roccoschili Chapter 41 Agreeing to Cooperation
Chapter 41 Agreeing to Cooperation
Faced with Zhong Mei's urging, Li Chong remained silent and pondered.
"Are you even a man, dawdling like this? Just give me a straight answer!" Zhong Mei said impatiently again.
Li Chong looked up and sized Zhong Mei up and down, which made Zhong Mei feel a little uneasy.
She instinctively tightened her clothes and turned to the side: "What do you mean by this?"
"Uh." Li Chong chuckled, waving his hand casually. "Don't worry, I'm not interested in you at all. You say you can help me suppress bandits, but with your skinny arms and legs, why should I believe you?"
Zhong Mei immediately objected: "What are you saying? You look down on me? Let me tell you the truth, if it weren't for Uncle Jia stopping me, I would have definitely ripped those two scoundrels apart. And when it came to a fight, I wouldn't hesitate!"
"Okay, okay." Li Chong nodded with a smile.
"I believe you dare to make a move, but you're just one person. Even if you include your Uncle Jia and his ilk, you're nothing more than a few desperate bandits. With just that, what makes you think you can cooperate with me, the county magistrate?"
Zhong Mei glared at Li Chong with resentment: "You!"
Why do you look down on people?
Seeing Li Chong's fearless attitude, and considering that she was in the county government office, Zhong Mei restrained her temper.
After a moment of silence, she spoke up: "If you're going to suppress the bandits, you need to be familiar with the terrain in the mountains, right? With us here, we can definitely lead you into the village. Otherwise, if they hide in the mountains, you won't be able to find them at all."
"Moreover, there are still many of my father's old subordinates in the mountains. As long as I show up, they will definitely surrender, and killing those two scoundrels will be a piece of cake."
"Hmm, that makes some sense." Li Chong nodded slowly, then stared at Zhong Mei and asked, "Who gave you this idea? Who taught you to infiltrate the Zhu family and then come to threaten me? Your Uncle Jia?"
Zhong Mei's plan is feasible, but there are too many unstable factors involved. If she doesn't handle it well, she herself will be implicated.
If what she said is true, and her father's old subordinates are still loyal to her, then those people certainly wouldn't sit idly by and watch her take such a risk.
However, the truth is that Zhong Mei did indeed take a risk by herself.
Who knows, there might be some spies involved here.
Li Chong needs to figure this out before he can decide whether or not to agree to Zhong Mei's request.
Upon hearing Li Chong's question, Zhong Mei's expression became somewhat unnatural: "Why are you asking this? It has nothing to do with what we're discussing."
"Um?"
Li Chong looked at Zhong Mei suspiciously, but found that Zhong Mei was unconsciously avoiding his gaze.
Gradually, Li Chong understood.
"You didn't just run off on your own, did you?"
As if her secret had been exposed, Zhong Mei jumped up decisively: "What do you mean by acting on my own initiative? I was avenging my fallen brothers! Besides, since my father is gone, I should be the leader. My word is law. How can you call that acting on my own initiative?"
Li Chong put his hand to his forehead. Okay, now that things are clear, she's just an impulsive teenage girl.
Judging from Zhong Mei's appearance, it would be a huge waste of her time if someone had sent her to deceive Li Chong.
If all of this was acted by Zhong Mei, a girl with such acting skills could not possibly be a slave girl trained in this small rural place.
Even if someone had great power, they wouldn't go to such lengths for a mere county magistrate like themselves.
Therefore, it's unlikely that Zhongmei was part of someone else's trap; what she said was probably mostly true.
All of this stemmed from a young girl who was unwilling to accept her fate and wanted to prove herself, leading to a series of coincidences.
However, this coincidence gave Li Chong an opportunity.
Li Chong waved his hand: "Sit down first. I know you're the boss. Now, can we talk about the terms?"
"Huh?" Zhong Mei was taken aback, then looked at Li Chong with some excitement. "You agreed?"
Li Chong shook his head: "Whether I agree or not, we'll have to wait until I go to Old Tian's tea shop tomorrow. Didn't you say I should go there in person? Then I'll go tomorrow."
Zhong Mei looked at Li Chong with slight nervousness: "You're not going to bring a bunch of yamen runners with you, are you?"
Li Chong smiled slightly: "Don't worry, since it's a cooperation, I will naturally be sincere. You will come with me tomorrow, just the two of us."
"Really?" Zhong Mei's face was practically beaming with joy. "You mean I can go see Uncle Jia and the others too?"
"Of course, how could I, a dignified county magistrate, lie to a mere girl like you?"
Zhong Mei subconsciously corrected Li Chong: "I'm not a little girl."
But the joy on her face was still evident.
No matter how bold Zhongmei appears, she is still just a girl not yet twenty years old. Her biological father is dead, and she can never go back to the mountains where she grew up.
Although she secretly left home to seek revenge out of sheer courage, she naturally couldn't help but miss the few remaining relatives she had.
Hearing Li Chong say that he would take her back with him tomorrow, Zhong Mei was naturally delighted.
"Alright, alright, you're not a little girl anymore," Li Chong said with a smile. "Since we've agreed, you should go back and rest first. I'll take you out tomorrow morning."
Having received so much information all at once, Li Chong needed time to process it.
Zhong Mei was still filled with pride at having accomplished something great and the joy of returning home in glory. After hearing this, she simply replied blankly, "Oh."
As she reached the door, she turned back.
"The book says a gentleman's word is as good as gold; you, as a county magistrate, cannot..."
Seeing Zhong Mei's nervous appearance, Li Chong's vigilance lessened considerably. He walked over, pushed Zhong Mei's shoulder, and led her out of the room.
"As long as you don't run away tomorrow, I promise I'll keep my word."
"Definitely, definitely," Zhongmei repeatedly urged.
Finally, Li Chong locked her out of the room.
Seeing Zhong Mei return to her room through the window, Li Chong then went to his bed.
"Zhong Mei, the inside man, this is truly a godsend, I just happened to run into these people."
But on second thought, it wasn't surprising. He had made a big show of suppressing the bandits, wanting everyone to know about it, so it wasn't surprising that Zhong Mei had heard about it.
This group of defeated soldiers, wanting to fight their way back into the mountains and reclaim their former territory, can only rely on themselves.
Shaking his head and chuckling, Li Chong tidied up the teapot on the ground, wearing only a thin robe. This trap had really come in handy.
Li Chong picked up the thin thread again, looked around, moved a vase over, and pulled the thread up again.
Just in case, traps are still necessary. This time, Li Chong changed the location and tied the line directly to the door latch.
As soon as someone opens the door from the outside, the vase will inevitably fall over, and Li Chong will know it.
After settling everything down, Li Chong went back to bed to rest. Tomorrow he would go and see what the real outlaws of this world were like.