Yuan Xi found Hua Tuo and was stunned after learning about Kong's broken engagement.
Kong Rong's daughter won't live long?
He frowned and said, "Is there nothing we can do?"
Hua Tuo listened and sighed, "I have seen dozens of patients with similar symptoms, and none of them lived more than three to five years."
Yuan Xi's heart tightened and he clenched his fists.
Even with such advanced medical technology in later generations, there are still incurable diseases, let alone today.
But, I'm still too young.
He left the house, feeling a little lost, and sat in the middle of the yard in a daze.
Cai Zhaoji was holding Madam Wu's daughter and playing with her. Seeing Yuan Xi's expression, she asked curiously, "What happened?"
Yuan Xi told Cai Zhaoji about Kong Rong's daughter. After hearing this, she was also surprised and asked, "How could this really happen?"
"This… is such a pity."
Yuan Xiqiang smiled and said, "God is very fair in this regard. No matter rich or poor, noble or humble, no one knows how long they will live. We can only say that she was unlucky."
"But Mr. Yuanhua said that if you take proper rest, you can live another one or two years."
Cai Zhaoji listened, sighed and nodded: "This is the only way."
"It's a pity that the marriage has been called off. It may be a blow to her."
Yuan Xi looked at the little girl in Cai Zhaoji's arms, and suddenly thought of something, and said: "It seems that everyone should practice the Five Animals Exercises more, including this child, it is always good for the body."
"You should also go to bed early and get up early in the future, and don't stay up late for classics."
Cai Zhaoji hesitated and said, "But we are not in a hurry..."
Yuan Xi said decisively: "There's no need to work so hard. You don't owe anyone anything."
"I'll be happy if you can live longer."
After hearing this, Cai Zhaoji was moved and nodded slightly.
Mrs. Wu was listening to the two people talking in the room. Thinking about her own family affairs, she felt inexplicably sad.
Sometimes, even if you are in good health, you may not necessarily live a hundred years.
Was it because her husband had killed too many people that she was punished by God?
She watched Yuan Xi and Cai Zhaoji talking about something. Cai Zhaoji turned her head and leaned on Yuan Xi's shoulder. She felt a little envious for some reason.
However, when she saw Yuan Xi's back, she remembered the madness of that night and felt uncomfortable again. What was going on?
Moreover, given the relationship between Yuan Xi and Cai Zhaoji, what happened that night would be exposed sooner or later. How would he be able to face people then?
Mrs. Wu felt like her days were passing by slowly, and she lived each day in a mood of self-abandonment.
In Xia Pi City, Liu Bei was explaining things to his subordinates one by one. Now that he was in charge personally, he sent Guan Yu and Zhang Fei to Pengcheng, which is on the border of Yuzhou and Xuzhou, to guard against Cao Cao.
However, what puzzled Liu Bei's advisers was that Cao Cao had not made any move since he had ordered Cao Ang to lead troops to attack Tancheng and was repelled by Liu Bei's coalition forces.
Guan Yu and Zhang Fei led their troops to the border to resist the enemy and sent out spies to investigate the area within a hundred miles, only to find that there was no trace of Cao's army.
Later, when we got information, we found out that Cao's army had withdrawn to Yanzhou very decisively!
Guan and Zhang were extremely puzzled, but in order to prevent a trap, they stationed at the border and sent a letter to Liu Bei to inform him of the situation.
Liu Bei summoned his advisers and asked them what Cao Cao's intention was, and they argued endlessly.
Jian Yong said: "Now the lord has joined forces with the Yuan family. Cao Cao must be afraid that the Yuan family will blame him, so he gave up Xuzhou."
Sun Gan disagreed and said, "Cao Cao has coveted Xuzhou several times, how could he give up so easily?"
"In my opinion, I'm afraid we should go back and regroup the army and attack Xuzhou again."
Yuan Huan also echoed, "I heard that the second son of the Yuan family helped Xuzhou this time on his own initiative and did not get the consent of Jizhou."
