Flowers Bloom from Battlefield

As she was pondering, the carriage started to move. A few of the children started talking to each other and one of them tries to talk with her.

"Brother, are you okay?" a kid looked towards her with concern.

Jun Hua nodded. The boy beside her was not in good condition anymore. The war has made them all lose their parents so quickly. Somehow, Jun Hua hearts pained and she hoped for nothing but ending the war quickly.

"Did you lose your parents?"

The boy nodded. "Yeah, my father is a soldier. Mother is missing when the soldiers raid our place."

Raid? Jun Hua cannot believe that Soujin would raid those cities. She knew from the news that they share during banter that Yan had been buying cities from a lot of places. That was to make the people know that the city was under Young Noble Han's protection. He did it, so they can not harm the citizen, right?

"Who did it?"

"Ming Kingdom soldier," the boy answered. "They are really cruel, taking our place like that."

"When does it happen?"

"Yesterday, didn't big brother also here at the time?"

Jun Hua shook her head, but she knew that it was impossible for Ming Kingdom soldiers to arrive on this place at that time. The Ming Kingdom had just escaped their predicament, and they would not spare any glance towards other places for the time being.

The boy from the other side scoffed. "What Ming Kingdom, it's obviously from Kai Kingdom. Their attire is completely different."

"No way, we are the citizen of Kai Kingdom!"

"What citizen, we are just ordinary children. Those officials think that they can lie to us, but I would not believe them."

The two of them continue arguing as Jun Hua listening from the side. It seemed for the village near the border; they often involved in a conflict. Jun Hua already knew that, but she still couldn't accept them attacking their own citizen, what was the real reason?

"Brother, who does you believes in?"

Facing that question, Jun Hua blanked out for a moment. "I think it's the Kai Kingdom."

"See! Even big brother think so too," the boy grinned happily. "Those people think that they can hide it, but I'm not stupid. Who doesn't know that the clash in Kai Kingdom is not fierce? They are fighting openly and covertly."

"You sure know a lot, little boy."

The boy smiled. "Of course I do. I'm a smart kid."

"Yes, you're really smart," Jun Hua played along and laughed. Unfortunately, the boy didn't really have any proof, but he knew that there were no Ming Kingdom soldiers reaching here. From the children, she started to learn about the culture in this place.

"You see, Kai Kingdom is known to be a free place," the boy said, "We can have a lot of freedom, and the emperor doesn't restrict many things for us. Many people still wander around on the street at night and no one would care about them."

"What about the guards?" the other kingdoms would have soldiers guarding the area during the night and there was a night restriction, which made them unable to get out at night freely.

"There are some of them, but they won't restrict us to get out at night," the boy shrugged, "Just a little money and you're free to do anything you want at night."

"…" is this really a big kingdom?

The other boy shook his head, "This is the new rule ever since the emperor grows old and let the princes hold the control around this place. Although the news about them is scarce, my parents used to say that they are already fighting for the throne."

They were already adults, so the fight for the throne was inevitable. Jun Hua agreed with the boy next to her and wondered about this little boy identity. He seemed to know very much from his parents, though it was also possible because this area was near the border and the people needed to gain as much information as they could to preserve their lives.

Before she could ask for anything else, the carriage shook and some of the children were thrown from their seat. Jun Hua swiftly evaded to the side while the other are clashing with each other, resulting in a lot of screams and all.

"That's hurt," the boy pushed the other kid who sat on top of him because of the shook.

"Are you alright?" Jun Hua asked the boy.

He nodded his head, "This much is nothing. I'm already used to labor in my parent's field."

"What's your name?"

"I'm He Zhou," he answered, "What about you, Big Brother?"

"Oh, you can call me Min," Jun Hua used her other name immediately. She looked towards the small window near them, and her eyes narrowed a little bit, "Do you know this road?"

He Zhou looked outside and shook his head, "This is my first time getting out from my village. I don't know much about the other places, but I guess this place is the same as before. They are all just small villages, and people can come and go as they wish."

The view outside the carriage was not one of good view. There were many houses getting destroyed, and people were working outside to repair what they can. This was one of the few times she came to see the real view of the impact of war.

"If Kai Kingdom won the war, I doubt everything will change," He Zhou remarked.

"Why did you think that way?" Jun Hua looked towards the boy with arched eyebrows. She really wanted to know how this little boy thought.

"Because they don't care about us," He Zhou answered simply, "Because we live near the border, we can see the difference of the treatment very well."

"Do you mean the difference with the noble?"

"No," He Zhou shook his head and pointed to the direction of Ming Kingdom, "The difference is with the people outside the border."

"How do you even see them?"

"There are many secret routes to get out from this area," He Zhou grinned, "I often use them and see that the place over there is more beautiful."

Jun Hua secretly noted to herself to check the secret route later when she has the time while she looked towards the Ming Kingdom direction. The one in charge of that area was Soujin. Her lips curled up for she understood how the change in treatment came from.

"Can you tell me more?"

"Sure, just ask anything you want," He Zhou smiled widely, "I'm the smartest person in this carriage!"

The boy next to him sneered, "The smartest? Dream on!"

"What? You don't believe me?"

Jun Hua smiled when she saw a few kids joining into the small quarrel. In any case, she was not going to help He Zhou because he was the one bragging nonstop and bringing those people to him. As for her question, she could ask them later on.