Chapter 2: Oath of the Peach Garden

  In the past few days, Liu Bei and Li Yu's relationship has become even more inseparable. The two have long since become close enough to discuss anything with each other, and Liu Bei has also grown accustomed to Wang Xue's occasional outbursts of temper.

  One day early in the morning, Liu Bei was preparing to go out and sell some grass mats and shoes. At this time, Li Yu and Wang Xue walked out of the house and said to Liu Bei: "Brother, why are you going out to do business so early today?"

  Wang Xue exclaimed: "Liu Lao Da, take me out for a stroll! I've been here for so long and haven't even gone shopping yet!" After Li Yu's persuasion, Wang Xue has now completely opened up. In Wang Xue's heart, he values Li Yu the most, after all, in this era, only Li Yu understands Wang Xue best, knows what he is thinking, and they have been together for so long, with an unspoken understanding between them! Most importantly, Li Yu promised Wang Xue to be together till the end! To gain one person's heart, to grow old together without leaving each other! At this moment, both of their hearts are filled with such thoughts!

  Li Yu also chimed in: "Let's go for a stroll with the master, maybe something unexpected will happen! Hehe!"

  Liu Bei said, "Brother Li is willing to accompany me, that's great! Let's go together! I'm just afraid that Brother Li and his wife will find it embarrassing to do this business with a foolish brother like me!"

  Li Yu said: "What are you talking about, my lord? My lord is currently a dragon swimming in shallow water being teased by shrimp, and a tiger fallen into the plains being bullied by dogs. One day when the wind and clouds meet, the dragon will swim to the ninth heaven and shine on the heavenly court!"

  "Haha! If it's really as Brother Li said, that would be great! That would be great!"

  Wang Xue muttered to herself on one side: "What's with what, isn't this your QQ signature? Piracy! Piracy! Crack down on piracy!"

  Li Yu glared at Wang Xue, and Wang Xue snorted and turned her head away, ignoring Li Yu.

  Liu Bei has also gotten used to Wang Xue through their current interactions!

  Liu Bei and Li Yu Wang Xue three people on the road have said to have laughed, soon entered the Zhuozhou city, along the Zhuozhou city all the way west ready to go to Guanyin Street to sell straw shoes, and took the three people to turn around!

  At this time, a tall man came from the south road, pushing a single-wheeled cart. He was about two meters tall, with a long beard and red face, and his lips were like painted with lipstick. His eyes were bright and his eyebrows were thick. On the cart were two bags of green beans. The man walked straight to the well and stopped, possibly wanting to drink some cool water. Seeing that there was a well, but it was covered with a large stone, he thought: "Who is this family's prodigal son? Why would they cover the well with a stone?" He thought about it and then went forward to move the stone away.

  As soon as he moved the stone, many people gathered around to watch. Liu Bei, Li Yu, and Wang Shuang also walked into the crowd to see what was happening. The man picked up the stone and then pulled out a rope from the well. As he pulled, he pulled out a piece of pork. It turned out that Zhang Fei had killed a pig today and was afraid it would spoil if not sold quickly. Although Zhang Fei was a rough person, he wasn't an unscrupulous merchant. He thought about where to put the meat and decided to hang it in the well because the water was cool.

  To prevent others from stealing it, he covered the well with a large stone weighing over 1,000 catties. On the stone, he wrote: "Whoever can lift this stone can take away the good meat!" - This was an opportunity for people to get free pork! Zhang Fei then took another piece of pork and went home to cook wine and have a meal.

  This is why there was fresh pork in the well, along with a sharp knife. The tall man only saw the words on the stone after he moved it away. Without saying anything, he cut off a piece of meat with his knife, put it on his cart, and then distributed the remaining meat to the crowd, saying: "This pork is a gift from the host family. Today, someone's family invites everyone present to have a taste!" After finishing speaking, he pushed his cart and left quickly.

  The people in the crowd were all amazed and thought that this was an extraordinary event. They didn't know what had just happened or who the tall man was.

