At first, from the information Zhang Lei had found, when she learned that the thief did not enjoy the stolen goods himself after selling them, but rather used them to support a group of homeless people, Su Xiaoqi did not quite believe it.
But now, the matter was right before her eyes, and she had no choice but to believe it.
She stood at the doorway for a while, deliberately kicking the floor to alert the people inside.
Seeing someone, they were startled at first. After realizing it was Su Xiaoqi, they seemed to calm down a bit.
But no one dared to move, pushing each other.
Finally, a girl with sallow skin timidly stood up and approached Su Xiaoqi. "Who are you?"
Su Xiaoqi tried her best to appear approachable, with a gentle smile on her face. She softened her tone and said, "Just passing by. Passing by here, what is this...?"
Su Xiaoqi pointed to them, huddled together. They were crying so pitifully.
She was not a person who blindly softened her heart, but now she couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness and wanted to help them.
"No, it's nothing." The young girl was only about ten years old, with tear tracks still on her face. Her tears had smudged the dust on her face, making her otherwise pretty face look like a little tabby cat.
"Are you hungry? Zhang Yu, have Zhang Lei buy them something to eat."
"Hungry, hungry, no, no, we're not hungry, we can't just eat things given by others." The young girl instinctively said she was hungry, and then, as if she suddenly remembered something, she immediately denied her words.
Su Xiaoqi said nothing, just waited quietly.
Soon, Zhang Lei came in with two paper-wrapped parcels.
Inside were twenty large meat buns.
As soon as he entered, the aroma of the buns instantly swept over everyone's senses.
The children who had just insisted they weren't hungry all started swallowing.
Su Xiaoqi saw their subtle movements, took the meat buns, and stuffed them into the hands of the little girl in the front without any explanation.
"Eat them, they won't taste good when they get cold."
"But, but, we, we don't know you." The little girl held the buns, wanting to eat them but not daring to, pursing her lips and swallowing hard.
Su Xiaoqi felt her heart ache, raised the buns, and said, "Then do you recognize this?"
The little girl nodded. Meat buns, of course, she recognized them.
When Brother Xiao Jin was around, he would occasionally buy them some.
However, Brother Xiao Jin didn't have much money, and he couldn't afford to eat meat buns every meal. Usually, it was good enough for them to have steamed buns.
Meat buns were only something they could have once every ten to twenty days.
After persuading the little girl, the rest of the children were easily swayed.
They were even younger, some looking like they were four or five, and others seven or eight.
Scanning them, Su Xiaoqi realized that this little girl was actually the oldest among them.
Tsk, these people were even worse off than the group of beggars she had encountered in Mianzhou City.
She beckoned, "Come quickly, two big meat buns for each of you, eat them quickly."
What followed was a scene of true voracious eating and wolfing down food.
Despite their small size, these children were like kings when they ate. Two buns were gone in just two bites, stuffed into their mouths, creating a large bulge, and chewed up in no time.
They ate as if afraid someone would snatch the buns from their hands.
After finishing, they all stared at Su Xiaoqi, their eyes filled with longing.
"Not full?" Su Xiaoqi asked.
No one spoke, and all eyes turned to the little girl who had spoken first.
She had only taken one bite of her bun. After thinking for a moment, she bit her lip and made a difficult decision, bringing the bun to the mouth of the little boy next to her, letting him take a bite.
The little boy shook his head, indicating that he himself hadn't eaten yet.
"I, I, Sister Fu Ping is not hungry, you eat." The little girl smiled and insisted on offering the bun.
Then came the others, taking turns biting and sharing, and surprisingly, they finished hers too.
And miraculously, besides the little girl named Fu Ping, there were nine others.
None of them took more than a bite, sharing one bun very evenly.
Su Xiaoqi watched from the side and exclaimed repeatedly.
When it came to the second bun, everyone was unwilling to share anymore and unanimously asked Fu Ping to eat it.
