Legend Management Bureau Chapter 263

[ … words ]

The burly man named Gou Wu looked somewhat uncomfortable, his hands trembling slightly.

Houtu jumped up in excitement. “Hahaha! Your daddy wins!”

The surrounding tribe members erupted into fierce cheers, gathering around to congratulate Houtu.

Gou Wu’s expression darkened. He glared fiercely at Houtu and sneered, “So what if you won? You are still just a woman. I wonder if you will be this arrogant when you’re pregnant?”

As soon as those words left his mouth, the surrounding tribe members fell silent.

Du Yu felt the situation was a bit delicate. It seemed everyone already knew Houtu was actually a girl, but no one had ever openly pointed it out.

Houtu stared at Gou Wu with furious eyes, wanting to retort, but she couldn’t find the right words to say.

Seeing Houtu’s expression, Gou Wu let out three booming laughs before declaring, “Houtu, I am the strongest among the younger generation. Aren’t you going to end up marrying me anyway? So what if you beat me in an arm-wrestling match? Once you become my wife, don’t expect any good days ahead. I’ll make your life a living hell!”

Du Yu simply couldn’t listen to this anymore. He slowly stepped forward and said, “Are you being a sore loser, you burly man? Putting it bluntly, you’re all bark and no bite, right? You can’t even win an arm-wrestling match, yet you still have the nerve to call yourself the strongest?”

“Don’t…” Du Yu calmly waved his hand. “Please don’t promote that garbage name anymore.”

Gou Wu’s expression sank as he spoke slowly, “You young kid… I haven’t even settled my score with you yet, and you actually dare to come looking for trouble?”

“Settle your score with me?” Du Yu retorted. “Is it my fault that you’re weak? It’s not like you’re my son.”

“You!” Gou Wu roared. He was just about to charge forward when Houtu blocked his path.

“Gou Wu, stop making a scene,” Houtu said coldly. “If we really threw down, I would beat you to death.”

“It’s fine, Boss Houtu,” Du Yu chimed in. “If he has the guts, let him come have a go at me. If he can’t even beat a lowly subordinate like me, he should stop pestering you from now on.”

“No,” Houtu refused. “The Great High Father established the rules—infighting among tribe members is strictly forbidden. Since you are my subordinate, you naturally fall under my jurisdiction.”

“Alright.” Du Yu nodded helplessly.

“Hmph…” Gou Wu glared viciously at Du Yu. “Since there are so many people watching today, I’ll spare your life. But once we leave here, I can’t guarantee anything.”

Just as Du Yu was about to snap back, Dong Qianqiu’s voice echoed in his mind, ‘Du Yu, don’t forget your purpose for being here. You cannot cause a commotion, and you definitely cannot recklessly attack figures from the legends!’

“That makes sense.” Du Yu scoffed, then turned to Gou Wu and declared, “I’ll let you off the hook this time for Boss Houtu’s sake, too.”

“Heh.” Gou Wu sneered. Giving Houtu one last glare, he turned around and walked away.

Once Gou Wu left, the surrounding tribe members gradually dispersed, leaving only Houtu, Du Yu, and A’xiang behind.

“Thanks, Male Tribe,” Houtu said with a bitter smile.

“What’s there to thank me for?” Du Yu was genuinely confused. “Why was that guy so arrogant towards you just now? Doesn’t he know you’re a descendant of the Yan Emperor?”

“How could anyone in the Jiang Tribe not know my identity?” Houtu walked over to the stone bench they had just used for arm-wrestling and slowly sat down. “It’s just that I am a woman. No matter how strong I train myself to be, I’m still a woman.”

“What’s wrong with being a woman?” Du Yu shot back. “Is being a woman a crime?”

Feeling like Du Yu didn’t quite understand, Houtu explained, “Women cannot become warriors. I am destined to marry one of the tribe’s braves and then bear his children…”

“I don’t accept that.” Du Yu felt as though he had just grasped the key to this mission, so he continued, “You can just choose to never marry. Who made the rule that you absolutely must marry a brave and have kids?”

“Huh?” Houtu was taken aback. She looked at Du Yu and asked, “But isn’t that just how women are supposed to be? I’ve never heard of a woman becoming a warrior, nor have I ever heard of a woman remaining unmarried for life…”

“Just because you haven’t seen it doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist!” Du Yu exclaimed. “In our tribe, men and women are completely equal. Out of the eight people who came this time, three are women, and they are all elites within our tribe!”

Hearing this, Houtu’s eyes widened perfectly round. She asked carefully, “Those girls aren’t your family dependents? Are you saying they are warriors?”

After speaking, she turned her head to look at Shiranui Asuka beside Du Yu, as if waiting for confirmation.

“Hehe, I wouldn’t go as far as calling myself a ‘warrior,’ but I am definitely very strong,” A’xiang laughed bashfully.

“That’s amazing…” Houtu said with a look of pure envy. “If your daddy had been born in your tribe, maybe I wouldn’t be in this situation.”

Du Yu felt a pang of sympathy for the girl in front of him. She had disguised herself as a boy since childhood just so everyone would acknowledge her strength, unwilling to live her entire life in mediocrity.