"I heard that Yuan Xianfu, the third son who actually controls Jizhou, has some complaints about this."
"Moreover, Yuan and Liu had been allies for a long time, but Cao Cao still came to attack. This shows that he doesn't care much about Yuan and Liu joining forces. His plan is not small."
After hearing this, everyone nodded. The Yuan family itself was also divided into many factions. If Yuan Xi had not found Yuan Tan last time, Jizhou would have just sat back and watched Liu Bei lose Xuzhou.
Moreover, according to intelligence sent back by spies in Yecheng, there was a rumor circulating privately in Jizhou that Liu Bei was a master-hungry person and should not be allowed to grow into a powerful local lord, otherwise it would certainly be detrimental to the allies.
Now it seems that this statement influenced Yuan Shao's decision, otherwise he would not have remained indifferent until now.
Everyone looked at Liu Bei, but Liu Bei was looking at Mi Zhu who had been silent. Mi Zhu was a little absent-minded at the moment and did not notice Liu Bei's gaze.
Liu Bei coughed and said, "Zi Zhong, what do you think of Cao's movements?"
Mi Zhu came to his senses and said, "It is true that Cao Cao coveted Xuzhou, but he fought for it several times and returned without success."
"If it were me, I wouldn't fight Xuzhou to death because of this obsession. It's time to change direction."
After hearing this, everyone felt that what Mi Zhu said made sense. No matter what the situation was within the Yuan family, the three parties now joined forces to guard Xuzhou, which had become a tough nut to crack for Cao Cao.
Fighting a war is easy, but dealing with the subsequent relationships with the three parties is difficult.
Liu Bei pondered and said, "If that's the case, Xuzhou is safe for the time being?"
"So where will Cao Cao attack next?"
Everyone looked at each other, no one could say anything. Liu Bei felt annoyed when he saw that no one stood up at this time. No one was willing to be the backbone, so how could he make the decision?
Only then did he realize that the departure of Chen Qun and Chen Deng had caused him too much loss!
He waved his hand and asked everyone to disperse, but kept Mi Zhu and said directly: "Zi Zhong, I need counselors, more counselors."
"I hope Zi Zhong can secretly find talented people for me. I can only feel at ease if I leave this matter to Zi Zhong."
Mi Zhu quickly accepted the order, and then heard Liu Bei say, "I sent Zifang to be the governor of Donghai County. Will Zizhong blame me?"
Mi Zhu hurriedly bowed and said, "What virtue and ability do I have to be a county governor? It is all because of the lord's kindness. I am extremely terrified."
Liu Bei nodded slightly. In fact, both of them understood that Mi Fang's talent was mediocre and his relationships with others were average, especially with Guan Yu, with whom he had conflicts.
Although Guan Yu looked down on scholars, he was fair in his work and was respected by Liu Bei's subordinates. So although they kept their distance from him, they at least treated Guan Yu with courtesy on a daily basis.
It just so happened that Mi Fang had always held a grudge against Guan Yu because of a trivial matter in the past. Ever since he became the Beijia, he had been opposing Guan Yu in everything, which further worsened their relationship.
Mi Zhu tried his best to mediate, but Mi Fang felt good about himself and refused to listen to Mi Zhu's advice. Mi Zhu saw that things were not going well and felt that if Mi Fang continued like this, sooner or later the Mi family would be implicated, so he suggested to Liu Bei to transfer Mi Fang to the position of prefect of Donghai.
Donghai County is located in the northeast of Xia Pi, bordered by Langya to the north and Guangling to the south. It is the only remaining coastal county of Liu Bei. If Mi Fang is placed there, between the two Yuans and Liu Bei's administrative centers, I think he will be more honest.
Liu Bei agreed immediately, and although Mi Fang was somewhat reluctant, he still went to take up the post in the East China Sea.
Mi Zhu stood up and said hesitantly, "My sister also followed Mi Fang to Haixi. I didn't handle this well and damaged the reputation of my lord. I am really ashamed."
