As the sun set, Shen Miao and Jie Ge reached the alley entrance and saw their courtyard gate wide open.
From a distance, it seemed crowded with people, and she felt a sense of foreboding.
She hurried forward and, upon approaching, found the house surrounded by neighbors, all loudly arguing.
Aunt Gu, Aunt Li, Gu Dalang, and Sister Liu, the tofu seller, were among the crowd.
Aunt Li, holding a handful of melon seeds, spotted Shen Miao and shouted,
“Sister, you’re back! Your Sister Xiang brought home a dirty monkey!”
The crowd parted, and Shen Miao was shocked to see a skinny child in the courtyard!
The child was so dirty that water dripped from his body, but he held two leftover egg pancakes from the morning, devouring them ravenously.
His hair was matted, and a foul smell emanated from him.
“Gou’er said Youyu caught him in the ditch.”
“Looking at him, he must have been hiding in the ditch for days. How did he end up alone in there?”
“Is he a refugee? He’s of unknown origin. We should report him to the authorities.”
“I don’t think so. He’s just a child, so young. How could he have traveled from Qinzhou to Bianjing? Look how thin he is, you can count his ribs. It’s lucky it’s warm now, or he would have frozen to death. I think we shouldn’t report him. The patrols are strict lately, and if they take him as an illegal refugee, he’ll die in jail in two days.”
“If we don’t report him, who will take care of him? It’s easy to talk when it’s not your responsibility.”
The neighbors argued back and forth, making Shen Miao’s head ache.
She looked at Sister Xiang, who was crouched in front of the boy, watching him desperately swallow the cold, greasy pancakes, her eyes filled with pity.
Jie Ge glanced at his silent sister, then at Sister Xiang, and finally at Youyu, who was busy fetching water-she didn’t care about anything else; her only thought was that it was time to fetch water.
After standing silently amidst the arguments, Shen Miao finally moved.
She turned to Aunt Gu with a smile and said,
“Thank you for looking after Sister Xiang and the others this afternoon. I didn’t expect something like this to happen, but since it did, there’s nothing we can do.”
Then she turned to the others, “Everyone, please go home for now. I’ll figure out what’s going on first.”
Aunt Gu looked at Shen Miao with concern and, before leaving, pulled her aside, whispering,
“It’s better to avoid trouble. Don’t report him; just send him away to avoid complications. In this world, only your own family matters. We can’t save everyone.”
Shen Miao nodded. “I understand. Don’t worry, Auntie.”
After everyone left, Shen Miao pulled Sister Xiang aside to ask her what had happened.
After listening, she glanced at the boy again.
He was pitifully thin, having finished the pancakes, and was leaning against the wall, shivering as the wind grew colder.
Shen Miao sighed and tapped Sister Xiang’s forehead.
“You’re even more impressive than Gale.”
Sister Xiang looked at her blankly and whispered, “Sister, did I do something wrong?”
“No, I’m just worried you might have encountered a bad person.”
In fact, what worried Shen Miao the most wasn’t that Sister Xiang had brought home a child of unknown origin, but that someone had been hiding in the ditch for days, and no one in the alley had noticed.
What if it had been a dangerous criminal?
Would Sister Xiang and Youyu have made it back alive?
She would have to mention this to the patrolmen who often bought instant noodles, asking them to search the sewers more thoroughly to prevent any real trouble.
Thinking this, Shen Miao went to the kitchen, scooped some hot water from the stove, mixed it with cold water, and carried it to the courtyard.
The boy was still huddled by the vegetable patch.
Shen Miao approached him and asked, “What’s your name?”
“Where’s your home?”
“Where are your parents?”
The boy didn’t move.
At first, he glanced at Shen Miao, but then he lowered his eyes and didn’t say a word.
Shen Miao had no choice but to reach out and pull him up.
She had expected to use some strength, but he was as light as a kite, easily lifted.
Though he had eaten the pancakes, he was still starving, his vision blurry, and his body trembling.
His thin wrist felt fragile in her hand, and she shuddered.
Even in her previous life, and since coming to the Song Dynasty, she had never seen a child so emaciated.
If Sister Xiang hadn’t given him those pancakes, he might have died soon.
Shen Miao suddenly felt this realization.
After pulling him up, Shen Miao stripped off his filthy, rag-like clothes and dunked him into the wooden tub.
As soon as his body touched the water, he struggled violently, but with no strength left, he soon stopped.
Shen Miao used a clean cloth to wash him, and the water instantly turned as dirty as if it had been scooped from a sewer, the stench overwhelming.
Even Sister Xiang, who had been peeking from a distance, pinched her nose and ran away.
Shen Miao poured out the water and fetched another bucket.
The second bucket was still black with filth.
By the third bucket, the water was clearer, and Shen Miao finally understood why he had struggled.
His body was covered in bruises, whip marks, and unhealed wounds, some from scraping against the sewer walls, others clearly from beatings.
She paused, fetched a pair of scissors, and cut off his matted hair, then washed his head and face.
Before, he had been a dirty stick; now, he was a pale, bruised stick, still unrecognizable.
His head looked too big for his body, like a bobblehead doll.
But at least he looked somewhat human now, though he still twitched in pain occasionally in the water.
Shen Miao was about to call Jie Ge when she noticed he had already brought his smallest set of clothes and was standing behind her.
“Sister, let him wear mine. Here,”
She took the clothes and dressed the boy.
