Chapter 881 - 262: The Most Important Person
Chen Yan smiled.
"First, she’s not my girlfriend, just a friend of mine. Second... she’s moving things for filming... well, you can understand it as her own specialized work. At this time, it’s better to let her have the stage to perform well. Having someone nearby would only be a distraction for her."
Upon hearing this, Shen Shiqi looked at Lin Xianyu, who was handing a box of cooking oil to the workers from the car, with a thoughtful expression, his gaze becoming clearer.
But Chen Yan patted his shoulder: "How about you take me inside for a tour?"
Shen Shiqi hesitated for a moment, but the other child beside him—a little boy, though clearly older than him—had already spoken: "Shiqi, you take the guest inside to rest, I’ll go help Dean Mom."
After a pause, this boy added a reminder: "Make sure the younger kids are polite and don’t make noise."
"Okay."
Shen Shiqi nodded, then led Chen Yan into the building of the welfare institution.
The left side of the first-floor corridor was a large room, probably serving as the so-called activity room for the children—it used to be an abandoned kindergarten, and having such a large activity room must have been part of the original design.
At the moment, there were actually more than a dozen children inside this large activity room, with two slightly older girls maintaining order.
These children seemed quite obedient, as if they had received instructions from the dean, and no one was making noise. Some kids were curiously looking out into the yard through the window, but the others remained quietly seated, reading picture books.
Chen Yan noticed that among them was Shen Shiqiu’s sister, the girl named Shen Shijiu he had met the night before.
Chen Yan declined Shen Shiqi’s invitation to go to the lounge to rest, instead asking him to take him around the building, upstairs and downstairs, to have a look.
Besides the activity room downstairs, there was also a dining room with seven or eight small tables.
At the back was the kitchen, which led directly to a storage room.
The house was a bit old, and clearly lacked funding for repairs.
Many of the original stickers on the walls had peeled off and become mottled, and the latex paint on the ceiling had peeled off, with many places cracked and fallen, like wounds on the walls.
The lights were those old-style fluorescent tube chandeliers, but some places were already broken, with nearly every room having non-functioning tubes.
Upstairs were the children’s bedrooms, with two large rooms filled with many children’s beds.
Shen Shiqi told Chen Yan that one was the boys’ room and the other was the girls’ room.
Chen Yan entered one room and casually touched the bedding and sheets on one bed.
Not very clean, but at least dry, without a damp feeling.
"Actually, we’re pretty clean on regular days. The sheets and bedding are generally changed and washed once a month. But..."
Shen Shiqi hesitated and said in a low voice, "But the institution didn’t hire anyone, and washing clothes and bedding is usually done by Dean Mom alone. Brother Fifteen and Sister Sixteen and I can help a bit.
However, the washing machine is broken now, and Dean Mom is also sick, so we couldn’t manage to change them this month."
After a pause, Shen Shiqi smiled and said, "In the summer, the frequency of change is higher."
"Oh, why?"
"Because during summer breaks, some older brothers and sisters from schools come over as volunteers. They can help us with many things. But after summer break, those older brothers and sisters go back to school, and there’s not much time for them to come."
Chen Yan nodded, keeping this in mind, and then asked, "How many children do you have here now?"
"Altogether thirteen... um, fourteen."
Shen Shiqi sighed: "Sister Twenty-One was adopted and taken away, and stayed with the adoptive family for nearly half a year. But she was sent back last month. They said the adoptive family’s mother became pregnant, and they couldn’t afford to continue adopting her, so they returned her."
Chen Yan felt his heart sink upon hearing this!
Shen Shiqi’s tone carried an indescribable hint of subtlety, faintly saying, "Since Sister Twenty-One was sent back, she’s become much quieter than before and doesn’t like to talk much now."
Chen Yan carefully sensed the well-hidden frustration and discontent in Shen Shiqi’s tone.
He suddenly sighed and asked, "With conditions here being so poor, why are there so many children?"
Shen Shiqi lifted his eyelids, looked at Chen Yan, and said in a low voice, "Actually..."
Chen Yan noticed the hesitation in Shen Shiqi’s eyes and gently said, "It’s okay, you can say it."
"Because Dean Mom has a really kind heart." Shen Shiqi, clearly just an elementary school-aged kid, spoke with a complexity that didn’t match his age:
"Previously, because conditions were bad, Dean Mom had stopped taking in new children. She was planning to take good care of the existing children in the yard, and after we grew up and left for school, she intended to close the place.
The previous children, as they grew up, left for school, or got adopted and taken away...
In the end, there were only four left: me, Brother Fifteen, Sister Sixteen, and Sister Nineteen.
We four are considered the former children here.
When it was only us four, Dean Mom could barely manage to take care of us alone, and we could also help her with some things.
But a couple of years ago, Dean Mom invited someone to take care of us for a few days while she left for a while. When she returned, she brought back more than a dozen younger siblings."
After a pause, Shen Shiqi walked to the window, looking down at Dean Shen, who was following the movers and supporting a small cart to transport things in the courtyard below, with a look of unreserved admiration and respect.
His voice was very gentle and soft.
"Later, I found out that another welfare institution closed down, and the dean there was desperate, seeking help to settle the children over there. But after arranging over and over, there were still over a dozen kids with nowhere to go.
The dean over there knew our Dean Mom and begged her to help.
They said if they couldn’t be arranged, then these kids would be sent far away and scattered to many places... those places were far away, and some were also in tough conditions...
Dean Mom softened her heart and gritted her teeth, taking in this group of kids. She went to the government to get the necessary paperwork done.
My Brother Fifteen said... Dean Mom sold the last old house Dean Dad left her and cashed in an insurance policy Dean Dad left behind. All that money was invested in our institution..."
Chen Yan smiled and patted Shen Shiqi’s head: "Do you... have great respect for Dean Shen?"
Shen Shiqi looked up, speaking with a very solemn tone.
"She is the most important person to me in this world!!"