Yang Jie’s tyranny

A week later the kinder looking elder came to them to the carriage while they were preparing to set off after the break at night.

"Young master Yang orders you to see him at his carriage."

Frank and everyone else had actually expected for him to have forgotten about them and only remember later on but it seemed as if that time was now.

Expectant and a bit fearful both Tang He and Su Liling exited their carriage and started walking towards the front. Together with the robed elder they passed some waggons with more soldiers some with more goods. Obviously, this caravan was transporting those goods to somewhere on the way as just sending off one person would be a waste of resources and manpower.

Young Master Yang's carriage was the one in the second, this too was rather intelligent as he would not feel the brunt of a frontal attack like that especially if the first waggon was loaded with people and that it most definitely was. Tang He was able to notice at least 10 men sitting next to it when they closed in on the carriage of the young Yang.

After a short knock the door opened and young master Yang stepped outside, this was basically the first time Tang He could closely examine his figure under good lighting:

Black straight and hair, bound together into a small knot behind him, his height was about the same as Tang He's but still because of his form and pose he made it look as if he looked at you from a higher point of view with his dark brown eyes and firm eyebrows.

Compared to Tang He and even Su Liling his skin was even brighter and almost with no real dark spots or impurities. His blue garments and black shoes accentuated this to make him look even nobler.

Indeed he would be the perfect example of a nobleman if not for the creepy smile which was plastered on his face.

"So, 'personal servant' Tang He and 'wife' Su Liling how was your week? Did you enjoy your ride?"

He emphasised the words 'personal servant' and 'wife' a lot when he asked his question. It was clear what they were in reality…

That week of quiet had been there exactly to make that clear to them.

The right elder chimed in:

"You are to answer young master Yang when you are addressed."

"Yes, Young master Yang." Tang He answered back as Su Liling just nodded.

Amused the noble boy asked: "You must have felt quite comfortable I imagine. But did you earn the right to travel that comfortably?"

While Frank was still trying to find the most optimal solution to that trick question, Tang He out of habit asked back:

"Do we need to earn that right?"

*SLAP*

Feeling the slap land on his face Tang He was pushed back and almost fell over. Taking three steps back to balance himself again he finally noticed that he made a blunder.

The right elder established that further:

"You will not ask questions! If you are asked you are to answer! Do you understand?"

"Yes, Sir"

Noticing that his slap wasn't enough to force the boy to the ground the elder continued "I don't quite like your expression. Slap yourself one more time on the other side. I don't want to filthy my hand more than I already did."

'YOU!!'

Finally Tang He's rage was starting to flow over. He had understood from Franks tales that the life of a servant wouldn't be pleasant but feeling it yourself was a different story altogether. Just as he wanted to tell them all his opinion about them, Frank interrupted him:

< Do you want to live? Then do as he says and swallow down your pride a bit. >

< Do you see the expression that boy has on his face? You are playing exactly into his hands… >

< If you rage now he will punish you even further… >

After getting some reason talked into him, Tang He closed his eyes and slowly breathed in and out. He raised his right hand and with a good swing he slapped himself so that both sides of his face now had the same shade of red hue.

Seeing that young master Yang was actually disappointed. He had hoped to get more of a show out of all of this, but luckily it wasn't over yet.

"Answer my question: Did you or did you not deserve to ride on the carriage?"

< No, I didn't! >

Even though it felt rather difficult to say it Tang He did:

"No, I didn't"

"Good thing you know." He turned to Su Liling "From now on, you are going to be here to serve and entertain me personally, and you 'slave' Tang" he turned back to watch Tang He's expressions "are going to be punished for this last week of leisure. Yang Hanbo, you are responsible for his punishment!"

Immediately answering the former right elder reported: "Yes, young master!"

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"Wow! The young lord really hates that boy, doesn't he?" Lei had already said that a lot but this time he meant it really quite literally.

Huan added "Oh yeah he does, he actually sped up the whole caravan only to have him run on foot until he falls over."

"And with Chief Fa supervising him it is not as if will be cut some slack." Brother Fu chimed in "He will most likely really run until he collapses."

The guy in question turned around and scolded them "oh, shut up. Let me have my peace and quiet, the young lord gave the order for him to run and so he will run. When he collapses we will drag him inside and after he wakes up again we will make him run some more…"

At that time a young boy was running after the carriage with a small distance away with a leash around his neck.

