Chapter 373 The Orphanage's Lies: The Handsome Flower Boy 73
Outside the window, someone started setting off firecrackers.
Once the first one was set up, another followed, and the crackling sounds echoed everywhere, filling the air with the unique smell of firecrackers during the Chinese New Year.
The children had almost finished eating and were getting restless, wanting to go out and play.
Chang'an led them to set up a string of small firecrackers in the open space of the courtyard, lit the fuses with incense, and then quickly ran away.
"Crackling!" Several sounds.
After the firecrackers exploded, red paper scraps flew everywhere, standing out vividly against the snow.
Lu Jinnian stood under the corridor watching everyone have fun. Shen Ci appeared beside him at some point and asked softly.
Are you happy?
He nodded, and for the first time took the initiative to talk about the past.
When people are in a good mood, they talk more.
“When we were in the welfare home, we also had dumplings to eat during the Spring Festival, but there weren’t as many fun things to do or as lively.”
The welfare home has limited resources, but the director makes dumplings for the children every year. Most of the time, they are vegetarian dumplings, and the dough is not made of pure white flour.
Each person could only get a few dumplings.
But that was the headmistress's way of trying her best to leave everyone with a feeling of home.
"It will be this lively every year from now on."
Shen Ci patted him on the shoulder and encouraged him to join in and play together.
They played until late at night, and the children were so sleepy that they were all slumped over. The adults carried them back to their rooms to sleep. Shen Ci and Lu Jinnian also stayed in the courtyard house today.
The room was warm and cozy with a heated kang (a traditional heated brick bed), and the bedding had been freshly washed and smelled of sunshine.
Lu Jinnian lay on the kang (a heated brick bed), listening to the sporadic sounds of firecrackers outside the window, unable to fall asleep for a long time.
This was the first real family reunion year in his memory, filled with family, excitement, and a sense of belonging.
So this is what home is like.
The empty heart is gradually filled with warmth, happiness, and contentment, and the darkness, flattery, scheming, and weighing of options naturally disappear.
"Feeling the warmth of home and having my first happy New Year, the villain's salvation value increases by 20%."
Current rescue rate: 72%
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, Shen Ci and Lu Jinnian got up very early.
After breakfast, the mother and son drove out, their trunk filled with gifts: candy, biscuits, new cotton clothes, and several boxes of newly produced soda and calcium milk biscuits from the factory.
The car stopped at the entrance of the welfare home. Director Lu was leading the children to sweep the yard when he saw Shen Ci's car and came to greet them with a mixture of surprise and joy.
"Is this Comrade Shen? What brings you here? It's so cold here during the New Year."
"Dr. Dean, we've come to celebrate the New Year with you."
Lu Jinnian said with a smile that coming to the welfare home felt like coming back to her mother's home.
The children gathered around, their eyes lighting up at the sight of the candy and cookies, but they were all very sensible and didn't grab them.
Dean Lu asked the older children to help move the things, and then said to Shen Ci.
"The cotton-padded coats you sponsored were distributed before the Lunar New Year, and the children didn't get cold this winter."
And the money for school fees, I really don't know how to thank you.
Shen Ci patted the head of the timid little girl beside him. These children were very close to them, and even closer to Lu Jinnian.
"Let's not talk about that. This is Jin Nian's second home, so it's only right that we come back for the New Year."
At noon, three large round tables were set up in the canteen of the welfare home.
The dishes that Shen Ci ordered from the restaurant arrived. Although they weren't as lavish as the New Year's Eve dinner, they included chicken, duck, fish, meat, and a large bowl of dumplings.
The children sat quietly, waiting for Dean Lu to announce that dinner was served before cautiously picking up their chopsticks.
This time, the dumplings included both meat and plain white flour fillings, but no one rushed to eat them.
Faced with so many dishes they don't usually get to eat, most of the children ate very carefully, afraid that if they finished, there wouldn't be any left for the next meal.
A girl of about twelve or thirteen years old walked up to Shen Ci, holding a painting in her hand.
The drawing was done with crayons and was brightly colored. It depicted a woman in a red dress holding the hand of a little boy, with a rainbow and birds behind them.
In the bottom right corner of the drawing paper, it was neatly written: Thank you, Aunt Shen, for sponsoring my schooling.
The little girl's voice was soft and she seemed a bit shy.
"The headmistress said that we should know how to be grateful and know who helped us."
Thank you, Aunt Shen. When I grow up, I will be like you and Brother Jinnian, helping more people.
Shen Ci took the painting, feeling as if something soft had touched her heart.
To her, money was just a cold number in the system; she could get back whatever amount she spent.
But when these numbers become the cotton-padded clothes on the children's bodies, the books in their hands, and the light in their eyes, everything gains meaning.
"What's your name?" she asked softly.
"My name is Lu Xiaohua."
"Xiaohua, study hard. As long as you are willing to study, Auntie will support you all the way up to university."
The little girl's eyes lit up immediately, and she nodded vigorously.
On the other side, Dean Lu pulled Lu Jinnian aside to talk.
"Are you adjusting well to being with your mother? You look much better."
That was an unnecessary question for me; I can tell from your current state that you're very happy.
Dean Lu is like another mother to Lu Jinnian, filling the void of a missing family member for so many years. Lu Jinnian becomes unusually talkative when facing her.
"Yes, I'm doing well."
My mother taught me a lot of things and even let me help out at the factory.
Dear Dean, I have learned a lesson.
Doing good deeds isn't about gilding the Buddha statue in a temple; it's about providing real help to those suffering.
He had seen those kind people before, who always went to temples to do good deeds, but did the Buddha, who sat high in the temple, need help? Did he need the kindness of others?
Dean Lu's eyes welled up with tears, and he nodded repeatedly.
"Good boy, good boy, your mother has raised you well."
The children thoroughly enjoyed their New Year's Eve dinner.
After the meal, Lu Jinnian gave everyone gifts: a bag of candy, a bag of biscuits, and a small red envelope containing two cents of lucky money for each child.
The children cheered, and the orphanage was filled with long-lost laughter. There weren't many things, but for the little ones, it was enough to make them happy for a long time.
As they were leaving, Dean Lu saw them to the door and shook Shen Ci's hand.
"Comrade Shen, you have no idea how great a good deed you have done."
Several of these children were picked up from the roadside. If it weren't for people like you, they…”
She couldn't continue.
Shen Ci turned around, looked at the children waving in the courtyard, and said softly.
"Dean, things will get better and better in the future."
At the same time, in a dilapidated alley in Xicheng District.
The Wang family has moved out of the Ministry of Education's staff quarters and is now renting two low-rise bungalows.
There was no heating in the house, so they had to use a stove, and the coal smoke blackened the walls.
Wang Zhenguo, wrapped in an old cotton-padded coat, sat by the stove with a vacant look in his eyes.
Since his retirement benefits were revoked, he felt like his spine had been ripped out, and he completely collapsed.
When a wall falls, everyone pushes it down. It's true that he did those things, but if there weren't people pushing him from behind, he doesn't believe he could have fallen so completely.
Unfortunately, the whole family has now been kicked out, and those who want to investigate the background can't find out anything.
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