[Zhongyingmei] How difficult is it to become a reliable adult

Joseph hurriedly walked through the rusty iron arch, passing through here is the back hill lawn of the Magdalena Orphanage, and it is also the place where the children of the orphanage go out every day.

The weather was fine today, so the nuns in the orphanage agreed that the children would play in the back mountain for an afternoon, and wait until tomorrow to hand in the homework assigned the day before yesterday.

This is a rare opportunity, so most of the children who stayed in the orphanage cheered and rushed to roll in the weeds and woods, and the person he wanted to find was most likely mixed among the exploring children.

A few nuns who looked after the children sat casually with their legs folded under the tree, beside them lay a few children with ruddy faces sleeping in the shade of the trees.

Joseph nodded to them, "Girls, do you know where Aprily is?"

"Good morning, Manager Joseph!" The leading nun greeted him, "We just saw that child running past, and now we don't know where she is."

She continued to giggle again, with loving indulgence on her face, "If you want to find her, you must find the place with the most children!"

Joseph sighed, and smiled helplessly and tolerantly, "You are right, if you want to find Aprily, you should find a place with a lot of people, big and small like to hang around her."

As he said that, he walked quickly up a slightly higher slope to have a look, and saw several small heads gathered under a tree in the distance.

Joseph's heart trembled, and he ran to the tree in a few steps.Before he could make a sound, a small black head poked out from among the dense branches.

It was a little girl about six years old. Her thin, soft black hair was tied into two little buns and swept her shoulders. She blinked her blue eyes and found Joseph who was staring at her under the tree, whoosh again. Shrink back.

"Apple!" Joseph said angrily, "It's too dangerous to come down from the tree!"

"I'll send the little bird back to the tree!" The girl's justification came from among the rustling leaves, followed by the chirping of the baby bird in her palm.

Joseph watched in horror as the girl April stepped on two thicker branches to push the bird back into the nest, clapped her hands and slid down the tree trunk.

Joseph's heart was about to pop out of his throat, but Aprile went up and down with ease.

Like a vigorous little animal, she stepped briskly on the tree trunk, slid down swiftly, and jumped down with a snap when she was about one meter above the ground.

Before Joseph had time to educate, Aprile bowed her head and admitted her mistake, "I didn't mean to make you worry, Mr. Joseph, but the bird fell from the tree. Sister Weiwei taught us, we should help Weak."

She looked up at Joseph innocently with her blue eyes, "It's not a bad thing for me to help the little bird, is it?"

Joseph's words of criticism stuck in his mouth, and after looking at Aprile who was looking up at him for a long time, he could only say bitterly, "Smart little guy, don't do this kind of thing again next time."

Ai Puli said obediently, "Okay."

She promised obediently, and everyone knew that she might climb another tree next time.

Joseph wanted to teach her a lesson, looking at that cute little face, he couldn't say anything serious.

Because of the funds and manpower, the children in the Magdalena Orphanage can only be kept until they are seven years old. After the age of seven, the children here are either adopted or sent to foster families through procedures.

April Magdalena was the smartest kid in their orphanage.

She was born precocious, and she had the air and vivacity of a child, which made her very popular with the nuns.

The oldest child in the orphanage is only seven years old, and the six-year-old Ai Puli has naturally become the leader of the children.

Joseph could say that, no one in the Magdalena Orphanage didn't like her, if there was, it could only be because that person didn't know Aprily yet.

Of course, it is not ruled out that Joseph prefers Aprily, but Aprily in his eyes is indeed very good.

So Joseph let go of the wonderful April, and remembered the purpose of his trip, "The dean has something to tell you, let you go to the office to find her."

"We haven't played a game yet, Appley," one of the kids who had gathered around the tree first yelled.

"I'll play with you when I come back, you can play by yourself first."

Ai Puli took out a handful of candies from her pocket, "This is a snack given by the nun yesterday, you should eat it."

After appeasing her little friend, she caught up with Joseph who was walking towards the orphanage. The ghost ghost asked, "Mr. Joseph, do you know what the dean wants from me?"

Joseph made a fool of himself, "It's a good thing, Aprily."

The good things in the eyes of adults are often different from the good things in the eyes of children.

Joseph thought that it would be a good thing for the unwanted children in the orphanage to have shelter from the wind and rain, and to be fed and clothed.

Sister Weiwei thinks it is a good thing that there are older nuns in the orphanage teaching children to read.

Xia Zuo, who always likes to hang around Ai Puli, thinks it would be nice to have a small cake at night, and if the nun is willing to let him eat an extra piece of pudding, that would be a great thing.

Ai Puli has a very low standard for judging good things. It is a good thing to have enough food and clothing, a good thing to have books to read, and a good thing to be able to eat small cakes and puddings.

It's a pity that what Ms. Dean told her was not a good thing.

"The Gleasons are a good couple, Ella." Ms. Dean Jones, who was sitting behind the desk, wiped her glasses. "You can try to get in touch with them, you will like them."

