080, shelter
080, shelter
“Squeak—”
The yard door was opened from the inside.
The two brothers who were waiting outside the door saw the person pushing the door open. The younger brother's face looked a little nervous and uneasy, and his two little hands tightly held his brother's hands.
When the elder brother saw the woman coming out and recognized that she was accompanied by the younger brother who had brought them here, a hint of nervousness and hope flashed in his eyes. He hoped that a kind person would take him and his brother in so that they could survive the winter. Otherwise, he didn't know if he could survive with his younger brother.
"Mom, these two are it." Lu Mingfei said to his mother.
Liu Sanniang looked at the two children in front of her. They were still wearing such thin clothes in the middle of winter. The shoes on their feet had holes in them, exposing their toes. Their two little faces were black and blue from the cold.
She was a mother herself, and seeing two children of the same age as hers suffering so miserably, she felt a little sorry for them.
But before taking the two children in, Liu Sanniang still had to ask a few questions, so she looked at the older child and asked, "What are your names? Do you remember where you live?"
"My name is Zhang Qi, my brother's name is Xiaobao... We have no home anymore." When he said the last sentence, the expression on Zhang Qi's face dimmed.
Lu Mingfei asked, "Where did you live originally? Do you still remember?"
"We used to live in the Eighth Lane in the west of the city. Our grandmother passed away last month and we had no money to pay the rent, so the landlord had us kicked out." When Zhang Qi said this, he lowered his head even more.
When Zhang Xiaobao heard his brother talking about his deceased grandmother, his eyes became red and he wiped his eyes with his dirty little hands.
Lu Mingfei finally understood. It turned out that the two brothers had lived in Kyoto Prefecture before. After their parents left, they couldn't pay the rent and were kicked out by the landlord. Probably with nowhere to go and no money to eat, the two brothers had no choice but to beg on the streets.
"Do you have any other relatives in your family besides you two brothers?" Although she knew that these two children probably had no other relatives willing to take them in, Liu Sanniang still wanted to ask about this.
"No, our mother is dead..." Thinking of his father who was nowhere to be found, Zhang Qi added, "Dad went to join the army a few years ago and hasn't returned yet."
"...There are no other relatives at home." Zhang Qi did not think that those so-called relatives who came to their house to steal things after his grandmother died were relatives.
This means that there are still relatives in this world, but we don’t know whether they are alive or dead.
It turns out that these two children are military families! If it were in his previous era, the government would help take care of such children. However, in this era, Lu Mingfei was not sure whether there were any policies to take care of military families and their descendants.
Lu Mingfei turned around and whispered a few words to his mother before turning back to the two children and saying, "How about this? You two brothers can temporarily live in our house. Zhang Qi, you are older, so you can help with the housework to offset the living expenses for you and your brother."
"Oh, yes. How old are you two?"
"I will be twelve years old after the Chinese New Year, and my brother is five years old." Zhang Qi responded nervously.
"Then before you turn thirteen, your monthly wage is three hundred coins. You will live and eat in our house, and you can also save some money for yourself. After you turn thirteen and can do more work, we will discuss the wages. If you still want to stay in our house and work at that time, we will increase the wages appropriately based on the actual situation." Lu Mingfei also knew that in Kyoto Prefecture, three hundred coins was a very low wage.
However, they provided the two brothers with food and lodging in their home, and a child of eleven or twelve could not do much work, so the three hundred coins were just a subsidy and could not be considered formal wages.
In this way, they essentially hired two child laborers to work at their home, allowing them to offset their food and lodging expenses with their work, while also providing them with a stipend. During their two years at their home, the children could also save a small amount of money, allowing them to leave without worrying about running out of money.
They took in the two brothers in this way, but it didn't count as adopting them.
Now they had made these rules clear in advance, so that the two brothers wouldn't feel like they were being treated as sons by someone else's parents when they moved in, and that their parents would treat them like their own sons. After all, he was currently studying, and his younger brother would be sent to a teacher to start his education after the New Year. This was to prevent the two brothers from feeling unfairly treated by their parents and harboring resentment. Lu Mingfei knew all too well that there were some people in this world who would beg for more than they deserved.
"Thank you, benefactor." Zhang Qi pulled his brother down and knelt down, wanting to kowtow to the benefactor who took them in.
"Hey! What are you doing?!" Lu Mingfei grabbed the two brothers with both hands, preventing them from bowing to him, "Hurry up and get up. This kind of thing doesn't work in our family."
"Yes, yes, get up quickly. It's very cold outside. You come in here and wait for a while. After we pack up, we will take you home. The house we rent is not here. We come here every day to set up a stall and do business." Liu Sanniang also reached out to pull the two children up, took the two children into the yard, and found a corner without wind for the two children to stay there and wait for a while.
Zhang Qi and his brother stood in a corner, staring at the unfamiliar yard. He saw people working in the yard, and they didn't look like bad people. On the way here, he had been worried that they would run into bad people and be kidnapped and sold.
