Feng Qingxue knelt down on the haystack, holding Guan Yu in her arms.
Guan Yu’s forehead was burning hot, but he was deadly afraid of the cold, his thin little body trembling non-stop. His ragged clothes were far from enough to shield him from the chill of spring. Feng Qingxue reached into the carrying basket, taking out a cotton-padded coat from the space within and wrapping it around him.
In her idle time, apart from reading and practicing calligraphy, she would use the saved fabrics in the storage space to make clothes.
The fabrics she chose were those she had encountered so far.
When previously searching for things for Lu Jiang, she had organized her space, and found a dozen bags of cheap industrial fabrics, clothes, shoes, and labor protection supplies. Each large bag was like a small mountain, basically applicable to this era.
With Feng Qingxue’s body warmth and the thick padded coat, Guan Yu gradually stopped shaking that much.
The older girl hid the half of the leftover corn bread carefully in her pocket, saving it for tomorrow’s meal, then squatted near Feng Qingxue, enviously looking at Guan Yu wrapped in the padded coat, asking, "Sister, what relation are you to Guan Yu’s family? You treat him so well. We’ve been living with Guan Cheng and Guan Yu here for several years, but I’ve never seen anyone come to find him."
"Guan Cheng and Guan Yu have been living here for several years?" This sentence caught Feng Qingxue’s attention.
"Yes, not long after Guan Yu was born, Guan Cheng often brought him to live here. Guan Cheng even gave Guan Yu his name! His stepfather’s family didn’t provide a place for them to live. They forced Guan Cheng to work during the day and drove him out at night. Guan Cheng never drank a mouthful of water from them. These two years, many people starved to death; my parents didn’t want me either, complaining that I wasted food. Thus, I joined them and we beg for food together. Guan Cheng and Guan Yu have been living here all along, they’ve never returned to their stepfather’s home."
Feng Qingxue’s face turned pale.
It seemed that the information Chen Ming found was not entirely accurate.
Guan Cheng and Guan Yu were not recently evicted and turned into vagrants. They have been living outside, neglected and uncared for, surviving through their own efforts.
"Sister, you haven’t answered me yet, who are you to them? You are really nice, giving us food as soon as you arrived. It’s been a long time since we’ve eaten anything so delicious. Nowadays, we can only dig for wild vegetables to eat," the older girl asked.
Feng Qingxue gave a light smile, "I am their relative. As soon as I found out where they were through a friend, I hurried over."
"Then you are really kind! Nowadays, every house is starving. You’re the kindest person in the world to come and find them."
"What’s your name? How old are you this year?" Feng Qingxue looked at the girl in front of her. Her face was gaunt and her clothes shabby, yet her eyes were bright and sparkling like polished ink.
The girl shyly smiled, "I don’t have a name, my parents just call me Erya, my surname is Zhang, Zhang Erya."
Having stated her name, Zhang Erya remembered the other question Feng Qingxue had asked and continued, "I’m twelve this year. I was kicked out to beg when I was ten."
A ten year old girl kicked out of her house? How cruel could her parents be?
There were many more children, both large and small, in this broken temple. What unfortunate circumstances brought them here?
Unable to help herself, she voiced the questions in her heart. Following Feng Qingxue’s gaze, Zhang Erya looked at the children savouring their corn bread, hesitating to devour it in one bite, and spoke softly, "In fact, we are the lucky ones, only getting kicked out and not being eaten! Some desperate people exchanged their children with others to be cooked and eaten!"