‘Family’ Reunion

Fangsu's eyesight was hazy from the massive amount of pressure that her body had to withstand. The air in her lungs had been drained from her and it was painful trying to get air back into her lungs. During the process of clearing her eyesight, someone has prompted her slumped body up. Gently rubbing her back to her breath properly, "Looks like we are even now," Zhao Hui wiped Fangsu's blood from her nose which only caused the dried blood to release more blood to flow. The blood continued to spill onto her clothes, staining them a brilliant crimson colour. Zhao Hui began panicking as he saw the blood pour as he tried to help her.

"Move it!" Yun Nan pushed Zhao Hui to the side stuffing some cloth into Fangsu nostrils to slow the blood down. Fangsu swallowed the blood that managed to flow backwards and down into her throat.

Zhao Hui shoved Yun Nan to the side slowly trying to bring Fangsu back to her feet. Seeing Fangsu's nostrils filled with cloth, Zhao Hui could only laugh at her. Fangsu sighed tiredly at Zhao Hui laughter and she turned her attention to the two men that were the cause of the damage of the establishment, "Bao Ming, calculate all the damage that has been we have suffered today," Fangsu order with a rather cold tone which surprised the people who were more familiar with Fangsu's much kinder side. But, nevertheless, Bao Ming carried out the order with glee with her eyes sparkling with greed knowing that she could control the amount of compensation money. Every employee began scrounging the entire establishment to see the damaged goods, facilities, building and injured people. Seeing the long list, "I expect all of this to be pay by the end of this week." Fangsu blankly handed the list to her father.

Seeing the astronomical amount of compensation the servants naturally retort, "You dare charge this amount of money?" The servant was able to rip the list apart but a cold chill went through their body.

Fangsu glared at the servant with an unfeeling rage which was hard to sense especially from bystanders, "I can charge this amount of money because I'm the owner of this establishment," Fangsu was carefully being held up by Zhao Hui who deviously smirked at the servant, "If you want to have a proper conversation, you would have at least send a letter yet you barge into my establishment wreaking havoc and injuring my customers," Fangsu statement was clean-cut brutal and it didn't allow even letting the other party retort at the astronomical amount of money that was charged.

Fangsu stood firmly unlike her previous timid and nervous personality which enforced her statement which only caused the servant to back down. "I will pay by the end of this week but I promised I will take you back to the Tang family." The list was immediately taken by her father.

Fangsu scoffed lightly as her body started trembling in pain, "I never spoke of any promise, Master Tang," Fangsu tried to maintain her strong image despite the crippling internal damage that she had sustained.

Seeing Fangsu was in bad condition, Da Fu saw this as an opportunity to escorted her to study room, "Little Boss, the next meeting with the Young Master Wen Cheng will be in the study room," Da Fu, Yun Nan, Zhao Hui and Wen Cheng quickly took Fangsu up the study room. As they were completely out of sight from the crowd, Fangsu's composure quickly buckled as she helplessly clung onto Zhao Hui. Seeing such a weak and helpless Fangsu made Zhao Hui carry her in his arm. Yun Nan had already prepared the study room for Fangsu, "Yun Nan, how is she?" Da Fu was completely scared for Fangsu who had no protection that normal cultivators receive when they cultivate themselves.

Yun Nan checked Fangsu's body to see that she had suffered a massive amount of internal injuries to her body, "Bad," That single word caused Da Fu to tremble in fear that Fangsu would die, "But, she will not die if I'm here." Yun Nan then began treatment for Fangsu, gesturing for Da Fu to shove the two men out of the room to wait outside. As the two men were waiting for the treatment to end, the doors opened to show a relieved expression on both Da Fu and Yun Nan's faces.

Fangsu, however, was staring out of the window watching the back of her father's carriage with his servants behind him. Wen Cheng and Da Fu entered the room to discuss further actions for the future to deal with the damaged establishment. It was then decided that the establishment would close for a few days to refurnishing the building after all the damage caused and the customer who was injured were given treatment for their wounds. Everything was solved when the day had already settled and nightfall was now upon them. The last few customers had left while the employees returned to their rooms to retire from the chaotic day. The remaining people at Flowery Fragrance were Fangsu, Da Fu, Wen Cheng, Yun Nan, Bao Ming, Fangsu's grandpa and Zhao Hui who remained beside Fangsu the entire day.

Yun Nan prepared some bitter medicine which was had an extremely potent smell to it despite to everyone's dismay. But, Fangsu swallows the powder into her mouth and quickly washed it down with some tea. Zhao Hui who was sitting near Fangsu's bed unwrapped the same sea salt plum candy and fed it to her despite her previous rejection. The sugary sweetness of the candy was subtle from the sea salt that was added and as Fangsu continued to suck at the candy in her mouth, the sour plum was the best part of the candy as it cut the sweetness of the candy surrounding it. It completely rid Fangsu from the remaining bitterness of the medicine. After feeding her the candy, Zhao Hui left due to other important duties.