  Zhang Fei's servant was sitting at the gate, basking in the sun and watching everything. He wanted to stop him but felt that his master had left a message on the stone tablet, so he couldn't speak up. Instead, he called out: "Good fellow, please leave your name!" "Guan Yu." The big man pointed to his red face and then to his long beard that reached his chest, saying: "I'm at the grain market on Guanyin Street in Zhuozhou. If you have any business with me, you won't go wrong."

  Li Yu looked at it with a smile and asked Wang Xue beside him: "Guess who is selling pork, whose family is this person?"

  "Are you stupid? Haven't you read 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms'? The big guy who lifts stones is called Guan Yu, and the one selling pork is Zhang Fei. I'm telling you, Haiyan, you're really something!"

  Li Yu was so angry that he slapped Wang Xue's head. But Li Yu thought for a moment, it turned out that sometimes it was true, unexpectedly Liu Guan Zhang three brothers really knew each other, but it was before the Yellow Turban Rebellion!

  Li Yu said to Liu Bei: "My lord can follow this red-faced big man, and he will surely have great use for him in the future!"

  Liu Bei said: "Brother also has this intention!" Liu Bei had always had a mind to love his generals, and he didn't need Li Yu to tell him that he wanted to follow along.

  Here is the translation:

  And so, the three of them followed closely behind. Before long, they saw a man with dark skin, leopard-like head and ringed eyes, resembling someone from Africa. He was sprinting at a speed of 100 meters per second along Guanyin Street. As soon as he saw him, Zhang Fei knew it was him - the red-faced, long-bearded man, Guan Yu. In front of Guan Yu were two bags of green beans. Zhang Fei confirmed that it was indeed him! Zhang Fei widened his ringed eyes and spoke with a sharp tongue: "Hey, can you eat these green beans?"

  Wang Xueyi burst out laughing and said to Li Yu, "Husband, who buys things from people like this? Who says mung beans can't be eaten? Can't eat but still sell? Just listening to it, I know they're looking for trouble. This Zhang Fei is really lovely!"

  Li Yu was speechless for a moment, he could make a generation of war gods, Meng Zhang Fei think cute, and he fainted!

  Guan Yu suppressed his anger and said, "The green beans I sell are always of the highest quality. You can take a closer look yourself!"

  Zhang Fei chuckled and bent down to insert his hand into the sack, grabbed a handful of green beans, clenched his fist, and immediately turned the green beans into bean powder. He dug it out, spread his hand in front of Guan Yu's face, and ridiculed him, saying: "You sold bean powder as green beans, you're a big cheat!"

  Wang Xue said to Liu Bei, "Liu the old big, you hurry up and get Zhang Fei under control. Once you've got him under control, I can drink soy milk every day without having to grind it! This is a multi-functional talent!"

  Liu Bei and Li Yu both fainted with a loud bang!

  However, Guan Yu did not consider Zhang Fei a multi-talented person. He saw him get angry and pointed at his nose with one hand, scolding him: "You black thing, if you don't want to buy it, then don't buy it! You shouldn't have smashed someone's green beans! Today I must make you pay for this!"

  Zhang Fei refused to admit it and said: "Guan Yu, you still say that the high-quality green beans are sold as bean powder, deceiving customers!"

  Wang Xuesheng was afraid they wouldn't fight, so he shouted in the crowd: "The customer is God, this is fake! Today is Anti-Counterfeiting Day, we must fight!"

  Wow, the crowd is getting excited, but Liu Bei and Li Yu have just calmed down, only to be confused again by Wang Xue! This sister is too capable!

  The two of them went back and forth, each trying to outdo the other in a heated argument. The crowd of onlookers grew larger and larger, with no one knowing who was telling the truth. Just then, Zhang Fei lost his temper, grabbed a handful of green beans, and splattered them onto Guan Yu's face, saying: "If you want to save face, don't eat my meat; if you want to eat my meat for free, don't expect to save face!" It turned out that after Zhang Fei returned, his servant had told him the whole story. Zhang Fei was furious, shouting: "He dares to have someone take away a piece of my meat and still humiliate me? This is too much! I'm not some dim-witted fool, just you wait until I go settle accounts with him!"

