Reborn In The Three Kingdoms

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Meanwhile, Lu Su led Ma Chao and his entourage to the the estate assigned to the Ma Clan. It was located within the inner city, it was spacious, well fortified, and staffed with servants who moved with quiet efficiency. The gardens were meticulously kept, the halls adorned with tasteful decorations, enough to impress, but not so much as to seem ostentatious.

As Lu Su led them through the gates, even the most skeptical of the Ma Clan elders could not hide their surprise.

”This... this is for us?” one of them muttered, his eyes wide.

Lu Su smiled. ”Lord Lie Fan insisted. He wanted you to feel at home here at Xiapi.”

Ma Chao said nothing, but his gaze swept over the estate with quiet assessment.

Once inside, Lu Su handed over a set of scrolls. ”Maps of the city, schedules for the markets, and a list of available physicians should any of your kin require care. Lord Lie Fan has also arranged for a monthly stipend of grain and silver to assist you for as long gas your stay here in Xiapi.”

Ma Chao accepted the scrolls with a nod. ”You have my thanks, Master Lu Su.”

Lu Su bowed. ”Rest well, Lord Ma Chao. I will return tomorrow to discuss further arrangements.”

With that, he departed, leaving the Ma Clan to their new surroundings.

Ma Yunlu was the first to break the silence. ”This is... quite generous treatment for a disgraced warlord and his clan who seeks shelter.”

Pang De grunted. ”Generosity always has a price.”

Ma Xiu, ever the diplomat, shook his head. ”Perhaps. But for now, it is shelter. And we need that more than pride.”

The elders dispersed, murmuring amongst themselves as they explored the estate. Ma Chao remained in the courtyard, his expression unreadable.

Ma Yunlu approached him. ”What are you thinking, eldest brother?”

Ma Chao exhaled slowly. ”I am thinking that Lord Lie Fan is a man who plays the long game. Somethings you can see after you experienced or placed into a different position of perspective.”

Ma Yunlu furrowed her brows, confused by her brother’s words. ”Placed into a different position of perspective? What do you mean by that, Eldest Brother?”

Ma Chao glanced at her, his features softening. ”It means that sometimes, you don’t understand why someone acts a certain way until you stand where they stood or until life makes you see things through their eyes. When Father was alive, I would’ve never considered what Lie Fan is offering. But now? Now, everything is different.”

Yunlu didn’t press further. Her experience was mostly on the battlefield, she knew how to wield a spear better than political maneuvering. She gave a curt nod, accepting the answer, though her thoughts were still spinning.

The next morning dawned with the cool crispness of late spring. Birds sang in the courtyards of the Ma Clan estate, but inside the palace, the atmosphere was more complicated.

Lie Fan sat in his study, reviewing dispatches from various provinces. Reports from his entire domain, Goguryeo, and the Oriole Agent network were sprawled across his desk. His thoughts were occupied with Ma Chao, the fragile yet promising bridge that had just arrived in Xiapi.

Then came a soft knock.

His page entered, bowed, and reported, ”My lord, Lady Wang Yi requests an audience with you.”

Lie Fan’s brows creased. Wang Yi.

He hadn’t thought of her much recently, and truthfully, the memory of her always brought a strange heaviness. Her beauty had struck him deeply the first time they met, but even stronger than that had been the sorrow behind her eyes, the heavy grief of a woman whose husband had died because of the Ma Clan.

Since her arrival at Xiapi, she had buried herself in the work he entrusted to her. Becoming one of the three Oriole Grandmasters, she oversaw brothels, information houses, and red inns, weaving webs of intelligence across the land.

Unlike Jia Xu and Xu Kai, who preferred to report in person and often lingered to speak of the next steps they should take with him, Wang Yi rarely approached him directly and kept her distance. She only ever sent reports, painstakingly written, rich in detail, delivered with flawless timing.

Which is why her sudden request made sense.

Ma Chao had arrived.

She must have heard. Of course she had. The agents under her were impeccable.

Lie Fan sighed, rubbing his temple before nodding. ”Let her in.”

The page bowed and returned shortly after, Wang Yi following behind him in silent grace. She wore a dark purple robe, simple but elegant. Her hair was bound high, as always, her eyes unreadable. The moment she stepped inside, she curtsied with practiced poise.

”My lord.”

She didn’t say more.

Lie Fan’s brows lifted slightly. He understood the unspoken message. She wanted privacy. He turned to his page. ”Leave us. No one is to enter unless I give the word.”

The page obeyed, closing the doors behind him.

The study fell into a private hush.

Lie Fan gestured to the seat across from him. ”Please, sit.”

Wang Yi obeyed, lowering herself onto the cushion without a sound.

A beat passed before she spoke. ”My lord must already understand why I have come.”

”I do.” Lie Fan replied without delay. ”It’s about Ma Chao and the Ma Clan.”

