Chapter 297: Lea's Perseverance

'I'm Lea, so don't pretend to be innocent with me. I'm not going to believe you. I just came from Majid's place, and he told me that he's decided to end the Gulf War. He also told me that it was your decision, Zhou Ming, and that it was the result of your negotiations with the Americans in Basra. Right? You liar!' Lea said to Zhou Ming with clenched teeth.

Zhou Ming really felt a headache in the face of Lea. After all, the decision to end the war this time was very sudden. He even persuaded Majid at the last minute, not to mention this Kurdish princess.

At this moment, Zhou Ming really wished he was the kind of liar that Lea had described, because at least then he could have simply walked away and ignored her completely.

But unfortunately, he was not, so he had to explain with a stiff upper lip: 'I'm sorry this happened, but things are always so sudden. This time, even I didn't expect it...'

Zhou Ming wanted to say more, but when he saw that Lea suddenly burst into tears, he did see tears running down her face, even though she was still wearing the black veil. Lea sobbed and said to Zhou Ming, 'Why? Why are you so cruel as to tell me the truth so directly? Why didn't you just make up a little lie to deceive me and make me feel better? Why did you have to tell me?'

Zhou Ming paused for a moment before replying to Lea's barrage of questions: 'I know I could just make up a lie to make you happy, but I don't want to lie to you.'

'But you're still a liar!' Rhea shouted at Zhou Ming. 'You deceived all of us Kurds with the hope of establishing a country. You deceived us into abandoning the olive branch offered by the Americans to help you fight the fight the Americans? You deceived us into attacking the Americans with suicide attacks. But now you want to negotiate with the Americans. Tell me, on what basis?

'What gave you the right to intervene in the Gulf War? What gave you the right to command Kurdish guerrillas to attack American armoured units? And now what gives you the right to negotiate with the American president on behalf of Iraq? What gives you the right to end this Gulf War? And what about us? Why should we listen to your arrangements?'

Rhea's questions came one after the other, and her emotions became more and more agitated, to the point where she was about to scream at the end.

Zhou Ming sighed, walked over, gently embraced her, and said to her, 'I rely on nothing but the fact that I am Zhou Ming. I can intervene in this war, I can dictate the end of the war, and you will listen to my arrangements!'

Raya was still struggling, but when she heard Zhou Ming's domineering words, she immediately calmed down and leaned against Zhou Ming's chest like a meek kitten, saying, 'Now that you are going to end the war, what about us Kurds? The government forces in Sulm will definitely settle accounts with us later, and with our current weapons and equipment, we still can't beat them. So will the hope of the Kurdish people to establish their own country be put off indefinitely?'

'It is true that although the Iraqi army has been heavily defeated by the US army, the basic ground forces are still there, and those Soviet-made weapons still have tremendous lethality.'

Zhou Ming suddenly changed the subject here and asked, 'Then before I answer your question, I want you to answer me one question first. Do you think that the United Nations should allocate a piece of land for you, and then you can live and establish a country on this land? Or did you overthrow the Hussein family's rule in Iraq and finally made this your country?'

'Of course we should overthrow the Saddam regime and establish our own country with our own strength! Because relying on the charity of other countries is not a long-term solution. For us Kurds, the fighters can only defend their homeland with their own guns in their hands, otherwise there will be no independence in any form!' Raya answered without hesitation.

'That's the way it is,' Zhou Ming said to Raya, 'I can at most provide you with an opportunity, but true independence still has to be achieved by you yourselves.'

Zhou Ming's words were not groundless. This was a helpless reality in the Middle East. It was like when the Jews first returned to the Middle East to establish the State of Israel. Although their establishment of the state was approved by the United Nations, they still experienced several Middle East wars. They relied on their own strength to continuously defeat the Arab coalition forces from all sides before they could truly gain a foothold in the Levant region.

In contrast, although neighbouring Palestine has also been recognised by the United Nations, it has never been able to establish a real state because of constant military clashes with Israel and the encroachment of its approved territory.

Raya said with a sigh, 'I know, and I believe in our Kurdish fighters. No matter how difficult the road ahead may be, we will definitely work hard for the establishment of our country!'

At the end, Raya looked up at Ming and said, 'Thank you very much for saying these things to me.'

Zhou Ming shook his head: 'I'm not just saying this to you, I'm also saying it to myself.'

Lei Ya was a little confused, but that was the truth, because with the wealth that Zhou Ming now had, he could just set up a company and live a comfortable life for the rest of his life . Perhaps he could even become a member of parliament abroad, occasionally flirt with the beautiful women who pass by, and teach a lesson to the unruly thugs. It would be very comfortable, but Zhou Ming just doesn't want to. He still wants to control everything himself.

Just like now, he has obviously reached his limit in Iraq, but looking back, he is still just a pawn on someone else's chessboard, manipulated by other people.