  Guan Yu suddenly understood: Ah, I see! This is the owner of that knife-cut pork. Oh, someone ate your pork and you didn't like it, so you came to pick a fight. Hmph, old Guan isn't someone to be trifled with either. In the past, I even dared to take on the county officials, what's there to fear from you? The two of them started fighting immediately. This was great, the entire Guanyin Street, from east to west and then from west to east, the whole street was turned upside down, chaotic and disorderly.

  "Wang Xue saw this and said: 'Ah! There are many people watching around, but no one is mediating or separating them!'"

  Li Yuxiao replied, "Why would anyone dare to intervene? It's like two old tigers fighting in a zoo - who'd dare to stop them?! These two are heavy, skilled in martial arts, and have great strength. With one punch and three kicks, they can flatten the entire street more solidly than stone pavement! Who else but me would dare to go?"

  Wang Xue said: "Ah! Besides you, no one else dares to go. Old Liu, you gather your troops and go up. Don't worry, Miss, I'll cheer for you and beat the drums to help you win!" Liu Bei said: "Good! My wife is watching from here, I'll be right back!"

  Li Yu smiled and said: "My lord, I'll go now. I'll venture into the dragon's lair and tiger's den. My lord can just sit high up in the city tower and enjoy the scenery!"

  Liu Bei said upon seeing this: "Then it's hard on Brother Li!"

  Li Yu looked at Wang Xue with deep affection and said: "Wife, husband is about to venture into the dragon's lair, don't you have anything to say?"

  Wang Xue pouted and said in a tone that was almost crying: "I wish you could come back crawling on your hands and knees, old man!"

  Li Yu fainted, and when he came to, he said: "Whose family's good-for-nothing old woman is this? Take her away!"

  Liu Bei on the side also saw strange things, these two people are a pair of weird husband and wife!

  At this time, Li Yu's two big hands parted to the left and right, and he walked into the crowd of onlookers in front. At this time, there was a vendor selling grass shoes behind the person who had just walked over, as well as a woman with a beautiful face, slender waist, and lotus-like features, her face as round as a full moon. This person, about 1.85 meters tall, with slightly dark skin, regular facial features, double eyelids, and a well-proportioned figure, came to the side of the two men and loudly mediated: "Stop it, you two young whippersnappers! Dare to fight and cause trouble on my turf? Can't we just sit down and talk things over?"

  The onlookers saw that he was handsome, but slightly thin and wearing plain clothes, and couldn't help but mock: "A toad yawning, what a big mouth! I really want to advise them to settle the dispute, just go and pull them apart."

  Wang Yu was delighted, and unexpectedly these onlookers were not afraid of making a big deal out of it. It turned out that since the Han Dynasty, Chinese people's nature of loving to watch excitement had been exposed. He thought to himself, fine, I'll let you all have your fill!

  Only to see Wang Yu suddenly jumped onto the street, one hand grasping Guan Yu's arm pulse, the other hand grasping Zhang Fei's arm pulse. With a burst of strength, he split his arms apart and pressed down, and the two immediately became like wedges stuck in the ground, unable to move even a little bit. What great divine power! This is what people often say about "one dragon splitting into two tigers". Li Yu is after all an internationally renowned martial artist, so it didn't take much effort to separate the two. If Wang Yu were to be ranked now, he would absolutely be a top-notch fierce general, on par with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei (Hey! Don't scold me, if the main character isn't awesome, you guys won't love reading it either).

  Farewell, the people in the crowd cheered. Guan Yu and Zhang Fei thought to themselves: "We two have such great strength, yet this person effortlessly separated us, it's clear that he is also a hero among men!" The two of them also admired Wang Yu from the bottom of their hearts and were willing to befriend him.

