Chapter 7: Different Paths to the Same Destination

"How do you know that man is a human trafficker?"

This can be said, Zhang Wei: "I don't know him"

Seeing her speak again, Officer Hou's face lit up and he continued to ask, "Then where is the person you know?"

Zhang Wei continued to shake her head. She really couldn't say this. If she did, how would she make a living?

For the next two days, Zhang Wei stayed in the clinic at the train station. She was questioned several times and broadcast at the train station for two days, but no one came to take her away. The police finally gave up and took her into the police car and left the train station.

Zhang Wei was satisfied and it seemed that he could go to the welfare home.

But when she got off the car, she didn't see what she expected. She was taken to a police station, taken into a conference room, given some candies, and then no one paid any attention to her.

Something was not right. Zhang Wei stood on tiptoe to open the door. There was no one outside. When she walked to the door of the front room, she heard a familiar voice on the phone, as if saying to her:

"Come over here now, or I'll take you to the orphanage."

"Yes, he is very well behaved and quiet. He never cries when eating or getting injections."

"What? How could it be abnormal! You can identify bad guys and you are polite. Come and see for yourself and tell your brother-in-law. If you send them to the orphanage and someone else takes them away, I will not care about you anymore!"

After hearing this, Zhang Wei slowly retreated back to the meeting room.

It seems that someone in Officer Hou's family wants to adopt a child. She was spotted by Officer Hou. Was she adopted? She hadn't thought about it yet. After all, based on her own experience, even her own biological children might not like it, let alone those who were not related by blood.

Compared to Chen Jiumei, her father can be considered a kind father. Zhang Wei has never experienced a normal family life, so being adopted is not necessarily a good thing for her, although she has a good impression of Officer Hou.

Not long after, the door was opened, and Officer Hou came in with a woman who looked very similar to him. She looked Zhang Wei up and down as soon as she entered the room. Zhang Wei was not afraid at all, and greeted the person when she saw him come in:

"Uncle Hou, Auntie"

"Oh, so good!" She said and picked up Zhang Wei.

Zhang Wei could only look at Officer Hou with a questioning look. Officer Hou looked at her nervously, and when he saw that she didn't reject him, he said:

"Weiwei, this is my sister. She heard that you are very well behaved and wanted to come and see you."

Zhang Wei nodded and relaxed her body, letting her hold him.

"Your name is Weiwei, it sounds nice!" Sister Hou seemed very satisfied with her. She held her tightly and didn't let go until Officer Hou signaled her to go out, and then she let Zhang Wei go.

In fact, Zhang Wei doesn't like any close contact. She is used to being alone. If she is adopted by this family, she feels that it will also be a challenge for her.

This time the door was not closed, and Zhang Wei heard their conversation:

"Can't you take it home today?"

"Everything must be done according to the regulations. First, send the child to an orphanage. If the biological parents don't find him within two months, go to the orphanage to complete the paperwork."

"This... she speaks Mandarin so well, she must be living in a good place. What if her parents come looking for her?"

"That only means there's no destiny. Are you going to snatch a child from someone else's biological parents?"

"Okay then, you give them a heads up, and when the time comes we'll go and handle the adoption process."

It seems that she still needs to go to the welfare home first. Well, let’s go and see what it’s like there first, Zhang Wei thought.

In this way, Zhang Wei finally achieved his goal of going to the welfare home on the third day after arriving in City A.

Overall, Zhang Wei's life in the welfare home was not as good as she had imagined, but it was still acceptable.

This orphanage has more than eighty children of various ages ranging from a few months to eighteen years old, but there are very few boys, and those who exist have defects in some aspects.

Half of the children are abnormal, including those with intellectual disabilities and physical defects. There are only a few who are about the same age as Zhang Wei, and they are all thin and small.

The conditions in the welfare home are not bad. The food is pretty good. There are meat and vegetables every few days. The residents have single beds and there are teachers on duty at night. However, a normal person would not be able to eat or sleep well.

Zhang Wei's first meal there was knocked over four times. Seeing that the teachers were too busy to handle it, he resigned himself to his fate and knocked over the food for the fifth time.

Children under the age of 12 are managed uniformly. There are more than 30 of them in total, and they are assigned four teachers. However, children with intellectual disabilities and behavioral problems will disturb others' meals. Zhang Wei had her food knocked away four times by the same boy. She wanted to beat him up at the time, but she saw that the boy was stupid and pitiful.

The same thing happened when she was sleeping. In the middle of the night, Zhang Wei felt some movement and opened her eyes. She saw the girl in the next bed climbing up to her bedside and calling her mother.

No wonder the few normal children here are so thin and small. If this continues for a long time, normal children will be prone to psychological problems.

Zhang Wei got used to it after a few days. He could grab his food back and continue eating when it was taken away, and change direction and continue sleeping when he was woken up at night.

It's just that the rest of the time is too hard to endure. The teachers are too busy comforting the problem children and only let them play with toys and read picture books.

There were other books in the library, so Zhang Wei could only patiently look for books to read. While reading, she met a fourteen-year-old girl, who was the only one in the library who would often read books.

She was one of the few normal children among the older ones, so Zhang Wei wanted to chat with her. Perhaps she was really short of companions and did not dislike Zhang Wei, the little kid, at all.

Her name is Chunfeng because the director's mother likes the word "Chun" and most children's names have "Chun" in them. This is what Chunfeng told her.

"Sister Chunfeng, can't you go to school?" Zhang Wei asked the question she wanted to ask most. She thought Chunfeng must like reading, she loved reading so much.

"I'm happy reading here. I don't want to go to school. Weiwei, you shouldn't go either. We are different from others." Chunfeng raised his face and looked out the window, with a hint of loneliness in his voice.

"Is someone bullying you at school?" Zhang Wei wondered if she had been bullied when she went to school.

Chunfeng hesitated for a moment, then shook his head: "No, they don't talk to me." Then he smiled at Zhang Wei and said:

"I read books at school, but I couldn't just read the books I liked. It's so much better here. I can read whatever I want."

Zhang Wei couldn't help but worry about her future: "What kind of job will you find to support yourself?"

"Weiwei, you really don't act like a child." Zhang Wei had no choice; her behavior habits couldn't be changed all of a sudden.

"I've already asked the director's mom about this. She said that when I turn 18, I can help out in the kitchen or clean here, and I can read here when I have free time."

The voice of the spring breeze was cheerful, as if the trace of gloom had never appeared.

Zhang Wei felt a bitter taste in her heart. She didn't know how to convince her to change her mind. It was obvious that Chunfeng had already arranged her future so hastily.

Then she could only tell Chunfeng how small the library here was and that she would have finished reading all the books in a few years. There were many large libraries outside, especially university libraries, which contained all the books in the world.