Chapter 8: 8

Chapter 8: Shao Junling

When the three of them arrived at KFC, Luo Chao generously ordered a pile of food then grabbed the bill.

“I’m so sorry. I’ll just buy it myself……”The woman said.

“It’s nothing,” he said. When they settled down, Luo Chao saw the boy gaze at the food and swallow without taking any action to eat. He commented: “Eat if you want some.”

The boy gave the women an inquiring look. Only after getting permission from her did he quickly pick up a chicken nugget and bite into it.

“The kid hasn’t eaten?” When Luo Chao saw the boy before, since the sun was lower in the sky, the lightening wasn’t bright enough to distinguish his features. Now that the boy was sitting right in front of him, Luo Chao could make out his characteristics in details. Upon closer inspection, he discovered the child’s facial structure were remarkably like that of Yin Dong’s. Especially, his nearly identical set of eyebrows.

“Little guy, what’s your name?” Luo Chao tried hard to get the boy to open up to him, but the boy ignored him and continued to eat his food. Intentionally, he prodded and said: “Your son is very cute.”

The woman quickly explained: “You misunderstand. He’s not my son.”

Luo Chao: “That’s…”

The woman looked at the boy gobbling up the chicken affectionately and sighed: “We’re from the Welfare Institute and the boy’s name is Shao Junling, an orphan. I’m just his case worker.”

Luo Chao suddenly felt regretful for bringing them here. Wasn’t this kid simply dragging his case worker to Yin Dong’s memorial? And now, they got a free lunch!

However, he couldn’t give up the notion that something else was going on underhandedly because of how similar the boy’s face was to Yin Dong’s. He smiled and incited her: “This child looks so much like Yin Dong, but I guess if he really was, he wouldn’t be sitting here eating KFC now, would he? I heard Yin Dong left hundreds of millions of assets with two hundred million for charity alone. Because of his unexpected death, there wasn’t a will and all the property was inherited by his 18-year-old son. “

When the women heard the comment, her expression changed again. She peered at Shao Junling who was quietly eating chicken, and sighed. She said with emotion: “It’s just that, this child’s life has been so difficult and almost…” The case worker stopped abruptly.

Luo Chao felt there was a secret hidden within her words and asked: “Almost, what?”

She shook her head: “It’s nothing.”

Luo Chao persisted and said: “Miss, if you have anything difficult to say, you might as well tell me. If its something I can help with, as a reporter, as long as I can write a story and publish it, I may be able to solve the problem.”

The case worker looked at Luo Chao in the eye: “Publish a news story?”

Luo Chao: “Yeah, East View Entertainment is a large company. Many people will see our news reports. Yin Dong was known to be charitable. Did he cut off his charitable funding for the Institution and support for the child?”

“No, it’s not like that…….”After a few minutes of inward struggle, the case worker made up her mind and just explained the situation to Luo Chao. She admitted: “Actually, before Mr. Yin’s accident, he had decided to adopt Junling.”

“What?” When Luo Chao heard her, he was shocked and was spurred into action. He exclaimed: “Are you serious!?”

“Really, Mr. Yin started interacting with Junling six months ago to develop a parent-child relationship. The entire welfare institution was well aware of the situation.”

Luo Chao asked: “What do you mean?”

She explained: “It’s a model of pre-experience that was proposed by the welfare institute to foster a parent-child relationship in order to prepare both parties for the adoption process. We require the adopter to get to know the child through social interactions before the adoption is determined, such as regular visits, meetings and exchanges or taking the child home for a few days. Although Yin Dong is a star and his economic conditions are not a concern, we were afraid that he and Shao Junling wouldn’t be able to get along well. In the past, we have encountered problems with the integration of families and the adoptions were withdrawn. It causes great psychological harm to the children. Of course, it goes both ways and if the child doesn’t like the family, they can stop the process themselves.

“So that’s it.” Luo Chao nodded then asked: “Yin Dong had been visiting this child for six months?”

“Yes. In fact, the period for parent-child development was normally done for a duration of three months, but the situation between Mr. Yin and Junling was very special. Mr. Yin had stated very early that he was willing to accept Jun Ling unconditionally. He had been waiting for the welfare institute to release him, but the institute required a medical review and Junling had failed multiple times.”

Luo Chao: “Why?”

After looking at Shao Junling with concern, she said: “This child’s character…. How do I say it…. Compared to other children, he isn’t so docile.”

The case worker still remembered the time when Shao Junling was first brought to the orphanage five years ago. He wouldn’t even talk and bared his teeth at anyone that approached him. The staff at the institute was reluctant to take over his management. She felt so sorry for the boy since he must have been seriously injured otherwise he wouldn’t have been so hostile towards the outside world.

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After suffering countless scratches and bites, she finally gained Junling’s trust. Even so, the child still had a serious tendency for violence. The children who were assigned to the same class as him were afraid of him and the older children in the compound were afraid of provoking him. As a result, he earned the nickname ‘Little Mad Dog’ and the children would often tease and bark at him.

