Chapter 64

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Liu Jun's culinary skills were no less impressive than his martial arts. A few unusual ingredients, a simple stew, and the result was truly delicious. Li Zhen almost ate his tongue off. The unique aroma also attracted Li Chunjiang, who, after eating a piece of ox tail, praised it loudly. This drew the attention of Zhang Shan and the other team members, who had been watching from a distance. They immediately rushed over, ignoring everything, and started grabbing food from the pot with their chopsticks.

Seeing this, Liu Jun had no choice but to invite the other team members to share. At first, the team members were a bit hesitant, not daring to be too bold in taking the team deputy's food. But when they saw the team deputy personally inviting them, they all ran over faster and faster, their chopsticks reaching into the pot more and more urgently. In no time, the three pots of ox neck, ox tail, and ox hooves were empty.

Those who tasted the delicious food even divided the soup in the three pots among themselves.

Liu Jun himself had only eaten two pieces and his stomach was still not full.

"I have more," Li Zhen shouted at Liu Jun without any hesitation. She held a large soup bowl, bigger than her face, filled with ox tail, ox neck, and ox hooves.

Liu Jun couldn't quite understand this Li girl. The Ming Dynasty had strict etiquette, but this girl seemed to have no sense of propriety between men and women. It just didn't seem right.

As he thought, he didn't realize that his gaze was still fixed on the girl. When Li Zhen's eyes met his, her face flushed with two rosy clouds. Liu Jun's gaze was too direct and too passionate.

This scene was seen by Li Zhen's maids and servants, who were about ten steps away. One of the maids glared at Liu Jun with hatred, as if she wanted to stare him into a daze. The maid whispered to another maid, "Miss must be bewitched. Her mind is not clear, and she's completely infatuated with that Liu. What are we going to do?"

The other maid, who looked more gentle, glanced over and said, "That Liu is our miss's savior. If it weren't for him, our miss would have lost her purity."

"Even now, her purity is still at risk," the slightly plumper maid frowned. "Miss is also acting without any self-respect, sticking to that Liu so closely. What kind of behavior is this?"

The two young maids were less worried than the two older maids. They watched their miss's unusual behavior as if it were a play. "Miss has fallen in love," one of them said.

"That Liu is so young and handsome, so heroic and graceful. Who wouldn't be moved by him? In that room, with a knife in hand, he was like Zhao Zilong of Changshan come to life," the other maid added.

"He uses a spear, not a knife," the first maid immediately corrected.

"Who cares if it's a spear or a knife? When Liu saved Miss, he was incredibly graceful."

The two maids had grown up with Li Zhen since childhood, serving as her personal attendants. They had grown up together, studied together, and learned music together. They knew that Miss was different from other young ladies. While other young ladies learned music, painting, and needlework, their Miss also enjoyed reading various stories and legends.

She loved stories like "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Water Margin," and the family had collected countless versions. Miss especially loved Zhao Yun from "Romance of the Three Kingdoms," almost to the point of obsession. As the eldest daughter and the only girl in the family, she was more favored than her brothers, even though she had brothers.

Because she was afraid of pain, the family allowed her not to bind her feet. Because of her love for "Romance of the Three Kingdoms," the family even hired several female martial artists to teach her martial arts, though she only learned some basic moves, which were not very practical. Nevertheless, this made her quite different from other young ladies.

She had learned martial arts, had not bound her feet, and had read many wild books like "The West Chamber" and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms." Li Zhen's personality was indeed rebellious, but it had been restrained by her family. However, after being kidnapped and rescued, she was greatly stimulated. When she met a young and handsome man who saved her, the rebellious and romantic feelings in her heart were awakened.

Li Zhen decided to be as bold as the lady in "The West Chamber."

Li Zhen quietly observed this man. He was eating from the bowl she had given him, eating heartily. Although his eating posture was not elegant and even a bit rude, she found it attractive, genuine, and true to his nature. Liu Jun, dressed in a blue-gray military uniform, was tall and strong, with a broad chest and a heroic face, giving her a great sense of security.

A common-born deputy of a local militia, yet he was more trustworthy than many young masters she had met.

Liu Jun could feel the girl's direct gaze, but he pretended not to notice and did not respond.

After resting in the mountain stronghold for a night, the next day they had lunch there before the large group officially returned.

Each team had a bountiful harvest. Almost every soldier, militiaman, and constable who participated in the battle returned with their shoulders and hands full, their horses and carts loaded with war spoils.

