Seeing Mengde’s intense reaction, both Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu looked a little surprised.
Even Liu Bei himself didn’t understand why this young lady named Mengde was so shocked upon hearing his name.
Yuan Shao repeated what he had just said.
“So his name is Liu Bei… what’s the matter?”
“It’s nothing.”
To confirm whether this Liu Bei in front of her was really the one she knew and not just some imposter with the same name, Mengde looked at the handsome young man and asked, “Your name is Liu Bei?”
“Yes.”
Liu Bei didn’t understand why this girl kept asking him the same question.
“Where were you born?”
“Zhuo Commandery.”
“What’s your courtesy name?”
“I’m only fifteen years old right now, so I don’t have a courtesy name yet,” Liu Bei answered.
“But my teacher recently gave me one. He said it would be ‘Xuande.’”
“Xuande, huh?”
Mengde murmured Liu Bei’s courtesy name to herself.
At that moment, she was completely certain that the boy in front of her was the very same Liu Xuande who had opposed her constantly in her previous life.
After all, his surname was Liu, given name Bei, courtesy name Xuande, his teacher was Lu Zhi, and his hometown was Zhuo County in Zhuo Commandery.
In this world, there could only be one person who matched all those details—her old historical nemesis, Liu Bei.
Mengde glanced at the still fifteen-year-old Liu Bei before her and suddenly had the mischievous urge to tease him.
“Do you know what your name means?”
“No…”
Liu Bei shook his head with a puzzled expression on his face.
With a playful smile, the girl said, “The Zhouli says: ‘In the craft of painting and embroidery, five colors are used. The East is called blue, the West white, the North black, Heaven is called Xuan (dark), and Earth is called yellow. Blue follows white, red follows black, and xuan follows yellow.”
“Blue and red together are called wen (pattern), red and white are zhang (emblem), white and black are fu, black and blue are fu, and all five colors together are called xiu (embroidery).’”
She paused and continued smugly, “So, ‘all five colors together are called xiu’—which means, if you round it off a bit, your name Liu Bei (bei, to have or to be complete) could also mean Liu Xiu.”
“Huh?”
For the first time, Liu Bei—who had never cared much for book learning—felt the full impact of knowledge slapping him across the face.
With shock and confusion on his face, he wondered how his name could somehow resemble that of Emperor Guangwu of Han.
Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu, who also weren’t particularly fond of studying, wore the same puzzled expressions as Liu Bei.
Seeing the three of them looking so confused, Mengde smiled and said, “Alright, I was just joking. Even if Liu Bei’s name were changed to Liu Xiu, the xiu would mean embroidery, not the xiu meaning ‘excellent’ like Emperor Guangwu’s.”
“Oh…”
All three of them nodded in unison, looking visibly relieved.
***
Watching their dumbfounded expressions, Mengde gave them a look of utter disappointment.
“You three really are a bunch of illiterates! You should’ve figured it out from the very first line! ‘In the craft of painting and embroidery’—obviously, it refers to the embroidery xiu, not the ‘outstanding’ xiu! How could you possibly confuse the two?”
She couldn’t help but feel disheartened that her future nemeses were just these three blockheads.
It made her question her own worth.
‘Are these really the people I have to go up against in the future?’
‘My value as a worthy opponent feels like it’s plummeting…’
“Sorry…”
Liu Bei’s eyes, once pure and clueless like a deer’s, now showed a faint glimmer of awareness.
He bowed his head in shame and apologized to Mengde.
Right then, more than anything, he wanted to return to his teacher’s study and rebuild his knowledge from the ground up.
He wanted to go from a clueless student to a well-read scholar like his teacher—so that maybe he could meet this girl’s expectations.
Since she had brought up his name, Liu Bei couldn’t help but grow curious about it too.
He bowed and asked, “Then Miss Mengde, since the bei in my name refers to completeness and the five colors, what does the courtesy name Xuande mean?”
Mengde gave him a sidelong glance and replied, “Bei means to be complete in all five colors—blue, yellow, red, white, and black. Among these, black is the final color, the one that signifies completeness. Black is xuan, so your courtesy name is Xuande—profound virtue.”
She continued, reciting a passage, “The Four Classics of the Yellow Emperor say: ‘He who rules the world must possess xuande (profound virtue). With it, he alone understands the art of kingship, and thus governs without the people even realizing how. A true king values scholars over counties, so his nation is stable and his person secure. He values wisdom over wealth, so his deeds are virtuous and wealth arises naturally.”
“He regards his own body lightly but cherishes the Way, so he earns respect and his orders are followed. Such a ruler is followed by the whole world. A hegemon raises troops and strikes without preparation, punishing crimes without seeking personal gain—thus, he commands the world and none dare disobey.”
“But below that, in realms of warfare and struggle, peril and destruction await daily, and none know where it began. A true king rules not with selfish ambition. Only such a ruler can embrace the whole world and bring harmony to all things.”
“Given your posture level, I suppose I’ll reluctantly translate it for you.
A ruler who claims the title of King over the world possesses the mysterious virtue known as Xuan De—Profound Virtue.
But to truly be a King, one must not only possess this virtue but also understand the art of kingship.
Only then can one reign over the world without the people realizing how or why it happened.
A true King values talented individuals over territory.
Paradoxically, this strengthens the nation and brings personal stability.
He cares little for wealth and profit, instead honoring the wise.
This leads to achievement and the natural generation of wealth.
By humbling himself and respecting those with true moral and philosophical insight, he elevates his own stature and ensures his orders are followed.
