Lin Shuyue's words made Wang Mingzheng silent. If this task was given to someone else, the one they submitted would definitely be a perfect answer, but it was different for Lin Shuyue.
This person was the one who he asked for her to film a sick wife, and the husband was willing to spend all his money to treat her, but in the end, a serious crime was uncovered.
She asked for leave to go back to her hometown, and then there was a Liyuan case that shocked the whole country. Even when she was traveling or on vacation, she could encounter a funeral home case that was shocking all over the world.
Before Lin Shuyue asked this question, Wang Mingzheng was sure whether this orphanage and nursing home had any love. But after Lin Shuyue said this, Wang Mingzheng's heart began to beat fast.
He looked at Lin Shuyue's cautious expression and said, "Seek truth from facts."
With just four words, Lin Shuyue knew Wang Mingzheng's attitude. Lin Shuyue said she understood, so she walked out with the information.
Li Mingfang was listless at her workstation. Li Weisheng informed them that he was safe early this morning. Lin Shuyue called Li Weisheng on her way to work, but his phone was turned off. If Lin Shuyue's guess was correct, Li Weisheng should be working hard to get into the black coal mine.
Lin Shuyue sat down at her workstation and began to look at the documents.
Both the Love Orphanage and the Love Nursing Home have been established for more than 20 years. The Love Orphanage came into existence less than two years after the establishment of Pengcheng Special Economic Zone. The orphanage is funded by Pengcheng's old enterprise, Kaka Melon Seeds Co., Ltd.
This company started out by selling roasted melon seeds, and later developed many flavors, and the variety of roasted nuts is not limited to melon seeds.
However, as more competitors emerged, their market share began to decrease. Later, a reporter accidentally filmed Kaka Sunflower Seeds sponsoring orphanages and nursing homes, and Kaka Sunflower Seeds' sales began to soar.
Now, many years have passed, and because there are too many similar competitors, the development of Kaka Melon Seeds has been lukewarm, but their funding to orphanages and nursing homes has not decreased for a single year.
Every year, many people go to interview orphanages and nursing homes. Pengcheng Metropolis Daily also went to interview before, and the interview manuscript was there. After Lin Shuyue read it, it happened that the reporter who interviewed this incident had returned. She went up to chat.
The reporter who has reported on the orphanage and the nursing home is named Wang Yuanming. He is a man of few words. When he is not reporting on the news, his favorite thing to do is to make a cup of tea and read all the reports on the market that day. His favorite thing to read is martial arts novels published in magazines.
According to Li Mingfang, Wang Yuanming is a part-time writer. Although he did not reveal his pen name, judging from the letters his unit often receives from his publishing house, he must be doing well in his part-time job.
It had been two years since he interviewed the Love Orphanage, but when Wang Yuanming mentions the Orphanage again now, he still remembers it vividly.
"Most of the children sent to the orphanage have physical defects. Over the years, Kaka Melon Seeds Co. has spent a lot of money on medical treatment for the children in the Love Orphanage."
"When I went to interview last time, there was a little girl named Xingxing who was abandoned by her parents because she had a cleft lip. Kaka Melon Seeds Co. admitted her to the hospital and performed surgery on her. I went to see her once later, and her cleft lip had been repaired. She looked nothing like before."
Wang Yuanming did not write about this incident in the report because such a thing was too insignificant to mention for the Love Orphanage.
His reports were all about the children in the orphanage happily playing games, reading books and newspapers. Many of these children had disabilities, but the smiles on their faces were so bright that people would feel warm just by looking at them.
Lin Shuyue asked some more questions, and then asked about the nursing home: "Wang Ji, do you know about the Love Nursing Home?"
Speaking of Love Nursing Home, Wang Yuanming sighed: "In theory, a nursing home is a non-profit organization organized by the state to take in and provide care for the five-guarantee households."
"But this Love Nursing Home is different. It is completely organized and built by the public. The people they take in are generally disabled and unable to take care of themselves. In most cases, Kaka Melon Seeds Co. takes care of their daily lives."
"Over the years, Kaka Melon Seeds' sales have been declining. At this time, they began to recruit self-funded elderly people from the society. They started recruiting since the year before last. Xiao Lin, you may not understand how big a stir this incident caused in Pengcheng at that time."
"Those who used to praise the Love Nursing Home are now criticizing it when it comes to this move. It's as if Love Nursing Home has made a huge mistake by accepting self-funded elderly people." Wang Yuanming sneered.
