Chapter 44 - I Forgot

Mister Zhong breathed deeply and smiled. "Let's search for that stall of my cousin. It should be in some less known side road, so we'd better leave the main road and start looking in the outskirts."

Madam Zhong nodded and the three of them made their way through the crowd, hurrying into one of the side roads and into the outskirts of the city from there. They had to cover quite a distance to get there and Mister Zhong slowly got an impression of how big the capital really was. How were they to find his cousin's stall in this place? If they started at the wrong end, they might just need a week! And they couldn't even split up, since his wife had never seen his cousin. He himself had at least met him twice.

Mister Zhong looked wryly at his wife. He hadn't expected this.

"How about asking around? Surely someone would know his stall if it's nearby?"

"Mn. You're right. Let's try that." He looked at Jing Yi and the horses and sighed. "We shouldn't have taken them with us. What will people think, if they see us like this?"

"It doesn't matter. But it'll be difficult to move around with them always trailing behind. We should keep them somewhere. Or maybe I could wait with Jing'er and the horses, while you look for your cousin?"

Mister Zhong nodded. "Let's do that. Finding a stable would be good, but we probably couldn't afford it. Just be cautious. If somebody gets the wrong idea, just run away with Jing Yi. No need to care for them."

"We'll do that." Madam Zhong patted her son's head and watched, as her husband turned around and stopped the first person to ask. He shrugged his shoulders in her direction, when that person shook his head, and hurried on to ask someone else. Soon, Mister Zhong was out of her sight.

Madam Zhong sat down with Jing Yi, hugging him close to her chest. "Jing'er, say … that daoist master … did he tell you anything?"

Jing Yi looked up at her questioningly. He didn't understand, what his mother was talking about.

"Oh, it's nothing. I was just wondering, why he helps us all the time."

"Isn't it, because he is a daoist master? Don't they help all people in need?"

Madam Zhong nodded. "Yes, yes, you're right. Look at me, I forgot. It's time we get to your father's family and rest a bit."

"You can rest here! I'll look out!"

Madam Zhong patted her son's head again and smiled. "That would be great. But mother really wants to see, when your father gets back. I'd better stay awake."

"Alright." Jing Yi didn't say anything anymore and started to look around instead.

He had never left the village. The only towns, he had seen, were the ones on the way to the capital, but of course they couldn't compare in any regard. The houses here were taller and more refined, even in the outskirts. They were built out of stone, with dark tiles on the roofs and some even decorated with stony ornaments. Though, the houses here couldn't compare to the estates in the center of the capital. Jing Yi had seen the tall walls, that surrounded them, with the trees looking over and the high gates at the entrance. Guards had stood next to them to bar anyone unannounced entry.

Is the whole capital like that? He remembered how Mister Pi had told them, that there were dragons and tigers in the capital. He didn't know about tigers, but he was a little afraid of the dragons. In that dragon mountain, those bad men had attacked them. Would they be attacked here, too?

Qiu Ling would probably be laughing, if he knew, what his beloved was thinking at this moment. But now he only stood bored to the side and hoped, that Mister Zhong would return soon. He would have helped him, but unfortunately, he didn't know how Mister Zhong's cousin looked and even though he was a dragon, he couldn't just snap his fingers to complete such tasks. He needed a lead at least.

His gaze landed on Jing Yi, who was still curiously looking around. Mn, this is nice. Jing He had never been like that in the nine heavens. He had grown up there, knowing everything about the place and the people. This kind of lively expression, that would only be shown at something new … he had never seen it on Jing He's face.

Would you have looked like that, had I taken you to my realm before? As the crown prince of the nine heavens, Jing He certainly knew quite a bit about every realm, but hearing about it and seeing for himself was a difference. Taking him to the dragon realm was something, he should definitely do in the future. He wanted to see Jing He's beautiful eyes sparkling like that. They seemed to be made for it.

Qiu Ling shook his head, pushing the thought aside. Jing He had only started his life as Zhong Jing Yi seven years ago. There were still a lot to come. He shouldn't think about such things now. Though, it didn't matter how often he reminded himself of that, his thoughts would return to his Jing He on their own. He couldn't avoid it.

Like Qiu Ling, Madam Zhong, too, was caught in her own thoughts. She didn't mind Qiu Ling like her husband did, but she was a bit afraid. Helping their family over and over again … That wasn't just a helpful attitude. That was the attitude of someone, who got something out of it or had an attachment to the ones he helped.

She couldn't imagine, what a daoist master would get out of helping common folk like them. But she could see, that there was some sort of attachment. It was just that … How could there be sentiments to a child? Could it be, that he really came by their village that night through a coincidence? And then he really felt like there was fate between them, so he watched over him? Or was there something else?

She didn't want to admit it, but deep down, she feared it might be the latter.

This might be something, a normal person like me can't understand. I just hope, Jing Yi won't get any problems because of this. If she had known, how right the feeling she had was and that all of the suffering her family had to endure was because of that, who knew, what she would think then? Maybe she would be cursing the heavens and try to find a way to guard her son from those trials, he should be facing. But without knowing, she could only continue living her ordinary live.

While Madam Zhong pondered this issue, her husband ran everywhere in the vicinity, asking people about his cousin's stall and getting more frantic by the minute. How come, nobody had heard of it?!