Fu Ping, however, hesitated for a long time, looking reluctant to eat.
Su Xiaoqi felt a pang of sympathy. It was just a bun.
She looked behind her. Zhang Yu whispered to her, "My lady, relax. Zhang Lei has already gone to buy more."
"Buy a hundred, no, wait, buy twenty more," Su Xiaoqi said firmly.
She now wanted to buy a large pile of buns for them to eat, to let them eat to their heart's content, to eat with peace of mind, as much as they wanted.
However, considering that they had likely gone hungry for two meals, eating too much at once would not be good for their health, so she changed her mind.
Fortunately, Zhang Lei was smart and indeed bought twenty more, distributing two to each person.
This time, Fu Ping no longer looked reluctant. She just gazed intently at Su Xiaoqi with her bright, dark eyes before slowly beginning to eat.
Her eating manner was much better than those little brats.
At least she ate bite by bite.
While they were eating the buns, Su Xiaoqi asked, "When you were crying just now, you mentioned your Brother Xiao Jin. Who is he, and where is he now?"
"Brother Xiao Jin is Brother Xiao Jin." The little boy from before wiped his nose and replied.
Su Xiaoqi chuckled, finding his answer amusing.
She patiently continued, "Where are you all from, and how did you meet your Brother Xiao Jin? Has he always been taking care of you?"
"Who are you? What are you asking about Brother Xiao Jin for? Did you capture him?" Fu Ping was quite sharp.
As soon as Su Xiaoqi asked, she became vigilant.
Su Xiaoqi smiled, "I was just passing by and heard your crying, so I came to take a look. I just heard about the Brother Xiao Jin you mentioned. How could I have captured him? Wasn't it the officials who captured him?"
Su Xiaoqi's counter-question stunned Fu Ping.
She thought about it, and it made sense. She had personally seen the officials come and capture Brother Xiao Jin.
The sister in front of her was well-dressed, but she was certainly not one of the officials.
Fu Ping realized she had overthought things and misunderstood Su Xiaoqi, feeling a little embarrassed.
This person, whom they didn't know at all, had come and treated them to big meat buns. She was surely a kind-hearted person. How could she dampen her benefactor's spirits?
She felt a bit regretful and told Su Xiaoqi everything she knew about Xiao Jin.
He was also an orphan, who had begged for a living in the western part of the capital since he was young, and they were the ones he had picked up.
"Brother Xiao Jin used to have a younger brother and a younger sister, but they are both gone. Seeing us, he picked us up..." Fu Ping looked at Su Xiaoqi kindly, and her words gradually became more numerous.
Su Xiaoqi basically understood. The thief named Xiao Jin was indeed a relatively decent person.
Although he had done wrong, he had still saved these children.
In life, good and evil are not always clear-cut matters.
What some people see as evil, others might consider as doing good.
She didn't know how to judge Xiao Jin's thieving actions.
Anyway, he had now been captured by the officials and would receive the corresponding punishment.
However, it was these children who suffered.
The oldest among them was only about ten years old. Outside, not to mention making a living, they probably couldn't even protect themselves.
Her heart ached. She squatted down and asked, "Do you want to eat big meat buns every meal?"
Out of the ten people, except for Fu Ping, all of them answered in unison, "Yes!"
Their voices were so loud that they almost shook the tiles that had been patched on the roof.
"Then will you come with me? I will feed you." Su Xiaoqi coaxed them gently.
The conditions in this place were too poor; it was really uninhabitable.
"No, we can't leave. Brother Xiao Jin won't be able to find us when he returns." Fu Ping refused.
"I'll have someone leave a message here. When he returns and sees it, he can come to me to find you, how about that?" Su Xiaoqi coaxed her patiently.
She had come to do a good deed, but it felt like a bad person trying to trick children.
Fu Ping still disagreed. Su Xiaoqi could see that although she tried hard to hide it, she was ultimately afraid.
Alas, for a moment, she didn't know how to persuade her.