Sun Ce naturally did not know that after his Inner Qi Manifestation reached a certain level, he kindly gave Yuan Yao, who often weakly followed him around calling him "big brother," a small empowerment that did not diminish his own strength.
This allowed Yuan Yao, who had always been unable to cultivate due to physical reasons, to possess the Inner Qi of the lowest-ranking warrior. But then Yuan Yao ran around joyfully and even ventured into areas stricken by the epidemic. Although generally unharmed by the protection of Inner Breath, it was enough to make Sun Ce worry when he found out later.
Yuan Shu also knew that Yuan Yao had recovered his health thanks to Sun Ce and was even more pleased with Sun Ce's actions, bringing up again the previously shelved proposal of adoption, which put Sun Ce in a very awkward position.