Chapter 1177: Breaking to Rebuild

“Zichuan, why do you seem a little unhappy?” Liu Bei asked with a smile. He had been standing in front of Chen Xi earlier and had felt a surge of power when Chen Xi’s fortune manifested, only for it to dissipate immediately afterward.

Because of this, Liu Bei had a clear view of his ministers' fortunes as they manifested. Aside from Li You, who was more of a secretary yet served many roles under Liu Bei, everyone else's fortunes appeared to be roughly on the same level. However, Zhuge Liang's was clearly different.

Liu Bei had also seen Qu Qi's fortune manifest, though he wasn’t as surprised by it as he was by Zhuge Liang’s. After all, if what Qu Qi had claimed about increasing crop yields to over five shi per mu turned out to be true, it would be reasonable to build temples in his honor. Therefore, his strong fortune wasn’t unexpected.

But Zhuge Liang had taken Liu Bei by surprise. While Liu Bei had always acknowledged Zhuge Liang's talent for governing and was grooming him to be the prime minister, he had always thought of him as a more stable version of Fa Zheng.

Fa Zheng’s personality was wild and unpredictable at times, but Liu Bei recognized his abilities. Both the battles in Yuzhou and Xuzhou had left Liu Bei in awe of Fa Zheng’s skills. So while he held a high opinion of Zhuge Liang, it was always in comparison to Fa Zheng—rating Zhuge Liang as only marginally better, a 1.01 compared to Fa Zheng's 1.0.

This meant that Liu Bei viewed Zhuge Liang as more useful, but not by a large margin. However, Zhuge Liang's calm demeanor set him apart.

When Chen Xi’s fortune had suppressed everyone’s, all their true capacities were exposed. Aside from Li You, whom Liu Bei suspected of hiding his true abilities all along, everyone else’s fortunes were laid bare.

Liu Bei quickly concluded that Zhuge Liang was a rare talent, and Zhao Yun could truly be a pillar of the state. This was his first thought upon seeing their fortunes during the manifestation. As for Chen Xi's lazy, half-asleep giant white fox... well, it could only be said: that’s so typical of Chen Xi.

“Fine, it's the New Year, and I am happy,” Chen Xi replied seriously, though his expression didn’t convey any joy at all.

“When those beams of light shot into the sky earlier, it must have been the manifestation of everyone's fates,” Liu Ye said, looking upward. “The Ren Ding didn’t disappoint. What do you think, Wenru?”

“Tian Ding and Ren Ding each have their mysteries. That the Ren Ding could produce such manifestations is not surprising,” Li You replied, feeling a bit helpless. Digging the pit only to bury himself—surely everyone believed he had been hiding his abilities. After all, whose fortune manifests as an ancient sage, and worse, it was his own likeness!

Ziyang’s ridiculous claims actually make some sense now, Liu Bei thought, considering that Li You might indeed be like a senior to Chen Xi. I should probably shift more of the administrative workload onto Wenru from now on. No wonder he, like Zichuan, seems to have so much free time.

Liu Bei silently resolved to make better use of Li You’s talents in the future. It would be wasteful not to.

But thinking about wasted resources made Liu Bei remember Chen Xi's enormous, lazy nine-tailed white fox. Chen Zichuan, you’ve been slacking off this whole time, haven’t you?!

Though the size and form of a person’s fortune didn’t always perfectly correlate with their abilities—some may possess great talent but remain stifled, while others enjoy fortune through inheritance—those who had achieved their own destiny usually had their fortunes closely tied to their personal potential.

Thus, for those present who had earned their fortunes, the manifestation was a clear indicator of their capabilities. Except for Chen Xi and Li You, the real top-tier talents were Jia Xu and Guo Jia, though both of them had concealed their true strength.

Because Liu Bei had been in the best position to observe, he had seen everything when Chen Xi's fortune manifested. Aside from Chen Xi and Li You, he had assumed that Jia Xu, Guo Jia, Liu Ye, Fa Zheng, Xu Shu, and Lu Su were all about the same level.

But after one fleeting glance, Liu Bei realized that Jia Xu and Guo Jia had also been holding back. The others hadn’t been able to withstand Chen Xi’s overwhelming fortune, but Jia Xu and Guo Jia had just slipped away unnoticed.

At that moment, Liu Bei felt mentally exhausted. He finally understood what Chen Xi had meant years ago when he said that friends were just birds of a feather. These four were all slackers!

The only difference was that Chen Xi slacked professionally, using only thirty percent of his effort, while Li You pretended to work hard but spent half his energy slacking. Jia Xu and Guo Jia put in about seventy percent effort while keeping thirty percent for themselves.

You four… I’ll be sure to increase your workload when we get back! Liu Bei thought to himself, fuming internally. Anyone would be upset seeing all their subordinates acting this way.

Li You wanted to explain that, while he had indeed been holding back, it wasn’t to the exaggerated degree that the others believed. But how could he explain this? Claim that the Tian Ding and Ren Ding were fake? Even if someone believed him, who would want to waste such a massive political advantage?

Well, life’s about to get a lot tougher from now on, Jia Xu thought with a bitter smile. Both he and Guo Jia hadn’t been thrown out by Chen Xi’s fortune; they were in their prime. Though they couldn’t instantly manifest like Li You’s mishap, they hadn’t been forced out like Liu Ye and the others.

The reason they had acted similarly to Liu Ye and the others was simply that Jia Xu and Guo Jia didn’t want to stand out. From this perspective, the quality of Cao’s five strategists was genuinely terrifying.

After being pushed out, Jia Xu and Guo Jia had noticed that Liu Bei hadn’t been thrown back. They immediately realized that their easy-going days were over. However, looking at Li You’s predicament, they felt a little better. After all, there was some comfort in knowing someone else was suffering more.

Liu Bei didn’t spend much more time staring at Jia Xu and Guo Jia, though the meaningful look he gave them said more than words could.

“So, those beams of light flew out into the distance?” Chen Xi glanced over at Mi Zhu and Qu Qi. Setting aside Mi Zhu, Qu Qi historically wasn’t supposed to enjoy such fortune comparable to the ancients, because in history, he should have already died by this point.

“It seems that those hundred or so lights represent the number of prominent talents currently in the Central Plains,” Chen Xi mused.

“That seems about right,” Liu Bei said, nodding. “Looking at it now, we certainly have an advantage. Everyone present is at least recognized as one of the eminent figures by these ancient relics.”

“Actually, setting aside the personal fortune manifestations, I’m more curious about why those beams of fortune flew away. Isn’t that just causing unnecessary chaos?” Chen Xi grumbled. The whole nine-tailed white fox thing was far from endearing, even if it was technically a benevolent creature.

“Zichuan, maybe it’s best not to say such things,” Liu Bei quickly cautioned. Chen Xi tended to speak without thinking at times. But then again, while such massive fortune would seem overwhelming to ordinary people, to someone like Chen Xi, it probably felt like no big deal.

“To establish order from chaos, sometimes you need to break what was before in order to build something new,” Xu Shu said, walking over with a smile.

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