71 Talking with Cao Cao part 1

Yun puts the spear back before he runs laps around the fields to maintain his stamina when a servant arrives at the training field.

"My Lord, you have visitors," says the servant as Yun sighs because he was just about to get into it.

"Then let us go," says Yun as he leaves the training ground while thinking, 'Sometimes I wish to be Thunder. He does nothing except for eating, shitting, and mating. Why can't my life be like that as well?'

They walk for a while when Yun tells the servant to stall for time, while he cleans himself and changes his clothes.

Once clean and in new clothes, he enters the room in which he finds Xun Yu and another man wearing a hood and scarf to cover his face.

"I am sorry to keep you waiting, Xun Yu. I was cleaning myself since I was training not even a moment ago," says Yun as he sits down across from them.

"Now who is the friend beside you?" asks Yun curious because it wasn't Xiahou Dun as he expected.

"It was hard for me to get here since I had to pass enemy territory," says the man as he removed the hood and scarf.

Yun was surprised to see this face which had brown eyes, a refined mustache, and powerful eyebrows. Yun smirked seeing the man when a servant enters the room placing three cups on the table and a pot full of tea.

"I wouldn't have thought that he would come personally because we are in enemy territory," says Yun looking at Xun Yu as the servant picked the teapot up and served the tea to them.

"My Lord wanted to deal with you personally so there wouldn't be any miscommunication because of the messenger traveling the distance and forgetting important details of the agreement," says Xun Yu as he just confirmed Yun's speculation that the person beside him was Cao Cao.

"It is nice to finally meet you, Cao Cao," says Yun as Cao Cao looked at him.

"You have grown from the last time I saw you," says Cao Cao as Yun looked at him confused.

"You have seen me?" asks Yun confused as Cao Cao nods.

"It has been a long time but I have seen you fight against three soldiers back in the main camp of the Coalition against the Yellow Turbans. Back then you were just a simple soldier," says Cao Cao as he takes his cup into his hand and takes a sip from it.

"I was fascinated by your talent back then since you seemed to not even break a sweat back then. That's why I sent Xiahou Dun the first time to recruit you back then when the Coalition against Dong Zhuo was formed," says Cao Cao as he places the cup down again.

"Back then I needed money more than anything else to improve my force so I took Yuan Shu's offer," says Yun as he looked at Cao Cao trying to find out how he really ticks on the inside.

"Let us not talk about the past but about the future," says Cao Cao calmly as he looked at Yun.

"I heard from Xun Yu that you would join me if I give you Puyang, that you won't be ordered to attack Zhending, and pay you, is that correct?" asks Cao Cao a bit confused by Yun's demands since they were little compared to what Yuan Shu had to pay for only one year of his service.

"That is correct since Puyang is the only city that interests me that you could give me at the moment," says Yun as Cao Cao and Xun Yu looked confused at him.

"At the moment?" asks Xun Yu as Yun nods.

"I see Puyang only as a small stop until you get the control over the city I have in my eyes," says Yun as he moved his hand towards the inside of his clothes and takes a scroll out.

He places it on the table and unrolls the scroll revealing a map of the Central Plains when he points at a city in the far east of it and he says, "I want Xiapi once you call it yours. I will call it my home until we part ways and I renounce it to you again."

"So you want to be as far away as possible from me," says Cao Cao looking at the map as Yun smiles.

"Something like that," says Yun as he takes his cup into his hand and takes a sip from it before saying, "And I want three favors from you which I will request at some given time, not all at once but I want them to be followed."

"And what do I get in return?" asks Cao Cao not seeing the benefit from it.

"You will have my loyalty until we part way which will be in twelve years," says Yun as he looks at Cao Cao seriously.

"For twelve years you will have me and my men on your side. And you will need us if you really want to call the North yours. I gave Yuan Shao almost the same offer and he is still thinking about it. If I were you, I would take a day to think about it before giving me an answer. But don't forget that if Yuan Shao arrives first our negotiations are over and I will have to do my duty," says Yun as he puts the cup down.

"Twelve years of servitude for Puyang before occupying Xiapi, three favors, and some gold," says Cao Cao as he was thinking about it.

'Twelve years is a long time to build a relationship. Maybe I can rope him in by then,' thinks Cao Cao as he took his cup again and drinks from it before looking at Yun while thinking, 'And if not I can still kill him before he becomes a problem.'

"I will take this day to think about it and return tomorrow to talk about it again," says Cao Cao as he stands up before putting the hood and scarf on.

"I will await you," says Yun as he stands up as well.

Xun Yu finishes his cup as he stands up to follow his Lord. Yun takes the lead as he guides them through the manor.

"It seems we are lucky today," says Yun making Cao Cao look confused while Xun Yu knew what Yun was talking about.

"Xun Yu is afraid of my house cats. Last time he couldn't even move out of fear," says Yun containing his laughter as Cao Cao was now even more confused about the situation.

"Those are not house cats!" shouts Xun Yu defending himself as Cao Cao looked at him.

"Deliberate what you mean, Xun Yu," says Cao Cao as Xun Yu wanted to say something when they hear a roar coming from one of the rooms which made Xun Yu jump.

"What was that?" asks Cao Cao in a defensive stance.

"That was one of my house cats," says Yun as Xun Yu was standing still in fear because he saw one of the big cats coming out of a room.

Cao Cao sees the big cat Yun called house cat and takes a step back when Yun says, "It seems Xun Yu's luck ran out."

Yun walked towards the Tiger and whispers something into its ear before the Tiger walks past Xun Yu and Cao Cao when Yun says, "We should continue before more appear."

Yun leads them to the gate of the manor without any more obstacles in their way. Once they left Yun returned to his office.

He sat down and looked at the map he pulled out earlier and looks at it and says to himself, "With this, all the pieces will be put in place and I will have a way to escape with my men from Xiapi toward Jianye if Cao Cao were to try something against me."

"Shi, are you outside?" asks Yun as he hears a little roar and Yun writes a small message and walks out of his office before placing the message between the collar and the fur before Yun says, "Go to Pang Tong and give him the message. Then return immediately for your reward."

The Tiger leaves right away and Yun returned to his desk. He sat down and looked out the window as he sighs before going over their financial situation.

"I hope Cao Cao accepts the deal or I will have to search for employment under Yuan Shao and that would make things for me quite complicated," says Yun to himself as he looked at his finances.

He was glad that they were making their provisions at the moment outside the city but soon Yuan Shao will attack them and if they this goes into a siege they will lose that's why Yun wants to leave Zhending as fast as possible since he wasn't only thinking about his family but also that of Lu Bu which was still with him.

He was done with the finances when he hears someone approaching. He stands up and sees Shi approaching him rapidly. Shi stops in her tracks as she looked at Yun waiting for her reward.

"Let's go to the kitchen," says Yun as he walks to the kitchen to get some dried-up sausages he made for himself.

After feeding Shi two of the sausages he returned to his office finding Pang Tong waiting who had a funny face at the moment.

"Did something happen that you look so happy?" asks Yun as Pang Tong only nods.

"Yes, my trainees received a panic attack when they saw a full-grown Tiger run at them out of nowhere. Now I understand why you always want to laugh when you see me panic," says Pang Tong as Yun laughs out loud hearing that.

"I forgot that you were training the strategists because of everything that happened today," says Yun as he needed to wipe away his tears from laughing while Pang Tong now needed to wait for Yun to calm down.