Chapter 69: The Orphanage Drama

Chapter 69

Zhou Qinglian tidied herself up unhurriedly before helping Gu Jinan ring the bell.

Without waiting for the doctor to come over, she returned to her own hospital room.

The bodyguard brother was slightly puzzled. "Why did you come back?"

Zhou Qinglian had completely let herself go, rolling her eyes without any image: "Oh, are you willing to talk now?"

"Not only did I come back, I'm not leaving anymore either. I'm staying here."

"Oh, you can stay, I'm leaving." His task had already been completed, he only had to stop her from attending the banquet.

Zhou Qinglian was a little dumbfounded. "What, you're leaving just like that?"

"Yep, bye." The bodyguard brother said before turning around to leave.

You were pretty polite.

Zhou Qinglian sulked to herself as she looked at the empty hospital room, pursing her lips.

What's the difference between staying in the hospital and staying at home? In any case, it was still being alone.

She suddenly felt that it was quite good to stay here, at least until she received the expensive payment bill later on.

Zhou Qinglian was so angry she wanted to swear. So the hospital relies on extortion to make money!

Of course, that was a story for later, so let's not get into that for now.

Let's talk about how Shen Tang was sleeping soundly in the middle of the night when she was suddenly jolted awake and abruptly sat up.

Oh no! She had forgotten about Luo Chen!

She opened her phone to see countless complaining messages from Luo Chen on WeChat.

He was usually so quiet, it seemed he had suffered quite a bit this time.

[Can you believe it, that Mr. Gu is still a minor?]

[Humph, he not only made me wait for over an hour, he looked at me through his nostrils.]

[Are the side branches of the Gu family really that arrogant? Using the Gu family name to directly threaten me to change actors?]

[Wuwuwu, I'm really going crazy......he wouldn't let me leave.]

[Nevermind, I'm not leaving.]

[...]

[I found out, he wants to switch me out for the actress his girlfriend likes, to curry favor with her.]

[Fuck, the actress his girlfriend likes turned out to be you!]

[This guy ordered a bunch of stuff and made me foot the bill in the end, my wallet instantly deflated.]

[No way, he can't have intentionally come to freeload food and drink!]

Shen Tang: "???"

After going round and about, it circled back to her in the end.

She really wanted to ask what was going on, but saw that it was 3am. Luo Chen should be sleeping ba.

Shen Tang deleted the text she was typing letter by letter. Then a message from Luo Chen came over.

[Luo Chen: What should I do now?]

[Hopeless Romantic Big Aunt: You haven't slept yet?]

Luo Chen sent over a photo of his dark eye circles, saying: I can't sleep. That young Mr. Gu threatened me that if I don't switch you in, he won't let me continue filming.

Shen Tang directly called him.

"Did he say what his name was?"

Those who could be adopted had long been adopted. The ones remaining mostly had disabled bodies. Out of the dozen plus children, not a single one had an able body.

The little girl Dean Mum currently held in her arms had lost both legs from an accident.

Seeing Shen Tang, the little girl's eyes shone brightly. "Sister Tang Tang, I missed you lots."

Shen Tang stroked her head. "I missed you too."

She looked to the person-in-charge on the other side. "Excuse me, why must this place close down? Who ordered it?"

The person-in-charge wore an immaculate suit, looking very official.

He patiently explained, "We can only do as informed from above. It's not that we insist on opposing you all, but your orphanage is too small. If you could merge into the bigger orphanage next door, the children could also receive better care. Can you bear to let them continue living in destitution here?"

The onlookers around whispered among themselves. A portion felt that he made sense.

"Yeah, this place is too shabby...."

"This orphanage doesn't even have helpers. I say merging is the way to go."

"Right..."

In actual fact, a few decades ago, this was the only private orphanage around the area. Donations then were also more plentiful.

That was when Shen Tang had first arrived.

Up until ten years prior, a bigger orphanage was set up nearby. The environment and facilities were far better. The children were also more obedient and adorable. Thus, this place had declined since.

To be honest, the facilities truly couldn't compare to those other orphanages. But Shen Tang could vouch that Dean Mum was far more dedicated than all of them combined.

Children with disabilities tended to get abandoned. Thus, psychologically, it was inevitable for them to have some issues. Some had bad tempers and even hit others.

But Dean Mum never discriminated against any child. She patiently soothed them until the children slowly normalized.

Shen Tang asked, "Which authorities above? Is there a written notice? How do you guarantee the children will receive better care, and won't be bullied instead?"

Contrary to popular imagination, relations in orphanages weren't actually all that harmonious. Where there were people, there would be conflicts. Resource allocation biases were unavoidable problems.

The person-in-charge shrugged. "What use is it asking me? Can you trust my guarantee? All I can say is, the environment, medical resources and facilities are far better at that place. These children are mostly disabled. Don't you want them to get better treatment?"

Upon hearing the term "disabled", the little girl in Dean Mum's arms self-consciously glanced at her legs.

As if to comfort her, Shen Tang stroked the girl's head.

The man's words had hit at the softest spots of many. Even Dean Mum was somewhat shaken.

The children indeed had varying degrees of illnesses. If they could receive proper treatment, it would be worth it.

"If you can guarantee they get better treatment, I'm willing to close this place."

The person-in-charge took out a purchasing contract. "Rest assured. As long as you sign here, I guarantee these children will be appropriately taken care of."

Upon receiving and skimming through the contract, Dean Mum's pupils constricted violently. "You want to buy over this place?"

Closing down versus getting bought over were extremely different matters.

One still belonged to themselves; one would become someone else's.

The orphanage was the place Dean Mum grew up in since she was small. After her husband's death, she had no children, so she converted this place into an orphanage.

You could say this place contained all of her fondest memories.

Now, they actually want to buy this place!

"I do not agree!" Dean Mum said.

Shen Tang took the contract and read through it, but she was not a professional and could not make out any issues.

She took out her phone, intending to take photos and send it to professionals to take a look, but the person in charge stretched out his hand to stop her, "Sorry, the contract cannot be leaked."

Shen Tang raised her eyebrows: "I won't leak it, I just want my friend to take a look."

The person in charge smiled: "That's not allowed either."

The two held onto opposite corners of the contract, at an impasse, the scene becoming tense.