130 Lost Games

Another peaceful morning has dawned in the Xing Family Villa. Hou Meiyi situated herself at the balcony overlooking their garden with a coffee and newspaper in each of her hands. While she was flipping through the pages and enjoying her coffee, a brunette lady suddenly ran on the side of the mansion making her raise her brows.

Mei Yi hurriedly placed down her cup and slowly walked towards her little girl who was arranging something in a basket. When she sniffed the air, the strong fragrance of the food wafted her nose. "Wei Wei?... Where are you going?"

"I'm going to meet up with Bro Zhao" Hou Wei Yan simply answered as she made her mother crouched down her level. Once she was done, she immediately placed a kiss on her cheeks making Hou Mei Yi chuckle.

She kissed her daughter back before she stood up once more and helped her daughter fix the ribbon in the basket she was carrying. "Did you inform Butler Gu already? You can't just go there without informing them first"

"It's okay, Mom" she replied with a cheeky smile on her face. "I'm not going to their house"

Hou Mei Yi looked at her suspiciously. When Wei Yan looked away, she followed her gaze and instantly knew where she was going based on the direction of her gaze. Glad that she was enjoying her past sanctuary, she stretched out her hand and ruffled her soft hair.

"You better come back before night falls. Your father will return then so you must arrive before him"

Hou Wei Yan nodded her head enthusiastically before she ran away with the basket in her hand. "Bye Mom!"

Her gaze was gently following the little girl as she heads towards the forest. It was only after she was gone did she give attention to the man standing behind her with a grumpy look on his face.

"Where is she going?" Xing Gengxin asked as he looked at her suspiciously. Hou Wei Yan possesses quite an adventurous soul, much like her mother, and this worries him.

"Our secret place". She placed her index finger in the tip of her lips and winked at him before returning to her favorite spot in the garden where her coffee awaits her.

Troubled by her answer, he followed behind her obediently and even sat opposite to her when she finally settled in. "Hey, aren't you being too lenient with her? What if she wanders in a dangerous place?"

His little sister merely shook her head at his anxious worrying. It's not good for his health so she always requested him to stop worrying too much. "The forest has been cleared out of animals and we strictly monitor it. Only birds could come in from above so there's nothing to worry about"

"I'm not worried about animals, I'm worried about humans" Xing Gengxin muttered but had to stop talking more because Zhu He arrived with the coffee he requested before he arrived in the garden.

Mei Yi smiled at Zhu He's timing. He really knows when to interrupt. "You worry too much, brother"

…..

"Oh, Little Panda! You're here already" Hou Wei Yan enthusiastically greeted. "Can I sit with you?"

When the crow answered her call, she began to climb the tree, and miraculously, Little Panda remained where he was perched despite her disturbance.

Her eyes twinkled in delight at his tacit acceptance. He was quite a picky bird, especially when it comes to his food, so Wei Yan never really dared intrude in his privacy. She should have done this a long time ago! "You're being kind today. Did you eat something weird?"

Little Panda turned her way and made screeching sounds, fully showing that he took offense to what she said. The intelligent bird's reaction brought out a burst of loud laughter from her.

Once she was done laughing, she noticed that her companion had finally toned down. Wondering what made him do so, she followed his line of sight. She smiled widely when she noticed that his focus was directed in her pocket.

[Honestly, is he a dog or something?] she asked herself before she slowly brought a golden locket out of her pocket.

Little Panda's eyes glimmered as the sun's rays reflected the shiny gold pendant. Hou Wei Yan giggled at his excited screeching so she slowly opened it up in front of him. "I wanted to give him a gift before he leaves. Look here, it has a picture of us when we visited the zoo…we looked so cute together so I picked it"

Her little companion repeatedly made noise as she caressed the portrait hidden inside the locket. Once she was done showing off, she slowly closed it and returned it in her jumper suit's right pocket.

When she noticed that he was still looking at her pocket, she smiled and reached out her hand. Noticing that she intends no harm, Little Panda drew near and allowed her to stroke his head. "Let's keep it a secret for now, okay? You can't spoil the fun because I want to see Bro Zhao's reaction when he receives it"

Little Panda cawed in reply making her giggle to herself. She continuously stoked the little guy's head before her eyes got drawn to the wide array of clouds decorating the sky.

She was situated in quite a high place so her line of sight extended quite far and she was able to see…the treasure hidden in the forest. The sun's rays allowed the leaves of the trees to shine like stars and morning dew to glimmer like diamonds.

It was quite a dreamy sight…and in fact, it was her dream scenery. Waking up in the morning with such great a view, sipping coffee as she inhales the morning fresh breeze, and exchanging greetings with the animals that inhibit the place… it's something she had always dreamed about.

