Xiao Jun yawned lazily, stretched a little in Bai Mei Li's arms and then opened his eyes and looked around and then immediately got excited. He'd never seen buildings like these before. Xiao Jun was still very young so it didn't take much to please him.
"Is Jun'er happy with elder sisters surprise?" Bai Mei Li said happily. Xiao Jun was such a sweet child. It was a pleasure taking care of him. He was kind and obedient. If she'd had a child in her last life she would of wanted that child to to be Xiao Jun.
She kissed his cheek one last time then put him down. She took hold of his hand to keep him from running off. It wasn't guaranteed that they would be able to stay here. Since that was the case she wasn't comfortable with allowing Xiao Jun to run about freely.
That would of course change in the event that they were both allowed to stay. Once they were given the okay and after she'd thoroughly explored this little mini city and found it safe, then she would allow the little steam bun currently looking around excitedly to freely go off and explore as much as he'd like.
He was a little boy after all and he was always bustling with energy. Even now he was pulling at her hand wanting to and look at everything.
She held onto his hand gently but firmly.
"Jun'er we have to meet someone first and then we will look around." Even if they couldn't stay she was pretty sure that Fan Tao would allow Xiao Jun to look around a little. He appeared to be a pretty reasonable person so she wasn't worried about promising at least this much.
It was hard for Xiao Jun to bottle up all his curiosity but he did. His elder sister had promised that they could look around after she was done with that person she had to meet. Since he trusted his sister then he wouldn't argue. Making this decision he reluctantly settled down.
Chai Ying was watching the two of them with a smile. From what he could see the boy she called 'Jun'er' was very well behaved. He didn't appear to be willing to cause Bai Mei Li any trouble at all. He listened well and didn't make excessive demands. Although his wants and desires appeared to be pretty consistent with a child his age his self control showed that he was much more mature then other children his age.
This was usually the tell tell signs of a child being from a large family. Because of all the scheming that they had to deal with they grew up much faster then other children of the same age because if they didn't they would definitely die.
It's was Darwinism at it's finest.
"Come on lets go and let the boss meet him."
"Okay." She smiled. Bai Mei Li wasn't too worried about it. Xiao Jun was just a child that had survived a tragedy. He didn't pose a threat to any of them. He been with her for half a month now without any problems. They just been in a cave. It really wouldn't of been all that hard to find them and they likely wouldn't of had any problem taking Xiao Jun from her.
She wasn't a fool, so of course she'd realized that Xiao Jun couldn't of come from a normal family. After all he had a spacial device at such a young age and it was clear that he'd been using it was a long time. But his families rather they were special or not didn't matter to Bai Mei Li. This child was clearly innocent.
Since Bai Mei Li had been here once before she didn't need Chai Ying to lead her instead she walked side by side with him. She looked around with Xiao Jun as they walked explaining some of the things that were unique to the sanctuary and that wouldn't likely be found in the outside world. Like the lights and glass windows. Xiao Jun was extremely curious and Bai Mei Li also found out that he was very intelligent. He caught on to new concepts very quickly.
She wondered if his adaptability was due entirely to his intelligence or if his young age played a roll. After some consideration she decided that it was likely a combination of the two. Xiao Jun was undeniably smart. His youth was also likely an advantage in situations like this.
Bai Mei Li started to frown more and more as they walked. She found it was little strange that this was the second time that she'd been here they this place was still like a ghost town.
It was odd. The village wasn't huge, but it wasn't small either. There were so many buildings so obviously there should be plenty of people going about their day to day business. But there were no people and there were no sounds of people busying themselves. How couldn't that be?
The first time she'd come she hadn't really noticed until she'd left. This time she'd been looking for people and had found none. She'd even spread out her spiritual sense but there were still no people anywhere. She found that very odd.
She'd thought to ask Chai Ying about this but It didn't take them long to return to the building that housed Fan Tao's office. Once inside they weren't directly to Fan Tao who had apparently been expecting them.
