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  Thanks for the rewards from Bù Dài Huó and the evaluation votes from Kuàng Shān Rén, this chapter was a bit late, sorry about that, hehe.

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  His eyebrows, eyes, ears and nose, healthy and shiny skin tone, soft and clear outline, the five senses are perfectly matched, even a small mole on his forehead is flawless, beautiful to no fault. And in those bright star-like eyes, there is a sharpness hidden in the softness, bringing people not a fearful killing aura, but a unique and mysterious attraction, making one's heart flutter.

  Liu Bei's side was not lacking in people with outstanding looks, the heroic and extremely rich manly aura of Zhao Yun, the elegant and refined, floating and dust-free Zhuge Kongming, even Liu Feng himself thought he was handsome.

  However, facing the man in front of him, his impression of handsomeness became so insignificant that even he himself felt a twinge of inferiority for an instant.

  The man in front of him had already jumped out of the concept of masculinity and handsomeness, and in Liu Feng's vocabulary, he could only be described with the word "beauty" that was biased towards femininity.

  Although he has a stunning appearance, his every move exudes masculinity. A casual smile of his seems to melt the ice and snow like warm sunlight, making people feel an inexplicable sense of closeness.

  Is this the legendary Dongfang Mingyue?

  Liu Feng took a deep breath and exchanged a glance with Xu Shu beside him. At this moment, Xu Shu also had an expression of extreme astonishment, it was clear that even someone who had been traveling the world since childhood and had seen and known much, was now just like Liu Feng, deeply infatuated with Mei Zhoulang's appearance and demeanor.

  "Here comes Liu Bei and Zhou Yu."

  "My lord."

  "Father."

  Liu Feng and Xu Shu suddenly came to their senses, hastily collected their thoughts, and paid respects to Liu Bei, whom they had not seen for a long time.

  "Grand General, this is Xu Yuanzhi, whom I often mention." Liu Bei introduced with a smile.

  "Master Yuan Zhi is a great name, I've heard of him early," Zhou Yu walked away from Liu Bei's side and came to Xu Shu's front, his bright eyes staring at him without blinking, "Today, I'm lucky to meet you."

  "Director Zhou has exceeded expectations, but I am just a humble Confucian scholar, how can I compare to Director Zhou's reputation that shakes the world? Today's meeting is an honor for me." Xu Shu was indeed a worldly person, although his heart was moved by Zhou Yu's demeanor, his words and actions were natural and dignified, without revealing any signs.

  Before Zhou Yu came up to greet him, Liu Feng took the initiative to bow his hands and say: "Feng has met Director Zhou, nice to meet you."

  Zhou Yu's gentle gaze shifted to Liu Feng, and the handsome face still had a kind smile. His slender eyelashes blinked lightly, sizing up Liu Feng several times, and sighed: "Indeed, a tiger father has no inferior son. Lord Xuande, I've long heard that you have an outstanding son under your knee, and now that I see him today, his reputation is indeed well-deserved."

  Liu Feng had just started his career and was not well-known, so Liu Bei knew that Zhou Yu's praise was purely out of courtesy. He smiled humbly: "My son is foolish and inferior to you, Master Zhou, I'm afraid he has let you down."

  Liu Feng felt displeased as soon as he heard these words, wanting to flatter Zhou Yu's convenience was fine, why must he belittle me? Belittling this son of mine is no better than others, isn't it also belittling himself as a father for being incompetent?

  Liu Feng's displeasure was only fleeting, but he immediately realized that Liu Bei's previous sentence was not so simple. With Liu Bei being such a cunning and astute leader, facing an important figure like Zhou Yu, even the most casual remark would not be spoken lightly.

  Suddenly, Liu Feng vaguely guessed a few clues: Liu Bei could humbly say that his son was not good enough and needed to be trained, but why did he have to compare himself with Zhou Yu? Wasn't this implicitly elevating his own status and putting Zhou Yu, the commander of Eastern Wu, in an inferior position?

  After these days of reflection and learning in Xia Kou, Liu Feng had a glimpse of the so-called power struggle, but he could only guess the intention behind Liu Bei's previous words, and for the time being, he couldn't infer any deeper purpose.

