章 47: TGP : The Children
Li Amm followed the old man's instruction and arrived at the West Alley. It was already dark and passed dinner time.
Li Amm was worried that Xiao Min would start the funeral at the Ren residence. She needed to hurry so she could go back before the people in the Ren residence would panic.
The houses in the West Alley was more desolate and more destroyed than the ones near the plaza. The people who lived here was poorer than the one she saw before.
According to the old man, those children were all orphans and they get their foods through alms and stealing. But they were mostly beaten because of that. In this era, there's no orphanage that could take these children in. They were left in the streets until someone took them and sell them for slaves. But mostly, a lot of them died through starvation or sickness. Thingking of these children, Li Amm also thought of Twelve.
Twelve must have been a slave before and he must have a cruel master.
'Sigh, what a damn world. '
This was one of the reasons why Li Amm left the residence from time to time. She had been living in luxury in all her life. And as person who loves to be in comfort, she make sure she don't suffer.
So when she goes out, she was reminded that the life she received was something to be grateful for.
Li Amm arrived at the last house in this empty West Alley. This house had broken roofs and the bamboo that was acting as the pillars were about to break. Li Amm wondered if someone could actually live here. She could see that snow had already invade this dilapidated house.
"Hello?"
Li Amm soft voice was met by silence.
"Is anyone here? I was sent by the old man who own the biggest inn in the plaza."
There were some rustling sounds inside the house.
Li Amm was stunned. There was still people here!
"I come here to deliver the food -"
Woosh. The door opened by a pair of small hands.
It was a dirty little boy who opened the door.
Li Amm smiled gently and crouched down. She handed the two bags in front of the boy. The boy was really small. He looked like he was only three years old.
"This is the food." The little boy looked at her with weariness before he reached out his shaking dirty hands.
Li Amm then noticed that the little boy was shaking from head to toe. She placed down the bags and took off her outer robe. She covered the boy's small frame. The kid still not stop shivering. The boy still trying to reach out the bread in the bags. Li Amm quickly get one bread and gave it to him. The child quickly devour the food in three seconds.
"Careful. There are still a lot in the bags. You will choke." The child keep eating until he had devoured three breads.
Li Amm glanced at his house.
"Are you alone?" The boy suddenly stopped eating and looked at her in horror. His little dreamy land was forcefully open to reality as he remembered the brothers and sisters inside the house.
He swallowed the last piece of bread in his hands and pulled Li Amm's hands inside the house.
Li Amm let herself be dragged by the small boy.
The house was small and it only has one room, four walls, and no windows. The roof is broken and half of the floor was covered in snow. This place could not really call a house. But just a broken shed.
Li Amm saw four more children in the corner. They were all hugging each other. There was a small space in the center. That was probbaly the space for the little boy. That's why he was the only one awake because he was the only one who had been protected well from the cold. The clothes around the children were thin and thorn. The piece of rag that was covering their body was not enough to shield them from this cold season.
Li Amm was wearing three piece of clothing. She handed the cloak to the child. She still had her outer robes. And her inner clothes was more thicker. She took off her outer clothes and draped it over to the children.
The four children were all asleep.
In this cold, being asleep was the most dangerous. They would sleep through the cold and would never wake up.
They were mostly hungry and the cold made them weaker.
Li Amm looked at the boy.
"Let's wake them up. So they could eat." The boy nodded and started shaking the other children.
Li Amm felt their pulse. Feeling their weak pulse, she let our a sigh of relief. She was afraid that these kids had become corpse.
If they were not discovered here today, they would have all die today.
Li Amm thank the gods that she came back to the old Man's inn and the old man told him about this children. Four little lives would probably lost if she did not come here.
She distributed the food.
The four children were weak but they still chew the bread with all their might. Li Amm introduced her self and explained the situation to them. She saw that the eyes of the children were guarded and does not contain the innocent she saw in her niece and nephews. These are the children who experienced the dirtniess of this world.
"I have a big house, two cities away from here. If we took the shortcut, we will be there for two hours. " Earlier, Li Amm doesn't plan to wonder far from the Ren residence. But since they used a carriage, she planned to go far as two cities away from the capital. Since she just planned to look around and rent for a carriage to go back. But who would know that there would be no carriage in this city as all the people here had left? The carriage driver does not tell them about it so he probably doesn't know the news about here too or the 'plague' that the citizens here had been running from.
Now, they don't have a choice but to walk for an hour to reach the next city and rent a carriage there for the next hour to arrive at the capital.
" Don't worry. I have money here and we can rent a carriage after walking for an hour. I will give you warm food and warm blankets. Would you want to come with me?" This was a very tempting offer for the kids.
The kids looked at each other. They were clearly tempted and they already imagining the warm food and warm blanket that Li Amm was talking about.
However, they had a big problem.
The tallest kid, a young girl, who was about the age of ten, bit her lips.
"We wants to come with you. But would you take all of us?" Her voice was parched and groggy.
Li Amm felt her heart ache for this young child. She must be their leader, the one who keeps the other children alive.
"Of course. I will take you all in."
The girl eyes lit up. But when she glanced back to the other children her eyes dimmed. She opened her mouth to speak but she couldn't find it.
"What is it? Tell me." Li Amm encourage the girl. The girl looked like she was hesitating to say something.
"It is fine, big sis. You can leave me here." A young boy who seemed the weakest among them spoke.
When Li Amm looked at this boy, that's when she realized why was the girl hesitating. She now understand what the old man meant when he said that the children could not move out this city even someone helped them.
It makes sense, since the boy was crippled after all.
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