Chapter 2843

Wei Li hurriedly said, "Zhao Chi, I want to come with you too!"

Zhao Chi looked at the two of them with suspicion.

From what the two of them said, it seemed they had discussed it long ago?

What Lu Yi said omitted a lot of information, yet Wei Li could understand it all.

It seemed they had not merely discussed it, but even talked about these things often.

Seeing Zhao Chi say nothing, but instead wearing a puzzled look, Wei Li hurriedly said anxiously, "Zhao Chi, I'm just like Lu Yi—I've long wanted to be with you, but never had the chance. Don't you dare not want me!"

Wei Li's words were a bit too self-deprecating.

Or rather, too eager.

But Lu Yi deeply empathized.

For some unknown reason, seeing Wei Li so nervous made Lu Yi nervous too; she didn't even know what she was nervous about.

Zhao Chi gave a slight sigh.

In essence, he didn't want too many women.

Lu Yi was fine to take in.

After all, Zhao Chi had both a sense of gratitude toward her and genuine feelings of fondness.

If he hadn't awakened his hidden talent and gained Gu Qing and the others, Zhao Chi's first choice might well have been Lu Yi.

But Wei Li...

Zhao Chi certainly didn't dislike her.

But Wei Li was very meek before him, with an obvious deliberate intent to please, and Zhao Chi had never taken the bait before.

But now that she had directly torn open the paper over the window, Zhao Chi had to give a response.

Since it had come to this, he'd take her.

In this world, it wasn't a big deal anyway.

As long as she was willing, Zhao Chi of course had no reason to refuse.

After all, aside from Wei Li's strong feelings for Zhao Chi, her looks and figure were also on par with Lu Yi's.

And she also had a certain ferocity when it came to battle.

If given some help, her growth should be very fast.

Seeing Zhao Chi still say nothing, Wei Li was nearly in tears.

Zhao Chi smiled and said, "Don't cry. If you're truly willing, of course I agree..."

Before he finished speaking, Wei Li suddenly sprang up.

"That's wonderful!"

With tears still on her lashes, she leapt onto Zhao Chi like a cheetah and hugged him tightly.

Zhao Chi caught a strong scent of osmanthus flowers.

And a soft, petite body.

Lu Yi was utterly astonished.

She also took a small step forward, but then stopped, her hands tightly gripping the hem of her skirt.

Zhao Chi said, "Wei Li, get down first. If you want to hug, then hug properly—why are your legs wrapped around me too?"

Wei Li gave a sheepish grin, then got down.

"Shall we go to the bridal chamber now?"

"No!" Lu Yi refused on Zhao Chi's behalf.

"No? Why? You two just didn't...?"

Wei Li pointed at Lu Yi's sleepwear.

"Of course not. I only changed clothes because of that skill... Doesn't your family care about this sort of thing? Aren't you going to ask your family?"

Wei Li was taken aback: "Oh, right, I still need to ask my family."

Lu Yi said speechlessly, "You're really single-mindedly set on following Zhao Chi—you didn't even think about this?"

Wei Li shook her head, her expression somewhat dim: "I'm not as favored as you. Our Wei family... speaks strictly according to strength. I'm young in age and generation, and I'm a woman, so I'm not valued... But I'll still mention it to my family first."

Lu Yi sighed softly and said nothing.

Zhao Chi said, "Don't be sad. In the future, you'll surpass everyone in your Wei family."

"Mm, I'll work hard!" Comforted by Zhao Chi, Wei Li cheered up a little.

Zhao Chi said, "Alright, let's distribute the matched loot right away, then immediately have your soldiers rest as soon as possible to recover their combat effectiveness. Tell me, what do you each need?"

Lu Yi and Wei Li both shook their heads and refused.

Zhao Chi said, "Don't be polite. This kind of matched loot is useless to me. You can look at what's most useful based on your actual situation. The faster you grow, the better you can help me."

Hearing this, the two of them stopped declining.

Instead, they seriously looked at the loot list.

Wei Li said softly, "Can I pick some fine steel equipment? I see there are some superior-grade items and quite a few good-grade ones. I want to pick some of better quality."

