Path of the Lilies

23. Sneaking Out

Ye Jiao stared at Ye Ai Xia as her mind was spinning hard. From people around them, she had heard that her mother has left her when she was born because she was deemed to be useless. Her father had told her that she would never come back, so she should never try to hope. At the same time, she had never experienced the feeling of having a mother.

The only ones who cared for her were her father, Ye Xiao and Ye Ai Xia.

Her silence caused Ye Ai Xia to be nervous. Even though she couldn't tell the truth to Ye Jiao, she hoped that her daughter could call her as 'mother.'

"Ok, Mom," Ye Jiao smiled brightly.

Ye Ai Xia had taken care for her just like what a mother did. Rather than thinking of how to get the woman that left her father years ago back, it would be better to have a different mother. A mother who genuinely cared for her.

And that woman is Ye Ai Xia.

"Good child," Ye Ai Xia smiled brightly, happiness was evident in her facial expression. "Let's eat some meat for breakfast today. I'll make the best meal ever!"

Ye Jiao's eyes sparked. "Thank you, Mom!"

The breakfast was much livelier than usual. Both Ye Ai Xia and Ye Jiao were happy by their decision. Even though their mind thought different things, they were happy with one another.

"Mom, I'm going to practice again," Ye Jiao told her mother.

Ye Ai Xia nodded her head. "Be careful and don't go too far. Those young masters and misses from Wei Family won't like it."

Ye Jiao recalled the incident yesterday as she nodded her head in understanding. She had experienced it firsthand how these people didn't like her appearance at all. Rather than blatantly searched for trouble, it would be better for her to stay low and didn't approach the border again.

"Yes, Mom. Oh yeah, Mom, can you teach me basic self-defense?"

Ye Ai Xia flashed an apologetic smile. "I'm never good at close combat. When you form your core, I can only teach you how to use them."

"I see, thanks Mom."

Roaming in the small forest, Ye Jiao looked around her. The size of the forest was pretty big, but she couldn't go too far from her mother's residence because other people from Wei Family would surely stop her.

'It's troublesome.'

Ye Jiao decided to head the other way and encountered the wall not far from there. Wei Family Residence was protected by walls around three to five meters height. She was not sure of their real height because for her, they looked extremely tall.

Her eyes landed on the trees around her. They were not close enough to the wall, so they couldn't be used to climb up.

Well, even if she tried to get out, what was the benefit? She couldn't live alone outside. With her measly strength, it would be a miracle to stay alive out there.

Her small legs continued to walk near the wall. This was still the area for her mother's residence, so she didn't have any problem to walk around. No one would try to stop her. After walking for a while, she heard the sound of people yelling.

"LINE UP!"

"DON'T SLOW DOWN! ARE YOU ALL LADIES?"

Ye Jiao raised her head to the side. Her eyes blinked several times. They sounded like soldiers in training, but there shouldn't be any soldier nearby, right?

Ah, Wei Family is a general family.

She had completely forgotten about it. Wei Shang is the great general in Chen Kingdom. He has the firm control over the entire military power in this kingdom. With his words, every soldier would move without any hesitation. Whoever offended him have to be ready to face against the entire army of Chen Kingdom.

Which unfortunately, her father did.

Even though so, Ye Xiao managed to stay alive.

Ye Jiao glanced at the wall. From the sound of it, there should be a nearby training camp not far from this house. It was not really weird considering that Wei Shang might want to supervise their training for himself. Besides, it was good for his children to learn martial arts from military.

'I want to see.'

Chen Kingdom might be a small kingdom in the map from what she saw in the books, but it has good military power because of the other three kingdoms nearby. The four kingdoms were not in a good relationship, so there were constant wars. Added with the beasts around the area, they needed excellent military power if they wanted to survive.

Glancing around, Ye Jiao strode and made her way to find the closest tree to the wall. Her small legs brought her near the exit of the forest when she saw a tree with part of its branch reached the top the wall.

'Yes!'

Her small limbs quickly moved to the tree. Using the skill that her father taught her, she climbed the tree agilely. She was glad that her father forced her to climb up and down tree for at least 100 times every day. Now, she could easily climb them even with her small hands and legs.

'Whoa!'

The wall looked even taller after she climbed the tree. Slowly, she walked closer on top of the branch to the wall before reaching the wall. She was glad that the top of the wall was not sharp, which allowed her to stand on top of them.

Well, upon seeing the large field in front of her, she understood why the guards around here were lazing around. This wall directly separated Wei Family Residence to the largest military training camp in Chen Kingdom Capital.

Her eyes landed to the small group not far from her. The soldiers' built were exceptionally good. They were all carrying large rock on top of their head using their hand as they ran with one particularly large person leading them all. Sweat poured down on their body.

"Cool," Ye Jiao murmured.

She quickly glanced around to find ways to get down and watched their practice. If she stood here for too long, they would surely realize her presence. Her eyes sparkled when she saw the tree not far from them. Thankfully, there were trees both outside and inside the residence that was located near the wall.

With light movement, she climbed down the tree at the same time the soldiers finished running. They slammed the rocks down, causing the earth to quake.

"Now, spar with your partner!"

"YES, SIR!"

Following their ear-piercing yell, each of the soldier started to form partner and dueled with one another. Using their legs and fists, they traded blows with one another.

'Amazing,' Ye Jiao thought in her mind. This was the first time she saw the soldiers training and she had to say that she was amazed. They were simply astounding.

Tep!

"Who are you? What are you doing here?"