Blank Sheet

Hello, my name is Jia Pangzi, and one day, I hope my name will be Congming Shuaiqi. My parents might whip me for being unfilial, and my grandmother might die of pneumonia, but too long have I suffered under the Jia family with the accursed name… Pangzi.

If only my parents loved me enough to bless me with the beautiful name, Jia Shuaiqi De Mingzi.

”accursed brother! How dare you steal the beautiful name that was meant to be mine! ”

”accursed parents! Were you disabled when you were picking out my name?! How dare you open your eyes only when you had my brother! ”

”young master? If you are done cursing out your family, can we go back to the old hou—

Who do you think you are, interrupting me. If anything, you should be crawling under my feet as you thank me for taking you in. I need a new rat…

”NO! I still need to complain about my grandparents! ” shouted the young master.

”please forgive this servant for interrupting you. ”

”well if you
e so sorry, why don you kneel? Show some sincerity? ”

The servant kneeled so flawlessly, it was as if he had rehearsed the scene over and over again.

”aren you forgetting something? ” asked the domineering Jia Pangzi.

The servant looked into the young masters eyes, his own eyes welling with either tears or water.

”please forgive this poor servant! He didn mean to commit such a grave sin! He will take responsibility and kill himself! ”

Hes been getting cocky, hasn he — this rat. Maybe it is about time I picked another one, preferably a woman. I heard they were better behaved and smarter than most men. Of course my rat budget isn very high this time, so… *sighs*

”it was fun at first, but now it is getting pretty repetitive and boring. I abuse you, you beg, I forgive. What was I thinking when I accepted such a play? I guess your time has come, my little rat. The head servant will give you some poison at dawn. Drink it. ”

”y-yes, y-young f— MASTER! ”

The last strand of tolerance the young master had for the
at he raised had finally broken.

”there is only so much I can tolerate, Shuai Pu Yi Hao! Insulting my name and spitting in my face?! You are supposed to respect your parents and teachers! Both of which, I am to you. Even so, you have no respect for me. If not for me, you would still be a rat in the slums eating your siblings and their children! ”

”please forgive this slave who forgot his place. ”

Unfortunately, he begged for mercy too late, for when the Pangzi decides to do something, he will get it done. So long as the rewards outweigh the cost, and if it was fun.

”whats the point in forgiving you? No matter how much pain I cause you, your death already been decided: dawn. ”

”y-you w-weren joking, young master? ”

Damned rat. How lowly do you think of me?! Despite my behavior and demeanor towards you, I am still the proud eldest son of the Jia family. How could a lowly rat dare to insult me?! I cannot believe how low our familys name has fallen! And all because of those damn bastards! Oh father, why did you have to fool around with those whores? If only you were heartless enough to discard the whores and their offspring that stain your past.

”whether I were joking or not, you will only find out at dawn. Come to my courtyard at dawn and I will give you the antidote for the poison. So long as you don die first, ” he said as he gave a snake-like smile to the trembling rat. ”lest your foster family suffer for your mistake. ”

The servant wasn the brightest person on the block, but he wasn stupid either. He seemed to have understood what the young Pangzi said, seeing as he soiled his pants.

”yes, thats right my dear Hao Hao. I know where all of them are. The whore in the red light district, the second bastards personal servant, the sick woman near the outskirts of town — if I remember right, she was the only person outside the orphans to care about you. ”

”if you dare defy my orders, I will have the guards drag the old woman around town, whipping her. Father obviously won approve, but he will only find out by the time that bitch dead. ” he said as he mocked the sobbing rat whose face had turned into a hideous mess as the master trailed off into a laugh.

”please young master! Anything but my family! Ill do anything you want! Anything at all! ” he screamed desperately.

”do not worry, Hao. I am not without a heart, you know? I am willing to forgive you and your family, as long as you come to me at dawn for the antidote. And don you dare tell father of this. ”

”thank you, master! Thank you so much! I promise to devote the remaining years of my life to you! ” said the blinded rat who forgot the one he devoted himself to was the very same man who had decided to kill him.

”now go back to the old house. Tell my father I am coming soon. ”

”yes, young master! ” shouted the blinded rat as he ran off into the town.

What a bore. Nothing has been good since they, the Cikes, have been frequenting the domains in this land. If father is behind it, he wants my hands pure. If not, someone wants the Shensheng family dead when they come tomorrow. Luckily, Cike Hao — the purifier of my hands — is among the group of Cike in this region.

Even if the thousand year war has ended in our victory, there is no reason for the Shensheng family to visit us. Instead, they could ask us to visit them instead — they have every right to do so.

Not that it matters. As long as my hands remain pure and my heart remains hidden, my face will show a great trash unworthy of notice.

The Pangzi made his way from the vineyard to the old house, where his family was. It was on the opposite side of town parallel to the vineyard he was in.

On the way to the old house, he made a detour as he got distracted by a girl on the outskirts of town between the makeshift sewage system separating the slums and town. She wasn beautiful in any way, but there was something about her that made him go an alternate path.

Her body, which was barely covered, was ridden with wounds and disease. As he got closer, he saw that she was drinking the piss water from the towns makeshift sewage system, in which the slum dwellers occasionally facate in. It was obvious to him she was being abused, but there is no need for the aristocrats to meddle in the commoners business. Well, most of the time, there isn .

By now, he was inside the slums which stretched on for thousands of Yin and littered with trash that the people called houses. He walked over to the girl who seemed a year or two younger than him and said, ”hey, little rat? Are you so desperate for drink that you can mix up the Gou Shi He for the Chunjing De Heliu? ”

(Gou Shi He = shit river, Chunjing De Heliu = pure river)

As if reminded of where it was that she was really drinking, she gagged and gagged as she tried to keep herself from vomiting. In the end, her muscles started twitching uncontrollably before she let it all out: a piece of half digested rotten meat — crawling with maggots — and what seemed to be shit she unknowingly drank in her desperation. Had her bile not been similar to piss in colour, it undoubtedly would have been visible inside the remnants of her deed.

”poor little rat, how do you feel about becoming my slave? You can eat, drink and sleep like all the other townspeople. I promise as long as you remain loyal to only me, I will take care of you well. ”

She let out a little moan as if she were unable to voice her thoughts.

”if that is you agreeing, follow me, little rat. If you lag behind me, I will have the guards beat you to death, saying you are a