  Guan Yu and Zhang Fei bowed to each other and said: "May I ask your esteemed surname and great name?"

  Li Yubowed his hands and said: "I am Li Yu, courtesy name Hanxing! I don't know how to address the two elder brothers!"

  "I am Guan Yu, styled Yunchang!"

  "Zhang Fei also cupped his hands and said: 'My surname is Zhang, my name is Fei, and my style name is Yide!'"

  Liu Bei and Wang Xue walked out of the crowd and said: "The three brothers are really affectionate, it can be said that they are like old friends at first sight!"

  Wang Xue pouted and said: "Why don't you fight anymore? Beat that pig-nosed, garlic-wearing Li Yu to death!"

  Li Yu thought to himself: What have I done to offend this ancestor!

  Guan and Zhang knew at a glance that the visitor was a grass shoe seller, but the beautiful woman behind him was quite stunning!

  Guan Yu then said: "Please introduce me to Li Yu, brother!"

  "This is my elder brother, Liu Bei, courtesy name Xuande! He is a close relative of the Han Emperor!"

  Liu Bei listened to Li Yu's introduction and bowed his hands saying: "Xuande has met the two brothers!"

  Li Yu glanced at Wang Xue and turned his head to say: "This good-for-nothing old woman, I must have been blind when I found her! And she's your sister!"

  Wang Xue exploded in anger, grabbing Li Yu's ear and shouting: "Who ruined our family? Who was blind enough to find him? You tell me clearly!"

  Li Yu could only endure the pain and said: "Wife, I was wrong. I'm a loser, you're blind to have chosen me! Let go of me, okay?"

  Liu, Guan and Zhang burst out laughing at this lovely couple!

  Liu Bei said: "Why don't the two brothers come back home with me and have a chat?"

  Guan Yu said: "This family has this intention!"

  Zhang Fei laughed and said, "When a certain family goes out, they have already called the servants to kill pigs and sheep to prepare for the banquet! They are preparing to welcome Brother Guan, but in their hearts, they have the idea of competing with Brother Guan, so they came up with this. Let's go to my house, everyone!"

  "Ha! You still have such a way of inviting people!" Guan Yu exclaimed with a loud laugh.

  Wang Xue chimed in on the side, adding fuel to the fire: "So you're treating someone to a drink, then why beat him up and force-feed him wine?"

  Liu Bei also smiled and said: "Alright then, let's go bother Brother Zhang at his residence!"

  Li Yu also said: "Some families have the same idea!"

  As the saying goes: a good man loves a good man. They happened to meet and how could they let it pass easily? The five of them chatted and laughed all the way until they arrived at Zhang Fei's home! They had heard about each other before. Guan Yu and Zhang Fei both expressed their desire to befriend Liu Bei. Liu Bei, seeing that they were heroes, also showed great admiration for them!

  Not long after entering the mansion, the servants in Zhang Fei's mansion had already prepared wine and dishes. The five of them took their seats as host and guest, starting to eat and chat at the same time!

  Li Yu said: "I don't know how Elder Zhang and Elder Guan view the great affairs of the world!"

  Zhang Fei said: "Looking at some families, the eunuchs of the Han Dynasty are in power, and the people are suffering! I don't know when there will be another wise ruler?"

  Guan Yu also said: "My family was originally from He Dong Xian, but because of the local tyrants bullying people, I killed them and escaped to Jianghu for five or six years. I wanted to do something, but because of killing people, I had to hide my name!"

  Liu Bei also said: "Alas! With incompetent rulers and ignorant ministers, how can we have opportunities to stand out?"

  Wang Xue stuffed braised pork into her mouth while saying: "Don't rush, you have an emperor and two generals inside, what's the hurry?"

  Liu, Guan and Zhang were thoroughly frightened and didn't know what to say!

  Although Liu Bei was already accustomed to Wang Xue's words, he was still cautious in front of outsiders!

