"Wow! There's so many crops here! There's barley, there's pears, there's mandarins. Oh! There's even peaches!" My eyes didn't know where to turn as they were captivated by the colors of the fresh morning market. I held onto Wei's arms as we walked through probably one of, if not the longest, market in the country.

"Ma, you're going to get whiplash if you keep turning your head here and there." Wei laughed at my antics.

I patted Wei's arms and answered without even looking at him. "My dear son, you won't understand. But it would've been worth it for me." 

Wei laughed again. His deep voice adding to the richness of the sound. I was still getting used to the new voice but if I strained my ears hard enough, I could still hear his boyish crackle underneath it all. Time really is a wicked thing. Knowing where this thought would eventually lead me to, I shook my head. This was an exciting period of our lives, there's no time to be moping about.

It had been two weeks since the royal messenger visited the village to relay the royal decree by the emperor. And these two weeks had been a dreamy haze. We had everything packed and was ready to leave by dawn the next morning.

With Wei by my side, I hugged Song's wife in front of my house. "Thank you for the past two years. I wouldn't know how I would've survived if not for you." I gave her a squeeze before pulling away. "Thank you."

Song was hanging in the background with his children leaning on him. 

I hollered at him. "You take care of your wife! If I even hear about you giving her any kind of trouble, I will come back so fast to whoop you that there won't even be any spare time for you to think about what had happened."

Song laughed good-naturedly. "Don't worry. Distance makes the heart grow fonder. You have no idea how I've missed her. I don't think I even have enough time to do all the nice things for her. Do you think I have time to give her trouble?"

We all laughed at that.

"Well, so this is it." I said. The atmosphere turning sombre.

"This is it." Song's wife repeated, her eyes solemn. "Do write to us from time to time."

"I will. You can write to me to." I looked at Song. "Both of you. You know I think of both of you as my younger siblings."

Song's eyes softened.

"Alright." I cut it off abruptly. "We need to go before this turns into a cry fest."

I made headway to the carriage that way parked by the path with Wei following close behind.

I entered the carriage without looking back, afraid that my body would betray me. Wei, however, stopped at the entrance and turned to bid Song's family one last farewell. "Goodbye!"

"You take care of your mother, Wei!" I heard Song called out as my vision blurred. 

After that, it took us approximately three days to reach the capital. I had never travelled so far away from the village until now, so every sight was a newly discovered scene. When we arrived at the stone house that was awarded to Wei, I was overwhelmed by the sheer size of it. It was almost the size of the market back in the village! And there were so, so, so many people running around the house to keep everything organized. To be honest, I didn't know why the emperor included servants in his reward but looking at the house with my own eyes made me realize why.

Just hours after we've settled into the new place, a messenger from the palace stopped by to inform me that I wouldn't be needed at the palace for my governess duty until after two weeks. Therefore, I had been enjoying the sights and sounds of this city up until now.

As we passed by the steaming food stalls that marked the start of the food section of the market, Wei asked, "So are you excited about tomorrow? You're going to meet the crown prince and the other noble children. And you'll be the one teaching them."

"Oh, I doubt that they're expecting me to be like one of those dowdy teachers. I'm probably there to just teach them manners or something. What about you? You're reporting to work tomorrow too. Are you excited?"

Wei smiled sheepishly. "To tell you the truth, I'm more nervous than excited. Being a general.. I honestly don't know what that entails. But one thing's for sure. There would be a lot of men under my responsibility, both experienced and inexperienced. What if the men, especially those who has had years of military experience, don't recognize me as the leader?"

I stopped in my tracks, which also made him stop, and looked at him in the eyes. "Liu Wei.", I said. "Do you think that the emperor would simply appoint you as the general? Did you not hear the accompanying statement when the royal messenger declared your appointment? You were recommended not just by the previous general but also your peers, which would have been both the experienced and inexperienced men that you mentioned who fought alongside you during the war."

Wei only listened quietly. His doe eyes were like those of a puppy that was being reprimanded. It made me realized that he was still a child. He was my child.

I softened both my tone of voice and gaze as I patted his arm reassuringly. "I'm not just saying this because you're my son but I believe in you. And everyone else seem to believe in you as well so cut us some slack and believe in what we see in you, hmm?"

Wei hesitated but gave me a smile and nodded in the end. "Thank you, I needed that."

I returned the smile with a kind smile of my own. "It's my job as your mother. And if it gets too much and you want to just leave everything and return to our village, just tell me. We could just go back whenever and I would be right there by your side. I've fed you and clothed you all these years since you were a baby, I could continue doing that. If the world gets tough, I'm still here."

The rims of Wei's eyes reddened. "Thank you, ma."