Path of the Lilies

41. Little Plan

"Miss, shall I come again in two days?" Wang Jun asked.

Ye Jiao looked at Wang Jun with confusion. "Of course."

"I understand. Good night, Miss," Wang Jun was relieved when he heard Ye Jiao's answer. Most of the girls that practiced with Mu Xin couldn't stand Mu Xin's cold and overbearing attitude. They would stop coming to practice because of that. This was the reason he felt worried regarding Ye Jiao's answer.

On the other hand, Ye Jiao has never even thought of leaving the training midway. It was fun albeit the pain in her arm seemed to intensify further.

Looking at the departing back of Wang Jun, Ye Jiao shrugged and turned around. It didn't concern her. Probably, that man only asked that question because he was unsure that she wanted to go with him since she asked that question this morning.

"Jiao'er, have you returned?"

The familiar gentle tone entered her ear. Ye Jiao instinctively turned around and saw Ye Ai Xia walked out of the residence. Her eyes were scanning her daughter carefully, worried that something might have happened to her. Looking at Ye Jiao's arm, Ye Ai Xia's brow furrowed.

"Mom!"

"Jiao'er, why is your arm wounded badly?"

"Ah, this is from practice," Ye Jiao scratched the back of her head. "Don't worry, Mom. It's almost healed."

"I worry."

"Mom...."

Ye Ai Xia sighed. "Come inside, I have prepared dinner for you. It's braised meat tonight."

"Yay!" Ye Jiao's eyes lit up when she heard their dinner menu. She exclaimed happily before running into the residence, impatient to eat the food.

Ye Ai Xia shook her head lightly when she saw Ye Jiao's behavior. Her little girl was really cute. Before long, the two of them had started their dinner and enjoyed the night meal. After eating, Ye Jiao headed off to read some books while Ye Ai Xia cleaned up the house.

'What should I do to make sure that those people from Wei Family won't come here?'

She knew that they would still come here to bully her just like what they did not long after she came. Although they hadn't come here again, there was no guarantee that they wouldn't come again. Ye Jiao didn't really like facing against them as she just wanted peace.

Also, what if they found out that she went missing every two days to practice?

Ye Jiao moved her body around on the bed as she pondered. She truly wanted to ask her mother for advice, but she was not sure about her mother's position in this residence. Her mother barely talked about herself except occasional story regarding two children that she often spoke out of.

Some of the stories sounded weird to her because of her limited knowledge, but she still loved them all.

"Jiao'er, you're still awake?"

"Ah, Mom," Ye Jiao sat down and pushed the book on her hand to the side. She smiled sheepishly. "I just want to have some reading time."

Ye Ai Xia glanced at the title of the book. It was an ordinary book about gardening that she placed on their room to study how to cultivate those flowers. She sighed.

"Do you want to learn gardening?"

"Maybe," Ye Jiao replied with hesitation. She was not sure what she had to learn because there were so many interesting things that she wanted to know including gardening.

Ye Ai Xia smiled and sat down near Ye Jiao. "Let's go to sleep, you can think of it later. If you want to learn gardening, Mom will guide you."

"Ok, Mom," Ye Jiao put the book away. She lied down on the bed and pulled her blanket as Ye Ai Xia stayed not far from her. Her eyes watched her mother's movement curiously.

"What is it, Jiao'er?"

"Do Mom and Dad love gardening?" She recalled that her father taught her how to plant the seeds and watered them then wait for the plants to grow. Seeing how her mother spent a long time in the garden, the thought that they loved gardening crossed her mind.

Ye Ai Xia laughed. "It's not like I really love gardening, but that's something I have done ever since I was young. You see, sometimes meat can't fulfill all the nutrition you need, so you have to fill them with fruits and vegetables."

Ye Jiao blinked. Nutrition?

"In short, it means that every different food has a different component...." Ye Ai Xia chose to stop talking. What was in her mind to use such difficult language in front of a young girl? There would be no way Ye Jiao could understand.

"Mom?"

"Well, it is just to have a variety of food because it's unhealthy to eat meat all the time." Ye Ai Xia finally picked the shortest explanation that she could think of. Internally, she apologized to her daughter because she didn't have the talent to be a teacher.

Ye Jiao made an 'oh' sound. "So, that's why Mom and Dad learned how to plant vegetables?"

"Yes."

"Between Mom and Dad, who's better?"

"Xiao Ge, I mean, your father," Ye Ai Xia replied. "He doesn't like to lose against me, so he gives his best effort. We made a bet one time to cultivate the same flower, and he won, so I have to bear with the punishment."

"What's the punishment?"

Ye Ai Xia's face darkened. It was not a memory she wanted to visit again. "I had to hold onto crickets, caterpillars, worms, and some others with my hand."

The thought of touching them made her shiver. She didn't mind with just a few of them, but Ye Xiao just had to pick up a basket full of these insects. Pushing those thoughts to the back of her mind, she patted Ye Jiao's head.

"Now, you should go to sleep."

"Ok, Mom."

Ye Ai Xia didn't realize it, but when she talked about her experience, Ye Jiao's eyes shone for a split second. Right now, this girl just had gotten an idea of how to make sure that the Wei young masters and misses didn't come to visit her.