"But I also can’t keep all of you here," Shuyin continued, glancing toward where Lu Yuze had taken Yuyan. "What just happened proves that. One of you...." she gestured to the boy still being tended to by Yu Shou, "...had an episode and hurt my daughter. Not because he’s evil, but because he’s traumatized and frightened and his mind saw danger where there was only kindness."

She moved closer to the group of children, her movements careful and non-threatening despite the soreness in her body. "That’s not his fault. It’s not any of your faults. But it means you need help that I can’t provide here. Professional help. Safe places with people trained to deal with trauma."

"Not children’s homes," the teenage girl insisted, her voice carrying desperation. "Please. Not there."

"Not children’s homes," Shuyin agreed. She turned to Ting Fei, who’d been standing silently nearby, ready to execute whatever orders she gave. "Ting Fei, I need you to do something different than what I said before."

"Yes, ma’am," he responded immediately.

"First, we need to separate these children into groups," Shuyin said, her mind working through the logistics even as her heart ached. "I need you to find out which children know where their families are. Which ones were kidnapped from homes where people are looking for them. Those children...." she looked at the two boys Yuyan had spoken with, the ones taken from the street, "....those children will be returned to their families with police assistance. That’s not negotiable. If you have parents or family who want you back, you’re going home."

Some children nodded, relief flooding their features. Others looked uncertain, not sure if they fell into that category.

"Second," Shuyin continued, "for the children who were sold by their families or who are orphans with no one looking for them...." her voice softened with genuine sorrow, "....I won’t send you to children’s homes or orphanages. Instead, Ting Fei, I need you to find a good hostel. Not a facility, not an institution. A hostel. Somewhere temporary but safe, somewhere with supervision but not locked doors, somewhere that treats you like people instead of problems."

Ting Fei nodded, already pulling out his phone to begin making calls. "A hostel with capacity for approximately how many?"

Shuyin did quick mental math. "Maybe a hundred? Maybe more? We won’t know until we separate them into groups." She looked back at the children. "The hostel is temporary. Just until we can find better permanent placements. Real homes with real families who want children, or supervised living situations with proper care. Not children’s homes that might sell you again. Do you understand?"

The eight-year-old girl who’d spoken first raised her hand hesitantly, like she was in school. "Will we all go to the same hostel? Can we stay together?"

"I’ll try to keep you together in groups," Shuyin promised. "Especially those of you who’ve formed bonds. I know being separated again would be frightening."

"What about him?" another child asked, pointing to the teenage boy who’d attacked Yuyan. "Is he going to the hostel too?"

Shuyin’s expression hardened slightly. "No. He needs more intensive care than a hostel can provide. He’ll go to a psychiatric facility where they can help him with his violent episodes. Not to punish him, but because he’s dangerous right now and needs professional treatment before he can be around other people safely."

She could see some of the children relax at that, knowing they wouldn’t be housed with someone who’d just violently attacked another child.

"Now," Shuyin said, her voice taking on a more practical tone, "I need all of you to go back to your rooms for now. Yu Shou will come around with paper and pencils. I need you to write down everything you know about your families. Names, addresses, anything that might help us find them if you were kidnapped. If you were sold or orphaned, write that down too. Be honest, this isn’t about judging you or your families, it’s about figuring out where you belong."

The children began to move slowly back toward their rooms, though many still looked uncertain and scared. The three little girls hesitated near Shuyin, the youngest one finally gathering courage to speak.

"Thank you," she whispered, her tiny voice barely audible. "Thank you for not sending us back to the bad places."

Shuyin felt tears prick her eyes but blinked them back. She knelt down despite the pain it caused, bringing herself to the little girl’s eye level. "You’re welcome, little one. I’m going to do everything I can to make sure you end up somewhere safe and good. I promise."

The girl impulsively hugged her, small arms wrapping around Shuyin’s neck. The other two girls joined in, and Shuyin found herself holding three children who’d been sold by their own parents, offering them the comfort and safety they should have received from the people who brought them into the world.

When they finally let go and scurried back to their room, Shuyin stood slowly, her body protesting every movement. She turned to Ting Fei, who was already on his phone making calls.

"Find the best hostel you can," she said quietly. "Money is no object. I want somewhere clean, safe, with good food and kind staff. Somewhere that will treat them with dignity while we figure out permanent solutions."

"Understood," Ting Fei said, then paused. "Ma’am, if I may... what you’re doing is compassionate. Many people in your position would simply hand the problem over to the authorities and be done with it."

"I’m not many people," Shuyin said, exhaustion evident in her voice. "And these children deserve better than being treated like problems to be solved. They’re victims. They deserve care and compassion and actual help, not just being shuffled from one terrible situation to another."

She looked down the corridor toward where the teenage boy was being helped to his feet by Yu Shou, still dazed from hitting the wall. "Even him," she added quietly. "Even the one who hurt Yuyan. He deserves help, not just punishment. His violence came from trauma, not malice."

Ting Fei bowed respectfully and returned to his calls, his voice professional as he began describing the specific requirements Shuyin had outlined.

Yu Shou approached, holding a stack of papers and pencils. "I’ll distribute these to the children and collect their information," he said. "It should take about an hour to get everything organized."

"Thank you," Shuyin said. "And Yu Shou... this wasn’t your fault. You can’t watch two hundred children alone. No one could. The situation was impossible from the start."

"Still," Yu Shou said, guilt evident in his young face. "I should have anticipated that some might have violent episodes. Should have kept closer watch."

"You did your best," Shuyin said firmly. "That’s all anyone can do. Now help me fix this properly instead of beating yourself up over what already happened."

Yu Shou nodded and moved off to begin distributing the papers and pencils to the various rooms.

Shuyin stood alone in the corridor for a moment, looking at the cracked plaster where the boy had hit the wall, at the doorframe where Yuyan had been pressed and terrorized. Her rage had cooled completely now, replaced by bone-deep weariness and a more nuanced understanding of the situation.

She’d wanted to save all of them. Wanted to provide sanctuary and safety and healing within her own home. But the reality was more complicated than her intentions. Some of these children needed more help than she could provide. Some needed to be returned to families who loved them. And all of them needed her to make decisions based on their actual needs rather than her desire to be their savior.

It was a harder lesson than she’d expected, but an important one. Sometimes the most loving thing you could do was recognize your own limitations and find others who were better equipped to help.

The rescued children would be cared for, returned to their families or housed temporarily in a safe hostel until permanent solutions could be found. It wasn’t the fairy tale ending she’d imagined when she’d first discovered them in the basement. But it was realistic, practical, and ultimately more helpful than trying to keep them all in a mansion that couldn’t meet their complex needs.

Sometimes being a good person meant accepting that you couldn’t save everyone the way you wanted to. Sometimes it meant making hard choices that prioritized your own family’s safety while still ensuring others were cared for properly.

Shuyin understood that now, even if it hurt to accept.

Feeling exhausted and aching in ways that had nothing to do with the morning’s chaos, Shuyin made her way down the corridor toward the east wing where their shared bedroom waited. Her body carried the dual burden of last night’s passionate intimacy and this morning’s violent confrontation, every step a reminder of how dramatically life had shifted in the span of twelve hours.