"There's a lot of things to see here…that I sometimes wish, I could live here. Someday, when I'm free, I want to live in a place like this. Where nature surrounds me and I could run without having to mind my manners" she muttered to herself in quite a low tone, only enough for her little companion to hear.

She lowered her gaze and smiled happily at Little Panda who seems to be intently listening to her mumbling. He tilted his little head as though sully understanding what she meant. "That future…I'll try to achieve it no matter how long it takes"

Little Panda cawed in reply before he fell in silence as he enjoyed once more Hou Wei Yan's gentle touches. She chuckled at his actions and allowed him to enjoy himself. However, when many minutes had passed by and there was still no sign of Ji Li Zhao, she began to worry and soon became restless.

Afraid that he had left a day earlier than he should, she retracted her hand from Little Panda's head and prepared to descend, when she heard voices slowly nearing their area.

Their boisterous laughter made her think twice so she returned to her spot and made sure that she was out of their line of sight. Not a moment too soon, her eyes managed to catch a glimpse of four male children walking on the meadow.

They soon reached the tree and one of them was immediately captivated by it. "Wow! Look at this tree! It's huge!"

"If this your first time seeing a tree? There are more majestic ones than this in Africa" one of the children scoffed as he began to look at the tree once more. It had marvelously thick leaves that allowed Hou Wei Yan to remain out of plain sight. "The ones in our backyard is even more beautiful than this wild tree"

"As expected of you, Yunxian" another child said as he began singing praises to the arrogant child bragging about their backyard.

"This is nothing compared to what we own" Yunxian replied, a smug look now dominating his phase. He was one who always liked praises and was the type whose ego can get easily inflated even with the smallest of flattery. "Dad even brought me a Lamborghini Model Car. He said I can't ride one yet so he brought me a toy instead"

The child who first noticed the tree returned to Yunxian's side upon hearing his news. "Wow! How much does that even cost, Yunxian?!"

"$4.6 million" he muttered and allowed his companion to twinkle in surprise and amazement. "It's just a penny for us though. Mom promised to buy me an even more expensive gift"

The last child who was remaining silent since earlier slowly approached them to check out the tree as well. "That's cool. I asked Dad for one too, but he bought a Golden Monopoly instead. I got angry at him because he didn't buy what I asked for"

"$2 million…that's like half of what my father gifted me. Hao Yin, when did your house sunk so low?" Yunxian blurted out with a mocking and dissatisfied look on his face. One of his friends who didn't like where it was going, decided to take a stroll in the huge meadow and began to circle the tree.

"It wasn't for me, it was meant to be a gift for the Zhou family's son" Hao Yin grumbled, feeling irritated that Jin Yunxian was bragging too much and even started to talk rudely about his family. "I was surprised to see you guys earlier at the party. What did you give him?"

"Shimansky Soccer Ball worth $2.59 million" he replied, still with a smug look on his face. He didn't like the idea of giving Zhou Jinhai a gift, but his mother reminded him they needed to do it so they can finally reach the rank.

Not buying what she said, she convinced him to see it as a form of charity. "They're quite an influential family so we had to give it our all. But it pissed me when Zhou Jinhai merely laughed at it"

Xiang Ru shared his own animosity to the said birthday celebrant. "That's why I left the party. His parents keep on bragging about him that it irritated me. Being good in Taekwondo…would that even make him richer? He's throwing away their money for such pointless leisure"

"It's his birthday today but currying his favor to the point of disregarding my pride isn't something I'm willing to do" Jin Yunxian grumbled, unwilling to accept that Zhou Jinhai was far richer than he is and has all the adult's affection. "I'd rather kick some animals than face his arrogant face"

Fu Cai who was exploring since earlier returned to the group with a wide smile on his face. "Hey! I found a basket and it has food!"

The others looked at one another and were about to head towards the said basked when a bird's loud caw reached their ears forcing them to look up and locate it.

Yunxian who was the one beneath the huge branch was surprised to see not only a bird but a human person as well! "What---A girl?"

Hou Wei Yan glared at Little Panda who revealed their location because of his hunger management issues. Left with no choice, she looked down on the children and showed them great disinterest. She was listening since earlier and she wasn't fond of their words at all. "What are you doing here? This is private property"

"And so? Is this even yours?" Jin Yunxian bravely asked back which made her sigh.

[I hate talking to brats like this] she thought to herself before flashing them quite an obviously fake smile.

"I wouldn't say that if it wasn't mine" she cooed.

Angered by her soft and gentle yet obviously mocking voice, Yunxian pointed rudely at her. "You sure talk big for a peasant. How could you own this property? Even our family had a hard time acquiring land here"

She remained calm despite getting called a peasant in her own territory. "That's not my problem if you had a hard time…how did you get inside? A large wall surrounds the Imperial Area. Only the Regal Families have a mansion inside the wall and from your faces, you don't belong to one"

"Regal Families? What nonsense are you talking about?" Hao Yin who was already infected with jerk-disease looked at her with arrogance. She's inventing quite a family. His parents never talked about this 'Regal Families' that she was talking about so she dubbed her words as mere nonsense of a child.

