After the interlude with Old Lin, the matter of the stone was temporarily concluded.
As for the Hua family's affairs, Li Chonglou intended to keep it as one of his trump cards for now.
Trump cards were meant to be unknown to others, so even Hua Yin was only given a cultivation technique by Li Chonglou to train with, to seek him out again when she hit a bottleneck.
When Li Chonglou returned to the company, Rou Shan and the others had also just returned.
"Boss, it's all done!"
Li Chonglou looked at Hawkeye, who was with Rou Shan, in surprise and asked, "You two returned together?"
Hawkeye chuckled, "Boss, you didn't know that Rou Shan Ge and I both came from the same former employer, Qingniao, did you?"
Li Chonglou's brow immediately twitched, sensing something was amiss.
"Wait, so does that mean I've poached two top generals from Qingniao at the same time?" Li Chonglou finally realized the gravity of the situation and hurriedly asked, "By the way, what were your positions at Qingniao? Are they strict with the management of freelancers?"
Hawkeye gave him a knowing look and said, "Boss, Qingniao was built on freelancers, wasn't it? Otherwise, why would Qingniao be so low-key among the four major guilds?"
Li Chonglou froze.
He knew about the other three of the Four Major Guilds quite well, but Qingniao, due to limited contact, he had only heard of its name.
And Hawkeye's implication undoubtedly meant he had stirred up trouble again!
Rou Shan alone was enough to be treated as a treasure, and now with Hawkeye, a special ranged attacker, added to the mix, he wouldn't stand idly by either!
"Damn, what was your former employer's reaction? Do they know you two are coming to me?"
Hawkeye raised his eyebrows, "Of course they know. We signed contracts, and now it's considered changing jobs, so we had to be clear. As for their reaction, the former employer said they would send someone to meet you later, and that's also considered a message for me."
Li Chonglou became even more confused and instinctively looked at Rou Shan. Hawkeye often played pranks, so Li Chonglou didn't quite dare to trust him completely.
However, Rou Shan also nodded slightly.
Li Chonglou's face suddenly turned grim. Wasn't this a clear case of being caught in the crossfire?
After a long while, Li Chonglou finally resigned himself to the fact with a deep sigh.
"Boss, don't worry. Rou Shan Ge is ranked third in Qingniao, and I'm tenth. Even if they launch a full-scale attack, we can still hold off two of them for you."
Li Chonglou turned to look at him, "What if the first one deals with Rou Shan, and the second one deals with you? Can you hold them off?"
"Ahem, that wouldn't be possible. The top three are all monsters. I can't last even one move."
As soon as the word "monster" was uttered, Rou Shan immediately turned to look at him. Hawkeye, realizing he had said the wrong thing, chuckled repeatedly and explained, "Rou Shan Ge, I'm not calling you a monster, no, the monster I'm talking about isn't that kind of monster, that's not right either!"
Seeing Hawkeye getting more and more flustered, Rou Shan ignored him and said to Li Chonglou, "Don't listen to his nonsense. Qingniao won't launch a full-scale attack on you because of the two of us. This is also Qingniao's rule. We have the right to choose whether to go or stay, as long as we inform them. At most, they will send someone to cooperate with you."
"Cooperate?"
"Yes, they might re-employ us."
Li Chonglou instantly understood and also guessed some of Qingniao's peculiarities.
Based on the current situation, Qingniao was likely not controlled by a single person or a single surname, but rather a group formed by several or more freelancers.
This would also explain why Qingniao placed more importance on freelancers than its own team members, and why it was so low-key in Shangjing.
However, no matter what, as long as they didn't cause him trouble, Li Chonglou felt a lot more relieved after Rou Shan's explanation.
He also couldn't help but give Hawkeye a big eye-roll.
This guy was indeed unreliable!
Not long after the two returned, Cullinan also returned to the company. It seemed that their handling of freelancers followed the same process, so the time required was similar.
Li Chonglou took the opportunity while everyone was back to call a small meeting.
"How long will you be gone?"
Zhou Tong also attended this small meeting. Upon learning that Li Chonglou would be leaving Shangjing for a period in a few days, he immediately became somewhat nervous.
The company's situation was different from before. With Rou Shan and the others present, Zhou Tong always worried about encountering enemies of similar caliber. Without Li Chonglou as a stabilizing force, he felt as if he were living on the edge.
The others also looked at Li Chonglou curiously. They all roughly knew his strength, at least a level higher than theirs!
This outing was definitely to carry out some mission.
So they were all curious about what kind of missions people of Li Chonglou's level accepted.
However, Li Chonglou did not explain to them, only answering Zhou Tong's question, "Probably around three to five days."
Li Chonglou thought for a moment and then said, "By the way, if Black Sword and the others have any needs during my absence, you can arrange for them to help."
"Hu Han too. In short, leaving one person in the company is enough."
Zhou Tong was stunned at first, then understood Li Chonglou's meaning, and with some surprise said, "Understood! Leave it to me!"
Li Chonglou smiled. What he had just said was to address Zhou Tong's concerns.
Leaving only one person in the company was enough, and it wasn't even the strongest, Rou Shan. In fact, this was telling Zhou Tong not to worry about people of their caliber coming to cause trouble, at least not for now.
However, for the safety of Zhou Tong's people, Li Chonglou still reminded them: "Don't you think about having any ulterior motives once I leave. The company's real assets are all in my personal account. Zhou Tong doesn't have any money."
Hawkeye rolled his eyes, "Boss, this is the first time you're cooperating with us freelancers, right? We won't blame you this time, but next time you say that, don't blame us for being unhappy."
Rou Shan took over and explained, "Don't worry, we freelancers have our rules. Once broken, we won't be able to stay in all of Shangjing."
Li Chonglou nodded. He was indeed cooperating with freelancers for the first time, and he knew very little about their rules. The reason he dared to make this decision was purely his intuition about people.
Even the most cunning Hawkeye was not a scoundrel.
Not to mention the martial arts fanatic Cullinan and Rou Shan, who looked like an honest person. Among them, the only one Li Chonglou was not entirely at ease with was Chen Pao, whom he had not called to the meeting.
This guy's verbal skills were even more formidable than his own!