Chapter 106: A Single Color

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“Yunchang, we are brothers, yet we nearly became strangers to one another. If not for your loyalty and righteousness, we might have ended up scattered to the four winds by now!”

Liu Bei spoke while wiping away his tears. Beneath his words lay the implication that it was not because he had failed to look after Guan Yu, but that the choices each of them had made had nearly turned them into enemies.

“Elder Brother! Now that I have brought the ladies back from Wu Commandery, I shall not be leaving again!”

Seeing Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, and the others gathered around Liu Bei, Guan Yu made no mention of the fact that only one of the two ladies had returned. He knew that rather than reveal the matter before so many people, it would be better to let Liu Bei discover it for himself.

“Excellent! I have already prepared a feast at the residence Lord Liu of Jingzhou arranged for us, and I have found lodgings for you as well. Go back and rest for a few hours, Yunchang. Tonight, we shall drink until neither of us can stand!”

After saying this, Zhang Fei once again stepped forward and led Guan Yu toward his residence.

Guan Yu glanced at the carriage still beside Liu Bei and let out a quiet sigh before following Zhang Fei.

They were his elder brother’s wives. As the younger brother, Guan Yu naturally ought to see as little of them as possible. That had been the rule since ancient times.

Still, after Gan Madam and Mi Madam had been taken along by Guan Yu day and night for such a long journey, it was inevitable that some perfectly understandable guesses and rumors would arise among Liu Bei’s followers.

Liu Bei, however, had paid little attention to them, for he understood Guan Yu well enough.

Though matters between men and women were something all of the brothers enjoyed, Liu Bei did not believe Guan Yu would ever turn his attention toward his two wives.

Yet when he returned to his residence with the carriage and lifted the door curtain, he began to feel that perhaps things were not quite as he had imagined.

There were indeed two people inside the carriage—but they were not Gan Madam and Mi Madam, as he had expected. They were Gan Madam and a maidservant.

Liu Bei’s expression changed at once. Mi Madam was one of the finest among his wives. She was well-educated, sensible, and attractive; more importantly, she was the younger sister of Mi Zhu and Mi Fang, two of Liu Bei’s most trusted men. Her presence played a significant role in securing the brothers’ loyalty to him.

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Thus, Liu Bei could not understand why Mi Madam was not in the carriage.

“Madam, why did Yunchang bring only you back? Lord Liu said the message from Wu Commandery was that both of you would return to my side. Did something unexpected happen along the way?”

Once they had returned to their room, Liu Bei first gathered Gan Madam into his arms and comforted her at length. Only afterward did he ask the question.

Gan Madam knew that only she and Liu Bei remained in the room. The time had come to say everything that ought—and ought not—to be said.

“My younger sister is in no danger, nor did anything happen to her along the way. It is only that…”

At this, Gan Madam paused. She had no intention of deliberately stirring up trouble, but since the man at the center of the matter was Guan Yu, she had to consider her words carefully. Otherwise, would she not be repaying kindness with treachery?

After pondering for a moment, Gan Madam decided to recount the facts to Liu Bei as faithfully as possible, avoiding her own conjectures. For a woman without any powerful family or backing, doing otherwise would be nothing short of playing with fire.

“Imperial Uncle, in my view, what happened to my younger sister was all a misunderstanding. When His Majesty learned that Yunchang would soon be leaving, just as word reached him that you and your party were about to arrive in Xiangyang, he held a banquet for Yunchang and the rest of us at the imperial residence. At that banquet, Yunchang drank too much, and afterward he actually…”

Gan Madam did not exaggerate anything. She merely described what she had seen when she awoke the following morning, along with Liu Xie’s investigation into the matter and its results.

Although the final conclusion was that Guan Yu and Mi Madam ought to have had no relationship whatsoever, Liu Bei’s expression remained deeply unpleasant.

Seeing Liu Bei in such a state, Gan Madam scarcely dared to make another sound. After all, she understood that no man could possibly feel good upon learning that his wife had spent the night in the same bed as his younger brother.

Though this age had no particular color with which to describe what had happened to Liu Bei, the turmoil in his heart was not far removed from one commonly associated with such an ordeal.

Liu Bei remained silent for a long while. In an age without cigarettes, if they had existed, he could probably have smoked half a pack in his present mood.

“Was her decision not to accompany you to Xiangyang her own, or was it Yunchang’s?”

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“It was my younger sister’s own decision. Ever since that day, her spirits have been extremely low. Yunchang, for his part, never again appeared at His Majesty’s imperial residence after that day. It was not until two days before our departure that my younger sister said she would not travel to Xiangyang with Yunchang. She then moved alone into another room in the residence.”

“She brought it up herself? Has she said anything to you these past few days?”

“This… Ever since that day, my younger sister has grown considerably more distant from me.”

After asking only these few simple questions, Liu Bei sent Gan Madam away to rest. His expression remained grim.

That grimness lasted until evening, when Liu Bei attended the banquet held to welcome Guan Yu. He kept a dark expression throughout nearly the entire feast, leaving Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, and the others completely bewildered. Guan Yu was the only one who knew what had happened, but at a time like this, he could only pretend not to understand. Such a matter could not be spoken of in a setting like this.

Guan Yu assumed that Liu Bei would find a private occasion to question him thoroughly about the matter. Liu Bei, meanwhile, assumed that Guan Yu would find a private occasion to explain it all to him.

Misunderstandings often arose in precisely this way. By the time those involved realized what had happened, it was usually already too late.

The atmosphere throughout the meal remained subdued. Afterward, two more days passed before Liu Bei finally returned to Xinye with Guan Yu and the others. By then, the matter had spread through Xiangyang as well.

When Liu Bei departed for Xinye, Liu Biao showed him the proper courtesy and personally escorted him to the city gate. Yet after Liu Bei had left, Cai Mao, standing beside Liu Biao, watched the departing carriage and entourage with a disdainful smile before speaking.

“My lord must have heard the rumors as well. This time, the Guan Yu whom Liu Bei summoned back with such urgency brought back only one of his wives. The other is still staying at the Emperor’s imperial residence in Wu Commandery!”

Liu Biao turned to look at Cai Mao’s gleeful expression and nodded.

“I have heard something of it. But Liu Bei is hardly short of women. Did I not send him several beauties here in Xiangyang? What difference can a single wife make?”

“My lord does not know the whole story. I have heard that Guan Yu is deeply involved in the matter!”