The house servant carried the little beggar away, Anning and Moli hurriedly walked ahead.
But they didn’t expect that after walking only a short distance, two beggars rushed out from an angle, grabbing Anning’s legs: "Kind-hearted Madam, please save us, save ..."
These two beggars were a boy and a girl, both children.
The little boy knelt on the ground continuously kowtowing, and the little girl, even younger, though afraid, still mustered the courage to cling to Anning’s legs: "Madam, please take my brother in, he can do anything."
The little boy said: "Madam, please save my sister, my sister can be a maid, she can serve Madam, just give her a bowl of rice to eat."
Anning bent down and helped the two children up: "Where are your parents?"
The little boy shook his head: "We don’t have parents, our... our parents are long gone, now it’s just the two of us."
The two children were filthy and emitted a stench due to not having bathed for a long ti.
But Anning didn’t show any sign of disdain.
She looked at the two children and felt they were quite appealing to her.
"Co with ."
When Anning and Moli arrived next to the carriage, the house servant noticed that their Madam had taken in another pair of little beggars.
Anning got on the carriage with the maid and the sibling pair, and the house servant hurriedly escorted the carriage ho.
After getting on the carriage, the siblings were exceptionally restrained.
They sat obediently, not daring to move at all.
They also knew they were very dirty, and the inside of the carriage was really well arranged, clean and warm, with soft blankets laid out. Sitting in the carriage was truly comfortable.
Having always slept under the eaves of rich households or in decrepit temples, the siblings felt that even riding such a carriage once was worth dying for at that mont.
Once at ho, Anning asked soone to call for the doctor.
She also instructed the house servant to send the unconscious little beggar and the siblings to the guest room.
Anning changed her clothes and went to the guest room.
By this ti, the doctor had already arrived, checked the beggar’s pulse, and prescribed so dicine.
Anning imdiately sent Moli to find soone to fetch the dicine; she called for the Liu Shu family’s servant and told her: "Go to the kitchen and have soone boil a pot of water, first give these siblings a hot bath, then prepare two sets of clean and warm clothes for them."
Anning looked at the siblings’ hair and instructed again: "Shave their hair as well, get two hats for them to wear, don’t let them catch cold."
The reason was that the siblings’ heads were infested with lice, and if their hair wasn’t shaved off, the lice would be troubleso.
After all, the children were young; shaving their heads wasn’t a big deal, their hair would grow back in just a few months.
The Liu Shu family’s servant promptly agreed, and soon the kitchen had boiled hot water, and two old won took the siblings to bathe separately.
Anning waited in the guest room. When the siblings ca back in, they were all cleaned up, their heads shaved, and both were wearing cotton hats.
It was only then that Anning really saw the siblings’ faces clearly.
Speaking of which, the siblings were truly good-looking.
Both had fair skin, large round eyes, pretty noses, and nice lips; just by looking at their facial features, one could tell they would grow up to be stunning.
However, their current appearances were quite pitiful, which diminished their good looks.
Their faces were mottled with blue and purple from the cold, and they were terribly thin.
Anning looked at their hands and feet; both children’s hands were frostbitten beyond recognition, and the boy’s feet were nearly rotting from the frostbite.
Anning then said to the old won who led them in: "Let them rest well, don’t let them work this winter; they need to recover their hands and feet first, otherwise, they might suffer from lasting problems."
The old woman replied: "Madam has a good heart."
The siblings imdiately knelt down to kowtow to Anning: "Thank you, Madam."
Anning had them get up: "That’s enough, our family doesn’t do this. Don’t kowtow so readily in the future."
At this ti, the little maid had prepared the dicine. Anning then had two little maids take care of the beggar on the bed and feed him the dicine.
Although the beggar had passed out, his instinct to swallow was still there. As the warm dicinal liquid was poured in, he swallowed it instinctively.
Anning didn’t stay for long in the guest room. After watching the little maid administer the dicine and speaking a few words to the siblings, she left.
She first went to Ms. Ping to inform her, rely ntioning that she had taken in three pitiable children.
Ms. Ping was not a heartless person. Now that the Xiao Family’s days were better, they could afford the als for a few more people. Since Anning wanted to take them in, she had no objections.
After paying her respects to Ms. Ping, Anning went back to her room.
It was not until Xiao Yuan ca back that Anning ntioned this matter to him.
"I’ve seen these three, and they all have remarkable appearances. It seems we are fated to be involved, so I brought them back."
Anning whispered to Xiao Yuan, "I find the children to have kind faces, and they are quite to my liking, so I’m thinking of adopting them as our adoptive sons and daughters."
Xiao Yuan always listened to Anning in such matters.
If Anning wanted to adopt so children, he would not be opposed.
Moreover, Xiao Yuan also knew that he and Anning were unlikely to have many children. Perhaps in their entire lifeti, they would only have one child, or at most two. In modern tis, that might be fine, but in this era, having only one or two children could be lonely. If they adopted so children, their own child would also have companions.
Xiao Yuan readily agreed.
Then, Xiao Yuan went with Anning to see the three children in the guest room.
When they arrived, the little beggar had already woken up.
He was sitting on the bed in confusion. When he saw Anning and Xiao Yuan enter, presumably knowing that Anning had saved his life, he struggled to get up to kowtow to Anning.
Anning quickly stopped him: "That’s enough. Just take care of your health since you’ve just woken up. Don’t go kowtowing so readily."
The child then stretched his mouth into a smile, but since he had been frostbitten before, his lips were cracked in many places. When he smiled and strained the corners of his mouth, blood flowed from the cracks.
Yet the child didn’t seem to feel the pain, still smiling at Anning.
Xiao Yuan patted the child’s shoulder: "What is your na?"
The child blinked: "I have no na. I also don’t know who my parents are. They all call little beggar."
Anning then turned to the other two siblings: "What are your nas?"
The brother said: "My sister is called Xiao Hua, and I am called Xiao Cao."
What kind of nas are these?
Anning listened as the sister added: "The grandfather who took us in gave us these nas, but he is gone now..."
Xiao Yuan coughed and addressed the three children: "Madam has told about you all. She likes you very much and wants to adopt you as our adoptive children. Are you willing?"
Upon hearing this, the three children’s eyes lit up with joy. No matter how many tis Anning had told them not to kowtow, the three children still knelt and kowtowed three tis: "We greet our godmother and godfather."
They had all agreed.
Anning smiled: "You don’t even ask about our status and whether we are bad people, and just like that, you acknowledge us as kin. Aren’t you afraid that I might sell you off?"
The older child offered a bitter smile: "What can Madam want from us? How much silver can three children fetch? Moreover, if Madam could save us on a snowy day, you must not be bad people. Even if... we were close to dying, now we only seek to survive. As long as you provide us with a bite to eat and let us live, we will be endlessly grateful and willing to work like oxen and horses."
This child spoke with so eloquence, which piqued Anning’s curiosity.
The sibling pair looked at Anning timidly: "Godmother, we are willing. Godmother saved our lives. Whatever you ask us to do, we will do it."
Human life is indeed as cheap as grass.
Anning looked at the three children and felt compassion for them: "Well, since you are willing to acknowledge , from now on, I must make sure you’re well taken care of."
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