The younger children were chasing and playing in the yard, while the older and more sensible children helped take care of the younger children, wash clothes, and do homework. In the end, they were always busy.

The dean took Jiang Mengxue to her office. The walls of the office were covered with award certificates. Seeing Jiang Mengxue staring at the awards curiously, Dean Fang began to introduce them to her.

"These are the awards the children in our orphanage have received. They are still in their rooms. Some of them have started working now and often come back to visit the children in the orphanage. They are all grateful children."

The children in the orphanage have no one to rely on and can only rely on each other.

Dean Fang’s ability is limited, and he hopes that the children in the institute will interact more often when they go out, so that they can have brothers and sisters who can help each other.

"I just saw it too. The children are all living well and have lively personalities."

This is also what makes Jiang Mengxue feel relieved. When the children see someone coming, they greet them politely without any fear or shrinking, but they also do not rush forward to disturb them.

“How many children are there in the orphanage now?”

Dean Fang blurted out without hesitation, "53 children, 16 boys, 37 girls. Four boys are over ten years old, and eight girls. These children can usually help take care of their younger siblings."

Jiang Mengxue didn't expect the gap to be so big, but when she thought about it, it made sense. As long as there was someone at home with a boy, he wouldn't need to go to an orphanage, but even if there were relatives at home, no one would be willing to raise a girl, or some girls would be abandoned at birth, but boys wouldn't be abandoned unless they had some particularly obvious physical defects.

"I didn't bring much this time. They were all gifts from others. Dean, please divide them among the children. Is there anything the academy needs?"

The director had already seen the large bags of things placed outside, so he didn't have the nerve to ask for anything more. "Nothing is lacking, no need. Now the children have food, drink, and clothes. It's much better than before."

Usually, I just have to buy some school supplies by myself. Some of them are donated by kind people, and some of them are bought by Dean Fang from scrap collection stations.

Jiang Mengxue nodded. She knew it even without Dean Fang saying it. It was good enough that the money allocated from above was enough for the children to eat. The rest had to be solved by themselves.

Occasionally, some kind-hearted people would donate one or two unwanted clothes, but they were few and far between. It would be good enough if every child could have one set of summer clothes and one set of winter clothes.

However, Jiang Mengxue didn't say anything. It was enough for her to know that now that she had the ability, she would find an opportunity to donate some things.

The dean took Jiang Mengxue to take a look at the girl's room. It was a very large room with kangs on three of the four walls.

At this moment, there were several older children coaxing the younger ones to get up and get dressed.

The youngest child here is only three months old. Because there is no breastfeeding, Director Fang can only grit his teeth and buy some rice noodles every month to feed the child.

The child is still too young and has a weak stomach, so she doesn't dare to feed him whole grain porridge now. Not only is it not nutritious, but it will also be difficult for the child to eat.

Jiang Mengxue observed the situation of these children and knew what to do next.

She had never been exposed to it before and didn't know that there were orphanages now. The children had a hard time surviving.

Jiang Mengxue did not donate the bonus to the orphanage.

Instead, she bought a lot of cotton cloth the next day and went home to make dozens of sanitary belts with a sewing machine.

Before she left, she saw a girl washing sanitary belts by the pool. It was obvious that they had been used for a long time. Besides, the weather was cold now. If there were only two pairs to use, they would have to be dried over the fire immediately, otherwise they would not be usable. She didn't know what to do if she was going to school, and she couldn't change them and wash them in the middle of the day.

It took a day to complete it. On the third day, Jiang Mengxue took the things to the orphanage again. Dean Fang was very surprised to see Jiang Mengxue coming again.

Jiang Mengxue smiled and said, "I was worried that the girls might not have enough daily necessities, so I made some and sent them over. There's also the rice porridge that the child needs to drink now. I happen to have a few pounds of it at home, which is enough for the child to drink for a while."

Dean Fang was carrying at least seven or eight kilograms of rice noodles, which was enough to feed the children until they could eat if they were frugal.

"Comrade Jiang, thank you so much." The rice noodles in the kitchen were almost gone two days ago. She was thinking of going to the grain station to buy some rice today and using a stone mill to grind it into rice noodles to feed her children.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Mengxue would come today. Dean Fang strongly invited Jiang Mengxue to stay for dinner before leaving.

But considering that the food provided to each child in the orphanage is barely enough to feed themselves, and that the children in their teenage years cannot eat enough no matter how much they eat, if she is added to the family, the children will definitely eat less.

"No, Dean Fang, I have something else to do today. Let's wait for next time."

Jiang Mengxue planned to donate the share of the publishing house's profits to the orphanage after she got them. She was not short of money herself, so she decided to do some good within her ability.

In the following time, Jiang Mengxue worked as usual. It was almost the 20th day of the twelfth lunar month, and Jiang's mother did not come into the city.

Jiang Mengxue may not be able to celebrate the New Year at home this year, so she is thinking about going back to give the New Year gifts.

I bought a pound of pork belly and a pound of large biscuits, brought some candy for the children, and a bottle of wine for Jiang's father. The children each received a red envelope of five cents, which was not a small amount.

She put the things in a basket and covered it with a piece of cloth. She went back early this morning and got off the bus in the county town. Jiang Mengxue planned to visit Jiang Dongmei first.

Jiang Mengxue only knew that Jiang Dongmei worked in the supply and marketing cooperative. The county town had changed a lot in the past two years, and Jiang Mengxue really didn't know where she was.

Just as she was about to ask someone after leaving the station, she vaguely heard a familiar voice, as if someone was calling her.

She thought she had misheard, so she took off her scarf, hat, and earmuffs, only to find that someone was really calling her.

"Xue girl, wait."

"mother?"

Jiang's mother stuck her head out of the car and shouted at Jiang Mengxue to wait.

Jiang Mengxue ran to the bus that had just arrived at the station and waited.

I saw Jiang's mother carrying bags of things downstairs.

"Girl, why are you back today? I was planning to go to the city to see you."

"Mom, didn't I ask you to go before? Why are you only coming now?"

"Hi, your second and third sister-in-law got pregnant at the same time, and there's a lot going on at home. I thought I'd go to the city to see you today and come back tomorrow, but I didn't expect to run into you here. If I hadn't seen you just now, I would have followed the car straight to the city."

Jiang Mengxue took the thing from Jiang's mother's hand and carried it. It was not heavy but looked very big.

"Mom, what did you bring? So many bags and so little bags."

As he said this, he was about to pull Jiang's mother outside.

"Wait, don't go. There's a lot of stuff here. Let's go back and tell them why you got off here. It's too dark to walk home from here. What are we going out for now? Let's take the bus back."