When this incident happened, Lin Shuyue was studying in another province and didn't know much about these things, but after listening to what Wang Yuanming said, she understood.
There will always be a group of people in this world who take the kindness of others for granted and as their due.
Wang Yuanming told Lin Shuyue a lot about the Love Orphanage and the Love Nursing Home, and only stopped talking when he was about to get off work, feeling unsatisfied.
Lin Shuyue finally understood why Wang Yuanming, who seemed quiet, had been a reporter for decades. Once he started talking, he couldn't stop.
At noon, Lin Shuyue simply ate in the cafeteria. Today's dishes were good, a specialty of the southwest, stir-fried shredded pork with konjac tofu.
The shredded pork is fat and lean, the fat is soft and not fatty. The konjac tofu shreds are mixed with shredded ginger, garlic sprouts and green peppers, which are very delicious with rice.
This is Lin Shuyue's favorite dish in the company cafeteria.
After dinner, the two went to Xijiang Apartment across the street for a nap. After lunch, Li Mingfang went back to work, while Lin Shuyue drove to the Love Orphanage and Love Nursing Home.
These two charity organizations are located in Pinghu District, but they are still a bit far from the newspaper office. It took Lin Shuyue more than 20 minutes to drive there.
These two charity institutions have been built for many years. The words and paintings on the white walls have fallen off to varying degrees. The Love Nursing Home and the Love Orphanage are located next to each other, with the nursing home being located further inside.
Lin Shuyue parked the car in the open space opposite the orphanage and walked towards the orphanage.
The orphanage's big iron gate was locked. Lin Shuyue rang the doorbell outside. Soon, the door opened a crack, and a woman with meticulously combed hair asked vigilantly, "Excuse me, who are you?"
Lin Shuyue handed over her press card: "Hello, I'm a reporter from Pengcheng Metropolis Daily, this is my work ID."
The woman looked at Lin Shuyue's work ID for a long time before opening the small door on the side for Lin Shuyue.
It was afternoon at this time. When Lin Shuyue looked up, she saw that the children who did not go to school were playing on the playground in the yard, and several older teachers were watching them.
The woman who opened the door for Lin Shuyue finally smiled at this time: "I'm sorry, reporter Lin, there are a lot of people coming to the orphanage for interviews recently, and some of them don't have a pass."
Ever since the nursing home next door started accepting self-funded elderly people the year before last, the people who come to the Love Orphanage for interviews have changed, becoming a mixed bunch.
As if she was afraid that Lin Shuyue would not believe her, she continued, "A few days ago, a reporter named Pang Hui came to the orphanage. He was from Pengcheng Entertainment News. The first thing he said when he came to the orphanage was that we should cooperate with him in the filming and that he would give us money. We did not agree, and the next day he published something in the newspaper that slandered us."
"Our dean said that except for a few newspapers with decent image, reporters are not allowed to take pictures." And Pengcheng Metropolis Daily is on the 'white list' given by the dean.
When Lin Shuyue heard Pang Hui's name, her brows furrowed. "So that's how it is. However, this reporter named Pang Hui has been fired by Pengcheng Entertainment News."
The woman who opened the door for Lin Shuyue didn't care about this matter: "We don't know about this."
She accompanied Lin Shuyue around and introduced the current situation of the orphanage to her.
"There are a total of 35 children in the entire orphanage, two of whom are in their third year of high school this year and will take the college entrance examination next September. Three are in junior high school, 15 are in elementary school, five are in kindergarten, and the remaining 10 are all between three months and three years old."
Their steps stopped at the playground. There were cool mats under the shade of the trees, and fans were on. Ten children were lying or sitting on the cool mats, and the older ones were running around. One of the children had pooped, and the teacher who was watching them cleaned it up quickly.
Just now, they were far away and Lin Shuyue couldn't see clearly. Now that she was closer, she realized that these children were all in unhealthy condition.
"Teacher Li, are they all disabled?" Lin Shuyue asked softly.
The woman had just introduced herself to Lin Shuyue. Her name was Li Jinzhi and she had been working at the Love Orphanage for ten years.
Teacher Li nodded: "Yes. I don't know when it started, but all children with disabilities were sent to us. Now every time we open the door of the orphanage, we are afraid that there will be a disabled child at the door."
