I Will Take Him With Me

When beggars gathered around and refused to disperse, officials brought out clubs and struck them directly. Only then did the beggars scatter in a flurry, fleeing toward the open fields.

The children mixed in with the crowd of beggars ran along with the adults, their faces filled with the panic of being abandoned.

They could still survive within the city, but out in the wild, they would have to fight for survival not only against other people but against wild beasts as well.

Pan Yun stood in the crowd, watching quietly. After a long while, once the crowd had dispersed and the beggars had run far away, she turned and headed west.

A young beggar, about three or four years old, lay on the ground. He was the one who had been left behind; after being knocked down repeatedly by others, he had failed to get back up. Fortunately, no one had stepped on him.

Otherwise, with his small frame, a single foot could have sent him to the afterlife.

Pan Yun walked past him without glancing aside. Walking from outside the city to the north would take who knew how long; she still had to find someone to ask about the road to Datong.

She could not enter the city, so she could not go to the Carriage and Horse Agency to rent a carriage or hitch a ride. Relying solely on her two legs, she had no idea how long it would take to reach Datong. She had to find a way to get into a city; if only she could get a fake travel permit. No, she was too young, and a travel permit would be too conspicuous. A fake household registration would be better...

She thought of many things, but when her eyes caught him grabbing a handful of dirt and stuffing it into his mouth, she could not help but stop.

She paused for only a moment before turning back. She reached out, lifted the little one lying on the ground, patted the dirt off his hands, lifted his ragged clothes, and wiped the dirt and pebbles from his mouth with a look of disgust before picking him up and walking away.

The child kicked his legs and struggled for a moment, but perhaps he was too hungry and lacked the strength, for he soon went still.

She carried him a long way until the people at the city gate were no longer visible, then she set the child on the ground and took a steamed bun from a paper bag for him.

The child froze for a moment, then snatched it up quickly and began to gnaw on it.

Pan Yun sat on the grass nearby and watched him eat. The black cat in her arms meowed, "Why did you give him a bun?"

[Because I am kind.] Pan Yun watched the child. Once he finished the bun without choking to death, she stood up to leave.

The child froze, then quickly grabbed her sleeve.

Pan Yun looked back at him and said, "I cannot take you with me. Go find a larger village or town to beg in. If you are lucky, you might meet a good family to take you in. Then you will have a home."

The child pointed at the city wall and said, "I know how to get in."

The little one spoke very clearly, not at all like a three or four-year-old.

Pan Yun looked down at him, met his large eyes, and after a moment of silence, asked, "How do we get in?"

Pan Little Black scoffed in her mind: [Walk through the city gate.]

Unexpectedly, the little one led them along the city wall. Gradually, shrubs and weeds separated them from the wall, and they moved further and further away from the surface...

Just as Pan Yun was about to lose patience, the little one stopped, compared a few nearby trees, and then dove headfirst into the bushes.

Pan Yun: ...

The child literally crawled a path with his body, pressing the weeds down beneath him and disappearing into the grass.

"Here!" the child's happy voice came.

Pan Yun crawled in and saw a hole at the base of the city wall. It was not very large, just enough for a thin person to pass through.

The sides and top were covered in weeds and vines. Pan Yun could not stand up straight, so she simply placed the black cat on her shoulder and crawled through.

Pan Little Black: "Meow, it's a dog hole."

Pan Yun ignored it, examined the hole carefully, and shook her head: "No, this was dug by a human."

Seeing her follow, the child crawled through with lightning speed, sat in the hole, and said, "It's warm here."

Pan Yun crawled in after him. Seeing her follow, the child quickly moved inward, leading her as they crawled out.

This side was also overgrown with weeds, and there was a haystack piled at the hole's exit. She struggled to push the haystack aside and crawled out, discovering this was a wasteland filled with wild grass. Not far away were fields, and further still were scattered houses and vegetable patches.

Pan Yun glanced back at the hole hidden behind the haystack, covered it back up, and pulled the child along.

"How did you know there was a hole there?"

"Bad people brought me here. I hid, and they couldn't find me."

His words were a jumble, and Pan Yun didn't quite understand. She pulled the child a little further away and squatted down to face him.

Her gaze traveled from his eyes to his forehead, his features, and the shape of his face.

She was not skilled in physiognomy, but she knew the basics. Before, the child had been too dirty, his hair a tangled mess like a bird's nest, making it impossible to see his features.

Now, pushing his hair back to reveal his forehead and wiping it with a handkerchief revealed delicate features.

The black cat also stretched its neck, took a look, and meowed: "A good face."

Pan Yun also murmured: "Truly a good face, even a half-baked amateur like me can see it's a good face."

Someone with such a good face would not have been born to be a beggar.

Her fingertips slid over his brows and eyes. It was a pity; he seemed short-lived. Though his birth was noble, he was destined to die young.

Pan Yun brushed his hair back down and grabbed another handful of dirt to smear on his face. The once handsome child became dirty again.