Luo Chao also guessed from his own observation that the child’s personality wasn’t very pleasing. He asked: “Why did Yin Dong choose him? Wasn’t it better to adopt a younger or more sensible child? How old is this child? He seems to be eight years old, right? “

The women answered him: “Junling is 10 years old. He’s just smaller than average.”

Luo Chao: “Uh …” Isn’t it hard to build a relationship of an adopted child of that age?

Taking a moment of silence to think, the women looked up and thinking back, pondered the reason: “I don’t know why Mr. Yin chose him. I remember the dean at the time told me to take Shao Junling to her office as it seemed like Yin Dong requested him.”

Before Mr. Yin appeared, she also thought Junling was fated to live at the welfare institute until he reached adulthood. With such an extreme personality, not even with the ability to get along with other kids, did it seem like he would ever get adopted.

Generally, easy-going and good-natured children aren’t worried about the trifles of other kids. If problems arise, those types of kids instinctively learn how to camouflage themselves. Only a moody and fickle child, like Junling, with an irritable personality would erupt.

When Luo Chao heard the details, he asked: “What about the origin of this child? Do you know the child’s history?”

The case worker explained: “The boy was delivered to the Welfare Institute by the Civil Affairs Bureau at the time. He was a homeless child that was picked up by the masses. When he was found, he was going through the trash and grabbing leftovers to eat like a wild cat. Even his name, Shao Junling, was chosen by the Civil Affairs Bureau using a naming system. “

Luo Chao felt like something about her explanation wasn’t right. If the story was real, and thus the kid was a random street rat without a background, why did Yin Dong specifically ask for him?

 “But, the similarities…..” In his mind, he already had created his own plausible narrative: “Yin Dong’s abandonment of an unknown girl led to his illegitimate child ending up on the streets.  Ten years later, he repented and found the boy and decided to raise him to make up for his past mistakes”

The woman didn’t realize the purpose of Luo Chao’s remark. She simply answered him: “Maybe it’s fate. The staff at the Welfare Institute all think that Junling and Mr. Yin were related.”

Off-handedly, Luo Chao joked: “Maybe this child was his illegitimate son?”

Her expression stiffened and the women became serious: “Oh, no.”

Luo Chao: “Hey, it’s not uncommon for people in the entertainment industry to have a bastard or two. You know that Peng movie star? Every once in a while, another one of his illegitimate children were brought into the spotlight. Hasn’t there been seven of them now?”

Feeling insulted over what Luo Chao insinuated, the women awkwardly defended Yin Dong: “I don’t think Mr. Yin was that kind of person…”

“Oh, well, people are different.” For the sake of keeping a good relationship with the women, Luo Chao quickly ended any topics concerning the less savory side of the entertainment world. He was afraid he had ruined the good impression she had of Yin Dong in her heart and as a result, would become disgusted and end up resenting Luo Chang.　

Luo Chao also asked: “You had mentioned Yin Dong had already begun the process to adopt Shao Junling before the accident. So, is this child ready now?”

The women replied as a matter of fact: “Well, on the twelfth of this month, Mr. Yin came to see Junling for the last time. Yin Dong asked Junling in the presence of me and the president if the institute if he would like to leave the welfare home and live with him in the future. Jun Ling accepted.”

For the whole six months, she really felt waiting wasn’t easy.

It was clear, even after the first time that Yin Dong started meetings with Shao Junling, he was going through obvious changes. From his initial resistance to slowly being able to connect and get along with Yin Dong. Every time they met, for the last two months, his uncharacteristically happy expression easily told any onlookers how much he was excited about seeing Yin Dong.

On that day, Yin Dong promised in person that when he came back from his business trip, he would take Junling to the agency to formally begin the registration process. All parties involved were satisfied and happy.

The world can be cruel. How could they even have imagined that Yin Dong would never return.

Luo Chao asked: “After his accident, have you contacted his agent?”

The women asked: “His agent? Are you talking about Mr. Wang? Didn’t he go with Mr. Yin?”

“Mr. Wang?” Luo Chao paused in thought before he responded. She was probably referring to Yin Dong’s assistant. He replied: “No, it’s Mr. Yang. He is slightly fat and about the same age as me.”

The case worker shook her head: “I don’t know who that is. In the past, both Mr. Wang and Mr. Yin would come here to pick up Junling.  If Mr. Yin was busy, Mr. Wang would come by himself to pick up the boy and after their meeting, Mr. Wang would bring him back. When we saw the news, we sent a letter to Mr. Yin’s company, but we never received a reply.”

The unexpected situation had become dire, Luo Chao thought to himself. Since his assistant Mr. Wang was also dead, it wasn’t any wonder why the women used the memorial service as a last-ditch effort to negotiate. They had completely lost contact with Yin Dong.

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