Chapter 1094 — At Least You Have the Brains

"So what if you die?" Little Mule said, utterly unmoved. "Since time immemorial, who has not died? If you die, you die!"

"You..." Yu Ren was half choked with fury at Little Mule, yet dared not lose his temper. He hesitated a moment, then said, "Tell you what — I'll go into the ring for you, if you'll let my wife and daughter go."

"No, Dad, don't you go — if anyone goes, it's me!" Yu Yuanyuan was ever the filial daughter. She knew that stepping into the ring meant certain death. Folk like them, untrained and unhardened, were no match for those fighting masters.

So Yu Yuanyuan thought: if her own death could buy her parents their safety, then it would be worth it.

"Yu Ren, have you both lost your minds? I hire a master for a bout and pay him a hundred or two hundred thousand at the very most — and you imagine one of you is worth five hundred thousand? Dream on!" Little Mule snorted with disdain. "Even if your whole family climbed into the ring, I'd still call it a loss!"

"You... you're driving us to our deaths!" Yu Ren cried out in desperation. If the whole family went up to fight, they would surely never come back!

"And what if I am? If you've got the nerve, go die; if not, pay what you owe!" Little Mule snorted.

"I... I..." Yu Ren felt the bitterness rise in his throat. There really was nothing he could do about it!

At the thought of this, Yu Ren could not help but sigh and lower his head.

"Stop making things hard for my father. A child pays the father's debt — I'll go into the ring with you!" Seeing her father's anguish, Yu Yuanyuan could no longer hold herself back and stepped forward.

"You? How much would a bout of yours fetch? Still, you're a pretty little thing, aren't you? Tell you what — I'll sell you to the brothel, and whenever you've earned me five hundred thousand, we'll talk!" Little Mule narrowed his eyes at Yu Yuanyuan, and as though an idea had just struck him, spoke.

"Ah—" At Little Mule's words Yu Yuanyuan was struck dumb. She did not care about dying, but to be sold into a brothel, to be insulted by a different man every day — she would sooner die! She shook her head on the spot. "How could I bear that? I'd rather be dead!"

"Heh, die then, by all means! If you're dead, I'll still drag your parents into the ring!" Little Mule said, not the least bit concerned. "And who exactly are you trying to scare with death?"

"You... how can you be so cruel..." Tears spilled down Yu Yuanyuan's cheeks at once. These people were so unreasonable, so overbearing! But as for letting Yu Yuanyuan sit at a brothel table and entertain customers — that she would never agree to either!

"Oh? Now here's a little one worth having — quite to my taste!" Master Li, who had not uttered a word until now, finally spoke up, ogling Yu Yuanyuan with a lecherous face, his eyes half slitted. "Not bad, not bad..."

Though Yu Yuanyuan was no supreme beauty, she was fresh and pure — the sort who grows more attractive the longer one looks at her. And Master Li, having had his fill of women of the demimonde, had a particular weakness for that fresh and pure type; otherwise he would never have grown smitten with Yu Yuanyuan and stirred up all this convoluted trouble.

Still, he had no intention of having Yu Yuanyuan once or twice and being done with her. He wanted her as a long-term stronghold concubine, and best of all one who served him of her own accord — only then was there any pleasure in it. Compulsion was not Master Li's taste.

"Oh? Master Li, you've taken a fancy to this little one?" Little Mule asked, feigning surprise.

"Mm — that's right, I have!" Master Li answered brazenly enough, making no attempt to hide it, and nodded. "Little one, your lord and master has his eye on you. Come home with me and be my stronghold concubine, and serve me well. I promise you good food and fine drink, wealth and honors besides, and your father's debt wiped clean. What do you say?"

"Ah — I—" Yu Yuanyuan was at a loss all at once. To bind herself to a villain she did not love was something her heart resisted fiercely; but what use was her resistance? She did not want it — yet she knew that this way neither she nor her father need die, and the family's crisis would at last be weathered.

"What do you mean, you?" Little Mule's brow knitted and his patience began to fray. "Let me be clear, Yu Yuanyuan: either you serve Master Li alone, or you go to the brothel and earn me back five hundred thousand. The choice is yours."

"I..." Yu Yuanyuan bowed her head in helpless silence, tears whirling in her eyes. In that moment she truly did not know what to do! Had she been free to choose, she would rather have died; yet even she knew that if she died, her parents would fare no better — they would all die.

And if everything Master Li promised was true, then sacrificing one to bring happiness to an entire family — though serving that villain Master Li was something her heart revolted against, it was still a far cry better than the brothel!

"Hmph, such good fortune and you still dither?" Little Mule turned away in irritation and said to Master Li, "Master Li, this little one doesn't know when she's well off — shall we just forget it? There's no shortage of pretty girls; why waste your time on her? I'll find you another later — better to sell this one off to the brothel after all! A melon twisted off against its will is never sweet. Look at her there, sniveling and stammering — when the time comes she won't serve you properly either. What use would she be?"

"No need — I've set my mind on her!" Master Li swept his broad hand through the air. "Little one, your name is Yu Yuanyuan, isn't it? Let me tell you something: your lord and master may be a rough fellow, but I know how to dote on a woman. Come with me and you will never regret it!"

"I..." Yu Yuanyuan hesitated, then looked toward her father, Yu Ren.

At that moment Yu Ren's heart was no easier, but what could he do? Confronted by villains like Little Mule and Master Li, with his family's life and death clutched in their hands, he dared not offer the slightest resistance.

"Yuanyuan, what do you think?" Yu Ren was, after all, a man of principle, and he wanted his daughter to choose. "If you're unwilling, then the three of us can simply go down to the underworld together — one death ends all things, and you needn't suffer that humiliation!"

"Dad, I... I... I'll go with him!" Yu Yuanyuan hesitated a moment longer, then finally nodded through her tears. The death of the whole family was not what she wanted; and now, if she need only serve Master Li alone, that counted as a blessing amid misfortune. As long as her parents came to no harm, Yu Yuanyuan would accept it.

"Heh, now that's more like it, little one — you've got some brains after all!" Little Mule was thoroughly pleased with this outcome. He had handed Yu Yuanyuan over to Master Li without a single blade being drawn — nothing could be better!

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