Chinese term: Da Ge - honorific meaning big brother
Chapter 2: Undeniable Contempt
Hou's sinister smile turned into a vicious scowl as his hand moved from the back of Jing's head down to his throat. Jing lurched back as Hou's choking grip made him gasp for air.
"D-Da Ge…"
Jing desperately clung to a sliver of hope that Hou was being manipulated into this. Hou tilted his head curiously as he eyed Jing whose pleading eyes showed no hint of fear. He knew what Jing was thinking, and Hou hated him for it, hated him to the core. He hated those eyes that bore no sign of suspicion. Jing always managed to look pure and innocent, which irritated Hou no end.
After learning that he was but a maid servant's son, Hou began to resent every recollection of Jing standing up for him in all 400 years of being brothers. Jing gained everyone's adoration not just for his talents, but also for his benevolence. The more he thought about it, the more he convinced himself that Jing's actions were nothing more than an act to display his superiority over Hou. He tightened his grip even more, totally cutting off Jing's airflow. Sensing that Jing was about to pass out, Hou loosened his hold and watched coldly as his brother struggled to recover his breath. Jing's death would bring him immense pleasure, but not until he brought Jing's hypocrisy out in the open. It shouldn't take long.
"Da Ge…" Jing called through pained coughing.
"You don't need to call me that anymore."
"Da Ge… Please… snap out of it."
Hou's laugh echoed inside the dungeon that sent chills down Jing's spine.
"Snap out of what?"
Jing's confusion made Hou smirk with glee. "I planned everything. I waited for the right time to bring you here, and I'm enjoying seeing you stripped down bare and in pain."
"Why? Da G-"
Hou's sudden thrust of the dagger against Jing's left shoulder blade halted his speech. The dagger's tip lunged through the wooden beam pinning Jing's shoulder in between. Jing still didn't understand why Hou was doing this. They had been so close since birth.
"Master Jing, tell me. What were you really thinking every time your mother called me useless? Did you laugh alone behind my back, or with your friends? Or with your dear mother?"
Jing could only shake his head in response.
"She said I'm not worthy to wipe your feet."
"Da Ge – "
Hou slapped Jing across the cheek with the back of his hand so hard that blood trickled from the side of Jing's cut lip.
"The high and mighty Tu Shan Jing whose feet I'm not worthy to wipe, I really want to know why that is. Is it because you're truly deserving or because you're riding under the merits of a noble name?"
Blood gushed out from the shoulder wound after Hou roughly pulled the knife out. Jing shut his eyes as his shoulder and the multiple slashes on his chest sent torrents of agony to his brain.
"Da Ge, I didn't – "
Another slap to the cheek sent Jing's head fanning to the side. Attempts at reason would only provoke Hou further, so he decided to say nothing more. Perhaps a little time was needed to soften his brother's heart and he would remember their sibling bond.
"As much as I want to do this all day, I'm afraid I have things to do. The clan will be alerted to your absence soon and I have to take the lead in looking for you. Someone else will take care of you while I'm gone." Hou grabbed Jing by the hair and pulled it back. He drew close to Jing's ear and whispered. "In the meantime, think about why you ended up here and what you can do to get out."
As he said this, another masked man walked up and stood behind Hou. The man bowed before Hou then proceeded to the side of the long table. Hou glared at Jing once before walking toward the exit.
Da Ge… Jing could only call out to his brother from inside his head. How did it come to this? What did I do? He racked his brain for any fault that he must own up to. Hou wouldn't hate him like this if he wasn't in the wrong. I must've done something.
A thin layer of smoke that covered the air entered Jing's nostrils that made him cough. His eyes grew watery and he strained to see where the smoke came from. The man left in charge was still by the side of the long table. He held a metal pole the length of an arm and was sticking it into the source of the smoke by the corner. The tip of the iron glowed red orange, and when the man drew closer, Jing saw in his hand a branding iron used for slaves and livestock. This time, Jing could no longer hold back a scream as his flesh sizzled from the flaming hot iron pressed against his chest.
