Three Kingdoms: I rely on system loopholes to survive

In mid-April, Wu Zhi and Huo Qiu arrived in Cangwu, accompanied by Fan A and Xu Shao.

After treating Xiahou Dun's injuries, Fan A felt that his medical skills had improved greatly. In addition to daily correspondence and study with his master, he became more interested in studying various difficult and complicated diseases.

Hua Tuo also let this disciple live freely. Although he was practicing medicine in Yangzhou, he was not in a hurry to ask Fan A to return to him. Therefore, Fan A traveled everywhere after leaving Yanzhou. Whenever he encountered a strange disease, he would stop to treat the person. He traveled and stopped like this, and finally arrived in Jingzhou by boat in early April.

At that time, Xu Shao had also left Xudu and originally wanted to go to Yangzhou to meet Zheng Xuan. As a result, he received a letter from Zhong Ping on the way, asking him to come to Jiaozhou to act as a lobbyist for him.

Xu Shao was still wondering who he was asked to lobby, but when he looked down, he found that it was his cousin Xu Jing who was working for Shi Xie, the governor of Jiaozhi, and was quite treated by this governor. Zhong Ping was planning Jiuzhen for Liu Bei, so he made this request.

Before in Xudu, Xu Shao had met this Uncle Liu when he was delivering a message for Zhong Ping. With his ability to judge people, he could naturally see that Liu Bei was no ordinary person. Moreover, Zhong Ping had never concealed the matter of the secret decree from him and revealed everything to him afterwards.

Xu Shao made a few jokes in his reply, and the next day he changed his itinerary and went directly to Jiaozhou.

The four of them were delayed at different times, and it was not until the middle of the month that they gathered at the place mentioned in Zhong Ping's letter and arrived in Cangwu County together.

Cangwu had just recovered from the war for a month, and Xu Shao had thought that what he would see would be a desolate and ruined place. However, as he walked along, although the towns he passed by were not prosperous, he did not see any bandits. The streets were normal, and people were coming and going, which seemed to be no different from Yangzhou and Yanzhou.

When they entered Guangxin, they saw hawkers carrying straw baskets and selling fish and shrimp in the streets and alleys, as well as people carrying mulberry and hemp on their backs and hawking their wares as they walked. Their words were difficult to understand, but their accents were very pleasant to hear. It seemed that there was no specially planned market in this city, which made Xu Shao feel very novel.

It was dusk, and Zhong Ping returned to the alley carrying the rice cakes he had received from Guo Yuan. Wu Zhi and Huo Qiu had been standing outside the door waiting for a while.

Zhong Ping had been writing letters everywhere this month to trick people into coming to Jiaozhou. When he saw these two people standing at his doorstep, he was stunned for a moment, wondering when he had written the letter to ask these two people to come to Guangxin.

While the door was open, Zhong Ping finally remembered what he had told Wu Zhi and Huo Qiu to do in Jingzhou. He pulled out a few mats for the two men to sit on and asked them earnestly, "Have you two been to Lingling and Changsha counties?"

Wu Zhi nodded and took out a scroll of leather from his bosom. "After saying goodbye to you in Jingzhou, I immediately set off for Lingling and went down the Li River. I recorded most of the dikes and dams I saw along the river. Because you asked me to conceal it as much as possible, some areas are difficult to describe in detail, so I had to just briefly mention them... As for the nearby rice fields, I also specifically asked the old people in the village about the farming methods. Although I don't know what you want to do with them, I think since you specifically told me, they must be very useful, so I wrote down the relevant methods of composting, the farm tools used, and the rice seeds."

He took out a small cloth bag from his sleeve and placed it on the table: "This is the rice seed used by the villagers."

Compared to Wu Zhi's eloquent talk, Huo Qiu seemed much simpler. Even though what Zhong Ping asked him to do was more inexplicable than Wu Zhi's, Huo Qiu had little curiosity: "There is indeed a general named Huang Zhong in Changsha County, and his son has been ill for a long time. I followed your advice and waited for Mr. Fan to travel to Nanyang, and then delivered your letter to Mr. Fan. At that time, Mr. Fan was worried about the incurable disease. After reading the letter, he really came to Changsha to treat his son, and now he is well again."

Huo Qiu paused, straightened his body, and leaned slightly towards Zhong Ping's direction: "I heard that he is the best archer. Before leaving, I had a competition with him. I tied a red cloth to a branch outside the city. Among the five arrows, I shot three arrows directly into the knot."

Zhong Ping saw that Huo Qiu had defeated Huang Zhong and wanted to win his praise. He guessed that Huang Zhong probably regarded Huo Qiu as his benefactor and gave in on purpose. However, he still asked politely, "Oh? How many arrows hit Huang Zhong?"

"That's three arrows too." Huo Qiu couldn't help showing a bit of pride after all: "Only one arrow hit the knot, and the other two arrows went through the cloth."

"From this point of view, your archery skills are also well-known in the world."

