The Flower Of War

Chapter 46: The Xu Family

"Yiu .. come here son ...."

Yiu woke up from his sleep because someone with a familiar voice called out his name.

Yiu opened her eyelids, she woke up on the edge of the river where the water was as clear as glass and the trees flourished around the river and she faintly heard the rushing sound of water falling.

Yiu circulated his gaze and found a modern-looking old man sitting side by side with a traditionally dressed young girl on the edge of the waterfall turned his back on Yiu.

Both of them were hilariously chatting, Yiu felt they looked very familiar to her, before Yiu glanced at her clothes a little. He was wearing his last outfit when he died on a mission.

Yiu tried to step closer to the two, a few steps away the old man and the young girl turned towards Yiu with a smile clearly imprinted on the face.

"*Xiao Yu'er, have you come? Ah come here," the old man said as he waved his hand to sit on the rock with them while the young girl simply smiled while nodding.

* Xiao ( ⁇ ) means small and additional er behind the nickname is often used by parents to call their children aka favorite calls. So Xiao Yu'er could be interpreted as little Yu.

"The call ... the voice ... Grandpa? Princess Ying?" muttered.

Yiu pecked then blinked his eyes a few times. It turned out that those familiar figures were Grandfather Zhou and Princess Wang Ying Mei. Yiu's second call came from the daydream and walked slightly and sat between the two.

Grandpa Zhou immediately stroked the softly affectionate hair of Yiu who was in the ponytail. Yiu's eyes immediately glazed over, without a second thought Yiu tightly hugged her grandfather's fragile body, releasing all the yearning that peaked in her chest.

"My Xiao Yu'er turned out unchanged, still like a child."

"Grandpa ... Yu'er misses grandfather," said Yiu accompanied by tears of longing. His embrace is tightening.

Grandpa Zhou gently stroked Yiu's back. "Grandfather too, Yu'er."

Amidst the miss event, Yiu got a light pat on her shoulder.

Yiu took off her embrace and turned to look at the young girl sitting next to him not forgetting the sweet smile on her face.

"Hi Yu*Jiejie, how are you?"

*Jiejie (e) means older sister, the language is not very formal.

Yiu frowned. "Princess Wang Ying Mei?" the young girl nodded.

"Call me Ying."

Yiu then realized the situation, his manic twisting in all directions, "Where am I? Why would I be here? Aren't I I ...."

Still with her smile she said calmly, "Jiejie doesn't need to know where jiejie is, I have something more important to say. ... Yu Jiejie, thank you for your help, thanks to you I am not looked at by them one eye anymore."

Yiu's expression darkened. "What do you mean?"

Princess Ying, "Let me explain, at first I don't know why jiejie could get inside my body but after jiejie took over my body everything changed, it made me happy. At least no more bad names for me"

"But I'm sorry, jie. Now jiejie must endure this suffering. If jiejie wanted to, jiejie could stay with us here forever, forget everything forget about the mortal world," Princess Ying's face dimmed for a second then smiled back, but with a slight forced light.

Yiu, "Then if I'm here how's your family? How was Qiu Wang's fate?"

Yiu's words made Princess Ying's expression even darker, she lowered her head again then shook her head slowly.

Princess Ying, "Jiejie need not worry, they can definitely deal with this all or maybe they will meet me here soon."

Yiu's mind was burning and his expression was complicated, How can you be this calm? Their position is desperate and now the bastard wants to destroy your kingdom. How can you be that calm ha?!

Princess Ying, "I'm worried, but I can't do anything anymore. It all depends on you. If you choose to give up on the world we can accompany you here happily ever after but if you want to go back for my family...it all depends on you, jie."

Yiu's manic moved uneasily, his mind turbulent. He turned to face his grandfather hoping while giving advice.

Grandpa Zhou, "You've worked hard, son. Come with us. They're bad to you, Grandpa doesn't like that."

Nah! It wasn't such an answer that Yiu wanted to hear ... and what did it mean that they had already caught up?!

Amidst the turmoil, a glimmer of dazzling white light came from Yiu's back.

Princess Ying, "It's time you chose, jie. If you want to be with us, ignore the light until it disappears on its own. However, if you want to return, after a difficult period of darkness there will be a light shining with you."

What mean?!

Yiu was caught in two heavy feelings. On one hand he wanted to be united with his grandfather again but on the other hand there was a responsibility that Yiu felt he had to complete.

His head throbbed like a balloon filled with air, like it was about to explode. White light surrounded him. Yiu grabbed his hair and fell to his knees.

No no no no!! I can't choose between the two! But I still have responsibilities ... Arghhhh is sick!!

Yiu, "I want to go back!"

Yiu rose from his strange dream. He woke up with cold sweat soaking all over his clothes, like he had finished swimming in a river.

With an irregular breath, Yiu circulated his gaze to a room that was fairly narrow with a few simple furniture that was visible. Not to forget there was a small firebox lit in the corner of the room.

Yiu walked full of determination out of the room. This house is quite small, it should belong to a farmer or small trader. Yiu walked into the main building and walked through the kitchen where there was a small amount of smoke, indicating that there was some cooking in the near future, but he found no one. He then walked out of the house.

*A/N: the southern building is usually the main building for the living room and dining room or prayer.

As for the left right-wing building for the bedrooms of parents and children.

The northern part is the entrance and there is usually a vacant lot in the middle of these buildings*.

The white snow of winter had fallen covering the entire surface of the ground as well as the roof of the building of the house, he hoped to find someone but nil.

