Chapter 1096: Kongming, it's up to you...
"Zixiaoo, long time no see." Liu Bei saw it was Zixu, raised his hand in greeting and said, although he also knew the other party should belong to the hermit category.
"I have seen Lord Xuande. Please forgive Zixu for hiding the other day." Zixu bent slightly in courtesy and said.
"No need to be polite, Daoist." Liu Bei waved and said, "Since fate has brought us together again, why not join us for a celebration tonight? For you, Daoist, time is merely a passerby, I imagine you wouldn't mind spending some time with us."
"As Lord Xuande says, time for us is but a visitor, what reason is there not to agree? As long as Lord Xuande does not feel I am intruding." Zixu said with a smile.
While speaking, Zixu glanced at everyone, and he could no longer see any signs of future in this crowd. Everything was chaotic, and those present would forge their own futures.
"Hahaha, how could you be a bother? Last time we met, I was deeply impressed by your political strategies, this time I must hear more." Liu Bei laughed and said.
"Zixiaoo, I think we have quite a few common topics to discuss thoroughly." Jia Xu said with a smile, looking at Zixu, causing everyone else to instinctively take two steps back, Jia Xu's smile was never a good omen.
"I think what I said back then was quite correct." Zixu tried to maintain a calm expression, but his twitching eyelids betrayed his current feelings.
"I'm not saying you were wrong, I'm offering you tea." Jia Xu said with a smile, moving closer to Zixu, placing his left hand on Zixu's shoulder, preventing Zixu from refusing, "Don't worry, it's not like the old kind, it's now a special blend of clear tea."
"Then I must not refuse." Zixu said with a bitter smile, knowing that the previous issue would not be resolved so easily.
"Zichuan, I'll leave Zijia and Boyan to you, just take a look at their coursework." Jia Xu directly handed Lu Yu and Lul Xun over to Chen Xi, anyway Chen Xi is quite idle, taking on two students shouldn't be too difficult.
"Oh, no problem, I'll take a look later to see if these two guys are salvageable. I recently accepted a new disciple who seems to be smarter than Boyan." Chen Xi's brain suddenly twitched, turned to look at Lul Xun and laughed.
"I won't fail my teacher's teachings." Lul Xun said with pride.
"Brother, let me hold the nephew." Zhang Fei suddenly squeezed out from among the crowd and said. He didn't have any family of his own as he was there to collect the families of his personal soldiers who died for him.
Zhang Fei carefully took Adou from Liu Bei's arms, clearly very excited. In a few simple maneuvers, he woke Adou, who surprisingly didn't cry and even reached out to grab Zhang Fei's face, making Zhang Fei laugh in a confused delight.
"Lady, take Adou back. It's not good for him to stay here too long." Liu Bei laughed, handing Adou to Lady Gan, then asking Fan Jian and her to take another carriage with Lady Gan.
"Both of you must have almost finished writing about your journey, later hand them to each other for a review. Make sure to include your comments and annotations after reading." Chen Xi initially thought the students would write for a month and he would mark it as 'read', then thought that was a bit indecent, so he changed his approach.
"Yes!" Lul Xun and Lu Yu looked at each other and handed their work to one another, both thinking they would viciously critique the other's work.
"This way I have no issues, both of these guys will surely focus differently. Zijia will definitely pay attention to interpersonal matters while Boyan should focus on governance methods. Let them tear into each other's work first." Chen Xi thought with indifference, for geniuses, it's best to let them self-learn and set them up with rivals, they'll handle the rest themselves.
"Oh, Kongming, after they've reviewed each other's perspectives and revised, please take a look." Chen Xi took a couple of steps, saw Zhuge Liang, and backed up, tossing the burden to Zhuge Liang, a responsible person.
"Is this to show them their shortcomings?" Zhuge Liang looked at Lu Yu and Lul Xun and said, he was quite familiar with both.
"No, it's just that Jia Xu threw this burden to me, so I'm tossing them to you." Chen Xi said frankly, not worrying about hurting Lu Yu and Lul Xun's feelings.
"You're joking again, leave them both to me." Zhuge Liang smiled and said, not taking Chen Xi's words seriously.
"Counting on you, Kongming." Chen Xi said helplessly, "I'm going to reorganize the Money Exchange next, I've relocated the headquarters here; I need to re-evaluate and prepare to set deposit limits. Hopefully by next year, common folk can use bank drafts."
In truth, the main issue is that funds are a bit tight. It's beneficial to draw some from the populace's hands. Moreover, now under Liu Bei's rule, the people have some spare money.
"Marquis Chen, you need not worry." Zhuge Liang smiled and said, knowing he would assist Lub Su in government affairs once he returned.
"Found a good teacher for you, just follow along and learn." Chen Xi turned and advised Lu Yu and Lul Xun.
"Okay~" Lu Yu and Lul Xun replied weakly, although they admitted Zhuge Liang's capabilities, calling him a teacher felt a bit embarrassing due to his youth.
"Just call me Kongming. No need to be formal, Boyan and Zijia." Zhuge Liang, understandingly, knew what the two were thinking and smiled.
"We'll rely on Brother Kongming then." Lul Xun and Lu Yu appeared deflated, having been passed from Jia Xu to the irresponsible Chen Xi and now to Zhuge Liang who was around their age.
"Lord Xuande is looking for me. I'll head off first; remember to come tonight, Zijia, I won't look for you." Chen Xi waved and ran off.
"Zichuan, did you remind Zijia and the others?" Chen Xi jumped onto the carriage afterward, Liu Bei asked curiously. Since Wang Lie handed Lu Yu over to Chen Xi, Liu Bei had been observing, unlike the upright Lu Zhi, Lu Yu had some unconventional ways.
"I handed them to Kongming." Chen Xi casually replied, "Speaking of which, transporting the Human Cauldron smoothly here is quite an achievement."
"Indeed." Liu Bei nodded and said, "During the festival, I plan to build a platform and use the Heaven-Man Dual Cauldrons to sacrifice to the heavens; without making it too grand, just among us, how does that sound?"
"Wouldn't that involve raising a three-foot high platform for the sacrifice?" Chen Xi felt Liu Bei seemed increasingly unconcerned with details, only caring about sincerity.
"Exactly, the old ways were too taxing on the people." Liu Bei sighed and said, repairing a Heavenly Terrace with the rites of the Feudal Lords could easily cost ten thousand coins, such things are simply too expensive, more than they can afford. In Liu Bei's view, sincerity is enough~ (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com for reading.)