Chapter 35: Good Words

  Although Lü Linggui is cold and introverted, it doesn't mean she's not clever. She understood the underlying meaning of Yuan Shang's words.

  Fellow traveler, fellow traveler... What Yuan Shang said about being a fellow traveler is nothing more than that both the Yuan family and Lü Lingxue have common enemies and common goals.

  The goal sounds simple, but it's hard to achieve.

  Defeat today's number one hero Cao Cao!

  "Miss Lü, since you're organizing the bandits to cause trouble and confront Cao Cao to the end, why don't you come to Hebei and join forces with us? Our Yuan family has already reached a point of no return with Cao Cao. Although the Battle of Guandu is over, there will inevitably be another bigger battle or several more in the future! You're able to cause small troubles here without being caught because you haven't encountered Cao's regular army yet. But can you guarantee that you'll always be able to get away with it? If you continue like this, you'll eventually be captured by Cao's army, which isn't a long-term plan. Why not come back to Hebei with us, share our strengths and weaknesses, make progress together, and fight against Cao Cao together? What do you think?"

  In all conscience, Yuan Shang's opinion is reasonable and in line with the facts, and it is beneficial to Lü Lingqi personally without any harm.

  But Lü Lingqi inherited from Lü Bu's army, not only a set of martial arts and training methods, but more importantly, she also inherited Lü Bu's lone wolf-like temperament and a proud heart.

  To be honest, Lü Linggui didn't like people with the surname Yuan. It wasn't because she had any particular opinion about Yuan Shang himself, but rather because Lü Bu had been driven out by Yuan Shao soon after joining him, and also because her family had once forced her to marry Yuan Shu's son. As a result, Lü Linggui truly didn't have even the slightest bit of goodwill towards the illustrious Yuan clan that had produced four emperors and three dukes over four generations.

  At this point, Lv Lingxi suddenly stood up with difficulty and slowly walked towards the outside of the house.

  Yuan Shang was taken aback and asked: "Where are you going?"

  "Leading my brothers back to Jiuli Mountain..." Lu Lingxue replied calmly.

  Zhang Jing's eyes turned cold as he heard this, and he said: "Miss, what do you mean by this? Our young master has sincerely invited you, but you don't even say a word in response, and now you want to leave. Isn't that being a bit too dismissive of us? Lu Niang, you're being too presumptuous!"

  Lü Linggui heard this and smiled coldly, saying: "You want to stop me, suit yourselves, but I will never join hands with anyone. Cao Ze has a blood feud with me for killing my father, this hatred cannot be shared under the same sky, I must take revenge myself!"

  Zhang's face changed color and he angrily said: "You this woman!"

  "Alright, no union then. I didn't expect her to agree right away anyway." Yuan Shang walked up with a smile and waved his hand at Zhang Jing, saying: "But Miss Lü, the back of your head was hit hard by General Zhang, the injury is not light, forcing yourself to walk might... be dangerous?"

  Lü Linggui shook her head upon hearing this: "It doesn't matter, don't trouble yourself, young master."

  He had just finished speaking and was about to walk out again, but unexpectedly used too much force, resulting in a sharp pain in the back of his neck. Dizzy and disoriented, he fell straight backwards.

  Yuan Shang stepped forward out of courtesy and gently supported her from behind.

  "You're really stubborn, aren't you? Even in this state, you still want to go out and lead those rough brothers of yours back to Jiuli Mountain? Are you trying to cause trouble?"

  Lü Linggui gently shook her head, feeling the warmth of Yuan Shang's arm behind her back. At first, she was stunned, then her face turned red, and she quickly turned around to push him away.

  But little did she know that with this struggle, while exerting herself, she suddenly lost her support and her body suddenly plummeted downwards at a rapid speed.

  Yuan Shang could only raise his hand to grab her arm, his face somewhat angry: "Stop showing off! What are you making a fuss about? Helping you has even caused trouble, do you think I'm willing to help you? You're always causing trouble, I'll kick you in the head."

  Lü Linggui turned her head and said indifferently: "Suit yourself, if you have the ability to kill me, it doesn't matter."