April is nestled in the office chair across from Ms. Jones, her feet dangling in the air, unable to reach the ground.

She is a nimble little girl, but unfortunately she is not tall.Generally speaking, girls develop earlier than boys, and the height of six-year-old girls is generally around 1.1 meters.

Ai Puli stood on tiptoe and couldn't reach the one-meter red line on the orphanage's height measurement.She was so thin that she almost sank into the office chair.

"I don't want to, Ms. Jones." The little girl with black hair and blue eyes said aggrievedly, she was always good at putting on a show, "I'm scared."

"An unpleasant experience cannot affect your future." Ms. Jones said softly, "I know it is very difficult for you to accept them immediately, you can contact them and try."

She paused and looked at the little girl opposite, "They will like you."

Everyone in an orphanage knows that it is better to be adopted by well-meaning people than to enter a host family.

Gotham's home boarding mechanism is not perfect, and most of them are hooligans who use adopted children to defraud government subsidies.

There are more than a dozen children in a foster family, not to mention going to school, whether they have food or not is a problem.In contrast, formal adoptions that require eligibility screening are undoubtedly more secure.

Ai Puli fiddled with her fingers, a little reluctantly, "I will try."

Ms. Jones could see that she was reluctant, but she still hoped, what if Aprily and the Gleasons hit it off?

She announced the second news with a smile, "We have received a subsidy from Wayne Enterprises, and they will gradually open up the number of subsidized enrollment places for us."

She smiled at the bright-eyed Aprily, "This is the first year, and we only have one place. You are our only child of the right age, Ella. You can go to school to sign up tomorrow!"

The children at the Magdalena Orphanage are too young to meet the entry requirements.

Marina, who is one year older than April, can go to school, but Marina was just adopted last week by a kind-hearted couple who run a business, and now she has gone to live in the metropolis with her adoptive parents.

Therefore, this place naturally fell to Ai Puli, she is very smart, and Ms. Jones is not worried that she will not be able to keep up with the progress of the school.

Aprily opened her eyes wide, pretending to be pitiful, "I go to school, so I don't have to see Mr. and Mrs. Gleason, right?"

Ms. Jones smiled softly. "Of course—no, Ella. Happy school."

A good thing in the eyes of adults is not the same as a good thing in the eyes of children. Aprily thinks that going to school is a good thing, but Ms. Jones thinks that someone willing to adopt her is a better thing than being able to go to school.

That's what everyone thinks, since the Gleasons don't look like they can afford tuition.

Aprily didn't tell the other children what she thought. After all, everyone was congratulating and envious of her. It was very unflattering to say that she didn't want to see the Gleasons at this time.

Ai Puli doesn't do things that make people hate her. She just distributes the small cakes that the nun gave to everyone for dinner to other children, and she hides in bed early to sleep.

She is not a girl who falls asleep easily, she always dreams.

In the dream, sometimes it is someone she is familiar with, sometimes it is someone she does not know, sometimes it is a good thing, sometimes it is a bad thing.

Some of those dreams will come true in the near future, and some Aprily doesn't know if they have come true.

Dreaming was just one of the things that happened to Aprile, but she was plagued by dreams enough.

She rarely dreamed about herself.It may be that she got two good news today-at least Ms. Jones thinks it is two good news, and one more good news is not too much.

She dreamed that she was standing at the gate of the school with an uncle. The uncle put the small schoolbag on Ai Puli's back and helped her arrange her beautifully braided hair.

Uncle has black hair and blue eyes, and looks very similar to April. Just by looking at the faces of the two of them, one can guess the relationship between April and him.

He said, "Come on in the new semester, I'll pick you up from school here and bring you ice cream, okay?"

Aprile heard herself say, "Yes, Dad."

dad.

April was taken aback in the dream, and if she was a little more excited, she might roll out of bed and under the bed.

The dream continues, this is a dream about Aprily's father.

Although Ai Puli always thought that her father had already become a star in the sky.

But obviously, the stars in the sky are breathing the air of the same earth as April.

She saw her father walking with many different women, and she saw her father fight with others until his head was broken.

Ai Puli's father doesn't seem to have a formal job. He comes home at dawn, sleeps on the sofa all day, and is unaware of the cockroaches passing by the overturned cereal bowl.

Ai Puli gasped in her dream, her father turned over on the sofa, rolled out of bed with a "thump", and threw his face into the oatmeal stuck to the floor.

Can such a man really take good care of a six-year-old girl?

April was skeptical.

The little girl's insignificant fantasies about her father were completely wiped out in this dream, which was cleaner than the bowl licked by the orphanage's watchdog Sasa.

She sat up in horror facing the morning light outside the window, and Tommy, who was sleeping in the next bed, shrugged and muttered, "...what are you doing..."

Aprily knelt beside her dazed friend, clenched her fists solemnly, "I won't want a flirtatious, violent and sloppy dad, Tommy! I swear!"

Tommy didn't know Aprily's determination, she didn't listen to a word, smacked her lips under the blanket, and fell asleep again.