Yun Nan took notes on Fangsu's health, "Your body will need to recover from now on and you will need to be careful about another relapse happening." Writing them down in her journal that was completely filled, "Even I'm not sure if you will be able to survive the next one especially after what happened today." Yun Nan was completely unaware that only herself, Fangsu, Fangsu's grandpa, Bao Ming and Da Fu only knew of the patient's recurring bad health and illness.

Wen Cheng was clearly shocked to hear such news, "What do you mean?" Clearly shaken up as he had been working with them since they arrived in the capital yet he was not informed about Fangsu's bad health. Da Fu began explained the situation about Fangsu's health excluding information about the rest of the Chen family, "You mean that Fangsu has to get the medicine required to heal her otherwise she might have no chance of surviving the next relapse." Wen Cheng was quite in a Dilemma as he felt Fangsu was like a little sister to him. Yet, she may not live for long if she doesn't get the medicine.

Fangsu yawned before snuggling her face in her soft pillow, "There is only one ingredient left that Yun Nan needs to take the medicine," She had already resigned her life already, "Dragon Leaf, " knowing that Dragon Leaf is incredibly hard to acquire and harvest let alone finding it.

Everyone was quite shocked to hear that the medicine Fangsu needed Dragon Leaf, "Alright! Everyone out! Fangsu needs to sleep!" Fangsu's grandpa ushered out everywhere except Da Fu who remained by Fangsu. Seeing that Fangsu had already resigned herself to her fate was heartbreaking for Da Fu. Gently caressing Fangsu's sleeping face she found that tears had already stained her pillow. Fangsu's grandpa returned with a nightmare warding lantern to hang in the room to help Fangsu sleep.

—————

Early in the morning, an entire box filled with compensation gold and a letter came through inviting Fangsu to the Tang household and return as the Second Young Miss. Seeing the letter made everyone in Blossoming Fragrance rage at the audacity of the Tang family, "Little Boss! Don't go there!" An employee shouted clearly enraged as they clench the cleaning cloth nearly tearing apart the poor cloth.

Bao Ming slammed the table with the same level of fury, "The Tang family are so damn vain! They are a bunch of good for nothing." Rallying all the other employees who agreed which warned Fangsu's heart to be cared for by everyone in Flowery Fragrance. Everyone began to whine, annoyed at Da Fu trying to stop them from storming up to the Tang household and beating them up.

But, Da Fu disperse everyone back to work and not allowing them to charge right into the Tang Manor, "Are you sure you want to go there?" Da Fu held Fangsu hand in a protective manner who calmed the chaotic heart of Fangsu's.

Fangsu placed closed her eyes before releasing a breath, "I'm going to have to face him one day," Preparing herself to meet with her father, "There is no better time than now," Fangsu wore the light lavender hanfu with silvery koi fish embroidery with white ripples design to compliment the koi fish. Fangsu's grandfather decided to accompany Fangsu in case any conflict were to arise because of the crafty members of the Tang family. As they boarded a carriage with the Tang insignia, the driver seemed extremely young to be able to escort guest for the prestigious Tang family.

As they finally reached their destination, Fangsu stood face to face with her father that left the family 6 years ago who was holding the arm of a young pregnant woman, Concubine Shu-Hui. The air surrounding them became suffocating as the time continued to passed and no one spoke. Feeling the emotions of anger surge from within her, Fangsu took a deep breath to calm herself but knowing that her father could speak out of line. She would snap.

"Fangsu, it's has been a while." Her father stood proudly as he stared down at Fangsu's figure. While her protectively held his concubine in a loving embrace. Fangsu, however, looked quite unusually calm which disturbed the couple to a small degree.

"It has been," Fangsu curtly answered, clenching her finger which turned them white. Taking another breath, Fangsu again tried to calm herself. Keeping her calm composure, Fangsu continued to blatantly stare at them

"Is your mother and your sisters?" He asked Fangsu, which obviously shown that he was unaware of the situation behind their deaths. Pausing but he couldn't find the words to speak and unremained so.

"They passed away," Fangsu tried to hold back the anger that was continuously starting to grow in the pits of her stomach, it was a nasty feeling. Nasty enough that it may Fangsu want to vomit.