The sleeves and pants were too long, rolled up multiple times, making him look like he was wearing a sack.
“Sister.”
“Yes?”
“Let him sleep in my room.
“Bear with it for a few days. Once he recovers, we’ll decide whether to send him to the authorities or somewhere else.”
Shen Miao nodded, splashed some water, and after tidying up, she used a thick towel to dry his hair, which she had cut almost to a crew cut.
Then she picked him up.
He seemed to be around the same age as Xiangjie, maybe even younger, but he felt much lighter, weighing no more than twenty-something pounds.
He was so light that Shen Miao feared he might silently pass away in the night.
After tucking him into Jie Ge’s bed, Shen Miao instinctively touched his forehead.
There was no fever, indicating his basic health was still good.
She softly said, “Rest for a while, sleep peacefully.”
Shen Miao cared deeply for children.
Xiangjie and Jie Ge’s beds had a layer of straw mat at the bottom, two layers of padding on top, and now that it was hot, an additional layer of rattan mat was added, making it soft, cool, and comfortable.
The child seemed to sink into a cotton pile as soon as he lay down and fell asleep quickly.
Shen Miao stood watching him for a few moments before turning to open the shop.
The night market was bustling, and customers came and went at Shen’s noodle shop.
The braised meat in the kitchen was ready, and the stench from washing the child had finally dissipated.
Now, the Shen household was filled with the aroma of braised meat.
A pot of braised meat sold out overnight, and even the small bottles of liquor that had been sitting in the drink cabinet were sold.
It seemed that to sell liquor, one must have good snacks!
As Shen Miao sliced the braised meat for customers, she thought about pickling some sugar garlic, pickled radish, and vinegar peanuts to pair with noodles.
Over the next few days, the child ate and slept, staying in Jie Ge’s room without moving, perhaps too weak to do so.
Sometimes, without a light, it was hard to find him.
Shen Miao brought him meals, and he devoured them as if he wanted to chew even the bones.
But he never spoke a word.
If it weren’t for the time Shen Miao applied medicine to his wounds and he couldn’t help but cry out when she removed the pus, she would have thought he was mute.
Xiangjie and Youyu often peeked at him through the window, curious about this person.
Especially Xiangjie, who couldn’t stand the silence and kept talking to him, but he never responded or looked at anyone.
Later, Xiangjie found it boring.
Children’s interests come and go quickly, and besides, she had friends all over Willow East Lane and even other lanes, like Xiangguo.
So she quickly lost interest and led Youyu to play elsewhere, ignoring him.
The child picked up from the sewer stayed at Shen Miao’s house for four or five days.
The deathly pallor gradually faded with three hot meals a day.
When he finally stopped swaying while walking, Zheng Neizhi from the Xie family came again.
He came to deliver the contract regarding the noodle workshop in Youzhou.
Shen Miao carefully read it several times, confirming that there were no traps and that it followed the previously agreed terms, then she signed and stamped it.
With the contract settled, the Xie family would send people to Youzhou to select a site and build the workshop, and Shen Miao would soon hand over the recipe for instant noodles.
After handling this matter, Zheng Neizhi cupped his hands and said,
“Tomorrow morning, Zhou Da will come to pick up Madam Shen to the Feng residence.”
Shen Miao smiled and agreed.
After seeing Zheng Neizhi off, she thought for a moment and went into Jie Ge’s room.
Jie Ge wasn’t in the room; he had gone out to save his sister, Xiangjie had somehow gotten into another argument with Liu Douhua.
The child didn’t move even after dark, so the room remained unlit, with dim light floating inside.
The child still crouched in the darkest corner, wide- eyed and silent.
If it weren’t for the two large boxes under the bed, he might have hidden there.
Other children fear the dark, but he felt safer in it.
Shen Miao sat on the bed and asked again,
“What’s your name? Where’s your home? Where are your parents?”
Still no response.
She shrugged and continued,
“I’m going out tomorrow. If you don’t tell me the truth, I can’t keep you here without knowing your background. After dinner, I’ll take you to the street office and hand you over to the local militia. They can help you. Do you understand?”
Shen Miao never intended to keep him long-term.
After all, she didn’t know his roots.
Aunt Gu was right; she could only protect her own family in this world.
Everyone has their own fate.
She saved this child for a few days to let him recover, but eventually, she would have to report him to the authorities.
After saying this, Shen Miao patted her skirt and stood up to leave.
Suddenly, there was a rustling sound behind her.
The child, who had been silent for so many days, spoke for the first time.
His voice wasn’t soft and tender like other children but somewhat hoarse:
“My name is Chen Xun. My home is by the Chuan River, the third house. My family dyes cloth, and there’s a lot of cloth hanging at home.”
Shen Miao turned around in surprise.
He leaned against the wall, his eyes bright and large, his voice hollow, as if he had been reminiscing:
“I have an older sister and a younger brother. This year, during the lantern festival, a man with a beard took me. He put me in a sack, first took a boat, then changed to a cart. I tried to escape twice when he let me out to pee, but he whipped me and then broke my leg with a stick.”
“He only gave me one pancake a day, afraid I’d have the strength to run. Later, he sold me to someone else, and I stayed in the sack for many days until we reached a chaotic place.”
“The sack got torn by something, and I fell out of the cart, rolling into a crowd. The person who bought me tried to catch me, but I ran into a ditch and escaped.”
“He didn’t catch me.”
After finishing, his eyelids drooped, and he knelt on the ground, pleading in a very low voice he said: