Jia Xu did not voice the words “real or fake Zhuge Liang,” because he quickly realized that the person he was chatting with was likely Zhuge Liang’s younger brother.
He knew Zhuge Liang had brothers—more than one, in fact—a “convenience” granted by his modern memories. In A New Account of the Tales of the World, the Zhuge family’s “Dragon, Tiger, and Dog” trio of brothers was introduced. Just as the Three Kingdoms stood divided, these three sons of the Zhuge family were scattered across the lands. The “Dragon” was naturally Zhuge Liang, who served in Shu; Wu possessed the “Tiger,” Zhuge Jin; and the “Dog,” Zhuge Dan, went to Wei.
Hmm, hmm… Jia Xu pondered inwardly. He only remembered that among the three, Zhuge Liang’s age was in the middle. So, was the one before him the eldest or the youngest, and what was his name?
Guilt—Jia Xu felt nothing but guilt.
He even reflected on whether spending too much time with the hotheaded Zhang Xiu had made him rash as well. He should have looked into the Zhuge family’s relationships beforehand.
Hiss…
Had he failed to find Zhuge Liang earlier for the same reason—not clarifying this point?
Jia Xu belatedly realized a “minor flaw” in his previous search for people: he had forgotten to bring something like a portrait!
After reflecting on his failure to find Zhuge Liang, Jia Xu then considered whether he had carelessly praised the wrong person just now, hurting the younger brother’s feelings.
A brief recollection confirmed that his compliments had all been “generic” platitudes, so he set his mind at ease.
Ah, this was also his fault for not exchanging names.
No wonder martial arts novels emphasized announcing one’s lineage before a fight—getting it wrong now was truly awkward!
Still, Zhuge Liang’s brothers were no ordinary men either!
He wanted them all. Every one of them.
He had no intention of retracting his praise for the younger brother. Youthful now, but that didn’t mean he lacked ability—at least he was probably a bit more capable than this military amateur…
Quickly composing himself, he chose to begin his self-introduction with due solemnity.
“Greetings, I am Jia Xu! I’ve come this time to invite Zhuge Xuan and his nephews to join me at my place. He’s fallen ill, you see, and having someone to care for him would be better. Which nephew are you?”
Perfect. Jia Xu was almost impressed by his own cleverness—he had actually thought to use this trick to directly ask for their names! The one before him must be Zhuge Liang, and he would surely introduce his younger brother along the way~
“I am Zhuge Liang. This is my younger…” Zhuge Liang looked at Jia Xu, then at his own younger brother grinning rather foolishly behind him, and guessed what had happened.
This Jia Xu… must have mistaken him and his brother as well, and had just directed all the praise meant for him onto the younger brother instead?
To do such a thing… his brother wasn’t wrong—this man was indeed the honest type.
Zhuge Liang did not expose the mix-up between the two confused individuals, but Zhuge Jun first felt that his elder brother was being too cold.
“Ah, brother, I can introduce myself! I am Zhuge Jun. I won’t go back on my promise to you. Even if you don’t go, I will!”
Zhuge Jun possessed a bit more youthful spirit than the steady Zhuge Liang.
Zhuge Jun wasn’t worried that his brother would disapprove of his choice.
Like other prominent families in these turbulent times, the Zhuge clan did not put all their eggs in one basket.
Just as his eldest brother, Zhuge Jin, was now in Eastern Wu, working under Sun Ce.
Zhuge Liang, for his part, didn’t mind whether Zhuge Jun would follow Jia Xu or not. Their family did not interfere with individual clan members’ decisions.
As for Jia Xu’s invitation…
Zhuge Liang wasn’t particularly keen on following Liu Biao.
While changing clothes earlier, his uncle had explained in detail that Jia Xu was a decent person—capable and kind-hearted.
Regarding Jia Xu’s attempts to contact them, Zhuge Liang now felt it was more of a “polite inquiry.” After all, they had merely knocked on the door to ask if Zhuge Liang was home today, and when told he wasn’t, they simply left.
Jia Xu truly respected him and wasn’t forcing him to leave. It felt more like a courteous question: “Can you come with me today? No? Then I’ll ask again tomorrow.”
At this moment, Zhuge Liang had forgotten his initial suspicion that these people were “persistent villains” coveting their family. Instead, he now viewed Jia Xu in an overly favorable light.
If Jia Xu weren’t following Liu Biao but were acting independently, Zhuge Liang might have already packed his things and decisively left with him.
Now, however, he had to weigh the situation carefully. For instance… if Liu Biao—a man of narrow-mindedness and many grievances—discovered that Zhuge Xuan had left him and ended up with Zhang Xiu, “flowing to lower ground,” what might Liu Biao, who already “disliked” Zhang Xiu, do?
