At Your Disposal

Liu Rushuang was very satisfied with Lu Li's expression at that moment.

Then she parted her crimson lips slightly. "This is what I really look like."

"In these times, making a living is hard enough for us common folk at the bottom. For weak women like us, it's harder than climbing to heaven!"

"Every day, I have to show my face in public. I only dare do business with people from my hometown. Making myself ugly is merely for self-protection."

Lu Li fell silent. So the freckles and sallow complexion on her face had been painted on, and her plump figure was fake as well.

The point was, what did any of this have to do with him?

"Where's your husband?"

Rumor had it that she had a husband who had gone off to join the army.

"I made all that up. I've never been married. I'm only twenty-five now, just nine years older than you.

"My parents both passed away when I was very young. I lived with my aunt in Blackwater City.

"Later, my aunt's family offended someone and went elsewhere. They left me some money, so I opened this inn."

Seeing Lu Li's expression ease slightly.

Liu Rushuang suddenly slipped out of her close-fitting long dress, leaving only a bellyband on her body. Two large white rabbits strained against the little pink garment, clearly having some difficulty.

She even closed her eyes, wearing the look of someone entirely at his disposal.

What exactly are you trying to do?

Lu Li took a deep breath and steadied himself.

First changing outfits, then playing pitiful, and now offering herself up as though he could take whatever he wanted.

What cadre could withstand a test like this?

Liu Rushuang silently opened her eyes, leaving only bewilderment in them.

She had not expected Lu Li's somewhat youthful face to possess such composure.

She found him increasingly impossible to understand. Earlier, he had lied that he would need two years before he could take a master. Yet now, he had secretly begun practicing martial arts. At such a young age, he already possessed such depth and shrewdness. In the future, he would surely be someone she could rely on.

In Blackwater City, where no one knew whether they would live to see tomorrow, she merely wanted someone to depend on.

Lu Li adjusted his breathing, his expression plainly restrained.

A question lingered in his heart.

He wondered whether he could break his virginity now. There was no way he could ask his master about something like that.

He could only endure it.

"One morning last month, I went to fetch water and forgot to bind my chest. Baldy Jiao saw me, and he started pestering me. On the surface, he told me to find debt slaves for him, but in truth, he coveted my body."

"That isn't a reason for you to harm me."

"I'm just a weak woman. What else could I do? Right now, you're the only martial artist I know in Blackwater City. That Baldy Jiao disgusts me to death. Rather than let him have me, I'd rather let you have me."

As soon as the words fell, Liu Rushuang's face turned balefully red, her chest rising and falling unevenly.

"I don't dare hope for status or a proper title. I only want to live with my innocence intact."

Lu Li walked to the window. "Put your clothes back on first."

"He has come looking for me twice over the past half month. I gave him ten times the Protection Silver, which scared him off for now. He said he would give me half a month at most to consider it, and told me to become his concubine."

Liu Rushuang's breathing suddenly caught, and she instinctively moved a few steps closer to Lu Li.

"Right now, you're the only person I can beg for help. If you refuse, then in half a month, I will have no choice but to die to preserve my purity."

She walked in front of Lu Li, her eyes filled with fear and resolve.

Lu Li's heart remained unmoved.

Help her? Help with what?

Why should he help?

At most, he would stop holding the past against her. After all, she had taken him in for half a month before.

Besides, he had not even begun Gate-Breaking yet. He was not even a martial artist, and he had no idea how strong Baldy Jiao was or what connections he had behind him. He truly could not help with this matter.

He only had half a month left before he could begin Gate-Breaking. At a time like this, he had to be even more cautious.

"Come to think of it, what does this have to do with Old Li?"

Seeing that Lu Li still did not respond, the light gradually faded from Liu Rushuang's eyes, and her voice turned cold. "Last month, Old Li barely sold any Grass Shoes and fell short on the Bridgehead Gang's Protection Silver. Zhang Biao beat him up and gave him three days to raise the money.

