Xu Bao'er never expected to see Zhou Jin here—her foolish husband.
So that brute looks like this.
What a waste of a handsome face.
"Young Master, what is your name?"
Zhou Zhao announced his name first. He was about the same height as Xu Bao'er, with skin as white as snow. Upon closer inspection, she could see he had pierced ears.
Was she also a woman disguised as a man?
Zhou Zhao… wasn't that Princess Ming Zhao?
"I am Zhang San."
Xu Bao'er had no desire for Zhou Jin to find out her identity. If he did, given his behavior that night…
Would he commit murder in the middle of the street?
"Heh."
Hearing Xu Bao'er give a fake name, Zhou Jin finally spared her a glance, his eyes slightly guarded.
For a man, the person before him looked like a boy of thirteen or fourteen. His masculine features were not prominent, yet he possessed an exceptionally beautiful face.
His eyes were like limpid autumn waters, cunning and lively, with a small beauty mark at the outer corner. His lips, red without any rouge, were like peach petals.
She was probably a woman.
After determining that Xu Bao'er was no threat, Zhou Jin's hand, which had been gripping his sword, slowly relaxed and moved behind his back.
Seeing this, Xu Bao'er also felt relieved. The way Zhou Jin had been gripping his sword just now made her think he had recognized her and was about to draw it to cut her down.
It seemed that in the pitch-black darkness of that night, aside from the sensory stimulation, nothing could be seen.
"Young Master Zhang, where are you headed next? My brother and I are planning to go to the Liyuan Theater to watch a play."
"Would you be willing to join us?"
It was Princess Ming Zhao's first time out of the palace, and she hadn't expected to meet such a handsome young man.
Xu Bao'er was dressed in a magnificent and graceful robe of sapphire blue brocade with floral patterns. Her fox-like eyes held a unique clarity characteristic of a young man.
The dashing and heroic image of him bracing himself on the table with one hand and jabbing that other young master with a chopstick was now deeply imprinted in Princess Ming Zhao's heart.
His cyan hair ribbon fluttered, and his smile had the distinct flamboyance and rebelliousness of youth.
Although Zhou Jin was unwilling, Princess Ming Zhao still dragged her fourth brother along to approach Xu Bao'er.
"No, thank you."
"My dear wife is waiting for me at home. I must take my leave."
Xu Bao'er didn't want to travel with Zhou Jin and could also see the budding crush in Princess Ming Zhao's heart.
She might as well crush her hopes directly.
"Ah? You're married?"
Deep disappointment showed in Princess Ming Zhao's eyes. To think he was already married at such a young age.
After getting away from Princess Ming Zhao, Xu Bao'er wandered the streets, not wanting to return to the Duanwang Residence so early.
"Hurry, the beast-fighting performance is about to start."
"I heard there's some good stock today."
"Haha, it's so interesting to watch those slaves fight for their lives."
A beast-fighting performance?
[Ding, Host, please proceed to watch the beast-fighting performance.]
The system's notification sounded. Xu Bao'er guessed that an important side character would appear at the performance.
Xu Bao'er tailed the two men who were talking, following them all the way to an underground slave auction market.
The moment she stepped inside, she was hit by the thick stench of blood and sweat.
"Kill him."
"Beat him to death."
"Hahaha, look at his pathetic state."
The crowd was a clamor of voices, surrounding an iron cage and shouting madly.
"Make way, excuse me, make way."
Xu Bao'er used silver to clear a path and finally squeezed to the front.
Inside the iron cage were two people. One was tall and powerfully built, covered in muscle. His bronze skin was taut over bulging veins that were clearly visible.
This man was very tall, and his clenched fists rained down furiously on the other person.
The beast-fighting performance here was different from the combat shows Xu Bao'er had known before.
Usually, combat shows involved two people of comparable size fighting each other.
But the beast-fighting performance before her was a struggle between a man built like a beast and a slender young man.
The young man's clothes were in disarray, and his hair was disheveled. He was filthy from head to toe, his bare feet scrambling to dodge everywhere.
"Little Young Master, I can tell this is your first time seeing a scene like this."
As Xu Bao'er watched intently, an old man beside her struck up a conversation.
"The beast-fighting performances here are different from others."
"In other places, they fight beasts. Here, they fight men."
Hearing the old man's words, Xu Bao'er lost interest.
"That's not so special."
Fighting men was quite common.
Hearing Xu Bao'er say it wasn't special, the old man immediately became argumentative.
"Do you know what that big fellow is? We call him a Ge Nu."
"And that skinny man is the food."
Food? Xu Bao'er's interest was piqued.
"Why is he called food?"
Seeing that Xu Bao'er was finally interested, the old man proudly stroked his goatee.
"Because every fight here ends with the Ge Nu beating the food to death."
"Then, the people here bid to buy the Ge Nu."
"If someone successfully buys the Ge Nu, the food is included as a bonus."
"What's the use of a dead person?"
Xu Bao'er didn't think anyone would need a corpse.
"Hehe, the most exciting part comes later."
"It's a tradition here for the buyer to feed the dead food to dogs, wolves, and the like."
"Now that's a sight to see."
The old man said with a beaming smile. He had a kind face, but his words were utterly devoid of humanity.
Xu Bao'er didn't want to speak with the old man any longer and focused on the fight.
The young man in the cage was very good at dodging, which angered the tall Ge Nu.
The Ge Nu roared, wanting to tear the fleeing young man to shreds.
His failure to quickly kill the young man was severely affecting the Ge Nu's value.
The Ge Nu swung his large fists wildly, launching a dense barrage of attacks at the young man.
The young man dodged quickly but clutched his abdomen from time to time, clearly injured.
At this rate, it was only a matter of time before the young man was beaten to death by the Ge Nu.
Suddenly, the young man leaped onto the Ge Nu's back and locked his arms tightly around the Ge Nu's neck.
"Good, brilliant!"
"Kill him!"
"Hahaha, is the food going to turn the tables?"
The young man's move drew cheers from the surrounding crowd.
But the Ge Nu was no pushover. He bent over and slammed himself violently against the iron bars of the cage.
Unable to get away in time, the young man was injured by the impact and immediately spat out blood.
Realizing the situation was bad, the young man instantly released his hold.
Unfortunately, he had been too heavily injured just now and no longer had his previous agility.
Just as the Ge Nu was about to smash a fist into the young man's head, a swift whip shot through the gap in the cage and wrapped around his hand.
"Stop."
Xu Bao'er pulled the whip taut, meeting the Ge Nu's bloodshot eyes.
"I'm buying these two. I want them both alive."
At Xu Bao'er's words, the Ge Nu, who had been gritting his teeth and puffing his cheeks, looking like he wanted to tear her apart, instantly lost his killing intent.
"Haha, how much are you prepared to offer?"
The one who spoke was none other than the old man beside Xu Bao'er.
So he was the owner of this underground fighting ring.
"One hundred taels."
In this world, an adult slave cost no more than a dozen or so taels of silver.
One hundred taels was more than enough to buy these two.
"No, I want this much."
The old man squinted, waggling his five fingers.
Five hundred taels. Why didn't he just go rob someone