The girl looked at Yu Qi warily and snatched the cloth packet as if she thought Yu Qi might take it back from her. She hid the packet behind her back as if her small and thin figure can hide it.

"Why-" she said defiantly, determination shining bright in her eyes "why are you helping us? What do you want?"

Jin qing stepped forward, just as determined to keep up her gruff and impatient appearance "listen, my sister, is kind enough to help you and your brother so you don't starve." She barked "show some gratitude and say thank you-"

"Little brother, calm down." Yu Qi looked back "you're going to marry a lady one day- if you don't scare them all off."

The irony is that I should be the one who's telling you that, considering how you're usually louder than I am. It seems almost as if our roles and personalities switched completely!

Oh, the fun of acting and cross-dressing. Yu Qi has not lost her touch either.

Jin qing huffed and stepped back "fine."
The little girl was watching Jin qing, and she knew it.

"Thank you." The little girl said quickly "what do you want? Why are you helping us? Who are you?"

She's braver than she looks, huh? Not even intimidated by me. Either she's naturally courageous or she feels protected by Yu Qi's gentler demeanor.
Or there's something else to her character... She doesn't look like she's been a poor child left on the streets all her life.

Yu Qi smiled and straightened up "why are there so many questions on why someone should help someone?"

"But your nice clothes-" the girl frowned "you're obviously wealthy judging from your clothes, but the world looks down on us orphans." She said that last word with a sense of bitterness that Jin qing understood. "You're helping us for a reason. If you want something in return, we don't want what you just gave us."

Jin qing rolled her eyes "sister. They don't even want the food you gave to them for free. Why bother-"

"Brother."

"Right." Jin qing mumbled "Sorry."

Yu Qi looked back at the girl "Forgive my brother. He has quite the temper and is very protective of me." She said softly "And to answer you, we don't want anything in return nor do we have a hidden motive. Why you don't trust us? Don't you have anyone to take care of you?"

"Both our father and older brother were drafted and killed in the war, that siege for the Wei city by the river-" the little girl had looked like she was letting her guard down, but as soon as those words left her lips, her expression hardened again. "Why are you asking that? You're not going to try and kidnap us and sell us off-"

The brief but bloody siege of 'the Wei city by the river.'

The same one that took Yi Ping's life among so many others.

Jin qing interrupted the little girl before she could say any more. "Is that your younger brother in the back?" She asked, paying attention to the little boy shivering in the back.

The girl stepped in front of him protectively, staring back at Jin qing so she would have to stare at her instead of the boy behind her. "Yes, he is." she answered "Why do you care? Why do you ask?"

Goodness... she does have many questions. Is this how all the poor look at the wealthy?

"Why do I ask?" Jin qing rolled her eyes "Because he looks sick, that's why. When he chased after you when you stole those two apples, he was barely able to keep up with you and looked like he was about to collapse on the spot." She rolled up her sleeves and gestured at him "May I have a look?"

The girl opened her mouth to speak, but Yu Qi spoke first.

"My brother is studying to become a doctor." She spoke softly, "You can trust him, you can trust us."

"Besides, if we did want to sell both of you to the market," Jin qing approached the two, and was promptly stopped by the little girl "We would have already. taking two children off the street is easier than it sounds." She nodded at her brother behind her "Besides, your brother is sick. Wouldn't you want him treated?"

Jin qing had no other motive for helping her brother. It was a human helping another, and she wasn't about to leave this little girl alone and without a family.

The girl stared at her but stepped aside, allowing her to pass. "You two never answered my question."

Yu qi laughed "Which one? You asked many questions."

"Why are you helping us?" The girl asked again "No one would give us a second thought if they saw us on the street- that's how it always has been. They wouldn't care about us unless we were useful to them." She sighed "And how useful can two orphaned thieves be?" She asked, grumbling. "As long as they have their tea and sweets they wouldn't give us their time of day."

Jin qing knelt down next to the boy. The fact that he was still able to get up and run with his sister means that he couldn't be too sick. Pressing her hand against his forehead, she recoiled at how hot it was and looked up in alarm to the girl. "Did your brother have a fever before?"

She was paying attention to what the girl was saying, of course, but that would have to come later.

The girl turned around, her eyes wide as plates "Huh? No- not today. He grows hot often, but he never had a really bad fever-"

It could be because of the run he just had. The siege was quite the while ago, and if they haven't gotten a proper meal since then...
Well, Tian Xiang can't possibly care if I bring two people back to my room, now can he?

Jin qing scooped the boy up in her arms, settling the shivering boy comfortably. "Well, he's going to need care. An alleyway isn't the ideal place to treat a sick person- we'll have to take them back to my place."

