The inn’s main hall was a complete mess, yet the crisp clacking of an abacus rang out loud and clear.
Click, click, click.
Su Yaoyao’s little hands flew across the golden abacus beads.
She sat upright on a small stool, her tender little face stern with concentration.
In front of her, the landlady and more than a dozen burly men wearing nothing but floral shorts knelt on the floor, trembling.
The cool morning breeze blew in through the shattered doorway, making the bandits’ noses run as they huddled together for warmth.
They looked at the little girl.
There was no trace left of the contempt and greed they had shown the night before.
Only fear and despair remained.
“All done.”
Su Yaoyao stopped moving her hands.
She picked up a brush and drew a circle in the account book.
Clearing her throat, she lifted the long bill and began reading it out with exaggerated rhythm and emphasis.
“Last night, you suddenly kicked down the door, causing severe fright to my father and me. Ten thousand taels of silver for emotional distress seems perfectly reasonable, don’t you think?”
The scar-faced henchman kneeling on the floor raised his head, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.
“Ten thousand taels?!”
Su Yaoyao ignored him and continued reading.
“You came in the middle of the night waving knives and shouting threats, seriously damaging the fragile mental health of my father and me. Compensation for psychological trauma: twenty thousand taels.”
“The poison you put in our tea, although it was merely a cheap counterfeit medicine, still constitutes attempted murder for financial gain. Penalty for breach of contract: thirty thousand taels.”
The landlady’s vision swam, and her lips trembled.
But Su Yaoyao was not finished.
She pointed at the dozen half-naked men before her and put on an expression of deep anguish.
“This is the most serious charge of all!”
“You grown men, with your greasy hair, powdered faces, and hairy legs, actually stripped naked and performed a grass-skirt dance in the main hall!”
“I’m only eight years old! My pure, flawless eyes have suffered devastating visual pollution and psychological trauma!”
“For eye-washing fees and subsequent treatment, I’ll give you a discount. Fifty thousand taels!”
With a snap, Su Yaoyao shut the account book and smiled down at them.
“Adding everything together and rounding down, the grand total is one hundred and ten thousand taels of silver.”
“So, gentlemen, will you be paying in cash or with silver notes?”
The main hall fell silent.
The only sound was the cold wind blowing through it.
The landlady stood frozen for a full ten seconds before bursting into tears.
“One hundred and ten thousand taels?! You might as well kill us!”
She pointed at the wall upstairs, which had been blasted open, and the secret compartment on the floor, which had been pried apart. She wailed bitterly.
“You took the one hundred thousand taels of government silver hidden in the wall!”
“You dug up all the gold bars in the secret compartment, the property deeds in the accounting room, and even the copper coins buried beneath the pigsty in the back courtyard!”
“Now there isn’t even an intact chamber pot left in this inn! Where do you expect me to find one hundred and ten thousand taels for you?”
The dozen men also burst into tearful lamentations.
They didn’t even have enough money left to buy clothes!
Su Yaoyao had not only robbed them of everything they owned, she was now turning around and sending them a bill. This was simply too outrageous!
“Hey, that’s not how you should put it.”
Su Yaoyao shook her short index finger.
“The gold and silver upstairs were stolen goods you obtained through robbery. Taking them from you is called confiscating illegal gains.”
“The bill I’m presenting now is civil compensation. Those are two entirely different matters. Do you understand the law or not?”
The landlady trembled with rage as she glared at the little demon in front of her.
“No money! We have no money to give you. If you want something, take our lives!”
“If you have the guts, kill us all today and see whether you can escape the authorities once you cross the border of Great Yan!”
The landlady decided to give up completely.
She stiffened her neck and started acting shamelessly.
Either way, she was going to die. She refused to suffer such humiliation.
Just then, Su Zhen, who had been standing silently to one side, slowly stepped forward.
At some point, a butcher’s knife had appeared in his hand.
The blade was still stained with the blood from a chicken he had casually butchered in the kitchen earlier.
Blood ran down the edge of the knife, drop by drop, landing on the wooden floor with a terrifying patter.
Su Zhen said nothing. He merely looked down at the landlady.
The terrifying pressure of someone who had long held absolute power over life and death erupted from him without restraint.
The temperature in the room seemed to plummet.
This was not the killing intent of an ordinary martial artist.
This was the imperial might of a true ruler who regarded human lives as mere weeds.
Su Zhen toyed with the bloodstained knife, casually turning his wrist.
Whoosh!
The heavy butcher’s knife transformed into a streak of shadow and flew past the landlady’s cheek.
Thud!
The blade sank deep into a redwood pillar beside her ear. The handle trembled violently, giving off a buzzing hum.
A few severed strands of hair drifted down onto the landlady’s shoulder.
If the knife had been even an inch higher, her head would have been split in two like a watermelon.
The landlady’s pupils contracted violently, and her breath caught in her throat.
She could clearly feel the chill of death.
A warm liquid trickled down her thighs and gathered into a puddle on the wooden floor.