Because of this, a true King becomes a model for all under heaven.
A hegemon, by contrast, gathers military strength to subdue rebellious states and punishes the guilty—not for personal gain, but to enforce justice.
Thus, his orders are followed, and no one dares defy him.
But rulers beneath the level of hegemon only know how to wage war for personal profit.
Their downfall is inevitable, yet they remain clueless as to why.
As for the difference between a King and a hegemon? Only the King can emulate the heavens and the earth—offering selfless support to all things, allowing them to flourish naturally.
The Dao De Jing says: “The Dao gives birth to them; virtue nourishes them. Things shape them; circumstances complete them. Therefore, all things honor the Dao and value virtue. The Dao is honored and virtue is valued, not because anyone commands it, but because it’s the natural way.”
“The Dao gives them birth; virtue nurtures them, raises them, nourishes them, shelters them, and protects them. It gives birth without possessing, acts without expecting, nurtures without controlling. This is called profound virtue.”
“What does that mean?”
“The Dao gives birth to all things; virtue nurtures them. They take on form, and the environment helps them grow. Thus, everything respects the Dao and values virtue.”
The Dao is respected, and virtue is treasured because they do not interfere—they allow things to be as they are.
“So, the Dao creates, and virtue nurtures; it fosters and develops, grants peace of mind, and gives tender care and shelter. It gives life without claiming ownership, acts without self-importance, and nurtures without attempting to dominate. “
“That is Xuan De—Profound Virtue.”
As I understand it, Xuan De is like the virtue of the sun.
“The sun shines on you without ever hurting you, without asking for anything in return. You don’t even think of it as anything special, because you simply take it for granted that it will always rise again tomorrow.”
***
Liu Bei listened blankly to Mengde’s explanation.
‘Xuan De? Was that really what his teacher expected from him? Was he truly worthy of such expectations?’
As Liu Bei stood there dazed, the brothers Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu shook out their sleeves, brought their hands together before them, and bowed deeply to Mengde.
“Thank you sincerely for your guidance.”
Liu Bei quickly snapped back to reality.
As the saying goes, A teacher is one who passes on the Way, imparts knowledge, and resolves confusion. Mengde’s words hadn’t just explained what Xuan De meant—she had also cited the Huangdi Four Classics and the Dao De Jing, unfolding a whole series of principles about governance.
Her teachings were more than deserving of such a bow from the three of them.
The rulers of the Spring and Autumn Period were nothing like the rulers of today.
Even if Liu Bei, Yuan Shao, and Yuan Shu never became emperors, this knowledge would still be useful to them if they ever served as regional governors.
It was the same reasoning behind why Lu Zhi gave Liu Bei the courtesy name Xuande—Profound Virtue.
Though once reserved for sovereign rulers, this kind of virtue was now equally important for officials entrusted with governing a region.
Lu Zhi hoped Liu Bei would one day become a virtuous statesman.
Liu Bei immediately bowed deeply to Mengde.
“Thank you sincerely for your guidance.”
“Hmm…”
Mengde nodded, then rubbed her head with a troubled expression.
Liu Bei… her future rival.
Of course, Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu would also become her enemies one day—but they were different.
Those two were formidable, but in the end, she had crushed them in history.
Liu Bei, on the other hand, was tenacious—like an indestructible cockroach.
He caused her endless trouble in Xuzhou, then aligned with Yuan Shao during the Battle of Guandu to harass her from behind.
After Yuan Shao’s defeat, he took refuge with Liu Biao.
When she finally unified the north and marched south, Liu Bei teamed up with Zhou Yu at Red Cliffs and set fire to her dream of unification.
In the end, he carved out his own kingdom across Jing and Yi provinces, splitting the realm into three—and the original version of her never managed to kill him before she died.
So, should she eliminate this threat now?
Mengde considered it seriously but soon dismissed the idea.
Liu Bei might be a pain, and yes, he’d sabotage her future plans to usurp the throne—but right now, he was just a fifteen-year-old kid. Punishing him for crimes he hadn’t committed yet would be way too petty.
‘Why not raise him instead?’
The thought popped into Mengde’s mind.
Liu Bei was hopeless when it came to military strategy, but he was an excellent regional governor.
Everywhere he went, he won the people’s hearts and ran things efficiently.
If she trained him properly now, maybe she could turn him into a loyal subordinate—and one day, she could be a hands-off ruler while he managed things for her.
‘But wouldn’t that be feeding an enemy…?’
As Mengde wavered, her eyes drifted to the mountain of official documents piled in front of her.
‘Feeding the enemy? If so, let it be a future enemy! Let the future me worry about that!’
‘Right now, I just need someone to handle all these problems!’
Having made up her mind, Mengde casually waved at the three standing before her, trying not to show special interest in Liu Bei.
“You three. Step forward!”
Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, and Liu Bei approached her desk in confusion.
Mengde pulled out a document from the stack beside her.
“This is a case submitted by the Minister of Justice. All of you, take a look.”
“The—The Minister of Justice?”
Even Liu Bei was stunned, not to mention Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu.
The Tingwei, or Minister of Justice, was one of the Nine Ministers of the Han Dynasty—the highest official in charge of legal judgments, imperial prison affairs, and law revisions.
People like them, who held no official rank, weren’t supposed to have access to such high-level cases!
“When I say read, you read! Stop whining!”
Mengde snapped irritably.
She was also a rankless commoner.
‘But wasn’t the entire administration of the Thirteen Provinces resting on her shoulders right now?’