Chapter 53: Game To The Death

Jiyi Sangshi: Jiyi Sangshi is a 22 years old slave who is used by slave owners to fight wild beasts for people to gamble. He lost his memories when he was five years old and doesn't know who he is, thus everyone called him Jiyi Sangshi, or Memory Loss. He currently has very strong earth elemental powers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kun Shang and Silang walked into the room. Xiu'er stood up and turned to them. She noticed Kun Shang wasn't in a good mood as he explained that the money she gave him wasn't enough to buy the slave. He almost had to surrender a priceless moon necklace given by a friend but he didn't want to. Finally, the slave owner settled on his expensive gold family pendant.

Silang put a hand on his shoulder to remind him it's ok. His family pendant was ugly anyways.

"Is he ok?" Kun Shang asked Xiu'er.

"He's fine," she said.

Kun Shang reached into his breast pocket and took out some papers.

"These are your release papers. Can you show me your arm?" The slave exposed the inside of his right forearm where the characters for 'slave' were branded on it.

"With these papers, the Office of Conglomerate in the capital will rectify your status into a normal citizen by giving you another brand on your left arm. Only then, will you truly be a free slave."

"Let's all go back to the inn," Xiu'er clapped joyfully.

She let the boys return to the inn first while she went to pick up A'Li by the under-construction store with bamboo on the outside. As they all sat around the table, Xiu'er introduced the slave man to everyone.

"Jiyi Sangshi, this is Kun Shang, Xiaogua, Yu Yue, my older brother Silang and my younger brother A'Li. Guys, meet Jiyi Sangshi."

"Your name is...Memory Loss?" Silang stared in awe. He was leaning an elbow on the table and popped a grape into his mouth.

"You have a… monkey brother?" Jiyi Sangshi asked in return. Silang was taken aback at the sudden comment. Xiu'er and Yu Yue giggled at the table. The slave man rubbed his hands nervously on his lap.

"I cannot remember who I am. My whole life, I had no name to be called by, so eventually, the other slaves started calling me Memory Loss."

"How long have you been a slave?" Kun Shang asked.

"For as long as I can remember. Ever since I was five?" Jiyi Sangshi said.

There was a long moment of silence. The man was practically a beast in human form. His hair was knotted in so many ways it could be a bird's nest. His clothes were torn so much even the beggars wouldn't want it. His complete look was barbaric, uncivilized and vulgar.

"Being a slave for that long must be hard," Xiaogua said out loud what everyone was thinking.

Jiyi Sangshi continued to explain how his life began from his earliest memories. In his early childhood, he remembered he did vigorous labor, hauling massive tree trunks to build houses for people who hired them. When he got older, he was sold to a different slave owner who had him carry large bricks of stones and hauled them up mountains for a building project by the state. In his teen years, he was then sold to his current slave owner who gambled his life away with wild beasts. Their lives were first used to capture the beasts all together, then later fight them one on one in the arena. The worst part was as it went on like this, he knew not to make friends with other slaves because it hurt even more when they didn't return to their bunker.

When he was done talking, there was a long moment of silence at the table.

I'm glad we got him out of that hell hole, Xiu'er thought. She took a deep satisfying breath and realized that she had been breathing abnormally as she listened to Jiyi Sangshi talk about his very unpleasant slave life.

The waiter brought a bowl of oranges and sat it on the table full of food. Xiu'er took the bowl and started stuffing the oranges into a pouch at her side. Everyone watched as Jiyi Sangshi held chopsticks for the first time. He squeezed the two foreign sticks together like children learning to hold a brush. He struggled where to put his thumb as it slid up and down, then decided to point it up. Using the chopsticks, he stabbed a bun on the table and as soon as he did so, both chopsticks broke in half in his palm. It was painful for everyone not to show the awkwardness.

All of a sudden, Jiyi Sangshi got down on his knees and kneeled before Kun Shang and Xiu'er.

Kun Shang now holds his slave papers in hand so technically he owned the guy now. Jiyi Sangshi knew that by buying him they were saving his life and he was indebted to them.

"I swore by my life that I will serve you until the day I die. My life is in your hands, Young Master." Jiyi Sangshi had his hands together and his head bowed. The surrounding people in the restaurant of the inn started to stare at them in that awkward position.

Kun Shang quickly pulled him on the elbow and sat him back on his stool.

"It's okay. You don't need to do that. I'm not used to having a slave and we're not planning to use you as a slave either. Let's just be companions."

