3 Don't Forget the Food

A chill ran through Wang Meng's back as he saw the eyes of his father. Never had he felt so insignificant than this very moment. His heart felt hollow, his body stiff from that ice-cold stare. His mind turned blank as he didn't even notice that he landed near where Fatty was.

"Hmm . . . oh, it's you," said Wang Yuan as he finally recognized Wang Meng who was still frozen in place on the floor. "When did I request for him?" Wang Yuan's eyebrows furrowed as shifted his gaze from Wang Meng to the head guard.

"It was me who requested his presence, Father," said Wang Wei as he went forward and gave his father a quick bow.

Confused, Wang Yuan was about to question his son when suddenly there was loud cry.

"This is horrible! Those monsters! How could they do this to you! My poor daughter!" Lady Liu started to wail as she helped her daughter out of the palanquin. Her hand was shaking as she touched her daughter's face.

Wang Fang started to cry in distress with her, making the biggest scene she could in front of her father.

"What is wrong with you two?" questioned Wang Yuan who started to get irritated from not understanding what this huge commotion was all about. "Why are these two on the ground dirtying my floor?"

"Husband, this is horrible! My daughter's face! They ruined her face!" Lady Liu cried as she turned Wang Fang's face to show Wang Yuan.

"No! Don't look! I'm ugly now!" Sobbed Wang Fang loudly as she collapsed onto the floor covering her face in shame.

"What are you talking about Fang'er? How could my daughter, one of the three flowers of Wang City be ugly? Come let your father see." Wang Yuan's voice softened as he commanded his daughter to come closer.

"I'm too ashamed!"

"Get up and show your father what those monsters did to your face!" Lady Liu made another outburst as she began to glare at Wang Meng and Fatty.

Wang Fang slowly got up, her body shaking as she hesitantly lowered her hand on her cheek.

On her face appeared a pale colored, fingernail size scar, literally skin deep. Wang Fang began to sob as this mark on her face made her feel very ashamed. Tears rolled down her face, she could no longer bear the shame of her flawless face being marked.

"My Fang'er, it's not even that bad, calm down." Consoled Wang Yuan.

Hearing this Wang Fang started to cry harder and put her hands over her eyes.

"You don't understand Father!" Sniff . . . Sniff . . . "Mother should have told you by now that after all my hard work, I have finally caught the attention of Young Master Bo from the Shattered Rock Pavilion. But she probably didn't tell you that not only was he interested in me, but he also found interest in Song Jing and Liu Ling as well!"

Wang Yuan got up and was about to comfort Wang Fang but froze as he heard what she said next.

"As the most beautiful of the three flowers, you know that I am much better looking than Song Jing, but Liu Ling has always been the most mysterious of us because she wore a masked that hid half her face. Because Young Master Bo was really curious about her mask, he forced her to show him what was underneath," Wang Fang paused for a moment and continued.

"Underneath her mask was a scar even smaller and fainter than this one," Wang Fang exaggerated. "After seeing it, Young Master Bo forced Liu Ling to leave because he says he doesn't want to be in the presence of 'damaged' goods. He told me he like how flawless my face was . . . bu . . . but now . . ." Wang Fang began to stutter her words; her breathing became heavier making it harder for her to speak as she cried. "But now my face is ruined! Now I'm just . . . just . . . DAMAGED GOODS!"

Thud!

Wang Fang couldn't handle the stress of telling her terrible fate anymore and fainted on the floor.

Wang Yuan quickly rushed to his daughter. Looking towards his wife and Wang Wei he asked angrily, "What the hell happened?!" He then took a glance at Wang Yuan and Fatty.

"It was them, Father!" shouted Wang Wei and then started to explain to his father what had happened.

"Little sister and I wanted to find something for Mother since her birthday was approaching so we went to the Wang City Eastern Market to get her a gift. As we were looking around, I saw our dear little brother with his servant inside the Silk Road Palace." Wang Wei said, pointing towards Wang Meng and Fatty.

"As we approached to say hello, Little Brother saw us and started demanding money from us. I then tried to explain to him that we were here to buy Mother a gift so we couldn't spare any money for him, but then he ordered his servant to attack Wang Fang!"

"Not expecting him to say such a thing, I was in a daze and didn't move fast enough to save her. Before I knew it, that fat servant of his swiped his hand at little sister's face and maimed her!"

"Shameless!" Fatty yelled from the floor. "You lying snake! You know that is not what happened! Young Master and I would ne..."

"SILENCE!" boomed Wang Yuan as he focused some of his cultivation in his voice.

Cough.

Blood began to leak from Fatty's mouth as his face paled from being hurt from Wang Yuan's voice.

"A mere servant like you dares talk when you're not spoken to, how distasteful!"

