Reborn as a Merchant Girl, the General's Beloved

They followed the crowd and suddenly a child flashed past them. Being alert, he immediately noticed that the jade pendant around his waist was missing. Although the child was thin and agile, he could not escape easily because of the large crowd. In the blink of an eye, he was caught by Hongze.

The child who came out to steal things on New Year's Eve was dirty and smelly. In such a cold day, he was still wearing ragged clothes and torn shoes. His hair was messy and he held the jade pendant tightly in his hand. He was trembling violently because he was too cold or afraid. His big watery eyes were red and staring at Hongze.

Seeing him holding the jade pendant tightly, Anan frowned, took two steps forward, squatted on the ground to look him in the eye, smiled slightly and pointed at his clenched fist, saying, "I waited half a year to get that jade pendant. It's a token of my love for my husband. Can you give it back to me?"

The child was not too stupid. He timidly spread out his hands and handed the jade pendant to Anan.

Anan took the jade pendant from him and saw that his face was as rough as tree bark and his hands were all red and swollen with chilblains. She felt a sharp pain in her heart and thought about it. She subconsciously touched her head. She had forgotten that she didn't want the female relatives of her comrades to think she was too particular, so she only had the jade bamboo hairpin that was a token of her love with Hongze in her hair today.

The child was extremely frightened, staring at Hongze without blinking.

Anan suddenly remembered that Nanny Su said that there might be children who might come over to the female relatives, so she asked her to bring some strings of dragon coins as well.

At first she thought it was troublesome and didn't want to take it, but later she couldn't twist it anymore and packed a bunch of them. These are good and come in handy!

Thinking of this, she took out the string of golden dragon money from her bosom, handed it to him, and smiled: "This New Year's money is for you, obedient child, everything will be safe and smooth."

The child was stunned, with his hand raised in the air, not daring to take it. He looked at the glittering string of money, swallowed silently, and looked at Hongze again.

Hongze said to him, "Just take what my wife gave you! You must behave yourself in the future and never steal things again!"

The child took two steps forward, took the money from Anan with both hands, knelt down with a plop, and cried, "Thank you for the reward, Master and Madam!"

Hongze looked around, walked over, pulled him up, and asked him, "Have you eaten?"

The child shook his head gently and tears came to his eyes.

"Come on, we'll take you to eat something." Hongze said, pulling Anan forward and motioning him to follow.

He silently put the dragon coin string into his arms and followed with doubt.

"Come here!" Anan waved at him. There was a fragrant roasted chicken on the stall. Anan asked the boss to pull a few pieces and handed them to him directly. "It's already this late. You must be starving. Eat something quickly."

He took the roast chicken, touched it and wrapped it up with oil paper. He was greedy, so he just licked his hands that were stained with condiments and thanked the owner repeatedly.

"Why don't you eat?" Anan asked puzzledly.

Hongze seemed to have seen through his thoughts. He sighed, smiled and said to him, "Eat it. If there are people at home, I will buy you more later."

Anan was a little surprised and looked back at Hongze with a puzzled look on his face.

Hongze rubbed her head and whispered, "It may be a natural disaster or a man-made disaster. There are many families like this. It's not surprising."

The child's face was full of tears. He opened the oil paper package hesitantly, picked up a piece of chicken and stuffed it into his mouth. He was so hungry that he started to eat it up in a frightening manner.

Anan bought him a cup of sweet soup from a stall nearby, watched him finish the whole chicken, and still looked at the sizzling chicken on the charcoal fire with unsatisfied eyes.