Xiang Bei has never known a fear worse than she was facing now, she really wished she could call her bodyguards and throw these people who knew far too much.
Of course how can she forget that the tavern she was running now was like a brothel but the thing was that she didn't have the permission to run it as one!
The laws of their country were pretty simple and easy-going. As long as no one went too far The Officials wouldn't find trouble with her or anyone else for the matter but the thing was- they were very particular about taxes!
Those who ran brothels had to pay a fee of fifty silver taels per month and even have to pay the officials a little tip to smoothen things out for them in the future.
The laws were strict when it come to paying taxes yet Xiang Bei wanted to avoid paying those taxes by running her brothel under the name of a tavern.
Her though process was fairly simple tavern and brothel both of them was a place for rich women to relax and enjoy the beauty of a Mer. There was nothing wrong with what she was doing.
But now that Yu Dong was threatening her with this matter there was nothing Xiang Bei could do but clench her fists so tightly that her nails dug into her palms as she thought about the consequences she would have to face.
This was something she had never expected. She had not expected that Yu Dong won't just come to buy Xiao Hua and the other thirty Mers but she would also threaten her so brazenly.
The more she thought about it the more she remembered how Yu Dong was once rolling in the mud. Yet today she was teaching her, Xiang Bei a lesson! Her eyes were blazing with anger as she looked at Yu Dong with a hate-filled state.
Yu Dong sensed Xiang Bei's intense glare which was filled with resentment. However she paid no attention to her. She shifted her foot so that it was resting on Xiang Bei's shoulder and calming said while exuding an air of indifference.
"I have been nice to you Madam Xiang. You and I could have talked things calmly but you just have to act so strongly. It's not like I was asking for your flesh and blood, right? I was just asking to buy some Mers that are no longer useful to you. Yet you have to react like this."
She sighed pressing her foot on Xiang Bei's shoulder until the latter grunted in pain. Smiling at her painful expression Yu Dong softly said. "There was no need for you to be so greedy was it? You, yourself know it better than anyone I was being generous when I offered the twenty taels of gold. Even the most richest customers of yours wouldn't be willing to pay such a high price yet you-"
She paused until Xiang Bei was pressed on the ground with her foot on her shoulder a soft crunching sound resonated in the room.
But neither Yu Dong lifted her foot nor Xiang Bei dared to scream she was afraid that Yu Dong might break her head open it she let out a muffled sound of pain.
"But it looks like it was I who thought too much of a trash like you. You have mentally tortured the Mers who came here to sell only their skills. You emotionally blackmailed a father who had no other choice but to give up on his own life to protect his son. Yet you still have the audacity to claim that you were in the right?"
"You can ask yourself whether you are really capable or not but then again-" sneering coldly Yu Dong lifted her foot and tapped the tip of her shoe on Xiang Bei's temple. "If you had the talents or the brains you wouldn't have sold so many helpless Mers. The reason you can sit here in this big office and order people around is not that you are the one who is the most talented one here. Its only because you are born as a woman. Besides your gender there is absolutely nothing that you have- you rely on these Mers to feed you. Yet you are treating them like they are the one who owe you something. Fine then I will give you thirty taels -can you do what Xiao Hua's mother did? All by yourself?"
Silence descended in the room. Xiang Bei could say nothing in response to Yu Dong's questions. Because she was well aware of her capabilities. She was average and so was her skills.
She couldn't even make vegetable stall have a booming business. From where she will have the talent to make such a big tavern become a successful business it was her aunt who was a marketing expert and she knew how to make the tavern's business boom without asking the Mers to sell themselves.
Xiang Bei didn't have that talent. She couldn't do what her aunt did and soon the tavern's business fell backwards. In the end she did what she thought was right -opening the brothel business.
Yu Dong wasn't someone who easily got her temper blown up but when she did – haha, no one would dare to say anything. "Don't mistake ignorance for bliss. Your shallow insight and arrogant temperament will one day bring you down so hard that you wouldn't even have time to cry. But that has nothing to do with me. I only want to let you know that after today you can go against me if you have the guts to but.." She suddenly stopped smiling her eyes flashing with a murderous glint. "If you dare to come after me or what's mine. I burn this tavern together with you down to crisp. So ..are you going to sell those Mer's to me or should I do something more to make you agree."
Xiang Bei have already been scared until she was an inch away from peeing in fright.. How can she dare to say no? She nodded her head like a chicken and said. "I will-I will sell them to you -just let me go!"