"I will send my regards to them when I have the chance," He spoke lightly at the news of the death of Fangsu's mother and siblings, which made only Fangsu angrier at the despicable man. Her shoulder began to slightly tremble. Fangsu's grandpa placed a hand on Fangsu's shoulder knowing that she could burst at any moment. Once he got Fangsu's attention, he could see the cold expression on her face with contradicted her eyes which showed the anger building up into something that could eventually out of control. Fangsu's grandpa decided to allow Fangsu to release her feelings out.

"I don't need your little regard to send my family off," Fangsu coldly stated at her father with hatred laced words which stunned everyone who knew Fangsu to be a quiet-spoken but polite child. Concubine Shu-Hui was starting to grind her teeth unknowingly to her husband who was focus on Fangsu returning to the Tang household.

"What did you say?" Her father scrunched his forehead scoffing at Fangsu's defiance. Seeing Fangsu's directness made him feel that it was a challenge to his authority over Fangsu. In reality, he never had any authority over Fangsu.

Fangsu chuckled at her biological father with scorn in her eyes, "Do I need to spell it out for you? I said I don't need your little regard to send my family off," Fangsu reinforced as her voice speaking each syllable slowly as if they were dumb witted people who couldn't understand words. This caused everyone at the front of the Tang household, the family members, servant, the couple themselves and her grandpa who was extremely shocked to see that Fangsu was back chatting at all. Fangsu's grandpa's jaw dropped to the floor seeing that Fangsu was so gutsy to be even able to talk to the head of the Tang family in such a way which made it extremely funny to him seeing the reaction of everyone witnessing and especially to the very man that stood in front of herself. But, that manner of speaking was quite like her gutsy younger sister who would harshly insult anyone that she didn't like.

——

Hearing those humiliating words, "Fangsu you dare!" he didn't like when other people oppose him and his pride.

"I dare!" Fangsu immediately retorts back like a firecracker ready to burn.

"Fangsu I'm still your father," Feeling his authority being questioned by his own daughter, "You should respect me." Causing him to bitterly clench his fist into a tight white ball as he began slowly releasing a wave of pressure around him completely forgetting that Fangsu couldn't cultivate.

"Hah! That funny coming out of you!" Fangsu lightly chuckled at the choice of the words of the man in front of her, "You have never acted like a father," Fangsu coldly smiled at towards him, which even caused Fangsu's grandpa to wince at her severe words.

"If this is how you turned out," Hearing such aggravating words from her mouth, "I should have killed you when you were a baby!" Shakily pointing his finger at Fangsu with rage. An onslaught of pressure began pressurising the people around him and Fangsu. His vision was filled with anger as he watches her trembling against the pressure.

Fangsu's grandpa rushed to Fangsu's side without hesitation to block off the pressure, "Than kill me!" She glared at the insufferable man that give her the blood that flowed in her veins, "It not as you would even care anyway!" Shouting in a rage which immediately dissipated the pressure completely that was created by her father.

Concubine Shu-Hui stepped up to speak, "Fangsu dear death is not meant to taken lightly and it needs to be cherished," the young woman spoke trying to appease to both sides which gave off a benevolent and kind image to the man beside her. But, to Fangsu it was quite amazed the woman was trying to upheave her image in a situation between blood relative to help her increase her favourability with her father.

Fangsu unsettling cold glare bore into the couple, "Concubine Shu-Hui, this discussion is between the Head of the Tang Family and me," this slightly damaged the image that Concubine Shu-Hui painstakingly built, "Someone who isn't relevant to this discussion has no right to enter this conversation" Those words immediately show that Fangsu had left little to no respect for someone who was not relevant to this conversation. Those words managed to cause everyone to flinch at Fangsu's directness towards Concubine Shu-Hui unneeded presence.

A cold aura surrounded Fangsu which complemented her ghostly appearance made it difficult for anyone to refute against her words. As Concubine Shu-Hui was about to refute, Fangsu's father shook his head ordering a servant to take her back to her chambers, "Fangsu, I will ask you if you will enter the Tang family as the Eldest Daughter otherwise I will remove your name from the Tang Family Book," He clenched his fist with desperation as this was the last resort method to get Fangsu into the Tang Family. Removing someone from the Family Book will basically leave a stain on a person's name as they have no family or identity. Nobles take pride in their family name and a threat of the removal of their name in the Family Book is equal to death.

Fangsu sighed at the choice given to her and it was an easy choice, "Remove my name from the Family Book for all I care," Her uncaring gaze told him that threatening her was useless and this gave great despair for him, "From now on, we have no familial ties with each other and I would like for your family not to associate themselves with me," Fangsu took out her dagger with the Dowager's trademark on it which stunned him. Anyone given by the Dowager with her trademark immediately shows that the individual is under her protection. Fangsu cut a lock of hair and dropped it on the ground before leaving.