Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

After exiting the Prefectural Office gate, Li Ji unconsciously breathed a sigh of relief, and a sense of guilt for slacking off sprouted in his heart again.

Liu Bei, of course, completely saw the change in Li Ji's expression.

However, Liu Bei would naturally not reprimand Li Ji.

Or rather, Li Ji's current leisurely duties in the Prefectural Office were entirely cultivated by Liu Bei, precisely because he was afraid that Li Ji would be as busy day and night as when he first arrived in Wu Commandery, and ruin his health.

For Liu Bei, other talents were naturally valued and cherished, but Li Ji was irreplaceable.

Therefore, it didn't matter if other clerks were a little tired and busy; it was even better if Li Ji could be a little more leisurely, indicating that nothing major had happened in Wu Commandery, and that everything was developing along Li Ji's governance policies.

Therefore, even if Jian Yong and others had really discovered Li Ji's whereabouts just now, Liu Bei had already prepared to take the initiative to claim that he was taking Li Ji out to handle some major affairs.

Liu Bei and Li Ji got into the same carriage at the entrance of the Prefectural Office, and then Li Ji signaled the coachman to go to Rende Academy.

Inside the carriage, Li Ji deliberately avoided discussing military and political matters, and instead talked about some trivial family matters.

Whether it was a simple coincidence or not, the concubine that Liu Bei had taken was also surnamed Gan, and also from Xiaopei in Xu Province. Due to the large number of refugees passing through Xu Province, some riots were triggered, which led to the already poor Lady Gan becoming a refugee and fleeing south to Wu Commandery, where she unexpectedly met Liu Bei.

This made Li Ji suspect that this Lady Gan was the mother of A Dou in the original timeline, and once when Li Ji visited Liu Bei's house, he saw Lady Gan from afar, who was exactly as described in historical records: with skin as white as jade and a beautiful appearance.

Even more coincidentally, Cai Zhaoji and Lady Gan were almost simultaneously diagnosed with pregnancy by the physician.

Speaking of this, Liu Bei's interest was finally completely aroused, and he even did not forget to discuss the name of the fetus in her womb with Li Ji.

For Liu Bei, who had been worried about his teacher's situation for several months, this was the greatest joy.

Even after arriving at the City Without Walls, Liu Bei was still enthusiastically discussing the issue of descendants, claiming that his eldest son, no matter what, must recognize Li Ji as his Yafu (Second Father), to be personally taught by Li Ji, and that it would be best if Cai Zhaoji also gave birth to a son.

In this way, the two eldest sons could address each other as brothers from a young age.

This was not the first time Liu Bei had mentioned this matter to Li Ji. Li Ji had previously intended to decline the title of "Yafu", understanding that Liu Bei was deliberately raising his status.

After all, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei had sworn brotherhood in the Peach Garden, and Liu Bei's eldest son would inevitably address Guan Yu and Zhang Fei as uncles.

But Liu Bei and Li Ji had not sworn brotherhood, so Li Ji could only be considered a subject.

Even if the two eldest sons were prepared to become sworn brothers from a young age, Liu Bei was still worried that his eldest son would slight Li Ji in the future, so the initial idea was to have his eldest son recognize Li Ji as his adoptive father.

However, Li Ji was particularly resistant to the title of "adoptive father", and said that there was no precedent in the world for the eldest son of a lord to recognize a subject as his adoptive father.

Therefore, Liu Bei could only settle for second best, requesting Li Ji to become the Yafu of his eldest son.

According to the concepts of this era, there was a difference between Yafu and adoptive father. Adoptive father naturally referred to a father figure recognized without any blood relationship, while Yafu generally referred to a father figure second only to the father.

In terms of closeness, Yafu was equivalent to an uncle.

Seeing Liu Bei open his mouth to request once again, Li Ji, who had already declined twice, could only agree this time.

"Very good indeed!"

Liu Bei said with some excitement.

"If Lady Gan truly gives birth to a son, then it is Heaven's will that the Liu and Li families are one. Lady Gan will have made a great contribution, and I will then make Lady Gan my official wife, and that son will undoubtedly be the eldest son."

Hearing this, Li Ji couldn't help but laugh a little.

Liu Bei was indeed still holding onto the concept of treating brothers like limbs and wives and children like clothes, so much so that the subtext was: whoever gives birth to a son for Liu Bei first, and has that son recognize Li Ji as his Yafu, then that person will be the official wife and the son will be the eldest son.

However, no matter how much Liu Bei valued and trusted him, Li Ji would naturally not have thoughts similar to becoming arrogant because of favor, maintaining his duty as a subject, and said.

"This is a matter for the lord's family, Ji dares not say much."

"When Bei's eldest son recognizes Zikun as his Yafu, then Bei and Zikun will be one family," Liu Bei said with a happy face.

If Li Ji said that he didn't feel even a bit moved by this heavy trust and regard, it would be impossible.

It was just that Li Ji was not good at expressing his emotions in words, so he could only nod heavily in response to Liu Bei.

Immediately, Li Ji lifted the curtain of the carriage and glanced outside, and after discovering that they had entered the City Without Walls for a certain distance, he said.

"Go to the back door of Misty Rain Pavilion."

"Yes."

The coachman responded, and then steadily drove the carriage towards a four-story building built on the edge of Tai Lake, and finally stopped at the back door of Misty Rain Pavilion.

Originally, a servant who seemed extremely bored guarding the back door was about to step forward to drive the carriage away, not allowing it to stop here, but when he saw Liu Bei and Li Ji getting out of the carriage one after the other, his expression suddenly changed, and he quickly opened the back door passage and stood respectfully on the side.

