Put away your magical powers now!.

Chapter 268 [The Most Important Person] (7000 words)

Chapter 262 [The Most Important Person] (7000 words)

Originally, Chen Yan planned to leave immediately after finishing his business in Hengdian.

However, since this has happened, there's no rush to do it tonight.

Chen Yan stayed in Hengdian that night and asked Zhao Shanhe to book another room for him at the hotel.

The next morning, before Chen Yan even got out of bed, Lin Xianyu had already arrived at the hotel and knocked directly on Chen Yan's door.

Seeing Lin Xianyu wearing a mask and hat, looking furtive like a thief, Chen Yan sighed: "Dressed like this, even if no one else notices you, they'll still stare at you. There are so many celebrities in Hengdian, you really don't need to..."

"You have no idea how famous I am now!" Lin Xianyu said with a hint of pride as she squeezed past Chen Yan and slipped into the room.

The hotel room was booked by Zhao Shanhe, who even gave him a large suite—but this place and this hotel were not exactly luxury hotels to begin with, and the so-called high-class suite was just an extra small living room.

Chen Yan closed the door and went into the living room, where he saw Lin Xianyu already sitting down on the sofa.

She was carrying a large plastic bag, which she placed on the table. She quickly untied it and took out the contents.

"My lord, I brought you breakfast." Lin Xianyu smiled and took out a few plump white buns and two cups of soy milk.

In addition, there were even two bowls of tofu pudding.

Lin Xianyu didn't stand on ceremony. Before Chen Yan could come over, she picked up a spoon and started eating. She fed herself a bite of tofu pudding, then took a bite of a steamed bun, and then said to Chen Yan with her cheeks bulging, "You're a cultivator, how come you still have the habit of sleeping in late?"

Chen Yan remained silent—last night, after returning to the hotel, he had spoken with Lu Sisi on the phone for quite some time. After hanging up, he pondered the profound mystery of reincarnated powerful beings until dawn, when he finally managed to doze off briefly. At this point, less than three hours had passed.

Fortunately, he was already a third-realm cultivator, and his spiritual sense was much stronger than that of other cultivators of the same realm. Although he slept less, his spirit was still vigorous, and there was no trace of the exhaustion from staying up late and not getting enough sleep on his face.

Breakfast was probably bought by someone Lu Sisi; it tasted alright.

Chen Yan ate a bowl of tofu pudding and two steamed buns—Lin Xianyu ate everything else.

This little fox can really eat!
"You should have found out about the orphanage by now, right?" Chen Yan asked as Lin Xianyu finally put down her spoon.

"Yes, I've figured it out." Lin Xianyu said, "My assistant inquired and found out that it's pretty much what that little boy named Shen Shiqi said."

That welfare home is called Sunflower Welfare Home, and it was run by a woman surnamed Shen…”

Then, Lin Xianyu carefully explained what she knew.

Speaking of which, the director of this welfare home, Ms. Shen, has a rather poignant personal story.

She and her husband founded this welfare home more than a decade ago.

This welfare home used to be quite good. At that time, Ms. Shen's family was well-off, and her husband was a businessman; they were very wealthy.

Ms. Shen and her husband founded this welfare home, and essentially, they are both kind-hearted people with compassionate hearts.

Ms. Shen was unable to have children due to health reasons, so after discussing it with her husband, they initially decided to adopt a child. However, they later felt that since they were going to adopt, they might as well benefit more people instead of just one.

So the couple funded the establishment of this welfare home—they bought the old building of a relocated public kindergarten.

Initially, because their family was wealthy, the conditions at the orphanage were relatively good, and they were able to afford to hire people.

But the good times didn't last long. Ms. Shen's husband passed away in an accident, leaving the family business without a leader.

Ms. Shen was not good at business. After struggling to keep the business afloat for a while, it suffered losses, and she eventually chose to sell the company.

In fact, under these circumstances, the welfare home would not have been able to continue operating.

But Ms. Shen persevered, investing all her remaining assets into the welfare home. She even sold her own home and moved there.

This welfare home was privately established. The procedures were completed thanks to Ms. Shen's husband's efforts, and they also found an organization to cooperate with.

These non-public welfare institutions do not receive much government funding.

