"I meant to remind you to keep the red envelope safe and not lose it. Now take out your phone and send a thank you message to your Uncle Gong."
"Oh, oh, oh." Qin Luo quickly pulled out his phone and started composing a warm and heartfelt WeChat message. Unfortunately, his Chinese scores were poor, and he scratched his head for a long time, trying to come up with something that would be refreshing, pleasant, and not overly deliberate, only to frantically search the browser for help.
This was the moment Qin Luo regretted more than ever in his life that he didn’t pass the Chinese exam during his middle school entrance examination.
Seeing Qin Luo had started writing his little essay, Qin Huai collected his own red envelopes and stuffed them into Qin Luo’s bag. He took out his phone to send messages to Huang Shengli and others one by one, informing them that he had safely boarded the high-speed train, thanking them for their red envelopes, then reported to the family group that he was safe, and separately called Qin Congwen to say they wouldn’t be able to make it back to Qin Family Village tonight and had to stay in Qiu County for one night.
Then, Qin Huai took a look at the loving family group chat, keeping an eye on Qu Jing and Mr. Chen’s interactions, how much buckwheat buns Chen Huihong ate after returning home, and whether Luo Jun, the lonely old bird, was having a happy lonely New Year.
After caring for the group friends, Qin Huai started browsing through the friend circle and liking posts one by one.
Finally, Qin Huai messaged Director Qin, telling him that the most outstanding graduate of Sanmalu Children’s Welfare Institute had returned home, and to quickly list any needs of the orphanage as the excellent graduate planned major donations this New Year.
Director Qin sent back a long list without any hesitation, and at the end, even marked the amount: 580,000.
Director Qin was probably dazzled by the previous d amounts and aimed to expand and strengthen the welfare effort, opening a chain of orphanages?
Qin Huai expressed that as an excellent graduate, he wasn’t that excellent.
Seeing Qin Huai replied with an ellipsis, Director Qin immediately called, his voice uncontrollably amused: "Huaihuai, our Sanmalu Children’s Welfare Institute doesn’t lack money this year. The donations from those two kind individuals you introduced can’t even be spent this year. Nowadays, we can take in two more disabled children and still be well-off."
"If you’re back today and have time, come to the orphanage tonight. The kids are missing you and have been asking about Brother Bao Bao ever since the little year started. Has Brother Bao Bao not come yet? Will Brother Bao Bao not make buns this year? Did Brother Bao Bao forget about them?"
Brother Bao Bao straightened up in his high-speed train seat.
"Don’t worry, Mrs. Qin. I’ll go to the orphanage after dropping my stuff at home once I’m off the train. I can’t guarantee buns tonight, but tomorrow morning’s breakfast will surely be my meat buns!"
"Alright. It’s quite curious all of a sudden when you pop up needing to inherit parental wealth in Shan City, with the whole family heading off and not returning. Uncle Qin has been worried for days, afraid you might have been scammed, taken abroad to sell your kidney. Later, after you introduced those kind donors, he was more concerned, worried you’d headed down the wrong path, joined a scam ring to launder money this way."
"Several nights he couldn’t sleep. If it weren’t for his 2,000 yuan salary, he’d buy a high-speed train ticket to Shan City to see if you really opened a community kitchen there."
Uncle Qin is the gatekeeper of Sanmalu Children’s Welfare Institute and also Director Qin’s cousin.
Qin Huai chuckled awkwardly: "...he’s really been worrying. Director Mama, please let Uncle Qin know, to ignore those messy novels, if nothing else, watch some Fantasy dramas."
"He’s just been once bitten by a snake, twice shy. Six or seven years ago, Xiao Hui from our orphanage also returned claiming he made big money in business outside and d 100,000 to the orphanage, making everyone incredibly happy. But before the New Year was over, the police came saying the money was dirty and had to be recovered."
"Luckily, the money wasn’t spent, otherwise, with our orphanage budget, even selling pots and eating wild vegetable congee every meal couldn’t cover 100,000 yuan."
"Not to mention, these days even wild vegetables aren’t cheap."
"Xiao Hui is still sitting in prison now."
"With such precedent, Uncle Qin is genuinely concerned for you."
"That first kind donor whom you introduced, the large sum d last month by them wasn’t even spent by our orphanage."
He wasn’t aware that such a small Sanmalu Children’s Welfare Institute was so full of talents, and even produced someone as legendary as Xiao Hui six or seven years ago, who while committing crimes, didn’t forget to give back to the orphanage.
"Tonight I’ll take Luoluo to the orphanage. Director Mama, prepare the ingredients; vegetables, meat, and flour in ample quantity, oh, and also prepare more glutinous rice flour. Nuts and candied fruits should be available now, I’ll send you a list, prepare according to the list."
"I’m not sure how much we can make tonight, but tomorrow is New Year’s Eve, and I must go to the countryside tomorrow morning. If not much is made, I’ll find time on the first or second day to make more snacks, let Luoluo take the bus to send it to the orphanage."
Director Qin replied, "No need for Luoluo to send it; I’ll come and get it myself, sending is too cumbersome."
"Alright, Huaihuai send me the list, I’ll go buy now. Flour, meat and such are already in the orphanage, I still need to keep the accounts, hanging up for now."
"Tonight you come and help me pick. Which paintings to give to the kind donors, our orphanage just bought a batch of watercolor pens, all colors are available, the children’s paintings are beautiful and the donors will surely like them."