Su Xia felt as if he were on cloud nine, practically floating about as the days passed by in a haze. He rejoined the others at breakfast, urging everyone to keep it a secret from the main house, pleased when everyone agreed and enjoyed his everyday life with everyone once more. Another few months passed and there was no word from his mother and no one came by to check up on him so he assumed that everything was already forgotten about.

For such a foolishly naive way of thinking, Su Xia wanted to slap himself ten times over!

After enjoying breakfast with his servants on a chilly winter morning, Su Xia wandered the building aimlessly, not wanting to read and also not in the mood for cooking, both he had been doing quite frequently recently. His knowledge of this world was still fairly limited, one of the downsides of not gaining the previous Su Xia’s memories, which he still lamented about in his mind, but it was getting better.

He found out he was living in the Liang Continent, a tranquil place with lush lands and disliked fighting. When he learned of that, Su Xia felt relieved; he was not one for using violence to solve his problems and liked that the place he now resided in felt the same way. Again, for such naive thoughts, Su Xia was practically throwing himself in trouble’s way. The books he owned were old and most definitely out of date, something he was not aware of, so he could be forgiven for his lack of knowledge on the current situation the Liang Continent found themselves it.

Violent riots and outbreaks were a dime a dozen and many places that once practiced peace were overturned and thrown into violence’s reign. Not only that, but even in the olden times, violence among boarded walls were as common as they come; a rabbit to others on the outside but a tiger waiting to pounce on the inside. In-fighting amongst families, while not shown to the public eye, were as common as one could get. Such was the same for the Su Clan, and Su Xia was to get to know that fact very well that particular day.

Su Xia had been sitting on the porch, a steaming cup of tea in one hand, sipping it quietly as he watched the few trees in the yard sway gently. There wasn’t much to look at, mostly barren trees stripped of almost all of their leaves and dried dirt with a musty yellow look, the air surrounding him equally as dry and unappealing, leaving an unpleasant taste in his mouth. However, there wasn’t much for entertainment and Su Xia doubted his family would be willing to give him anything else, so he made do with what he had.

As he took another sip of his tea, he noticed a few people walk over to him, clothes a pristine white and not a speck of dirt to be seen, wooden sandals clacking harshly against the ground. He raised an eyebrow, watching silently as they stopped right in front of him, four in total, three male and one female, the female being the same one who had brought him to his mother all those months ago.

They most likely weren’t here for merry chit-chat, then.

“May I help you?” He asked, voice as monotonous as usual.

“The Mistress is calling for you.” The female servant snapped, clearly not in the mood for any idle chatter.

Su Xia closed his eyes for a moment before nodding and getting up, dusting himself off and gesturing for them to lead the way. He followed them to the main house, unaware that Mao Yijun had come out to inform him that lunch was ready but hid when he saw the other servants approach. After watching his master walk with them willingly, a look of understanding on his calm face, Mao Yijun waited a few moments before following them, careful to not be spotted.

Su Xia obediently followed his mother’s servants to the main room of the house, where his mother, father, and what he assumed to be elder brothers awaited for his arrival. The servants parted from him and went to the side, leaving Su Xia out in the open, his family’s eyes falling upon him. He bowed and saluted politely, “Greetings to Master and Mistress, as well as my elder brothers.”

Gao Xun sneered at him, “Enough. I don’t want to hear your voice. You know why you’re here, don’t you?”

He nodded, as per her request not confirming by speaking.

“I believe I told you to refrain from eating with your servants,” she continued, voice hardening as she spoke, her obsidian eyes practically ripping him apart by themselves. “And what did you do? Willfully ignore my orders and proceed to do so anyway!”

Su Xia thinned his lips, still in his bowed position, not wanting to lift his head and see the utter contempt in his mother’s eyes.

“For disobeying direct orders, one must expect just punishment, correct?” She asked, not expecting him to answer. “Of course. Su Xia, what kind of punishment is just for your blatant disobedience?”

Su Xia shook his head, not speaking, just wanting it all to be done with as soon as possible.

“Mother, why bother punishing a pig without a brain?” One of his brothers spoke up, glancing at Su Xia like he was the dirt under his feet. “For such a simpleton to eat with like minded individuals, why should we bother with them?”

Anger flared in Su Xia’s eyes as he snapped his head up, glaring at the brother that had spoken ill of his servants. “Say what you wish about me, but do not insult my servants.”

His brother sneered at him, a smug grin pulling at his lips. “And why should I listen to you? They were simply rejects unfit to serve actual humans. Why should we separate animals from their kind?”

“They are not ‘rejects’, nor are they ‘animals’.” Su Xia snapped, unable to contain his anger as his voice rose slightly. “They are wonderful people and should be treated as such. If we were to look for someone that lacked a single brain cell, we needn’t look further than the person in front of me.”

“You!” His brother shouted, gnashing his teeth.

“For someone who claims to be of higher functionality, you are unable to come up with better reasons than that to insult my servants.” Su Xia continued, ignoring his brother’s incredulous look and his other family’s expressions of utter shock. “I am unaware of what they did to insult you, but based on my first meeting with you in many years, I believe that it is not a fault of theirs but yours of refusing to accept that even mere ‘servants’ have a higher brain capacity than yourself.”

