"Hmph! I let you steal things! I'll make you cripple today!" Maybe it was really not suitable to go out today. Just after walking out for half an hour, I saw a group of people gathered there pointing and talking.
"Lianyun, go and see what happened." She rubbed her eyebrows, feeling that she was too tired today and a little dizzy.
"Please make way, please make way." After squeezing through the crowd for a while, Lian Yun finally got to the front and saw what was happening. "This is not..."
A big man was holding a child, and another man who looked like a servant was kicking and stomping him with his sleeves half rolled up. The child's face was covered with bruises and his body was in a mess.
"Let's see if you dare to steal again in the future!"
Lianyun felt a little sorry for the scene and cried out softly. Realizing that many people were looking at her, she quickly covered her mouth and stepped back. "My Queen! It's the little thief from before. He was caught stealing and is being beaten." She didn't know whether she should gloat over the misfortune or sympathize with him. The expression on her face was colorful.
Shen Qingwan raised her lowered eyes and said, "That child looks like he is only eight or nine years old. How could he do such a thing?" Perhaps because they had been walking together for a distance, he was less vigilant. Besides, he should know the situation here better than her. She turned to ask Fu Huaiyu, who looked as if he was not trying to fight with the world.
Fu Huaiyu put away the fan in his hand and said, "Why? You can't accept this?" To him, these things were just like daily routine, commonplace. But to Shen Qingwan, who rarely came out, it seemed a bit cruel. "If you can't figure it out, why not go over and ask."
She was stunned when she heard this, but she felt that it made some sense. Since she couldn't bear to see him, why didn't she go and save him? Although there were many poor people in this city, since she had met him today, she couldn't just sit there and watch.
"Stop!" Fu Huaiyu took a few steps forward. As soon as his voice came out, many people turned their heads to look at him. This included the servant who beat the child. This servant was the servant of Fushanlou in front of him. He naturally knew the Ninth Prince who often appeared in the city. He knelt down with a plop and said, "I greet the Ninth Prince. Long live the Ninth Prince!"
As a result, even the people watching the excitement nearby bowed and saluted. Even the big man who held the child knelt down in a cold sweat.
Ignoring the people kneeling on the ground, he turned around and waved to Shen Qingwan, pointing at the powerless thief on the ground, "Don't you want to go over and take a look?"
Only then did she come back to her senses from the scene just now. She didn't expect him to be so high-profile. She quickly stepped over the person kneeling on the ground and walked to the child. When she walked closer, she found that it was actually a girl, but her clothes were tattered, her hair was never combed, and even her face was covered with dust so her gender couldn't be seen. Only from the skin on her arms and the sound of her coughing could she tell that it was a girl.
"Lianyun, come here quickly!" She was shocked and felt even more sympathetic. Fortunately, she had the habit of carrying silver when she went out, so she took out a few coins from her sleeve and handed them to her, saying, "Go buy some suitable clothes." She turned around and asked the servant who was kneeling on the ground and was afraid to get up, "Do you have a clean guest room here?"
The servant nodded hurriedly. Since this was an inn, of course there were things available. "I'll prepare them for you right away." These were all important people, so he naturally didn't dare to neglect them. Even the fact that the thief had just stolen his things could be ignored.
When Lianyun came back, the two had already taken her to the guest room and had the servant put her on the bed. After Lianyun came back, they asked Lianyun to help her wash up, and then they finally saw her face clearly.
The tender little face was only the size of a palm, and because of its small features, it looked very pretty. Upon closer inspection, it actually looked a bit like Shen Qingwan. But I couldn't understand why she would do such a thing even if she was poor. Besides, she had just stolen her jade pendant and Lianyun's purse, so it shouldn't take long for her to use up all the money.
While thinking about this, he told Lianyun to check her clothes to see if there was anything that had just been stolen, and he didn't notice the movement on the bed.
"Hmm..." With a whimper, her tightly closed eyes gradually opened a crack, with confusion in her eyes, "Ah!" Seeing that Shen Qingwan and the others clearly recognized that they were the rich people whose things she had just stolen, she wanted to escape in panic. Just as she was about to get off the bed, she fell to the ground. Only then did she realize that her situation seemed a little strange.
She remembered that she was caught stealing the servant's purse, so how did she end up on the bed so suddenly? Recalling it, she remembered that she seemed to have fainted.
"Stop moving!" Shen Qingwan turned around and saw her fall to the ground. She went over to support her without putting on airs as a queen. "You are still injured. The doctor will be here soon." She smiled soothingly and rubbed her still slightly damp hair.
She was stunned when she heard that. Doctor? She couldn't afford a doctor at all! She was helped to the bed with a dull look in her eyes. Only then did she realize that her clothes had been changed. Her nose was sore and tears fell. She hadn't received such treatment for a long time.
Seeing her crying, Shen Qingwan was confused. How could such a little girl steal for no reason? So she wiped her tears with a handkerchief and asked her why she did this.
The little girl wiped away her tears and began to explain.
Her nickname was Awen. She had only one mother and the family was often so poor that they could barely make ends meet. But at least her mother could occasionally help others wash clothes and barely support the two of them to survive.
But not long ago, her mother suddenly became seriously ill, and she was too young to do anything. She took the only remaining silver in the family to see a doctor, who opened a pharmacy after the diagnosis. However, the prescription cost three taels of silver each time, and she only had one tael of silver in her hand. Therefore, she had no choice but to do this.
In the beginning, she ran too slowly and was always caught. She was scolded every time, or even worse, like now, she was beaten black and blue.
Shen Qingwan understood her words, but suddenly remembered that her jade pendant was worth several hundred taels of silver, so she asked her, "Didn't you take my jade pendant? That should be enough, right? Then why did you steal again?"
She frowned and saw that Awen looked a little embarrassed. "I saw the jade pendant and knew it must be a valuable item, so I didn't dare to sell it. I wanted to return it to you." There was a word "Wan" on the jade pendant, and it was obvious that it was a very meaningful item, so she hid it and didn't sell it.