Wang Yi’s jaw tightened, her posture stiff. Her voice was calm, but her eyes burned. ”Then I will ask plainly, my lord. Knowing what you do about my past with them, knowing what they took from me, why do you still wish to bring them into your fold? Let alone welcome them with such kindness?”

Lie Fan rose from his seat and walked toward the window. He looked out at the palace gardens below, where green paths twisted between serene ponds and blossoming trees.

”Because we need them,” he said finally. ”Especially Ma Chao. He is more than a grieving son or an exiled warlord. He’s a warrior whose skill rivals many of the top generals under me. A general whose presence on the battlefield is like thunder. In the dynasty I will build, he could be a pillar.”

Behind him, Wang Yi’s voice wavered. ”And yet you ask me to stand beside him. To welcome him in. Do you not see the cruelty in that, my lord?”

Lie Fan turned. She was composed, but her fingers were clenched around the folds of her robe.

”I see it,” he said gently. ”And I do not ask it lightly.”

She lowered her gaze, her voice cracking just slightly. ”There are others. Men like Yan Yan or Zhang Ren. You already have your hands in Yi Province, my lord. Fa Zheng, Zhang Song, Meng Da, all of them bending Liu Zhang’s house inch by inch toward yours. Men more stable. More loyal. Without... baggage.”

”Yes,” Lie Fan acknowledged. ”And I am moving pieces in Yi Province, slowly but surely. Liu Zhang’s court grows ever more hollow. But age matters, Lady Wang Yi. The two men you mentioned have only so many years left on the battlefield. Ma Chao, Ma Tie, Ma Dai, Ma Xiu, even Ma Yunlu, they are young. If brought into the fold, they can serve for decades. Their loyalty, once earned, can be passed down.”

She looked up at him then, eyes shimmering with unshed tears.

”Loyalty? Can such men truly offer that? Men who rebelled against their pledged Lord Cao Cao, who fled from their lands, dragging their people through fire and blood?”

Lie Fan walked back toward his desk, pausing before her.

”You think me blind to their flaws. I am not. But what I see is a fire that, if stoked right, could become the hearth that warms a new order. I will not trust them blindly, Lady Wang Yi. But I must try to guide them. And in time, if they fail—”

He didn’t finish.

He didn’t need to.

Wang Yi swallowed hard. ”And me? What would you have me do? Smile at my husband’s killer? Pretend none of it happened?”

Lie Fan lowered his voice. ”I would never ask you to forget. I know it’s not a wound that time can simply heal. I only ask you to remember the future we strive for. You are one of my finest agents, and your pain gives you strength, but do not let it cloud your judgment. I am trying to build something greater than any one man’s revenge or sorrow. If I am to forge a dynasty, I must think not only of today, but of tomorrow.”

Her voice trembled. ”And what of justice?”

Lie Fan paused. ”Justice must serve peace, not the other way around.”

Wang Yi turned her gaze away, blinking fast. ”Do you expect me to bow to him, my lord? To serve beside him? After what he took from me?”

”No,” Lie Fan said gently. ”I expect you to continue what you’ve always done. Serve me. Protect this land in your way. You will never be forced to work directly under him. But I will not discard a sword as sharp as his because it once drew blood from someone under my rule.”

The silence returned, heavier than before. Finally, Wang Yi stood.

”I see,” she said. ”I thank you for your honesty, my lord.”

She turned to leave, but paused at the door.

”Allow me to ask one more thing, my lord,” she said, her back still to him. ”Had I not reminded you of what they did to me... would you have remembered of it?”

Lie Fan didn’t answer at once.

”I never forgot Lasy Wang Yi,” he finally said. ”I just hoped you had found peace inside you.”

Wang Yi gave no reply. She walked out without another word. But inside she thought of something else. She was one of the three Oriole Grandmasters for a reason, her mind was sharp, her instincts honed by years of grief and vengeance.

She knew of Lie Fan’s ambitions, his methods. And yet, the thought of Ma Chao walking freely through Xiapi, welcomed as an ally, sat like poison in her chest, even if she had backed down for now because her lord ask her.

Alone once more, Lie Fan returned to his desk, but he didn’t sit. He stood, staring out the window, hands clenched behind his back, deep in thought.

Forging a dynasty, he thought, was not a matter of steel and fire alone. It was sacrifice. Not just from him, but from all those around him. Even from those who had already lost too much. And the cost of such sacrifice was measured not in coin or land but in pain. In silent rooms and quiet conversations like this one, where duty must triumph over grief.

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Name: Lie Fan

Title: Overlord Of The Central Plains

Age: 34 (201 AD)

Level: 16

Next Level: 462,000

Renown: 1325

Cultivation: Yin Yang Separation (level 9)

SP: 1,121,700

ATTRIBUTE POINTS

STR: 951 (+20)

VIT: 613 (+20)

AGI: 598 (+10)

INT: 617

CHR: 96

WIS: 519

WILL: 407

ATR Points: 0