The cruel sun beat down relentlessly upon the fields, as rows of tall weed-like plants stood upright, reaching into the sky tenaciously.
Amidst these tall, swaying plants, stood a young man. He was tall and strong, his hair tied behind his head under his conical paddy hat as he worked tirelessly to harvest the crop.
"Fang Chen! Come quickly, your father is making a ruckus in the village center again!" A young boy, thin as a reed and with a freckled face raced towards the fields as he shouted.
The young man looked up in annoyance, quickly tucking his sickle away into his bamboo harvest bag.
'Again?'
This wasn't the first time his father had caused a disturbance in the village, and it certainly wouldn't be the last.
He ran with the thin boy, named Ma Lian, or just Horse as everyone called him.
When they arrived at the village square, Fang Chen saw his father swinging a cheap rice wine bottle around like a sword, shouting hysterically as a crowd gathered around him.
"Not my son! You won't take him too! You bastards, wasn't Xiao Hua enough?!?"
Hearing his mother's name gave Fang Chen some pause, but he snapped out of it when his father smashed the bottle on the village elder's head.
"Father!"
Fang Chen grabbed his father and pulled him away, getting nicked by the sharp edge of the broken bottle on his arm.
Even as his father hit him, Fang Chen brought him back home, huffing and gasping for air by the time they reached their now dilapidated house on the edge of the village.
By now, his father, Fang San, was crying openly, a blubbering mess.
An overwhelming mix of emotions rose in Fang Chen's chest.
'This is what my father has become?'
He recalled, the days when his father used to be a healthy and hale strong man, even protecting the village from Desolate Beasts. The days when their family was complete.
When his mother was alive.
Her death to a Desolate Beast outside the village walls, left his father a broken husk of the man he once was.
Fang Chen felt his heart clench in indignation, 'And yet... you weren't the only one who lost her!'
Instead of helping the child who had lost his mother, Fang San instead became a drunkard, losing all sense of responsibility.
Tracing the callouses and scars on his hands, Fang Chen clearly remembered the days he had first been forced to pick up a sickle as a young child, having to gather enough of the Spirit Grass to last both of them a day.
Yes, Fang Chen was ashamed of his father.
He merely did his filial duties as a son, and prepared to return to work.
As Fang Chen left the house, he was set upon by the usual group he had gained from days alone in the village center.
Fatty Peng asked, "Chen, why don't you just stop him from drinking? My mother says that your father will stop his insanity when he stops drinking."
"He loves that bottle of rice wine more than his son. Who knows what he might do if we loses that too?" Fang Chen shrugged helplessly.
"You really have it rough, Xiao Chen," said Fairy Li Mei.
Though she was just a fairy for the Huangcheng village, her beauty not being enough to topple nations like in myths, but she was beautiful enough to be popular among the boys of their group.
Ma Lian butted in, "Enough about that, shouldn't we be more focused on the immortal cultivators visiting our village tomorrow?"
"My father heard from Fatty's father who heard from Wu's third uncle who heard from the elder that the cultivators might even take some of us into their sect! Can you imagine it, flying on a sword above the clouds, moving mountains and rivers with one hand?"
The conversation shifted to the magical immortals that were visiting their village as they all went with Fang Chen to check on the traps they set in their spare time in the nearby forest.
"All I am saying is, the sword is undoubtedly the best weapon for a cultivator!" Ma Lian argued
"And I'm saying you are full of horse shit! All the hunters use spears!" Fatty Wang countered.
"I'm full of my own shit?" [马 (Mǎ) means horse.]
"You two are disgusting."
They combed through the traps until they reached the last one, only to find a small hare trapped within.
"Woo~ So cute~" Li Mei tried to pet it, but had to draw her hand back as it bit at her fingers in a frenzy.
"What's that on its head, some sort of horn? Is it a special, tasty hare?" Fatty Peng asked, nearly drooling,
Fang Chen said jokingly, "Of course you ask about the taste first."
Fang Chen grabbed it by its long ears, lifting it up and away from his face as it wriggled in the air.
"Now, should we eat this one, or let it go?"
Fatty Wang immediately raised his hand, "Eat!"
Ma Lian disagreed, "No, who knows what that growth on its head could be?"
Li Mei just shrugged, "I'm okay with both."
The choice came down the Fang Chen.
He looked at the hare for a while, before throwing it to the side, letting it go.
As the group of friends left, the hare gazed after them hungrily before running deep into the forest.
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Fang Chen returned to his house, finding his father laid out upon the cot. His smile faded immediately, as he stepped inside.
"I am home."
His father did not stir, presumably having drunk himself asleep.
Fang Chen was about to walk to his cot when his father called out from behind him weakly, "Xiao Chen. Come here. I need to tell you something about your mother."
Attributing it to his father's drunken ramblings again, Fang Chen ignored his pleas and drifted off to sleep on the straw filled cot.
His father murmured under his breath weakly, "Hua....my Hua..."
"If you were here, what would you tell me?"
.
.
.
"That- perhaps, this too is Fate?"