Yun Chang POV

I do not know if her acting skills are good enough or if it might seem like over-exaggeration but it seems like the 3 of them took it well. I wonder if Wen Yuan is laughing inside right now. And to Lu Bu, I am really sorry that you have to be scolded like this.

“I see. I understand.” Shen Pei nodded and sank into thought.

“But why did you both deny us so strongly when we tried to persuade you?” Li Dian asked with a frown.

“Yes, it seemed as though… You would never defect.”

“That’s–”

“Who would reveal their intentions on the battlefield?” Chen Gong interrupted me and shrugged.

“Yes, the situation was not that bad in the beginning but it was indeed tense to begin with.” I said as I put my palms up together and then separated them, “But things are different now. Our principles of righteousness have diverged.”

“Un.” Cao Ren nodded. Li Dian however remained silent as she looked at us with her arms folded across her chest.

“Alright, I understand.” Shen Pei nodded.

I was surprised that they did not question us further on this. Could it be that they do not believe what we said? I felt a bit nervous and looked at everyone at the table. Wen Yuan and Chen Gong seemed to just as puzzled as I was about this.

“Alright, another question.” Shen Pei spoke up just as I was wondering how to deal with this and looked at me, “May I ask if there is a new strategist amongst you?”

“Eh?” I was really caught off-guard by this question, “Ah…”

I really did not know how to answer this as I did not know how much they knew. If they were just guessing, then giving them a concrete answer would be giving them free and valuable information. And if we were to tell them the truth, they might suspect that we were sent here by said strategist. On the other hand, if we lied and they knew the truth, then we would be shooting ourselves in the foot.

“May I ask which strategist you are speaking of?” Wen Yuan asked. Looks like she had the same worries as I did.

“I think that you lot should say what you are thinking.” Shen Pei frowned, “Because right now, we are the ones asking questions, not you. And it is you who are defecting to our side, not us to yours. I hope that you can bear this in mind.”

Kuh. She’s going that far huh…

“Lord Guan Yu, don’t cover for them anymore.”

“Eh?” Chen Gong’s sudden words interrupted my thought processes and when I turned to look at her, I saw that she had a look of irritation on her.

“Lord Chen Gong, you…”

“I know Lord Guan Yu is sentimental but they don’t treat you as their own anymore and are even trying to take away your command rights! Why are you still covering for them!”

“Shut up, Lord Chen Gong! Yun Chang has her own considerations!” Wen Yuan yelled angrily at Chen Gong and got up.

“Is what I said wrong?! That strategist clearly knows that Lu Bu is clueless about the art of war and knew that it was dangerous for Lord Guan Yu to continue the raid! Yet she still pushed on with her strategy! She is just toying with our lives?!” Chen Gong roared back, her voice growing louder and louder with every line. She then narrowed her eyes and looked at Wen Yuan with contempt as she continued, “Be it you, or the rest, everyone is just a bunch of idiots!”

“You b.a.s.t.a.r.d!” Wen Yuan roared as she yanked Chen Gong to her feet by her collar. I understand

what they are trying to get at now.

“That’s enough.” I said coldly and looked at Wen Yuan from the side, “Wen Yuan, put down Chen Gong. What she said makes sense.”

“Un…” Wen Yuan grunted and let go of Chen Gong.

“Hmph. Lord Guan Yu, now that we’ve decided to defect, we have to stick with it.” Chen Gong said as she rubbed her neck and looked at me with hatred, “Look, it this goes on, they will doubt our sincerity.”

When she finished, I looked at the 3 of them and saluted them, “Apologies for this embarra.s.sing display.”

“No,” Shen Pei said as she shook her head and sighed.

I too sighed and nodded as I continued, “Alright, I’ll admit it. I did have half a mind of withholding this information. Yes, we have a new strategist who has been devising strategies for us.”

“Un…” Li Dian grunted as she looked at me, “Was the first battle by her as well?”

“Yes.” I nodded.

“What is her name and what does she look like?”

“…”

“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?