Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Zhong Yuhuan opened her eyes and what she saw was faded drawings on a chalkboard – some cartoon characters holding hands.

She looked above the board and saw five large characters also written in chalk – Sunshine Welfare Agency.

“Oh look, Miss Zhong had awoken!” Someone cried out happily and shoved a glass of red sugar water into her hand and said, “Have some quickly, Miss Zhong. Are you still feeling dizzy?”

Zhong Yuhuan did not drink the sugary water; a look of confusion flashed passed her face.

She didn’t die?

She had just suffered from multiple organ failure, and no doctors had been able to revive her.

“Do you want to get checked out at a hospital?”

“Miss Zhong? Are you feeling alright, Miss Zhong?”

Zhong Yuhuan finally looked up slowly toward those speaking next to her.

The one speaking to her right now was a middle-aged woman; her outfit didn’t fit her too well and a was a little outdated. She also seemed a little intimidated.

On her shirt was the words “Welfare Agency”.

She looked to be a worker there.

“I am alright,” said Zhong Yuhuan.

The middle-aged woman let out a sigh of relief and said, “Then… have you made up your mind? Who would your family like to adopt?”

Adopt?

She was here to adopt a child?

Zhong Yuhuan wasn’t quite sure what was going on, so all she could say was, “Let me think about it some more…..” When she opened her mouth, the voice she heard was young and soft, that belonging to a small child.

“Would you like to go meet them again?”

“Sure.”

Zhong Yuhuan stood up from the chair and walked passed a large mirror.

She could see herself clearly now.

Blue and white sailor outfit, long, black hair, nicely maintained bangs, moist-looking almond-shaped eyes, along with a straight nose and pink lips. It was a pretty and very delicate face. Bu,t it was also a very childish-looking face.

It looked like she had been crying recently — her eyes were very puffy and blood-shot.

Her lips looked as though it had been bitten on with a lot of force.

She estimated her own height to be about 1.4 meter from looking at her reflection in the mirror.

As for her age…. Probably around 12 or 13.

This face and this body looked almost identical to hers when she was still a kid.

But she was already 21 when she died.

“Miss Zhong?”

“Huh?” responded Zhong Yuhuan. She looked up and followed the middle-aged woman into the backyard.

There were quite a few of the kids inside the backyard, lining up in order of their height. They were all wearing white clothing that obviously had been washed too many times and didn’t really fit them properly. A few of them even had a runny nose and they all looked at Zhong Yuhuan as if they were intimidated by her.

Zhong Yuhuan scanned across all of them and stopped abruptly.

Among the group of kids were two that were obviously older than the rest. Standing among the other kids, they looked like two cranes in the midst of a flock of chickens.

One of them looked to be around 10 years old and a bit shorter than her. He had on a long sleeve tee-shirt with half-faded printings on it along with a pair of pants of a nondescript grey color. His shoes had seen better days. They had obviously been mended many times and the front of them were already deformed.

His hair looked to not have been cut for quite a while, a few strands were falling down his face making it looked like a bob cut from some 90s TV show. But, it also made him look like a good and obedient little boy.

Suddenly, there was a cold breeze, and he shuddered.