Summary of the previous chapter: On the last day of the new year, that is, the fifteenth day of the first month of the twenty-fifth year of Jian'an, Ma Xiaoquan went to the Palace of Wei to meet Cao Cao, who was seriously ill, and completed the conversation he had agreed with Cao Cao...
Cao Cao laughed, not knowing where he got the strength, he grabbed a wine glass and drank all the wine in the glass.
"Dukang! Well, good wine, haha, good wine, come again."
Ma Xiaoquan nodded and asked Cao Cao: "Xiao Cao, let me ask you, do you still not believe that I am a god?"
Cao Cao was stunned for a moment and nodded: "That's right, there are no gods in this world at all. I believe that you, Master Shangxian, are not a real god either!"
Ma Xiaoquan laughed loudly and said: "No one knows me better than Cao Cao. Haha, yes, I am indeed not a god. I am a human being, an upright man."
Cao Cao sighed and said: "You finally admitted it, so how old are you?"
Ma Xiaoquan joked: "Mengde, how old do you think I am?"
Cao Cao narrowed his eyes and calculated, and said: "If we count the first time we met in 189 AD, the sixth year of Zhongping, you are at least fifty years old."
Ma Xiaoquan stood up, turned around in front of Cao Cao and said, "Do you think I look like a fifty-year-old man?"
Cao Cao shook his head and said: "It's not like it at all. When you and I first met... our faces haven't changed, but our thoughts have changed a lot..."
Ma Xiaoquan smiled and said: "Of course, after staying in this era for more than twenty years, and having frequent contact with a powerful man like you, if my thoughts don't change, then I will become a stick!"
Cao Cao widened his eyes and asked: "Era? I have heard this word from you more than once. Who are you?"
Ma Xiaoquan sat back and asked Cao Cao: "Do you really want to know?"
Cao Cao nodded seriously, not knowing that he was a terminally ill person at all.
Ma Xiaoquan thought for a moment and said: "Counting from now on, it will be about 1,800 years. Well, I am a person of that era."
"Eighteen hundred years? You..." Cao Cao opened his mouth, but he began to make rapid calculations in his heart. After calculating for a long time, Cao Cao was still confused.
Ma Xiaoquan shook his head and said with a smile: "Mengde, haha, don't you understand? It's okay, I'll help you figure it out..."
Cao Cao nodded and motioned for Ma Xiaoquan to take charge.
Ma Xiaoquan said slowly: "In my era, we call Mengde's era ancient times."
"Ancient times?" Cao Cao was stunned for a moment, then nodded, "I understand, we also have previous dynasties and ancient times."
"Well, just understand," Ma Xiaoquan said. "The ancient times that Mengde lived in are divided into BC and AD."
"B.C., A.D.?" Cao Cao shook his head, expressing his confusion.
Ma Xiaoquan chuckled: "It doesn't matter if you don't understand. It's the 25th year of Jian'an. If I follow the calculation method of my era, this year will be called 220 AD."
Cao Cao groaned and asked: "Then next year...will you call it AD 22?"
Ma Xiaoquan gave a thumbs up and praised: "Smart"
Cao Cao asked again: "Are there written records of many things during the years you have calculated?"
Ma Xiaoquan clapped his hands and praised: "So smart!"
Cao Cao suddenly realized: "No wonder since the beginning, many of your judgments have been particularly accurate, especially every time I encounter danger..."
Ma Xiaoquan shrugged and said, "You can say that."
"Then...can I think that you don't have the ability to predict the future at all?"
"Prediction? Haha" Ma Xiaoquan shook his head. Ma Xiaoquan already had the ability to predict, but he just didn't know how to use it.
Cao Cao interpreted Ma Xiaoquan's shaking head as Ma Xiaoquan's admission, and couldn't help but sigh with relief.
"Shangxian...oh...no, I shouldn't call you Master Shangxian now. Can I call you Ma Xiaoquan?"
Ma Xiaoquan chuckled: "Of course, didn't you hear that I have been calling you Meng De since I started sitting here?"
Cao Cao laughed, clapped his hands and said: "Hey, actually I am more accustomed to being called Xiao Cao. Haha... Ma Xiaoquan, let me ask you, since you know a lot of things about me back then, why didn't you help me...
....For example, the death of my Ang'er, Cao Ang, the early death of my Chong'er, Cao Chong, or the year of the crusade against Dong Zhuo, you helped me kill Dong Zhuo early...for example...
..”
Cao Cao said a lot of words in succession, and Ma Xiaoquan nodded quietly while listening. It was not until Cao Cao finished speaking that Ma Xiaoquan stopped nodding.
