In Search of Talent
The next day, I packed nourishing foods and other gifts and went to call on Lady Sun. She welcomed me as though she had been waiting for my arrival.
"My lady, I heard you are with child. Congratulations."
"Thank you. I hear you earned great merit this time as well? Allow me to congratulate you in turn. Whenever you take the field, it seems you win every battle. At this rate, you may well rise to Grand General someday."
"You flatter me. I was merely fortunate."
As I spoke, I stole a glance at Lady Sun's belly. Her loose clothing made it hard to tell at a glance, but it did seem to have rounded out a little.
She must have noticed my gaze, for she stroked her stomach with a distant, tender smile.
"I don't know yet whether it will be a son or a daughter, but either way, I am going to be a mother."
"Yes—yes, of course. Congratulations once again."
So Liu Bei's child is in that belly. An infant who will inherit both the Liu bloodline and the blood of the Tiger of Jiangdong…
"Truth be told, I had hoped that when you came we might go hunting together, or at least train in martial arts."
"Absolutely not! You must rest and take care of yourself now. Under no circumstances."
I waved my hands in firm refusal, and she laughed.
"I know. It seems even I must learn to behave with a little more decorum. The great Sun Ren, acting demure—who would have thought. Truly, one must live long to see everything."
That Liu Bei and Sun Ren were getting along well as husband and wife was something to be glad of, yet I could not help comparing the woman before me now with the one I had first met.
The fiery, free-spirited woman who had once armed herself in armor and weapons.
And the woman now dressed in ordinary clothes, preparing to become a mother.
In just a few short years, a person could change this much. It was outside anything I had predicted—but I could only hope that from here on, only good things would come her way…
Zhang He's defeat. And Lady Sun's pregnancy.
A strange dissonance of the expected and the unforeseen, woven together.
Right up until we returned from driving off Zhang He's army, I had been pleased that things were going well.
That Liu Bei would have another child was something a vassal ought to rejoice over—yet whether this would prove a blessing or a curse, I could not begin to guess.
I could only hope that events would unfold within the range of knowledge I could put to use. Once again, I was reminded that even in a world I had possessed, things never simply went the way one planned.
"As I have said before, if you ever find yourself thinking of marriage—or even simply wish to meet someone—tell me at any time. I will do what I can to look into it."
"Haha. I am grateful for the thought alone."
Unaware of my true feelings, Lady Sun spoke of her worries for the child in her womb, and of my marriage prospects—though I had no such thoughts at present. We did talk a little of martial arts and hunting as well, but far less than before.
I still did not know what I ought to do. For now, the only thing within my power was this:
"I will come again. Please take good care of yourself until then."
"I will. Thank you for coming. You must be exhausted after all you have been through—set your mind at ease for a while and rest well. Ah, and I have some tea packed for you. Take it with you."
"You are always so kind, my lady. Thank you."
Maintaining as amicable a relationship with Lady Sun as I could.
Once I left for the battlefield again, there was no telling when I would return—but for now, what deserved congratulations should be congratulated.
The victory at Tangqu also shaped Liu Bei's ability to govern Yizhou.
Having only just begun to put down roots in the province, the defeat of Cao Cao's forces did much to inspire confidence and lift morale.
The small-scale uprisings that had been flaring up here and there were swiftly put down, and the lives of the common people gradually returned to stability.
Liu Ba, for all his peculiar and cantankerous nature, was said to have shown remarkable skill in calming the hearts of the people of Ba Commandery and restoring what had been damaged.
And though it was not a direct result of the battle at Tangqu, Lady Sun did in the end give birth. The child was a boy.
I timed my visit to her residence with the news of the birth. Her husband, Liu Bei, had arrived before me and was already waiting.
"Waaah! Waaah!"
The newborn infant nestled in Liu Bei's arms. Looking upon the son he had gained so late in life, Liu Bei was radiant with joy.
"I shall name him Li. From this day forth, you are Liu Li."
Something occurred to me then—something about Liu Bei's marriages.
In the original history, after entering Yizhou, Liu Bei married the sister of Wu Yi—who had originally been one of Liu Zhang's generals and later surrendered to Liu Bei—and she would go on to become Empress Mu. But here, because Lady Sun had remained in Chengdu, the marriage to Empress Mu never came to pass. (It might still happen later, of course.) From Wu Yi's perspective, he had suffered a loss without even knowing it.
And then there were Liu Feng, Liu Bei's adopted son, and Liu Shan, who carried Liu Bei's own blood.
How would those two take this?
