"If I reform them, would you be willing to employ them here?" Feng Qishi suddenly asked.
"They are all thieves. If I let them in, I'd lose half my merchandise," the female boss said with prejudice.
Upon hearing the female boss's words, Mu Anxiao lowered her head in shame.
Feng Qishi glanced at Mu Anxiao and said, "If they truly steal your money, I'll chop off their fingers."
However, Mu Anxiao never expected Feng Qishi to say something like that.
The female boss was also startled by Feng Qishi's words.
"You don't have to be so ruthless."
"If they steal money, their fingers should be chopped off," Feng Qishi stated firmly.
Mu Anxiao looked at her own fingers with embarrassment and cleared her throat.
The female boss sighed, "Since you've put it that way, then... so be it."
"You agree?" Feng Qishi asked.
The female boss nodded, "Yes, I agree."
"Thank you. I'll come back to find you later to deliver the bed," Feng Qishi said, pointing at the wooden bed.
The female boss agreed, "Alright." She then glared at Mu Anxiao.
Mu Anxiao awkwardly scratched the back of her head and turned to follow Feng Qishi out of the shop, walking onto the street.
"What exactly are you trying to do?"
"Ten beggars are enough, after all," Feng Qishi said, hands behind his back.
Mu Anxiao frowned, "I don't understand what you mean."
"The environment of that dilapidated temple is quite good."
Listening to Feng Qishi's self-muttering, Mu Anxiao's last thread of patience snapped.
"I'm asking you a question, can you answer me?" Mu Anxiao said angrily.
"It's already so obvious, and you still don't understand? You're truly stupid, Mu the fool," Feng Qishi said, walking and looking straight ahead.
From the moment Feng Qishi left the dilapidated temple until they entered the shop, he had been acting mysteriously. Mu Anxiao was only half-understanding his words.
At first, she thought Feng Qishi wanted to help the beggars. But then, thinking about what he had said inside the shop, she felt that Feng Qishi didn't seem to be sincerely helping them. Yet... with what he was saying now, she felt he truly intended to help them.
With this thought, Mu Anxiao didn't know what to say.
"..."
Feng Qishi glanced at Mu Anxiao's foolish expression and said, "Those beggars told me they actually want to work, but no one is willing to take them in. They asked me to help them, so I found them a job moving stones. That's why they've been like this for the past two days; they've been busy with that."
"Then just now..."
Feng Qishi interrupted, "Just now, the female boss had reached that point. If I hadn't said that, would you have felt comfortable staying inside?"
"You saw that she looked down on me... us?" Mu Anxiao asked.
Feng Qishi smiled helplessly, "Mu the fool, that female boss almost argued with me. If I couldn't see that, I'd be blind."
"Indeed, you're not blind," Mu Anxiao mumbled.
"Since you know I'm not blind, let's go to the next place."
"Where?"
Feng Qishi casually patted Mu Anxiao's head and said, "We have the bed now, and the weather is gradually getting colder. Naturally, we need to buy some bedding."
"Where did you get the money?" Mu Anxiao asked curiously.
Feng Qishi turned to Mu Anxiao and smiled faintly, "You don't need to know where I got the money. You just need to follow me. When we get back, all the credit will be yours." After saying that, he put an arm around Mu Anxiao's shoulder.
Mu Anxiao was startled and asked, "What are you doing?"
"Brothers walk like this," Feng Qishi said, leading Mu Anxiao forward.
Along the way, Mu Anxiao tried to break free but was ultimately unsuccessful.
Half an hour later...
Mu Anxiao, pulling a cart full of bedding, followed Feng Qishi back to the outside of the dilapidated temple.
"You are truly a good person, Feng Qishi," Mu Anxiao said, covered in sweat, looking at Feng Qishi who stood before her.
Feng Qishi turned to Mu Anxiao and smiled, "You did very well."
"From the moment I started pulling this cart, you said we'd each pull half the way. But you, you pretended not to hear me the entire time. What do you mean by that?" Mu Anxiao asked, catching her breath.
"Wasn't I training you?" Feng Qishi said.
"Training," Mu Anxiao repeated, letting out a cold laugh, "Feng Qishi, you're not a man."
"If you say that, then you're not a man either."
"I originally..."
Mu Anxiao was halfway through her sentence when four of the beggars returned and stopped behind them. They all looked at the bedding on the cart and laughed.
Then, the first beggar asked, "Did you buy this bedding for us?"
"I..." Mu Anxiao began, but stopped.
Feng Qishi gave Mu Anxiao a look. Mu Anxiao understood his intention. She temporarily suppressed her dissatisfaction with him, forced a smile, and directly turned to the four beggars in front of her, saying, "This is the bedding I prepared for you. The wooden bed will be delivered later. You should go inside and tidy up first."
The second beggar, after Mu Anxiao finished speaking, said emotionally, "Boss, you're so good to us."
"Yes, Boss. Not only did you find us work, but you also arranged these things for us. Thank you," said the third beggar.
"You're... you're welcome."
Originally, Mu Anxiao didn't want to claim responsibility for this. But on the way back, Feng Qishi had told her that if she didn't say it like this, she would lose her authority, and later they might question her gender based on others' words. So, to silence those people, she had to take all the credit.
"We're going to tidy up," said the fourth beggar.
Mu Anxiao nodded slightly.
Immediately after, they smiled at Mu Anxiao and ran into the dilapidated temple.
After they went inside, the smile instantly vanished from Mu Anxiao's face.
Feng Qishi, seeing the smile disappear from Mu Anxiao's face, asked, "Don't you feel... that this is deceiving them?"
"Don't you think so? This isn't what I did."
"You pulled it back, and you were looked down upon by that female boss, so..." Feng Qishi stepped forward to Mu Anxiao and looked her in the eyes, "You are not deceiving them.
"You did this," Mu Anxiao said.
"I'm just someone who paid for it behind you. Everything else, you did yourself."
"No..."
"That old man who found people to move stones knows you."
"Knows me?" Mu Anxiao was surprised.
"Think carefully about the people and events you've encountered in the past ten years," Feng Qishi said calmly.
Following Feng Qishi's words, Mu Anxiao organized her thoughts. Gradually, the people and events she had encountered over the past ten years began to surface in her mind.