When his grandmother died, he promised her that he would take good care of his brother. He did not want to sell himself and his brother to become slaves. Fortunately, they were lucky this time and did not meet bad people, but good people.
Liu Sanniang had noticed that the two children were wearing very thin clothes, so she said to her eldest son, "Mingfei, go borrow a piece of clothing from your adoptive father and wrap them up. The wind will be strong on the way back, so you might want to avoid getting them sick."
"Okay." Lu Mingfei responded and went to the front to find his adoptive father and mother. He told them that they had just picked up two children and were going to temporarily take in the two brothers. Finally, he mentioned the matter of borrowing clothes.
"You...really!" Xu Yue Niang didn't know what to say. Finally, she asked her husband to watch the store while she and her adopted son went to the backyard.
***
The hired laborers washed and put away the dirty dishes and pots. Liu Sanniang distributed this month's wages to everyone and gave each person a small red envelope. "This is a small token of my appreciation for your hard work. Go back and have a good New Year. Come back here to work on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year."
"Thank you, Sanniang."
"Thank you, boss."
“…”
After Madam Xie and Madam Zhang received their wages for this month and the red envelope from their boss, they went out together.
When they left, they looked at the two dirty children who appeared in the yard with a little curiosity. However, although they were curious, no one asked any questions. They hurried home to reunite with their families.
Xu Yueniang came out from the front and just met Xie Niang and her group going out. She found Liu Sanniang who was there and asked about the two children she had picked up.
"Mingfei and the other two brought them back." Liu Sanniang sighed a bit when she talked about this matter, but she also knew that the children were kind and well-intentioned, so she didn't want to scold them. However, when she talked about this matter with Xu Yuiniang, her temper was a little off.
Xu Yueniang followed Liu Sanniang over and saw the two children here.
Xu Yueniang also knew the situation of Liu Sanniang's family. She knew that they already had two children to raise and they were afraid they could not afford to raise two more children back home, so she suggested that one child be left at their home to be raised.
As soon as he heard that the two brothers were to be separated, Zhang Qi hugged his younger brother tightly.
"Forget it, let them live in our house." Liu Sanniang also saw that the two brothers did not want to separate. After all, they would raise three children or four children, it would just be a matter of having one more pair of bowls and chopsticks.
Just as they were packing up and preparing to leave, her husband had also finished selling his things and came to pick them up. Liu Sanniang told her husband that the three children had gone out to pick up two children.
Lu Youtian looked at the two brothers wrapped in a coat and knew that the coat belonged to Lu Qingfeng. Seeing how pitiful the two brothers looked, he didn't think too much and just said, "It's okay, let's take them back together."
Liu Sanniang finally felt relieved when she saw that her husband also agreed to keep the two children.
When she took the four children away, she said to Xu Yueniang and her husband, "I'll bring them to your house tomorrow morning to wish you a happy new year."
"You can come to our house for lunch tomorrow, and you don't have to cook alone." Today is New Year's Eve, and Xu Yue Niang no longer allowed her children to go to the Lu family, and forced her children to stay at home.
"Okay." Liu Sanniang replied with a smile.
Xu Yueniang and Boss Lu brought their son and escorted the Lu family out the back door.
Lu Youtian carried his youngest son onto the donkey cart and said, "You two can sit on it too." As he spoke, he picked up the two children he had picked up and put them on the donkey cart.
Brothers Zhang Qi and Zhang Xiaobao were sitting in the donkey cart, both feeling a little nervous.
Lu Mingrui looked at the two little brothers, a smile on his face, and he reached out to touch the little brother closest to him. Touched by a small hand, Zhang Qi turned around and found that it was the younger brother who touched him. Seeing the smile on the little brother's face, his nervous mood suddenly relaxed.
"Godfather and mother, Mingcong goodbye." When Lu Mingfei followed his parents away, he waved goodbye to his godfather and mother and younger brother.
"Goodbye." Xu Yue Niang also waved.
Mingcong and his younger brother Mingrui were inseparable, but in the end the two brothers were forcibly separated by adults.
When he saw the carriage carrying his brother away, Lu Mingcong's eyes were red. He turned around and hugged A Niang's thighs, calling out pitifully, "A Niang."
"Be good and don't cry. You will be able to see Mingrui and your brother tomorrow. Today is New Year's Day, so just stay at home and spend a good time with your father and mother." Xu Yue Niang picked up her son and turned back to her own yard.
Boss Lu at the back closed the back door of the yard and lowered the back bolt.
After noon that day, the pancake shop closed. Many shops on this street also closed early, as everyone went home to celebrate the New Year.
The whole South Street suddenly became deserted. Author's words: Thank you Bole 9492239 (9492239) for your support, mua! To know more exciting content, please leave me a message on Liancheng Reading
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