“Enough!” His father bellowed, effectively shutting both Su Xia and his elder brother up. Eyes full of rage glared at Su Xia, who used all of his willpower to not flinch under such intensity. “You insult this family for the last time. Servants, bring this heathen out to the bag and give him five hundred lashes!”

Su Xia could feel his heart drop and his brother beam, his mother speaking up once again, “Only five hundred? Dear, you’re being too forgiving. Add another two hundred for ignoring my previous orders. In fact, give him a hundred per day and have him sit outside without food or water.”

His brothers cheered with glee as Su Xia was dragged out, his heart heavy but acceptance flitted in his gaze. Once he spoke out against his elder brother, Su Xia was well aware that he wouldn’t be leaving without severe consequences. However, he couldn’t simply let such a disgusting person insult the people he had grown to care about. As he was dragged out of the room, his eyes met Mao Yijun’s, and both held an amount of surprise in them.

Su Xia quickly broke free of his stupor and gave the child a small, apologetic smile as he was dragged off, leaving the boy alone in shock. Mao Yijun watched dumbly as his master was dragged away, the other servants happily laughing at his impending demise, as it was highly unlikely Su Xia would even survive to see the end of his punishment. He was simply unable to believe that what he was seeing reality; that Su Xia actually defended his servants? And didn’t fight back against the upcoming punishment?

Mao Yijun found his feet carrying after the group, almost unable to keep up as his short legs tripped and fumbled multiple times in his haste. Once he reached the garden, his eyes widened when he saw Su Xia kneeling in the middle, rope tied tightly around his exposed torso as his robes were discarded and he were only in his under garments, the coarse material biting into soft skin.

Su Xia had his eyes closed as the first lash of the whip landed on his back, pain erupting from the assaulted spot, tears already threatening to pool in his eyes. He bit his bottom lip harshly in a vain attempt to block out the searing hot pain the whip brought, each hit worse than the last. Mao Yijun watched in stilled shock as the person he had believed he hated more than anyone else in the world quietly took his beating, not once opening his eyes and keeping his voice to a minimum as he merely grunted in pain.

Mao Yijun was certain that the other’s throat was hoarse from his unused voice, refusing to give them the satisfaction of crying out in pain, though it didn’t help his situation any. In fact, the servants only grew angrier, the whip slapping against his exposed skin even harsher than before, Su Xia having to bite his tongue to keep back a sharp yelp of pain.

“You think you’re so much better than us! The Mistress didn’t even want you!” The female servant from before snapped, glaring at Su Xia with unadulterated rage. “Born unwanted and unloved, who else could claim such a hated fate?”

Su Xia remained silent, aware of the other’s claims. He knew that his family hadn’t wanted him, that he was the result of an unexpected and unplanned event. Su Xia might not have been the one to live through such trepidation, the one to live with a family who regretted your existence the moment you were born, to be hated for no reason other than having been born… But he was more than familiar with a family who cared nothing for you.

While his experiences might not be the exact same, the sentiments still stood; after all, Xue Yahui was also an unloved child. However, even if he were aware of it, even if he knew these hard cold facts, it didn’t mean it hurt any less. No child wished to be unloved, especially by their own parents. To be ignored and hated by the people who birthed them… Truly, there was no fate as hated as that.

Mao Yijun’s brain stuttered at the sudden information; Su Xia was hated this much by his own family? While Mao Yijun was aware the Su Xia was an outcast amongst his family, he wasn’t aware of how much. While he still couldn’t forgive the other’s unfair and unjust treatments towards him and the many others he’d faced, it was slightly more understandable now…

Su Xia was a product of his family’s treatment; a child raised in an unkind and unloving environment and thus going on to becoming just as unkind and unloving towards others. Mao Yijun could feel a small amount of sympathy towards his master; nowhere near enough for him to forgive him, but just enough to be understanding towards his situation.

“And eating with servants, who does that?” She jeered. “Even if the Su Clan does not accept you, do you plan on dragging their name through the mud with your senseless actions?”

The taunts and jeers continued throughout the day, the moon began to rise in the sky when the hundred lashes for the day had finally ended. Blood seeped from open wounds, dirt having been kicked and rubbed into some of them, making Su Xia weep internally in blinding pain. Only when the others had left did he open his eyes, and Mao Yijun, who had been silently watching from the beginning felt his breath catch in his throat.

Su Xia’s eyes glistened with unshed tears, making the pale pink irises shine like polished jewels as they looked up at the full moon. His skin, which now held multiple blemishes of wounds and caked in dirt, still managed to look fair, the paled white contrasting heavily with the bright red and dark brown. His white hair billowed out around him, somehow still managing to look ethereal and as bright as before.

There was no denying that the Su Xia from before was easily considered a ‘pretty boy’ but, as this moment, with an aura of melancholy and pain far greater than what was seen on the surface, Mao Yijun felt as if he had never looked more beautiful.

Ozmafia

DID I MAKE IT IN TIME? Also, after the next chapter, this story is gonna be put on hold for a short while because I have another story idea I want to work on and I want them both to be on even playing fields so my attention will be on that for a short moment. I'll upload 6 chapters of that story after posting 6 of this and then both will be updated together! Hope you don't mind! ;v; I'll remind everyone again next week, so don't worry if you forget!