  Li Yu also covered Wang Xue's mouth and said: "Don't talk nonsense! After this, I won't take you out anymore!"

  Wang Xuepu's two big eyes nodded pitifully!

  Li Yu said, "The Great Han Dynasty has long been in decline, I have observed that it is already critically ill. People say that a great house is about to collapse and one tree cannot support it alone. A serious illness requires drastic treatment, the country's problems require great chaos, and only after great chaos can there be great order! I predict that within a month, something big will happen, and when that time comes, the world will surely be in great turmoil. Looking at everyone present, one of us will definitely create a new landscape for the Great Han, and restore the majestic spirit of China!"

  Liu Bei knew that Li Yu was speaking ill of him again, so he didn't dare to speak!

  "Who is this!" exclaimed Guan Yu and Zhang Fei in unison.

  Liu Yu said: "That person is not very good at reading books; he has a broad and gentle disposition, is sparing in his words, and does not show joy or anger on his face. He has always had great ambitions, and is particularly fond of befriending heroes from all over the world. He was born with a height of seven feet five inches, with ears that reach down to his shoulders, hands that extend beyond his knees, eyes that can see his own ears, a face as smooth as jade, and lips as red as if painted with vermilion. He is a descendant of Liu Sheng, the Calm King of Zhongshan, and a great-great-grandson of Emperor Jing of Han, named Liu Bei, styled Xuande."

  Guan Yu and Zhang Fei exclaimed in unison: "Brother Liu was originally a descendant of the Great Han imperial family?"

  Liu Bei stood up and said with tears in his eyes: "I was originally Liu Xuan, the son of Liu Sheng, who was enfeoffed as the Marquis of Zhuolu Village during the Han Wu period. Later, I lost my title due to my fault. This branch of the family has been living in Zhuo County ever since. My ancestor was Liu Xiong, and my father was Liu Hong. My father was once a government official and was known for his filial piety. He died early, and I was left an orphan at a young age. I have always been very devoted to my mother. Our family is poor, and we make a living by selling straw sandals and weaving mats. We live in Louyang Village in this county. I had also hoped to make something of myself, but my uncle Liu Yuanqi often helped me out because he saw that our family was poor. When I was 15 years old, my mother sent me to study under the tutelage of Zheng Xuan and Lu Zhi, and I became friends with Gongsun Zan. However, due to the party purges at court, many loyal officials were wrongly accused, so I had no choice but to hide in the mountains!"

  Zhang Fei said, "I've also heard that in the east-southeast of this county's Lou Sang Village, there is a family with a large mulberry tree over 15 meters tall. From afar, it looks like a canopy on wheels. A fortune teller said, 'This family will definitely produce a noble person.' Several years ago, someone was playing with the village children under the tree and said, 'I'll be the Son of Heaven and ride on this canopy.' The villagers thought, 'This child is no ordinary person!' I wonder if it's you?"

  Guan Yu also stood up and said: "Although we met today, we are all heroes. Brother, please speak clearly, there will be no worries about future troubles!"

  Li Yu also stood up and said: "Big brother, speak directly!"

  Wang Xue also said: "Liu Lao Da, what are you playing so deeply, speak quickly, it's nauseating to be so slow!"

  "That was just a childish joke!"

  Li Yu said: "Why don't we four people make a pact today as sworn brothers of different surnames, from now on sharing good fortune and adversity together!"

  Guan Yu also said: "From now on, let's help each other like close brothers!"

  Zhang Fei said: "Behind our village, there is a peach garden, the flowers are in full bloom; on an auspicious day, we will hold a ceremony in the garden to inform heaven and earth that the four of us have become sworn brothers, united in heart and effort, and then we can achieve great things."

  Liu Bei and Guan Yu responded in unison: "This is very good."

  Wang Xue was unhappy: "Why didn't you bring me along?"

  Liu, Guan and Zhang burst out laughing: "You are indeed our younger brother and sister!"

  Sorry everyone, I haven't written for a month due to personal emotional reasons, making up for it today!