As Song Jia was eating her meal, she noticed Lu Ping's sombre mood. The young maidservant kept staring at her as if afraid she would suddenly disappear.
"Ahemm.." Clearing her throat, she wiped the corners of her mouth.
"Ah.. sorry Miss. I didn't mean to disturb your meal." Lu Ping's eyebrows furrowed. She was worried that her reaction made the Young Miss lose her appetite.
Song Jia sighed helplessly.
"Take a seat."
Without hesitation, Lu Ping took a seat across from her Young Miss, her head bowed down like a cute little puppy.
"Is something the matter?" Song Jia's voice was gentle as she spoke. It made Lu Ping's heart clenched tightly. Her lips trembled and she could not stop her tears from falling, alarming Song Jia. "Lu Ping! What's going on? Why are you crying? Did someone bully you?"
Song Jia's worried voice only made her cry all the more.
"M-miss Jia.. I-I should have been with you that time! I should have been able to help you escape.. I should have been able to shield you at the very least.. B-but.. I was here instead.. Huhuhuhu.. I'm so useless!" Lu Ping cried so hard that she began to have hiccups.
"Take a deep breath." Lu Ping did as was told. "Hold your breath...Now release it."
Only then Lu Ping's hiccup stopped. Song Jia poured her a cup of warm water and gave it to her. "Drink up."
Lu Ping followed her instructions obediently.
Song Jia remembered that Lu Ping has always been like this. She practically grew up with her, following her around while she was being trained by Butler Pan Tu. Back then, the older maid servants were the ones who mainly took care of Song Jia. Lu Ping was only following them around as she learned. Her family are the servants in Song Clan's residence. She became an orphan when she was only little and even went through asking for alms on the streets. One day, a young master and his friends decided to pull a prank on her. They didn't care if the child would get hurt or not as she looked like an abandoned puppy. She was dirty and smelly. The young master and his friends kept passing her around, like playing a ball, kicking it towards the other.
Song Jia, who was only 6 years old back then, witnessed this while she was out with her father and a few servants. Her father had promised her back then to take her to watch the public theatre. She saw the crowd one time and became curious about it. She begged her father to let her watch and he finally agreed. When she saw the little girl in rags being bullied as they were on their way home, she became inspired by the heroism the characters portrayed back at the theatre. She clambered down the carriage and pulled the little girl's hand, hiding her behind her own little body. She was only a few inches taller than the little girl. The young master and his friends who were a few years older than them were surprised at the sudden turn of events. They realized that the person shielding the girl was wearing simple clothes but even so its high quality was still obvious. This girl was clearly from a well-off family.
"Stop! Leave her be!" She spoke in a firm voice. She has seen her grandfather, father and uncle use this tone so many times, it always intimidated people.
However the boys smirked at her. She looked pretty for such an age. But young boys would do, even if they had a crush on her, they would pretend they don't. Instead of leaving a good impression, they would act tough and play rough.
"What's the matter little girl? We were just playing with that kid behind you. Do you want to join as well?" One of them inched forward, wanting to touch her.
Song Jia backed away with the girl. "Don't come near us!"
"Pfft! Hey! Hey! Don't be so mean.. We only want to be friends.." Another sneered and suddenly grabbed her by the arm making her yelp in pain.
"Hold it! Get your hands off her!" Song Xia yelled, finally catching up with Song Jia who ran so fast earlier. He was still fuming when he realized that children really run too fast. Because they were shorter, they were able to maneuver from the crowd easily. Whereas adults still needed to ask the people around them to move to the side so they could follow. And now that he's finally caught up to her, he saw that she was being roughly held by a young boy.
The boys froze on the spot, feeling beads of sweat fall down, a little more and they would spit out blood. Even as Song Xia controlled his aura as the boys were still young and it was not so surprising if they would still do stupid things. However, since they were hurting his own daughter, his anger was barely suppressed.
The young boy who held Song Jia in a tight grip, released her immediately. Their group couldn't help but bow their heads and was about to even kneel when Song Xia's guard pulled away the little orphan and hid her behind their group, away from the young boys. Only then Song Xia relaxed slightly, easing the discomfort that the boys felt.
"Which families are you from?" Song Xia bellowed at them, making them tremble in fear. However, they didn't dare utter a single word or else they would also be in trouble with their own families if they found out about this incident. They escaped from their tutors and came out here to play.
"Young masters, I advise you to speak now." An elder of the Song Clan came with Song Xia and Song Jia on this trip. Noticing the garments of the young boys, he could see that they were from notable families. It wouldn't be good for this situation to escalate. After all, it was only between children.