So, relying on Ms. Shen's own family assets, she has barely made it to this day, but things are getting worse year by year.

Currently, the welfare home can't even afford to hire full-time staff, so Ms. Shen has to handle many things herself. Ms. Shen is already fifty years old and fell ill this year, so it's definitely impossible for her to manage to take care of so many children.

Fortunately, there are some community volunteers who come to help from time to time.

"I checked, and that Ms. Shen's name is Shen Aiping, and she is fifty years old this year. She has a herniated lumbar disc. If she takes good care of herself, there shouldn't be any problems with this disease, but she just can't do physical labor."

She recently fell ill, and her health is deteriorating. She's been managing her affairs despite her illness.

After saying this, Lin Xianyu smiled and said, "This information was obtained through inquiries. I had my assistant contact the local civil affairs department to verify it, and it should be true."

"Hmm, what are your plans?"

Lin Xianyu smiled, her tone tinged with pride: "Don't worry, I've gained experience in doing these things over the past few months."

I asked my assistant to go shopping today. First, we need to buy a batch of clothing, food, and daily necessities for the children, plus a truckload of rice, flour, and cooking oil. We haven't bought books and stationery yet; we need to figure out the specifics—we need to see how many children are there right now, whether they're preschool or school-aged…”

Chen Yan nodded: "It seems you've made the arrangements very well."

"I still need to go and take a look, to see it in person—and the company has also made demands of me. In the past few months, I've been making various donations to charity, which the company actually has a lot of complaints about, because it's hindering their ability to make money."

However, in the end, everyone reached a compromise: I would do charity work, and the company would provide filming and publicity.

My boss was at his wit's end and had no choice but to offer this condition. He meant that since I insisted on doing this, I should try my best to recover some of the losses. At least, charity work shouldn't be done quietly; it should be done with publicity.

"What I'm doing won't make them money, but at least it'll earn me some fame and traffic."

There's nothing to criticize about that. It's business. If Lin Xianyu, our cash cow, refuses to work, the company has no choice but to compromise and settle for earning some traffic and fame. It's not a big deal.

Chen Yan, on the other hand, thought it was pretty good.

There was once a news story about leaked emails between a retired football superstar with an excellent public image and his management company. In the emails, the football star expressed strong dissatisfaction with some of the charitable donations his company had arranged for him, even giving the impression that he was annoyed that the company was wasting his hard-earned money…

The release of this email sparked a huge public outcry—because the football superstar's public image was that of a philanthropist who was passionate about charity and generous.

After the emails were leaked, many people began to hurl insults at the football superstar, calling him a hypocrite, accusing him of buying a good reputation, and some even more offensive...

Chen Yan thought... these netizens were just bored and had nothing better to do.

Regardless of what he himself thought, the undeniable fact is that the football superstar donated millions or even tens of millions of yuan to charity over the years.

This money was actually spent—regardless of whether people were willing to accept it or not.

In many things, actions speak louder than intentions. Even if someone is unwilling, if they have genuinely spent so much money, then they are a great philanthropist!

Lin Xianyu's approach was actually quite similar.

She does charity work with ulterior motives: to accumulate merit points that will allow her to enter the Heavenly Dao of this world.

Otherwise, why would a fox spirit of the demon race care about the lives of humans?
But tell me, did she actually donate most of her family fortune?

You tell me, such a large sum of money, hasn't it really helped a lot of people?
·
"Wait a moment, after we finish shopping, our assistant will come to pick us up. We'll go to the welfare home to make the donation on-site and also do a site visit."

The company sent a photographer to follow me and take photos and videos of the donation ceremony, which will be used as promotional material for the next round of press releases in a few days.

As Lin Xianyu spoke, she took out her phone and glanced at it: "My assistant said he'll come to pick us up around ten o'clock."

Chen Yan nodded. He knew that he could leave these matters to Lin Xianyu and didn't need to worry about anything himself.

Lin Xianyu looked at Chen Yan curiously: "My Lord, last night at the restaurant, those two people who bullied the child, aren't you going to punish them at all? Are you letting them go so easily?"

"What do you mean?"

"I don't think you, Celestial Official, are the kind of person who is soft-hearted."