After hearing this, Liu Bei waved his hand and said, "Don't worry, Zi Zhong, these are just rumors, nothing to worry about."
Mi Zhu thought to himself, if it was just rumors, why would it be so serious?
At Liu Bei's suggestion, Mi Zhu asked Mi Zhen to go to Donghai as well, because the rumors in the city had affected Liu Bei's reputation, and it was really not appropriate for Mi Zhen to stay in Xia Pi.
It was Yuan Xi who caused this incident. Liu Bei now didn't know whether he should hate Yuan Xi or thank him.
Originally, after Liu Bei's wife was captured, under Mi Zhu's plan, Liu Bei married Mi Zhen, which was a win-win for both parties and a happy thing for everyone.
The bad thing was that Yuan Xi sent Liu Bei's wife and daughter back, so the matter became unclear.
If I marry her, people will criticize me for having ulterior motives. If I don't marry her, I won't be able to fulfill my promise to the Mi family.
Although Liu Bei gave Mi Fang an official position as compensation, Mi Zhen's marriage was still pending and had become a joke.
In fact, to Liu Bei, the reputation he wanted to establish was much more important than a mere Mi Zhen, but he was now in a difficult situation.
At this time, Yuan Xi helped Liu Bei out of the predicament in an extremely awkward way.
He asked Guo Jia to propose to the Mi family on his behalf and asked to marry Mi Zhen!
When this matter reached the ears of Liu Bei's subordinates, their first reaction was that Yuan Xi had bad intentions and wanted to alienate the relationship between the Mi family and Liu Bei.
But later everyone thought that this was a different way to solve Liu Bei's current predicament!
With Yuan Xi's proposal, Liu Bei had a way out and could reject the marriage proposal with the Mi family in a dignified manner, while at the same time winning a reputation for being a good match.
However, Liu Bei's goal had already been achieved. The Mi family contributed wealth and Liu Bei obtained money, food, and soldiers. Marrying Mi Zhen was not worth mentioning at all in his fight for hegemony over the world.
Liu Bei even suspected that Yuan Xi was doing him a favor by doing this.
However, considering the rumors that Yuan Xi was lustful, it is possible that he simply wanted to marry Mi Zhen?
Liu Bei would rather it was the latter, because if it was the former, it meant that Yuan Xi was too scheming, and his schemes were so deep that they had reached the level of open conspiracy. He took advantage of the general situation and forced people to act according to his intentions. If this was true, it would be terrible!
Liu Bei felt deeply wary, but he was also a decisive man. He went with the flow and let Mi Fang take Mi Zhen away, indicating that he had no intention of getting involved with Mi Zhen. As for what happened afterwards, it was the business of Yuan Xi and the Mi family.
As expected, after Liu Bei announced the news, the rumors stopped immediately and his reputation for benevolence became even more popular. Aristocratic families from all sides praised Liu Bei for not being attracted to women and for his high moral character, which was truly admirable.
But the ball was kicked back to the Mi family, and Mi Zhu was in trouble, because when he was trying to refuse and pretend to accept, Yuan Xi went straight back to Guangling, and seemed to have completely forgotten about the proposal to the Mi family!
Mi Zhu has been scratching his head anxiously these days. Didn't you, Yuan Xi, come to propose marriage? Why did you leave without saying a word? What should I do?
I can't just ask him face to face what to do with my sister, right?
The one who was even more conflicted was Mi Zhen. She was now in Qu County, the seat of Donghai in the northwest of the sea, looking towards Haixi City in the south.
The two cities are separated only by the Huai River, and Qu County is also a natural seaport.
At this time, the Mi family mansion was built on the highest point in the city. Mi Zhen sat in the small building, looking at the vast sea outside the city.
She thought that maybe what she said to Zhen Mi offended Yuan Xi, so she was left out.
I was just impulsive at the moment, what's the big deal?