Chapter 60 - Old Friend
Hao Xuan, completely unaware of what was happening just a few dozen miles away from him went back to the siblings. A bit more than an hour had passed and they were still fast asleep. After making sure everything was okay he went to sleep as well.
*poke*poke*
"Huh?" Hao Xuan was peacefully dreaming when something poked his cheek waking him up. He slowly opened his eyes and saw Wei sitting next to him and poking his face with a small stick.
"Can you not?" he asked the little boy who still continued poking him even after he woke up.
"Did you have a bad dream mister?" the kid asked with a look of intrigue. Wei was about 7 years old, half the age as his sister, and had short brown hair with dimples on his face, making him look really innocent and easy to talk to.
"Why do you ask?" he asked while slowly getting up. Food and sleep were the two things that Hao Xuan loved the most. There were times when he could sleep for several days but then sometimes barely an hour or two a week was too much. There was a saying in Hao Xuan's hometown that often came to mind, "You can never have anything you truly want. It is only when you move on will it fall in your lap without the slightest of effort".
"You kept mumbling things and squirming around."
"Oh, then maybe I was. I don't ever remember my dreams after waking up. Do you?"
"Mhm. I remember most of them."
"Wow, that makes you really special you know that?" he said in an exaggerated tone while patting Wei's head, making him giggle.
He got up and cleaned himself up. Cui was near the fire making breakfast.
"Um....." she came up to him while playing with her fingers nervously.
"You can just call me brother Hao," he said with a smile.
"B-Brother Hao, I made some breakfast," she lowered her head which was beat red and quickly turned around and went to Wei.
Hao Xuan smiled once again looking at her. She had probably never interacted with another person like this before. Since both the siblings were from Royalty, it wasn't unexpected. He went up the fire and there was some bread and half fried eggs that looked way too good to even eat.
"Well that's unexpected..." he mumbled to himself. Who would have thought that a person who grew up in a palace, lived their entire lives being served by others would actually know how to cook a good meal.
*chomp*
He took a bite and almost instantly threw up.
*Cough*cough*
"Um, Cui, what did you put in this?"
"Nothing much. Some soy sauce, a bit of vinegar, pinch of sugar and salt and a couple of other things," she replied, confused.
"Holy shit, I stand corrected. I swear I felt the reaper standing behind me. If I had swallowed, death was most definitely an option," he thought to himself.
"Is it not good?" She asked innocently.
"Um, come, take a bite," instead of putting himself in a precarious situation, he chose to let her experience it himself.
Ass expected she threw up as well and with tears in her eyes looked at him, "I'm so sorry, I didn't know! It looked good and all those things I put in tasted great with other foods before so I just thought..."
"Hahaha, it's fine. Let me make something," he laughed it off and starting cooking. He fried some veggies and roasted some meat from the flood dragon. It didn't look that good but tasted amazing. Everyone ate until they were full.
"So, now that you've eaten, let's have a talk. I was told you are royalty, can you tell me about your backgrounds? Because I only came here to get you guys and now that your leg is healed, we can just walk out of here," Hao Xuan asked while sitting down in front of the fire. It was the middle of winter and even though there was no snowfall, it was extremely cold.
Both the siblings looked at each other and came up to the fire and sat down.
"We are from the Gao Kingdom. It's a Grade 2 kingdom and shares one border with the Jia as well. Wei was the crown price until a few months ago. My uncle, Wei's father, suddenly died under strange circumstances and a minister under his command took control of the palace. He called Wei a curse on the kingdom and blamed uncle's death on him," Wei was hiding behind Cui with his head down but tears could be seen dripping down.
"The Queen helped sent us away as soon as things started to get out of hand. But we can't leave yet! My father is still with the caravan! He came here with us and fought off the bandits so we could escape. Please, help him!" Cui knelt on the ground in front of him as soon as she finished talking.
"Stop! What are you doing?" Hao Xuan moved like the wind and appeared next to her and helped her back up.
"Do I really seem that heartless?" he flicked her forehead with his finger in mock anger.
"I would have helped him even if you didn't ask. Don't be so quick to lower your head in front of others, dumbo," he said in a lecturing tone and patted her head. Her eyelids became heavier and was on the verge of crying.
"Fuck, did I go too far?" he thought to himself.
"S-So, tell me about your dad. What kind of a person is he?" he tried to change the topic.
She used her sleeves to dry her eyes, "He was a great general in the military but got injured in one of the fights and retired. His cultivation level fell so he couldn't be in the front lines anymore. He decided to start teaching and was the principal of the military academy of the kingdom of Gao."
"Wow, he must have been really strong if he was a great general right?"
"Of course! He once fought his way through millions of soldiers to help his friend out of a tight spot."
"Ohh, which friend?"
"You're in the Red Legion right?" she asked looking up at him. He nodded in response.
"My father's friend was your Great General Li Jing. They fought together many times in the past,"
*THUMP*
Hao Xuan's heart almost skipped a beat. Her father was the general's friend? And they were this close?
"Thank fucking god I was there to save these kids.. The general would have skinned me alive otherwise," sweat trickled down the side of his face just thinking about what would have happened if he had messed this mission up.