"Jin qing!"

Jin qing smiled as she walked into her room and found that the two children were awake. "Nian Zhen, Xiao Wen. Did you two sleep well?" 

She looked over at the table where she had put the breakfast in. The bowls were licked clean, leaving nothing left. 

Goodness... How hungry are they?

Nian Zhen sat up straighter on the bed "Yes... we did. Where did you go? Xiao Wen told me you left to do something before I woke up..." Her gaze flickered over to the box in Jin qing's hands and lit up in excitement "Is that for us?"

"For us." Jin qing reminded her, setting it down on the table and began to clear the breakfast dishes away "You two haven't even gotten dressed. You can't stay in those dirty rags forever. I wiped the both of you down but you'll have to take a real bath sooner or later to wash the dirt out better."

"The clothes you laid out for us... They didn't feel right."

Jin qing tilted her head "Hmm? Did they not fit you?"

"No!" Nian Zhen shook her head "No, they seem to be just about our size. But it didn't feel right for us... street orphans to be wearing such nice things. I know it isn't made of pure silk, like how yours seems to be, but it doesn't feel right for us to be wearing brand new things."

Jin qing stared at Nian Zhen and burst out laughing. 

"Ah- what's so funny-"

Jin qing smiled, still laughing a little "No, I just find it so funny how you think it isn't fit for you to wear new clothes. Suddenly transitioning from rags to something complete... I know it's a strange feeling." 

She knew what it felt like. She understood the strange sensation of suddenly given something that had been absent for her entire life. Something like food, clothing, warmth, and affection... A human can be starved of such things. 

Xiao Wen had climbed out of bed and scrambled over to Jin qing, sitting down and drummed his fingers excitedly against the wooden surface with a shine in his eyes. "Can we eat?"

Jin QIng ruffled his hair, completely ignoring the fact that it was dirty. "Of course. Let's wait for your sister to get out of bed first. I'd be rude to start a meal before everyone had arrived at the table."

"Did you bring sweets? Like you promised?"

Jin qing smirked and pointed at the sesame balls in the box as she took out the dishes. 

The boy's mouth seemed to water at the sight of the food laid out in front of him, and Jin qing couldn't tell if he was more excited to eat the food or the snacks. 

"Is it really okay for us to be eating like this...?" Nian Zhen asked, creeping down over to them and sat next to her brother. "It doesn't feel right..."

Jin qing smiled, rubbing Nian Zhen's arm affectionately. "It's a start. After we eat, you two can go bathe so you'll feel cleaner as you put on the clothes."
It was how she got used to it. 

Nian Zhen nodded and picked up her chopsticks, her brother following her example and copied her. "Thank you, Jin qing."

"Nothing to thank me for." She answered, "If you two don't mind, someone I know might join us for lunch."

"Who?" Nian zhen asked, "Is Yu Qi coming?"

"No," Jin qing shook her head, "a guard I met a while ago said he was going to come and find me after his shift ends." 

"Why?"

"Who knows?" Jin qing smirked, and tilted her head toward Xiao Wen, who was already starting to eat "Why don't you eat first like your brother is? He's going to eat everything if you don't hurry."

"He just wants to get to the sweets." Nian Zhen grumbled, but she too began to eat. 

Jin qing ate little and mostly let the siblings eat their full. They needed the food more than she did, and she didn't mind going hungry for one meal.
But mostly, she missed watching someone eat. She missed the times when Xue Hua would drop by her room during lunch to have a quiet meal with her, talking to her about the things she might have missed while she stayed in her room. Even Xi Yan's chattering that was often annoying to her was missed, and she wondered once again what they were doing now. 

The air of calm always followed when she feels like she's taking care of someone, and she missed it terribly. 

ah, growing fond of people again? Now there is no way I can leave these two behind when I escape. I'll have to take these two with me. Xi Jian will just have to deal with two orphans that I'm going to bring along. There is no way he'd object since I'll most likely put him back at a sure winning streak again. 

If worse comes to worst and things go south in the capital, I can always bring them to the old couple's place in the countryside. I wonder if it'll trouble them too much since I already sent Bai Yan and Ye bing over there a little while ago... 

The only sound in the quiet room for a little while was the sound of chopsticks clinking against the porcelain bowls and the faintest noise of chewing. The room was a nice blend of simple insense and the aromas of the food on the table. 

"Ah! Jin qing- there you are." 

Jin qing looked up from her thoughts and the three looked toward the door. "Qiang An!" Jin qing smiled "I was starting to think that your shift was extended and wouldn't be joining us."

