Chapter 464 : Children Charity Home (1)

After getting dressed, Yuxi was ready to go to the side room for her morning exercise. From the day she had finished her confinement, Yuxi began practising wuqinxi every morning and evening. She remembered that her bones were stiff on the first day, and her whole body ached on the second day. The more this happened, the more she decided to stick to it.

Zijin rushed in from outside and said to Yuxi: “Madam, a woman has left her two children at our gate.”

Yuxi’s face slightly changed as she asked, “Leaving her children at our gate? When did that happen?” It was never good to leave children at someone else’s gate.

Zijin shook her head. “Just now. I came over as soon as I got the news.” This mother was too heartless to leave her children behind.

Instead of looking at the two children, Yuxi called Xu Wu and instructed, “Go and find out who the parents of these two children are.”

Xu Wu nodded. “Yes, I’ll go now.”

After Xu Wu left, Yuxi asked Zijin, “How old are these two children?” She could roughly guess that the two children must be very young.

Zijin replied: “The older one looks about five, and the younger one is only two or three years old.” In short, both children were very young.

After thinking for a moment, Yuxi called for Mama Xi and said, “Mama, go over and take a look.” After saying that, she went back to her room.

Zijin was a little confused and asked: “Madam, why don’t you go and see these two children yourself?” She felt that Yuxi’s behaviour was abnormal.

Yuxi put down the book in her hand and explained, “Zijin, the Yun Residence is not a shelter. I won’t keep the two children either, so there’s no need for me to see them.” If the two children were taken in today, she could guarantee that people would often leave their children at the gate of the Yun Mansion in the future. That was not something that Yuxi would be happy to see.

Zijin froze momentarily before asking, “Madam, if the parents of these two children are not present, then we should not care about them either?”

Yuxi said, “If they are orphans, they should be sent to the Children Charity Home.” The Children Charity Home was a place provided by the Imperial Court to take in orphans. The Children Charity Home had always existed in Yu City. It just hadn’t been used to its full potential before. But after Yun Qing took over from Qin Zhao, he set up the Children Charity Home again.

Zijin hesitated before speaking, “Madam, I’ve heard that the children’s conditions at the Children Charity Home are very poor, and not only do they not get enough to eat, but they are also beaten and scolded.”

Yuxi’s heart sank when she heard this, and she asked, “Who did you hear this from?” During this period, she had been swamped and had not paid attention to the matter of the Children Charity Home.

Zijin replied, “It was Granny Yu who told me. When she has time, Granny Yu goes to the Children Charity Home to check on the children, so she knows the situation there.” The Granny Yu whom Zijn was talking about was Old Woman Yu, who was in charge of the cleaning matters of the mansion and was a very caring woman.

Yuxi frowned and said, “I know about this. I will ask the General tonight.” If the children in the Children Charity Home were not doing well, it was because they had been mismanaged. At this point in time, unless one were kind or brainless, one would never do anything to enrich oneself.

At noon, Xu Wu returned and told Yuxi the news he had discovered. This matter was actually simple. The father of these two children had passed away, and the mother was unable to support them, so she left them behind. She probably knew that the environment at the Children Charity Home was not good, so she left the children at the entrance of the Yun Residence. After all, Yuxi was currently raising a group of orphans!

Yuxi asked, “Where is the child’s mother?”

She had a feeling that the children’s mother had already left.

Xu Wu shook his head. “I couldn’t find her. I think she should have left Yu City by now since she decided to leave the children at the gate.”

Yuxi turned her head and said to Shiliu, who was waiting beside her, “Tell Mama Xi to send the two children to the Children Charity Home.”

After giving her orders, Yuxi spoke to Xu Wu about another matter. “Zijin has been with you for a long time. Do you think she can now shoulder the burden of guarding the Yun Residence?” Zijin had been following Xu Wu for some time.

Xu Wu shook his head. “She still lacks the effort.” A person’s temperament could not be changed, and Zijin’s temperament was a bit impatient. It would have been fine if she was only protecting Yuxi, but if she had to guard the entire Yun Residence, she would not be able to do so.

Yuxi smiled and said, “Since Zijin can’t replace you, you can’t return to the barracks so soon.” Yun Qing wants Xu Wu to return to the barracks to train new recruits.

Xu Wu was silent briefly before suggesting, “Madam, I actually think Master Yang is an excellent candidate.” One should not be fooled by the fact that Master Yang was usually lazy and didn’t care about anything, along with his love of drinking and humming a little song while doing so. Having been together for over a year, Xu Wu was well aware that Master Yang was an expert. It wouldn’t be a mistake if he had entrusted this task to Master Yang.

Yuxi chuckled slightly and said, “Don’t think about it. Master Yang won’t agree.” Protecting her safety was relatively easy because she rarely went out, and there were many guards in the residence, so Master Yang stayed on. Master Yang would definitely not agree to be in charge of something tedious and tiring, like guarding the entire Yun Residence.

Xu Wu was a little regretful.

Mama Xi returned a shichen1 later. When she saw Yuxi, Mama Xi spoke to her with a somewhat unbearable expression, “Madam, the environment in the Children Charity Home is very poor, and all the children there look bad.” Mama Xi did not stay long at the Children Charity Home; what she had seen was only superficial. She could well imagine how terrible it must have been for things she couldn’t see.

Yuxi frowned at this and said, “I bear this in mind.”

Mama Xi paused for a moment before adding, “Madam, I also asked the people who work at the Children Charity Home, and they said that the one in charge of the Children Charity Home is Da Nainai2 Fu.”

When it was time to go to bed that night, Yuxi talked to Yun Qing about this matter. “Old Woman Yu said the Children Charity Home was dirty and messy. How can those children live well in such an environment?” She didn’t know what was wrong with Da Nainai2 Fu; she couldn’t even take care of the Children Charity Home.

Yun Qing was embarrassed as he said, “Tianlei had also told me about this, saying that there were just too many children at the Children Charity Home, that there were many areas that were not well taken care of.”

Yuxi’s face did not look good as she argued, “What do you mean there are too many children to take care of? They should hire more people to look after the children if there are too many for them to handle. I’m not the kind of person who speaks unreasonably, nor am I saying I want the children to be well-fed and clothed. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t afford to do so. But we must at least give these children a clean environment to live in.” After saying this, she asked, “In fact, the question is not about how many children there are, but whether one has the will to do it or not. This matter of the Children Charity Home, did Da Nainai2 Fu take the initiative, or did you ask her to do it?”

Yun Qing’s voice softened as he replied, “It was Tianlei who took the initiative to propose her name. There was no suitable candidate then, so I agreed.” Yuxi was still in the middle of her confinement, so he didn’t want her to exert herself.

Yuxi said, “Let me take care of this.”

Yun Qing stroked Yuxi’s head and said softly, “Thank you for your hard work.”

Yun Qing knew that Yuxi would handle the matter of the Children Charity Home well. It was just that many things were going on at the residence that were enough to keep Yuxi busy. On top of that, she had a group of orphans to look after and a business to run. If you added in the work of the Children Charity Home, she would be even busier. Of course, on the other hand, he didn’t know that the Children Charity Home was in such a mess.

Yuxi wouldn’t say it wouldn’t be hard but instead said truthfully, “It’s going to be hard, but for you, I’m willing to work even harder.” Although these weren’t words of tenderness, they sounded more pleasant than any tender words.

Yun Qing’s eyes were full of apologies, but before he could speak, he heard Zaozao crying. Yuxi looked over and smiled. “Why is this girl hungry again?” Fortunately, she had plenty of milk. Otherwise, there would not have been enough to feed her daughter.