Chapter 872: Orphanage (2)
Zhao Youlin and Mu Tingfeng had just walked into the courtyard when they saw this scene. Their eyes immediately s.h.i.+fted to the middle-aged woman.
The middle-aged woman was also a little embarra.s.sed. Usually, if she saw her son saying this, she would definitely not say anything. She might even think that her son was proud that he knew about the human traffickers. But now, there were two outsiders beside her… it was still a little embarra.s.sing to be seen by others when their son bullied other children.
When she saw the obvious disdain and annoyance in Zhao Youlin and Mu Tingfeng’s eyes, the woman’s heart thumped even more.
Rich people were highly temperamental. Who knew if these two people would be unhappy because of this and take back the money that they originally wanted to invest?
Thinking of this, the woman could no longer stand it. However, she could not bear to let them talk about her son, so the person she was blaming was naturally another child.
Before Zhao Youlin and Mu Tingfeng could react, the woman had already walked in front of the two children. She was not very strict towards the child who was scared by the boy’s words and about to cry, “Guan Guan, what did I tell you before? All the toys in this yard are for everyone to play with. How can you monopolize them all? This is not right. Quickly, give them to your brother.”
Zhao Youlin listened to the tone of this woman. She did not know whether to laugh or cry.
It was true that the toys in the yard should be played with together, but no one said that they could take it by force, for the sake of playing, and they even added such nasty words along with their actions. The most ridiculous thing was that it was the first time they heard someone ask a younger kid to give up his place, instead of the other way around.
The boy who was looking for trouble acted like a self-ent.i.tled, middle-aged woman. He was chubby all over, completely unlike the skinny children in the yard.
With his mom’s support, he raised his round chin proudly, looking very proud. It was as if he was saying, “See, I told you that I’m different from you orphans. My mom is protecting me.”.
The child who was scolded instantly had red eyes. Although he was a little reluctant, he still slid down from the swing timidly, afraid that the director would really kick him out of here and make him go out as a beggar.
Zhao Youlin’s eyes turned cold when she saw this, but she didn’t say anything and turned around to leave.
Mu Tingfeng coldly glanced at the mother and son not far away and left with Zhao Youlin.
The woman played with her son for a while. She found that Zhao Youlin and Mu Tingfeng were long gone when she turned around. Her expression changed slightly, and she hurriedly ran out to look for them.
At that moment, Zhao Youlin and Mu Tingfeng had already walked deeper into the room. They followed the long corridor and walked step by step to the room that she remembered. However, unexpectedly… what appeared in front of her was not the narrow and s.p.a.cious room, but a small office.
“Eh?” Zhao Youlin cried out in surprise. She remembered that this was the location of the room. When did it become an office?
Mu Tingfeng had been following behind Zhao Youlin the whole time. When he heard her cry out in a low voice, he frowned and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“No… Nothing. I just feel that it’s been too long. I misremembered. This used to be a big room,” she said.
Before Zhao Youlin finished her sentence, a person walked out of the office and happened to hear their conversation, she smiled and said, “Have you been to our orphanage before? This was indeed the children’s room a long time ago, but it was changed into an office.”
“Why would you suddenly want to change the room into an office? Did something happen?”Zhao Youlin frowned and asked in a low voice.
If she remembered correctly, this place should have been a very big bunk, in the beginning. The funds in the orphanage were limited, and some children didn’t even have their own beds. They just shared this great hall, and at night… the floor was full of people.
For such a big room, even if they wanted to change it, they should not have changed it into an office. In fact, this office was greatly compartmentalized as well. It looked a little small, and it was far from the big room that she remembered.
As if she could see the doubt in Zhao Youlin’s heart, the woman smiled, she gently explained, “About 11 or 12 years ago, there was a big fire. Many places were burned down. Although it was rebuilt later, it was never the same again. Since you know that this place used to be a room, it must have been here a long time ago, right?”
Zhao Youlin’s expression stiffened for a moment when she heard that a big fire had broken out in the orphanage, she nodded with a sullen face and said, “I came with my parents when I was young. You said that the fire happened eleven or twelve years ago, how was the situation at that time? Were there any casualties?”
From the moment she walked into the orphanage, Zhao Youlin had been observing everyone in the orphanage, trying to find a familiar face. However, to her disappointment, there was no one.
At first, Zhao Youlin thought that the people she knew were no longer here and had gone home to retire. After all, so many years had pa.s.sed, it was normal for them to leave. However, after hearing what this person said… she realized that it might not be the case. Could those people have been in the fire as well…
“I’m not too sure either. I just happened to hear about it from my colleagues. “I heard that a child was so hungry in the middle of the night that he got up to find something to eat. In the end, he accidentally ignited the kitchen and the fire spread all the way to the front hall. When people realized what was going on, the fire was already very big. Although it was put out later, a lot of things were burned. A few people were also burned to death, including adults and children. It was quite serious.”
Zhao Youlin’s heart skipped a beat, and she couldn’t help but ask, “What about the remaining people in this orphanage after the fire? Did they stay or leave? Do you know where they went?”
“I don’t know about that. It’s said that after the orphanage was rebuilt, many people left. The children in the orphanage were adopted, and those who were not adopted were transferred to other orphanages. These children were only taken in after the orphanage was rebuilt.”
“I see.” Zhao Youlin lowered her head in disappointment.
When the woman saw Zhao Youlin like this, she could not help but ask, “Miss, are you looking for someone? I’m sorry, I only came over these few years, so I don’t know much about the situation of those people. If you want to know, I can help you ask others. But I guess I can only ask the adults at that time. Those children can’t do it. I heard that their records were all burned by the fire…”