Fu Xing was back at his usual spot, waiting for a new day to begin. As he was wondering what sort of luck today's games would have in store, he saw a familiar face arrive. He was in the same robe as the last time they had met, and he gave her a smile. He didn't expect to see Serena so early in the day, and she seemed to be in a hurry. Then he noticed that something felt different. She smiled back but she seemed agitated, upset. Did something terrible happen? His new acquaintance opened with an abrupt and unexpected line: "I'm not here to play today, Feng." She wasted no time in taking a seat at the table, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to know what she was planning to say.
Her demeanor was drastically different from their first meeting. It was stern, and she was looking at him the eyes. Serena went on to explain that she and her family were wealthy aristocrats in Adeluna, reminding him of their conversations from before. She began divulging in more detail about what he had heard, telling him that she had learned mahjong from one of her family servants. There was a brief mention of her family and a terrible accident, but before he could give her his condolences she was moving on to a different subject. All this time he scarcely had time to speak.
"I came to visit that friend of mine, here, in Karith. Where she was born and raised. She knows everything about this city." She said, and he could feel she was resisting internally against saying what she had on the tip of her tongue. She continued on, and by the end her voice was unsteady. "I saw your nobility ring. And you carry this air about you that us nobles carry. So I asked her about the Fu Xing family…and she looked at me puzzled. She chastised me, saying that I shouldn't fall for the locals' stories." Fu Xing's usual smile was gone, and he was staring wide-eyed back at her in shock. What? What…did she just say? What did that person mean by 'local stories'? How didn't they know about him? Surely somebody should at least know–anyone! This was impossible!
She was on the verge of tears, not shedding any yet but she was fighting the emotions. By now the rest of her words were becoming a blur as his mind was swimming. No, that couldn't be true, he was from a noble family, he was sure of it. "We only met yesterday…so I don't know why I feel this way. And I'm not even sure how I feel." What that person had told her wasn't the truth–he wasn't joking! He wouldn't lie about something like that! "I don't know if you're lying to me. Or…if there is some kind of misunderstanding. But… All I know for sure is…" It wasn't true, what they told her was a lie! He knew what he had said, he remembered leaving his ancestral estate to set out on his own! He could remember waking up after falling asleep in the storeroom, picking himself off the piles of scrolls and checking to see if anyone was around. He remembered sneaking out and shutting the front door behind him. He remembered– "…I want answers."
There was a tense silence as he grasped at straws to put his thoughts into words. His right hand began to clench underneath the loose fabric of his sleeve. "…That's not true. What that person told you can't be true." He rose from his seat, his hands on the table. His dark eyes looked back into hers, begging Serena to believe him. "I know you don't believe me, but I never lied to you–not once. Why would I betray the trust of someone I just met?" There was a seed of panic beginning to take root, and the more he tried to convince her the more it began to spread. "This ring has the seal of my family, we even have banners around the estate with the same insignia. This very seal is carved into the lacquer wood plaque above the doorway of the main hall where the head of our house calls the family for important matters. It is the exact same seal for our family's official ink stamp to sign all of our documents."
Taking off the ring, he showed it to her. "If you show this seal to someone, even the city guard–they would know. At least somebody in all of Karith must know!" As he continued to plead his case, there was a tall burly man with his hair pulled into a topknot making his way through the crowds. His face was churned into a surly scowl, and people shied away from him as he strode through the street. His eyes scanned the heads of people nearby, vehemently searching for a particular person in question. Just thinking of that man made him boil with anger. "That flowery punk…when I find him I'm going to rearrange that cocky face of his. Nobody plays me for a fool–that cheating snake!" The irate man hissed through his teeth.
