The stars are turning, the lights are shining
The "Original Aspiration Memorial Hall" on the first floor of the foundation's headquarters is an exact replica of the original small rented office. It features mottled walls, a creaking old fan, a folding table piled with documents, and a sofa slumped from being sat on. At this moment, a group of children wearing red scarves gathered around a white-haired old man, listening intently.
"Grandma, what happened next? Is that college student sister who was afraid to go on stage really okay?" A little girl with bright eyes asked, looking up.
Li Xiaoyu sat on the familiar old sofa. The sunlight filtered through the replica window frames, casting a warm glow in her wrinkled yet still clear eyes. She gently stroked the little girl's head, her voice gentle and calm:
"Later, she discovered that she didn't have to wait until she was no longer afraid before going on stage. Instead, she could move forward despite being afraid. Just like you are a little afraid of the dark now, but you can still hold your mother's hand and walk through that dark alley together."
The children nodded, seeming to understand. The teacher who led them said to Li Xiaoyu gratefully, "Grandma Li, thank you for telling these stories to the children. They are much more vivid than the lessons in the textbooks."
When legends become ordinary, great stories become trickles that nourish the soul.
After seeing the children off, the memorial hall fell silent. Li Xiaoyu didn't leave immediately. Instead, she slowly walked to the famous "Original Aspiration Wall," which chronicled the foundation's nearly three decades of history. Her gaze swept across faces, both familiar and unfamiliar, before finally resting on a digital screen in the corner. It displayed real-time updates from the foundation's global network—points of light representing its "Heart Stations" and "Lighthouse Project" dotted across a world map like stars.
Several of these points of light were lit by the protagonists of the story she had just told:
Lin Yue has become a psychology professor at a well-known domestic university, specializing in adolescent identity in the digital age.
Shitou, the head of the Yunling "Rural Healing Center", is leading the villagers to explore a new model of "ecological healing".
The joint secretary-general team consisting of Cheng Han, Nila, Luca and Kadir has just successfully coordinated a cross-border psychological assistance program for Pacific island countries following the climate disaster.
Looking at these names and achievements, a deep sense of peace emerged on Li Xiaoyu's face. She had done it. Not only had she kept the light Moyu had entrusted to her, but she had also allowed it to illuminate a wider world and successfully passed it on to even more, younger hands.
The memorial hall's administrator, a veteran employee who has worked at the foundation for twenty years, brought her a cup of hot tea and said, "Chairman Li, every time I see you telling stories to the children, I feel like all our decades of hard work have been worth it."
Li Xiaoyu took the tea and smiled, "It's not worth it, it's just the beginning. We just planted some seeds, and look, isn't the forest growing on its own now?"
Individual life is like a shooting star across the night sky, but the inheritance of spirit is as bright and eternal as the stars.
She slowly walked out of the memorial hall and onto the square outside the headquarters building. It was dusk, and the lights were just beginning to come on. The city lights and the sunset glow on the horizon blended into a warm sea of light. She sat down on a bench and, like any ordinary elderly person, quietly watched the people coming and going.
A young girl wearing a foundation volunteer vest hurried past, then turned back and recognized her with surprise: "You...you are Chairman Li?"
Li Xiaoyu smiled and nodded.
The girl was so excited that she was a little incoherent. "I... I'm a student who was helped by the 'Lighthouse of the Heart' and I'm now a graduate student in psychology! Today is my first time as a volunteer! Thank you! Thank you for everything you do!"
Looking at the girl's energetic back as she ran away, Li Xiaoyu thought of his younger self, the cuttlefish, and the countless souls who groped in the darkness and were eventually illuminated and also illuminated the souls of others.
Her phone vibrated. It was a message from the Joint Secretary-General's team, requesting a decision on a new project. She glanced at it and replied with just four words: "You decide."
She knew she had to let go completely. The organization she had poured half her life into had developed its own vitality and judgment. She was no longer at the helm, but a symbol, a beacon behind a beacon, standing quietly on the shoreline of time, witnessing the continuous departure of new ships.
Night fell completely, and the stars began to twinkle in the sky. Li Xiaoyu raised her head and gazed into the boundless depths of the universe. She remembered the almost prophetic words that Moyu had said to her during the Foundation's early and most difficult times:
"Xiaoyu, remember, each of us is a lamp, our light is dim and our lifespan is limited. But as long as we exist and illuminate, this light will never truly disappear. It will enter the eyes of those illuminated, blend into their memories, and become a part of them. Then, when they illuminate others, our light will be among them."
At this moment, she was convinced of it.
She slowly stood up, took one last look at this world of bright lights that she loved so much, then turned around and walked calmly into the bustling crowd, like an ordinary old man returning home.
Behind her, the lights of the Foundation headquarters building continued to shine brightly, like eternal stars. And in countless corners of this planet, countless lights, lit by her and her companions, continued to glow.
Every generation has its own journey, every lamp its own mission. Her journey is nearing its end, but this does not mean the light has faded. Quite the contrary. It is precisely because countless "Li Xiaoyu" and "Mo Xiaoyu" continue to hold up their lights that the galaxy of human spirit can transcend the limitations of individual life and forever shine a warm and steadfast light in the boundless wilderness of time.
“Lives pass, organizations evolve, but the desire to illuminate others, once ignited, becomes an eternal light amidst the darkness of the universe.”
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