Underneath A Thousand Skies ✔️

90 Foster Son, Don't Be So Crazy (27)

After Xiang Feng and Song Jia made up, the old woman profusely thanked them. However, the eyes of the people that looked at Xiang Feng were beginning to turn strange.

"Only a child, and he killed that horse so ruthlessly..."

"The mother didn't even scold him and hugged him...tsk, tsk, what bad parenting..."

"...isn't that child a little too scary?"

Song Jia's hand that was holding Xiang Feng tightened. What were all these people yapping about? Didn't Xiang Feng save them? Why did they have to talk behind his back like that?

Noticing Song Jia's frustration, Xiang Feng smiled at her, revealing the lovely dimples on his cheeks.

"Jia, it's alright."

He didn't care about the opinions of these insignificant people. As long as Song Jia was beside him, he was fine with anything.

When he took out his dagger, he was already prepared to be scolded by Song Jia. But he was glad that she didn't get angry at him. Since the thing he feared the most didn't happen, why would he care about the gossip of others?

Song Jia stroked his hair. Other children would cry and throw a tantrum, but he was already mature enough not to let the opinions of other people bother him.

"Our Xiao Feng is really the best."

Song Jia softly smiled.

The two of them strolled hand in hand as they explored the medieval fair, buying trinkets and watching stage plays. Song Jia dragged Xiang Feng here and there, her blue eyes bright with excitement.

"Look, it's the Bergen dice! Wait, isn't that a Phaistos disk?"

Song Jia pointed at a spherical clay disk with inscribed symbols on both sides that were completely unlike any signs in any writing system known.

The stall owner quickly stepped forward with a smile, "Yes, it was discovered in the Minoan palace on the island of Crete, rumored to be more than a thousand years old. Young miss, no one knows what language is inscribed in the disk, but there are rumors that it would bring good fortune to whoever that buys it..."

The stall owner was still not finished with his sales talk when he trailed off, as Song Jia didn't seem to be paying attention to him and was lecturing Xiang Feng instead.

"See those 242 symbols set in a spiral arrangement? How do you think it should be read?"

Xiang Feng tilted his head. "The symbols seemed to be oriented to the right, like that walking man over there. The symbols should probably be read from the outside rim of the disk to the center..."

"And what kind of writing system do you think it is?" Song Jia continued to ask.

"The symbols on the disk are too few to be part of a pictographic system, too many to be an alphabet, that leaves...syllabary?"

Song Jia's lips hooked up, not concealing her appreciation, and exclaimed, "Our Xiao Feng is indeed clever, ah!"

She continued, "It's a prayer to the Minoan goddess of pregnancy. Look, you'll identify three key words there that has a lot of similarities to the Mycenaean script..."

The longer the stall owner listened to them, the more dumbfounded he became. How could this young mother lie to her own child with such a straight face? And embellishing too many details into her story! Did she think that no one would expose her lie?

It was obvious that those strange words, 'Mycenaean', 'pictographic', and 'syllabary' were nonsense words that she created out of thin air!

Song Jia ignored the stall owner's expression, continuing on pointing out to Xiang Feng the various artifacts that she recognized. She spotted a small rectangular box tucked in a corner and frowned. She didn't recognize it.

"What's that?" Song Jia asked the stall owner.

The suspicious stall owner followed her gaze. When his gaze landed on the unremarkable box, his face turned ugly.

"It's just as you see it, it's a box. The gypsy who sold it said that it was something special, but not a single person could open it. The woman was probably just lying."

While speaking his last sentence, that stall owner pointedly looked at Song Jia.

"..." What the hell, did he think that she was lying too?

Song Jia shrugged. She gestured towards the box. "Can I see it?"

She was rather curious what an ordinary box was doing among these valuable trinkets.

"Sure."

The stall owner didn't really mind and gave it to her. She looked wealthy, so maybe she'd buy this useless piece of object from him. He never did quite understand the unusual tastes of the rich.

A bright light flashed across Song Jia's eyes as she held the box in her hand. She immediately said, "I'll buy it."

"...three schillings." The stall owner told her the price. It seemed that his instinct was right, these rich people would buy anything.

After they bought the box, Xiang Feng looked curiously at Song Jia.

"Jia, why did you buy it?"

He didn't understand why she looked so excited.

Song Jia passed the box to him. "Don't you recognize it? It's a puzzle box!"

A puzzle box?

Xiang Feng carefully turned it over in his hands. "What's a puzzle box?"

She never taught him that term.

"They're wooden boxes that usually have a secret compartment inside. They can only be opened through a series of complicated moves, especially if it holds an important object inside. You can try pressing and sliding the sides, see if it opens."

Xiang Feng frowned and did as he was told. The box remained closed.

Song Jia scratched her head. "Well, maybe it's a more complex puzzle box than I thought. Keep trying, I'll buy us some candied haws first."

Before Xiang Feng could protest, Song Jia had already left. She was getting hungry from exploring the medieval fair. Besides, the stall she saw earlier that were selling candied haws wasn't that far.

Xiang Feng clutched the puzzle box in his hand, his dark eyes feeling lost and empty. He didn't like the fact that Song Jia kept trying to leave him. He thought that they would always stay together since he didn't have to go school anymore, but from the time Nian Shou had been freed, his existence in Song Jia's heart had been reduced once more.

Xiang Feng looked at the puzzle box in his hand and said in a whisper, "You promised."

She promised him that she would never leave him.

He stared fixedly in the direction that she disappeared. Since she promised him, she would definitely come back.

While Xiang Feng waited, something lightly bumped against his shoes.

Momentarily distracted, Xiang Feng glanced down.

It was a half-eaten apple.