Foster Son, Don’t Be So Crazy (28)

"Twelve pence."

The vendor that sold the candied haws put her hand forward, silently indicating for Song Jia to pay.

Song Jia reached for her coin pouch, while clutching the two candied haws on one hand. Suddenly, her face went blank.

Eh?

Her coin pouch disappeared?

"Miss? What's wrong?"

The lady who was selling the candied haws furrowed her brows when she saw that Song Jia had frozen into a statue. Her expression slowly turned into one of understanding.

"Miss, could it be...that your money was stolen?"

A few minutes before, while Song Jia was ordering, a small child had bumped into her before quickly muttering her apologies and running away. It must have been then.

"That child was probably a thief. There's always so many of them here in the capital."

While the vendor was saying words of pity, she quickly took back the candied haws that were in Song Jia's hands.

"..."

"Anyway Miss, you should quickly return home. Without money, it'll be hard for you to hail a carriage."

The vendor saw that Song Jia was not paying attention her. She was holding a strange black object in her hand, and was peering into it.

"...grandma."

"Miss?" Because Song Jia was mumbling, the vendor didn't quite hear her. "Did you say something?"

"How dare she steal from this highly-esteemed grandma!" Song Jia burst out. Her voice sounded indignant.

And then her figure became a blur as she grabbed her skirts and ran full-out in a specific direction. A lot of people had to dodge out of the way to avoid her, leaving chaos in her wake.

Behind her, three black lines appeared on the vendor's face as she watched Song Jia chase the child thief. Was that how a noble miss of a wealthy household should behave?

Song Jia clutched her wig as she ran. She knew that Xiang Feng was waiting for her, so she couldn't chase this thief for too long. But with the use of her binoculars, she quickly spotted where the child thief had went.

Daring to steal money from her? Hmph, simply courting death! Do they know how hard it is to earn money?

For a moment, in Song Jia's eyes, the coin purse in the child thief's hands became synonymous to her absent salary. How could she still retain her previous calm?

Heh heh, just wait till this grandma catches you~

The child thief was also aware that she was being chased. Due to her panic, she accidentally chose a dead end and trapped herself. Song Jia took hold of this opportunity to block her.

Spreading her arms like a goalkeeper, her blue eyes glared at the young child as she said through gritted teeth, "Coin pouch."

A child was still a child, after all. Looking at Song Jia's aggressive posture, she immediately got scared and surrendered the coin pouch. Song Jia wanted to scold her some more, but saw that she was so thin a single breeze could blow her away. After a pause, she took out a large portion of the money from the coin pouch and gave it to her.

"Don't steal, and find some way to make this money last longer. Where's your mother?"

The child shrank back and stammered, "She's...dead."

As expected. Song Jia nodded and asked, "Your father?"

"Gone."

"What about other siblings? Do you have any sisters or brothers?"

"No..."

Song Jia studied the child. She was about the same age as Xiang Feng. She thought about it and decided that it wouldn't be bad for the little bun to have a playmate.

"What's your name?"

"Su...Su Liang..."

"Alright, Su Liang, want to come and live with me?"

"..."

The quick change of events was so fast that Su Liang couldn't follow. Her mouth dropped open.

"Live...you want me to live with you?"

"Yes. Do you want to?"

While they were talking, Song Jia was having many ideas inside her head. She didn't want that evil queen Bai Xue to become her daughter-in-law, so how about personally raising a good girl for Xiang Feng to fall in love with? Anyway, this little girl's looks aren't bad.

"I...I want."

After the shock had subsided, Su Liang forcefully nodded her head. How could she, a homeless street rat, reject this kind of offer? She wasn't an idiot.

"Alright, it's settled then."

As soon as Song Jia turned around, she saw Nian Shou staring at the two of them. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Is it your habit to adopt stray kids and raise them?" he asked.

"..."

She adopted him too, didn't she? And he was even a grown man.

Nian Shou noticed that a little shadow was missing from her side.

"Where's the brat?"

His question made Song Jia remember that she had left Xiang Feng for a while. She quickly hurried her footsteps.

"I left him behind to buy candied haws. Let's go."

"If you bought candied haws, where is it? Did you eat all of them?"

"..."

Song Jia was too lazy to explain, so she didn't even bother to respond to him. Together with Su Liang, they went back to the place where she left Xiang Feng.

But Xiang Feng was no longer there.

"Did you remember it wrongly?" asked Nian Shou. "He's not here."

"I can see that." Song Jia was getting worried. "I'm sure I left him here. Let's look around."

Song Jia looked for Xiang Feng in all the nearby places that he could go to. She even went back to the places they visited before just in case he decided to return there. But Xiang Feng had truly disappeared.

"This..." Song Jia didn't know what to do. "Let's split up and look for him. Su Liang, you know this place better than us. Help us find him, okay?"

Nian Shou had never seen Song Jia looking so distressed. He felt a bit bitter.

"Jia, I'm sure he's around here somewhere. Don't get too anxious, or that brat would blame himself later."

He tried to comfort her, but Song Jia could think of nothing else but Xiang Feng. She was worried that something might have happened to him.

Song Jia described Xiang Feng's appearance to Su Liang. The three of them began to search the medieval fair, but not even a strand of Xiang Feng's hair could be found. It was already evening when they finished searching and informed each other of the results.

"There's a lot of kidnappers during the medieval fair," Su Liang said, wanting to be helpful. "They usually sell children to the slave traders. Maybe your Xiang Feng got kidnapped?"

Song Jia and Nian Shou thought about it, then immediately shook their heads.

"Impossible," said Song Jia, thinking back to the way Xiang Feng had killed the crazed horse earlier. "He won't be kidnapped that easily."

Su Liang was confused. Song Jia said that they were about the same age, right? "But he's also a kid. How could you be so sure?"

She had seen a lot of street children her age die a dog's death, especially orphans. The capital looked safe to the wealthy and the noble, but it was a dragon's pool and a tiger's den [1] for those without status nor money. It would be hard for a young child to survive here.

[1] A dangerous place