Looking at Cao Cao's face filled with murderous intent, Xu Shao frowned slightly. He hesitated for a moment before continuing to ask Cao Cao:
"If you kill him, wouldn't the army be left without a commander, putting it in grave danger?"
Cao Cao laughed loudly and replied:
"How could an army be without a commander? If I kill him, I would personally lead the troops to destroy the enemy."
Xu Shao asked again: "What if there are those who refuse to obey..."
Before Xu Shao could finish, Cao Cao firmly interjected:
"Those who refuse to obey will all be executed!"
His words carried a chilling air of menace. A young noble sitting close to Cao Cao was so frightened that he took two steps back, knocking over a teapot on the table.
Yuan Shu, sipping tea on the upper floor while observing the scene, thought to himself, "This Cao thief can be quite terrifying when serious."
As for the young noble who knocked over the teapot, Yuan Shu sneered inwardly, thinking, "What a coward, scared senseless by just a few words from Cao Cao. People like him shouldn't even participate in this talent evaluation."
After questioning Cao Cao, Xu Shao remained silent for a long time, deep in thought, leaving the audience below growing impatient.
Finally, Cao Cao asked, "Sir, how would you judge me?"
Xu Shao sighed. With so many eyes on him, he couldn't avoid answering.
After some thought, he finally said:
"You are a capable minister in times of peace and a treacherous hero in times of chaos!"
With that, he said no more.
Cao Cao, unbothered, found satisfaction in the evaluation. He returned to the upper floor, patted Yuan Shu on the shoulder, and said with a mischievous smile:
"Brother Gonglu, it's your turn."
Yuan Shu looked at Cao Cao's carefree and grinning demeanor, as if the menacing figure on stage earlier was a completely different person.
He nodded to Cao Cao and said, "Got it, I'm heading up now."
Having paid the fee and enjoyed the event, Yuan Shu felt obligated to make an appearance on stage with so many people watching.
Xu Shao, known for his mastery of observing aura, sensed a heavy and ominous energy emanating from Yuan Shu as he approached. Within that ominous aura, there was even a hint of deathly energy, which greatly displeased him.
It was no wonder—Yuan Shu's luck value was at -9, an almost unheard-of figure. Ordinary people with bad luck might score in the 20s or 30s, nowhere near Yuan Shu's negative value.
Xu Shao's face darkened, and he instinctively wanted to drive Yuan Shu away.
Then he remembered that Yuan Shu had paid for the evaluation. As a professional, he felt obliged to provide his services.
Suppressing his irritation, Xu Shao began observing Yuan Shu.
To be fair, Yuan Shu was quite handsome, a testament to the fine genetics of the Yuan family.
However, despite his good looks, there was a certain ruthlessness in his brows. His pointed chin gave him a harsh appearance, and combined with the dense ominous aura around him, he certainly did not seem like a kind person.
Adding to this was Yuan Shu's notorious reputation in Luoyang. Instinctively, Xu Shao wanted to give him an evaluation like:
"A wine sack and food bag, a parasite of the nation."
But then Xu Shao paused and thought, "Wait, something's not right!"
As Xu Shao carefully observed Yuan Shu with his aura-reading technique, he suddenly noticed that amidst Yuan Shu's ominous aura, there was a faint trace of purple energy.
Within the deathly aura, there was a hint of imperial energy!
This was a ruthless individual who concealed imperial ambition beneath ominous and deathly energy!
It was such a clever disguise that Xu Shao nearly misjudged him.
In truth, Yuan Shu had no such deep understanding. While Xu Shao was observing him, Yuan Shu was using his system to analyze Xu Shao.
Thanks to his "Pseudo-Emperor" skill, even though it hadn't fully awakened, a faint trace of dragon energy leaked during his scanning process, which Xu Shao detected.
As Xu Shao circled him, Yuan Shu inwardly commanded:
"System, analyze this Xu Shao and find out what's going on with him."
"Ding! System is analyzing. Analysis complete!"
"Name: Xu Shao
Attributes:
Martial Strength: 49 Leadership: 52 Intelligence: 71 Politics: 42 Charisma: 60 Luck: 81
Special Attribute:
Aura Reading: 98
Skills:
Aura Vision (Awakened): Can perceive others' fortunes and avoid harm. Talent Evaluation (Awakened): Provides accurate assessments of talent."
Yuan Shu thought, "So this guy is a special talent. His ability to assess talent is spot on—that's quite impressive!"
At this moment, Xu Shao asked Yuan Shu:
"If you were to govern a region, how would you do it?"
Yuan Shu thought to himself, "This guy wants to test me? Today, I'll give him random answers and see if he can still evaluate me accurately."
So Yuan Shu opened his mouth and said:
"Govern what? I won't. Why waste time governing when I could be out squandering wealth and enjoying myself?"
The young lords in the audience burst into laughter.
They had long heard about Yuan Shu's reputation.
You could say he had all kinds of nicknames: Luoyang's number one wastrel, the Han dynasty's top debauchee.
Such behavior from Yuan Shu wasn't surprising; it was just the first time they'd seen it live.
But among the crowd, a few people didn't laugh.
One was Xi Zhicai, who lightly fanned himself and looked at Yuan Shu below with great interest. His lips curled into a faint smile as he said:
"Yuan Gonglu, quite intriguing."
The second was Zhou Yi, who gazed at Yuan Shu thoughtfully.
The third was Cao Mengde. If you asked him about Yuan Shu in the past, he would have said he was a complete fool.
Having partnered with Yuan Shao several times to con Yuan Shu out of money, Cao Cao had found Yuan Shu's lack of intelligence almost laughable.
But in the past couple of days, he noticed something strange. Yuan Shu seemed different from before.
When conversing, Yuan Shu now spoke with clear logic. While Cao Cao could still swindle money from him, he could no longer manipulate Yuan Shu like a puppet as he once did.
To put it bluntly, Cao Cao no longer felt an overwhelming intellectual advantage over Yuan Shu. Purely in terms of intelligence, they now seemed evenly matched.
To be boastful, Cao Cao thought that few in the world could rival his brilliance.
Now, he had to acknowledge Yuan Shu as one of them, though an unreliable one obsessed with wasting wealth.
But no matter how unreliable, someone so intelligent shouldn't utter such foolish words in public.
This gathering was full of aristocratic young masters and high-ranking officials. Compared to the previous dinner at the Drunken Immortal Tavern, this was truly a disgrace to the Yuan family name.
Cao Cao furrowed his brows and muttered to himself:
"What exactly is Yuan Gonglu trying to do?"
He believed that everything happened for a reason. Yuan Shu's actions were clearly illogical, which meant there must be some hidden secret he didn't yet understand.
The last person who didn't laugh was Xu Shao.
Not only did he not laugh, but cold sweat began to drip down his face.
If he hadn't used his Qi-gazing technique to see the purple imperial aura and emperor's presence on Yuan Shu, he would have considered such nonsense entirely normal for someone with such heavy ominous energy.
After all, someone so steeped in misfortune would likely have their brain corroded, leaving them no different from a fool.
But Yuan Shu was someone with the aura of an emperor!
And he had concealed this emperor's aura so deeply.
Anyone with emperor's aura was destined to be a peerless hero. Even if they couldn't ascend the throne, they would at least contend with emperors and leave a bold mark in history.
For such a formidable figure to feign madness and foolishness, there could only be one explanation:
Yuan Gonglu likely harbored treasonous ambitions against the Han dynasty!