Return to the welfare home

Fang Huai never returned after leaving Huaihua Welfare Home. The gate of the welfare home was painted red, and the brown bark of the old locust tree in front of the gate lay on its thick trunk.

The area under the tree was swept clean.

He stood in front of the door, hesitating to move forward, holding the gift in his hand, cheering himself up. Kong Lingyu stood beside Fang Huai, waiting with gentle eyes.

"What are you doing? Why are you standing here?" The old man in security uniform saw two young men standing outside the door, shouted from a distance, put down the hot teapot in his hand and ran out.

"Grandpa Zhou, don't you recognize me?" Kong Lingyu stood up and said to the old man with a smile.

The old man saw Kong Lingyu's face clearly and patted Kong Lingyu's shoulder happily, "Good boy, I said I was the boss who came to donate."

The old man looked at Fang Huai behind him and said jokingly, "Good boy, you have good taste."

Fang Huai was far away from them and didn't hear the conversation between the two. He only saw the old man seem to say something. Kong Lingyu laughed so hard that his shoulders shook. He handed the bag of tea to the old man, turned to look at him, and waved: "Maimai, come here."

"This is Mr. Zhou."

"He's Fang Huai, and he also came from this welfare home." Kong Lingyu introduced Fang Huai to Uncle Zhou. After that, he moved closer to Fang Huai and said, "Uncle Zhou came here a year after you left."

Fang Huai greeted politely: "Hello."

"Hello, hello." Uncle Zhou responded with a smile while holding the tea leaves.

He looked at the two young men and suddenly realized what was happening. He quickly invited them in, muttering, "The dean would be very happy to see you."

"At first I thought you were the boss who came to donate money. He's old and has presbyopia."

The boss who donated money? Could it be that a lot of people came to the welfare home recently? Fang Huai walked, thinking, and when he was deep in his thoughts, a gentle voice disturbed his thoughts.

"Are you back?" A middle-aged woman with obvious wrinkles at the corners of her eyes stood not far away, looking at Fang Huai gently.

"Dean's mother."

Fang Huai looked up and met those gentle and kind eyes. The woman waved, "Maimai, long time no see."

In an instant, Fang Huai seemed to have returned to the scene when he first came to the welfare home. Kong Lingyu was covered in wounds, and he was being led towards the welfare home in a panic with a tearful face.

He clutched his teddy bear nervously, looking at his aunt who was comforting him with a gentle voice. After learning his name, she gently called out, "Maimai."

"Are you busy at work?" The dean's question brought Fang Huai back from his memories.

Fang Huai shook his head and said, "It's okay, but there are more patients at the end of the year."

The dean sighed sadly, carefully looked at the two children in front of him, and said with emotion:

"Back then, you were both so little, holding hands, one of you crying, the other still bleeding from your nose. I thought you had a fight." She continued: In the blink of an eye, the two little kids have grown into adults who can stand on their own feet. The dean's words made Fang Huai's heart sank, and he didn't know how to respond.

"Dean, how could we possibly fight when we're so well behaved?" Kong Lingyu feigned dissatisfaction as he put his arm around Fang Huai's shoulders and said, "We have such a good relationship, how could we possibly fight?"

Kong Lingyu noticed Fang Huai's tenseness and patted his arm to signal him to relax. He deliberately interrupted and said, "It's good to be an independent adult."

The dean glared at Kong Lingyu in feigned anger, then pulled Fang Huai aside and said, "Yeah, I used to always wonder when you little kids would grow up. Now that I see you've grown up, I'm actually going back. I really shouldn't have done that."

"You two have been close since childhood. I still remember this guy always clinging to you when he was little. You despised him for not washing his feet and refused to let him sleep with you no matter what."

Fang Huai's eyes flickered. He still remembered this incident. He was taken in by an orphanage, which had specially set up a small bed for him. When he first arrived, Fang Huai didn't know any of the other children and would always sit there blankly, holding his teddy bear.

Kong Lingyu simply and roughly included him in his territory, always following behind Fang Huai, and touching the doll's paws from time to time out of impulsiveness.

Before Fang Huai came to the welfare home, this guy didn't like to be clean. He was always watched while washing, and he would always do it perfunctorily when the director was helping other children pour water.

As a child, Fang Huai was awkward and stubborn. Because Kong Lingyu was not a clean person, he would not let him sleep with him no matter what. He was afraid of the dark and would hide in his quilt and cry at night. Kong Lingyu squatted in front of his crib in silence. The next day, he changed this bad habit and washed his face and feet cleanly.

The dean laughed and said, "Apart from this matter, you two have no other conflicts."

Fang Huai turned around and saw Kong Lingyu winking at him mischievously, and he looked away guiltily.

After that, the dean took out a stack of remittance slips, pointed at the remitter on them and said, "Maimai, this person is you, right?"

Fang Huai saw the familiar signature and was about to deny it, but when he met the dean's gentle yet serious gaze, he nodded stiffly.

"Good child, you work hard outside, so you should save some for emergencies." She said, "The welfare home is doing better than in previous years. It's getting the attention of many kind-hearted people in society, and with government subsidies, the children's living conditions are much better than before."

"When you're out and about, you should take care of yourselves first." The dean continued to instruct the two juniors as usual. Fang Huai listened, stood up, took the remittance slip, and patted it in his hand. "Got it, don't worry, we have it in mind."

"Do you still have an idea? Among you kids, you are the one I am most worried about. When you left the welfare home without saying a word, I was almost worried to death!" When the director said this, she became angry. She pulled Fang Huai and talked about what that guy had done.

"After graduating from junior high school, he ran away. He only left behind a poorly written letter saying he was going out into the world."

Fang Huai's eyes widened in surprise. The dean immediately realized that Kong Lingyu hadn't told Fang Huai, and glared at Kong Lingyu. Kong Lingyu shrugged helplessly and said silently to Fang Huai, "I'll tell you later."

The dean chatted with Fang Huai and the others for a while, and then Uncle Zhou came and called her away.

Fang Huai walked outside to breathe fresh air, tilted his head to look at Kong Lingyu. Kong Lingyu chuckled, stood up and walked to his side.

"What... did you do after leaving here?" Fang Huai knew nothing about Kong Lingyu's past. The dean left before he finished speaking, which was like a hook, with only a beginning but no follow-up, which was really annoying.

Kong Lingyu bent down, a playful smile in his eyes: "Curious?"

Fang Huai denied it, "I'm not really curious."

Kong Lingyu: "Do you want to listen?"

A gust of wind blew by, ruffling the strands of hair on Fang Huai's forehead. He frowned slightly and said seriously, "Do you want to say something?"

After not getting a reply from Kong Lingyu, Fang Huai turned to look at him and asked again, "Are you willing to tell me?"