That evening, both Mrs. Huang and Tian Xiaolan stayed at the orphanage for dinner.

The food is the same as that for the children, except that the small glutinous rice balls have an extra steamed egg, and nothing else is made special.

The children's meal was simple: brown rice cooked until very soft, green vegetables stir-fried with lard, and an egg drop soup; the taste was quite good.

Every ten days, the children can also eat meat, whether it's chicken, fish, or pork, they can always have some.

To ensure the children could divide the meat more fairly, the cook would often make meatballs for them, giving each child two fist-sized meatballs.

Small children can eat it without much effort, and older children can also feel full after eating it.

Huang and Tian Xiaolan sat in the dining hall eating with the children.

A little boy, about six or seven years old, sat down next to Mrs. Huang, holding his food tray, his big eyes wide open.

"Grandma, thank you. I know you're the owner here. If it weren't for you, I'd still be outside being chased by stray dogs."

Here, I have food to eat, new clothes to wear, and a warm bed to sleep in.

The child was only halfway through his sentence when another child came over with his tray, climbed onto a stool, and interrupted,

“I can still go to school. When my mother was alive, she said that going to school was very expensive, and only wealthy families could afford it. Now we are living the life of a wealthy family, aren’t we?”

As she spoke, she looked into Huang's eyes with her small eyes, which were filled with a starlight that awaited an answer.

The first little one was nodding in agreement.

"Of course, we still have meat to eat."

Didn't you hear Brother Gou say that when his parents were still alive, he could only eat an egg on his birthday, and there was no meat to eat?

"So, you're having meat to eat, or you've come to our orphanage, right, Brother Dog?"

The dog holding its food tray nodded repeatedly.

A group of children quickly surrounded Huang and Tian Xiaolan, chattering amongst themselves.

Regardless of whether their pronunciation was clear or not, they expressed their gratitude to the orphanage very clearly.

Huang and Tian Xiaolan both loved children, and after being bombarded with sweet talk from these kids, they almost lost their bearings.

But reason prevailed, and the children were warned not to answer if anyone asked what they ate each day.

"Grandma, why? We really eat well and dress well."

Mrs. Huang smiled and said,

"It's fate that we accepted you. As you just said, your lives now are better than when your parents were alive."

That means there are still many families outside who are not as well off as we are here.

It's hard to guarantee that there won't be some families who want to save money and send their children to us to raise.

Raising them probably won't cost me much money.

But for that child, it might be the worst thing.

"If I were to give you a choice now, would you rather live with your parents, or be an orphan like you are now?"

The children started chattering away.

"As long as my parents are alive, I'm willing to eat only one meal a day. There are wild vegetables on the mountain, and I can go and dig them up. I want my parents to live."

"I don't want to stay with my parents, Grandma. I ran away from home."

I was beaten every day at home, and I could only eat swill. My father even talked to my mother about selling me to a brothel, so I secretly ran away.

"Sigh, you all have parents, but I don't even know who my parents are."

The grandfather who found me said that it was the dead of winter and extremely cold the day he found me.

So they call me Cold Winter.

"Oh, so your surname isn't Leng?"

Huang, Tian Xiaolan, Lü Feng, and the others were almost in tears as they listened.

The children, however, seemed numb, and calmly recounted their stories of being homeless children.

Anyone who managed to find a sour cornbread bun was the envy of their friends for days.

I ate something bad and got so bad diarrhea I almost died.

The servant of Master Zhou in the East City is the worst. Not only does he refuse to give beggars when they come to his door, but he also sets his vicious dog on them...

The mother and daughter-in-law stayed overnight at the orphanage, but did not fall asleep quickly.

"Oh, these children are so pitiful. If our business could be better, this orphanage would have to stay open."

Huang was lying in bed sighing. Hearing this, Tian Xiaolan turned to look at her mother-in-law.

"So you mean you want to open another one? Didn't you object when this one was opened before?"

Huang sighed.

"Sigh, I definitely want to object, but what's the use of objecting?"

By the time I found out, the matter had already been formally reported to the county magistrate.

I've already paid the money, can I ask for it back? I can only get angry with your dad.

My dear daughter said at the time that she wanted to do good deeds to accumulate good karma.

Spending time with these children today, I realized this is more than just accumulating good karma; it's the joy and comfort of seeing children eat their fill.

Tian Xiaolan: "..." Another spendthrift has emerged in this family.

However she might grumble inwardly, she would never voice her thoughts, since the orphanage had never used a single penny of her family's money from the very beginning.

To put it more bluntly, all the expenses here are covered by Zhao Qingyan's money.

The Zhao family was well aware of Zhao Qingyan's differences, but no one brought it up openly.

Therefore, no one cares how much money she has, how she earns it, or how she spends it.

After all, we can't even imagine living like this anymore.

Human greed is insatiable; if you're too greedy, you'll anger that girl. If the old couple splits the family property again, where will you find a way to profit?

When it comes to gaining an advantage, Tian Xiaolan is quite shrewd.

Running this orphanage isn't necessarily a losing proposition. Children need to learn a trade, so they need to be taught and practiced.

The calligraphy brushes the children are making are getting better and better; they've reached a point where they can be sold.

They make toothbrushes, weave bamboo baskets and straw mats, do woodworking, and sell the finished products. After deducting the cost, they keep what they have.

Twenty percent is left for the producers, and the remaining eighty percent is used to improve the children's meals, etc.

Therefore, the happiest day for the children is the monthly payday. Although they don't receive much money, it's money they earned with their own hands, and they can also eat delicious food.

To fulfill the children's wishes, I bought them some snacks they had been craving.

The point here is equality, not fairness, since it's impossible to be truly fair. People of different ages have varying levels of skill in learning new skills.

That's why 20% of the profits are used as rewards for the children.

Just like the reason why the food at the orphanage tastes pretty good is because they also have cooking classes. The goal is to teach the children how to cook.

Regardless of whether it tastes good or not, you must learn to cook so that you won't go hungry after you leave the orphanage.