There were quite a few families along the riverbank, and many children were still playing by the water at this time. It was easy to distinguish between the children of farmers and the wandering beggar children. Although the farmer’s children were not wealthy and their clothes weren’t clean—their faces and hands were dirty from playing, and their shirts were heavily worn—they at least wore complete outfits.
Beggars were different. Very few among them, like An Youyou, could master the skills of begging with such precision. Throughout the half-day of An Youyou’s begging, Qin Huai saw more than one beggar anger people due to their clumsy speech, or fail to evoke enough sympathy, or be so pitiful that they upset benefactors, leading to beatings, insults, or even brutal attacks.
Ordinary beggars could only manage the most basic clothing; just wrapping a few rags around them was considered quite good. Being able to wear a complete set of short robes like An Youyou marked one as the elite among elites.
During the half-day, Qin Huai saw a similar outfit only on the leader of a small group that tried to rob An Youyou in a black-market brawl.
By the way, the group had nine people in total, eight of whom were pinned to the ground by An Youyou, while the leader fled. An Youyou even took four out of their six copper coins, leaving two to prevent the group from starving to death.
An Youyou looked from afar at the ordinary children playing by the river, without any envy in her eyes. She silently found a place where the water was shallow, squatted by the river, and washed her face, scrubbing off all the dirt and casually washing her hair.
Most importantly, she washed her hands very carefully, scrubbing repeatedly five or six times, ensuring there wasn’t a trace of dirt under her fingernails before stopping.
"Boss, Boss, you’re back!"
From afar, a beggar with a shirt so tattered it was barely a scrap of cloth tied around the waist and trousers worn down like shorts, looking as if he’d emerged from the mud with skin color indistinguishable from dirt, excitedly ran toward An Youyou.
"Thirteen... Brother Thirteen found work today!" The beggar’s excited voice nearly pierced the sky.
An Youyou had just finished washing her hands and carefully pulled out a multi-layered cloth bundle from her bosom, barely paying attention to the beggar, and began counting the day’s spoils.
Inside the bundle were a dozen or so copper coins, some foreign currency, a chipped rice bowl, and a white British Pound note.
This white British Pound note was d by a naive and kind-hearted young master, who was moved by An Youyou’s sincere tears and pathetic begging, and pulled out his wallet to give her a pound note.
Unfortunately, An Youyou was uneducated and inexperienced, and didn’t recognize a British Pound, only knowing it seemed to be money, but not its value. She didn’t value the Pound much; she valued most the bowl a kind inn worker gave her at noon.
An Youyou had already eaten the rice in the bowl and the cakes she begged from a rich lady in the afternoon. Still, An Youyou had a bag made of rags on her waist containing beans, mush, and spoiled husks she didn’t want to eat.
Previously, Qin Huai wondered why An Youyou kept these foods if she didn’t want to eat them. Now, seeing that An Youyou even had small followers, Qin Huai understood.
Food for the little followers.
Even as a beggar, being a spirit, An Youyou wouldn’t be an ordinary beggar. She was the leader of beggars, raising many younger ones to feed.
In the physical sense, they needed to eat.
"Looking for a job?" An Youyou frowned, almost writing ’don’t understand’ on her face. "Why do we need to look for a job? Don’t we already have a job?"
Indeed, redefining having a job—this is true flexible employment.
The little beggar didn’t dare to contradict the boss, only managing to weakly say, "Ten... Brother Thirteen says there’s no future in begging. In these chaotic times, refugees are everywhere, and orphanages don’t even give out porridge. The number of beggars in the city increases every year, most can’t survive the winter. Begging leads to either freezing to death in winter, or being taken to factories to work until exhaustion, or getting beaten to death for stealing."
"Begging has no future. Growing up hungry leads to malnutrition or..."
"Malnutrition," An Youyou supplemented.
"Right, something similar. Thin and weak, even unqualified to carry heavy loads."
"Begging is a temporary, not a permanent plan; finding stable work and learning a trade is the way." The little beggar said honestly.
After listening, An Youyou asked, "You remember so clearly, speak so fluently—Little Ninth, how many times did Thirteen say this to you?"
"Over half a month," Little Ninth said honestly.
An Youyou burst out, knocking Little Ninth on the head with her knuckle, making him tumble to the ground: "Is this the reason you’ve not begged properly for half a month?"
"I work hard, getting up early, leaving and returning late, striving and laboring all day and night, exhausting myself begging and fighting. Are you listening to Thirteen’s nonsense, wanting to go out and get a job?"
"Have you forgotten how you survived? It was because I found you and brought you to the dilapidated temple, allowing you to live. Is there a better job than begging in this world?"
"I feed you by begging, don’t I?"
"And about this Thirteen, he thinks he’s impressive with his skills, but wasn’t he found and saved by me too? Why did I have to find him? Because his previous job failed, unlike begging, that’s why he couldn’t survive."
"Little Ninth, let me tell you, begging is the best job! No job is more stable than begging. You might not be needed carrying heavy loads at the dock for a day, but begging you can do any time!"