Little Pink Starfish

A Family That Sold Their Daughter for Glory

Yu Xiaoxiao looked at the head bandit with a strange expression. A grown man, calling himself Xiongxiong? The dead-dog man had named her Xiaoxiao, and she’d already thought that name lacked power and majesty. But now, hearing “Xiongxiong,” Yu Xiaoxiao suddenly felt that the dead-dog man actually had some culture after all.

Naturally, the bandit leader had no idea what the princess was thinking at this moment. When he saw Li Yuanle, it was as if he’d seen his father’s murderer. He sneered, “Well, look who it is—if it isn’t Young Master Li, who sold his own sister for power!”

Li Yuanle’s face darkened instantly. “You bastard. Let’s see where you can run this time.”

The bandit leader laughed. “I, Xiong, have always lived by the blade. I never expected to live long. Li Yuanle, I just want to see what fate awaits a heartless, ungrateful family like yours!”

At that moment, Gu Xinglang, still inside the carriage, gave the order: “What are you waiting for? Gag him.”

A guard stepped forward to silence the bandit leader.

Yu Xiaoxiao raised her hand to stop the guard. The more she listened, the more off this whole thing sounded. “So Brother Li is the bad guy now?” she asked Gu Xinglang, who had just arrived in front of her carriage.

Gu Xinglang said, “Princess, let’s talk about this when we get back.”

The bandit leader let out a cold laugh. He had seemed sleazy at first glance, but now there was a brooding darkness about him.

“Just a thief,” Li Yuanle said coldly.

“Yes, I’m a thief. I admit it,” the bandit leader replied. “I loved a woman, and I dared to let the world know. That’s better than your Li family, pretending to be pure while being total hypocrites!”

Yu Xiaoxiao whispered to Xiao Zhuang and Xiao Wei, “There’s a story here.”

Xiao Zhuang nodded. “Yeah, sounds like it’s about love.”

Xiao Wei frowned. The legitimate daughter of the Li family was a consort in the palace—was this bandit saying he had a past with Lady Li? “Princess,” he said to Yu Xiaoxiao, “you shouldn’t get involved.” A palace consort and a bandit? That’s a scandal they couldn’t afford.

“Just kill me,” the bandit leader lifted his head and said to Li Yuanle.

Li Yuanle glanced at Gu Xinglang, who gave a small nod. This was the first Gu Xinglang had heard of such a story, but if word got out, life would be very difficult for Li Yuanle’s sister in the palace. Looking at the ragged people gathered in the valley, Gu Xinglang figured that maybe Li Yuanle had never planned to let any of them live in the first place.

“Kill them!” General Li ordered.

“Wait,” Yu Xiaoxiao raised her hand.

Li Yuanle looked at her in surprise. “Princess, they’re pirates. They committed countless crimes in the East Sea. They must be executed.”

The second bandit leader shouted angrily, “Countless crimes? Li Yuanle, don’t you dare slander us! Your government never gave us a chance to live!”

“That’s right!”

“We robbed the rich to help the poor!”

“Your Li family are the real bastards!”

“You prey on the people!”

…

The former pirates all shouted in protest.

“Silence!” Gu Xinglang barked.

“All government people are scum!” one pirate yelled back defiantly.

Gu Xinglang replied, “The Li family was just stationed in the East Sea as the garrison. They had nothing to do with the administration. You became thieves by your own choice—who else can you blame?”

The bandit leader muttered, “When pushed by the government, the people rebel.”

“That’s enough,” Yu Xiaoxiao withdrew the foot she’d been stepping on the bandit leader with and bent down to pull him out of the ground. Being buried for too long could be fatal, and she had an excellent sense of timing when it came to this kind of thing.

The bandit leader lay on the ground, gasping for air.

“Get him some clothes!” Gu Xinglang ordered. The man had been buried, and Gu San-Shao hadn’t noticed until his wife pulled him out. Now he saw that the guy was completely naked!

A guard tossed a cloak over the bandit leader, covering his exposed parts.

Xiao Wei tried to stop her, but Yu Xiaoxiao crouched beside the bandit leader and asked, “So… sounds like you’ve got a tragic love story going on?”

The bandit leader blinked at her. Was she stupid? Did she really expect him to spill the beans about how the Li family forced a girl into the palace and how the emperor stole the love of his life?

“Alright, I’m not really into sappy love stories anyway,” Yu Xiaoxiao said. “But tell me—what’s this about rabbits all over the hills? Is that a tale or the truth?”

Kneeling!

Xiao Zhuang and Xiao Wei bowed their heads, legs trembling. They truly had no expectations left for their princess. She was still thinking about rabbits?!

The second-in-command, who had been listening closely, suddenly felt they might not be doomed after all. He rushed forward and told Yu Xiaoxiao, “Princess, we really do have rabbits here!”

“Where are they?” Yu Xiaoxiao asked.

“I’ll take you,” said the second bandit leader.

“Princess,” Gu Xinglang interjected, “they’re thieves. They can’t be spared.”

Yu Xiaoxiao looked at the second-in-command. “Have you really killed people and stolen goods?”

The second bandit leader wasn’t normally a talker, but at this critical moment, his chief was too busy brooding over heartbreak and the brothers were all wounded—he had to step up. He gave himself a silent pep talk: if he could scam half a pig’s head off the princess yesterday, maybe he could talk her into sparing them today!

Gu Xinglang glanced at Li Yuanle, whose hand was resting on the hilt of his sword. He whispered, “Should we just send them to the Dali Temple?”

Li Yuanle gave a bitter smile and replied in a low voice, “Dali Temple? If Zhao Qiuming finds out about my sister, our whole Li family might be wiped out.”

“What he said…”

“Is true,” Li Yuanle confessed. He had originally hoped they’d storm in and kill the pirates before Xiongxiong could say a word. But things hadn’t gone as planned.

Gu Xinglang’s brow furrowed deeply.

“What should we do?” Li Yuanle asked.

Meanwhile, the second bandit leader was tearfully recounting their bitter history to Yu Xiaoxiao. She already knew that under her foolish father’s rule, life wasn’t easy for the common folk. But listening to the hardships of the people in the East Sea—working 24 hours a day and still starving, being forced to sell their children—Princess Yu felt like… if they didn’t rebel, what else could they do?

The second bandit leader, eyes red, asked her, “Princess, what could we do?”

Yu Xiaoxiao said, “Rebel.”

He’d been hoping to talk his way out of execution, but the second bandit leader had never expected the princess to be so blunt. He was dumbfounded.

Xiao Wei gave him a swift kick and said to Yu Xiaoxiao, “Princess, if you want to eat rice, let’s go back to the city.”

The former pirates all stared silently at Xiao Wei. Did he think they were deaf? The princess clearly said “rebel.” Rebel, not rice, you fool!