With that, he slid down from Xu Duoyan’s arms, grabbing both Xu Duoyan’s and Cao Wen’s hands and leading them inside to drink some water.
Little Lotus’s home was predictably simple.
There were decent houses in Water Alley, but most were old tile-roofed buildings, aged and leaking. Many were even worse than thatched huts in villages.
The moment they stepped inside, the smell of herbs filled the air, instantly reminding Xu Duoyan of Lu Lingbi’s home, which was always like this.
“Sit down, older brothers.”
Little Lotus brought out two wooden stools, wiped them and the stone table in the small courtyard with a clean cloth, then let the two sit.
After a short while, he hurried inside and came out with two bowls and a water pot.
“Little Lotus, cough cough, have you come back?”
A weak cough came from inside, the voice faint, “Who’s there?”
“Older brothers came to drink water.”
Little Lotus poured water for the two and replied, “It’s Ah Yan and Ah Wen, older brothers.”
Silence fell inside.
After a moment, a woman appeared at the door, leaning weakly on the frame.
Her face was waxy yellow, lips pale, but she didn’t look very old.
“Mother, why did you come out?”
Little Lotus hurried to support her.
Although she was skin and bones, she was too weak for a five-year-old to hold alone.
She leaned against the door and smiled faintly at Little Lotus.
Cao Wen and Xu Duoyan quickly stood up.
“Sorry for disturbing you.”
“No disturbance, no disturbance. Cough cough, I’ve long heard Little Lotus speak of you two. I should thank you properly for taking care of him. It’s just that my body cough cough…”
She took two gasps of breath and continued, “I look like a mess, forgive me, older brothers.”
“It’s nothing.”
Xu Duoyan said, “It’s windy outside. Madam, don’t tire yourself standing in the draft. We only came to see Little Lotus. Since we see he’s alright…”
The woman coughed again.
“Thank you for your concern. If you don’t mind the shabby house, please come inside.”
Cao Wen and Xu Duoyan exchanged a glance but went in.
The woman sat down, patted Little Lotus’s hand, and sent the child away to prepare medicine.
“Little Lotus always comes back happy after seeing you two. He’s a sensible, obedient child. I haven’t given him a good life, yet such a young child worries and cares for me.”
“My body won’t hold out much longer. I sent a message to my family a while back. Fortunately, we finally got a reply. Little Lotus’s maternal uncle agreed to take him in. As long as the child has a meal in the future, I’m satisfied.”
Xu Duoyan remembered the woman’s words at the alley entrance.
Her condition hadn’t been a recent development.
The failure to arrange for Little Lotus’s care sooner, and the delay in sending him to the uncle’s place, suggested the uncle’s home wasn’t a great place.
He couldn’t help but ask, “What does Little Lotus’s uncle do for a living?”
“Just common folks, barely making do with two acres of land.”
The woman said, “He has many children at home, so Little Lotus won’t be lonely. He can learn some skills from his older brothers and sisters. When he’s older, things will be better.”
Cao Wen frowned.
Limited land and many children were not a good sign.
Besides, if the family were well-off, they wouldn’t have waited until the mother’s condition became so bad without taking the child in.
They were probably barely surviving themselves.
“But since we often run business in Fengyuan Town and know most places, I can take Little Lotus there if convenient.”
The woman smiled faintly.
“It’s not Fengyuan Town. It’s a rural place near Fucheng.”
“That far?”
“Mother.”
After Xu Duoyan asked in detail, they learned Little Lotus’s father had been a traveling salesman.
His mother was the woman he married when passing through the village.
This kind of arranged marriage was quite common in the past—like in Caojia’ao, where tenant families would marry off their daughters if a suitor paid a decent bride price.
Marrying into another place often meant never seeing each other again for life.
If the family had any means, they would never willingly let a child go so far, where life and death were uncertain.
But in the end, it was someone else’s family matter.
Cao Wen and Xu Duoyan felt sorry for the child but could not interfere with a mother’s decisions regarding her child.
Before leaving, Cao Wen gave the woman extra money for medicine and better food.
Once out of Water Alley, although they had planned to go watch cockfighting, Cao Wen noticed Xu Duoyan’s lack of enthusiasm.
They tacitly agreed not to mention it and instead wandered aimlessly through the streets.
“I see you’ve been quiet since meeting Little Lotus. What’s wrong? Are you worried about the child?”
Xu Duoyan exhaled softly.
“It’s nothing.”
“Don’t say nothing.”
Turning his head, he saw the downcast expression on Xu Duoyan’s face was even more unhappy than his own.
“I was just thinking of Little Lotus and the days with my mother. My father left early. My mother’s family didn’t accept us, and my father’s relatives were cold. During the war, everyone fled separately. My mother took me all the way to Fengyuan Town. It wasn’t easy.”
“Little Lotus is somewhat like him.”
“But the world has many poor souls with similar fates, and not everyone is as lucky as he is.”
He looked up at the person before him and reached out to hold Cao Wen’s hand.
“Fortunately, I have you.”
Cao Wen abruptly stopped walking and held Xu Duoyan’s hand tightly.
“If you truly care for Little Lotus, why not ask his mother if she’s willing to send him to the estate?”
Xu Duoyan’s brow twitched as if he’d found a new path.
Raising the child at the estate, where they could watch over him, was far better than leaving him at an uncertain future with his maternal family.
Ultimately, Little Lotus’s mother chose to send her child to the Cao Family—not as a servant or maid but as an adopted son, which was a blessing.
Although the Cao Family had taken the child in, Cao Wen and Xu Duoyan couldn’t bear to separate Little Lotus from his biological mother.
After investigating and sorting out the messy connections with relatives and outsiders, they took both mother and child to the estate and arranged a separate room for her to recover.
Little Lotus was indeed very obedient and sensible.
Every morning, he went to greet Lu Lingbi, who liked him very much.
Since the child was no longer so young, Xu Duoyan hired a tutor from outside to teach him reading and writing.
Although the little one learned slowly, he was diligent and eager to learn.
For two smooth years, they lived this way.
But in the end, Little Lotus’s mother could not hold on.
Originally kept alive by medicine, her survival this long was a miracle that bought Little Lotus two more years.
By then, Little Lotus was already seven years old.
He had learned the Hundred Surnames and the Thousand Character Classic and could even do arithmetic.
He often helped Cao Wen and Xu Duoyan with the accounts in the study.
In the twenty-second year of the current reign, the country was peaceful and prosperous.
The Emperor, eager to expand the talent pool, abolished the rule forbidding merchant children from taking the imperial exams.
The number of exam applicants surged.
Cao Wen heard the news and casually registered Little Lotus for the exams, thinking to have the child accompany Xu Duoyan to the county town for the audit and maybe join the exam for fun.
Unexpectedly, the boy showed little natural aptitude for study but passed the county exam on his first try, then the prefectural exam, and eventually earned the rank of Tongsheng.
The family felt that a modest official title was better than a business livelihood.
From then on, Little Lotus set out on the path of scholarship.
The End.