But… Zhang Xiu’s situation seemed to have some connection to their family… Should he simply help the kind and honest Jia Xu resolve this issue?
Did the “honest and kind” Jia Xu truly not want to bring the wild Zhuge Liang home? Of course not!
In reality, he had genuinely never considered instructing his subordinates on what to do if they encountered a young “Zhuge Liang,” or how to proceed if the other party refused to admit to being Zhuge Liang!
His rigid subordinates inadvertently boosted Zhuge Liang’s impression of Jia Xu.
Zhuge Liang truly didn’t think much of Liu Biao either. The man’s only redeeming quality was his status as a descendant of the Han imperial family, yet he sought only self-preservation, with no intention of restoring the Han dynasty! This ran completely counter to Zhuge Liang’s ideals of loyalty to the sovereign and love for the country.
Moreover, even when Zhang Xiu had done nothing wrong, Liu Biao’s paranoia was so severe—he couldn’t even adhere to the principle of “trusting those you employ and not employing those you distrust”!
Ah, if only someone like Jia Xu—who cared for the world and sympathized with the people—were a descendant of the Han imperial family. Zhuge Liang felt he would be willing to support “Liu Jia Xu” in ascending to power.
Unaware that Zhuge Liang’s favor toward him had already reached at least half of what he felt for Liu Bei, Jia Xu felt as though he had “failed before even starting.” Thus, instead of directly recruiting Zhuge Liang, he chose to approach the matter through Zhuge Xuan’s illness.
“I’ve received news that Zhang Zhongjing and Hua Tuo will be active in Nanyang Commandery soon. I can hire them at a high price.”
“Do you have that kind of money?” asked Zhuge Jun, not out of sarcasm but genuine concern for Jia Xu’s wallet.
Some Zhuge family kittens hadn’t even arrived at their new employer’s home yet but were already worrying themselves sick over their employer’s finances.
Jia Xu genuinely thought Zhuge Jun was worried he lacked the funds and sighed inwardly. Children from poor families mature early—he himself was the same. Following Zhang Xiu meant “going hungry nine times in three days,” and he had already started calculating whether resources were sufficient whenever something came up.
However, he happened to have no need to worry about the money.
“Don’t worry, whether it’s Zhang Zhongjing or Hua Tuo, neither are bad doctors who maliciously inflate consultation fees. They have strong medical ethics. As for whether Nanyang Commandery has money? Rest assured, I have ways to earn money. Not only do we not need to worry about medical fees, but by then, these two famous doctors might even pay out of their own pockets to work for us!”
Jia Xu smiled slightly, looking rather cunning like a fox.
Like a puppy that had found a bone.
Zhuge Liang looked at Jia Xu’s “profound” smile, not feeling that Jia Xu was “pretending to be profound,” but only sensing the cuteness of an honest person. Hmm… even when thinking himself clever, the expression he made didn’t seem arrogant or superior—truly honest.
Jia Xu also didn’t know that his rare attempt to put on an act had been bluntly criticized by Zhuge Liang. He only knew that his tactics of “having doctors in hand” and “the secret to making money in Nanyang Commandery” had truly hooked the curious Zhuge kittens.
“Alright, we’ll go with you. Our Zhuge family also has money for medical expenses, unless there are truly expensive rare medicinal herbs. If we can’t afford them, we’ll borrow from you in advance…”
Zhuge Liang agreed and didn’t intend to let Jia Xu suffer losses, but before he could finish speaking, Jia Xu cut him off.
“Advance on salary? Good, good.” Suffer losses? Jia Xu hadn’t even considered the idea of suffering losses—this was Zhuge Liang!
Even if Zhuge Liang were a character from a Korean webtoon with tens of millions in debt, Jia Xu wouldn’t let anyone else have the chance to take care of him! The value Zhuge Liang brought was far more than tens of millions.
Hehe, working kitten, acquired!
Jia Xu was so happy he felt like running eight hundred meters outside and shouting a few times.
Zhuge Liang! This was Zhuge Liang!
The young Zhuge Liang, hmph, had that big-eared thief Liu Bei ever met him?!
The “cat thief” Jia Xu was overjoyed.
Then he locked eyes with the “kitten parent” Zhuge Xuan, who had arrived a step later.
“Yinyi! You’ve suffered!” Jia Xu only now realized his own “extraordinary talent”—he didn’t need any prior training to perform with singing, reciting, and acting. The words flowed from his mouth with genuine sorrow.
“These days at home, why didn’t Lord Liu send someone to look after you? You even wrote me a letter entrusting your orphaned children to me, but don’t worry. Before I set out, I already had people contact the two famous doctors, Hua Tuo and Zhang Zhongjing. Whether you have headaches, fevers, or trouble with your legs, they’ll cure you!”
