Old Man Ma

Yi stood like a statue and waited for the family to finish their meal. Supervisor Wu seemed happy about something and when he was in a good mood, the entire family was happy.

They chatted happily like any other family. The only abnormality was that Yi was working as a servant instead of eating with them.

"Kore wine ." ordered supervisor Wu.

Yi quickly moved to the table and refilled the supervisor's wine glass.

Before he could return to his place by the side, Wu Lin, the supervisor's wife and Yi's mother also raised her glass.

Yi moved and refilled her glass without any complaint.

Order after order, Yi moved around the table fulfilling everyone's requests. This included Wu Chen, the ten-year-old boy and Wu Li the eight-year-old girl.

Still, Yi was the model of a perfect servant. He had been trained to do this since he was three years old.

He moved with grace around the table. Ever present but not to be seen.

When the dinner was about to come to an end, a glass fell to the floor and shattered instantly. The sound starled supervisor Wu who jumped out of his seat.

The young boy Wu Chen laughed at his father. The young girl Wu Li also joined in on the laughter. Even the mistress of the house Wu Lin, laughed.

Supervisor Wu was livid with anger. When his children and Wu Lin saw this, they stopped their laughter immediately.

Supervisor Wu looked around the place looking for the culprit. It turned out that young master Wu Chen had dropped a glass to the floor.

When Yi saw this, he sighed in resignation. He knew what would happen next.

Supervisor Yi looked at his son who was looking at his plate as though he had found the secrets of the universe within.

Supervisor Yi slowly moved his eyes to Yi.

"Why did you give my son such a slippery glass? Do you want to rebel?" shouted Supervisor Wu.

Yi quickly fell to his knees and bowed his head.

"I beg your forgiveness master. It will never happen again," said Yi.

He knew that begging for forgiveness would not lead to such a thing.

In his life, Yi had learned that forgiveness was never to be granted to the weak.

Hmmph, snorted the supervisor as he moved out of the hall.

"Meet me upstairs," he shouted as he left the hall.

When he was gone, the other people returned to their meal without any worry.

Yi stood in the corner with his heart pounding quickly.

After dinner, Yi cleaned up the place before going upstairs to supervisor Yi's office.

Ta, ta, ta, he knocked on the door with great care.

"Come in," said Supervisor Wu from inside the room.

Yi opened the door and entered the office.

Supervisor Wu was seated in his chair. He looked pissed.

Yi said nothing . He simply removed his shirt and placed it on the floor. He then walked toward the wall where he picked a small wooden figure that he put in his mouth. He then grabbed two pieces of cloth on the wall and waited. He closed his eyes. Before he could fully prepare himself, a terrible cracking sound filled the room.

Pa, a whip fell on Yi's back sending pain throughout his body. He shouted and screamed but with the piece of wood in his mouth, no sound came out.

Pa, another lash fell on his back, making his legs weak with the pain.

Pa, pa, pa, three lashes of the whip landed on his back successively.

Yi fell to the ground .His body twitched on the ground.His eyes were wide with pain . Supervisor Wu looked down at Yi and snereed .

"You need to learn some manners," said Supervisor Wu as he walked back to his seat.

Yi gathered what was left of his strength, grabbed his shirt, placed it back on his body and bowed to Supervisor Wu.

"Thank you very much, master," said Yi as he slowly moved out of the room.

When he was finally out of sight, he almost fell to the group again. He grabbed the wall and walked slowly.

He passed the servants of the mansion and in their eyes, he could see pity while some only had scorn to offer to him.No one dared help him back to his place . Yi walked slowly back to his place. It took him over an hour to reach his destination. When he reached his small hut, he fell to the hard ground and fell asleep.

He did not wake up till the next morning when he was startled awake by his recurring nightmare.

When he moved his body so abruptly, the pain moved through his entire body.

He looked around only to find an old man by the side. This was old man Ma . He was a gardener in the mansion. He lived the closest to Yi and it was only due to his help[ that Yi had lived for so long.

Old man Ma had turned Yi to sleep on his stomach instead of his bloody back. In the night, he had cleaned Yi's bloody back and applied some herbs on the open wounds . Yi could feel his wounds heal quickly . Old man Ma had taken care of Yi as though he were his son. He always kept a few healing heebs within his small house for times like these . He understood that for Yi, these kinds of beatings were nothing new.

Old man Ma smiled brightly at Yi who smiled back . Yi could only show such an expression with old man Ma.

Yi looked outside the house and saw darkness . He sighed in relief. Even after such a beating, Supervisor Wu still expected him to go to the mine as usual. Yi knew that not going to the mine would call for an even harsher punishment.

Old Man Ma did not say anything . He brought out a small bowl and began spoon-feeding the young boy. Yi could not stop himself from tearing up . He always wondered why he had not been born as the real son of Ol Man Ma. He knew that he would have been much happier. He was even willing to settle for just happy.