July 6th (Day 11, Night)

When Yong makes it to the bar it's somewhat crowded, but there's still enough space to move. In the back right corner of the establishment Yang is seen sitting at the mahjong table. Yong pauses in contemplation of what to say, but soon he's seen and he has no choice but to walk up to the smiling man. "Hey. You made it."

Yong shakes his head and unsuccessfully reaches for the hair he had forgotten he'd put up earlier, "We have a problem."

Yang's smile turns into confusion, "What problem?"

Yong glances at the guys who now watch him from the table, "What problem, he says." His smirk turns to apparent anger as he pulls Yang from the table and slams him against the wall. "My reputation is a mess because of you."

Yang looks behind the angered man to see the perplexed audience and the worried bartender, "I don't understand. What are you talking about?"

Yong pulls Yang away from the wall only for him to slam him against it again, "The other night when you kept listing your assumptions." He yells, "Assumptions are bad. They make people look bad. You can't just spread rumors like that."

Yang stutters, "I didn't think— I just thought—"

Yong interrupts, "Well, you thought wrong!" He makes a blow to Yang's stomach, but as he reaches for it in pain Yong pins him against the wall again. "It's because of scum like you that well-respected people receive a bad reputation and are given a bad name."

Yang reaches for the back of his head and is surprised that no blood is seen, "I'm sorry."

"Oh, you're not sorry yet." He smirks, "But you will be."

"What do you—" Yang nearly falls over, as he's pulled in front of the audience, but he's even more terrified when he feels the sharp object poke at his back."

Yong glances at Chang's knife before whispering in Yang's ear, "Say exactly what I tell you to."

Yang slightly nods in compliance and speaks, "I am a piece of scum." He pauses. "This man is a good man. The rumors going around about him are all lies, started by me." He sees the audience whisper as the bartender shakes his head. "When he and his friend went upstairs, it was only because they were drunk and didn't want to risk injury on the ride home. They were only friends. They were not involved at all." He pauses again, as more words are spoken into his ear. "I made the assumption, and even though it turned out not to be true, I didn't stop the rumor because I thought it would make him leave. I thought he would stay away, and then for once I would win a game of mahjong."

The drunken, blue-eyed man raises a drink as he comments, "That explains a lot."

Yong notices a few people look back-and-forth between the man and him, "For anyone wondering, that man is not my father." He gets the audience's attention. "That's just another assumption people have made, which I'm sure this man was happy to continue so that he didn't have to pay for his own drinks." He can tell a few of the spectators disbelieve, "He is not my father. My mother has blue eyes, so remember that assumptions are never good."

Yang comments with a loud smile, as his nerves overwhelm him, "Yes. Remember that assumptions are never good and that they may even get you killed."

Yong takes a disbelieving breath as he shoves the idiot back against the wall, except this time his dead lover's knife is held against the guy's throat, "What's your problem?"

His breathing is unsteady as he shakes, "I'm sorry."

Yong growls, "If you're sorry, then tell me."

Yang looks beyond the man with the knife to see many people with blank stares, while others just look at each other expecting someone to do something, "Tell you what?"

Yong yells, "Tell me what your problem is." He pushes the weapon closer to the guy's throat and whispers, "Why did you call me cute?" He sees the man gulp. "What? Are you some kind of sodomite or something?"

Yang takes in a restless breath as he looks over the confused audience, but then he looks back and sees the angry fear in Yong's eyes, "Yes."

Yong's face turns blank as he takes a few places back, but then he circles back around to punch the man from below the jaw and yells, "Whatever your problem is, you need to stop spreading rumors about me. Got it?"

Yang looks at the desperate man in disbelief, "I got it."

Yong sees the tears gleam in his opponent's brown-hazel eyes, and he speaks shakily but hopes to mask it as anger, "Actually, just stay away from me." Yang doesn't speak. "If you don't stay away, then next time I see you, I won't be so friendly."

It takes a moment for Yang to respond, "Don't worry. You won't see me here after tonight."

Yong smiles, "Good." He looks around at the audience. "And just because I'm such a good man, I'll let you stay for the rest of the night."