Gritting his teeth. "I am Du Ah from Du Clan. This is Fang Ning and the other is Zi Long. We were only playing.."
"Is bullying the poor the sort of game you enjoy?" Song Xia narrowed his eyes on them. If it weren't for those boys' actions, Song Jia wouldn't have to put herself in harm's way as well.
The boys protested indignantly. They would never admit their wrongs. "We were not bullying her! We were only playing!"
One after the other, they tried to make up a reason.
"Liars! You're even bigger than us but you put your hands on us! You are bad boys! You are not like the heroes in the stories!! You are villains!" Song Jia shouted at them, making them flush beet red in either embarrassment or anger.
Zi Long lifted his clenched fist as if wanting to punch Song Jia. "Why, you! You better not leave your house or else!!"
Song Xia's eyes darkened significantly. His anger was palpable. "Say that again. What did you say to my daughter? Who are you to threaten her?!"
Blood spurt from the boy's mouth. If Song Xia didn't control his anger, Zi Long would have injured all of his meridians right then or at worst, would have died instantly.
"Aiyooo.. Those rich boys should know there are people who they can't offend no matter what." A bystander spoke to the people next to him.
"Right. They should apologize now or else they wouldn't know how they died."
Even as Du Ah and the others heard this, they were still unwilling. They were from big clans as well. Why should they bow down to others?
Just then, the crowd on one side parted ways as a middle-aged looking man walked up to them.
"Greetings! Lieutenant General. I apologize in advance for my interruption." Zi Tai cupped his fists, bowing slightly in greeting.
Zi Tai's approach was amiable enough, it was impossible to get angry at him as well.
"Master Teacher Zi Tai." Song Xia cupped his fist in greeting as well.
Who did not know of Master Teacher Zi Tai? He was one of the notable Combat Masters in the Kingdom. He has taught students in Tranquility Conservatory for quite a long time already. It was not a secret that in the Zi Clan, Master Teacher Zi Tai was their pride. However, he has lived most of his life in the Tranquility Conservatory so that he did not interfere in their clan's matters anymore.
It was by chance that he was visiting his clan when he noticed this situation that involved his cousin's son and the Lieutenant General's daughter.
"I implore Lieutenant General's magnanimous heart to be lenient with these young children. What they did was unacceptable and they should be disciplined accordingly. Rest assured that I would take this up to their parents so they may properly educate their offspring and not run about committing wrongs." Master Teacher Zi Tai cupped his hands and bowed slightly, waiting for Song Xia's answer.
Since Master Teacher Zi Tai has already put it this way, he can no longer pursue the matter. He sighed as he looked at his own daughter who held her head high. She wouldn't back down from those boys but he saw her nodding as Master Teacher Zi Tai was speaking earlier.
"Are you satisfied with this arrangement?" He leaned down to his daughter's level and asked for her opinion, surprising the people around them even Master Teacher Zi Tai. The Lieutenant General who was known to be fierce in the battlefield would actually level with his daughter as he spoke. It showed that by looking at his daughter eye to eye, he builds and strengthens their relationship. To grow and develop skills, children need safety, security and strong relationships, so communicating well with children is essential to development.
Song Jia also stared into her father's eyes and nodded. "He seems like he's going to keep his word and have them scolded by their mom and dad. They shouldn't do bad stuff anymore. I don't like boys that are like that. It's so different from the heroes in the stories."
Song Xia chuckled at what his daughter said. She really loved to hear about stories and it just so happened that they just watched the public theatre perform a story about heroism. His daughter was obviously inspired by it. He looked at her with pride. She really was like the person she was named after. "Alright then. We should head home already."
"Okay. Umm.. Dad, can we take her with us? I don't want to leave her here by herself." She glanced at the little girl who was hiding behind their guard.
The guard stepped away slightly to reveal the little girl who was looking at them with wide eyes. Song Xia stood up, holding his daughter's hand.
"Little girl, where is your family? It's about to get dark soon. Aren't they looking for you now?" Song Xia's voice was gentle just like how he spoke with Song Jia.
The girl's eyes watered as she listened. Her lips trembled. She looked down sadly. "I--I don't have a family. They're already ghosts."
Pity showed on each of the faces around them, except for the young boys who clearly knew that she should be without a family and was only wandering in the city by herself. It made it easy for them to target her.
Song Xia let out a breath. "I see. Then, would you like to follow us home?"