"of course not." Qiang An assured her, setting down his box by the floor and sat on the right side of the table. "I said that I was going to join you for lunch, and I will stay true to my word. You haven't touched your rice, have you been waiting?"

Jin qing looked down. She had thought she had been eating little by little but only found that she barely ate. "A little." she lied "But I'm not too hungry. You must be, however."

Qiang An nodded, taking out the food in his box and put the dishes out to the children. "You two must be the two children Jin qing told me about." He smiled, his rather soft features matched his equally gentle eyes as he pushed his dished toward the orphans "Here- don't be shy to take from my plate too."

Jin qing's brows furrowed together "But would it be enough for you? You were in guard duty all day and you'll go back after you eat."

Nian Zhen and Xiao Wen looked up as one, both of their hands hovering in the air as they were about to grab a piece of pork on the plate. 

Their wide-eyed expressions were enough to make Qiang An laugh "Jin qing, they were about to take a piece before you said anything! And yes, it would be alright. They're nearly all bones, and they'll need plenty of meat to fatten them up so they look like real children." 

The siblings' eyes turned to Jin qing at the same time with such a comical effect even Jin qing had to chuckle. "Oh- if he says it's alright then go on ahead."

As soon as her words left her lips, the siblings descended on the food with renewed energy, obviously excited to try a new dish that Qiang An had brought them. 

"Hey! Both of you can slow down! Don't choke on your food!" Qiang An hurriedly said, but the sibling didn't seem to pay him much attention. 


Jin qing only smiled and sipped on her tea. She cleaned off her rice to make it look like she ate, but she mostly just sat there and soaked in the sense lightness hanging in the air. Qiang An brought with I'm a food and a sense of carefreeness that she could never replicate on her own, and she appreciated him for bringing a smile and laugher to the siblings' faces. 

"You're in the palace now so you don't even need to worry about food." Qiang an assured the siblings, who nodded eagerly "Even if the year's harvest fails, the emperor would never let anyone go hungry! Not even the little ants in the field who toil away each day will go hungry as long as the emperor is watching over us."

How much faith do the people have in Tian Xiang? Or is it just him? The orphans seemed to be rather suspicious of the wealthy- I wonder if they think differently of the emperor?

"Really?" Xiao Wen asked, looking up briefly from his food "How can he be sure of that?"

"He's the emperor! He has vast amounts of grain and food in his storage." Qiang An "There is enough food in there to last a very long time. There is nothing to worry about."

Jin qing wasn't too sure if she should be feeling uneasy about how confident Qiang An said. 
Her plan to spark a rebellion had included cutting off their food supply even more than it already has thanks to the lack of trade would be foiled if Tian Xiang really did have that much in storage. 


"Then that's great!" Xiao wen smiled, turning to his elder sister "We don't need to be hungry!"

"That's obvious, Xiao Wen." Nian Zhen replied matter-of-factly "We're in the palace now. We don't need to go look for food anymore."


Jin qing was still thinking.
her plan wouldn't be ruined completely, but it would be more than a big blow to the overall stability. 
And she could never accept that. Everything had to be absolutely perfect in order for her to rest peacefully. 

She had other plans, but a starving population would be a handful even for Tian Xiang. 

Jin qing wanted to test that. She wanted to test just how well Tian Xiang can handle a poor harvest and just how large was the emergency storages. She had dealt with something similar to a food shortage in the Wei when the Song had supposedly set fire to the harvest fields in the spring, but they had chosen their time poorly and she was able to solve it by ordering the farmers to hurriedly replant it so all would not be lost. 

It's so late in the year... a loss like that will be devastating. But if Tian Xiang has as much food as Qiang An is describing him to have... the damage would significantly lessen. 

"You two won't go hungry anymore as long as our emperor is alive." Qiang An repeated "Even with the war going on outside, the Wei will never be able to starve us into surrender. We will not go down without a fight!"

Nian Zhen took a sideways glance at Jin qing. She knew that Jin qing was the Xue Xian as she had told her, and she wondered if it was a good idea to be saying something like that in front of someone like her. 
But since she isn't saying anything... does Qiang An not know?

"The emperor better be able to feed us." Xiao wen said, tilting his head up in the air "It's not fair that other people get so much food while some people get none."

"In a time of need, the emperor won't let anyone go hungry." Qian An said with a smile "An emperor's job is to protect his people and make sure they are happy to keep up the mandate of heaven."

Jin qing looked up, pushing her thoughts and plans away for the time being.


"Qiang An has a good point." She admitted, while wondering if Xi Jian was doing that in her absence. "If an emperor can't do those things on his own," she looked up "he isn't deserved to be called one."