It's just like my past life in the company. No matter how many clients I got for the company and how much business I did, every time I drank until I had stomach bleeding over a contract, I could only get a pitiful few thousand in the end, one can only get a pitiful few thousand dollars a month in wages, and there is always the risk of being fired by the company for various reasons; on the contrary, the boss of the company does nothing and can just point his finger at you, and has the power to fire you if he doesn't like what you say.

This is the norm in life, and countless people are content to live this way, going to work and getting their fair share of the salary.

But Zhou Ming didn't want this. To him, this feeling was extremely humiliating. As a born-again person, he had the opportunity to start his life over again. he must break free from this prison, stop being a pawn for others, and become a player himself, with the world as his chessboard, even if that 'outside world' is something that even the American president is wary of.

They say that if you don't have a fling in your youth, you've wasted your time. Now that I've had this rare opportunity to be reborn, wouldn't it be a waste if I didn't work hard to climb to the top of the world?

But despite his thoughts, Zhou Ming also knew that it would be a very winding and long road. He let go of Lea and said to her, 'Don't worry, since I promised you in the beginning, as long as you have the opportunity to build a country, I will help you.'

'I believe you,' Lea replied to Zhou Ming. She lowered her head as if she was still hesitating, and then said after a while, 'Do you know? For us Kurds, women are not to be looked at by men other than their husbands and family members, and they are not to be...embraced.'

When it came to the last sentence about hugging, Lea's voice was as small as a mosquito's, but even so, it still surprised Zhou Ming.

Zhou Ming hastily released his hold on Lea's hand and said to her, 'I'm sorry about that. I didn't know you had such rules there. As the saying goes, ignorance is not a crime, and I think your God will forgive this accident.'

Leah shook her head and seemed to muster some courage as she looked up at Zhou Ming and said, 'Because it's you, Zhou Ming, I'm willing! And this is also my father's wish, otherwise he would never have sent me to lead the team to Badina, no matter how much he loves me.'

Rhea's tone was firm, but it made Ming feel extremely confused. Why was she willing to do that? Could it be that she was only willing to marry him because he had looked at her and hugged her? And she was also willing to give him the Kurdish guerrilla army as a dowry? That was ridiculous!

If that were the case, then I would have to go to the Kurdish-populated area of Sumer and look at all the women there, so that all Kurdish women would have to marry me? And then I would have to pay the entire Kurdish people as compensation. This is simply unreasonable!

Zhou Ming could only think these thoughts in his own head. If he said them out loud, goodness knows if the princess in front of him would fly into a rage.

Zhou Ming took a deep breath and said to her, 'Your Highness, first of all, I would like to thank you for your favour towards me, and I am also very fortunate that your father also trusts me. However, I think there is just some misunderstanding between us. You don't need to humiliate yourself by marrying me.'

'I'm not being self-deprecating, and it's not a misunderstanding of concepts!' Lea hastily explained, "I'm not joking about my happiness in this life. I'm serious about this!'

Lea thought for a moment and then continued, "I guess Zhou Ming must have other wives or girlfriends or lovers, right? For us Kurds, this is all fine, because it is natural for men to have children. Therefore, God allows anyone to marry many wives. My father has eleven wives, so I will only be one of your wives and I will serve you well every day, together with your other wives.'

Zhou Ming had heard a little about the religious customs in the Gulf region and knew that monogamy did not exist in their concept, and it was an open secret that many royal family members had many wives. Of course, Zhou Ming himself has definitely dreamed of having a harem of wives, but now such a princess from Kurdistan, who he has only just met, has so directly told him that she wants to marry him and become one of his wives, it is still very difficult for him to accept for a while.

Zhou Ming thought to himself, 'Your Highness, I think you're too emotional to discuss this right now. Perhaps when you've calmed down, you'll change your mind. So just forget what he said about getting married.'

Zhou Ming said to Lea and left. Lea didn't say anything more this time, but just stood there feeling a little lonely.

Back in his room, Zhou Ming felt the need to get in touch with the Kurdish emir of Gaolan again, but when he called the satellite phone, it was always busy.

After trying twice, Zhou Ming gave up for the time being, thinking that perhaps something was going on over there. After all, he was the chief of several million Kurds in the Sumer region, so of course he couldn't be as carefree as he was.

Since it was late, Zhou Ming hung up the phone, went to take a shower and get ready for bed. But when he came out of the bathroom, he saw his bodyguard sitting in the living room, looking at him with a very strange expression.

Zhou Ming asked curiously, 'What's wrong? Did Chief Jao-Lan call me back? Or did I use the fragrance as shower gel, which is why I smell so strong?'

Zhou Ming shook his head and said neither. Then he pointed at Zhou Ming's room and said, 'It's over there. I don't know what to do.'

'You're our national-level soldier king, and there's still something you don't know how to deal with?'

Zhou Ming said in surprise, and then walked towards his room. When he opened the door, he understood why he didn't know how to deal with it: 'Princess Lea, why are you here?'