Yang watches as the threatening man disappears, before he walks over to the bar and whispers, "Yeah. About the new moon, I'm not telling him about it."

The bartender pours the beaten guy a drink, "I'm sorry. I thought he was ready."

Yang tries to laugh as he shakes his head, "Clearly having a friend isn't good enough." and takes a sip of the baijiu. "He clearly doesn't accept himself yet."

The bartender gives a look, "I don't think that's the problem." Yang looks up in curiosity. "I think he's just afraid of rejection."

"What makes you think that?"

The bartender looks around the room, but even though people glance over at them he knows they won't be heard, "Well. If your first and only friend had tried to kill you, don't you think you would be afraid of rejection?"

Yang's mouth drops open, "What? That happened. Are you sure?"

The man shrugs, "Don't take my word for it. It's not a for sure thing, but based on the things he's said—"

Yang takes in a deep breath before sipping from his drink, "Well, now it all makes sense."


"Hey. I'm glad I found you. We need to talk."

"Okay, good. I have something to say too." Yong sees the concern in his brother's expression, "What's going on?"

"We need to talk."

"You said that." Yong shakes his head, "Why are you acting like this? You're so restless."

The elder brother sees the younger maid dusting a painting, "In my study. Now."

"Alright," Yong replies in confusion, and he follows his brother as the tense silence separates them. They walk through the sitting room and Yong notices his mother's concerned curiosity, before they enter the study. "Why are you acting so weird?"

"Don't tell me how to behave." He sits down and instructs his youngest brother to do the same, "Tell me. What happened last night when you were on watch with Liu Xun?"

Yong shakes his head in boredom and shrugs, "Nothing. We didn't see anything. We just talked."

"Is that what you call it?"

Yong sees his brother is tense but doesn't really understand why, "Well, we did talk." He lets out a huge breath before proving it, "He made fun of my hair, we said what we wanted out of life, and then he went off to check the perimeter or something."

Li Fu looks over his brother in stress, "Liu Xun talked with me this morning."

Yong almost rolls his eyes as he blows out a breath, "And what did he have to say?"

The brother straightens out the desk, "He told me that you've threatened to kill him— on multiple accounts now." Yong looks over the orderly desk. "He said that your first real threat was the day of the execution and that you made another threat last night."

"You had me guard a gate all night." He tries to smile, "Sorry, if I wanted a little fun."

"You call that fun? Threatening to kill someone is not fun. It's serious." Yong's eyes open more in interest, as his brother becomes hysterical, "And what about the execution? What happened then?"

Yong glances at his brother's hands, which are planted on the desk as he hovers over them both, "He wouldn't hand me the ax and you had already told the audience I was doing the execution, so I told him to hand it to me before I decided he was more trouble than he was worth." He sees concern and confusion on his brother's dimly lit face. "I wasn't being serious. I mean… not really."

The elder brother takes a breath in an attempt to calm down, "What about last night?"

"Like I said, I was bored." His brother sits back down, but a hand is held to his forehead. "And okay, maybe I was a little more honest than I should have been." Li Fu puts his hand down but doesn't speak, as he finds himself actually disappointed in his brother's honesty. "But does it matter? It's not like I plan to kill anyone. I mean, so long as he doesn't do anything stupid, he should be fine."

The elder brother clasps his hands together, "Putting my concerns for your sanity aside." Yong gives him a bored expression with piercing eyes. "What do you mean by stupid?"

"That's easy." Yong sits up straighter and smiles, "Don't cross me, and stay out of my way."

Li Fu takes an anxious breath, "Maybe we should talk about this later."

Yong smirks, "If you say so." and stands. "By the way, the seamstress's son is coming over tomorrow for a sparring lesson."

"No!" Li Fu takes a calming breath, "I don't want you around weapons right now."

"Come on. That's not fair." He watches as his brother readjusts the pile of papers, "I'm the general's replacement. You have me guarding the house. How is your command even logical?"

"It's not." Li Fu looks up at his brother, "But you have enough training. You even beat Shang." He puts his head in his hand, "I just think we'd all be better off if you did something else right now."

