Wiping the tears from her eyes, the second young girl eyed her precious Grandpa Boots and said mournfully, "Grandpa Boots was very old, can he even be eaten? Wouldn't the meat be too hard to chew?"
The eldest young girl answered with an enigmatic look on her face, "We would just have to cook him longer and chew slower."
The young mother had pulled a long knife out of her robe and was about to bend down when a young, low, hoarse sounding voice said, "Or you can come home with me. I would like to welcome all of you to my home as a guest."
Everyone's head swung around to see a richly dressed young lord sitting on a very sweaty, dripping wet beautiful black horse.
The eldest young daughter slowly lowered the toddler from her back and handed the toddler over to the youngest daughter. She then stepped in front of her family. With the most unwelcoming look on her face, she said, "Thank you, young master, for your concern. However, we will manage our personal affairs on our own. You may be on your way." She looked like a fierce young tiger cub. Though young, she already learned how to protect what was hers.
Liu Tián Qǔ didn't understand why she felt the way she felt. She only knew that by hook or by crook, she must bring this family home with her. It was plain to see that the mother wouldn't last much longer.
The sun was beginning to set, and the day was coming to a close. Around this time, an exodus of people would be leaving the Imperial City and flooding the roads. These people were mostly people who sold goods in the Imperial City who lived outside of the city. Although they had this section of the road to themselves for the moment, Liu Tián Qǔ could already see people approaching that had exited the Imperial City. Liu Tián Qǔ paused a moment to think before trying again.
In the moment that Liu Tián Qǔ took to think, the young mother limped forward. She gently pushed her eldest daughter behind her and turned to face Liu Tián Qǔ still holding the long knife in her hand. However, before she could open her mouth and speak, Liu Tián Qǔ beat her to it.
The Eldest daughter popped out from behind her mother and stood beside her mother and looked at Liu Tián Qǔ in a calm but unwelcoming expression on her face.
Liu Tián Qǔ glance at the Eldest daughter before turning to meet the eyes of the young mother, "When I look at you and your family, I can see you have a story to tell. I do too, my name is Liu Tián Qǔ, and I am thirteen years old. My mother died giving birth to me, and my father abandon me after telling everyone I died at birth. Since he abandoned me, I abandon him too. I even changed my surname. I didn't want to be identified by his surname." Liu Tián Qǔ saw every one eyes bulge out of their head in shock. Their mouths dropped open so wide their jaws almost hit the ground and broke from the impact.
Liu Tián Qǔ knew it was a matter of time before her identity was exposed. So she did mind saying this much. However, she was careful not to reveal her predecessor's real surname just yet.
The second younger daughter popped out from behind her oldest sister dragging her little brother with her. Her eyes were opened so wide they looked bigger than a golf ball. She exclaimed, "You change your name too? We also change our name to our mother's maiden name after getting kicked out of our family!" The eldest daughter turned and glared at the second younger daughter for a moment. Then she moved over several steps to once again stand in front of the second younger daughter. Before she could reprimand the second younger daughter for telling the family business, Liu Tián Qǔ continued to speak.
"Since I was lucky to have money, I went to live on my own. I now have my own residence. I hired house guards to protect my residence, and the emperor is allowing me to create my own army as well." The head of the Eldest daughter whipped around, so fast Liu Tián Qǔ almost thought she was going to incidentally snap her neck. She had turned around to glare at the younger daughter. However, hearing that Liu Tián Qǔ was just thirteen years old, had her own residence, house guards and was in the process of creating an army, the eldest daughter forgot all about scolding her younger sister.
Liu Tián Qǔ witnessed the change in the young mother's eyes and knew the battle was half won. Now she just had to convince the eldest daughter to come with her. The young mother was seeking a place to rest, security, and protection for her children. If she stayed with Liu Tián Qǔ, she didn't have to worry about the advances of the male relatives of the Young Master later on. It sounded like the Young Master was living on his own.
The eldest daughter asked in astonishment. "You know the emperor?"
"No, I can't say I know him. However, I have spoken to him before," Liu Tián Qǔ said. Liu Tián Qǔ decided to play her winning hand by selling out the four martial families. It was no secret in the Imperial City that the four martial families were being hosted in her residence. However, since the family was not from the Imperial City they wouldn't know that just yet.
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Looking at the young mother and the eldest young girl Liu Tián Qǔ said, "I must first warn you that your family will not be the only guest that I am hosting. I am sure you heard about the return of the four martial families, right?"
The eldest daughter's eyes almost exploded out of her head. She complete lost her calm composure and asked in a high pitched voice of excitement, "Are you saying the newly returned Four Martial Families are staying in your home too?"