Fed up by their tone, Hou Wei Yan finally let off some steam and rolled her eyes at their questions. "You don't even know them, then you're not from the Ducal Houses either nor you educated well"

"Hey, stop talking, you're pissing me off" Jin Yunxian exasperated, his veins clearly visible because of his unfounded anger.

"Please leave. This place isn't a place you can just easily loiter around" Hou Wei Yan said out loud. Since they do not belong to the Regal Families who have exclusive access to this forest, if they are found out, they will surely get reprimanded for their actions. "You clearly trespassed. If the adults find out about this, I won't be able to help you escape punishment"

Xiang Ru who was quite a pampered child himself smirked upon hearing her words. They had never experienced harm since they were young so her threat was ineffective to them. "Punishment? How could they even punish us? Our parents won't let them"

She couldn't help but sigh loudly at what they said. [Seriously, they're making my brain hurt]

"They're the real authority of this country. Unless you're a part of them, even your parents won't be able to do anything" she stated in a matter-of-fact tone. After stating this, she finally glared hard at them which instantly grabbed their attention. "So leave…before it's too late"

An angry Hou Wei Yan is surely far from angelic. She had a dark shadow looming over her indicating that she wasn't joking at all and any foolish actions will trigger something that they should never ever dare provoke.

"Hey, Yunxian, let's just go" Fu Cai said in terror. He wasn't willing to receive punishment because of these stupid rich kids. "Jinhai's party must be starting by now"

Although he knew Yunxian would hate it, he decided to pull his sleeves and force him to leave. He found no benefit in staying in such a place longer than they should.

However, his friend felt otherwise. He glared hardly at Hou Wei Yan who peacefully returned to her spot beside Little Panda. The odd colored bird cawed in delight, feeling at ease because the hindrance to his meal is gone.

She could slightly guess what the bird was thinking so she chuckled and began stroking his head once more. "Little Panda, Bro Zhao will be arriving soon, so let's just wait---"

A sudden gush of wind drew near Hou Wei Yan and the next thing she knew, a huge stone had hit her head. A loud thud could be heard as the cold hard stone made an impact with her head. It was loud enough to draw the retreating children's attention back to her.

Fu Cai immediately ran to his companion who was clenching his fist, the stone in the grass near him now gone. "What did you do, Yunxian?!"

"I was aiming at the annoying bird. But she was on the way" he coldly answered which terrified Fu Cai. He actually hit a child with a stone?! "Tsk. Serves her right"

Fear immediately creeps into his system so he looked up at the tree and noticed the young girl touching the place where the stone had hit her. To her surprise, a red substance had begun leaking and it had filled her tiny hands after she touched her head. "Wha--

FU Cai's eyes widened in surprise. "She's falling! Quickly, catch her!"

Jin Yunxian who was already annoyed as he is slapped his hands away as he nonchalantly wiped the dirt in his hands away. "Let her be. She's a peasant anyway. She must be a daughter of a servant in these mansions. Her life won't matter that much"

Hou Wei Yan who still had consciousness immediately gripped the branch of the tree to stabilize her position so she won't fall. However, the impact of the accident was great that she began losing strength and consciousness at a much faster speed.

She could no longer react as she had in mind and had finally lost grip on the branch. The thought of falling on the ground at such a height caused fear to rush into her system. She knew she wouldn't leave unscathed if she falls straight to the ground.

[Bro Zhao] she silently called out, her ability to speak now gone.

"Wei Wei!" she suddenly heard from a distance. His voice made her eyes well up as she slowly lost sense of her surroundings.

Ji Li Zhao bit his lower lip in frustration as he ran faster than he could ever do. He watched as her body began falling from the tree. Although his body would receive scratches, he didn't mind it and immediately jumped so his body could catch her.

And he did.

Luckily, he did.

His back was on the ground, and in his chest was Hou Wei Yan who had her eyes closed shut in pain. When he saw the blood in her head, he clenched his fist and hugged her closer to his body before he glared at the children watching the scene unfold without much care.

Their detached behavior caused him to snap out of his composure. His already scary glare turned even deadly as he slowly stood up and carried the bloody Hou Wei Yan in his arms.

He's going to kill them.

There was no need for words, they instantly knew his intention based on the scary aura he was giving off. They knew he was serious and if they stayed longer, they would get slaughtered. This idea made them immediately run away.

Ji Li Zhao silently followed them with his gaze as they disappeared into the woods. Their appearance…he had already memorized it and based on their expensive attires and the pin in their clothes, he immediately knew where to search for them.

[I'll kill you, just you wait]