Since he was his personal bodyguard, he naturally acted as the steward. When the steward brought Tian Qi and his group back to the Zhong residence, Song Tantan and Ye Moxun were sitting at the dining table in the front hall, which was full of food.
Poor thing, they left me on the street and I've been starving ever since, so I quickly told the kitchen to prepare a table full of food.
"Come sit down and eat. I'm not afraid to tell you the truth, but Ah Xun and I went to catch up on sleep shortly after we got back. We only realized we forgot about you when we woke up."
Song Tantan gave a somewhat embarrassed explanation and invited Tian Qi and the other children to come and eat.
"Eat quickly. After you finish eating, let the butler take you to bathe and settle in. Everyone has been traveling hard these past few days. Get some sleep tonight, and we'll arrange things for you in a couple of days."
Tian Qi waved his hand, indicating that it was alright. It was just a few extra hours, nothing to worry about. He had never had such an easy time when he was working as a cow at the old sage's house.
Chonglou also spoke up, saying, "As long as the master doesn't abandon us, what's wrong with making us wait a few more hours? The master doesn't need to feel guilty."
"Yes, everyone is just worried that our master will abandon us. Apart from being a little panicked, there's nothing else." Yu Zhu smiled at her.
Hearing them call him "master" over and over again, Song Tantan felt incredibly embarrassed. She had been busy opening a shop in Changqiu City and traveling, so she hadn't paid much attention to how they addressed her.
Now that she's back, she has to change her address. Calling him "master" all the time makes it sound like she and Ye Moxun are slave owners. It's so childish and ridiculous.
"Don't call us 'master' anymore. It sounds really strange, even though you've been calling us that the whole way," Song Tantan laughed awkwardly twice. "Just call us 'young master' and 'young lady' like everyone else."
"Yes, young master, young lady." The eight people responded in a scattered manner.
Song Tantan gave another awkward laugh. "Alright, let's eat. You've been starving all day, so eat more now. Don't be shy, eat as much as you want. These were all specially made for you."
A large steamer of white steamed buns, a pot of chicken soup, and stir-fried cured pork with greens and stir-fried pork with vegetables—these dishes were more abundant than a New Year's feast for a poor family.
The children of Chonglou, Shenqu, Banxia, Zicao, Suoyang, Chenxiang, and Zhusha were all from poor families and had never eaten so much meat and vegetables at home.
During the Lunar New Year, there was usually only one chicken or a bowl of pork, with each person receiving two or three slices. But since following the young master and young lady, I have eaten such a sumptuous meal several times.
Everyone was eating with their mouths full of oil, but Yu Zhu was the most refined. Although she had fled famine at the age of seven, and her family members died one by one, she was sold to a slave trader.
However, she still enjoyed a period of affluent life. Moreover, she was precocious and had a good memory. She could still remember the characters that her grandfather taught her when she was a child, and naturally, she also remembered the food.
So unlike others who get excited at the sight of meat and vegetables, she was happy to be able to eat meat, but she was able to maintain her composure, showing a bit of the demeanor of a young lady from a wealthy family.
Song Tantan and Ye Moxun clearly noticed this as well, and were even more satisfied with her.
After they finished eating, Song Tantan asked the housekeeper to take them to another house, the one where Hong Meigui and the others lived, which was now filled with all kinds of flowers and plants.
So that house now has a name, 'Fangcaoyuan', which was given by Song Zhuiyan. At that time, she suddenly felt like picking a few flowers to plant in her yard.
When Hong Meigui saw her coming, she led her to choose a few kinds of flowers and then casually mentioned, "I noticed that this house doesn't even have a plaque outside. Why don't we give it a name so it'll be easier to call it in the future?"
Otherwise, every time I talk to people about it, it's always about how our house is. A house is like a person; it's really hard to name a house without a name. At least give it a surname. Like Zhong Qingyi's house, it's called Zhong Mansion.
The house where Hong Meigui and the others lived was one of those owned by Song Tantan. Since she hadn't moved in herself, she hadn't named the house.
"Since this place is mainly for growing flowers and plants, let's call it Fangcao Garden. I'll have someone make a plaque for the gate later." Song Zhuiyan was quite casual about naming things, without giving it much thought. It was just a name, as long as it was easy to pronounce.
"Aren't we staying here?" Yu Zhu asked, somewhat flustered. She instinctively didn't want to stray too far from Song Tantan and the others. The young master and young lady were both good people; if they went elsewhere, who knew what kind of person was in charge?
Song Tantan noticed her unease and smiled gently, "There's not enough room for so many people here. Don't worry, that's my house over there too, not far from here. Three of my older sisters already live there."
No one dares to bully you. If anyone does, come and tell me, and I'll stand up for you.
With her words of comfort, everyone felt at ease and followed the housekeeper outside. When they saw that Tian Qi was about to follow, Song Tantan called him back.
"Tian Qi, you stay."
Tian Qi looked over and, after confirming that he was indeed being asked to stay, was overjoyed. He nodded vigorously and then ran behind Song Tantan, standing ramrod straight.
Song Tantan: "From now on, you will be A-Xun's bodyguard. Your daily task is to protect him every step of the way and not let anyone bully him."
In fact, Tian Qi wanted to protect Song Tantan more. She was easy to talk to and let him eat as much as he wanted during meals, without complaining about how much he ate. But the young master always felt that he ate too much. In fact, he didn't eat much; he was just full.
In short, he preferred to follow the young lady; the young master's face was too cold, and he felt intimidated by it.
Ye Moxun raised an eyebrow upon hearing Song Tantan's words, somewhat surprised. "What kind of guards do I need?"
"We'll only arrange this one for you. Look at other people, they have more than a dozen with them. We don't need to be as high-profile as them, but we still need at least one practical one."
If anyone dares to provoke you again, have Tian Qi stand in front of them and teach those fools a lesson.
Thinking of the string of guards following Ye Moshu and Ye Shuping, Song Tantan felt a little sorry for her Ah Xun. They were born to the same father, but their treatment was worlds apart.
We don't care about the Ye family's resources. We have money and can afford to hire guards. We have Tian Qi now, and we'll pick a few more powerful ones later to enhance A-Xun's image.
If we meet again, I won't be at a disadvantage in terms of momentum.
"What's the point of comparing? I don't care about this. I'm not used to having a bunch of people following me around." Ye Moxun found it somewhat amusing after learning what she was thinking.
"You can trust me. Anyway, Tian Qi is such a promising talent, so you should keep him by your side. If anything happens in the future, it'll be good for him to carry you away."
Ultimately, it was all about worrying about his health. It's not like we didn't have the means; hiring more guards would provide better protection. He couldn't refuse, so it was settled.
After thinking it over, Ye Moxun did not refuse again. However, "Although Tian Qi has unparalleled strength, it may be effective against ordinary people, but it is of little use against trained martial artists. Therefore, we still need to find a master to teach him some skills."
"Here's what we'll do: you'll stay in the west wing of my courtyard. From now on, you'll get up at 5 a.m. every morning, and I'll teach you a set of boxing techniques. Once you've learned them, you can practice them on your own."
Since he is his personal bodyguard, he naturally has to take him seriously; otherwise, if he takes him out and he doesn't know how to fight back, he will lose face.
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