Meeting Smiles
I was going through the city when I passed a candy stand. There was a little girl standing and just staring at the candy sticks. She couldn't have been more than four years old. She was clearly drooling at the sight of the candy. "Master should be fine during this time. I'll do something nice for this little girl." I thought.
"Little brat give money. No money, no candy. Scram if you have no money." The vendor said, crossing his arms. I walked up to the stand. "Oh young sir has come to my humble stand. What can this one get for you sir?" The vendor asked, rolling his hands together excited.
"I'd like two candied haws! And two of the specialties your stand makes." I said, putting a silver coin on the table. "The rest is for you." I said.
"Ah, the young sir is magnanimous. This humble one is grateful." He said preparing four candied haws. Two of which were lemon flavored and yellow in color.
"Thank you young sir, come again." the man said bowing. He did just make the amount of a week's worth of work in 1 sale just then.
I started walking away before pausing. "Are you coming?" I said holding my hand out. "I'll take you to see some good food." I added.
I don't know why but I felt as if I was being compelled by the heavens to do this. It was an interesting feeling to say the least. While I was compelled to act it wasn't like I had to or was forced. But this little girl seemed very familiar. Though I knew for a fact she was not a member of my Palace.
She came up and grabbed my hand. "Good food? Are there tasty buns?" she said, grabbing on.
"Yes, but until we get there you can have these." I said passing the candied haws over.
"Brother is super nice! Yay! Yummy!" She said smiling while chewing the candy.
I saw there was a toy that had been made out of a rare material. This was enough to tell me she wasn't just any regular little girl; she must have been someone with a background. I closed one eye and noticed off the bat that something was off. It was clear after doing this that there was a cultivation base. However it was so vast I couldn't even tell what type of Qi she was using. "Damn, if only I had kept my memory completely intact when coming here. I wouldn't have forgotten who this person is. I should stay friendly with her." I thought, reopening my eye.
Unfortunately we had to pass through the place where my master was to get to the place I had talked about. I wasn't going to the place my master had taken me the last time. No, that place was more proper. Thus the food wasn't nearly as good as the place I was thinking of. So we walked in that direction. The place that people were running away from.
"Ah! Cultivators are going to fight! Run for your lives." This was said multiple times. It told me I was heading in the right direction. I was indeed correct as to where my master was. "Hmm, another new and accurate ability. It isn't divine sense that's for sure. I've got a long way to go for such an ability." I thought.
The little girl looked up at me. "Are you not afraid of the fighting?" she asked with a curious look on her face.
"My master is over there. I don't think she would start fighting over something without knowing the reason first. There is nothing to worry about. Though I'm curious which force it was that came for trouble?" I said, tilting my head slightly. "Though I guess I'm just more hungry than anything. What's your name? You can call me Leiji." I added.
"Hehe, ahahah. Brother Leiji is a foodie! I'm Smiles." she said, giggling and eating at the same time.
"That's not fair Sister Smiles, you're a foodie as well." I said. "Say you want to get there faster?" I added.
"We can go faster? Yay I'm hungry." Smiles said, too excited.
"Just climb onto my shoulders and I'll run over there. I'll keep you safe from the wind, don't worry." I said with a thumbs up.
"Oh a shoulder ride? Yay! Sounds like fun!" she said, climbing up onto my shoulders.
I held her legs close to my chest and she held onto my forehead. I was of course using my Qi to generate this sort of protective hold.
"Passengers ready?" I asked
"Passenger is ready, teehee. This is gonna be fun!" Smiles said, giggling.
I took off running through the city. Avoiding any people. It wasn't hard to avoid people since the only ones who were still there were us two. Smiles was having a good time playing around and laughing. So thus we kept going. That was until we got to the center of the plaza where my master as well as the other massive force was. The two of us stopped and saw the situation.
"Hey, it's the nice man who protected me before. See, see on the left behind the old man!" Smiles said point over to the left side.
"Oh, but why is my master on the other side of this?" I said pointing to the right side.
From the other side of the plaza. "Young master Leiji, is that you!? I'll go and get you your favorite buns ready." a man shouted over.
"Restaurant owner double the order! My friend and I are both super hungry!" I said back. I had to yell so he would hear me.
"Then I'll triple it for you Young master!" The man said before making a cartoonish exit.
"Master, this disciple has come out of cultivation." I said bowing slightly with cupped hands.
"Good, you were there for 3 months. It seems the method was more beneficial than I had thought initially. Now why are you here? I told the maids you weren't allowed to leave." Master Feng said, light hearted and serious at the same time.
"I have to report to the master after leaving cultivation. But the master was here. Also…" I said.
"Also what? Did you come here to play around?" Master Feng said.
"No, I was just really hungry. So I came here. Then I found this girl staring at some candy. So I figured I'd follow the master's example and help out." I said, "Btw this girl is not simple. She has some kind of background, and I can tell she has some kind of cultivation. But beyond that I have no idea." I whispered.
"So you were just a glutton!" Master Feng sighed.
"Brother Leiji, can we thank the nice man for giving me my toy back?" Smiles said.
"Who tried to take your toy? They must be dumber than a furnace full of ash." I said.