After settling the matter of supporting the grasslands with Huangfu Song—and even managing to “kidnap” a future infamous schemer, Jia Xu—Mengde left Beidi Commandery with her troops, feeling a bit like a thief sneaking away.
After all, Jia Xu was an extraordinary strategist, and to simply steal him away like that… Of course Mengde couldn’t help but feel guilty.
But instead of returning to Luoyang after leaving Beidi, Mengde headed east to Chang’an, then turned south through Wuguan.
Passing through Nanyang Commandery, she made her way to the Cao family’s ancestral home in Qiao County, Pei State.
Pei State had a county called Pei County—where Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang, first rose to power.
Roughly speaking, that made Cao Cao and Liu Bei hometown neighbors!
In addition, Pei County was also known as Xiaopei during the Eastern Han.
This was the same Xiaopei where Liu Bei was stationed as a guest general under Tao Qian in Xuzhou.
Pei State was part of Yuzhou, and so was Pei County.
That’s why Tao Qian could recommend Liu Bei to the court as the Inspector of Yuzhou.
As for why Tao Qian, the Inspector of Xuzhou, had control over parts of Yuzhou? Well, let’s just say that the real Tao Qian wasn’t the timid, kind-hearted old man often portrayed in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
The historical Tao Qian had earned his position by following Zhang Wen in campaigns against rebel forces in Liangzhou, and later suppressing the Yellow Turban remnants in Qingzhou and Xuzhou.
A man from the military like him—’how could he have been soft-hearted? And how could he have “offered” Xuzhou to Liu Bei three times?’
The so-called “Three Offers of Xuzhou” only happened after Tao Qian’s death.
It was led by Mi Zhu and approved unanimously by the officials of Xuzhou.
‘As for Tao Qian’s alleged dying wish? Maybe it existed, maybe it didn’t.’
From beginning to end, only Mi Zhu ever claimed there was such a will.
Whether it was real or not, only Mi Zhu knew the truth.
***
In May, Mengde and her party entered the territory of Yuzhou.
A few days later, around noon, the group stopped to rest in the countryside near Chen County, Chen State.
Mengde stepped out of her carriage with a Han measuring stick nearly 1.8 meters long and measured herself.
Then, her face instantly clouded with sorrow.
From a distance, Liu Bei noticed the change in her expression and, feeling curious, walked over to ask.
“What’s wrong, my lady?”
“Liu Bei!”
The sorrowful girl turned to him, pointed at a mark on the measuring stick, and complained in a voice so aggrieved it was on the verge of tears.
“My height hasn’t changed in almost half a year!”
“Huh?”
Liu Bei looked at the Han measuring stick in her hand in surprise.
His gaze followed her finger to the mark—six chi and two cun.
In the Han dynasty, one chi was approximately 23.6 centimeters.
So six chi and two cun came out to roughly 1.45 meters—basically child height.
No wonder Mengde looked so heartbroken about her height being stuck there.
Liu Bei, after all, was seven chi and six cun tall—around 1.8 meters.
And his future subordinates? All of them were at least eight or nine chi tall.
Not a single one was under 1.9 meters!
As a girl in this life, Mengde hadn’t originally been too concerned about her height.
She figured that if she could reach the historical height of the original Cao Cao—seven chi, or around 1.65 meters—that would be good enough.
That height might have seemed a little short for a man, but as a woman, it was perfectly respectable.
But no matter how hard she thought about it, she couldn’t understand why she hadn’t even reached that height!
‘Curse you, heavens!’
‘Give me back my seven chi of height!’
‘What the heck is six chi and two cun?’
‘That’s not even average for a woman!’
‘Is it really my fate, as Cao Mengde, to be a shorty no matter what gender I am?!’
‘How can I, Cao Cao—who was once renowned across the land—end up as a little loli?!’
Liu Bei watched Mengde’s miserable expression.
After silently sympathizing for a moment, he asked her, “You really haven’t grown at all?”
“What do you think?” Mengde pouted, utterly aggrieved.
“I measured myself at New Year’s, and it was six chi and two cun. It’s been five whole months, and I’m still the exact same! Don’t believe me? Just look at me with your eyes! Has this young master’s height changed at all since the beginning of the year?”
