Both buildings were quite old, but upon entering, the interior was clean and tidy.
On this day, a middle-aged couple walked into the director’s office on the third floor. The director welcomed them. The couple had expressed their desire to adopt a child, and today they were here to visit and see if there was a child who met their requirements.
During the phone call, the couple had specified an age range, hoping for a child neither too old nor too young, preferably between three to five years old, with no preference for gender. After exchanging a few pleasantries, the director opened her computer to show them information about all the children to determine initial adoption intentions.
When the director’s old computer “hummed” to life, the screen displayed a photo of herself. Her normally serious face sported a beard, with a long tongue sticking out, making a comical expression.
The director quickly shut the screen and turned to the couple with a smile. “Instead of just looking at cold data, let’s go to the classrooms and dormitories.”
While she was speaking, the computer screen beside her automatically lit up, clearly showing her silly face.
The couple’s gaze made the director realize what had happened. She tried to close the screen again but couldn’t. Growing increasingly embarrassed, she decided to press the main power button to shut down the computer. But no matter how she pressed the power key, the computer wouldn’t turn off.
After the silly face flickered a few times, other content appeared—photos of several particularly mischievous children causing trouble, including video clips from surveillance cameras showing kids stealing food from the cafeteria.
The director angrily yanked out the computer’s power plug, finally silencing the computer. She barely controlled herself to avoid crying out in front of the couple but internally she was raging.
The wife curiously asked the director, “What’s going on?”
The director helplessly replied, “It’s the work of one of our children.” Several couples with adoption intentions had already been scared away. The director was truly at her wit’s end but couldn’t stop his behavior.
The husband looked intrigued. “Just a child? How old is he? Can he even enter the director’s office?”
The director shook her head. “He’s over eight years old. He can’t enter here, but all computers in the orphanage are networked. He might have snuck into the office when the teachers weren’t paying attention.”
The husband was surprised. “But your computer is password-protected. An eight-year-old? That seems impossible.”
The director sighed. “Not just my computer, actually. All computers in the orphanage have passwords. We even specially hired computer engineers to install professional-grade firewalls, supposedly capable of preventing hacker intrusions, but…”
All the teachers, including herself, were at a loss with this child.
They couldn’t physically punish him, and no matter how they tried to persuade or counsel him, he remained endlessly enthusiastic about infiltrating the orphanage’s computer systems. However, he only engaged in pranks without causing more serious damage.
The director could understand. At eight years old, he was already considered too old in the orphanage, basically with no hope of being adopted. His obstruction of other children’s adoptions likely stemmed from jealousy and a desire not to be separated from his friends.
She wanted to salvage the orphanage’s impression with this couple, trying to explain that only a tiny portion of children were mischievous, not everyone.
The husband said, “We want to adopt this child.”
The director was shocked. “He’s already eight years old.” The couple had originally indicated wanting to adopt a child between three to five years old, and eight was far from their initial requirement. The child didn’t exhibit an endearing personality. She thought they might not have heard his age and repeated it.
The husband nodded. “Age is not a problem.”
The wife also smiled. “He must be very clever and witty. We’ve always wanted such a spirited child. What’s his name?”
“Meng Qing. So, let’s go see him and interact directly to confirm the final adoption intention.” The director stood up and led the couple out of the office, still somewhat disbelieving. But if they could truly adopt him, it would be a blessing!
All the teachers, including herself, would be grateful to this couple.
As it turned out, they couldn’t find Meng Qing. He was neither in the classroom, cafeteria, dormitory, nor even the office.
The director said regretfully to the couple, “He probably just pulled a prank and is hiding to avoid being scolded by teachers. Or you could interact with other children. We have several clever and intelligent children who you might also like.
The husband and wife whispered a few words to each other before telling the dean: “We really like him. We won’t look at the other children for now. Please send his information to my email and explain to him that we hope to become his adoptive parents. We hope to meet him in person during our next visit.”
The dean agreed and returned to the office to find Teacher Yu, telling her about the couple’s desire to adopt Meng Qing.
Teacher Yu’s reaction was even more gratifying than the dean’s excitement. She had always liked Meng Qing. Even though his pranks had scared away several potential adoptive couples, some children who appear obedient and cute during initial meetings are not necessarily so at their core. They want to be adopted, so they put on various disguises.
These children who have long lacked parental care inevitably develop various personality and behavioral issues.
If one fails to recognize this and only wants to adopt gentle and cute children, there are many couples who, even after signing adoption papers, soon return the children. It’s better to show them the potential worst behaviors of these children from the start, letting them understand the real scenarios they might face.
Without patience and love, it is very difficult to completely open the hearts of these children.
This was an excellent opportunity for Meng Qing. While orphanage teachers can care for their daily lives and studies and provide love, it cannot compare to what parents and a family can offer.
Teacher Yu found Meng Qing.
Meng Qing looked at her stubbornly. No matter where he hid, she always found him. But he would not apologize.
Unexpectedly, she wasn’t there to scold him. She crouched down and said with a smile: “You might have a mom and dad soon.”
Foster mother put down the tablet and walked to his back. Several windows were open on the screen, including banking systems and auxiliary software. The window he was operating was scrolling through lines of code. She couldn’t understand it and couldn’t confirm whether he was telling the truth.
She walked towards the cola-splattered floor, fiercely threatening: “If you don’t finish this before he comes back, you’ll be in trouble!”
Meng Qing stretched his neck to look at her while she was cleaning the floor. Seeing her back turned, he opened a shopping window, selected a keyboard to put in her shopping cart, and chose cash on delivery. Then he closed the shopping window and continued writing his code.
After cleaning the floor, foster mother returned to watch her soap opera. After finishing, she ordered takeout and casually checked the items in her shopping cart, not noticing that a tablet keyboard had been added.
The next day, her purchased items were delivered. Just as she was about to sign for them, the delivery person said: “There’s one item that hasn’t been paid for, selected as cash on delivery.”
Foster mother was surprised to notice he wasn’t a courier, but a delivery person wearing a mall uniform. She asked confusedly: “I haven’t bought anything cash on delivery, everything was paid online and settled.”
