The main gate shook violently with each impact, looking as if it might collapse at any moment.

The older boys braced themselves against the door with all their strength, while the younger ones gathered around A’Xing: “Brother A’Xing, so many people have come!”

“How many?” A’Xing asked the gatekeeper.

The gatekeeper’s expression was grim: “I’d estimate thirty or forty people.”

A’Xing frowned upon hearing this.

The previous two times, only a few people had come, but today there were so many. While their side had quite a few people, they were either old or young—not a single one capable of fighting.

Looking at the gate shaking thunderously under the assault, A’Xing felt uneasy and turned his head to advise Lin Hao: “There are too many of them. You should go wait inside the house.”

Lin Hao’s expression remained calm: “Since I happened to be here, I might as well take a look.”

“What if a conflict breaks out and they hurt you?”

Gazing at the precarious gate, Lin Hao’s tone was detached: “They’re not here to fight.”

One of the children who had gathered around asked curiously: “Then what are they here for?”

Lin Hao looked toward the child who had posed the question.

It was a six or seven-year-old boy, thin and small, wearing somewhat oversized coarse cloth garments. But he was clean and neat, showing no trace of having once been a beggar.

“They’re just here to disgust people, nothing more.” Lin Hao ruffled the boy’s head, offering this explanation.

A’Xing heard these words and pressed his lips together slightly before striding over.

The boys bracing the door looked to him pleadingly when they saw him approach.

“I’ll count to three. When I reach three, immediately remove the door bar and dodge to the sides. Understood?”

The boys nodded.

“One, two, three—”

As A’Xing shouted “three,” the boys swiftly dodged aside. The gate suddenly swung open, and like floodwaters bursting through a dam, a stream of people instantly surged inside.

These people tumbled over one another, falling flat on their faces just inside the gate.

“Hahaha—” This scene made quite a few children clap and laugh.

A’Xing watched expressionlessly toward the gate, where he saw the beggar who had led the previous two visits standing outside, about half a zhang away from the threshold.

“What exactly do you want?” A’Xing walked past the struggling beggars trying to get up and stopped in front of their leader.

He was a middle-aged beggar, dressed in rags with clouded eyes. Faced with A’Xing’s questioning, he suddenly began wiping away tears: “Please, I beg you, let us come in. In such cold weather, we’ll freeze to death outside…”

With his crying, the beggars who had come with him all began to weep.

A’Xing remained unmoved: “The first time you came knocking, I already told you—we only take in beggars under twelve years old and over fifty. You don’t meet the requirements.”

“They’re people, but aren’t we people too? Should we just freeze to death in the streets?”

The middle-aged beggar’s words immediately stirred resentment among his companions, who chimed in one after another: “That’s right! We’re also poor homeless people. It’s been snowing nonstop these past days—we can’t endure it anymore. If you’re doing good deeds, why not see it through and give us a way to survive!”

Lin Hao watched coldly and gave Baozhu a few quiet instructions.

Baozhu nodded, thrust the fire poker into Lin Hao’s hands, and slipped out amid the chaos.

The beggars’ pleading infuriated A’Xing.

Hao was right—these scoundrels didn’t dare to get physical; they were purely here to disgust people.

Calling these beggars who had been clearly rejected yet still came to harass them “scoundrels” was not excessive at all. They were neither innocent young children nor frail elderly people. Most of them had become beggars because they didn’t want to work.

Of course, a minority had been forced into it, like the A’Xing brothers. When they first ended up on the streets, A’Xing had tried to find work to support his younger brother, only to discover that good looks had become their greatest misfortune. Not only did they repeatedly encounter people with ulterior motives, but his brother was also targeted by kidnappers when left alone. A’Xing had fought desperately to get him back. With nowhere else to turn, A’Xing had dirtied both his and his brother’s faces and become beggars—at least they would stay together, for better or worse.

Back then, his greatest wish had been for his brother to grow up quickly so they could earn their living through labor.

Because of this, A’Xing particularly looked down on people who had hands and feet but didn’t want to work.

“You mean if you freeze to death, it’s my family’s fault for not giving you a way to survive?”

The middle-aged beggar pleaded with a mournful face: “If nothing else works, just give us a corner under your eaves to shelter from the wind and snow.”

A’Xing understood all too well that these pitiful-sounding words were merely tactics these beggars used to coerce people. If you softened and let them stay, they would immediately demand to be fed.

“What wind and snow can a corner under the eaves shelter you from?” A’Xing’s lips curved in mockery. “Aren’t there fire houses that take in beggars? One night only costs one wen. Can’t you beg even one wen in a day?”

“Oh my, we’re beggars, not workers—there’s no guarantee in the money we beg for.” The middle-aged beggar explained aggrievedly.

A’Xing mercilessly exposed the truth: “There isn’t wind and snow every day. Save the money you beg on warm days, and you’ll have enough to pay for the fire house.”

Beggars pooling their money together to drink and eat meat, enjoying themselves while they could—he had seen such scenes too many times.

The middle-aged beggar faltered, thinking to himself how this young man knew so much.

Naturally, he couldn’t recognize that this noble-looking youth had once been one of them.

“Young master doesn’t understand the suffering of us beggars. When we occasionally beg a few extra copper coins, one illness and it’s all gone—where would we have extra money to stay at a fire house?”

A’Xing had no desire to tangle with these scoundrels and said coldly: “Then go ask other families if they’re willing to give you a corner under their eaves to shelter from the wind and snow.”

Seeing A’Xing turn to leave, the middle-aged beggar suddenly dropped to his knees and grabbed his legs: “Young master, please have mercy on us! Saving one life is better than building a seven-story pagoda!”

Following his lead, more beggars knelt down and pleaded.

A’Xing’s face darkened as he forcibly suppressed the urge to kick someone.

At that moment, a squad of soldiers arrived, and the lead officer shouted: “What’s going on here?”

Whether it was A’Xing, the beggars who refused to leave, or the onlookers—everyone was stunned.

Don’t officers usually only show up after everything is over?

The crowd stared blankly as this squad of soldiers approached, and heard the lead officer ask: “Who reported this to the authorities?”

Lin Hao stepped forward, saying calmly: “I did.”

A’Xing’s expression changed.

Hao’s way of solving problems… was this direct?

The middle-aged beggar was a scoundrel who, unlike common people, wasn’t intimidated by government officials. Instead, he knew well the advantage of striking first. He immediately changed the direction he was kneeling and cried out: “Officer, we haven’t done anything wrong! This family has taken in many beggars, and we came to ask this great benefactor to give us a way to survive.”

Kneeling and begging wasn’t against the law—so what if the officers came? At most they would be dispersed. If they were dispersed now, they’d come back tomorrow. They’d see who could outlast whom.

The other beggars chimed in: “That’s right, in such cold weather, we’re going to freeze to death, waaah…”

As the middle-aged beggar had predicted, the lead officer simply waved his hand: “Disperse, disperse! What does it look like gathering in front of someone’s door!”

The kneeling beggars stood up, preparing to leave.

“Wait, you can’t disperse.”

Everyone looked toward the young woman who had spoken.

Lin Hao stared at the lead officer in shock: “Officer, they forced their way into a private residence—you’re not going to do anything about it?”