“Uh… it really doesn’t seem like it?”
Liu Bei examined her for a moment, then helplessly nodded in agreement.
At the start of this year, his height had been seven chi and two cun—around 170 centimeters in modern measurements.
But just a few days ago, during another measurement, he found that he had grown to seven chi and three cun—roughly 172 centimeters.
An increase of just about a pinky’s length.
As for Mengde… judging by his ability to hit a bullseye from fifty meters away, his eyesight was more than sharp enough to tell that Miss Mengde’s height hadn’t changed at all in the past six months.
“Uwaa…!”
Miss Mengde suddenly felt even more wronged.
She almost burst into tears.
But as the great boss Cao herself, she knew she couldn’t cry over something so trivial, so she stubbornly held it in.
***
At that moment, Liu Bei once again looked Miss Mengde up and down with his excellent eyesight, and finally managed to spot one area where she had grown.
He happily clasped his hands in congratulation.
“Miss, you have developed in at least one area!”
“Oh? What is it?”
Hearing that, Mengde immediately forgot her grievance and leaned forward curiously.
“It’s, um…”
Liu Bei was just about to say it, but suddenly realized that the area in which Mengde had grown in the past half-year… wasn’t exactly something he should be the one to point out.
He promptly shut his mouth.
“What is it?”
Seeing Liu Bei clamming up like that, Mengde tilted her head in confusion.
“Well…”
Liu Bei blushed and awkwardly explained, “I feel like I’m not the right person to say what part of you has developed. I’m worried that if I do… you might get very angry.”
“Angry? Why would I get angry? You’re delivering good news!”
Mengde waved her hand dismissively, then looked at him expectantly.
“Come on, tell this young master! What part of my body has developed over the past half-year?”
“Well… alright then.”
After a moment of hesitation, Liu Bei reluctantly stammered out the answer.
“Y-Your chest… Your chest has grown!”
“My chest?”
The sheer volume of that information took Mengde by surprise.
She didn’t even register the awkwardness right away.
Instead, she brought her hands up and gave her chest a quick lift.
“Hmm… it does feel like it’s developed a bit.”
At the beginning of the year, her chest had been small enough to cover with just her palms.
But now, even the lowest joints of her fingers could feel the presence of those soft, snowy lumps.
Definitely a noticeable change.
Not bad.
At least something had grown—wait a minute!
***
A few seconds later, Mengde’s eyes shot wide open as she realized something was terribly wrong.
Her chest had developed?
‘Why on earth was that worth celebrating?!’
She had been a man in her previous life!
What good was it for her chest to get bigger?!
Was she supposed to breastfeed someone someday?
In an instant, Miss Mengde crossed her arms tightly over her chest to cover it.
Her eyes grew even wider, her cheeks flushed bright red, and her whole body began trembling—whether from fury or embarrassment, it was hard to say.
Liu Bei, sensing danger, began backing away slowly.
“M-Miss?”
“You pervert! Creep! Idiot!”
Mengde shouted at him, her voice full of humiliation and rage, while clenching her right fist and clearly preparing to punch him.
Seeing this, Liu Bei’s slow retreat instantly turned into a full-blown escape.
“Wait, Miss, what are you trying to do?!”
“Are you blind?! I’m going to hit you!”
Mengde covered her chest with her left arm, and with her right, aimed her fist at Liu Bei’s back.
She chased after him furiously while shouting curses.
Her light-blue dress fluttered as she ran, and her waist-length black hair swayed with each movement.
As he ran, Liu Bei shouted back with an expression full of grievance.
“Miss, didn’t you just say you weren’t going to get mad?!”
Mengde shouted back angrily.
“That was under the assumption you were giving me good news!”
“Isn’t this good news?!”
“It’s not! At least not to me!”
“How does that make sense?! What kind of girl doesn’t want her chest to develop?!”
“I don’t! And I am the ultimate authority on that!”
“That’s completely unreasonable!”
“What, you got a problem with it?!”
The two of them continued chasing each other around the camp, yelling back and forth without pause.
[Route Map]
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Damn they traveled a ton and this was on official business to. That’s crazy.