  "Haha, how could Lord Xuande joke about this? You two must be tired, why don't you come in and we can chat while drinking tea?" Zhou Yu still had a warm smile on his face, and it was impossible to detect even a hint of abnormality in his eyes. He enthusiastically invited Xushu and the others into the central cabin of the tower ship.

  "Gongjin, I have ordered Yuan Zhi and the others to prepare some modest gifts as a token of appreciation for your efforts in pacifying the army. This is merely a gesture of goodwill from a humble landowner. I hope you won't think lightly of this small courtesy." With one sentence "landowner's courtesy", Liu Bei had already replaced Liu Qi with himself, assuming the air of master of Jiangxia.

  "Lord Guan, why be so polite? Our two families have already formed an alliance. From now on, we are like one family. If we still keep such a distance, it makes me feel a bit awkward."

  From the moment he boarded the ship, Zhou Yu's polite and respectful attitude made Liu Feng feel a kind of genuine kindness and friendship. Although Liu Feng knew that the alliance between Sun and Liu was purely a temporary combination based on interests, just as Sun Qian had said earlier, Zhou Yu's personal demeanor, which was like a spring breeze, seemed to dilute the taste of interest and gave the alliance between the two families a warm and affectionate veil.

  "Governor Zhou, your army has come from afar, and I suppose the grain and fodder are still on their way. Therefore, according to my master's instructions, we have also managed to collect 30,000 stones of grain and fodder as a token of appreciation for the troops. The grain ships are now waiting at Xia Kou Water Fort, but I don't know where you plan to set up camp on the south bank, so I can instruct the grain ships to deliver them as soon as possible."

  Xu Shu's words had two layers of meaning, which Liu Feng immediately picked up on. Although Jiangxia was only a single commandery, when Liu Qi took office last year, Liu Biao allocated to him a considerable amount of grain and military supplies. The grain alone was enough for the 20,000 soldiers in their hands to eat for several years. Xu Shu's phrase "exhaust all our strength" was clearly a cry of poverty, with the intention of telling Eastern Wu that although they had formed an alliance, they still had to take care of themselves and not rely on others.

  The second layer of meaning is to remind Zhou Yu that, according to the agreement before the alliance, the military power and influence of Wu are limited to Jiangnan, so it's better to set up camp on the south bank and not try to get involved in Xiakou City on the north bank.

  Liu Feng, in order to verify his own conjecture, took advantage of Xu Shu's speech and, under the cover of raising his hand to drink tea, his eyes quietly swept towards Liu Bei. Sure enough, as he had expected, at this moment Liu Bei was also quietly looking at Xu Shu, and in those narrowed eyes, a hint of satisfaction flashed by for an instant.

  Zhou Yu smiled brightly: "Since it's our own people, then I won't be polite. These 30,000 stones of grain and fodder, I'll just take them in. However, there's no need to send them to the southern shore, just deliver them directly to my warship."

  Liu Bei hastily said, "In that case, wouldn't Gong Er still have to go through a lot of trouble? I might as well let them take the grain ships directly to the southern shore. After all, it's just across the river."

  "Lord Guan's guess is wrong, actually our army does not plan to set up camp on the south bank."

  Zhou Yu's sudden words made Liu Bei and others' hearts skip a beat, the lively atmosphere in the cabin immediately became solemn, and Liu Bei quickly gave Xu Shu a signal with his eyes.

  "Director Zhou, according to the prior agreement, the Cao army on the north bank of the Han River will be defended by our army, and the Cao army on the west route will be defended by your noble army. Our two families will join forces and defend Xiangkou to the death. If Director's troops do not set up camp on the south bank, how can they defend against the Cao army?" Xu Shu, who understood the implication, asked this question in response to Zhou Yu's previous words on behalf of Liu Bei.

  Zhou Yu's fair and delicate hands lifted the tea, savoring it slowly, taking a shallow sip, closing his eyes to appreciate the fragrance for a moment before responding with a sentence that made Liu Bei and others change color: "Who said we have to die defending Xiakou? I plan to sail upstream westward, and halfway here, I'll eliminate Cao's old thief."

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