Chen Yan smiled and said, "I have my own plans, you don't need to worry about it."

"Fine!"

Lin Xianyu leaned back on the sofa and stretched vigorously. Her already curvaceous figure was further accentuated by this posture, making her incredibly alluring.

Chen Yan, however, kept his eyes straight ahead and didn't even glance at the top-tier actress.

Well, she's not human, she's a fox.

Mr. Chen is not a Fu Rui fanatic!

·
Around 10 o'clock, Lin Xianyu received a call from a junior assistant.

After hanging up, Lin Xianyu gave Chen Yan a strange look.

"what happened?"

"Yes, my assistant is downstairs, we can leave at any time—everything has been purchased."

Chen Yan raised an eyebrow and glanced at the foxy woman, feeling that she was being somewhat insincere.

Her expression was clearly a bit strange after she answered the phone.

Chen Yan had been somewhat polite before; he hadn't used his divine sense to eavesdrop on the other person's phone call.

"That's it? Nothing else?"

“…Um, that’s all, that’s all.” Lin Xianyu quickly waved her hand.

Chen Yan looked at this guy, and although he was suspicious, he didn't think much of it.

After all, we're not that close, so even if they're hiding something from us, we don't need to pry into their privacy.

The two then went downstairs, with Lin Xianyu still wearing a mask.

Downstairs at the hotel lobby entrance, a minivan was parked there waiting. The assistant stood beside the car, cautiously looking around. Seeing Lin Xianyu and Chen Yan come out, she quickly invited them into the car and then swiftly closed the door.

Chen Yan noticed that a small truck loaded with a lot of goods was parked in the hotel courtyard.

·
After driving for more than half an hour, we arrived at a place called "Sunflower Welfare Home".

A two-story old-fashioned house, whose facade still retains some of the style of a former kindergarten.

The walls were painted with some floral patterns, but they have become faded and worn by time and the elements.

The house isn't big, probably only a few hundred square meters in total, with a courtyard downstairs. The courtyard is quite spacious, with a cement wall and carved iron railings on top.

The carved lattice gate of the courtyard was clearly rusted, and it rattled loudly when opened.

When Chen Yan and his group arrived, a neatly dressed woman was standing at the gate of the courtyard, with two teenagers standing beside her.

This woman is Dean Shen, Ms. Shen Aiping.

She didn't look as old as Chen Yan had expected; in fact, she looked slightly younger than her actual age, around forty years old, and quite fair-skinned.

Her clothes were simple in color and style, and she wore no jewelry or accessories. She also wore glasses.

Her hair was medium-length and neatly combed, but it was clear that she didn't have a lot of hair.

The car stopped, and Chen Yan and Lin Xianyu got out. Dean Shen had already walked over to the car.

"Hello everyone, I am Shen Aiping, the person in charge here. Welcome to our welfare home."

Dean Shen speaks fluent Mandarin and has a very good demeanor; she seems to be a well-educated person.

Just as the assistant was about to speak, Lin Xianyu walked up and shook Dean Shen's hand, her tone gentle: "Hello Dean Shen, I am Lin Xianyu."

Lin Xianyu's beauty was so striking that even Dean Shen couldn't help but glance at her a few more times, staring blankly for a moment before finally snapping out of his daze: "I'm sorry, we've never had such a beautiful star as Miss Lin grace us with our presence before. I was a little distracted just now."

After speaking, Dean Shen said in a cautious tone, "Gentlemen, why don't you come in and sit down and rest for a while?"

Lin Xianyu shook her head and smiled, "Dean Shen, I'm here to offer some help to the orphanage. Let's skip the formalities and get straight to the point!"

As she spoke, she nodded to her assistant.

The driver and two people who had been following them jumped out of the small truck and, at the assistant's signal, began unloading the cargo!
The assistant pulled out a notebook and quickly drew out a list.

"Dean Shen, the supplies we brought this time are a donation to your institute free of charge. Here is the list, in duplicate. Please take a look first, and then... I might need you to check the goods as well. If there are no problems, you will need to sign and stamp it with the company seal before taking it back to the company for accounting purposes."