Teacher Li said this with a sad face: "It's not that we don't want to accept those children. Saving a child is also a merit for our orphanage. It's just that some children are too seriously ill."
"Maybe you won't believe some of this, but there are far more children who die in orphanages than those who are saved." Teacher Li and her classmates experience this several times a year, watching one child after another suffer from illness and eventually die in pain. They are really scared.
Lin Shuyue had heard Wang Yuanming talk about this matter. She comforted Teacher Li a few words. Teacher Li was able to think it through. She said: "We are in a very conflicted state of mind now. We want them to come, but we also don't want them to come."
Nowadays, every family is not well-off, and a sick child can drag down the family. Families that can afford it will not send their children to an orphanage, and those who can send seriously ill children here are those who really have no other choice.
When the family situation is really out of options, sending the child to them means there is hope for survival; if not, the child will have no choice but to wait for death.
"There are often a lot of supplies at the door of our orphanage, and those supplies are sometimes sent by the children's parents."
Lin Shuyue wrote this situation down in her notebook.
Then she asked: "Teacher Li, why did you choose to work at the Love Orphanage?"
As far as Lin Shuyue knows, the Love Orphanage has no income, and the teachers in the orphanage only earn three to five hundred yuan a month, and sometimes the money is not paid on time.
Teacher Li was stunned when she heard this. Over the years, there have been many reporters who came to the orphanage to interview people. They often focused on the children in the orphanage, but no one paid much attention to teachers like Teacher Li.
Teacher Li said softly, "Because my child didn't have money to treat his illness, he was dragged to death. After my child died, I heard about the orphanage and came here. Not only me, but all of them."
Teacher Li hasn't mentioned this incident for many years. When she mentions it now, she is not as sad as one might imagine.
Time heals many things, including the pain of losing a child.
Lin Shuyue didn't expect these teachers to have such a past. She was stunned, but then she reacted and quickly said sorry.
Teacher Li shook her head and said, "It's nothing. It's been ten years, and we have let go of everything. Over the years, we have poured all our love into the children in the yard. Thinking of my children, I am not that sad anymore."
"But if you had asked me two years ago, I probably wouldn't have answered you." Teacher Li didn't continue the topic: "We are going to prepare lunch, do you want to come and watch with us?"
One of the things they did was to interview the orphanage and see the food there. Lin Shuyue followed Teacher Li.
When they were almost at the cafeteria, Lin Shuyue asked, "Isn't the dean here?"
"There is a child in our hospital who needs surgery. The director is accompanying him in the hospital." Teacher Li smiled when talking about the child. "The child has a problem with his legs and has already undergone several operations. After this one, he will be able to live like a normal child."
Teacher Li also entertained many reporters. She already knew what the reporters wanted to know. Before Lin Shuyue asked, she took the initiative to say, "The bulk of his surgery fee was paid by Kaka Melon Seeds Co., and the rest was donated by the Red Cross, the Children's Foundation, and caring people in the society."
As they were talking, they arrived at the cafeteria. The cafeteria was not big, with cabinets built all around the kitchen and light pink tiles. Next to the sink was a pot of cut and marinated chicken breast and potatoes. The chicken breast and potatoes were the meat dish for the children in the orphanage tonight.
The vegetarian dish is stir-fried local cabbage.
There are two dishes with large portions, ensuring that every student can eat their fill.
The canteen kitchen was very clean, not greasy like other canteens. There was no window for serving food, and the food was served directly from the door that connected to the dining room outside.
In the middle of the dining room was a brick table, with high plastic stools on both sides. The tiles on the floor were mopped clean.
After Teacher Li showed Lin Shuyue around the cafeteria, she took her to see the picture and audio-visual room and activity room in the courtyard.
After Lin Shuyue finished taking the photos, Teacher Li took her to the playground, and she left in a hurry. It was half past three and the kindergarten was about to be over, so she had to pick up the children from the kindergarten.
Lin Shuyue was chatting with a teacher who was holding a seven-month-old baby. Her surname was Meng and she was in her forties. When Lin Shuyue asked about her past, she spoke very freely.
"My child died in a car accident. The driver ran away and the police didn't catch him. My in-laws blamed me for not taking good care of the child and beat me every day. I couldn't stand the pain, so I ran away. After I saw the orphanage, I started working here. Although sometimes I don't get paid, for me, those are secondary."
