Vol 9 Chapter 147 (2/2)

“…”

“Lord Guan Yu.” Chen Gong called out to me and looked at me.

“Alright,” I nodded, “She is called Xu Shu and she wears white.”

Xu Shu… When I finished, the 3 of them muttered this name.

“I haven’t heard of this name, is she a hermit?”

“Possibly.”

“She can’t be a hermit from Hebei, that’s for sure. I’m afraid she’s probably from Jing state.”

The 3 of them said softly as thought they were exchanging their views and looked at each other.

“Alright, we understand. That means that the reason why you came here is because you’re being unfairly treated right?” Li Dian summarised.

“That is basically it.” I agreed. Since someone was willing to explain on my behalf, I will not add anything else.

“If we could continue holding on, we would be willing to fight.” Wen Yuan said, her expression more relaxed than before, “But the longer we fight in this battle, the surer our loss seems. In that case, we might as well save our time and energy.”

Shen Pei’s eyebrows leapt at this while Li Dian did not exhibit any change. Cao Ren on the other was still smiling.

“Alright, I understand.” Shen Pei said, “Though you attempted to withhold information at one point, I won’t hold it against you since you told us the truth anyway.”

“Un, it’s understandable.” Surprisingly, Li Dian nodded and supported us, “It is how a warrior does things after all. That shorty over there doesn’t seem to understand what is honour though.” As she said so, she looked at Chen Gong.

Chen Gong was neither infuriated nor did she seem anxious and merely seemed as relaxed as ever as she tucked her hands behind her head, “I have always been a an opportunistic individual and I have never thought that there was anything wrong with that.”

“So why did you defect? Could it be because Lu Bu and that strategist– Ah, Xu Shu made you dissatisfied?”

“I do not report to either of them and am in charge of interior matters. At these harrowing times, I am only in charge of defending a single wall.” Chen Gong said as she shook her head.

Her actions, speech and tone were very natural for the entire time and I was very impressed. It seems like she is actually defecting though I suppose there is some truth in her acting.

“Then why did you choose to leave?”

“Because one’s future is important.” Chen Gong said as she extended a finger as she began to explain herself seriously, “Liu Bei had great potential but he is already dead. The surviving retainers are nothing more than a tray of scattered grains of sand to me.”

“Won’t they become like that only because you are leaving?”

“Lord Li Dian…”

“Ah… No…”

I wonder if Chen Gong spoke like that on purpose as it seems like Li Dian is the sort of person who will clash a lot with Chen Gong. Cao Ren had to remind Li Dian before she realised that she had spoken out of return and retracted her words.

“No, Lord Li Dian is right. Our defection will indeed be a significant blow to them.” Wen Yuan said as she closed her eyes tightly, “But now that the battle situation has become like this, with problems both within and without, we really cannot let this go on. Instead of a slow and painful death, it would be better to let things end swiftly.”

“Yes…” I nodded and thought back to the days when big brother was missing before lowering my head slowly, “It has indeed become like what Chen Gong has said ever since big brother left the world.”

It had not been like that, especially in the first few days, when big brother left. But I am sure that things would have gradually become like that.

“In any case, please forget what I just said.” Li Dian said as she shook her head and returned her expression to what it was like at the start, “But if you truly wish to defect, then please have the resolve to do so.”

Resolve huh…

“Un, we have indeed considered this deeply.” I answered on behalf of everyone as I looked at them with a firm gaze.

“Well then, we’ve discussed your motivations which I will not ask any further.” Shen Pei said, “Let’s now discuss what we want you to do for us.”

(TL: This is practically like a job interview. ‘Why would you like to join us? Why did you resign from your previous firm? What can you do for us?/How can you add value to our organisation?)

“Un.” I nodded.

This means that they are going to talk about their strategy from here on out right? If that’s the case, then does that mean that they believe us?

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