Chapter 235: Not So Scary After All
Brand new cotton quilts were laid out before the children.
There were also piles of new clothes—not thin layers of cloth, but winter garments padded with cotton, appearing thick and substantial.
They would surely feel warm when worn.
Dozens of children stared wide-eyed, itching to step forward and touch them.
But without Yun Chu's permission, they dared not move.
Yun Chu bent down slightly and said to her youngest daughter, "Changsheng, please distribute these tokens to them."
Numerous small wooden tokens carved with numbers were placed in a basket, which she handed to Chu Changsheng.
The little girl took the basket, curiously picked up a token to examine it, but hesitated to walk over and distribute them to the other children.
Yun Chu patiently explained, "Without these tokens, the children here won't be able to receive quilts and clothes. Be a good Changsheng and help Mother hand these out, alright?"
The little girl blinked her watery eyes, pondered for a moment, and finally understood what Yun Chu meant.
She looked up at the dozens of children before her, all gazing at her expectantly.
Feeling somewhat scared, she instinctively shrank her small feet back.
Yun Chu gently patted her lower back, silently giving her strength.
Ting Xue held her hand and said, "This servant will go with you."
With company, the little girl felt braver. She cautiously approached the first child, took a token from the basket, and handed it to the boy.
The boy received it with both hands, unsure how to address this beautiful, radiant little girl, and murmured softly, "Thank you."
This was Chu Changsheng's first interaction with a stranger.
Her heart pounded with fear, and she clung tightly to Ting Xue's hand.
But upon hearing that "thank you," her grip gradually loosened.
She suddenly realized that speaking with unfamiliar people might not be so scary after all.
She immediately walked to the second person, picked up a small token, and handed it over.
The second boy also said, "Thank you."
Chu Changsheng pressed her lips together.
Yun Chu could faintly discern a shy smile forming.
She couldn't help but smile too.
She announced, "Children who have received tokens, come over here to collect your items, then find your bed according to the token number..."
The children lined up one by one to receive clothes and quilts.
The winter quilts were so thick that some three- or four-year-olds couldn't carry them alone. Fortunately, helpers were there to shoulder the load.
Older children couldn't resist untying the quilt strings and reaching inside to feel the filling—so soft, so comfortable, so warm. These were genuine cotton quilts!
Some children pulled out a bit of cotton to examine it, only to realize their grimy hands had smudged the snowy-white material, and their hearts ached with regret.
As for the clothes, each child received two sets of thick cotton winter garments. Just holding them felt substantial—this winter would no longer be cold.
"Alright, everyone, follow me to the dormitory in the side wing," Yun Qin led the large group of children to the adjacent building. "Boys on the east side, girls on the west side..."
Following the signs, the children easily found their beds.
Each room contained six beds, arranged in two rows of three. After laying out the quilts—one to sleep on and one to cover with—the beds looked exceptionally cozy.
Yun Qin said cheerfully, "Everyone, wash your hands first, then put on your new clothes. We'll head to the main hall for a meal."The children quickly lined up to wash their hands, and when they dipped their hands into the basin, each of them was stunned.
It was actually warm water.
They were orphans who usually drank cold water and washed themselves in the river. Warm water was a rare luxury.
Here, they could actually use warm water to wash their grimy hands.
Watching the basin of water turn black, they felt a pang of regret—warm water was simply too precious.
After washing their hands, the children put on their clothes, reluctant to wear them but afraid they might be stolen if left behind, so they wrapped them tightly around themselves.
They followed Yun Qin into the dining hall.
Earlier, when they had received their blankets, the scent of meat had already teased their noses. Now, as they entered, the aroma overwhelmed them. The younger children couldn’t stop drooling, slurping it back in, utterly captivated by the smell.
Chu Changsheng stood at the front with Yun Chu, distributing food to the children.
Yun Chu ladled out the porridge, Yun Qin served the vegetables, Chen Defu dished out the soup, and the little girl placed a boiled egg in each bowl.
A dozen workers hired by the Orphanage maintained order and looked after the younger children…
The children took their meals and sat at the tables, dazed for a long moment.
To help them adjust, the first day’s meal consisted of thin porridge with slices of meat, a bowl of radish and bone soup, a serving of stir-fried pumpkin, and an egg.
“There’s meat! There’s really meat—so much of it, and it smells amazing!”
“This big bowl of porridge would’ve lasted me three days before. This is wonderful!”
“I’ll save this egg for later when I’m hungry again…”
The children, having starved for so long, devoured the large bowls of meat porridge like a whirlwind, leaving nothing behind.
Yun Chu and her young daughter sat nearby, eating the same meal.
Changsheng had always had a small appetite, like a cat’s, never eating more than a few bites at a time.
But today, Yun Chu noticed the little girl had managed to finish a third of that large bowl of porridge and drank a whole bowl of radish and bone soup. Of course, she still avoided the pumpkin she disliked, and though she ate the egg, she left the yolk—as usual, she never liked the yolk.
Just then, a grimy hand reached over—not intentionally dirty, as it had been washed, but years of accumulated grime couldn’t be removed so quickly.
“Are you… not going to eat these?”
An eight- or nine-year-old boy pointed timidly at the leftover porridge, pumpkin, and yolk, asking Chu Changsheng.
He didn’t dare look directly at the girl—she was so clean, her skin so fair it seemed to glow, and merely glancing at her felt like a desecration.
Chu Changsheng truly wasn’t going to eat any more. She nodded slowly.
But the boy, not looking at her, didn’t realize she had responded. Thinking she had refused to give him the food, he withdrew his hand dejectedly.
At that moment,
Chu Changsheng grabbed his hand.
“I—I…”
The little girl grew anxious, and the more flustered she became, the harder it was for her to speak.
She looked pleadingly at Yun Chu, who smiled and patted her head, encouraging her to speak for herself.
Chu Changsheng had to force the words out: “I—I’m done. It’s—it’s for you.”
The boy’s face lit up, and he immediately gathered all the leftover food from the table.
He wasn’t still hungry.Years of starvation had made it impossible for him to watch such clean food being thrown away.
He wolfed down all the food, stuffing it into his mouth.
Even when he couldn't eat another bite, he washed it down with water. Only when the food was safely in his stomach did he feel secure.
Yun Chu looked at the other children around her.
Several three or four-year-old children were licking their bowls clean, picking up and eating even a single grain of rice.
She thought about her usual daily meals - over a dozen dishes would be served, and after she finished eating, they would be cleared away.
Whether the leftover food was eaten by servants or simply discarded, she had never paid it any mind.
At this moment, Yun Chu's emotions were complex.
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