Willful Beauty Takes the Villain | System | BxB

53: Punishment

On the day Sen Jia and Sen Shuai arrived at the Song estate, Clan Head Song was passing judgment on Madame Rong, Song Min's former nanny. 

"Want to have a look?" Sen Jia asked with an eager glint in his eyes. 

"May as well." Sen Shuai calmly followed after the excited Sen Jia to the main audience hall of the Song Clan. 

They arrived at the end of the proceedings. The charges, evidence, statements and witnesses had already been completed. Only the sentencing remained.

Madame Rong looked haggard as she repeatedly admitted her wrongs and begged for mercy for her family. Only a few members of the Rong family were present at the hearing. 

It wasn't a large family.

Madame Rong had four adult sons and a childless younger brother that were all present for the hearing. Each of the sons had wives and children of marriageable age that were waiting for the verdict elsewhere in the estate. 

Clan Leader Song had conducted a thorough investigation and confirmed that two of the sons and Madame Rong's younger brother were aware of her embezzlement. They had helped her to keep the truth of where the money came from a secret from the other family members.

Madame Rong, her brother and the two sons were to be carted through the town in disgrace, have their misdeeds widely posted and announced to all, then be executed publicly. The assets of the Rong household were to be turned over to the Song Clan to repay the rather large amount she had stolen over the years. 

Normally, the remaining family members would be assigned to live at labor camps until they found employment. With their family name blackened, getting reputable work would be nearly impossible.

The family was able to avoid this fate due to the oldest son's actions.

The oldest son was among those found to be innocent of all knowledge of the crimes, but he nevertheless asked to be held responsible and be punished in the same manner as his mother. Since he is the acting head of the family, he felt ashamed that such a thing could happen under his watch. Before, he had been arrogant and proud of his family when he thought they had achieved so much by their own hard work. Now he was humble and disgusted by his mother and brother's schemes.

His sincerity impressed Clan Head Song, who felt there was at least some honor left in this family. He granted the son's request and gave the remaining family a way forward.

The Rong family name would be ceremonially wiped out. A new name would be given to the remaining family members.

The end result being many young talents were spared the shame of carrying the blackened name, Rong. Instead, they were conscripted into the Song Clan army for a mandatory eight years. This would give them a chance to prove themselves in society, build up their own lives and start over.

Sen Shuai felt that odd sense of satisfaction again as the matter reached its end. As he watched the miserable nanny Rong being pulled away, their eyes met for a moment. He saw only anger and hate from her. 

Sen Jia saw it too. "That bitch! She's not repentant toward Song Min at all. All her apologies and weeping were only a show due to her fear of punishment."

"En." Sen Shuai retracted his gaze and turned to leave with Sen Jia. 

~~~the beauty, Sen Jia, young master Qin. Several days later

Sen Jia sighed.

His gaze rested on the combatants in the training yard. Song Min had nine points in common with his father. That mature handsome man look would be about the same that Song Min would have later on. However, his body had an early expiration date so Sen Jia would never get to see it. 

Sen Jia sighed again.

Last life they only spent a short time together and Sen Shuai was an adult of twenty-eight. Now, he was a young teen on the verge of manhood but their time would still be short. Seeing the father, Sen Jia felt a desire to have an entire lifetime with Sen Shuai.

Sen Jia startled when he noticed he had thought of growing old together with someone just now. A silly grin sprouted on his face as he held his head and giggled.

Sen Shuai had been watching the moody Sen Jia swiftly change facial expressions. "Jia..." 

Sen Jia raised his head and quickly stepped in front of Sen Shuai looking up at him earnestly.

"Little Shuai, after this world let's spend a whole entire life leisurely living for no one but each other." He held Shuai's hands in his own and deeply looked at him. "I want to see you get old too."

~~~the villain, Sen Shuai, Song Min

Sen Shuai didn't like that Sen Jia has been staring non-stop at Song Jun while making all those varied expressions. He had begun to get irritated.

"En." Sen Shuai no longer felt any dissatisfaction. He even chuckled since Sen Jia had inadvertently called Song Jun old.

"Song Min." He was suddenly called to enter the practice yard, breaking the warm atmosphere. "I heard you received a promotion before the surge." Song Jun stood a short distance away in a relaxed posture, he barely glanced at his son before handing off some worn out equipment to a servant.

"Yes, sir."

"Show me what you know." Song Jun attacked without any additional warning. 

Sen Shuai was all too happy to let loose on Song Jun. Even though Sen Jia had been thinking of their future, he had still been staring at this man for a very long time. In just a few moments all eyes were turned to the two, father and son, as they exchanged blows that were to fast for many servants to follow. 

After Sen Shuai had vented his jealousy a bit he allowed a few openings and weaknesses to show in his movements to keep Song Jun from becoming suspicious. 

The two had not even exchanged thirty blows when, just as suddenly as it began, Song Min stepped back. "Enough." He stood for a moment silently appraising his son. He nodded once to show his approval. "Good. Some improvements can be made. Tomorrow you will have an assigned training partner. I'll test you again another day. You may go."

"Yes, sir." Sen Shuai answered simply.

This was the sole interaction he had with the body's father since arriving at the estate several days ago. According to the original's few memories of his father, this was a rare long meeting.

Are they really father and son?  

After a moment, Sen Shuai shrugged indifferently. He's still better than my last life's father.