Serena still held a funeral.
Yun Zhe did not participate; instead, he visited Wu Sha at the temporary hospital.
"Usa, would you be interested in visiting other countries?"
Usa is much better now. Although she is still in bed, her complexion has returned to normal.
“I’m not going,” Usa shook her head, then saw Yun Zhe’s questioning look. “I’m not familiar with him, I’ll get scammed.”
Usa was clearly worried about Yun Zhe's ability to go to other countries, especially since he was an Aruru.
"Why are you leaving?" Usa asked.
"Ah, I think the battlefield is still too dangerous. I think it would be safer to wander around." Yun Zhe was still somewhat resentful of his dereliction of duty, and coupled with his aversion to war, he wanted to take Wu Sha away from here to a place without war.
Usa continued to shake her head. "I like that fence." Usa paused and looked at Yun Zhe.
That fence refers to the place where Yun Zhe forced the children to read.
Yun Zhe was speechless for a moment. From what he knew, Wu Sha was physically close to the other children in the enclosure every day, which must have been difficult for an orphan. Little did he know that this was the best time she had experienced since her parents' death.
With mixed feelings, Yun Zhe patted Wu Sha's head, told her to take good care of herself, and then left.
When Yun Zhe found Gao, the guy was drinking with a few close friends. Upon seeing Yun Zhe, he became extremely excited and drunkenly boasted to the others, "It's Lord Yun Zhe... the one I was just talking about, it was him. His strict training made almost all of my brothers survive..." After saying that, he burst into tears.
The others were deeply moved and raised their glasses to Yun Zhe. Then, looking at the weeping Gao, they fell silent, and the atmosphere suddenly became oppressive. Yun Zhe nodded to everyone, did not continue looking for Gao, and turned to leave.
On the way, he ran into Andrew and his group. The way they looked at Yun Zhe was not good. Clearly, Serena had already told everyone about Yun Zhe asking for money, and his failure to attend the funeral had obviously angered them even more.
Yun Zhe didn't care about any of that. He didn't attend the funeral simply because he didn't want to make himself even more upset, but doing so at this moment made Yun Zhe seem somewhat heartless.
"Are you here to say goodbye?" Andrew asked loudly, gripping his sword in one hand.
Yun Zhe stopped and, after a long while, shook his head.
Andrew's expression softened slightly.
“Usa didn’t want to leave, and I realized that I didn’t want to leave either.”
The crowd's expressions improved considerably. Serena walked up to Yun Zhe and solemnly said, "Our Donic family values keeping our promises. We were able to defend Donic Castle this time thanks to your initial insistence on rushing to our aid. On behalf of my family, I express my gratitude to you."
Expressing gratitude on behalf of one's family is a very significant gesture, essentially signifying that the family has acknowledged you and extended an olive branch. For ambitious individuals, this is a crucial political asset. Everyone was quite surprised by Serena's statement, mainly because Yun Zhe was an Aruru, and had just demonstrated his ruthless greed; Serena's continued goodwill was truly beyond their expectations.
Yun Zhe wasn't surprised; anyone with even a basic understanding of politics would unite all available forces at this moment. Serena might not necessarily consider herself one of their own, but she knew that turning against them now would have far greater negative consequences.
Yun Zhe bowed his head in greeting, indicating that he accepted Serena's goodwill. Serena felt relieved and then said, "We are going to attack the Lunlang family. Do you have any good suggestions for this?"
Yun Zhe looked at Serena with a puzzled expression. If Serena hadn't been preoccupied with anticipating Yun Zhe's thoughts, Yun Zhe might have even thought this was a test or probe from Serena.
"I don't recommend attacking the Lunlang family. If we really have to fight the Lunlang family, I don't think we should cross the border." Yun Zhe knew this idea wasn't popular, but it was indeed the case. Attacking now would only be taking advantage of the temporary morale boost brought about by the victory in this war. The army itself, whether it was logistics or the entire Donic family's resources, could only withstand the result of victory. Once the war was hindered, even without defeat, the entire Donic family would fall into an abyss of no return.
Serena's expression indeed turned grim, but she tried her best to suppress her displeasure. She took a few deep breaths, then asked in a dry voice, "Why?"
At this moment, in her mind, Yun Zhe was already an ordinary Aruru who had lost his ambition in order to protect his own interests. His heart had been blinded by money and interests, and he had lost his thirst for honor and victory.
What Yun Zhe found pathetic was that the group behind Serena seemed to share similar thoughts. Even more disheartening was the belief that Yun Zhe wanted to seize this opportunity to acquire a fiefdom and quickly amass wealth.
Yun Zhe realized that conventional persuasion was no longer effective at this point. Everyone was inspired by the victory and believed that they could achieve more and greater victories in the war.
Yun Zhe also took a deep breath, and then slowly uttered two words, "Elf".
The crowd, who had just been hostile towards Yun Zhe, suddenly lost interest in disliking him. The word "elf" did indeed have some power, making them start to consider the possibility of continuing the war or dealing with two wars simultaneously.
Yun Zhe remained silent, observing the various strange thoughts swirling in the minds of these people. But clearly, a powerful enemy was insufficient to stop a war, while an enemy stronger than imagined could.
The group gradually gave up the will to continue fighting. Although they were very unwilling, the fear of the elves' counterattack was enough for them to calmly consider the current situation.
Serena sniffed and nodded. "That's a very good reason!"
"I've always had a question: why is the Lunlang family targeting our Donic family like this? What is the purpose of all these actions?" Yun Zhe continued to ask. He actually had a bold guess, but he still wanted to hear Serena's side of the story. In case there were some little-known secrets between the two families that might be the key to this conflict.
Serena frowned, trying to recall the history between her family and the Lunlang family. The Donic family started as merchants; had it not been for a knight in her grandfather's generation, they might have remained mere merchants in the capital. The Lunlang family, on the other hand, was a knightly family with a long tradition, but they didn't seem to have achieved much. The two families originally had little interaction, except when they jointly attacked this unclaimed land.
"The Lunlang family has always looked down on our family, but apart from that, there haven't been any major conflicts."
"Then, is it possible that the Lunlang family also knows about the elves?"
Serena looked at Yun Zhe in surprise; she had never thought of this before.
"Moreover, I suspect the elves will attack from the Lunlang family's side this time," Yun Zhe added in a low voice, looking at the bewildered Serena.
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