Oh My, How Extra!

Little Angels in the Snow (1): The First Winter They Shared (2)

The four people finished their meal in a harmonious atmosphere and Wen Ya hurriedly shooed the children away as soon as they stopped eating, lest her husband change his mind again.

Jinde looked up at Chun Yin, wondering where they would go. He hadn't seen much of the palace yet, only ever walking from his room to the courtyard and back again. Unless their Master wanted to take them elsewhere, those were the only places he visited.

Chun Yin took his hand and carefully pulled him out of the suite of rooms the king and queen shared, making his way down the hall outside.

Jinde next to him turned his head this way and that, looking at everything curiously. He had seen a bit of the palace the day he moved in but it was very little and he hadn't had the time to look carefully. It was only now that he got the chance to observe everything in detail.

Chun Yin slowed down when he saw him want to watch everything. Anyway, even though he had a destination in mind, it didn't seem to matter much. He just wanted him to feel comfortable. After all, as his senior martial brother, he was responsible for him. While their Master wasn't there, Jinde should listen to him and he would protect him. Yes, that was an important task.

Their Master and their Master's wife had both stressed this to him and he also knew from his mother that you should take care of the people fighting at your side. Whether they were soldiers who fought against the demons with you or just someone studying under the same Master so you would become ferocious warriors in the future, it should be the same.

Although ... Chun Yin glanced at the thin child holding his hand. Somehow, Jinde didn't look like he could be ferocious at all. He knew that they were about fifty years apart so it might mean nothing but he was so short and so thin and half the time, he would silently follow him around, not even saying a word. 'Ferocious' really wasn't a word he could associate with him.

Of course, if he thought of his mother, she also looked as if she was an elegant lady like their queen ... until she opened her mouth or took out her weapon. Then suddenly, that whole image collapsed and she could be quite scary to people. That just went to prove that you should not judge people by their appearances.

The pair of disciples made their way down the winding hallways of the dragon king's palace. In this place lived not just the king's family but also those of his advisers, the generals, and many of the soldiers.

The set of rooms allocated to General Lin Cai was further to the back of the palace, close to the training grounds of the soldiers, and in a position that could be vital to defend the palace if it was under attack. Their family wasn't big. Apart from Lin Cai herself, there was only her wife Yuan Yin, and their son, Chun Yin. Now, Chun Yin had been accepted as the king's disciple and even though they still lived in the same building, the time the child and his mothers saw each other had dwindled a lot. Now, only the two women were left in the rooms that had already seemed generously spaced before.

Chun Yin pulled Jinde up to the door and opened it without bothering to knock. At this time, one of his mothers should be training while the other ... eh, who knew what Yuan Yin would be busy with? Even her son couldn't guess.

Looking around the room, Chun Yin found it to be empty. He hummed, and then led Jinde through the suite of rooms and out through the back. Past the square, the two of them could see the training grounds. A woman's loud voice echoed at this moment, scolding someone.

Chun Yin's lips twitched. "That's my mom. Just ignore her." He pulled Jinde's hand again and led him in the other direction, down the path between the building and the training grounds. Soon, the ruckus was left behind and they came to a small grove.

Jinde still looked around curiously. Even though many of the soldiers' families lived in the palace, that was only true for those who actually worked in the palace itself. His father, Jiang Li, had been a soldier as well but he had been assigned to the city so the place where they lived was also inside the city. Before his mother brought him to the palace to be taken in as the king's disciple, he had never seen it up close. The same went for the training grounds or the other places close by. This was his first time coming here.