"Alright." Zhao Chi nodded. "What about you, Lu Yi?"

Lu Yi said, "I want some strong beastmen. My current melee soldiers aren't that strong yet—I want to bolster my melee soldier strength. If you could also give me some fine steel equipment, that would be best. I don't need anything else."

Zhao Chi nodded: "Understood. Do you need strong beastmen?"

Wei Li nodded: "I don't need too many, just a little is fine. My food supply isn't enough to feed so many big eaters—ghouls already eat plenty, and strong beastmen eat a lot too."

Zhao Chi said, "Understood. Steel equipment and fine steel equipment—one half each for you two, distribute the specifics yourselves. The strong beastmen also all go to you, one half each. I don't want that money either—one half each for you two as well. Apart from these, the rest goes to me."

Zhao Chi had no use for equipment and strong beastmen at all; if he got them he'd just sell them. Since they needed them, giving them to them was fine.

As for that money worth over 2,000 gold coins, it mattered even less.

GLOSSARY

【Zhao Chi, Lu Yi, Gu Qing, Wei Li, Wei family, matched loot】

Zhao Chi still had 2.3 million gold coins with nowhere to spend them, so he might as well give each of them over a thousand gold coins — that would be a large sum for them and certainly very beneficial to their development.

With money, one can do many things.

As expected, neither Lu Yi nor Wei Li would accept.

Wei Li shook her head repeatedly: "It's too much. I only want 10 sets of superior-quality refined steel equipment plus 50 sets of good-quality refined steel equipment, and I'll only take 100 strong beastmen. I don't want anything else — take the gold coins back."

Lu Yi also shook her head and said: "Right, this time it was you who led us through the fight in the first place. We've already gained so much experience and we're very satisfied. We really can't take too much of the spoils."

Zhao Chi said: "Didn't you two keep saying you'd follow me? That you'd both be my little wives? And now neither of you will listen?"

"Huh??" Lu Yi was stunned.

Wei Li hurriedly explained: "It's not that I won't listen, it's just… I can't…"

Zhao Chi said: "Why can't you? I'm telling you to take it — will you take it or not?"

"I— I— I'll take it…" Wei Li lowered her eyes.

"And you?" Zhao Chi looked at Lu Yi.

Lu Yi glanced at Wei Li, then nodded as well: "Alright… thanks."

Wei Li also quickly thanked him: "Thank you… The equipment is fine, but the number of strong beastmen is too many. Wei Li and I probably can't control them, and we really don't have that much food to feed them either."

Lu Yi said: "Right, it's the same on my end."

Zhao Chi said: "Fine, each of you pick 1,000 strong beastmen with good stats and take them. I'll handle the food. How much food do each of you have right now? How long will it last?"

Lu Yi said: "On my end I have over 650 tons of various grains, enough for my territory to last about four-plus months. Adding 1,000 strong beastmen, it should still last about three months."

Wei Li said: "I have a bit more on my end — close to 1,000 tons of grain. But the ghouls eat way too much, especially those frenzied ghouls. These 1,000 tons will only last a little over a month. If we add strong beastmen on top, we might only hold out for about half a month. If only the werewolves could leave corpses behind…"

Neither side had much food.

They really were short on food.

Without much food, one can't rapidly expand the army.

Zhao Chi was increasingly able to appreciate the importance of food.

Chaoge Town now produced grain in batches.

Almost every day, a batch of grain was produced.

Just counting wheat flour, the daily average output was 38,000 tons.

Although a large amount of grain had been sold earlier, quite a bit had accumulated again recently.

Currently, there were 320,000 tons of staple flour in total.

There were 9,000 tons of lean beef in total.

There were 320,000 tons of cabbage in total. Cabbage is low in calories — only about 5% of flour's caloric value — so these cabbages are equivalent to 16,000 tons of flour in calories.

So altogether it's equivalent to 345,000 tons of high-quality staple grain.

And all of it was stored in granaries that greatly extended shelf life — every bit was fresh grain.