Yunchu’s Vengeance - Chapter 234
Chapter 234 - Winter Will Pass
The dawn of early winter was arriving later and later.
It was also growing harder and harder for Yun Chu to drag herself out of her warm bed.
However, she had her own persistence. Squinting her eyes for just a moment, she got up, changed into casual clothes, and followed Qiu Tong out into the courtyard to practice martial arts.
Half a year had passed since she first began practicing martial arts. She noticed that her strength was growing ever greater and her reactions were becoming increasingly agile. Although she had not yet reached the level of taking on ten opponents at once, protecting herself was no longer an issue whatsoever.
Ting Xue and Ting Feng, the maidservants practicing martial arts alongside her, had also developed much stronger physical stamina than before.
"Next, this servant will begin teaching Miss how to wield a short dagger."
Qiu Tong held an additional short dagger in her hand. After executing a set of dagger techniques before Yun Chu, she began teaching Yun Chu painstaking detail, movement by movement.
Having built a solid foundation, Yun Chu learned faster and faster.
"Mother, what are you doing?"
A child's voice sounded in the morning light.
Yun Chu turned her head to see the little fellow leaning against the doorway, his tiny head poking out, looking over with curiosity.
Ting Xue hurriedly went over to drape a thick outer cloak over the young master.
"So Mother practices martial arts every morning! I've lived with Mother for so long, yet I only just found out now." The little fellow pouted his lips. "I want to learn too."
Yun Chu sheathed her dagger, walked over, and scooped him up: "Of course you can learn if you want to, but you have to nurture your body back to health first."
"My body is great!" The little fellow snuggled into Yun Chu's arms. "Practicing martial arts is a man's duty. Mother, don't learn anymore, it's far too exhausting. Right now Father can protect you, and when Father grows old, I will have grown up and can protect Mother."
Yun Chu felt sweeter than if she had eaten honey.
Carrying the child into the house, she dressed him in his clothes: "You focus on studying properly first. When the time comes for you to practice martial arts, you will naturally be able to learn."
Having practiced for half a year, she knew how grueling martial arts training was, and she could not bear to let her child suffer through that agony.
After dressing him and finishing breakfast, Yun Chu escorted Yu'er to the other side of the doorway. Chief Steward Cheng led the little fellow by the hand toward the front courtyard to send him off to the Imperial Academy.
The sky had brightened completely now.
Yun Chu woke the little girl from the bed: "Changsheng, time to get up! After breakfast, Mother will take you somewhere fun."
The little girl's ignorant, large eyes blinked, taking quite a while before she woke up completely.
She sat up obediently on the bed, without blindly relying on Yun Chu to dress her; she put on whatever she could by herself, being extraordinarily well-behaved.
Yun Chu intended to take the child to the orphan shelter.
Today was the first official day the shelter was receiving orphans.
There were many children there; being around peers of her own age would benefit Changsheng both physically and mentally.
Taking along Ting Xue and Qiu Tong, who attended to her personally, as well as four guards, she boarded a carriage and set off toward the orphan shelter on the outskirts of the capital.
After traveling for about half an hour, they saw that rows of houses had already been built on the shelter's grounds. A surrounding wall enclosed the houses, alongside a low hill and a lake; with mountains and water, the view was refreshing and delightful.
"Chu'er, you've arrived."
Yun Qin walked in front to welcome Yun Chu's arrival.
Although she was a few years older than Yun Chu and was Yun Chu's cousin, her branch of the family was far too distant; she would never dare to put on airs as an elder cousin before Yun Chu.
"Cousin Qin is far too polite." Yun Chu carried the child as she stepped down from the carriage. "Is everything prepared on all fronts?"
After taking charge of the shelter, Yun Qin had moved out of her maiden home, living and taking her meals at the shelter while managing every affair here.
"Everything is prepared," Yun Qin said with a smile. "We are just waiting for you to unveil the plaque."
As she spoke, her gaze swept over the child in Yun Chu's arms. She wondered whose child this was, to be so close with Chu'er.
The Xie family had a little girl of roughly the same age; could it be a child from the Xie family?
However, regardless of who this child belonged to, it was not something a distant cousin like her should pry into.
Yun Qin led Yun Chu's group to the main entrance.
Looking up, they saw a plaque hanging above the main gate, covered by a piece of red cloth.
By the entrance stood many children dressed in rags. The oldest was around ten years old, while the youngest was still a baby held in the arms of a shelter worker.
A small portion of those children had been callously sent here by their families.
Most of them were wandering, begging orphans who, upon hearing of the shelter's existence, had gathered here by mutual agreement to see what the situation was.
Yun Chu handed Changsheng over for Ting Xue to hold.
By now, the little girl was thoroughly familiar with Ting Xue and the others, so switching to another person's arms would not cause any trouble.
Yun Chu walked up the steps and stood beneath the plaque, looking at the large crowd of homeless orphans standing at the entrance.
"I am Yun Chu. Some of you might know me, yet you do not know what I have experienced." Her gentle voice flowed like a gurgling stream into everyone's ears. "At a certain moment in the past, I once fell into endless darkness. It was the laughter of children that pulled me out of that dark void. To me, children are the purest beings in this world... Perhaps it was from that moment onward that a seed was planted in my heart: I wanted to save those homeless children and build a warm home for them."
She reached out and pulled down the red silk cloth, revealing three characters: Hall of Compassionate Orphans.
"From now on, the Hall of Compassionate Orphans is your home." She opened her mouth with a smile. "You may have once resented life, or perhaps thought of giving up on your own lives, but I want to ask you to continue to believe that every single one of you is the most unique existence in this world. Before today, you were alone; from this day forward, you are a family... No matter how cold the winter is, we will eventually welcome a blooming spring."
As her words ended, those children, who had originally worn guarded expressions, slowly let down their defenses and peered curiously into the main gate.
The corners of Yun Chu's lips curved upward: "Children who decide to stay here, come inside to register your names, and then follow me to receive your quilts and clothes so you don't miss mealtime."
Apart from those abandoned infants who did not know how to make a choice, the older children looked at one another, feeling somewhat indecisive.
"What is there to be afraid of..." an older child said in a low voice. "This is only the first day. Even if they are bad people, they won't reveal their true colors this fast. We can at least score a free meal, and even walk off with quilts and clothes. No matter how you look at it, we're the ones making a profit. Let's go, let's go, get inside!"
With the oldest child taking the lead, the other children immediately followed suit.
Yun Qin sat near the entrance, registering them: "What is your name? Where are you from? Why did you come to the Hall of Compassionate Orphans alone... It doesn't matter if you don't remember; registering these details is to issue you new household registrations..."
Having filled out their information, the children followed Yun Chu further inside.
The moment they entered, these children felt that this place was entirely different from a ruined temple. The houses were brand-new, and the tables and chairs inside were completely new as well; the neat rows of beds inside the side rooms could be faintly seen.
"Boys and girls stand separately," Yun Chu said from the very front. "Line up one by one."
At this moment, Chen Defu had people push over wooden handcarts carrying the newly purchased quilts and clothing, piled high across more than ten handcarts.
The scent of sun-baked cotton drifted into the children's noses, and their faces filled with disbelief one after another.
Were such brand-new quilts truly meant for them?
Seemingly, their noses even caught a whiff of a delicious aroma—the smell of meat!
Saliva instantly began to drool from this group of children's mouths.