"You mean you think that less people would get hurt," Yong corrects. His brother doesn't disagree. "It's just a sparring lesson. What could happen?"

The elder brother pauses as he lifts up his head, "Fine. You can give this seamstress's son a sparring lesson, but I feel the need to remind you how much damage you did to Shang and he's a general. If you do this, you can't be careless."

"Don't worry. I won't be."

"Okay, then." He readjusts the pile of papers again, "In that case, Liu Xun will be there to make sure no one gets hurt." He can't tell if Yong's expression is of annoyance or disbelief. "If he's not there, then I won't let it happen." Li Fu watches his brother kick the floor, "What time will it be?"

"He said he'd come in the afternoon, so he could rest from his walk. The actual sparring would take place in the evening, and he may or may not decide to stay the night."

The elder brother nods, "If he stays over, would it be in a guestroom?"

"Why wouldn't it be?"

Li Fu shrugs, "I wasn't sure if he was a friend of yours or something."

Yong glowers at him, "No. He's not a friend." His brother doesn't speak. "Do we happen to have any drinks around here? I'd rather not go back to the bar tonight."

The brother smiles, "Sorry, but you know we don't keep that stuff around here."

"Right." Yong laughs in stress, "Remind me. Why is that again?"

"You know why."

A giant smile appears on Yong's face, "But I don't have a problem."

"Sure, you don't." Li Fu sees his brother's smile disappear, as it's replaced with annoyance, "Look. Everyone here understands that you have a problem. Now, we can't stop you from going anywhere, but we're not going to enable this self-destructive habit of yours by keeping anything here."

Yong huffs, "Whatever." before exiting the study, but it's not long before his mother speaks.

"What did your brother have to talk to you about?"

Yong shrugs, "Nothing really. He just thinks I'm being careless."

"Hmm." He starts out of the room, but then she asks, "Is that all?"

He turns around, "My brother may also think I have a problem, a drinking problem."

"Which you do."

Yong shakes his head, but his mother's and sister's sewing reminds him of his own, "I'm going to my room."

"What do you plan to do in there?"

Yong takes a deep breath, before he almost yells in frustration, "None of your business."

His mother shakes her head, "Sorry. I didn't realize taking an interest in my son's life was such a bad thing to do."

Yong stays quiet as he leaves, but when he does Li questions, "What do you think he's doing in there, Mother?"

Li Ya pauses as she stares down at the material, and in the end she can only say, "You will understand when you're older."

"Understand what?"

The mother shakes her head, "Ask your husband after you marry. Until then, just stay quiet and continue your work." Li stays silent, as her mother had commanded, but the sewing has become so routine that she can't help but think of anything and everything else.


- Now, class. Tell me, what have you learned? Yes. That's right. Assumptions are never good, but because we think we know what's going on based on our own experience or research, we will not be able to help but have said assumptions... No, but seriously. I once had this teacher who liked the phrase "To assume makes an ass out of you and me, because "ass", "u", "me" = "assume". Get it? It was the most annoying thing ever. What were we supposed to do? Just sit idly by and never do anything or think for ourselves? If we do cardio for gym every Friday, I would assume it would be like that unless stated otherwise. Same goes with literally anything else. At the time she was my homeroom teacher, the gym teacher, and she also had a couple other classes that involved health or work experience. I get told all the time that I haven't been accepted to a job yet because I was never taught to, but we had an entire required class about it. It was the most useless thing ever. "Just be creative" she said, as if I'm not. Apparently, if it's you're first job then you turn in your own resume along with that application they give you, but it's hard to fill out a stupid application when you have no references from past employers because you have no past work experience and therefor you cannot list were you previously worked and what you did there. Every single time I have filled out an application I would have to leave half of it blank, because even if my mom says it's okay to list family friends or teachers, I knew that would have been completely inappropriate (not that I haven't ever tried it). Besides, when they say they want a reference, they're talking about a past employer and not someone who's completely biased towards you... Sorry. Just had to vent there. I'm a year or so out of high school, currently working on my college entry portfolio, and I will be so relieved when I can finally get my first job, because once you have your first one I guarantee it will be easier to get your next one.