Shen Aiping had been the director of the welfare home for many years, and this wasn't the first time she had seen such a scene of accepting donations, but this was the first time she had done things so decisively, getting straight to the point without any formalities.

She was momentarily stunned before recovering, taking the list and looking at it carefully. Her eyes and facial expression revealed a hint of gratitude.

"We learned that there are about a dozen children in your welfare home, so we purchased the following supplies:"
There are 500 jin of rice and flour for daily necessities, and five boxes of cooking oil. These should be enough for your daily consumption for about six months.

In addition, there are fifty cartons of milk and some healthy snacks for children.

The category of stationery, sports and educational toys includes ten balls, fifteen children's bicycles, one box of colored pencils, one box of ballpoint pens, one box of notebooks, and one hundred picture books of various kinds suitable for preschool children.

Clothing: 10 sets each of boys', girls', and children's clothing in large, medium, and small sizes; 50 pairs of children's shoes.

Fifty sets of bedding and fifty sets of children's toiletries..."

After the assistant quickly checked the list of items against Dean Shen's, Dean Shen, prompted by the assistant, hurried over to coordinate with the workers in charge of moving the items. He even brought a small cart and guided the workers to move the items to the designated location.

After running a few steps, Dean Shen returned with an embarrassed expression, saying, "I'm so sorry, I'm the only adult here in the hospital today..."

As she spoke, she looked at the two children beside her: "Fifteen, Seventeen, would you please invite our guests to rest in our living room and make them some tea, please?"

Both children agreed in unison. Chen Yan glanced at Shen Shiqi, who had been standing silently next to Dean Shen. He looked calm, but a faint warmth would occasionally appear in his eyes when he looked at the truckload of things.

"Dean Shen, let's move it together. We're here to offer help, not to be guests."

As Lin Xianyu spoke, she rolled up her sleeves, tied her hair up, and strode towards the truck.

Dean Shen originally wanted to be polite, but the assistant pulled her aside and whispered a few words, then pointed to the photographer who was following beside her with his equipment.

Dean Shen then realized what was happening, stopped trying to stop him, and quickly followed.

Lin Xianyu jumped onto the truck and started moving things. The experienced photographer beside her walked around, constantly adjusting the angle and pressing the shutter repeatedly.

Chen Yan didn't go over; he remained standing on the steps at the entrance of the orphanage, watching.

Shen Shiqi stood next to Chen Yan and asked in a low voice, "Big brother, why don't you go and help your girlfriend? She's a girl after all."

Chen Yan smiled.

"First, she's not my girlfriend, just a friend. Second... she was moving things for filming... well, you can think of it as her own job. At this point, let her have the stage and perform well. Having people around would only be a distraction for her."

Upon hearing this, Shen Shiqi glanced thoughtfully at Lin Xianyu, who was unloading a box of cooking oil from the truck and handing it to the workers, a hint of realization in his eyes.

Chen Yan patted him on the shoulder and said, "How about this, you take me inside for a tour?"

Shen Shiqi hesitated for a moment, but the other child next to him—also a little boy, but obviously a bit older than him—said, “Shiqi, you take the guests inside to rest. I’ll go help the headmistress.”

After a pause, the boy added, "Tell your younger siblings to be polite and not make noise."

"it is good."

Shen Shiqi nodded, and then led Chen Yan into the small building of the orphanage.

On the left side of the corridor on the first floor is a large room, which should serve as the children's activity room—this used to be an abandoned kindergarten, and the presence of such a large activity room must have been part of the original design.

Right now, there are still more than a dozen children in this large activity room, and two slightly older girls are in charge of maintaining order.

The children all seemed quite well-behaved, probably because they had received instructions from the director. No one was making a fuss. A few children were peering curiously out of the window into the yard, but the others were sitting quietly looking at picture books.

Chen Yan noticed that Shen Shiqi's younger sister, the girl named Shen Shijiu whom he had met last night, was also among them.

Chen Yan declined Shen Shiqi's invitation to the lounge, and instead let Shen Shiqi take him for a casual walk around the building.

Downstairs, in addition to the activity room, there is a restaurant with seven or eight small tables.

Behind it is the kitchen, and behind the kitchen is a storage room.

The house is a bit old, and there's clearly no money for repairs.