The two famous doctors happened to specialize in internal medicine and surgery respectively. Together, they could keep someone alive even if the King of Hell demanded their death at midnight.
Jia Xu was quite confident.
“Did you finally realize that inviting someone can’t just be done with words—you need to use some forceful methods?” Zhuge Xuan blurted out upon hearing Jia Xu’s words, making even Zhuge Liang glance sideways.
Zhuge Xuan thought Jia Xu was going to kidnap Hua Tuo and Zhang Zhongjing, the two famous doctors who roamed the world.
But, “forceful methods and kidnapping”?
Is this a real uncle? If he had known earlier about using forceful methods to take someone away, wouldn’t the first person to kidnap be his own nephew?
Zhuge Liang was speechless.
“What kind of talk is that!” Someone criticized Zhuge Xuan—not Jia Xu, but Zhuge Xuan’s old neighbor, Old Huang next door, Huang Chengyan.
“You’re about to be forcefully invited away yourself, and you’re complaining that they didn’t act sooner?!”
Huh? Who, who is forcefully inviting whom?
Jia Xu felt a bit unable to keep up with the conversation of ancient literati. It seemed he had suddenly tuned into a channel he didn’t understand.
Jia Xu didn’t understand, but Zhuge Xuan did.
“Huang Chengyan! Stop swinging on that rope inside the house—get your neck out of that noose!”
Swinging?
Hearing Zhuge Xuan’s words, Huang Chengyan rolled his eyes and nearly forgot to keep his grip, almost letting the rope tighten around his neck.
Huang Chengyan felt he had suffered an unjust calamity. Of course, today of all days, he shouldn’t have noticed the carriage and crowd outside Zhuge Xuan’s door and worried that this old fool might have offended someone with his sharp tongue, bringing enemies to his doorstep. So he had come to help.
As a scholar, he had even brought a weapon!
The very rope now wrapped around his neck.
Since he hadn’t planned on practicing weighted cross-country running today and didn’t need a rope to tie up his luggage, Jia Xu hadn’t immediately recognized the rope as belonging to their group, nor had he grasped how shocking this scene appeared to others.
Two of his men were holding a rope, positioning it around the scholar’s neck, and had already looped it twice.
The situation remained deadlocked until one of Jia Xu’s new recruits spoke up.
“Strategist, we’ve captured this man, but he keeps moving. The more he struggles, the tighter the rope gets—we can’t undo it.”
“Huh?” came the duet from Jia Xu and Zhuge Xuan.
“How dare you say ‘huh’!”
Once freed, Huang Chengyan’s first act was to berate his not-so-well-intentioned “bosom friend” Zhuge Xuan. “I shouldn’t have tried to save you. So you’ve… finally decided to leave Liu Biao and switch allegiances? I told you long ago that staying here was no good—sooner or later, you’d end up brooding yourself sick.”
As he ranted, Huang Chengyan also noticed that Jia Xu looked familiar, assuming he had come to invite Zhuge Xuan out of seclusion.
“He’s already brooding himself sick,” Jia Xu chimed in, never one to miss a chance to stir the pot. “He even sent me a letter entrusting his orphaned children to me~”
Entrusting orphaned children?!
Huang Chengyan merely offered Jia Xu a faint smile before continuing his tirade against Zhuge Xuan, now even angrier. Wasn’t he Zhuge Xuan’s closest friend? Why wasn’t he asked to take in the orphans?!
Now that he knew Zhuge Xuan intended to follow Jia Xu, he had initially been happy for him, but upon hearing the name “Jia Xu,” he realized something was off.
“Wait, isn’t Liu Biao targeting…”
“So he is targeting us!” Huang Chengyan cut himself off, realizing he shouldn’t have said that, but it was too late—Jia Xu had already understood. He was furious.
“This Liu Biao, how can he have no sense of collective honor? Given his geographical position, it’s only a matter of time before Cao Cao sets his sights on him. Instead of working together to grow stronger, he has the nerve to stir up internal strife. He’s like an old man hanging himself—tired of living too long.”
Jia Xu was absolutely livid. He had been anxiously preoccupied with “Cao Cao,” thinking Liu Biao was merely tactless and his advisors not particularly bright, unaware of preparing for danger in times of peace, which was why he had been directing Zhang Xiu to do this and that.
But it turned out Liu Biao was deliberately undermining Zhang Xiu.
Wasn’t this just absurd?
“The bow isn’t even used up, and he’s already dismantling it!” In his agitation, Jia Xu’s habit of mixing up idioms resurfaced.