“What does this have to do with which tribe you were born into?” Du Yu frowned. “If you don’t want to marry, then don’t marry. I highly doubt the Yan Emperor would hold a blade to your neck and force you into marriage, right?”

Hearing Du Yu’s words, Houtu raised an eyebrow and let out a bitter smile. “The Great High Father naturally wouldn’t do such a thing, but you don’t understand…”

“What don’t I understand?” Du Yu stared at Houtu in confusion. “Since no one is forcing you, why not just choose to be yourself?”

“I naturally want to do what I love. But if I remain unmarried and childless, the title of ‘the Jiang Tribe Patriarch has a disgraceful descendant’ will be firmly planted on your daddy’s head. For me, that title is just too heavy—so heavy it suffocates people. I don’t care how my own life turns out; I only know that I absolutely cannot bring shame to the Jiang Tribe.”

Du Yu nodded silently. Such immense pressure was indeed too much for a teenage girl to bear.

“If it were possible, your daddy would only wish to choose my own future husband. Just that would be enough to satisfy me.” A trace of profound sorrow flickered in Houtu’s eyes, as if she knew her words could never become reality.

She wanted to marry someone who didn’t even have a name. Was that truly possible?

Du Yu knew that Xing Tian was the Yan Emperor’s subordinate general, while Houtu was the Yan Emperor’s great-granddaughter.

An invisible, uncrossable chasm lay between them.

Unlike the Grecian Domain, in Huaxia, there was absolutely no way Houtu could marry her great-grandfather’s subordinate. Their ages were mismatched, and their social statuses were entirely different.

It defied propriety, and it went against all moral ethics.

“But Boss Houtu…” Du Yu began, “Even if you follow the established ‘rules’ and marry a young brave from the tribe, would the Yan Emperor truly be happy? Have you ever actually asked him what he thinks about it?”

“The Great High Father is the patriarch of our tribe. He has far too many matters to deal with every single day; I cannot add to his troubles,” Houtu explained. “He has already worried enough over the matters concerning my father…”

Her father?

Du Yu thought back for a moment. Houtu’s father was the legendary Water God Gonggong. Unfortunately, he hadn’t asked for the full details of the Water God Gonggong’s story before entering the legends, so he couldn’t offer any help on that front.

However, Du Yu quickly refocused on his mission objective. Their goal wasn’t to participate in these legendary tales, but rather to sever Houtu’s romantic ties. Therefore, he spoke up again, “Boss Houtu, if I were the Yan Emperor and my family already had so many strong young men, I wouldn’t bear to watch my rare, sweet, and adorable granddaughter disguise herself as a boy and fixate entirely on going to the battlefield.”

Houtu blinked her eyes and asked, “What are you trying to say?”

“I’m saying that since you’ll have to get married sooner or later anyway, you might as well openly embrace the fact that you are a girl. If you do that, men will like you even more,” Du Yu suggested.

His reasoning was incredibly simple. Houtu was naturally beautiful, but she just carried herself far too much like a man. If she could show her true self, she would undoubtedly attract many suitors within the tribe. From another angle, this would effectively create a bunch of romantic rivals for Xing Tian.

Of course, Du Yu’s goal wasn’t to actually make Houtu fall in love with someone else. As long as a tiny rift could be formed between the two of them, it would be enough to change the ultimate outcome.

“Really?” Houtu said skeptically. “Are you saying your daddy should act a bit more like a woman?”

“Boss, your very form of address is wrong. What do you mean ‘your daddy should act a bit more like a woman’? Doesn’t that sound incredibly awkward to you?”

“Then how should your daddy refer to myself?” Houtu asked, blinking repeatedly.

Du Yu was about to blurt out an answer, but upon closer consideration, it didn’t seem quite appropriate.

Should Houtu refer to herself as “Old Lady”? Wouldn’t that sound even more alienating than calling herself “your daddy”?

“You could refer to yourself as ‘this little lady’ or ‘little me.’ You can also speak a bit more gently. For example, ‘this little lady pays her respects,’ or ‘little me doesn’t want that.’ Men would be much happier hearing you speak like that.”

Houtu looked rather troubled after hearing this. She felt that if she had to talk like this all day long, it would be much more satisfying to simply die early on the battlefield.

Seeing Houtu’s expression, Du Yu felt an extreme sense of dissonance, as if he were forcibly trying to convert a man into a woman.

“Boss Houtu, it might be a bit difficult to speak like this at first, but it won’t take long for you to get used to it. Come on, let’s give it a try. First, say ‘this little lady pays her respects’ and I’ll listen for any issues,” Du Yu instructed with a deadpan expression.

Standing off to the side, Shiranui Asuka wanted to laugh, but she tried her best to hold it in.

Houtu’s lips twitched slightly. She held her breath for a long time before finally forcing out a few words, “This old lady…”

“What do you mean ‘old’ lady?!” Du Yu roared. “Referring to yourself like that sounds terrifying! It’s ‘little lady’! Do you understand?”

Houtu looked incredibly wronged. This was far more difficult than learning any magic spell.

She took another deep breath, slowly closed her eyes, and tried speaking again, “This little Old Lady…”