The child accepted this well, because when he was mixed in with the beggars, the older brothers and sisters also liked to smear things on his face.

The child was much more familiar with the She County seat than she was. He skillfully led her through turns, and soon they were out of the area with its heavy rural atmosphere and onto streets with shops and passing pedestrians.

But the child did not dare to go directly; instead, he hid in alleys, looking left and right. When no one was paying attention, he led Pan Yun quickly across the street, moving through the shadows at the corners of the alleys.

Before long, he ducked into a small alley.

The alley was only a meter wide, essentially the space between two walls, allowing only one person to pass at a time.

But the narrow alley was piled with firewood and was somewhat damp. Both houses had small doors opening into the alley, clearly using this space as their own storage.

A faint sound came from the woodpile. The child scurried inside, and then Pan Yun heard a hushed voice from within: "Qie-qie?"

"It's me, it's me, Brother Xiao Hua. Brother Da Zhu was driven away."

"As long as you're back. Did you eat a bun? I smell the scent of a bun."

Pan Yun coughed lightly. The sound in the woodpile vanished instantly. After a long while, the child's small voice came out: "Brother Xiao Hua, it was the big sister who sent me back. She gave me a bun."

The bun gave the other party infinite strength. The woodpile was finally pushed aside, and a small head poked out, looking even younger than her.

He saw the paper bag in Pan Yun's hand at a glance, scurried out, and even dragged the other child out with him. He stood before her, thanking her like an adult: "Thank you for sending him back and giving him a bun. Good people will be rewarded. May the heavens bless the young lady with everything going smoothly and long-lasting peace."

Pan Yun took out a bun for him: "Who taught you those auspicious words?"

He quickly took the bun but did not eat it immediately, instead tucking it into his clothes to keep it safe: "The old beggars teach the big beggars, and the big beggars teach the little beggars. When we receive kindness from a benefactor, we must pray for the benefactor."

Pan Yun felt quite good. She took two more buns from the bag, gave one to each of them, and took one for herself, sitting on a few logs to chat with them.

"Why are you the only one here?"

The child called Xiao Hua, whose name was actually Xiao Hua, said: "Only I managed to run back. They don't know where they're hiding; they might have been driven out of the city too."

From Xiao Hua, she learned that a few days ago, the yamen runners had notified the beggars to leave the county seat and not return for at least a month.

But no one took it to heart.

If they didn't beg in the county seat, where else could they find food?

So, no one left.

The runners notified them several times. Today, seeing they still hadn't left, they mobilized officials to drive all the visible beggars on the streets out of the city and even searched the ruined temples and houses where they usually stayed.

Xiao Hua was quick and agile; seeing the situation was bad, he scurried into this alley.

This alley was deep, and they didn't usually live here. They only wandered into it when they were being chased and had nowhere else to go, then hid here.

There was a lot of firewood here; as long as they hid inside and didn't make a sound, they could always escape. Over time, this had become the children's sanctuary, unknown even to the older beggars.

It was only because Pan Yun was the same age as them and generously shared her buns that Xiao Hua was willing to tell her.

Pan Yun nodded and pointed at the child, asking, "You call him Qie-qie?"

"He said his name is Qie'er."

The child beside them said anxiously: "Qie'er, my name is Qie'er."

"Right, right, your name is Qie-qie." Xiao Hua nodded perfunctorily.

Although the sound was correct, the child still felt something was off and looked at Pan Yun with some grievance.

Pan Yun was thoughtful and asked: "Do you know where he came from?"

"He escaped from human traffickers," this was no secret. Xiao Hua said: "Before the New Year, the government was catching traffickers near the wall hole, and he ran out during the chaos."

"Since he was trafficked, why not send him to the government? Through the government, he might be able to find his parents."

Xiao Hua shook his head: "Grandpa San took him there, but it was no good. Someone in the government was looking for children, but it didn't look like they wanted to take him home properly, so he brought him back."

He glanced at the child and looked up at Pan Yun: "Young lady, you are a good person. Are you willing to take him? If you are willing, take him away."

Pan Yun smiled and asked him: "What if I am not willing?"

Xiao Hua sighed and said: "If you aren't willing, then I will take him. I have already found a place. The Zhang Family in Tongluo Lane has no sons, and they have always wanted to adopt me. I didn't want to before, but now that I can't survive, I am going to be their son."

He said: "If you aren't willing to take him, I will take him to be my younger brother. In the future, I will share half my food with him and kowtow more to Zhang Dad and Zhang Mom; they will definitely agree."

Pan Yun looked down at him carefully. If she really brought this child over, the Zhang Family might not be willing to adopt him. After all, this child named Qie'er was better looking than him and younger.

If the Zhang Family only wanted one son, they would definitely choose the younger, better-looking one.

However, she did not say this out loud, but smiled instead: "When he grows up and knows, he will definitely be very grateful to you."

She turned her head to look at the ignorant child and said: "I will take him."