Yiu had already walked through every corner of the room that was clad in wood. But no one was visible. Despondent.

Yiu was about to walk back towards his room, at the same time the gate creaked.

A group of men were chatting with wooden bags on their backs, behind them two women who looked like mothers and children. The little boy looked to be about nine years old.

Realizing Yiu's whereabouts, one of the men exclaimed, "*Guniang? You're up?"

*Gunian ( ⁇ ) means young lady or young girl.

The group immediately approached Yiu who was resting on the wooden wall of the building. He nodded lightly in response.

The mature-looking woman broke through and immediately walked over to Yiu. "Son, how are you feeling? Sorry if our departure offended you. I was out for a while shopping for vegetables and I didn't expect you to wake up beyond my expectations."

Yiu was still looking full of question marks. "Sorry to you who? ... How can I be with you?"

One of the men with a thin beard moustache full of smiles immediately introduced himself then pointed to one by one the sequence from the left, "Ah introduce my margaku Xu, I am Xu Rui and this is my wife and children, he said, Ning Chu and these Xu Lan, Xu Gui, Xu Bai, and the smallest one is my daughter, Xu Ruo."

Yiu gave a small nod, "My Margaku Yan my name is Qing. Thanks in advance for your help."

The man named Xu Rui smiled and spoke again, "I'll explain later, Miss. You better sit down and wait for my wife and daughter to finish cooking."

Yiu was swept up and seated at the dining room table, the men who numbered four split up on the grounds of cleaning themselves.

After waiting long enough, various spicy dishes served on the dining table, do not forget hot pots and small stoves with the aroma of boiling spicy sauce that inspires taste.

The round wooden table was large enough to fit up to ten people crammed. Everyone stared at the hungry dishes in front of them.

Xu Rui, "Miss, don't you mind spicy cooking?"

Yiu, "Ah no, I like food that burns the tongue let alone this is winter."

Then they dined while talking about the origin of those who turned out to be a vegetable and cloth merchant who came from a small village in the northeast of Qiu Wang who wanted to go to the capital to trade. Xu Rui also told his eldest son, Xu Lan, to tell him about how he found Yiu.

Xu Lan nervously told her, "I was hunting in the meadow for dinner, from a distance I heard the clanking of swords clashing after I traced it I found Miss collapsed in a blood bath in the middle of a mound of corpses in battle uniform BaiQing troops."

Xu Ruo interrupted in innocence with a hint of glittering broth at the corner of his lips, "Is this Big Brother able to wield a sword? He can take them all out?"

Yiu shook his head, he had to be careful not to reveal his true self. "I don't know why they attacked me but obviously there was a young man who helped me but unfortunately he had to be a victim and one person was left, I couldn't dodge it but I managed to kill him before he fainted."

The family nodded their head. Xu Lan cleared her throat and said, "Then Miss, where are you from? I'll take you home so your family won't worry."

Yiu immediately chimed in with a complicated face, "I'm alone, my parents have been working in the palace since I was a child and I was taken care of by my grandparents. But now they are gone. So, I wanted to go to the capital to look for my parents but the journey was blocked by a group of Bai Qing Troops."

I'm sorry to lie, I had to. May the sky forgive me.

Madam Ning's hand moved around stroking Yiu's hair that was freely scattered. He said softly not inferior to his face, "We also want to go to the capital, you can come with us, right, Husband?"

Seeing the nod from Xu Rui, Yiu couldn't help but return the favor.

The group sold the cloth and took the vegetables and sold them again in the city they were going through and stayed two days and a night there before returning on foot. At this speed, it would take about a week to reach the capital.

The fifth day, Yiu was busy buying vegetables at the Qinghe city market with Madam Ning but he felt strange, why this city had so many Bai Qing soldiers passing by like they were patrolling. Yiu inevitably had to try to hide his face.

"Do you know, Princess Ying who was detained in Bai Qing Kingdom has died. Rumor has it that Emperor Bai Qing's cousin attacked Bai Qing for taking the throne, for failing to get him cornered and keeping Princess Ying in the Sky Prison. But unfortunately, the prison heater was problematic and burned both alive along with the troops who ambushed Liu Wen. Reportedly Emperor Bai Qing was very depressed because of the loss of his empress candidate, he then tightened the guard in the capital Qiu Wang, because reportedly Liu Wen's allies wanted to seize Qiu Wang as well," said the woman in purple.

"Yes! Emperor Bai Qing loved Princess Ying so much how could he not do anything after the departure of his beloved person? We also have to be careful, the capital is not safe now. So hurry to evacuate to remote areas to stay alive" said the woman in green clothes chimed in.

Yiu overheard the conversation of two women who were also buying vegetables.

Basic sneaky! Turn black into white! Now I want to take my house. Just wait for Liu Yu I will definitely finish off your soul before you succeed!

After purchasing some materials, Yiu and Madam Ning decided to return to the house that the Xu family had rented for those few days.

As he opened the door stepping in, an arrow shot rapidly towards Yiu. Yiu's reflexes pushed Madam Ning away then performed a back flip to hook the arrow at the tip of her pointy boot, stopping the darting arrow and revealing its perfect foot on the ground.

Xu Rui and his three sons who were practicing archery were shocked and then suddenly fell silent and immediately kneeled one foot while cupping both hands in front of the head, "Pardon us, Your Highness Princess Ying. We didn't recognize you before!"

TB