"With these children around, I don't feel as much pain in my heart."
Teacher Meng's child was eight years old. One day, she went to work in the fields. Halfway through her work, she heard people from the same village say that their child was gone. She hurried back, only to find out that the child had run onto the main road and was hit by a car.
But her mother-in-law, who was supposed to be looking after the child that day, was playing mahjong with others, and her man, the father of her child, was sleeping in the house.
It was clearly their fault, but in the end, they put all the blame on her. If things went wrong, the whole family would unite to bully her.
Her parents also blamed her, so she ran away in anger. When she arrived at the orphanage, she saw so many abandoned children, so she stayed.
"Actually, many people say we are stupid, but we think it is worth it, especially when these children call us mom." Teacher Meng had a gentle smile on her face.
Lin Shuyue couldn't help but start laughing. Her radar of good and evil was always on. Since she entered the orphanage, her radar of good and evil had been scanning the codes. The good and evil values of these children and teachers were very low.
"Teacher Meng, are there any adopted children in the courtyard?"
"Yes, when they recover from their illness, they will be adopted. Our orphanage has reviewed the families that adopt them, and we will visit the homes of these adopted children from time to time. So far, the children who have walked out of our orphanage are living well."
The children in the orphanage call her mother, but Teacher Meng knows that she can never replace their "mother" because she has too many children and her love is divided into many parts and given to many children. She is destined to not be able to love only one or two children in her whole life like those mothers.
Lin Shuyue nodded. During the time when Teacher Li took the children back, she interviewed all the teachers in the orphanage and took many photos of them interacting with the children. After obtaining their consent, she decided that the theme of her report would be the two-way redemption between these teachers and the children .
After Teacher Li came back, she also decided to leave. Teacher Li told Lin Shuyue that they would go to visit a child who was adopted last March tomorrow.
This child is a little special: "This is the only healthy child since our orphanage opened. He got lost at the door of our orphanage when he was three years old."
"He didn't remember anything. We took him to the police station, but no one came to claim him after a long wait, so we took him back home. After three months, he was adopted. The family that adopted him was well-off, and both his parents were intellectuals."
Maybe it was because Lin Shuyue was naturally friendly, or maybe it was because Lin Shuyue said she wanted to write a report on them. But in just one afternoon, Teacher Li liked her very much and was willing to talk to her more.
Lin Shuyue's heart moved: "Teacher Li, can I go with you?"
Teacher Li hesitated a little: "I'll call the dean and ask."
"Okay."
Teacher Li went to the side to make a phone call. Soon, Teacher Li came over and said, "The dean said you can go, but she doesn't want you to write about the child's new family in the report."
The orphanage is concerned that too much media exposure will affect the children's future lives.
Lin Shuyue understood this: "Okay, no problem. I'm just curious and want to go and take a look."
"Okay, we'll leave at nine o'clock tomorrow morning." Teacher Li made the decision.
Lin Shuyue left contentedly. It was already late, so Lin Shuyue did not go to the nursing home next door. She went to school.
Today, there was a new girl in Zeng Xiaoyi's group. Lin Shuyue stopped the car in front of them and Bai Pingping introduced her to Lin Shuyue.
"Second sister, this is our classmate, Zhou Qianqian. Qianqian, this is my second sister."
Zhou Qianqian glanced at Lin Shuyue and whispered, "Second sister."
Lin Shuyue smiled and nodded. Zeng Xiaoyi and Bai Pingping took Zhou Qianqian into the car, one on each side. Ah Yang sat in the passenger seat, while Ah Hao and Zhou Bingrong rode away on their bicycles.
After getting in the car, he sent Zhou Qianqian home as requested by Zeng Xiaoyi and Bai Pingping before leaving.
After Zhou Qianqian got off the bus, Bai Pingping said to Lin Shuyue, "Qianqian is the top student in our grade, but she has always been bullied. This afternoon, Xiaoyi and I went to the toilet and saw that she was locked in the toilet, so we took her out."
The words "school violence" flashed into her mind, and Lin Shuyue asked her, "Did she offend anyone?"
"I don't think so. We are in the same class. She is either studying or preparing to study every day. She probably hasn't offended anyone."
Zeng Xiaoyi said at this time: "I know the answer to this question. There is a girl in Class 6 who is involved in social activities. She likes the monitor of Class 3. It is said that the monitor of Class 3 likes Zhou Qianqian."