Liu Bei would later take more concubines and father other sons as well, and those births caused no particular turmoil. But a son by Sun Ren, the younger sister of Sun Quan—what consequences would that bring?
Some time passed once more.
In the years that followed, my work consisted of putting down small rebellions, hunting down bands of bandits and mountain outlaws, and the like. From time to time I also transported relief supplies to aid the poor, or helped villages recover from natural disasters.
And the temporary post of Gongzuo—the office charged with the appointment of officials—that Liu Bei had conferred upon me earlier was still in effect.
I made full use of that position, and devoted what free time I had to seeking out men of talent.
Whenever I found someone capable, I sought them out, spoke with them, and recommended them to Liu Bei.
In truth, it was not that I possessed any special eye for talent—I was simply drawing on my knowledge of the Three Kingdoms.
And so I was on my way once again to meet a new prospect. The man I intended to see this time was Yu Eun, courtesy name Hyuyeon.
Few records of him survived, but in Jiang Wei's era he had distinguished himself as a vigorous elder, and even at the fall of Shu Han he had held the Golden Fortress of Hanzhong to the very end.
He was said to be of fine character, outstanding in both valor and strategy, and had accompanied Jiang Wei on several of his northern campaigns, rendering considerable service. There was no doubt he was a man of real ability.
That said, given how concentrated the records of him were in the later years of Shu Han, it seemed he had not made much of a name for himself before then.
Let's see. I was told Yu Eun lives in this neighborhood…
I had made it as far as the village where he was said to reside. But relying on word of mouth alone made finding the place far from easy. In the modern world, cutting-edge technology would have pointed me straight to him.
I looked around. Broad farmland stretched out, the rice ripening toward harvest, with farmhouses scattered sparsely among it. The atmosphere was peaceful and pleasant. Only a few years ago the region had been thrown into chaos by war and banditry—it was a relief to see that the efforts of the intervening years had borne fruit.
Still, I could not find his house on my own, so I decided to ask someone. I dismounted and approached a farmer working nearby.
"Pardon me. Might I trouble you for a moment? I am looking for someone. A man named Yu Eun, courtesy name Hyuyeon—do you happen to know where he lives?"
The farmer stopped his work and regarded me for a moment before walking a few steps closer. He wore a straw hat pulled low, so I could not make out his face clearly.
"Looking for Yu Eun, you say? He does live around here, yes."
"Do you know him, by any chance?"
"Not personally, but I have a rough idea of where he lives. He is rather well known in these parts. Still—why are you looking for him?"
"I have heard that he is capable and of good character. I came to meet him and recommend him to our lord."
It was true that Yu Eun had made a name for himself from a young age. What was odd was that only a few records of his exploits during Jiang Wei's time remained, with little said of what he had done in his youth.
"So you came all this way to recruit him yourself. Hmph. Liu Bei's army has a decent eye for people, it seems."
I caught the farmer's muttered remark. But what was this man? This was not the manner of an ordinary farmer.
His voice was deep and resonant, his bearing confident—and above all, there was something cynical about him, as though he harbored some grievance against our faction.
Curious about the identity of the man before me, I studied him more carefully. Could he be some reclusive talent hidden away in the countryside…?
For one thing, he was remarkably tall. By the standards of this era, I myself was taller than most men—and he was slightly taller still.
Then there was his darkly tanned skin, his well-honed musculature. And above all, the scars on his forearms and the nape of his neck. Those were not wounds from farm work. Those were battlefield scars—the marks of a military man.
"Could it be…"
I examined his face carefully. The straw hat pulled low made it hard to see, but I was certain I had seen that face somewhere before. Wait—this man…!?
"General… Zhang Ren…?"
His face was darker than before, and the full beard made him harder to recognize at once—but it was unmistakably Zhang Ren.
The man who, after the fall of Luocheng, had been taken prisoner, refused Liu Bei's offer, and returned to his hometown.
"You remember me, Lady Jin?"
"Yes, of course I do. How could I forget? Forgive me for not recognizing you at once."
I clasped my hands and made to bow, but he raised a hand to stop me.
"No need for such formality. I am no longer a general—just an ignorant rustic in some backwater village."
"But still…"
"I said it is fine. Leave it."
"…"
An awkward silence settled between us for a moment, and then he spoke again.
"You look as though you have something to say, but this is hardly the place. Would you care to stop by my house for a while? It is humble, but I can manage to host one guest."
"Yes. Then I will not refuse."
An encounter I had never expected. Setting aside my original purpose for the moment, I followed after him.