Ma Xiaoquan said: "Mengde, you have said so many what-ifs. If you were me, would you help so easily?"
Cao Cao thought for a moment and shook his head.
"That's right. In fact, you also understand the truth. You haven't trusted me since the beginning, and I, Ma Xiaoquan, have never trusted you since the beginning. Of course, we have been getting along with each other for so many years, and we have to say that it is a kind of
Fate is also driven by interests... Meng De, am I right?"
"Yeah, that's right."
"Well, since we don't trust each other, do you think I can help you even if I know your past?"
Cao Cao shook his head.
"So..." Ma Xiaoquan came to a simple conclusion, "I need balance. I need to find balance from you, or everyone I know..."
Cao Cao sighed and said: "I understand, you, Ma Xiaoquan, haven't regarded me as a friend since 1st, right?"
Ma Xiaoquan waved his hand: "It wasn't before, but at this moment... it is."
Cao Cao smiled bitterly and said: "I think that in my whole life, Cao Mengde, defeated Dong Zhuo, destroyed Yuan Shao, pacified the northwest, unified the north, and went down to the east of the Yangtze River. In three parts of the world, I don't have a real friend worthy of my heart. Those who are close to me, even
My son, besides being afraid of me, wants to be attached to me... At this moment, I, Cao Cao... finally have a friend, haha... Come, do it
cup!"
As Cao Cao spoke, he raised his wine glass and touched it with Ma Xiaoquan. Ma Xiaoquan drank it with Cao Cao without any ceremony.
The two put down their wine glasses, looked at each other and laughed.
Ma Xiaoquan asked Cao Cao: "Meng De, aren't you curious about what happened after you left?"
Cao Cao shook his head: "I turned into dust after I left. I don't know what they accuse my children and grandchildren of doing... Ma Xiaoquan, you also know that I will never believe it in my life."
What gods and demons are there, so I don’t want to know about what will happen in the future, and I don’t even bother to know.”
"Then if you were given another ten years to live, would you like to know?"
Cao Cao raised his eyebrows, then shook his head: "If you know your destiny in advance, you will wait comfortably. In such a life, there is no meaning to live. Not knowing is blessing, not knowing is the best...
.... By the way, Ma Xiaoquan, if you ask me this question, do you have any doubts yourself?"
Ma Xiaoquan chuckled and nodded.
Cao Cao glanced at Ma Xiaoquan thoughtfully and said, "Actually, you and I are very similar in this regard, right? Although I'm moved, I'm not willing to touch that line..."
Ma Xiaoquan nodded with satisfaction, picked up the wine glass and clinked another glass with Cao Cao.
"It's just..." Cao Cao drank the wine in his glass and asked with some confusion, "What I don't understand is... you, Ma Xiaoquan, came to this era to find the solar recorder you want.
But why build a Ma family?"
Ma Xiaoquan said: "Mengde, I know you don't believe in gods, demons, and monsters, but do you believe in fate?"
"Destiny?" Cao Cao thought for a while and nodded seriously, "I believe that as the saying goes, there will be a time in life, but there is no time in life, so don't force it. I think Cao Cao was also a playboy when I was young. Who would have thought that I would have such a destiny?
Today’s achievement? What is this but destiny?”
Ma Xiaoquan smiled and said: "On the one hand, it is fate, and on the other hand, it is also the result of Mengde's good luck in finding the right time, place, people and your own efforts."
"Hey" Cao Cao sighed, "After living to my age, I suddenly felt that these are all false, all false... Ma Xiaoquan, why don't you grow old? Or...
Your appearance is not old, but your body is already the same as mine..."
Ma Xiaoquan shook his head: "I am still me, and I have indeed not aged. What is the reason? Even if I explain it to you, you will not understand."
Cao Cao asked: "Did people in your era find a prescription for immortality?"
Ma Xiaoquan smiled and said: "You can also say that."
"I see, no wonder you don't grow old... Well, also, is your firebending ability something that people of your time can do?"
Ma Xiaoquan shook his head: "How is it possible? If everyone knew how to do it, the world would be in chaos."
Cao Cao clicked his tongue twice: "So, Ma Xiaoquan, even if you are a person like me, you are not an ordinary person. Your ability to control fire alone is not something that humans can possess."
Ma Xiaoquan smiled slightly but said nothing, and did not explain to Cao Cao anymore.
Now Ma Xiaoquan has temporarily lost all his superpowers except for the ability to physically travel, the flame girl Xiaoshuang in his body, and the precognition that he can't use at all. In other words, Ma Xiaoquan is now a person who can be killed.