'…1,2,3,4,5 – breathe in – 1,2,3,4,5 – breathe out -…'

Tang He's mind was occupied in keeping his tempo without falling back too much or getting too quick. If he fell back too much the rope would start to strangle him and if he was too close it was even more dangerous as the same rope would dangle on the ground then and presenting a huge hazard of tripping.

'…1,2,3,4,5 – breathe in – 1,2,3,4,5 – breathe out -…'

He was running at about marathon speed, maybe slightly faster, as this run was obviously made to exhaust him and bring him to his ends.

'… 1,2,3, … those horses sure are amazing… 4,5 – breathe in – running all the time like that without tiring - 1,2,3,4,5 – breathe out -…'

< Most likely they won't be able to keep up that speed as well, but yeah, they will run way longer than you will be able to. >

For the last six hours Frank had tried to keep the mind of the boy working well enough to stay awake and not fall over.

'What if I just fall over now? Will I be able to rest again?'

< Probably not until you really pass out from exhaustion… >

< Most likely they will just drag you across the ground if they think you are pretending. >

< That inspector needs to be convinced of your performance, then we will be able to rest… >

'This is a pain in the ass! In the future I'll just do whatever that Yang wants from me…'

Sighing Frank replied to him destroying that hope of a peaceful future as well:

< He seems like the guy who enjoys breaking people, he wants you to resist. I you don't and he'll get bored he will go to more extreme measures to make you resist. So, sadly, you do need to put up a fight. And most definitely it would be better for your psyche as well: If you comply to him you'll lose all your inner drive and the will to live. And you want to live, don't you? >

Determination once more appeared on Tang He face and with slightly steadier steps he exclaimed:

'YES, I WILL GET THROUGH THIS!'

With an imaginary smile Frank motivated even more:

< Do you remember that time, when you were running to Doctor Shu to get help? Imagine how quickly you could get to him nowadays!? >

'Haha, you are right. If I hurry I'd probably do it in 10 minutes, hahaaaa'

'It is good that my father got to health quickly after his injury. I didn't think Doctor Shu's medication would work that well…'

< Oh yeah, what was it? Like one month and your father was fully healed? That was just ridiculous and he was able to walk around quiet normally without any support after just 3 weeks. I would have never imagined such a thing to be possible, normally it would take more than double that time… >

'We had done soo much endurance training since then. But I managed to get through it. Really sad that I can't unbind that rope around my neck, or else I would have run away a long time ago…'

< Running away? Where to? There is only grassland around, no forest and only small hills that could give you a way of hiding but still a good archer would be able to hit you long before you'd be far from here. >

< Instead we should be happy that he didn't bind your hands together instead. You wouldn't be able to run properly like that and even worse you wouldn't be able to shield yourself when you fall. >

< Just treat this as limit training. Imagine a feral beast hunting you, you wouldn't give up then, would you? >

'NO!'

And so, he returned to the previous regime of running in his silent rhythm

'…1,2,3,4,5 – breathe in – 1,2,3,4,5 – breathe out -…'

Just like that another 4 hours passed and night-time arrived and soon afterwards the shrill sound of a whistle came from the front, it was the whistle to stop and make camp here. The next area would be slightly more dangerous so they decided to pause here before the forest would start. They would need to pass the most critical part in mid-day.

Even though he felt how the pull of the string weakened the weary mind of the boy could not understand the meaning of it. For the last hour this string was all that had kept him from falling, its pull had been the only constant in a world of moving and pain. Well the pain had actually vanished after a time, what was left was only running. He couldn't feel his legs but he ran anyways. He had told himself that he wouldn't let that arrogant boy control his life and that he would run and NOT fall.

So now that the pull weakened his body tried to keep its force on him the same, so he too started to slow down and that in turn slowed down his heart-beat, something which had been rather high the last couple of hours.

Frank had monitored that part of his body closely for the whole time. If he noticed any erratic behaviour they would just let themselves fall and be dragged along the ground for a while, but the heart seemed fine for now, only now that the pull of the rope was weakening with the slowing of the caravan, Frank could feel the heart giving in as well. It was slowing down too much.

And as the carriages got slower his heart was slowing the same.

Quickly after the waggons in front came to a complete stop and with it the pull of the string completely disappeared.

His heart beat one time…

*ba-dump*

His heart…

*…*

Tang He's eyes turned white and unconscious he fell over…

His heart…

*…*

Was beating!

*ba-dump*