Liu Bei, who had gotten out of the carriage, raised his head and swept a glance at the four-story building in front of him, and opened his mouth with great admiration.

"This place is Misty Rain Pavilion? It really is quite good."

"Misty Rain Pavilion was originally built with the aim of becoming a landmark building in the City Without Walls, so it is naturally good."

Li Ji responded with a smile, and then walked in through the back door one after the other with Liu Bei.

After all, Li Ji knew very well how much publicity a landmark building could bring to an area, so in order to build Misty Rain Pavilion, Li Ji personally asked his father-in-law, Cai Yong, to design the blueprints.

Moreover, Misty Rain Pavilion was also the liaison point for the Brocade-Clad Guards of the entire City Without Walls.

The servant who was guarding the back door respectfully led Liu Bei and Li Ji up a hidden passage, directly to the best room on the top floor of Misty Rain Pavilion.

Standing here, you could have a panoramic view of the Rende Academy and the City Without Walls below.

Especially now that there was a light snowfall, located on the edge of Tai Lake, the City Without Walls below was bustling with people coming and going, extremely lively and prosperous, truly a picturesque scene.

This made Liu Bei, who recalled the relatively dilapidated scene when he first arrived in Wu Commandery, unconsciously feel a strong sense of pride.

"Zikun, look, this is the result of our hard work for a year. It is so lively and prosperous, I wonder how it compares to Luoyang? But at least, looking at the You and Yan regions, it is difficult to find one that can compare to it! Enough!"

Liu Bei said with great pleasure, and the bitterness in his heart seemed to dissipate a lot with it.

Li Ji also had a few emotions rising between his brows and eyes. The current City Without Walls was many times larger than before.

Not only scholars, but also a large number of merchants were attracted from Xu, Yang, and Jing provinces, and even a few merchants from Yi Province who could travel down the Yangtze River.

In particular, the establishment of the City Without Walls essentially did not cost any money or grain from the Wu Commandery treasury. Instead, in less than a year, it brought a steady stream of income to Wu Commandery's finances.

In the eyes of many Wu Commandery officials who knew the inside story, this was almost a miracle.

Liu Bei even had doubts, why was Wu Commandery's stall getting bigger and bigger, and grain was a bit tight, but money seemed to be getting more and more abundant.

Immediately, Liu Bei, who was in a great mood, no longer wanted to think about the dirty things in the imperial court, and instead ordered the servant to bring up a portion of the local specialty dishes of Misty Rain Pavilion.

This made Li Ji want to remind him, but seeing that Liu Bei had already given the order, he could only give up.

Soon, when Liu Bei tasted the local specialty dishes, a mask of pain was put on his face.

Liu Bei could be considered to have come from the bottom and experienced military life, and had also eaten chaff and swallowed vegetables, but he obviously still couldn't get used to these authentic Wu and Kuai cuisines.

"Lord, I usually order some Youyan or Sichuan dishes when I come to Misty Rain Pavilion."

Li Ji reminded him in a low voice, saying.

"Zikun, why didn't you say so earlier?"

Liu Bei said somewhat helplessly, but adhering to the idea of not wasting food, he still tasted it with a stiff upper lip.

Just then, a voice that Liu Bei was somewhat familiar with sounded from the staircase passage.

"Everyone, the fourth floor of this Misty Rain Pavilion is not a place that ordinary people can come up to."

Liu Bei's eyes moved, he looked at Li Ji, and said softly.

"Isn't that the voice of Zikun's book boy, Guo Fengxiao?"

"It is indeed Fengxiao."

Li Ji nodded, his palm close to the hand warmer, warming himself, while signaling Liu Bei to listen carefully.

The movement outside the room was quite noisy. Guo Jia seemed to have led more than a dozen people upstairs, and they were seated in the room adjacent to Li Ji.

Although Misty Rain Pavilion could be considered a spectacular building, its structure was almost entirely made of wood, and the sound insulation was naturally equivalent to nothing.

Therefore, Liu Bei and Li Ji could hear the conversation inside the next room almost clearly.

What made Liu Bei frown was that he originally thought that Guo Jia, after being taken in by Li Ji as a book boy, could change his frivolous and arrogant nature, and after a little training, he might not be able to be reused.

But at this moment, the movement in the next room was that more than a dozen scholars were constantly praising Guo Jia, and Guo Jia's response was quite complacent and enjoying it.

"Fengxiao, your sand table deduction with Xiahou Lan yesterday was truly wonderful, and you were also the first person to break through the third stage of 'Four Crossings of the Red Water'. As a fellow native of Yingchuan, I am truly honored."

"That's right, thinking back to when Li Zikun publicly proclaimed that as long as the results of the battle could reach the third stage, then they could be compared to Marquis Liu and be his honored guests. How arrogant and contemptuous of the heroes of the world? Now, in less than a year, Fengxiao has easily achieved it, truly a genius."

"If you ask me, that Li Zikun is only claiming to have reached the third stage in his achievements. Now, Fengxiao is doing the same. As for who is stronger or weaker in terms of ability, it remains to be seen."

...

Facing the flattery from the Yingchuan scholars around him, a strong sense of pride seemed to appear on Guo Jia's face, and he said.

"Hmph, I only hate that I was careless for a moment and made an agreement with Li Zikun to break the Shanyue. Unexpectedly, in the end, neither I nor Li Zikun came up with a real strategy to break the Shanyue, which can be regarded as my defeat. I can only abide by the agreement to be his book boy for three years."

"Now, after interacting with Li Zikun, in my opinion, that Li Zikun is nothing more than that, just a person with a false reputation."