New Three Kingdoms Tales: Starting as the expressionless Liu Bei

Seeing Wang Yun suddenly kneel down before her with a thud, Diao Chan was terrified and turned pale. She quickly reached out to help him up and said urgently:

"Godfather! What are you doing? You mustn't do this! Please get up, please get up!"

Wang Yun remained motionless like a stone statue, only lowering his head further, his aged voice coming out heavily from deep within his throat:

"My daughter, if you don't grant me one request, I will kneel here forever and never rise!"

Diao Chan's eyes instantly reddened, and she nodded repeatedly without hesitation, her voice already trembling with tears:

"Godfather, I promise, I promise you everything! No matter what it is, I promise you, even if it means my death, I will never refuse!"

Wang Yun slowly raised his head, tears welling in his cloudy old eyes. Looking at the girl he had raised with his own hands, he said, word by word, "I beg you, daughter, save the Han Dynasty, save the people of this world!"

Diao Chan was stunned by his words, and asked with a bewildered look in her eyes, "Father, how can I, a weak woman with no strength to even kill a chicken, save the Han Dynasty and the people of the world?"

Wang Yun stared at her, his tone leaving no room for doubt: "Daughter, you only need to promise to 'save' her, and that will be enough."

Diao Chan hesitated for a moment. She didn't know what her adoptive father was talking about, but the old man's threatening demeanor just now was still vivid in her mind, so how could she dare to ask again?

Seeing her hesitation, Wang Yun said in a deep voice, "Otherwise, I would rather kneel here and die than get up!"

Diao Chan could no longer hold back. She immediately knelt before him, clutching his sleeves tightly with both hands, and said in a tearful voice, "I promise, I promise! Godfather, please get up, please get up!"

Wang Yun then stood up with satisfaction and patted the dust off his knees.

He beckoned Diao Chan closer, then brought his mouth to her ear and whispered, "My daughter, I want you... to fall in love with Lü Bu. Is that alright?"

Diao Chan's cheeks flushed instantly, and even her neck turned crimson.

She turned her head away in a panic, her voice barely audible, "Godfather, is that 'up' you mentioned... a particle or a verb...?"

Wang Yun waved his hand, offering no explanation, but stared into her eyes and pressed, "Daughter, just give me a straight answer, is it or not?"

Diao Chan was so embarrassed that she almost buried her head in her chest. After fidgeting for a while, she whispered, "This humble woman...this humble woman is afraid that I am not worthy of General Lü."

Wang Yun threw his head back and laughed loudly, patting his white-haired head as he said self-deprecatingly, "Hahaha, you two are a match made in heaven, there's no question of whether you're good enough or not!"

Diao Chan felt both ashamed and doubtful, and couldn't help but raise her head to ask, "But Godfather, I don't understand. What does falling in love with General Lü have to do with saving the Han Dynasty?"

Wang Yun kept that sinister scheme firmly in his heart, but a meaningful smile appeared on his face. He said vaguely, "Well, you will know in time. Right now, I have to go and meet guests, so I don't have time to explain in detail."

He beckoned her closer and lowered his voice, "Daughter, come closer, I'll explain the arrangements to you in detail..."

The scene shifts to a pavilion. Wang Yun and Lü Bu have been sitting in the pavilion talking for quite some time, exchanging casual, unrelated remarks.

Just then, Diao Chan arrived gracefully, leading two singing girls.

The moment Lu Bu raised his head and his gaze fell on Diao Chan, he felt as if he had been struck by something.

His hand holding the teacup hovered in mid-air, his fingertips trembling slightly, and even his breathing became a little heavier.

Wang Yun took all of this in stride, calmly picked up his teacup, and gently stirred the tea leaves floating on the surface with the lid, secretly sneering to himself.

Diao Chan walked up to Lü Bu, curtsied, and said in a sweet voice, "This humble woman greets General Lü. Thank you for your continued concern. I have nothing to repay you with, but I would like to perform a dance for you to express my gratitude."

Lu Bu's Adam's apple bobbed, and his voice tightened slightly as he cautiously uttered three words: "Miss, please."

The singer gently plucked the strings of her zither, and the melodious music flowed through the pavilion. Diao Chan's figure danced gracefully to the music, her robes fluttering, like a startled swan.

Lu Bu's gaze was fixed on her as if by an invisible thread, and the corners of his mouth unconsciously turned up slightly. His mind was filled with nothing but that graceful figure.

Seeing that the time was right, Wang Yun slowly stood up and quietly strolled out of the pavilion. His footsteps were so light that they made no sound.

Inside the pavilion, only Lü Bu, Diao Chan, and the two singing girls still playing the zither remained; the music continued, and the dancing continued.

Wang Yun hurried back into the house, walked to the memorial tablet of the late emperor, and respectfully lit three incense sticks. The wisps of smoke rose, blurring the few lines of mottled writing on the tablet.

He straightened his clothes, knelt down on the prayer mat with a thud, looked up at the memorial tablet that was slightly yellowed from the smoke, and his lips moved as if he were whispering to the late emperor in the underworld.

"God bless me, God bless me!" His voice was extremely low, yet it revealed a ruthless and desperate determination.

"The rise and fall of the Han Dynasty, my old life, now rests entirely on that child Diao Chan. If she succeeds, the world can still be saved; if she fails, the calamity of extermination will come in the blink of an eye."

"At that time, I too will be reduced to a bowl of blood wine, served at a banquet by those beasts, to be drunk to my heart's content..."

(Author's note: What follows is the love story between Lü Bu and Diao Chan. To spare you all the suffering caused by the new "Third Love" drama, I, the author, will use forbidden power to skip this part. I will only briefly outline the subsequent developments below.)

In the pavilion, the music had stopped sometime earlier. The two female musicians who had been playing the zither quietly rose, took their instruments, and silently retreated, leaving only Lü Bu and Diao Chan sitting facing each other.

The two cuddled together for a while, their words becoming softer and softer, and they got closer and closer together.

Finally, Lü Bu couldn't hold back any longer and proposed to Diao Chan.

The two chatted for a while longer before reaching an agreement. They both got up to report the matter to Wang Yun.

Wang Yun had just finished praying for blessings before the late emperor's memorial tablet and was pushing open the door to walk out of the house when he looked up and bumped into Lü Bu coming towards him.

Before he could even exchange pleasantries, Lü Bu knelt down before him with a thud, clasped his hands in a fist salute, and proclaimed in a resounding voice, "Lü Bu greets his godfather!"

Wang Yun's heart skipped a beat, and then he suddenly realized. Diao Chan's beauty trap had succeeded!

He chuckled inwardly, but put on a show of feigned fear and waved his hands repeatedly in surprise.

"General Lü! What are you doing? Your adoptive father is none other than Prime Minister Dong of the current court. How dare I, an old man nearing the end of my life, overstep my bounds?"

Lu Bu raised his head, looked at Wang Yun sincerely, and said, word by word, "To acknowledge Dong Zhuo as my adoptive father is merely to seek a path to promotion; to acknowledge Wang Yun as my adoptive father is a matter of the truest and most sincere affection!"

(There have only been two chapters recently because the author was sick. I'm better today, and there will be five chapters tomorrow.)