Hearing Zhao Fu call out, Bai Qi and Li Si came out, looking puzzled. "Your Highness! What's wrong?"
Zhao Fu furrowed his brow. "What happened in my room?"
Li Si understood and smiled as he cupped his hands. "Congratulations, Your Highness! May you soon have a son."
Hearing that, Zhao Fu felt a headache coming on. "What do you mean?"
Li Si replied, "Your Highness! I thought Miss Liu Mei was quite beautiful. Since you've taken a liking to her, we're happy to support you. On the one hand, you can have a wife or concubine; on the other, this will help win over the people of Dire Wolf Village. It's a win-win."
Zhao Fu gave a wry smile. "When did I take a liking to her?"
Li Si asked in confusion, "Bai Qi said so!"
Bai Qi, standing nearby, paled when he heard this. He realized he had misunderstood Zhao Fu's intentions and hurried to apologize, but Zhao Fu stopped him. How could he blame two people who had worked so hard for Great Qin over such a trivial matter? "All right! Let's leave it at that. It's getting late, so you should both go get some rest."
Li Si and Bai Qi breathed a sigh of relief, then took their leave.
Zhao Fu glanced back at his room and shook his head. He found another room, cultivated for a while, and then fell fast asleep.
Seeing that Zhao Fu didn't come back in, Liu Mei breathed a sigh of relief and put her clothes back on.
At dawn, the darkness gradually receded, and the world grew brighter. The sky turned a deep blue, and a few birds chirped happily in the trees.
Zhao Fu woke up as well. As soon as he stepped outside, he saw Wang Ergou waiting by the door with a basin of water. The moment Zhao Fu emerged, Wang Ergou said obsequiously, "Your Highness! You're up. This humble servant has prepared some water for you to wash your face."
"Oh!"
Zhao Fu replied, picked up the towel from the basin, and washed his face.
At that point, Wang Ergou timidly reminded him, "Your Highness! You still haven't given me the antidote."
So that was it. Zhao Fu smiled. "That pill wasn't poisonous!"
"Really, Your Highness?" Wang Ergou asked excitedly.
"Mm!"
Zhao Fu replied, then added, "I'll let you try some poison once I've developed it."
Wang Ergou's face fell. "Your Highness! Please don't. I'll be your servant and wait on you every day, all right?"
"Well... that depends on how you behave!"
After saying that, Zhao Fu headed off. Wang Ergou quickly emptied the washbasin and followed him.
"Bai Qi! Gather the troops and come with me to Li Family Village."
Zhao Fu ordered Bai Qi to gather the troops, then checked the day's population refresh. There were fourteen people in total, one of whom had B-grade aptitude. This time, Zhao Fu didn't transfer any of them into soldiers. Instead, he assigned them all to the Blacksmith Shop, Tailor Shop, and medicine shop.
As the population grew, so did the demand for supplies, so they needed to assign some people to these roles.
Afterward, Bai Qi gathered the troops. Zhao Fu was doing this partly because he feared Li Youcai might go back on his word. Their agreement had only been verbal, and people's hearts were hard to fathom. Someone could make a solemn promise one moment and turn against you the next. So Zhao Fu was preparing a backup plan.
"Your Highness! Could I have my weapon back?"
Liu Mei found Zhao Fu and awkwardly bowed before speaking.
Zhao Fu nodded. Her whip was a blue-quality weapon, and when she surrendered, they had taken it along with her.
Seeing Zhao Fu agree, Liu Mei brightened. She had thought she wouldn't get it back.
"Wait a moment. You're coming with me to Li Family Village," Zhao Fu instructed, then went to find Bai Qi.
Liu Mei nodded and went to retrieve her whip.
An hour later, Zhao Fu had the troops hide while he went to Li Family Village again with Bai Qi and Liu Mei.
The people of Li Family Village had learned the night before that Dire Wolf Village had been destroyed. The entire village had been burned to ruins. When the news reached Li Family Village, some were excited while others were afraid. They were excited that the scourge of Dire Wolf Village had finally been wiped out, but afraid that Zhao Fu might come after them next.
The village gate opened, and Li Youcai led a group of people out to greet them. "Sir! You're truly a hero. You've rid our Li Family Village of the scourge that was Dire Wolf Village. Everyone in our village has decided to join your village."
Li Youcai was a cunning old fox. Seeing that even Dire Wolf Village's third-in-command had been subdued, and knowing Zhao Fu's forces could already have destroyed Dire Wolf Village with ease, he realized that with its people added to Zhao Fu's forces, they would be even stronger. Since Li Family Village clearly couldn't stand against Zhao Fu, he chose to submit. He also lavished praise on Zhao Fu, presenting himself as the most loyal subordinate.
"Notification! Li Family Village is willing to submit to you. Do you accept?"
Zhao Fu chose to accept and received a notification that he had gained 60 Battle Merit. He was a little surprised. After checking Li Family Village, he discovered it was a blue-quality village. Subduing a blue-quality village awarded 10 more Battle Merit than a regular one.
However, Zhao Fu already had four affiliated villages. After thinking it over, he decided to make the newly established Dire Wolf Village a subordinate village instead.
A subordinate village was different from an affiliated village. In theory, a subordinate village was still part of Great Qin Village, but it couldn't benefit from Great Qin Village's attribute bonuses.
After that, Li Youcai invited Zhao Fu inside to discuss the details of joining Great Qin Village. Along the way, many people from Li Family Village looked curiously at Liu Mei. They had often heard of her notorious reputation, calling her a shrew and saying she was vicious. They hadn't expected her to be so pretty in person.
Faced with all those stares, Liu Mei turned on them at once, putting on a fierce expression. "What are you looking at? Keep staring and I'll dig your eyeballs out!"
Her ferocious display made the people of Li Family Village stumble backward in fear.
Zhao Fu glanced at her, and Liu Mei immediately lowered her head and quieted down. After a detailed discussion, Zhao Fu took two-thirds of Li Family Village's people with him. Li Youcai remained as the village chief, while his son, Li Wen, also went with Zhao Fu to Great Qin Village at his father's insistence.
Li Youcai had joined Great Qin Village and learned some information about it. Sensing that Great Qin had a promising future, he wanted his son to join early, hoping he might secure a good position later on.
After bringing everyone back to Great Qin Village, its soldiers officially numbered over two hundred. Zhao Fu handed them over to Bai Qi for proper training. Then came another piece of good news: a small iron mine had been discovered five miles west of Great Qin Village.
Zhao Fu was delighted. He sent some people to mine it and also hastened construction of the stairs down into the Great Rift. The bottom of the Great Rift was practically a treasure trove. Even killing a few skeletons could yield dozens of gold coins, which was hard for Zhao Fu to resist.