An Eight-Liang Debt

For eight taels of silver, Murong Zhan bought a little slave girl from the human market.

He named her Tang Balian, treating her like a cat or dog and rewarding or punishing her on a whim.

He liked the wildness in Tang Balian's eyes, but was troubled by her defiance.

Using the knife techniques he had taught her himself, Tang Balian stabbed him in the back and left without a word,

carving out a territory of her own in a chaotic age.

Later, Murong Zhan was betrayed by his father and brothers, left as wretched as a stray dog.

He fell into Tang Balian's hands.

His former master had become her prisoner.

Tang Balian treated him like a cat or dog kept at her side,

casually teasing and belittling him, while indulging her own desire for him.

She thought that Murong Zhan was famous for his beauty,

and he would make a fine beauty vase on her display shelf. She couldn't let anyone else have him.

When she had finished playing with him, she said casually, "You can go."

Murong Zhan's eyes turned red. "What do you mean? I'm already yours!"

Tang Balian was confused. "Shouldn't you love freedom more than anything?"

Later, he returned to his old territory, and his father and brothers fled at the first sign of him.

The world only saw him rise again and march his army to the city gates.

Only he knew the truth:

His humiliating capture had been half forced on him by his family, and half part of a plan he had gone along with.

He would use her power to settle his affairs,

and use his own misery to gamble on her softening toward him.

A deal worth eight taels of silver became a lifelong debt of love.

Theme: My fate is mine to decide, not Heaven's.