“It’s ‘store the bow after the birds are gone,'” Zhuge Jun whispered a correction.
“Exactly! ‘Kill the hounds once the hares are caught; store the bow after the birds are gone’! Liu Biao is truly wicked.” Jia Xu was seething. “Had I known earlier, I should have persuaded Zhang Xiu to join Cao Cao—at least he’d be closer to Liu Xie!”
As soon as he said this, Jia Xu realized he had spoken out of turn.
I shouldn’t have said that.
Cao Cao holds the emperor hostage to command the feudal lords—Zhuge Liang probably hates him to the core.
————————!!————————
Jia Xu: So infuriating! I thought Liu Biao was just foolish, but I never expected him to be both foolish and wicked. How detestable!
This Huang Chengyan must also be taken away, mainly for his daughter Huang Yueying. This Huang Yueying is suspected to be a master of mechanisms [sparkling eyes] hehe, hehe, our technological development is secured [sparkling eyes].
Pushing the pre-order: Transmigrating as Su Shi’s Sickly Older Brother, My Novel Writing Was Discovered by the Entire Court?!
Novelist Su Jingtian transmigrated into the scumbag male lead from his own “chasing wife to the crematorium” romance novel.
This scumbag would take the imperial examination one year earlier than Su Shi, avoiding the “First Dragon and Tiger List of the Millennium,” and win first place in one go, becoming the dazzling top scholar. While parading through the streets on horseback, he would catch the eye of Princess Fukang.
Princess Fukang would reject her original marriage for him. Unfortunately, just as she entered the wolf’s den, she fell into the tiger’s den. This man had feelings for his cousin, and after marriage, he arrogantly neglected the princess. After awakening, the princess discarded him like trash. He failed to win her back and died in obscurity.
If he hadn’t become the scumbag, Su Jingtian would have praised him like his readers once did, saying, “He deserved to die!” But now that he had become this “eldest son of the Su family” and “top scholar” whom he had only mentioned by title without even giving a name, destined to meet a tragic end… well, that wasn’t so pleasant.
No, I must survive!
Be good to the princess, better, even better!
Let “chasing wife to the crematorium” become nothing but a fleeting cloud!
And…
In his spare time, as a freeloader who had married the princess, enjoying a cushy, high-status sinecure with little work and lots of money, Su Jingtian directly—returned to his old profession!
Writing novels!
All sorts of tropes—chasing wife to the crematorium, the dragon king’s return, the abandoned engagement power fantasy, the max-level expert returning to the beginner’s village, Mr. and Mrs. Smith-style stories—he wrote them all!
“Love Regretted, Long Live the Princess”
[After over a decade of diligent study, top scholar Gu Shi, who had topped six consecutive exams, was chosen as the imperial son-in-law. The princess was affectionate, but Gu Shi was indifferent. His only desire was to dedicate his talents to the nation and, once he achieved fame and success, marry his childhood sweetheart from the countryside.
The princess spent ten years trying to warm his cold heart, but Gu Shiye died saving her. Before his death, he held the princess’s hand and said, “May we never mistakenly marry or wed in the next life.”
Unexpectedly, the princess opened her eyes and truly returned to ten years earlier. At that time, she had begged her father to let her travel outside the city, where she encountered the handsome and peerless Gu Shi on a tall white horse and fell in love at first sight.
Given a second chance at life, the princess decided: I won’t marry him!
Who would have thought that in this lifetime, Gu Shi, who achieved his wish to enter the court and rose to the rank of prime minister, had no entanglement whatsoever with his childhood sweetheart. Instead, he sent love letter after love letter, pleading for the princess to favor him once more.]
When this book first appeared in Bianjing, it stunned everyone: ?!
[Reborn for a second life! Good heavens, such an opportunity exists!]
[Who on earth wouldn’t be happy to marry the princess? If you’re not happy, let me marry her!]
[A young and accomplished prime minister’s lifelong devotion—so sweet to read!]
Some even thought the book was secretly alluding to Su Jingtian and Princess Fukang. But regardless, the book became wildly popular in Bianjing!
Su Jingtian also used this book to transform from a freeloader to a self-made wealthy man!
However…
Su Jingtian didn’t dare keep any of the money for himself. He either secretly or openly gave it all to the princess.
He, he didn’t want the princess to misunderstand him as having divided loyalties!
As the plot timeline progressed, Su Jingtian suddenly realized—he and the princess had already become a famously loving couple in Bianjing!
And… his pen name had been exposed, leading the entire court to mistakenly believe his works were declarations of loyalty written for the princess.
Damn it, how am I supposed to write novels properly now! Stop unmasking me, seriously! Su Jingtian lamented.