"Yes," Liu Tián Qǔ said in a firm voice and nodded. The expression on the eldest daughter's face change completely, and Liu Tián Qǔ knew that battle was won.
The youngest daughter could no longer contain herself and popped out from behind her sister again. She totally abandoned her mother, younger brother, and sister. She hurriedly came forward and said, "Young Master Liu, I've made my decision. I've decided I'm coming with you. My mother and sister would probably change their mind and come later. So I will be going ahead now and make sure everything is prepared for them for when they decide to join me."
Liu Tián Qǔ was barely able to contain her mirth at the audacious incorrigible second daughter. She had come forward and folded her hands in front of her in a demure feminine manner. As if waiting for Liu Tián Qǔ to climb down from her horse and carry her away.
The young mother reached forward and grabbed the second younger daughter by the ear, destroying the younger daughter's demure feminine demeanor. The young girl began screaming and wailing in pain as she flapped her arms around, begging her mother to release her ear. The young mother dragged the second young daughter back to the rear by her ear. The whole thing was done so naturally, it was easy for Liu Tián Qǔ to tell this was something that happened quite often. It made her think that this second young daughter was quite the character.
The eldest daughter completely ignored the whole show that just happened right before her eyes. Her eyes were pinned on Liu Tián Qǔ. The eldest daughter asked, "Are you a noble?"
"Yes," Liu Tián Qǔ confirmed.
"Then I think it is only fair to warn you. If we come with you, we may bring trouble to your doorstep. My mother is Wu Yǐn Rán of the Wu family of Leandore Border Garrison's City." Liu Tián Qǔ barely managed to keep the calm, inviting look on her face as the Eldest daughter exposed her mother's identity. She knew this name from her predecessor's memories. Hearing this name made Liu Tián Qǔ all the more determined to bring the family home with her.
Liu Tián Qǔ also looked at Wu Yǐn Rán's eldest daughter more closely. The eldest daughter would later on also become famous in her own right.
"What Wu? What Yǐn What Rán?" Liu Tián Qǔ asked out of curiosity.
"The Wǔ for martial and Yǐn Rán for fire beneath the surface," the Young girl answered.
'What an interesting name,' Liu Tián Qǔ thought to herself as the Eldest young daughter continued.
"My mother was of a prestigious noble military family of generals. However, my cousin was convicted of treason, and we lost everything and was even kicked out of our family. We are lucky a nine familial elimination wasn't called, or we would have been killed." The eldest young miss began to impart some of her family history. However, Liu Tián Qǔ saw the crowd of people who were exiting the city get closer and cut her off.
"If you choose to stay with me. You will be treated as a noble guest. You will be accorded the same respect and treatment that the Four Martial Families are enjoying. However, I suggest we discuss everything later. It is late, and everyone has yet to eat." Liu Tián Qǔ said.
"Okay we will come for the night we will see how everything goes and give you our final decision on whether or not we will stay tomorrow." The eldest daughter said.
"Good, however, there is one thing I would like everyone to bear in mind. The Four Martial Family had a very, very, bad time. Some are very sick, their emotions are out of whack, and it is easy to see that even their soul is very tired and weary. I ask that everyone here would respect their privacy the same way I will demand that your privacy be respected in my home. We will talk more about everything else later on after you have eaten and rested."
"I understand. My younger sister is a bit unruly. However, she is very careful in not overstep her boundaries," the eldest daughter said.
"Good, for now, we will leave Grandpa boots here. I will send someone to bury him and leave instructions on where he is buried so you could come back later and give him your final farewells."
A short while later, Liu Tián Qǔ and the family of four entered the Imperial City. Wu Yǐn Rán was seated on Wēi Guāng carrying the toddler. The second daughter was sitting behind her mother. She gently held on to her mother's fragile waist. Liu Tián Qǔ walked the blind horse slowly. She held on to the horse firmly and carefully directed it.
On their way through the market, as they were passing by a clothes maker shop. The clothes maker was in the process of closing his shop. Liu Tián Qǔ noticed that the family only had two small little sacks with them, and the mother was in rags. Liu Tián Qǔ led Wēi Guāng over to the clothes maker shop. The shop owner turned at their approach. He held up a hand to halt their advance, however, before he could turn them away. Liu Tián Qǔ reached into her robes, pulled out a heavy money pouch, and tossed it to the shop owner.
The shop owner instant caught the heavy pouch with the same hand he held up to halt their advance. The shop owner looked down at the pouch in his hand and weighed the pouch using his hand. Satisfied, the shop owner looked up at Liu Tián Qǔ and grinned, looking like the cat that got the cream. The shop owner bowed deeply to Liu Tián Qǔ and asked in an eager voice with shining eyes and a wide grin on his face, "How may I assist you, young master?"