Although this was indeed strange she held off on questioning because she trusted her own instincts. She felt no sense of danger here. And all the cues that she was getting from Chai Ying told her that this person was trust worthy. This made her feel that whatever the reason from there to be no one around it wasn't with the intention of harming them.
When they entered Fan Tao's office Bai Mei Li smiled and looked to Xiao Jun. "Fan Tao this little fellow is Jin Yuan Jun." She tugged a little bit at Xiao Jun'ers little hand to get him from hiding behind her.
The little guy was nervous. He'd gone through a lot. Bai Mei Li had almost instantly felt like family to him. It probably had a lot to do with her calm and elegant demeanor and beautiful appearance that reminded him of his mother. She'd immediately started taking care of him the way the other female members of his had.
She protected him the way his father and brother would so he was as comfortable with her as he was with the other members of his family.
He wasn't at all comfortable with Chai Ying. In fact he felt a bit threatened with this handsome stranger. He felt as though he had to protect his sister from this person. He didn't like him at all.
And now there was a third stranger. Xiao Jun didn't like this at all. He thought his sister Mei wanted to talked to the stranger he hadn't realized that he had to talk to this person as well.
He didn't want too.
Bai Mei Li looked to Xiao Jun after she'd waited for a while and he hadn't said anything. When she saw him he had his head down. He was so small it was impossible for her to see his facial expression from this angle.
"I'm sorry. Give us a moment." She smiled apologetically to Fan Tao then went to her knees so that she could be eye level with Xiao Jun.
"Sweetheart I know that this is a big change for you and that you may not feel up to meeting new people right now but this is important. This big brother here just needs to speak with you about some things and that's it." Actually Bai Mei Li didn't know rather or not just talking was all they had in mind… But then again it didn't matter if they had more then that in mind because them wanting too do a single invasive test would mean a complete breakdown of negotiations as far as Bai Mei Li was concerned.
She simply wouldn't allow Xiao Jun to go through anything that might cause him discomfort. The child had lost his entire family. She wasn't willing put him through anything else. Period.
Xiao Jun didn't look at her for a while. He wasn't thinking about anything in particular, he just didn't want to talk about this. He didn't want to meet so many new people. He was happy with it just being him and Bai Mei Li. Why was there a need to add so many people?
"Xiao Jun doesn't want too." He said finally in a small and unhappy voice.
Bai Mei Li was quiet for a minute while she considered. Sometime treating a child like a child wasn't the thing. If the child was old enough to understand a certain amount of logic then when the situation was important enough you should just be frank and honest with them.
"Jun'er did you know that when you exit the door of this place you can't see it from the outside. It's hidden very well."
Xiao Jun looked up at her in curiosity.
"It isn't easy to find this place at all. Jun'er do you know what a demon beast is?"
"Xiao Jun Knows."
"Jun'er is so smart. This place is safe from them… and from other dangers. If we are allowed to stay here Jun'er and big sister will be safer… Much safer then when we were in the cave. Big sister is asking Jun'er to answer this big brothers questions so that we have a chance to stay in this safe place. Can Jun'er do this for big sister?"
Xiao Jun though for a while. He didn't want to talk to that person and he wanted it to just be the two of them but his sister Mei had said that this place was safe. He wanted his big sister Mei to be safe. He felt very conflicted.
He looked up at Bai Mei Li. He understood was 'safety' meant.
"Ok." He said in an extremely unwilling voice.
He folded his arms across his little chest and looked Fan Tao unhappily. "Xiao Jun is unwilling but Xiao jun will answer your questions for Xiao Jun's elder sister." His childish voice dripping with his reluctance to cooperate.
Bai Mei Li was stunned. Xiao Jun was always so obedient that she'd had no idea that he had still had this kind of side to him. His small face was scrunched up in his unhappiness and his tiny mouth was curved up in a childish sneer… her Xiao Jun could sneer.
He literally looked like a grumpy tiny angry little old man…
An extremely adorable grumpy tiny angry little old man….
She stood back up and looked at Fan Tao with helplessness written all over of her face.
(Edited)