Chapter 394: – Fatty
Lin Jin stood distractedly beside the bus stop, waiting for her friends going to the welfare institute to gather.
Yesterday was a really close call. Fortunately, the black cat discovered the situation and delivered the stun gun to Lin Jin in time.
Lin Jin also called the police afterwards and the robber was arrested. Apparently, that guy had already robbed four people and would move to a different province after each robbery, making it hard to catch him. Those four victims, including Lin Jin, had all reported it to the police, but there were likely more victims who hadn’t. The police’s conservative estimate was that there were around ten victims.
How did she end up encountering such a thing?
Although she got her money and everything back, what happened last night still left a lingering fear in Lin Jin. As a result, whenever she passed by a small alley today, she would reflexively be afraid. She always felt like there would be a scary person waiting for her around the corner.
It was better not to tell her mom about this situation, right? Her mom was so busy, also, nothing big really happened anyways.
Lin Jin glanced at her phone and saw that there were still about ten minutes until the meeting time so she walked over to the small supermarket nearby and sat down on a chair outside.
As for Wu Min and the others... probably just not mention it? Especially to Xia Tian. Xia Tian even wanted to send her back last night but was turned down by her. If she told him about this, he might feel guilty for a long time, right?
Lin Jin was absentmindedly thinking about random things when she suddenly saw Xia Tian emerge from the alley across the street.
At the same time, she glanced to the side and saw Wu Min and Zhu Dong together leisurely walking towards her.
Once the four of them all gathered, Lin Jin led them to the welfare institute. She had done some research last night on the route to the welfare institute and found there was a bus that could take them to the nearby village. From there, it was about a ten minute walk.
Although Xia Tian had met them before, he wasn't very familiar with Lin Jin's friends. After meeting up, they just nodded to each other and then got on the bus.
After half an hour on the bus and ten minutes of walking, a total of forty minutes, Lin Jin and her group arrived at the gate of Love Welfare Institute.
Xia Tian had already started his first outside IRL stream. He pointed his phone at the welfare institute that looked more like a dilapidated kindergarten, and spoke about what Lin Jin had told him: "This is Love Welfare Institute, it’s also the location of today’s outdoor stream."
"Yesterday, my friend, just this beautiful lady next to me, came here and said that although the conditions aren’t great, the children seem to be living okay and the aunties are also very kind."
"However, it's said that this welfare institute is already on the verge of closing down. The director of the institute is old which led to some bad news about this place in the last two months. Like abuse and so on. When my friend visited yesterday, the aunties said it’s already been reformed now and that there won’t be any more abuse."
"Of course, that's just their one sided statement. Today, we're here to investigate this matter" Xia Tian’s face was expressionless, but his tone was actually full of emotion. If someone didn’t know better, they might think that Xia Tian was about to slay a dragon and save the princess.
After the usual hassle with the difficult security guard, the group made their way to the second floor of the welfare institute.
The afternoon was free activity time at the welfare home. However, since there were only three aunties available, they had to focus on the children with disabilities which left them no time to supervise those normal children. This meant those children stayed here even during free time instead of playing around without supervision.
Xia Tian, visiting for the first time, felt a sense of oppression. He couldn’t adapt to the situation here, especially seeing the disabled children and dealing with the faint smell lingering in the air.
"You guys are here again?" The chubby auntie greeted Lin Jin's group again. She put down her work at hand and smiled as she walked over to Lin Jin. Seeing Xia Tian to the side who was both filming and talking to himself, she curiously asked Lin Jin, "This is?"
"This is a livestream" Lin Jin didn’t like it here either. She preferred playing with the group of children rather than staying in this kind of environment. If she stayed in this type of environment for too long, she was afraid she would develop depression.
Fatty spotted Lin Jin and eagerly brought the kids from yesterday over to her.
"How about sister bring you guys downstairs to play?"
Lin Jin’s face revealed a smile. She patted Fatty's head with her hand, took out some snacks from her pocket and distributed it.
"But we have to take care of our younger brothers and sisters..." Fatty was a bit hesitant. "Yesterday, when we went to play big sister, the aunties couldn't manage everything."
There were about thirty children in total. Besides Fatty and the other healthy ones, there were also over twenty disabled kids. Whether it was going to the toilet or what, most of them needed the aunties to help. With only three aunties, they obviously couldn't manage it all, so the healthy children had learned early on to help take care of the younger brothers and sisters.
"Is that so?" Lin Jin frowned. "Then can sister ask you a few questions?"
"Hmm?"
As soon as Xia Tian heard this, he immediately knew Lin Jin might be about to do an interview. He quickly pointed his phone at her, and Zhu Dong, holding a camera, also focused on Lin Jin without hesitation.
"Let's talk downstairs." Lin Jin took Fatty's hand and left. The chubby auntie beside them looked a bit hesitant but didn't stop them.
They walked to the small open space outside on the ground floor where they had played games the day before. Lin Jin sat on the steps with Fatty, while Wu Min sat on the other side with a smile, sandwiching Fatty between them.
"Fatty, sister will give you some candy."
Lin Jin handed him a lollipop again, but surprisingly, Fatty shook his head and refused: "Big sister has given me too much in these two days, it’s better to give some to the younger brothers."
"Then okay. Fatty..." Lin Jin seriously looked at him and asked "I heard from the chubby auntie that the aunties here at the welfare institute two months ago used to hit you guys, is that true?"
Fatty was taken aback, not expecting Lin Jin to ask such a question, but he didn't hesitate and nodded.
"Then do the current aunties still hit you guys?"
"They also do, but it wouldn’t hurt much. Also, my skin is tough, I’m not afraid." Fatty nodded again.
So this meant those aunties hitting children were just normally disciplining the children rather than abuse?
"Then would the aunties bully you guys? Or maybe steal you children’s snacks or anything like that?"
"No. The aunties from two months ago would, but the current aunties don't. They're pretty good to us, like moms."
Alright, then I feel reassured, yeah.
So, since the media exposure a few months ago, there haven't been any more incidents of abuse at this welfare institute right!
Having asked both the chubby auntie before and Fatty now, one representing the aunties and the other representing the children, it seemed it can be confirmed that what they said was true, right?
Of course, it wasn’t impossible that Fatty was threatened or something, but Lin Jin didn't think that deeply. After all, those three aunties were patiently taking care of over thirty children. Even if they weren’t that good, they wouldn’t be that bad, right?