When he saw his sister sitting up feeding the baby, he quickly got up and stuttered. "I.. I"ll make some food."

With that Pao Hua proceeded to make some stews for the two of them. After they ate, Pao Hua took the dirty piles of sheets and buried them. Hli Ja had told him that as soon as she gained enough strength, they will leave the place. They need to destroy all traces of evidence.

After a week, Hli Ja felt better. They took the essential stuff, burned the carriage, burned everything and left. They journeyed into town where Hli Ja traded her necklace for money. With the money, Hli Ja purchased a different carriage with lots of s.p.a.ce, two horses and started her new journey.

Hli Ja wanted to teach Pao Hua medicines, so she took him and her son around the country. They don"t have a place to call home. Sometimes, they"ll settled in a town for a month or so, but then they moved to the next place. During their travels through the wilderness, Hli Ja taught Pao Hua medicines, they collected medicines together, dried them and trade those medicines in town for money. They established connections to sell their medicines in the shops and so they often visited those towns every few months to sell off the herbs they collected.

There was a few times they ran into the palace guards who was searching for Hli Ja but they were able to hide from the guards and continue on with their journey.

Hli Ja didn"t want to go back to the palace. If Pa Chee was capable of killing people, she felt her baby and her life would be in danger. She wanted to just leave quietly and be gone forever, gone from the man she love. Life was hectic one thing after another since the fire at the inn, she did not have time to think and grief over what happened back at the inn. Hli Ja has to prioritized her priorities and that is to focus her time and attention towards her brother and son.

Although, every now and then, Hli Ja will see something that reminds her of Mua Kong, the sadness she pushed to the bottom of her heart will creep up and take over her mind. She ponders on what Pa Chee said and wonder if it"s true. Was he already married? Was it the reason why he never formally announced her position to the palace? But no matter how lost she felt at times, her super clingy son"s always brought her back to reality.

Two years later after the birth of Hue Houa, Hli Ja and Pao Hua had already established all their connections. Life was good for them, it was peaceful. The search from the palace had stopped as well.

During one of their stop to town, Pao Hua went to do his usual trade and stocked up on food and supplies. They parked their carriage on the outskirt of town so Pao Hua could run into town while Hli Ja washed and hangs their clothes. When Pao Hua came back, he neatly stacked the food inside one of the corner that has some shelves where they stored their supplies. Hue Houa was clinging to his mom"s legs while she hangs laundries.

When Pao Hua finished his tasks, he walked outside and saw the koala glued onto Hli Ja making it hard for her to move around with him. He sighed and shouted, "Superglue! Come here!" Hue Houa was so clingy and sticky like glue to Hli Ja all the time that Pao Hua named him Superglue.

The little Superglue shrieked at the call of Pao Hua. His eyes shut tight and refused to look at Pao Hua and clinged tighter onto his mom"s leg making it harder for her to move around. Hli Ja sighed.

"Superglue! Come here. You"re making it hard for mommy to do her work." Pao Hua shouted again.

The Little Superglue ignored Pao Hua again. Seeing that it"s futile to go easy, Pao Hua took out a candy bar and opened it slowly.

Superglue heard the sounds of unwrapping and looked over to Pao Hua with big round eyes. Pao Hua know that this method always works so he pretended to take a bite of the candy.

"Ahh.. Mine, mine.." Superglue shouted as he let go of his mother"s leg and ran towards Pao Hua.

"He he.. you promised to be good?" Pao Hua asked.

"Mm.. Good, good." The Superglue nodded with his big round eyes and crescent lips.

========

Almost three years later, a couple months before the fall annual festivals. Pao Hua and Hli Ja was in town doing their trade. Their was rumors that Prince Mua Kong is looking for wife candidate. Many women who have wealth and status were thrilled. They were shopping for the best dresses with best materials to attend the festival.