Chapter 227 - Seven - My aunt pays us a visit (2/2)

And then she shrieked.

”What in heaven's name is that?!” The little white and black striped Coeurl hissed unhappily. It was not a 'that!' It was Li Ming!

Leon knelt down and murmured softly to it. ”G-go lie in m-m-my room alright.” It nuzzled Leon's hand with a purr before giving the loud woman a practiced look of disdain (Wu Ye had taught it well) and then it padded off into the room. The woman clutched at her skirts as it passed and leaned close to the wall.

”Are you trying to get your grandfather killed, idiot boy!” She cursed at Leon, her courage somewhat returned now that the beast was not in sight. ”Letting wild animals loose inside a house! It'll kill you in your sleep!”

Leon knew that it was futile to argue back.  From the moment he had seen her standing, scowling and angry for no apparent reason outside in the courtyard area, his mind had become filled with memories of this woman.  She had considered him a disgrace, a burden and a stain on her reputation.  Idiot boy was one of the more polite terms she had used rather than his name.  He recalled times when she had screamed at him so much that he had become flustered to the point he could no longer speak, let alone stammer out words.  Thus he sat back upon his stool and continued to carve as if she wasn't there.

Unfortunately, this infuriated her.  ”Father, you are old,” she said in righteous anger.  ”You cannot support this burden any longer!  Wasn't that why you sent him to that school in the first place?  And look, kicked out and leaning on you once more, just like I stated back then!  A waste of that silver coin you gave him for the journey!  Give him to me, I'll train him into something useful, perhaps he can even be relied upon to til the fields in the spring.”

”Lessa...” there was a vein pulsing at his grandfather's temple, Leon noticed as he glanced up at the old man.  However before Leonard could say any more, the door opened behind her and the woman nearly fainted in shock.  Wu Ye, this overly large feline who took up too much space within the small house, just sniffed the air before licking it's muzzle and padding nonchalantly into the second room.

Leon's aunt gasped for breath, pointing a trembling finger at the doorway of the second room before that finger then was redirected at her nephew.  ”You...!”

”We captured a hare!” Sun said cheerfully as he entered revealing the spoils.  ”It's just an ordinary one though.”  Most of the animals that lived in the woods had gone into hibernation, so it was of no surprise that not much game was found.  The hare was a fair size though and fresh meat was always welcome.

”Th-that's fine,” Leon sent him a smile that did not hide the relief he felt for the interruption.  ”G-grandfather c-c-can't eat m-meat from a sp-sp-spirit b-beast.”

”Oh yeah!” Sun grinned and Leon inwardly laughed at him.  He reckoned that this innocent young master had never actually hunted for his family's dinner so wouldn't know of that ordinary people couldn't eat the meat from most beasts, with perhaps the exception of dire beasts.  In fact, he would not have known if it wasn't for the fact he had practiced cooking with Mino's mother a few times in the past few months, wanting to improve the skill.  His eyes lifted to see Jin Li enter and Leon's smile became warmer.

”Make this Lord a pot of tea,” Jin Li demanded.  Leon rose to his feet and went to heat water in the kettle.