Chapter 226

The little boy spoke slowly, recounting the whole sequence of events to Si Ren. The old woman was named Bai Fang, seventy-five years old. Before her retirement, she had been a teacher. She kept only a small fraction of her monthly salary for daily expenses, donating the rest to left-behind children in impoverished mountain areas. After retiring, she could not stay idle and adopted several more children from an orphanage. Her modest pension was far from enough to support so many children, yet seeing the yearning for knowledge in each of their eyes, she gritted her teeth and persevered. Before dawn, she would go out early to the streets to collect cardboard boxes and plastic bottles, not returning until ten o'clock at night. Although she was exhausted, watching the children grow day by day brought her a deep sense of comfort.