Chapter 66: Little ones
Looking at what Fu Xichen wrote, Ming Shu was pleased with what she read. Neither to narrow minded or too flexible, although a bit ignorant in some aspect, the poor scholar in front of her was more talented than she thought. After she discussed his answers with him, she finally let out a smile and agreed to take him under her wing.
Honestly, Fu Xichen never thought he would be chosen. He was very aware he didn't study as much as most scholars in the Capital, so he was already very pleased with the enriched discussion that the Young Miss provided.
Not sure what he should do after being caught in surprise at being accepted , he only managed to bow as low as he could to the young talent in front of him. That was the only form he could express how grateful he was, no words could contain what her gesture meant to him.
"Now, now, there is no need for that. Me helping you is also helping myself, and I quite taken a liking on you. But I'm afraid I need to aggrieve you a day more before O can take you to your future accommodation, is that all right?"
"Of course Young Miss! Whenever is good for you"
"Great. I already have an assignment to you. If you know anyone else that it's here unjustly I would like to meet them tomorrow. I will trust your judgment on the candidates"
"I'll make sure to meet your expectations"
"See you tomorrow"
With a smile Ming Shu bid farewell to her future subordinate. Looking at the small alleys close to the restaurant she could see many hungry eyes eyeing the back door of the restaurant.
Taking Luyu's hand she went to the closest alley.
The children inside were first alarmed when they saw people entering their territory, but after seeing that were two girls that shouldn't be much older than them, the panic in their eyes and greed filled after seeing how the girls were dressed.
'Today we will have a warm meal!'
With shining eyes they quickly approached the two new comers as a pack of hungry hyenas. But before they could pounce their prey, the hunt unexpectedly became the hunter.
Ming Shu took her belt out. What revealed itself was a soft sword that Ming Shu had with her all times.
Seeing the shining sword, all the kids previously greed and smugness turned into fear. Even if you gave them 100 leopard gals they wouldn't dare cross this big sister. The biggest one of them gathered his courage and stepped forward. Although they were orphans, although they were abandoned, they were are a family, and he would never let anyone hurt his family even if it costed his life.
'I'm their big brother after all'
He prostrated himself in front of Ming Shu and Luyu.
"Miss we were in the wrong and I hope you can be the bigger person and forgive us. We are hungry and muddled head. I can offer you my life, but please spare my siblings"
"No Big Brother Wu!"
"You can't take him!"
"We are at fault too"
"If you kill him you have to kill me too!"
Ten more sentences in this style were said by the other children. Ming Shu could see the sincerity of each one in the group and she could tell that if she did something to the young one in front of her they will launch a suicide attack on her.
This situation was quite amusing. Not only amusing, but heart warming. See someone protecting what is precious to oneself will never stop to amaze Ming Shu. It such an amazing feeling having something to protect so deeply.
So looking at the children desperately fighting to protect their family made Ming Shu laugh. Not an amused laugh. Not a mocking laugh. But a pure and clear laugh of happiness.
The laugh came so abruptly to the ones who were expecting to fight for their life's that the group of children only managed to stare dumbly at the girl laughing. Even Luyu was not sure why her Miss was laughing so joyful for. The situation was not the most happy one for them.
"Miss?"
"Oh, sorry, sorry. I'm not mocking you. I just find beautiful that against all odds you grew up with such sentiments for each other. I deeply admire each one of you for that. And don't worry, I have no malicious intend towards, I just took the sword out so you could stop your advances and I wouldn't need to hurt neither of you. I actually came for a job proposition, Will you hear me out? You can refuse if you want"
The biggest kid still were distrustful, but allowed her to present her proposition.
"I know you guys have a good amount of grasp of what happens around the city right? What I want is for you to work for me and report things you heard in the city and other similar jobs. In exchange I will give you a home and food. I will also teach you how to write... what you think?"
The younger kids already had sparkling eyes, but the older ones showed a deeper distrust to the young lady. Through their fewer years of life they had seen so much betrayal and lies, making harder for them to believe that such a good deal exist.
The older kid voices their thoughts.
"What is the catch?"
"Hee. I like how smart you are. You think my deal is too good and must have a catch right? Most of the times you would be right. But not this one. There's no catch, I just honestly need a information network and you are the best for the job. Providing you the things I propose is the bare minimum. We can talk about increasing your rewards later"
"How can we trust you?"
"Honestly, you can't. We just met and you don't even know my name it would be too naive of you to do so. So let's first fix that. My name is Ming Shu, First Miss of the Ming Household, and granddaughter of the General Li. I'm a great martial artist so if I really had bad intentions towards you, l of you would already be doomed. You think you can trust me now?"
The kid once again looked at the sword in her hand and nodded.
"...for now"
"Great! So what's your name little guy?"
"Wu Xize"
"Well, nice to meet you. Care to introduce me to the rest of the group?"
Wu Xize motioned to each of the kids present saying their name and age.
"So Miss... what you need us to do?"
"First, here is the meal I have for you. Eat it while is hot. After I will take you to your new house. We can discuss the details there"
Luyu gave the kids the food, and watched with her Mistress the kids gobbling down the food with a smile.
Later that day in a small courtyard that was neither too lavish or too poor, two small figures sit down close to the fireplace.
"I never thought we would have a place to call home"
"En"
"The foods we had today are probably the best ones I have ever had"
"En"
"She even assigned us a few maids to care for us"
"En"
"The younger ones are already completely taken by the Miss"
"En"
The small figure that was talking shut up and stared at the fireplace.
All that happened to them today was beyond their wildest dreams.
"... should we really trust her? The thing she asked..."
The bigger figure finally looked at the little one and opened his mouth to answer.
"What she said it's true. If she wanted to do anything suspicious to us she didn't have to be so polite or give us anything. She has power to do so. Plus, her request it's simple enough in exchange for what she is given right? No one of us will starve or die from the cold. If the situation change we can always escape. A few no the capital as good as we do"
"You're right Big Brother Wu. Plus I have the feeling Miss won't disappoint us. We should do our best tomorrow to accomplish the task"
Before Wu Xize could answer a middle aged woman with kind features approach them.
"Hey little ones you will get a cold sitting in the cold ground. Here take these blankets. Don't take too long here and go to sleep ok?"
The two took the blankets and thanked the figure that entered her room.
Wu Xize looked at the warm blanket in his head that was a pipe dream to any of the kids here previously and clenched his little hand.
"Yes. We should do our best for Miss"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Amora
Amora Should have posted yesterday the first part. Since I did not here is the chapter with extra length. Hope you enjoyed it
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