Overwrite.

I quietly snuck back into my courtyard, with no one the wiser. Luckily, I had no personal servants. Otherwise, they would've immediately reported my absence to the high commander.

By the time I got back, the sun already went below the horizon (of the Jianbukecui). As usual, the entire world went dark.

I didn't sleep, though. I was waiting for the servant. He was supposed to be here at dusk, but he's late.

I honestly don't even know why I'm waiting for a mere slave. I could never live this down if it ever got out to the public.

Just as I was about to go to bed, I heard someone knocking at my door.

"enter!" I yelled.

After I said that, the door opened, and the late servant came in.

"just as I was about to go to sleep." I muttered.

"is this a bad time?" he asked.

"yes." I replied, with no hesitation. "drink some tea and get the fuck out. I don't want to see your face ever again." I sighed while rubbing my eyes.

"am... am I fired?" he asked.

"smart question, and within reason too. But unfortunately, no. I may be filling in for grandmother while she sick, but I only record the budget; etc. I don't fire nor hire servants."

"this servant will do as you say." he said before taking the now cold cup of tea prepared for him.

"drink the other one too. I'm too tired and tea is expensive, these days."

"yes, young master." said the servant before gulping down the other cup as well.

"go to the river. I prepared a surprise for you."

By now, the servant was clearly suspicious. But the thing is, no surprise was prepared for him. And besides, even if he was suspicious, what could he do? He just my servant. It is his duty to obey me.

After the man left, I jumped right into my bed, without even bothering to change out of my formal wear. These days, I am so used to formal wear, that even sleeping in it is not a problem. Of course, the headpiece must be removed, since even I know the risks¹ caused by it.

Anyways, most people would wonder why I gave him expensive tea and sent him off, but it has a pretty sound backstory.

So basically, one of the drinks were spiked with... well, poison. I was too lazy and couldn't see which cup he drank out of, so to be on the safe side, I had him drink the other one, too.

If he really does go to the river, he'll either die on the way there, or die near it. If he does the latter, there's the off chance of (a) him falling into the river; (b) the slum dwellers eating him.

If he dies near the river, the slum dwellers will be the targets of the townsfolk's blame.

Suddenly, some loud music started playing.

"who the hell is making this racket!?" I yelled.

There were no servants around my courtyard, so I went outside. My mind had dulled considerably due to the lack of sleep, but I knew it would be disastrous if I shouted without knowing what was happening.

He shamelessly walked in his night robes to the front door, only to be greeted by a cold, black wood carriage with beautiful gold engravings filled with all sorts of rubies, sapphires and diamonds. The entire structure was being hauled by nine war horses.

War horses, unlike most other types of horses, was something Pangzi was VERY familiar with, as he was raised in a highly militaristic family. It was no doubt that he could also point out the weak war horses from the strong.

The nine he saw in front of him at that moment, were all the best of the best. The creme de la creme. The cream of the crop. Whatever you want to call it. He had only seen one of such quality, and that was his father's personal war horse. Seeing nine replicas of such a perfect being was almost an impossible feat. Especially when you consider the time and resources needed to cultivate ordinary war horses. And if that horse dies mid-training, which is rather common, all the resources put into it would go to waste.

The coachman, perfectly leading the nine horses, saw Pangzi gazing in awe at the nine horses. Not knowing who he was, the coachman raised his whip and struck Pangzi as hard as he could.

As said before, Pangzi is from a highly militaristic family. And because of that, he was raised to become a killer. No matter the situation, he was able to make all pain minimal. A rather special skill he learnt, was to 'harden' some parts of his skin.

It was not a permanent effect, nor did it really harden his skin. It made it so a specific part of his body becomes more detached, allowing him to feel less pain, and the density of his muscles increase in that area. It was an inhuman, but convenient skill for both attack and defense, though he was unable to hold onto a part of flesh like that for more than ten seconds.

Luckily, he had been trained to not look at stunning things for too long, and happened to catch the whip by its tip when it was about to strike his face.

He pulled the whip as hard as he could, which cut a good chunk of his flesh and pulled the coachman off of his seat. The horses were, unfortunately, still moving at their slow pace.

As they kept on moving, the coachman who had fallen under, was theb crushed by the wheels of the carriage. Of course, the carriage had a hard time getting over the fat lump of mass, as it was moving very slowly, but it eventual managed. The coachman, despite multiple cracks being heard as the heavy carriage drove over him, refused to die. Luckily or unluckily for him, the horses were in front of him; thus, unable to end his misery.

As the horses now approached Pangzi, he moved over to the left to greet his visitors. Some servants had finally noticed Pangzi's awakening, and came rushing behind him. He knew his father sent them to make sure he did nothing wrong, but he already felt a little mischievous.

¹: meant to be filled by (asaru) އަސަރު. For those of you with English as a second language, you might have realized some words from your native language suit some situations better. For example, asaru means risks, or hazards, in english. But that's only the direct translation. It can mean other similar words, but it most suited to be used in that case. Asaru is not as strong a word as hazard, but it's stronger than risk, if you know what I mean. Google translates it to 'effect', though. Which is also a viable translation, as it implies the 'effects' of a 'risky' action. Hard to understand in english.