  Yuan Shang was taken aback by her words, then shook his head and smiled: "Lady Lü, there's something I hope you can understand. Although we're not exactly friends, at least we're not enemies, right? I don't know how you managed to escape from Cao's army during the Battle of Xiaoyao Ford, but if I'm not mistaken, it was probably Lord Lü Bu who risked his life to rescue you from Cao's clutches. You may not want to accept our alliance proposal, and that's fine, but you can't refuse our hospitality because your life was bought back with the blood of your loved ones. You can't afford to waste their efforts."

  Lü Ling quietly listened without responding, and instead allowed Yuan Shang to support her without struggling anymore.

  Yuan Shang saw that there was no way out and shrugged his shoulders. This little woman wasn't completely unreasonable, at least she could still listen to some good advice.

  Seeing Lü Linggui's face turn pale, Yuan Shang sent her to the edge of the bed and sat down, smiling: "You don't want to use my army to avenge you, I can understand. If it were me, with an unavenged father's death, I wouldn't be willing to borrow someone else's hands either. But you should also think about this, your father is dead, but shouldn't you still have other relatives? For example, your birth mother, where should she be now?"

  Lü Linggui's heart suddenly skipped a beat.

  Yes, Father is dead... But where's Mother? Where is Mother now?

  The answer was on the tip of Lü Linggui's tongue...... Where else could it be......

  Xu Du! The entire Lü family must be in Xu Du.

  Yuan Shang saw Lü Linggui seemingly lost in thought, and immediately smiled, saying: "For the time being, our army still needs to be stationed in Nandun County to observe the situation. You might as well rest here for a few days, there's no need to risk your own life. Once you're fully recovered, you can go wherever you want without any issues. Since we've met, it's fate, and considering our families have a deep connection, in the future when traveling the world, we'll still be friends whenever we meet."

  After speaking, Yuan Shang also stopped disturbing Lü Lingxue and beckoned to Zhang Jiong: "Let's go."

  The two of them left the room, Zhang's face somewhat indignant, saying: "This little girl is really ungrateful! We sincerely invited her to join forces with us, but she didn't agree? What does it mean? When has the Hebei Yuan family ever taken the initiative to form an alliance with others against a common enemy? How arrogant!"

  "She'll agree, it's just her self-esteem that's secretly at work, give her some time." Yuan Shang smiled and said: "Can't be too harsh on her, after all, she's a poor thing, a girl who spends her days mixed up with mountain bandits, just thinking about it gives me goosebumps."

  Zhang Jiong was taken aback for a moment, let out a long sigh and said: "I didn't expect that Third Master would also have such a humane side."

  Yuan Shang chuckled twice and looked somewhat embarrassed.

  Ke thought for a moment, but saw Yuan Shang frowning and shaking his head, saying: "Huh? Not right, I don't know why your words sound so awkward to me, are you praising or scolding me?"

  "Wow! Absolutely exaggerated!"

  "Everyone praises him for being so talented, General Zhang is indeed a rare talent."

  Zhang Jie heard this and smiled awkwardly: "Young master, you're overpraising me."

  Yuan Shang stroked his chin thoughtfully and said, "Although Lü Lingqi's martial arts are not as good as those of a top-notch general, she seems to have mastered the special training methods of Lü Bu's army and the Pianzhou Wolf Riders. Now that Pianzhou is under our control, if we can bring her back to Hebei and train another team of Pianzhou Wolf Riders, we might be able to counter Cao Cao's Tiger and Leopard Riders in the future... Of course, this is on the condition that she is willing to follow us."

  "If she doesn't get involved, I'll tie her up and take her back! Otherwise, I won't be able to swallow this breath!"

  "General Zhang, have you really taken yourself as a bandit? Kidnapping is also done? Too shameless...... But I like it."

  Zhang Jing smiled and suddenly changed the subject: "Third Master, what about that Liu Bei's face? Are you going or not?"

  "Go, of course! If we don't go to find Liu Bei, how can this little county of Nandu support our 5,000 mouths? Besides, I still want to persuade him to send troops to Xudu, and create an opportunity for us to return to Hebei..."

  Zhang Jue was taken aback, thought for a moment and said: "Liu Bei seems to be loyal and honest, but in fact he is treacherous. You want him to send troops to help us break the siege, I'm afraid it's not that easy?"

  "It doesn't matter, I have 5,000 soldiers. If he doesn't send troops, I'll let my soldiers go out to plunder in his name three meals a day, and deduct from his toilet every day... Old method, wear imperial edict to eat!"

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