74 Your Irrational Fear Pt.3 (1/2)
”Damn it”, Gyuri cursed as she hauled the basket full of food down the busy dirt path. ”These things are heavy.”
”Do you need a hand?” Mayu asked while also cradling a large basket of food. ”I told you not to carry too much in your basket.”
Gyuri forcibly smiled. ”I'll be fine—we're almost at the storage house anyway.”
A few days had passed since Gyuri had started going to the soup kitchen daily. After a rough start, Namjoon and Madam Zhou had ensured that, for the soup kitchen to operate smoothly, someone should always accompany Gyuri.
”But Master Namjoon, it was only that one time. I can manage the soup kitchen by myself” Gyuri had protested. ”The man who attacked me was drunk and I doubt it will happen again—”
”I cannot risk it, Gyuri” Namjoon interrupted. He stared into her eyes with his neat brows furrowed deeply. ”It is not only rowdy peasants that you must be wary of” he uttered in a sombre tone. ”If I had not got there in time, who knows where those imperial guards might have taken you.”
”They were only trying to help” Gyuri replied weakly.
But Namjoon remained unconvinced. ”That is what they claim to have been doing,” he said as he watched Jimin and Zeren walk off into the distance. ”But no one knows what their true intentions are...”
”Gyuri?”
Gyuri snapped out of her reverie and looked up at Mayu, who was peering at her quizzically. ”Yeah?”
”Is this the storage house you were on about?”
Up ahead, Gyuri witnessed a large crowd of vagabonds waiting outside the shanty building. With their heads hung low and some even squatting outside the door, Gyuri's jaw dropped open in surprise at how large the huddle seemed to grow as each day passed.
She stuttered, ”Ye-yeah, this is- this is it.”
Mayu glanced back at the huddle of grubby individuals with her eyes bulging. ”You weren't kidding when you said your soup kitchen is high in demand.”
”Nope,” Gyuri replied, still slightly overwhelmed. ”Not at all.”
At the sound of approaching footsteps, the peasants furthest from the door gazed upwards and excitedly stood up when they spotted Gyuri and Mayu approaching with their wicker baskets, brimming with food.
”Little Madam!” one of them shouted. ”She's here! Everyone, the little madam is here!”
Immediately, the crowd got up to greet Gyuri, their hungry eyes eagerly glancing inside the wicker basket to see what food she will be serving today.
”Hey, everyone,” Gyuri said cheerily as she fumbled for the key to open the storage house. ”How are you all?”
”Little Madam,” spoke one of the older peasants. ”What do you have for us today?”
”Is it soup?” another one queried.
”Ooh! Ooh! I hope it's chicken noodle soup!”
Gyuri chuckled as the keen peasants followed her and Mayu eagerly inside the storage house, where she had a new clay pot ready. After the last incident, Madam Zhou had been generous enough to purchase another clay pot to replace the one that had been shattered by the drunkard. With Mayu's help, Gyuri was able to serve the starving peasants bread and beef stew and this time, she had a sufficient quantity of bowls to satisfy the growing demand.
All around her, the peasants one by one fell into silence as Gyuri handed them their bowl of stew. But the silence was short-lived as it was imminently replaced with unattractive slurping noises and ravenous chomping alongside the clattering of wooden spoons against clay bowls. Gyuri wiped the sweat from her forehead in contentment as she watched the vagabonds settle down on the tables to eat.
Phew, she said internally. At least today ended uneventfully as well.
”We should probably start packing up” Mayu suggested after moments had passed. ”Madam Zhou will be needing us to serve tea to the Kims later.”
”Yeah, you're right.” Gyuri surveyed the vicinity and nodded. ”I guess I should throw out the scraps.” Gyuri sauntered over to the clay pot and began removing the beef bones used to create the broth for the stew. Once she was done, she turned to Mayu. ”I'll be back in a jiffy.”
Mayu, already accustomed to Gyuri's odd choice of language, merely nodded in acknowledgement.