Chapter 207 It’s My Business Whether I Say It or Not

"Listening to your words is worth ten years of reading."

"Brother Xuande, I have something to ask of you."

Cao Cao picked up a glass of wine, stood up and handed it to Liu Bei.

Liu Bei took the drink and asked, "What's the matter?"

Cao Cao called several servants, and they carefully placed the writing brush, ink, paper and inkstone on the table.

Cao Cao bent over to spread out the Xuande paper and looked at Liu Bei, who stood straight, and made what he thought was an impolite request.

"Brother Xuande, you are an honest gentleman, so I will speak frankly. The sage said, 'I examine myself three times a day.' I would like to obtain Brother Xuande's calligraphy, and look at it every day to warn myself."

"Good." Liu Bei nodded in agreement. He held the brush and Cao Cao personally ground the ink for him.

"Brother Meng De, I wonder what you want me to say?"

"It's all up to Brother Xuande!"

Looking at the blank paper and thinking for a moment, Liu Bei had an idea in his mind. He rolled up his sleeves, revealing his strong arms, dipped the pen tip into ink, and then wrote a line on the white paper with great vigor and vitality.

“Those who are in a superior position should treat others as human beings, and those who are in an inferior position should treat themselves as human beings.”

"good!"

Cao Cao clapped his hands and cheered after seeing the words on the paper. He was overjoyed and his admiration for Liu Xuande grew stronger. He was filled with emotion. Liu Xuande was indeed worthy of his name. His words were thought-provoking. You should treat people as human beings. I understand.

"Brother Meng De, how about you and I agree on something?"

Cao Cao, who was concentrating on looking at the paper, raised his head when he heard Liu Bei's voice and asked

"What's the matter?"

Liu Bei smiled and said, "Let's set a date. After 30 years, we will gather here and evaluate each other's merits and demerits over the past 30 years. If we treat others with sincerity and have no regrets, we will give each other the calligraphy of 'clear conscience'."

"Good, good, that's great." Cao Cao was so happy that he couldn't stop smiling. The only one who understood his heart was Liu Xuande. He had no regrets in his life to receive such an evaluation from Liu Xuande!

But then he thought, what if he can't do it?

So he asked, "Brother Xuande, what if you can't do it?"

After saying this, Liu Bei grasped the hilt of his sword and said, "Then we can only fight with swords."

"Okay," Cao Cao laughed loudly, "If I can't do it, Brother Xuande, you can come and take my head!"

After parting with Liu Bei, Cao Cao stood at the door of the wine shop, looking at the falling snow, and he sighed: "It's getting colder."

Tightening his fur coat, Cao Cao called his servants and ordered them to prepare a horse for him.

Just as Cao Cao mounted his horse and was about to leave, a noisy sound came from behind him.

"Go, go! If you stay here, don't you know that you will offend the distinguished guest?"

"Good man, it's freezing cold, I just want a cup of soup"

"Return the soup, do you have money?"

"Go quickly, go quickly!"

"I, I, I have money"

"Huh? You don't even qualify to get in with this money!"

He frowned and looked back, only to see three or five servants driving a middle-aged man.

Cao Cao was accustomed to this kind of scene. His tavern entertained ambitious scholars, so it was reasonable for him to drive away the common people who affected his reputation. Even if a great scholar in the court came, he would not say anything.

But
Liu Bei's face suddenly appeared in front of him. What would Xuande do if he were here?
The bits and pieces of the wine shop emerged in my mind one by one. Don't ignore the good deeds because they are insignificant. You must be worthy of your conscience and worthy of others. Those who are superior to others should treat others as human beings.
Brother Xuande, I believe you will give your fur coat to that person.

Thinking of this, Cao Cao's brows relaxed. He pulled the reins and dismounted.

The servant who saw this scene was puzzled and wondered what happened to the young master?
"Stop it, everyone!"

Something happened that left the servants dumbfounded. Their young master actually yelled at them to stop?
Cao Cao walked around the servants who were standing there and came to the man.

For the first time, he looked directly at Xiaomin, whom he had never looked at straight in the eye before. Fear was written all over his haggard face, his eyes were evasive and vague, his clothes were patched and looked very thin, and he was shivering from the cold.

Although the man didn't know who Cao Cao was, he noticed that Cao Cao's clothes were so luxurious that he couldn't even match them ten times. If he turned around and left, the other party would feel resentful about him. What should he do then?

Just as the man was feeling anxious, Cao Cao spoke up.

"Someone is coming."

The moment the voice fell, a servant rushed to Cao Cao's side.

The servant nodded and bowed, "Young Master, what do you want?"

"Go get a jug of hot wine and a new dress."

"?"

Not only the servants, but even the men were stunned.

Even though he was doubtful, the servant still followed Cao Cao's instructions to bring hot wine and new clothes. Cao Cao put the wine and new clothes into the basket. The man opened his chapped lips and said in panic, "My lord, my lord, why are you doing this?"

Cao Cao said, "I just made a bet with my friend, with hot wine and new clothes as the stakes. I said that the next person to come to the wine shop must be an official. My friend shook his head and said that he was not an official. It seems that I lost, so I will give you the clothes and wine. Please give me some face."

Who could refuse after hearing this? The man happily accepted it and kept saying "Thank you very much" to Cao Cao.

Xiahou Yuan, who happened to see this scene, was completely confused. What happened to Meng De? What bet? It was obvious that it was not true. Telling lies with a serious face was Meng De's strong point.

He walked up to Cao Cao.

Cao Cao laughed and said, "Miaocai, why are you here?"

"I saw Meng De hasn't come back yet, so I came to see him." Xiahou Yuan watched the man leave and asked, "Why is Meng De so concerned about this man? Could it be..."

Xiahou Yuan lowered his voice and jokingly asked, "Does this person have extremely beautiful sisters?"

"Ahem." Cao Cao almost spit out the warm wine in his stomach. He cleared his throat and directly bypassed Xiahou Yuan's question. Looking at the dark sky, he made up his mind and said, "Miaocai, I won't leave."

Xiahou Yuan restrained his expression and said solemnly: "No matter what choice Meng De makes, I will support you without hesitation."

"Brother, you're finally back. I was so worried!"

Zhang Fei was overjoyed to see Liu Bei appear at the door. He took two steps at a time and hurried to Liu Bei. He looked him up and down and made sure that he was safe and sound before he breathed a sigh of relief.

Liu Bei thought it was a little funny, "I'm not going to venture into a dangerous place, what could possibly happen?"

"Brother, what did you talk about with Cao Cao?" Guan Yu stepped forward.

Liu Bei pulled the two men to sit down, "Second brother, third brother, listen to me in detail."

"What?!" Zhang Fei's eyes widened, like an angry King Kong, "Can Cao Cao change?"

Facing Zhang Fei's question, Liu Bei couldn't give a correct answer for a while. He shook his teacup and said, "I don't know."

"But whether he can do it is his business, and whether I say it or not is my business."

“I hope it can be changed.”

　First update

　　
　
(End of this chapter)