“Don’t want to die?”
Su Zhen’s voice was low and hoarse, like a death warrant whispered from the depths of hell.
“I—I am a man who values reason above all else. Since you have no money, then you can pay in kind.”
At the words “pay in kind,” the landlady and the dozen burly men turned deathly pale and began kowtowing desperately as they begged for mercy.
At just the right moment, Su Yaoyao pulled a thick stack of rice paper from her little shoulder bag and handed it over with a beaming smile.
“Don’t be nervous. We’re legitimate merchants. We don’t do anything illegal.”
“Since you can’t come up with one hundred and ten thousand taels right now, that’s fine. We support installment payments.”
Su Yaoyao shook the papers in her hand. Every sheet was covered with neatly written terms.
“This is a ten-year contract for paying protection fees in monthly installments.”
“Starting today, this Dragon Gate Inn is officially acquired by me and will become my first overseas branch.”
“Every one of you is now one of my unofficial employees.”
“Ninety percent of the inn’s monthly net profits must be remitted on time to the money house I designate. You may keep the remaining ten percent to buy yourselves gruel.”
“There are no holidays, no leave, and no days off all year round. For every day the payment is late, the penalty will double.”
Su Yaoyao slapped the contract down in front of the landlady and handed her a box of red ink.
“Come on, sign here and press your fingerprints. From now on, we’re all one big family.”
The landlady stared at the contract, which was practically a deed of servitude, and felt her vision swim.
She had painstakingly operated this century-old black-market inn for ten years. In the blink of an eye, not only had it been completely looted, she was now expected to work for someone else for ten years without pay!
What kind of miserable life was this?
They were even more vicious than the devil himself!
But when she raised her head and met Su Zhen’s emotionless eyes, every thought of resistance vanished.
For the sake of staying alive, the landlady’s trembling hand dipped into the red ink.
With tears of humiliation in her eyes, she pressed her fingerprint onto the contract.
The dozen henchmen lined up as well, each one signing and stamping the contract with a mournful expression.
After putting away the contract, Su Yaoyao clapped her hands in satisfaction.
“Excellent. Work hard from now on. When your boss is eating meat, I definitely won’t forget to let you smell it.”
The landlady collapsed onto the floor. As she looked at this father-and-daughter pair who were no better than bandits, resentment began to rise in her heart.
She couldn’t let things end like this. She had to get these two calamities out of here—and use someone else to do the killing.
To prove her loyalty and redirect the danger elsewhere, the proprietress suddenly lifted her head, her face brimming with sycophantic smiles. She crawled forward a couple of steps.
“Miss, Master, since I’m already one of your people, there’s something I must report to you!”
The proprietress swallowed, lowered her voice, and put on an air of mystery.
“If you leave this town and keep heading north, there’s a mandatory route about fifty li ahead.”
“That place is called Yama Gorge, a natural stronghold of deadly terrain.”
Su Yaoyao arched an eyebrow. “Oh? And then?”
A poisonous glint flashed through the proprietress’s eyes as she continued her vivid description.
“The gorge is occupied by several thousand genuine bandits! They’re the largest bandit force in all of Great Yan—their stronghold is called Yama Fortress!”
“They’re nothing like small-time crooks such as us. Those people kill without blinking and eat people without even spitting out the bones!”
“And their Chief is an absolutely terrifying expert. They say he possesses immense strength and is impervious to blades and spears.”
As she spoke, the proprietress carefully watched the father and daughter’s expressions.
“I heard some rumors last night. The scouts from Yama Fortress have had their eyes on your glittering carriage for quite some time.”
“They must have already set up an inescapable trap in the gorge, just waiting for the two of you to walk right into it!”
The proprietress secretly gloated. Go on—hurry up and head to Yama Gorge.
Once those two entered the encirclement of several thousand men, they would surely be hacked into mincemeat, without even a scrap of bone left behind!
When that happened, the damned contract would naturally be void.
After hearing her report, the main hall fell briefly silent.
Su Zhen stroked the fake beard stuck to his chin and frowned.
Although he prided himself on being the greatest martial artist under heaven, he was traveling with his daughter, after all.
Several thousand well-equipped desperadoes occupying a strategically advantageous mountain stronghold would indeed be a considerable nuisance.
“A mountain fortress with several thousand men? Sounds like a tough opponent.”
The Tyrant Dad turned to Su Yaoyao, who was sitting on a little stool, and spoke in a consulting tone.
“Daughter, this mess looks like it runs pretty deep. Should we play it safe and take a detour?”
At her father’s question, Su Yaoyao’s small hands stopped fiddling with the abacus.
She looked up. There wasn’t the slightest hint of fear or worry on her adorable little face.
Her clear, beautiful eyes shone like two high-powered searchlights.
They were even more feverishly excited than they had been when she saw the gold bricks the night before.
“Take a detour? Dad, that’s a mountain fortress with several thousand people!”
“This carriage isn’t flashy enough. Let’s add a few more things so they don’t fail to notice us and miss their chance!”
