Lu Baoyou glanced at the chipped bowl and the few worn bills clutched tightly in her hand, falling silent.
He pulled out a twenty-yuan bill from his pocket, stuffed it into the little beggar's hand, and said flatly, "I need to sleep here for three nights."
The little beggar froze.
She looked at the bill in her hand, then at Lu Baoyou, who had closed his eyes again to rest. After hesitating for a long while, she tucked the money into her clothes and walked alone to sit against the wall opposite him.
"Oh... okay."
She set the chipped bowl aside, piled together the firewood and dry grass she had gathered, and lit a bonfire with a candle, briefly driving away the cold of the winter night.
Then she took a stack of tattered blankets from the hole behind her and wrapped herself in them. Amid the icy wind, only her rosy little face was exposed, while her eyes curiously studied Lu Baoyou across from her.
Lu Baoyou closed his eyes again.
"You're not a beggar, are you?" After a long while, the little beggar finally could not help asking.
"No," Lu Baoyou replied blandly.
"I didn't think so either. Your clothes are so clean... Did you run away from home?"
"No."
"Then were you abducted by human traffickers?"
"No."
"...Then why did you come here?" the little beggar asked in confusion. "You have money, so why aren't you staying at a hotel?"
The little beggar was somewhat displeased that someone had taken over her nest.
Lu Baoyou did not answer. His right hand in his pocket silently rubbed the last ten-yuan bill and two coins on him, and he felt rather helpless...
He had not had much money to begin with. Nearly all of it had been spent on