The balding man frowned and stared at Lu Yuan, saying, "What do you mean by not saying anything? You have to give us an explanation today!"

"Okay! Have you all finished speaking?"

The group looked at each other, and no one said a word.

"Alright, now that you've finished speaking, it's my turn to speak!"

"Let me explain why I did this! First of all, the food I gave them wasn't a gift, it was sold! You need to understand this first!"

"Secondly! I added seasonings to all the meat I gave them!"

These words immediately caused an uproar among everyone present, even Zhou Tong, who had just entered, looked shocked.

"What? You...you poisoned the meat?"

Lu Yuan smiled and shook his head: "It's not that bad! We can't do things that are morally reprehensible, but we can't let them run wild like this forever!"

"So what exactly did you put in there?"

Lu Yuan didn't speak, but instead took a fruit shell out of his pocket and placed it on the table.

Everyone suddenly realized that this thing was something that only older people had ever seen. Back then, China had zero tolerance for this kind of thing, and in many areas, people who planted it were basically arrested or fined heavily.

"If they use it for inspection..."

"It's okay. A small amount might make them think it's a preservative, since it does have a preservative function. But if they eat it for a long time, they might not be able to handle it! Then they'll be begging us for help!"

The balding man's face finally regained its expression of emotion, and he bowed apologetically to Lu Yuan.

"Lu Yuan, I'm so sorry, just now..."

Lu Yuan waved his hand: "It's alright, I can already guess what you're thinking! But don't spread this around!"

"That's right! None of us can tell anyone!"

Everyone nodded, indicating that they would not tell anyone.

Afterwards, the balding man presented Lu Yuan with a newly drafted alliance proposal.

Lu Yuan looked at it and didn't find anything wrong, so he signed it.

"From now on, we'll still go our separate ways, but if the people of this beacon nation ever invade, we must all unite!"

Manager Liu shouted excitedly to the crowd, and the others echoed him, except for Lu Yuan and a few others who remained standing there in a daze.

"Uh... that's just our slogan!"

Lu Yuan smiled and said, "Slogans aren't just shouted out, they're acted upon! By the way, since we've already said everything, there's nothing else! How about this, everyone stay here for lunch today!"

Everyone had already thought of this, and when they heard Lu Yuan say this, they all nodded in agreement.

Lunch consisted of pork bone soup with carrots, stir-fried yam, salt-fried potato slices, and a bowl of rice for each person.

Seeing the steaming hot food served, Director Liu and the others immediately started drooling.

"Is this how you usually eat?" Mine Manager Liu couldn't help but ask.

"Yes! That's about it! Everyone, let's start eating! Otherwise, it won't taste good when it gets cold!"

Director Liu had a thousand feelings he wanted to express, but the smell of the delicious food made his stomach growl, forcing him to suppress his thoughts.

"Eat! Eat!"

So everyone began to wolf down their food. In less than ten minutes, everyone had finished their meal, and some even used their teeth to pick at the rice scraps off their chopsticks, still wanting more.

Lu Yuan put down his chopsticks, looked at everyone, and smiled.

"Is everyone full? If not, I'll have the kitchen cook a few more dishes!"

Director Liu and the others wanted to nod, but since it was their first time visiting someone's place, they felt embarrassed to bring up the matter of adding more food. If they did, wouldn't it make them, as leaders, seem unsophisticated?

"No need, no need, thank you for your kindness, Brother Lu!" Mine Manager Liu said, wiping the grease from the corner of his mouth with his sleeve, still feeling quite satisfied.

Lu Yuan nodded, signaling the person next to him to clear away the bowls and chopsticks.

The people in the seats looked at Lu Yuan with puzzled expressions when they saw that he did not mention leaving.

"Brother Lu, is there something you want to say? No problem, we're all straightforward people, just say what you want to say!"

Others echoed this sentiment.

Lu Yuan nodded: "That's right, there's something I want to discuss with everyone, but I'm afraid you might misunderstand!"

"Hey! What's there to misunderstand? Just say it! We're all in this together!"

So Lu Yuan stopped pretending and said, "I'd like to borrow some people from everyone!"

Everyone was stunned for a moment after hearing this. After all, asking to borrow people at this time was really asking too much. The troops stationed on the island of the Lighthouse were eyeing the island covetously. These soldiers were somewhat wary of camps with large numbers of people, but they could plunder and occupy camps with fewer people without any restraint.

Everyone was eager to have more people in their camp to bolster their prestige, so Lu Yuan's suggestion to borrow people made everyone feel a little embarrassed.

Mine Manager Liu said with a somewhat embarrassed expression, "Brother Lu Yuan, it's not that we're unwilling to lend people! It's just that..."

However, before the other party could finish speaking, Lu Yuan interrupted, saying, "Of course I know everyone's difficulties. What I mean is, if you're worried, you can come and stay near me. I won't lend you people for nothing! I'll compensate you all! I'll also cover the relocation costs in one lump sum!"

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