Chapter 391: – Problem with the welfare institute?
Back at home, Lin Jin was feeling a little depressed.
To be honest, today's trip had made her really happy, but the problem was that when leaving, Fatty and his group of little friends all looked at her with eyes full of reluctance. It made her feel a bit heartbroken, turning her previously joyful mood somewhat uncomfortable.
Feeling a bit depressed, Lin Jin laid on her bed and wanted to take a nap. However, the voice and smiles of those children would occasionally pop up in her mind. Their smiles were really soothing, but when Lin Jin recalled it, she felt a pang of sadness.
Maybe I'm just too emotional?
Lin Jin sighed. Even though she had only spent about three hours with those children and hadn't really had any deep conversations or built strong connections with them, she still felt like she couldn't let go of them despite such a short period of time.
It wasn't just the children who had played with her, but also the children who had disabilities. Although the latter group hadn’t spoken a word with her, had no interactions, and barely even made eye contact, Lin Jin still couldn’t forget their appearance.
It was too sad. The difference in everyone’s starting point in life was really too big. Lin Jin's starting point was still okay. Despite her parents having a divorce, despite the fact that Lin Jin could basically be considered as having lost her mother at the age of ten, but when compared to those children in the orphanage, her life was still as beautiful as living in the clouds.
Not in the mood for anything, Lin Jin slumped on her bed with a gloomy face, staring at the ceiling.
The her now basically had time every afternoon to visit the orphanage, but what about in the future? This semester, Lin Jin had fewer classes, but what about next semester? Right now, she was still in Xiamen, but when the winter or summer break came, it was definitely not possible for her to stay in Xiamen here. If she were to stay, it would probably be for a part time job during the break. In that case, she would also not have many opportunities to visit the orphanage.
These were still easy to say. Lin Jin felt if she were to get really busy in the future, it would still be possible to visit once a week. But what about after graduation, when Lin Jin’s job became so busy that she wouldn't even have weekends off, when she would be so busy that she'd forget about those children, what then?
She might be able to completely forget them, but what about them?
Lin Jin's mind was a mess. She laid on the bed for a long time without falling asleep. She frustratedly punched the bed and then took out her phone to call Wu Min.
"Hey, Wu Min" Lin Jin got straight to the point. "Are you going tomorrow? You promised them you'd go tomorrow."
Wu Min on the other end was stunned for a moment. After a bit, he helplessly said: "Yeah, why wouldn't I go?"
"Then that’s fine, don't let those kids down." Lin Jin nodded. "How about you coax some more people to go? Like Wen Xuan, that shut in. It would be good for him to get out and see more of the world, right?"
"Wen Xuan isn't stupid, you can't just randomly coax him." Wu Min sighed. He seemed to be in bed at that moment. Lin Jin heard the sound of his bone hitting the bed frame as he turned over, followed by Wu Min’s miserable scream. Then he continued, "Honestly, I didn’t expect those orphans to be living so poorly."
"I've been to an orphanage before, the one on Xiamen Island. It's really big. Even though some kids also have disabilities, they're really well taken care of. The conditions there are probably even better than our college’s." Wu Min continued "There are always plenty of volunteers going over and the children seem really fulfilled. Everyone's education is sponsored, every day there are people coming for adoptions, and doctors come regularly to help the children with rehabilitation and check ups..."
"Compared to the one we went to today, the island's orphanage is like paradise."
"Yeah" Lin Jin nodded and turned over to lie on her stomach. She said heavily, "It's a shame I don't have money. Otherwise, I'd be able to donate a bit to let them eat better."
"I heard the children say that their director has been sick every day recently. I don’t know how long they can keep going for." Lin Jin seemed to be talking to herself, but also appeared to be asking Wu Min, "When their director’s gone, or when there’s no more money, what will happen to those children? Will someone take them in?"
"There should be. You don’t need to think so much."
Wu Min was clearly more optimistic than Lin Jin. Although today's visit had left him feeling a bit down, it wasn't to the same extent as Lin Jin.
"Alright, you should go have dinner. We're still meeting at 1:30 tomorrow, right?" Wu Min didn't want to listen to Lin Jin's complaints the entire time. "Tomorrow, let's find out which bus route can go there. If we go every day, taxis are too expensive."
"Yeah, I'll go check a bit."
She ended the call. Maybe because there was someone to talk to, Lin Jin’s mood finally improved a little. She jumped out of bed, walked to the kitchen, and started preparing her dinner with the leftover ingredients from lunch.
There was still some leftover plain rice from lunch. After thinking for a bit, she decided to make fried rice since it was the most convenient. Even though her fried rice wasn’t very delicious, after busying around all day, she didn’t want to do anything more complicated. She just wanted to eat and then get a good night’s sleep.
As she was heating the oil in the pan, her phone beside her lit up. The black cat squatted in the center of the screen with a smug look, tilted its head, and asked Lin Jin with a smile.
“How was it? Did you enjoy your trip to the orphanage? You must be happy doing this volunteering task, right?”
“Not that happy" Lin Jin replied absentmindedly, then suddenly frowned. She set the pan aside, looked down at the black cat and asked “If I do a good job on this task, can you help improve the facilities or something at that orphanage?”
“Ah?”
“I mean, if I complete the task, can you convert the rewards into money and donate it to the orphanage? Anyways, I don’t need the Anywhere Door or anything like that.” Lin Jin stared at the black cat with wide eyes, as if she would immediately explode if the cat said no. “The orphanage I visited is really poor. There are dozens of people living in a three story building, many of them are also disabled children, probably without even any doctors to look after them.”
The black cat tilted its head and thought hard for a moment, then nodded vigorously: “Since you want to do charity, of course, I’ll agree! But there’s no need to convert the rewards into money. I’ll just donate all the money I’ve stolen recently to the director in your name, okay?”
“Stolen? Then let’s forget about it…”
“You don’t even fully understand that orphanage, yet you’re already thinking about donating money" the black cat laughed. “Aren’t you afraid that if you donate money, that it wouldn’t be used for the kids?”
“No way, right?” Lin Jin suddenly remembered some negative reports about that orphanage and her expression darkened.
Although the chubby aunt had explained things to Lin Jin earlier, the black cat’s words made her hesitate.
Maybe that orphanage had some big problem?
No way, right…