Many of the original stickers on the walls have peeled off and become mottled, the latex paint on the ceiling has peeled off, and many places have cracked and fallen off, piece by piece, like wounds on the wall.

The lights were the old-fashioned fluorescent tube chandeliers, but some parts were broken, and almost every room had a non-functioning tube.

The second floor is the children's bedroom, with many children's beds in the two large rooms.

Shen Shiqi told Chen Yan that one room was for boys and the other for girls.

Chen Yan walked into a room and casually touched the bedding and sheets on a bed.

It wasn't very clean, but at least it was all dry and didn't feel damp.

"Actually, we're usually very clean. We change our sheets and blankets about once a month. But..."

Shen Shiqi hesitated for a moment and said in a low voice, "But the hospital doesn't hire anyone. The headmistress usually does all the washing and bedding herself. My brother Shiwu, my sister Shiliu, and I can help out a little."

But now the washing machine is broken, and the headmistress is sick, so we haven't had time to change the laundry this month.

After a pause, Shen Shiqi smiled and said, "In the summer, we change our clothes more frequently."

"Oh why?"

"During the summer vacation, some older students from other schools come to volunteer and help us with a lot of things. But after the summer vacation, those older students go back to school and can come much less often."

Chen Yan nodded, keeping the matter in mind, and then asked, "How many children are there here now?"

"Thirteen in total... um, fourteen."

Shen Shiqi sighed: "Twenty-one was originally adopted and taken away, and had been living in her adoptive family for almost half a year. But last month she was sent back. It was said that the woman of the adoptive family was pregnant and the family could no longer afford to take in Twenty-one, so they sent her back."

Upon hearing this, Chen Yan's heart sank!
Shen Shiqi's tone carried an indescribable undertone as he said lightly, "After Twenty-One Sister was sent back, she became much quieter than before, and she doesn't like to talk much now."

Chen Yan carefully sensed the subtle helplessness and dissatisfaction that Shen Shiqi was hiding in his tone.

He suddenly sighed and asked, "The conditions in the orphanage are so bad, how come there are still so many children?"

Shen Shiqi raised his eyelids, glanced at Chen Yan first, and whispered, "Actually..."

Chen Yan noticed the hesitation in Shen Shiqi's eyes and smiled, "It's alright, just say it."

"Because the headmistress is so kind." Shen Shiqi, though only a primary school student, spoke with a complex tone inappropriate for her age:

“Before, the conditions in the orphanage were not good, so the director stopped accepting new children. She originally planned to take good care of the children in the orphanage, and then close the orphanage after we all grew up, went to school and left.”

The children from before, some grew up, some left to go to school, some were adopted and taken away...

In the end, there were four left: Fifteen, Sixteen, me, and Nineteen.

The four of us are considered children from the past.

When it was just the four of us left, the headmistress only took care of the four of us, and she was still able to manage. We were also able to help the headmistress with some things.

But a couple of years ago, the headmistress hired someone to take care of us for a few days. She herself left for a while, and when she returned, she brought more than a dozen younger siblings with her.

After a pause, Shen Shiqi walked to the window and looked down at Dean Shen in the courtyard below, who was carrying things along a small cart. His eyes were filled with unreserved admiration and respect.

His voice was also very soft and gentle.

"Later I learned that another welfare home had gone out of business and closed down. The director of that home was desperate and begged people everywhere to take care of the children there. But after all the arrangements, there were still more than a dozen children left without a way out."

The dean there knew our dean's mother, so he asked her for help.

They said if they couldn't arrange for these children to be placed elsewhere, they would have to be scattered and sent to many, many different places... places that are very far away, and some of those places have very harsh conditions...

The headmistress softened at the time, gritted her teeth, and took in all the children. She went to the government to handle the necessary procedures and formalities.

My fifteenth brother said... "The headmistress sold the last old house that the headmistress father left her, and she also redeemed an insurance policy that the headmistress father left her. She invested all of that money into our hospital..."

Chen Yan smiled and patted Shen Shiqi's head: "You...respect Dean Shen a lot?"

Shen Shiqi raised his head, his tone very serious.

"She is the most important person in my world!!"

(End of this chapter)