The girl didn't object, which Jin qing very much appreciated.

Yu Qi pulled her aside. "Erm..." She whispered, "How are you going to explain your crossdressing?"

"Why," Jin qing said sarcastically "With words, of course. Now quickly- take the girl by the hand and bring her along. Do you have a handkerchief? I need to cover this boy's face so the sun doesn't shine on him too much..."

Yu Qi, obviously not caring too much anymore, took off the silk sash around her waist and threw it at Jin qing.

"Thank you." Jin qing muttered and looked at the girl. "It's quite the walk back, but if we hurry and take a few shortcuts, we'll make it back faster."

Yu qi took the girl's hand as some of her boyish-ness came back to her. "I'll lead the way." She said back "You have no idea how the streets here work."

Jin qing nodded, following Yu qi as they wove through the back streets as a shortcut back to the palace. The boy was tiny in her arms, and his shivering let her know that he was still alive. Though she did learn a few things from the conversation with the girl in that alleyway, she had a feeling there was still much to be learned.

A plan was slowly starting to form in her head, latching and building off that one sentence the little girl said.

"As long as they have their tea and sweets they wouldn't give us their time of day." she had said.

There were still too many holes in her idea, and she intended to refine it until it was as sharp as a blade.

"Why are you bringing us to the royal palace?" The girl demanded to know "Why are you bringing us here? What are you-"

"Hush." Jin qing glared at her "Too many questions. Keep your voice down." She turned to Yu qi "Bring some of the medicine from wherever you keep them in this palace. I didn't have the time to explore as much as I'd like and I don't know where they are."

"Be specific."

"Ginger, honey, yarrow? Those should do fine. Bring a pot and small stove too, while you're at it. Thank you."

Yu qi nodded and parted ways, leaving Jin qing with the two kids as they hurriedly made their way back to her room.

"Quickly- close the door behind you." Her voice slipped back into her normal one as soon as she reached the doors of her room. "Yu Qi will be back soon with the basket, settle down somewhere and have a seat."

"Wait- that was Yu Qi?" The girl frowned, her face trickling up in confusement "Huh? What's- your voice-"

"All will be explained in due time." Jin qing answered hastily, setting the boy down on her bed. "I'll go draw some water. Stay here."

It was as if the girl and the boy could go anywhere, but Jin qing said it anyway.

A few minutes later, Jin qing hurried back with a bucket of water and a towel.

Thank goodness men's robes only end at the ankles. I don't want to run in a lady's dress- I wonder if Yu Qi had changed out of them or cut them yet...

The girl stared at her, watching as Jin qing washed the boy's face with a towel dipped in cool water to cool down his face.

It doesn't look too serious- but I had to get him out of the alleyway anyway. Dirty and filthy conditions can kill or escalate the severity of the disease no matter how small and insignificant the illness is.

Besides, the little girl knows more than she looks. I wonder what else can I learn from her?

"There's an extra towel." Jin qing said "Take one and wash yourself up too. I'll ask Yu qi to bring some food after she comes back with the plants. I don't know if your brother will be able to swallow down anything solid lest he throws them back up as soon as it goes down."

The girl nodded, cautiously doing what Jin qing told her to do. "Is my brother going to be okay?"

"Well, he will be now."

"Mister- no, Miss, I'm still confused."

"About what?"

"Who are you exactly? Yu qi... she's not actually your older sister, is she."

"And am I a man?"

"No... But you look like one."

Jin qing laughed "That's because I'm dressed as one."

"Who are you?"

"Who am I?" Jin qing frowned.

Well, I can't tell her that I'm Wu Xin or the Xue Xian, now can I?

"Call me Jin qing." She answered "I'm a good friend of Yu qi's who does some crossdressing as something as a convenience. Don't dwell too much on it."

Yu qi came in as soon as Jin qing finished her sentence, setting a tray down and placing a small iron stove with a ceramic pot. "I got all the things you asked." She said, "the pot already as water in it, all we need to do now is just to boil it and make tea."

Jin qing lit a match and watched the fire start underneath the pot. "All we can do is wait." She sighed, sifting through the tray of plants and slices of ginger. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to make more... Fevers are tricky- can't let them grow too high."

"So you're going to make him drink tea??"

"Who's the doctor here?"

"Ah... Right. Sorry."

Jin qing looked back at the boy one more time to make sure he was alright and then turned to the girl in front of her. "Since we have time to sit and chat as we wait for the water to boil," She turned to the girl "Why don't you tell us your story?"