time ago, as the leader of spies, he personally sneaked into Guangling and did an exceptionally good job, making the first contribution to Yuan Xi's capture of Guangling.
It was impossible for Liu Bei not to feel heartbroken when such a person slipped away from his hands. He specially held a banquet today just to try to establish a good relationship with Tian Yu and see if he could take advantage of any opportunity.
However, what made Liu Bei unsure was that Tian Yu left him on his own initiative.
Tian Yu was originally under Gongsun Zan. He followed Liu Bei in the army since he was young and was highly valued. However, after Liu Bei was recommended by Tao Qian as the Governor of Yuzhou, he had actually separated from Gongsun Zan. Tian Yu requested to return home on the grounds that his mother was old, which actually meant he broke with Liu Bei.
The reasons behind this are very complicated. Tian Yu's uncle Tian Kai was the governor of Qingzhou, and Liu Bei once fought side by side with him to resist Yuan's army.
But after Liu Bei defected to Tao Qian, Tian Kai had to guard Qingzhou alone. Although Liu Bei also went to help in the Battle of Qingzhou, the result was not satisfactory. Tian Kai was still defeated and thus lost Qingzhou.
Afterwards, Tian Kai fled back to Yijing, and died along with Gongsun Zan when Yuan Shao attacked Yijing.
What puzzled Liu Bei was that he was indeed not fair in leaving Gongsun Zan, and that he was also responsible for Gongsun Zan's eventual downfall.
But logically speaking, Tian Yu should hate Yuan Xi more, right?
Yuan Xi was the vanguard of the Yuan family. He defeated Tian Kai and Gongsun Zan personally and was the direct culprit who caused their deaths. Why did Tian Yu defect to him?
Liu Bei was full of doubts, but he couldn't ask Tian Yu directly, so he had to keep it in his heart and secretly look for an opportunity to find out the answer.
After three rounds of drinking, Zhang Fei couldn't help himself and said, "Guorang, I heard that you were attacking the city in Guangling, but Yuan Xi only gave you a few dozen people to sneak in. Isn't this asking you to die?"
"If you were under Big Brother, you would be able to get a special chariot and lead at least a few thousand soldiers!"
"I heard that Yuan Xi has only had more than a thousand men since he started fighting in Guangling. How can you ever make a name for yourself under him?"
Liu Bei and Guan Yu's faces froze. What Zhang Feihua said was too straightforward. Wasn't his purpose written on his face the moment he opened his mouth?
However, there are some things that only Zhang Fei can say. Now that they have said it, the two also want to know what Tian Yu is thinking now.
Tian Yu listened and said calmly: "Young Master has a good eye. He thinks I am the most suitable person to infiltrate Guangling. Facts have proved that Young Master is right."
Zhang Fei snorted coldly: "Young Master, I heard that when he was in Yijing, he was the first to enter the city and forced Tian Kai and Gongsun Zan to death?"
After hearing this, Tian Yu said, "If you really say that, it's right."
Liu, Guan and Zhang were stunned. Tian Kai admitted frankly, was it because he didn't care at the moment, or did he still have resentment towards Yuan Xi?
If it's the latter.
Zhang Fei said happily: "Since there is such a deep hatred, why doesn't Guo Rang come to help big brother?"
Tian Yu heard this and shook his head: "General, please stop talking. It is impossible for Yu to betray his master."
Zhang Fei was furious when he heard this: "You left Gongsun clan and joined Yuan clan, isn't that considered betrayal?"
Guan Yu shouted, "Third brother!"
Tian Yu waved his hand. "It's okay. To be honest, I like General Zhang's straightforward personality."
"But I can sit here and talk to you three openly, so I must have a clear conscience."
"I have my own ideas."
Liu Bei sighed in his heart. Tian Yu was a man with his own ideas. Once he made up his mind, no one could change it.
But he was also somewhat unwilling. Tian Yu abandoned him and joined Yuan Xi. Does that mean that in Tian Yu's heart, he is not as good as Yuan Xi?