Book 8: Chapter 63: The Children
Sen regretted turning the decision over to Lo Meifeng almost immediately. The regret didn’t have anything to do with her. He’d just let his own weakness get the best of him. That he didn’t want to kill anyone else was a bad reason not to finish the job. Not that his other reasons had been wholly without merit, and he’d made the decision about that particular woman the last time the three of them had met. He also knew that Lo Meifeng’s default position would be to eliminate the threat the woman posed. Yeung Fen would have to prove incredibly convincing to a highly suspicious person who was already unfavorably disposed toward her. In the end, though, he had made the decision hers. Taking the decision back would probably make Lo Meifeng worry that he didn’t trust her judgment. If Yeung Fen did somehow manage to find the right words to save her own life, Sen was a little worried about what to do with her.
She couldn’t stay in the capital. Well, she couldn’t be seen to be working for him in the capital, at the very least. He had to assume that some people, and some of the wrong people, would recognize her. The problem was that she couldn’t be left to her own devices without supervision. It wasn’t like he could just send her off somewhere distant to handle things for him. She’d just slip away the first chance she got. Sen shook his head. That was just him borrowing problems that didn’t exist yet. He had enough real things to deal with already, such as all the preparations for leaving. Preparations that would prove more substantial since he wouldn’t be leaving by himself. He had to stop three people to find someone who knew where to find Grandmother Lu. It turned out that she was observing some of the Xie children who were outside getting some play or maybe exercise. Sen wasn’t really sure. He stepped up next to her and considered the children.
“You still mean to take them with you?” she asked.
“I do,” said Sen, hearing the disapproval in her voice.
“It’s a cruel thing you mean to do,” she said. “You, of all people, know what it means to grow up without parents.”
Sen felt a brief flare of anger and pushed it down hard.
“There is a difference. I don’t mean to put these children out on the streets. They will not starve. They will not lack for education.”
“What kind of education? What will you have them learn?”
“They will learn something their parents never did. They will learn how to be useful. I will make them into farmers, blacksmiths, and carpenters.”