The group first arrived at the central relay station, which was not only a station but also a small town that had formed around it.

The town had already received news that the officials had completely exterminated the bandits who had massacred Linzhai. A large number of civilians had gathered to welcome them.

When the large group entered the town, the civilians immediately saw the cart at the front filled with the heads of the bandits.

Seeing the heads of the bandits, everyone was extremely excited. Especially the relatives of the people from Linzhai, who, upon seeing the bandits who had massacred their village, could not contain their emotions and rushed forward to grab the heads of the bandits to vent their anger.

In the end, Zhao Cheng ordered that all the heads of the bandits be boiled in hot oil and then impaled on sharp stakes along the Guanghuang Road, one every ten steps. There were a total of 538 bandits, regardless of gender or age, all of whom were boiled in oil and then impaled on stakes, one every ten steps, for a total of 5,380 steps, which was nearly 15 miles.

So many heads on stakes would certainly serve as a strong deterrent to the bandits.

After the central relay station, each group went their separate ways and returned home.

When Li Chunjiang's injury was known by the Li family, Li Changgeng did not overreact, but Li Chunjiang's parents felt as if the sky had fallen. They immediately brought many doctors and servants to meet him halfway and take him away.

"Public Ji, go back and rest. I'll take care of the Nine-Headed Bird," Liu Jun comforted Li Chunjiang. But in his heart, he felt helpless. He could guess that after this, Li Chunjiang might not return to the Nine-Headed Bird. After all, Li Chunjiang was a top scholar in the local examination and was going to the capital next year to take the imperial examination.

He had formed the militia to gain experience, but now that he was injured, the Li family would not let him come back for more training. Most likely, he would not return. Liu Jun now had to consider a very practical problem: without Li Chunjiang, the Nine-Headed Bird would not be as smooth as before.

Money was not a problem now; there were still spoils worth about 20,000 taels of silver hidden on the mountain. Taking this money would allow the Nine-Headed Bird to operate for a long time. But without Li Chunjiang, the Nine-Headed Bird would lose a powerful backer, and its influence would be greatly reduced. Without Li Chunjiang and the Li family's support, that would be the biggest issue.

For now, Liu Jun could only remain calm.

"Team affairs will be temporarily handled by you. With you in charge, I believe there will be no problems, and things will be even better. Jiyeh, we have gained a lot this time. I think we should recruit more soldiers and expand our team," Li Chunjiang, who had not yet realized the severity of the situation after his injury, still wanted to expand the Nine-Headed Bird, using the money and supplies they had gained.

"We have too few people now, only about a hundred. I think we can start with three hundred and eventually expand to five hundred," Li Chunjiang continued.

Liu Jun just nodded and did not say much more.

"You don't need to worry about these things for now. Rest well, and we'll discuss it in detail later."

Watching the Li family take Li Chunjiang away, Liu Jun felt a bit melancholic.

Li Chunjiang was gone, but the team that returned to the Queen City camp had over twenty more women. Among them were more than ten women rescued from the battle at Xing'an Temple, and five from Li Zhen's group.

In addition to these women, Liu Jun also brought back eighty-three good horses.

After returning to the camp, Liu Jun announced the disbandment of the team and distributed the silver and grain that the team members had stored in the team. Not a single tael was missing, and it was all distributed as promised.

With the money and grain in hand, the team members were extremely excited.

"I'm giving you a seven-day leave. Go home and return in seven days."

The team members received a lot of silver, grain, and cloth. As everyone had hoped, Liu Jun announced a seven-day holiday, allowing them to rest and take the money and grain home.

The three injured team members were in good condition, with the team doctor treating them promptly. Their injuries were stable, and Liu Jun gave each of them five taels as an injury allowance.

He also rented a large courtyard behind the camp and settled the women there, bringing them a lot of grain and leaving some silver.

After doing all this, Liu Jun tidied up and prepared to take a holiday in Xibay.

As for recruiting more soldiers, expanding the team, and building new workshops, he would deal with those issues later.

However, at this moment, Liu Jun encountered another problem.

Li Zhen refused to stay in the camp and insisted on following him wherever he went.

"I'm going home!"

"I'm going too!"

"Impossible!" Liu Jun coldly spat out three words and turned away.

(Recommended a friend's online game novel, set in the "Mount and Blade" world, "The Lord's Might in the Online Game," by author Juanniao Mitu)

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