"Don't hurt him, he's my friend!" Wang Meng quickly said as he saw how dangerous the situation was getting.

"Friend? Him, your friend?! How can a son of Wang have a mere servant as a friend?!"

Usually when seeing his father's glare, Wang Meng would barely have the courage to breathe, but with his best friend's life on the line, he momentarily forgot his fear for his father and spoke out.

"How can you sit there and stick up for your 'friend' knowing what he did to your poor sister? Not only did he ruin her face, but now she won't be able to marry the young master of the Shattered Rock Pavilion. But most importantly, the Wang Family's only way in receiving the grace of the Shattered Rock Pavilion is now gone!"

"It wasn't us, she did it herself! They were the ones who started the whole situation."

"Be quiet! You want me to believe that your sister damaged her face just to get you and that fat servant of yours in trouble? How ridiculous! Obviously having you kept by your mother's side was the wrong choice, seeing that you now think of servants as your equal. Even if your mother was once one, you should never forget that my blood runs through your veins! And that blood also runs through your brother and sister. How can you act like that when your sister's future is now ruined?!"

"Fatty is more of a sibling to me than those two ever were!" Wang Meng spat back. "Those two make my life almost like a living hell and you want me to feel sorry for her tripping over herself? You want me to feel bad for a family that treats me like air but not care for my only friend? How does that even make sense?!" Wang Meng started yelling the feeling and emotions he has been forcing down slowly surfacing as he continued his verbal battle with his father.

"Not only does this family not care for me or my mother, but you all expect me to condone Wang Wei's story of lies?! That's ridiculous!"

After Wang Meng's last remark, the room suddenly turned silent. A look of surprise came from the faces of Wang Wei and his mother, as well as Wang Fang who had awoken due to the noise of the commotion. They have never once thought that Wang Meng or anyone really, would have the courage to talk to their father, Wang Yuan, like that.

"You little bastard!" Wang Yuan raged. "Not only do you live with everything provided for you, but I have never once required any responsibility from you! Look how unfilial you are being! Such a disgrace! Such a disgrace for a son you are! Since you don't want me to hit your 'friend' of yours, why don't you take the punishment instead?!" Wang Yuan set down the already conscious Wang Fang and began walking towards Wang Meng.

"No, don't!" two shouts made Wang Yuan pause for a moment. One came from Fatty that quickly tried to get up to move towards Wang Meng's side. But the other came from Wang Meng's mother who shook herself out of the grasp of the guard that was restraining her. Because of her tiny, sickly stature, no one had noticed her being dragged with Wang Meng since the other guards blocked the view of her.

She quickly ran up to the side of her son, pulling him behind her.

"Your Lordship, please forgive them. I'm sure they didn't mean for anything to happen to the Young Miss. It's all just a little misunderstanding. Please forgi-"

"How can this be a MISUNDERSTANDING?!" Liu Yang interrupted Li Na. "Let me point out the facts for you since you apparently don't understand what's wrong here. My daughter will forever have a scar on her face while not a mark was placed on your son or his servant! My daughter's marital life is ruined, not your son's or his servant! They need to be punished for what they did to her! And more importantly, what they did against the greater good of the family!"

"That's right! They ruined everything. Father, you heard before, Wang Meng obviously doesn't like me so they must have purposely did this to me!" Wang Fang chimed in.

Wang Yuan, after being reminded on how the only chance for the Wang Family to raise up within the ranks was now gone, began to exude a frustrated, angered aura. He once again glared at Wang Meng, determined to unleash his anger onto him.

"Wait Your Lordship, please let me say something." Seeing that things were going awry, Fatty once again tried to speak. "Your lordship, before you didn't let me finish. What I was trying to say when I call Young Master Wang Wei a liar is that he lied about how my master ordered me to attack Young Miss Wang Fang."

Fatty took a deep breath and continued. "I did it all on my own, without an order from him. He wasn't even aware that I was going to do it. I was jealous of how nice their clothes were so I lashed out at them. Please don't do anything to my master, he was not at fault. It was all . . . me. Don't punish us both, punish me!"

"What are you doing?!" yelled Wang Meng.

SLAP.

Wang Meng fell back, he felt a burning sensation on his face as he looked up at Fatty. Everyone in the room took a small gasp.

"I did it without anyone telling me to, just like that."

"Guards! Take this servant away, now! Everyone else, leave! I need a moment to think!" Wang Yuan ordered as he proceeded back to his seat.

The guards seized Fatty and started to pull him away.

Li Na went over to help Wang Meng get up. Tears started to well in his eyes.

"Why?" he whispered in Fatty's direction.

Fatty turned his head around to look at Wang Meng while smiling and mouthed, "Don't forget the food."