Jing traipsed between the state of delirium and unconsciousness numerous times before he regained his senses. He couldn't remember when it was that he passed out, but he still carried the memory of the man's hazy figure coming back and forth to mark him multiple times like he was cattle. The scent of his burnt flesh lingered even as he asked to himself, Da Ge, why?
The dungeon was now quiet and darker than when he first found himself here, possibly less than twelve hours earlier. He figured that it was evening, and his torturer had likely retired for the day having completed his assigned task. The entire upper half of his body felt like it was on fire, and it took every bit of meditative effort to force down the scorching pain. Hou's last words before he left flashed in his mind.
'Think about why you ended up here and what you can do to get out.'
Hou had been nothing but good to him in the 400 years that they had been brothers. What did I do?
'Master Jing, tell me. What were you really thinking every time your mother called me useless?
Did you laugh alone behind my back, or with your friends? Or with your dear mother?'
Jing shook his head in fierce denial. He thinks I lied to him. But why? Should I have done something more? … I should have… done something more... He didn't know what else he could've done, yet he was still filled with remorse. I'm sorry, Da Ge. I know you've suffered so much. You've been hiding your hurt all this time. My mother… the clan… they favored me over you… I've been trying… I thought I tried…
For the first time after his abduction, Jing cried tears of anguish for his brother, and his heart constricted from sympathy even as his body sent him unending shots of unspeakable agony. Yet the physical pain wasn't nearly as bad as the realization that Hou's suffering led him to such recourse. His mother was dead, and the clan was too big. If this was the price Jing had to pay in their behalf in order to win his brother back then so be it. He could take it. He would take it.
The torturer returned in the early hours of dawn just as the first rays of the sun sent refractions toward small openings of the cave where the dungeon was hidden. The man unrolled a mat filled with various-sized needles, but left it lying on the table for later use. Next, he pulled out a vial from a large wooden box next to the needles then approached Jing who had been watching him wearily all the while, eyes puffed out from crying all night.
The man pinched Jing's nose to force his mouth open, then roughly poured the liquid from the vial. Jing sputtered but the bitter substance had already made its way down his throat. The effect was immediate. The man unfastened the chains from the beam and Jing could only drop helplessly like a sack of grain, having lost all mobility because of the drug. Yet, his mind remained lucid and able to feel the sensations as his limp body made contact with the ground. The lashes, the burns, and the knife wound all scraped on the rough floor as the man pulled the chains linked to Jing's wrists. Jing's chest slammed hard on the edge of a small stone table as his arms got sprawled on top. A wooden yoke locked his wrists and forced his palms down in front of him. Jing exhaled deeply; he knew enough of torture methods to determine what this meant.
"Master, he's ready," the man said.
Jing didn't notice when it was that Hou arrived, but somehow, a spark of hope rekindled that his brother had changed his mind.
"Da Ge…"
"I told you not to call me that."
Jing's heart sank. His brother had not changed his mind at all, but he couldn't get himself to resent him. He understood Hou's pain. "Da Ge, you've suffered so much. I'm really sorry."
Hou seethed in anger at this. Jing was chained up all battered and bleeding, yet he still had the gall to utter such meaningless words, still acting like a holy being who took pity on the lowly. Hou turned his attention toward Jing's hands that were spread out before him. Jing's fighting ability was enhanced by music played on a zither with those hands, and with it could confound an entire army. He would relish breaking every bone in every finger attached to those hands, and a good deal more. He nodded to the masked man who bowed in turn.
The man extracted a needle from the mat on the table. While pressing on the back of Jing's right hand to keep the fingers in place, the man slowly inserted the needle between the little finger's nail and nailbed. Jing bowed his head and could only shut his eyes and grit his teeth through the piercing agony that repeated itself ten times over.