"With no other choice, Old Li borrowed one tael of silver from Baldy Jiao. It has now risen to sixteen hundred coins. Baldy Jiao said that Old Li had better prepare six hundred coins in interest by the end of the month, or he would take his life."

Lu Li narrowed his eyes, and a vicious fury surged up in his heart. "Where is Old Li now?"

"In the gate tunnel outside the city."

Lu Li turned to go find Old Li.

Liu Rushuang called after him. "Lu Li, you don't want my body—but do you want my silver?"

Lu Li halted.

"This inn of mine—the courtyard outside has over a hundred townsfolk, at fifty coins a day. The first floor has ten shared sleeping platforms. Fifteen people per platform brings in one hundred and fifty coins."

"Adding the second and third floors, it makes around three hundred coins a day. That's nine taels of silver a month. Subtract twenty percent in tariffs and another twenty percent in Protection Silver, and there are five taels left each month."

"I've also saved up a bit of dowry over the years. I'll give you ten taels of silver every month. Protect me, all right?" Liu Rushuang's voice was full of pleading, hope shining in her eyes.

"With those terms, you could find much better protection. Why does it have to be me?"

"Other than your Golden Gate Martial Academy, who in Blackwater City isn't mixed up with some gang? What good ending could I possibly get by seeking them out?"

"You're the only person from your academy that I know. Besides, you don't even covet my body. You're the only one I trust."

Lu Li fell silent.

She was offering too much.

He truly did not want to take on this hot potato, but he really was short of money now. He had not even figured out next month's expenses for medicine and food.

"Wait for my answer at the end of the month."

Lu Li sighed. Even if it were not for Liu Rushuang, he would sooner or later have to deal with Baldy Jiao over Old Li.

With that, Lu Li opened the door. Just as one foot stepped outside, Liu Rushuang called after him again.

"Hey, Brother Li, you haven't taken your silver yet. Wait."

Before long, Liu Rushuang came to Lu Li with a smiling face, carrying a money pouch.

Just as Lu Li reached for it, Liu Rushuang gave a sweet smile. With her slender jade hand, she tucked the pouch into Lu Li's clothes herself, then lightly stroked his chest twice.

Watching Lu Li's departing back and recalling everything that had happened just now, Liu Rushuang's pretty face flushed crimson.

She felt she had been far too bold today. Normally, no matter what, she would never have been able to do something like that.

Lu Li did not delay and hurried to the gate tunnel outside the city.

Night was pressing down along the city walls.

When he had first come to Blackwater City, he had lived in the gate tunnel too. Here, he did not need to spend a single coin.

With some straw, a torn mat, and an old burlap sack, plus a block of wood beneath his head, one could sleep.

The gate tunnel was like a great pitch-black mouth. There was no light inside. Beneath the moonlight, several gaunt faces were reflected, lying every which way in the shadows.

The night wind was cold, and coughs sounded from time to time.

"Old Li, Old Li."

Lu Li called softly. He did not want to wake these poor, miserable people who were as destitute as himself.

"A-Li? Is that A-Li?"

"It's me, Old Li. Come out first, then we'll talk."

Old Li was painfully thin, his face packed with wrinkles like deep gullies.

"A-Li, I heard you went to learn martial arts. Why have you come looking for me? Hurry back. You finally got such a good opportunity—you must seize it."

Lu Li could not be bothered with nonsense. He grabbed Old Li and headed into the city.

"Come. Return to the inn with me. You won't have to sleep in the gate tunnel anymore."

"A-Li, things aren't peaceful tonight. You have a bright future ahead of you. I owe Baldy Jiao sixteen hundred coins. This is not something you can handle."

"You knew you couldn't pay it back, so why borrow so much?"

"Baldy Jiao said the least I could borrow was one tael."

"Here are two taels of silver. Pay Baldy Jiao back, principal and interest together. Keep the rest for now. Stay at the inn lately, and don't run around everywhere."

Old Li's cloudy eyes shifted. It took a long while for them to focus. He stared at Lu Li for quite some time, then suddenly grinned.

As he laughed, air leaked through his mouth. Only then did he remember that one of his front teeth had been knocked out.