These people, though all homeless, were different from those in Mianzhou City.
They had only just met, lacking the necessary trust.
If she were to force them to leave here and live on her estate today, though it would be for their own good, they might not appreciate it.
After careful consideration, Su Xiaoqi said, "Alright then, I understand if you don't want to leave. That's how it will be."
She turned and left.
Zhang Yu followed behind her, feeling quite uncomfortable at the moment.
She herself had been an orphan since childhood, found and raised by the organization, which also trained her.
Therefore, seeing these neglected children, she felt a pang in her heart.
She thought her master would insist on taking them away, but she didn't, so she couldn't quite understand.
"Master, should we leave some silver for them?"
With them gone, wouldn't these people starve again?
Su Xiaoqi disagreed, saying, "Innocence is a crime when one possesses something valuable. Look at them, so young and weak, how could they possibly protect money?"
The alley they had just walked through had already attracted a lot of attention.
Among those who noticed were some genuine villains and street ruffians.
After they left, it was likely that these people would come to investigate.
If they were to leave money behind, it was unlikely they could protect it; it would only bring them disaster.
"Master is right, this servant overthought it," Zhang Yu realized. The truth was, she had been too presumptuous.
She felt a bit ashamed.
Su Xiaoqi patted her shoulder and said, "Don't worry, since I know their situation, I won't stand idly by.
After all, we were the ones who got the thief involved, and their current inability to eat is also because of us."
Despite saying this, Su Xiaoqi did not regret her actions.
Although the little thief, Jin, had kept them and raised them with good intentions,
he had also followed others' instructions and done things detrimental to Shen Yun.
She was on Shen Yun's side, so naturally, she had to deal with such people for him.
This made it inevitable that she would be unable to attend to other matters.
"Tell Zhang Feng to bring them some food these next few days. Not too much, just enough to eat."
Zhang Yu now understood that whether it was money or food and supplies, they certainly couldn't protect too much of it.
Otherwise, when they entered the courtyard to look, it wouldn't have been so messy and yet so clean.
Messy because things were piled up everywhere and rummaged through,
and clean because there wasn't a single valuable item in the entire courtyard.
Logically, Jin, being such a skilled thief, would have accumulated some wealth, wouldn't he?
She hadn't thought about this problem before, but now she understood.
It was likely that Jin had left things behind, but unfortunately, as soon as he was captured, those who heard the news must have ransacked the courtyard.
They had taken everything edible and usable that was valuable, cleaning it all out.
Su Xiaoqi shook her head, sighed, and retreated, getting into the carriage to leave.
But as soon as she sat in the carriage, she heard a commotion of hurried footsteps.
Then she heard Zhang Yu's angry shout, "Who are you people, daring to block my master's carriage?"
"Hahaha, who are you people? You've arrived at the territory of Master Zhuang in the western part of the city, and you don't even come to pay your respects."
Great, they'd truly run into street thugs. Su Xiaoqi sighed again.
She sat upright without moving. These matters were for Zhang Lei and Zhang Yu to handle. She didn't need to go out and join the fray.
Soon, the fight began outside as words failed to resolve the situation.
The sounds of fists and kicks, the collision of iron pipes and wooden clubs, continued for a while before quieting down.
Zhang Yu lifted the carriage curtain and whispered to ask for instructions, "Master, don't worry, Zhang Lei has taken them all down."
Su Xiaoqi nodded, "Alright, let's go." She had never worried about such a thing.
If Shen Yun's men were unable to even deal with these street thugs, then she wouldn't need to keep them around.
The carriage started moving. After just a couple of steps, Su Xiaoqi said, "Tell Zhang Feng not to follow me these next couple of days. Have him stay here. If these people take their anger out on them, it might not be good."
Seeing how much Su Xiaoqi cared for these children, Zhang Yu knew that she was truly kind-hearted and genuinely concerned about them.
It wasn't just a fleeting whim.
Her heart was deeply moved, and her admiration for Su Xiaoqi grew.
Su Xiaoqi hadn't expected that her momentary thought would completely change Zhang Yu's perception of her. She was now in a hurry to get to the Duke's mansion.
Otherwise, if Shen Yun, after finishing his first exam tomorrow, found she wasn't there, he might be distracted by worry for her.
At the Duke's mansion, everyone from the most senior Old Madam to Du Yiyi was delighted by Su Xiaoqi's arrival.
As usual, the two of them spent some time chatting with the Old Madam in Songzhu Courtyard, and after having lunch, they went to Du Yiyi's courtyard to talk.
"By the way, Sister Xiaoqi, Grandmother and Aunt were saying they wanted to prepare a courtyard for you so you'd have a place to stay when you visit. I declined on your behalf." Du Yiyi blinked her eyes and looked at Su Xiaoqi with a serious expression.
Although she had been confident when declining on Su Xiaoqi's behalf in front of the Old Madam and Wen Shi, patting her chest and saying Sister Xiaoqi was closest to her and would surely listen to her.
But now, in front of Su Xiaoqi, she couldn't help but feel a little nervous.
She thought that if Sister Xiaoqi didn't agree, she would personally set up a courtyard for her.
But before that, she still wanted to hear her thoughts.
"Oh, I don't stay overnight often, so a courtyard isn't necessary. I'm quite happy living with you," Su Xiaoqi replied instinctively, not having really paid attention to it.
After speaking, she casually looked up and caught Du Yiyi's earlier nervousness and her excitement upon hearing her words.
"That's great, that's great! Sister Xiaoqi, I knew it, I just knew you'd be willing to live with me."
Du Yiyi became happy and explained the whole story.
Su Xiaoqi couldn't help but smile.
She said it was fine living in this courtyard. The courtyard was large enough, and there were many rooms, so she could easily fit in.
"The Duke's mansion is quite large. Grandmother was afraid you'd be inconvenienced, which is why she asked Aunt to make arrangements," Du Yiyi explained.
She could see that her grandmother and the rest of the family genuinely treated Sister Xiaoqi as their own granddaughter.
She was also happy and didn't worry about Su Xiaoqi taking away attention.
Instead, she thought that from now on, she would have one more sister to show filial piety to their grandmother together, and also a confidante to play with.
"By the way, our shop is almost renovated. When should we go and take a look together?" Du Yiyi said.
Su Xiaoqi nodded, she had the same intention.
At the same time, she proposed replacing the shopkeeper of the ready-made clothing shop, which was being converted into a supermarket.
"I also want to replace him. When we were away from the capital, he did quite a few sneaky things. But as you know, our family was away from the capital for too long, and we don't have a suitable shopkeeper candidate for the time being."
Su Xiaoqi chuckled, "You don't have one, but I have one ready."
Du Yiyi blinked her eyes at her, eagerly asking, "Who is it, who is it?"
She was very curious.
Su Xiaoqi, who was usually easygoing, was now being coy, "You'll know when the time comes."