Underneath A Thousand Skies ✔️

71 Foster Son, Don't Be So Crazy (8)

"Shameless!"

Song Jia was speechless. How could he say such a thing with a straight face? As expected, he was no good, no good. Xiang Feng should stay away from these kind of people.

Protectively putting her arm around Xiang Feng, Song Jia steered him away from Nian Shou while quickening her pace. Xian Feng was still young, she should be careful what kind of people he interacted with. As they say, Mencius' mother moved three times [1].

Nian Shou saw that Song Jia was avoiding him and once again hurriedly blocked their path.

"Wait, wait, wait!"

Song Jia looked at him.

He held up a finger and earnestly said, "I can chop wood. What are you going to do when winter comes? I could help around the house, fix some things. You don't have any male or female slaves, and raising a child is going to be a tough work. He won't be able to do anything. You need me for the heavy labor."

Song Jia pursed her lips and stepped to the right, but he blocked her again.

He ticked off another finger, "Plus, a woman and a child inside a house is just an invitation for robbers and all sorts of trash in the kingdom. The world is too scary. Even if you know how to defend yourself, you can't stay vigilant forever. A man like me will make them think twice, that's also less trouble for you."

Song Jia remained unconvinced.

Seeing this, he added another finger, waving it at her face, "There's also your looks. Aiyoo, very enticing for all sorts of men out there. You don't know what kind of mischief they would be up to, so you need me to act as deterrent."

Nian Shou leaned his face towards her, a serious look in his eyes.

"As they say, a beauty like yours is calamitous."

Song Jia pushed his face away.

"Would you please stop speaking nonsense?" she asked.

She said this, but she didn't take another step forward to get away from him. Song Jia knew that he had raised some good points. Even if this was a matriarchal society, it was still bound to have disadvantages for women. For example, women give birth to children and are naturally more protective of their offspring. If by chance that a spoiled son of a ruling matron took a liking to this beautiful face of hers, she would end up attracting trouble.

Tut tut, being beautiful is so difficult ah~

Nian Shou crossed his arms.

"Nonsense? Cross your heart and say it again if you truly think that."

Song Jia's lips moved, but she didn't say it again.

His lips arched upwards. "As I thought."

Xiang Feng looked between the two of them, his face expressionless. Suddenly, he tugged at Song Jia's ragged dress, dragging her attention back to him.

He looked up at her, his tender white cheeks revealing a cute dimple as he smiled. When he blinked, his thick and long eyelashes brushed against his cheeks.

In a timid voice, Xiang Feng softly told her, "I don't want a father."

He bit his lower lip in shyness, causing it to turn faintly red. When he looked at her, his wide eyes reflected Song Jia's face.

"I only want Jia. Is that okay?"

With a sound of 'pu-tong', Song Jia's heart fell completely for this innocent and lovable child in front of her.

She immediately nodded her head without thinking, "Alright, alright, whatever Xiao Feng says goes."

If he said not to go west, that's fine then, they won't go west. North, south, and east would be okay too.

Since little Xiang Feng didn't want this noisy Nian Shou in front of her, then noisy Nian Shou could only go away.

Song Jia completely missed how Xiang Feng's lips slightly hooked up at her words, his eyes revealing a tiny hint of happiness.

Nian Shou's mouth dropped open. He shouted out, "Unfair!"

He had spent his saliva trying to come up with believable reasons so that he could stay, but only one sentence from this delicate boy and she completely turned against him. He could not accept it!

"Unfair or not, I've made my decision. I already told you that I'll only help you escape, not promising anything after that. It's your fault if you expected anything more." Song Jia's voice was firm. "Now, if you don't mind, Xiao Feng and I have to go."

Their escape had gone unnoticed up to now, but that won't last forever. Sooner or later, soldiers and hounds will be searching for them. They couldn't stay here.

"I..." Nian Shou's mouth dried. He watched as the two of them started walking, their backs becoming smaller with the growing distance between them. His legs ran to catch up, his reaching hand catching the edge of Song Jia's hood.

"Please...I don't have a home to go back to."

His original boisterous voice that was very demanding before contained the tiniest hint of a plea.

[1] Idiom that advises one to stay close to good people and form good habits. This comes from the story of Mencius, one of the most well-known philosophers in Chinese history.