Chapter 2 (1/2)
Eternal Life (永生) Ch. 2
Servant
As a servant of the Fang clan, Fang Han was tasked with breeding horses, and had bred a horse called Thousand Li Snow for the second lady.
Being a horse breeder was a hard job, as they had to wake up in the middle of the night and add fodder daily. Even worse was if the horse was named, then there would be even more rules to follow. Originally at the time, Fang Han was supposed to give Thousand Li Snow some soymilk made of eggs and soybeans and high quality feed to eat and then walk the horse to the horse field to aid its digestion of food while waiting for the second lady to arrive.
However, because of his morning excursion to inner court to watch martial arts and the lecture given by Fang Tong about the secrets of the divine realm, Fang Han ended up forgetting about his most important task.
Thus, Fang Han urgently ran towards the field. Upon arriving, he saw that the horse was already there, and had a cold beauty riding on it. Next to her stood some maidservants, as well as some guards. There were also others children, of both genders, who, like her, were riding on horses and s.h.i.+ning in the light, showing off their embellished clothing.
As soon as Fang Han appeared, an old man quickly ran over, yelling, “Fang Han, you have brought a calamity about yourself! Hurry up and apologize to the second lady!”
“Big chief, this morning I had a stomachache,” said Fang Han.
This old man was the chief of the horse field.
“I don’t care about your excuses, by delaying the affairs of the second lady, you have brought calamity upon yourself. How to serve, your father taught you from childhood, but you still can’t understand that the master’s affairs are greater than the sky?” rebuked the old man.
At this time, from far away came an imposing looking maidservant. Upon seeing Fang Han, she made a sound, opened her hands, and, like an eagle grabbing a rabbit, came up and grabbed Fang Han’s shoulders. “Are you the breeder of Thousand Li Snow, Fang Han? The second lady is calling you over to answer questions!”
Fang Han suddenly felt as if his body had been bound, to his surprise, the small maidservant had completely lifted him off the ground!
Observing the maidservant’s moves and power, Fang Han suddenly thought of the moves that he had seen during his secret observation of the martial arts practices. This move is called Crane Clutching Sand. This maidservant’s strength is two to three times greater than mine.
Although he had watched the practices for a month and fully understood the theories, he still couldn’t dodge the grab because he simply didn’t have the training nor strength to compete with the second lady’s maidservant.
Not to mention, even if he could dodge, he wouldn’t dare. Otherwise, he would be in even more trouble.
“Peng!” Feng Han was suddenly thrown on the ground, his body tingling and numb.
The maidservant kicked Fang Han and said, “Kneel and answer.”
Atop the pure white horse Thousand Li Snow, the Fang clan’s second lady question was conveyed down, “So you Fang Han?”
Fang Han lowered his head and reluctantly replied, “This small person is Fang Han.” He knew that the second lady was called Fang Qing Wei, and that she was very powerful and looked down on servants. She was unsatisfied very easily, and thus many dreaded meeting her.
“My Thousand Li Snow was raised well by you, and shows the effort you put in raising it. However, this morning, you ignored your duties,” Fang Qing Wei said coldly. “I don’t care about your excuses, as a servant, all of your thoughts should be for your masters. This is my Fang clan’s rules, and is also the rules of the world. This horse, Thousand Li Snow is your life, even if you stake your life, you must serve this horse well. Understood?”
“This small person understands, from now this small person will stake his life for the horse, and raise a great horse for the second lady. Wherever the horse is, he will be, whenever the horse is busy, he will be busy. Second lady, please forgive this small person’s crime of neglect of duty this morning.” Fang Han’s head smashed against the ground like a hammer smas.h.i.+ng garlic, for once he actually knew how to act in the situation.
Amidst his kowtowing in fear and dread, Fang Han’s eyes quietly landed on Fang Qian Wei’s boots in the stirrup. Her boots were completely white, and were inlaid with jade, causing them to look delicate yet gorgeous. Looking at these boots so high above his head, Fang Han thought to himself, one day, I too will be able to have others looking up at my shoes.
“Whip him ten times, let him remember this time’s lesson,” said Fang Qing Wei as she waved slightly.
“Yes!” The nearby maidservant promptly picked up the whip and began fiercely landing the whip on Fang Han’s body.
“Pa!” “Pa!” “Pa!”
Fang Han’s body s.h.i.+vered each time due to the pain, as the maidservant’s strength was so great. Each lash, the whip flew through the air, resulting in a jarring whip crack. Fang Han’s felt as if his body was being ripped apart, but he bit his teeth together and held back any sound, only cold sweat running down his body.
After ten lashes, Fang Han fell limply to the ground, as if paralyzed.