Zhong Ping patted Huo Qiu on the shoulder, praised him from the bottom of his heart, smiled and continued: "However, there are many heroes in the world who are good at archery, such as Huang Zhong from Jingzhou and Taishi Ci from Donglai... The best one should be Lu Bu. One day, you may be able to compete with these people in archery. Don't be proud and complacent because of a temporary victory. There are many heroes in the world."

Speaking of Lü Bu, Zhong Ping turned his head and asked Wu Zhi, "I heard that Lü Bu was interested in marrying Yuan Shu. Did you hear Mr. Zijiang talking about this on your way here?"

Wu Zhi thought for a moment and said, "I have indeed heard about this matter. Master Zijiang said a few words when he first entered Jiaozhou. The general meaning was that the two families had agreed on a wedding date, and Marquis Wen had even accepted the betrothal gifts, but for some reason he regretted sending his daughter off to marry, and stopped her halfway, saying that she would not marry... This matter seemed to have been suppressed by Yuan Yangzhou later, but from what I heard from Master Zijiang, Yuan Yangzhou seemed to hate Marquis Wen for going back on his word, and the alliance was not finalized."

"Breaking off the engagement midway?"

Zhong Ping frowned, not being able to figure out what kind of magical operation this was. According to his thinking, even if Lu Bu acted stupidly for a moment, with Chen Gong by his side, how could he make such a big mistake?
But then he thought about Dong Zhuo and Diao Chan in the novel, and probably guessed that Madam Yan's instigation was indispensable behind this. Maybe it was Madam Yan who whispered in the ear of the emperor and sent Chen Gong away... The fact was just as Zhong Ping thought. When Chen Gong heard that Lu Bu was short of food and grass and asked him to supervise the transportation of grain, he felt that the marriage between Lu and Yuan was going to be bad. But when Lu Bu was determined, no one could persuade him, and no one could force him to stay, so he could only sigh secretly.

Even so, Chen Gong remembered the times when Lu Bu had really listened to advice, and he still had some hope in his heart. Before leaving, he gave Lu Bu earnest advice and left a letter of remonstrance, repeatedly warning Lu Bu not to lose his mind and to be willing to marry off his daughter.

Unexpectedly, after struggling for a long time, Lu Bu actually chose to regret the engagement halfway through... Even if he regretted it right after agreeing, it would be better than regretting it halfway through. Isn't this just trampling on Yuan Shu's face? !

Zhong Ping shook his head, knowing that Lü Bu's fate would not deviate from his original ending. He stopped asking about Lü Bu and turned to ask about the news in Xudu: "Let's not talk about this. Now Mr. Zijiang has gone to visit Lord Xuande. You should tell me the bottom line first so that I can prepare... Now in Xudu... I know Dong Cheng is dead. I just want to ask, have you two heard any news about my father on the way here?"

Wu Zhi and Huo Qiu looked at each other, and slowly shook their heads in the face of Zhong Ping's expectant eyes.

Zhong Ping was a little disappointed, perhaps because he knew he couldn't get any information, so he didn't seem too disappointed.

Wu Zhi hesitated for a moment, wanting to say something but stopping himself.

Zhong Ping suddenly felt something was wrong, and intuitively felt that what the other party was going to say might not be good news. He swallowed his saliva and forced himself to remain calm: "Just say whatever you want to say. There are no outsiders here."

"Mr. Lang..."

Wu Zhi looked at Huo Qiu, knowing that he could not count on him to speak for him, so he sighed, lowered his head and said, "Mr. Xi... he had been ill for a long time a few months ago and has..."

Zhong Ping was slightly stunned and couldn't tell what he felt.

He had originally been prepared to accept the bad news that his father had met with misfortune, but he did not expect that the person Wu Zhi mentioned would be Xi Zhicai.

There is only an indescribable feeling of "actually" and yet "as expected".

A long time ago, Zhong Ping knew that Xi Zhicai would die this year. When he was in Dongjun, he advised Xi Zhicai to quit drinking and sex. Once when he returned to Yanzhou from Xuzhou, when he heard that Xi Zhicai had caught a cold, Zhong Ping was worried that he would lose this friend.

Even though Cao Cao's palace doctor saw him every day, and Zhong Ping asked Cao Pi to persuade Xi Zhicai to stop drinking, this day finally came...

"I see."

In the end, Zhong Ping simply responded. Wu Zhi couldn't tell Zhong Ping's current mood from his face, and he didn't know what to say to comfort him.

No one in the room spoke again, and the only sound that could be heard was the rustling sound of Zhong Ping flipping through the parchment book.

A month ago, Zhong Ping asked Mrs. Gan for some coriander seeds to plant in the yard. Now he had just harvested a crop. For commemorative purposes, he was reluctant to use the first crop of coriander for cooking. Instead, he asked a Miao girl to make a few small sachets and kept them in the bookcase.

I was worried that there wouldn't be enough to give away, but now...

Zhong Ping laughed at himself, fearing that one day these sachets would be so used that there would be no more to give away.

(End of this chapter)