"That's right," Xiaogua agreed with the latter. "We all came from very different backgrounds, but on this trip we are equals. I'm an orphan and Xiu'er and Silang used to be beggars, but we can be friends. Once we're in the capital, Kun Shang will have your papers revoked and turn you back into a citizen. I promise you that!"

Very quickly, they decided to leave for the night and prepared to depart this town without risking its disreputable fame. With little money left to buy one more horse for Jiyi Sangshi, Kun Shang decided he would sell their horses and keep that money for their living expenses and travel on foot.

Right outside the inn entrance as they stepped out, two young men stood on the street looking straight at them. The one in front was dressed in a plain, classy, dark, purple robe and was holding a magnificent leather whip at his side as if he was getting ready to fight. The other man was clearly a coward, hiding behind his partner's back and pushing his chest into the back of the guy a little too close. He was wearing an expensive yellow outfit that said he probably came from a rich family.

"Hand over the slave," the man with the whip said, raising his chin higher as he looked at them one by one.

"Mister Fei. Mister Chen," Jiyi Sangshi spoke with inflection. He was towards the back of the group so they all turned around to look at him with the expression of 'You know these two?'

"They brought me food the other day," Jiyi Sangshi explained, "I was gravely injured and they tended to my wound. Then they gave me food and helped me shave my face. Ever since that day, I thought it was a one chance meeting and will probably never see them again..."

Jiyi Sangshi trailed off and looked into the eyes of Mister Fei to see if he could see any hidden agenda.

"Leave the slave and no one will get hurt," Mister Fei said with slight stuttering in his sentence.

He made eye contact with Jiyi Sangshi and blinked nervously. It wasn't fear that made him stutter, it was shyness. His lids constantly blinked when he met eyes with Jiyi Sangshi as if he was embarrassed or something.

Mister Fei looked behind Xiaogua and saw Yu Yue. His face expression froze for a split second. He'd recognized her. He turned to whisper something unheard to his cowardly friend in yellow before straightening his back and looking at them again.

"Leave the slave and no one will be harmed," Mister Fei repeated.

Xiu'er noticed that Yu Yue recognized Mister Fei, but then squinted her eyes confusedly. Maybe she'd met him before, but couldn't quite put her finger on where.

No one had any real idea where these two idiots came from, but based on Kun Shang and Xiu'er's calculations, they were asking for a beating by how inexperienced they look. They were very young, probably 16 or 17 years old. Barely men yet.

Mister Fei seemed to notice as well that he cannot defeat their numbers. He thought he would try to put a strong front but didn't expect this many people to be with Jiyi Sanshi. If they were to fight, he would definitely lose. At the end, Mister Fei put down his whip and settled with a different plan.

"The slave man is very important to me, but I suppose you won't accept money, and I know I won't win this fight either. Therefore, I challenge one of you to a game."

"And why should we bother?" Xiu'er stepped forward with her arms crossed.

"Because when someone formally challenges you in the martial arts community, backing out will make you a coward!" Mister Fei squeezed his fist and stomped. He noticed his sudden burst of mood swings and took a deep breath. "Take a look at yourself first and ask if you have any brains. Deny the offer and you will be a laughing stock in this town. Mind I remind you that this is a black market? Words travel like crazy here."

Kun Shang looked at Xiu'er. There was reassurance in his eyes, like he wasn't worried or anything about these two kids. At most, he's just irritated to deal with more immature teenagers wasting his time. At least now he had Xiu'er by his side, who's the mature one.

Like civilized people, they went back into the inn to discuss the deal with proper manners. They surrounded the table they left from. Mister Fei ordered two bowls of water to which the waiter quickly brought it out. This little game of theirs had made news throughout the inn and everyone was gathering in a thick crowd around them.

Mister Fei took out a tiny bottle from his waist pocket and opened a palm to the bowls of water.

"In one of these bowls, I will put a pill of intestine-rupturing herb in, and one of you will play with me. The person who chooses to play will face away from the table while I randomly switch the bowls around after putting the pill in there. Then the player will choose a bowl to drink from, while I drink the one they didn't choose. If your player wins, they get to keep their life and the slave. If they lose, well… you know that part. Now, who wants to play?"

"Hold up," Silang quickly pronounced. "Let me get this straight. One of us will play against you. They turn their back around so they don't see the bowls when you put a pill into one of the bowls, and then switch them around in a circle. After that, our person will choose which bowl they want to drink without knowing which bowl was poisoned. Whoever drinks the poisoned bowl loses, but it doesn't matter because they're going to die?"

"Correct."