The endless wilderness was huddled under the weight of the snow, as if it was reluctant to struggle even a little. The grass everywhere, the wandering bees and butterflies that come and go in a hurry, are now hidden without a trace, only those few hundred-year-old trees, still stretching their teeth of bald branches, like ghosts and longing, and like the white bones, adding a bit of sadness and desolation to the night after the snow.

Outside the Chrysalis Hall, a baby's cry made the old man Pei, who had just been lying on the bed, sleepless. The old man put on a thick jacket and carried a kerosene lamp out of the chrysalis hall to find out.

Outside the door, a tightly wrapped baby was thrown in the snow, looking to be only a few months old. The baby was crying loudly because of hunger and cold, and if it was found later, it would have frozen to death outside. Old man Pei sighed softly, took off the thick jacket on his body, wrapped it around the baby's body, and carried her back to the chrysalis hall.

Twenty years ago, he suddenly came to K City and bought a piece of land in the suburbs, built this orphanage and named it Chrysalis Butterfly Hall, which means that he hopes that every child adopted by the orphanage will eventually turn into a butterfly and get a new life.

No one knew what Old Man Pei's name was, but because of his wrinkled face full of vicissitudes, people who knew him always jokingly called him Old Man, and he wouldn't be disgusted. Over time, Old Man Pei became his code name, and even Old Man Pei himself couldn't remember what his name was. Since the day Old Man Pei appeared in K City, he has been alone, without a wife or children, and has never considered marrying a wife and having children. It's just that he has devoted all his body and mind to the Chrysalis Hall, and it has been twenty years since he did it, and during this period, he has indeed cultivated several outstanding talents, which can be regarded as a success.

Old man Pei knocked on the door of Dong's sister-in-law's room on the second floor and told her to go to the kitchen to prepare some rice porridge. Looking at the baby in Old Man Pei's arms, Sister-in-law Dong didn't say much, simply put on a coat and walked to the kitchen.

Speaking of sister-in-law Dong, she is also a hard-working woman. When he was six years old, his parents died, and he was raised by himself on mushrooms picked from the mountains. When she was in her twenties, she finally met a person who was willing to talk about marriage with her, and she thought that she would soon have a home, but she didn't expect that not long after getting married, her husband Li Da fell into the stream at the head of the village and drowned. Originally, the family had no savings, Li Da's death, the family lost its economic resources, and because the village was too feudal and conservative at that time, not long after Li Da's death, the villagers put the hat of Tiansha Lone Star on Dong's sister-in-law's head, so Dong's sister-in-law was always pointed at in the village. There was no way, in order to survive, the helpless sister-in-law Dong had to leave the village and come out to beg for a living. But even if she came to K City, Dong's sister-in-law's life was not satisfactory, the job she did was either fired because of mistakes, or because of too many people was laid off, and the desperate Dong's sister-in-law thought of suicide, anyway, she was alone, and death may be a good relief. But maybe it was fate, just when Sister-in-law Dong came to the lake and was about to jump, she happened to be bumped into by the old man Pei who was passing by, and the old man Pei listened to Sister-in-law Dong's experience, so he decided to leave her in the Chrysalis Butterfly Hall and cook and wash clothes for the children on weekdays. Since then, Sister-in-law Dong has stayed in Chrysalis Hall for more than ten years, and she can be regarded as having a home.

"Come, hurry up and give it to the child." Sister-in-law Dong walked into Old Man Pei's room with a bowl of rice porridge that was still steaming, and gently blew into the bowl as she walked, "I deliberately cooked it for a while, it should have been cooked badly." Tomorrow, when I go grocery shopping, I'll buy some milk powder and come back. Sister-in-law Dong looked at the infant child lovingly, and continued to ask, "Boy or girl?"

"It's a girl." Old man Pei took a little porridge with a spoon, blew it, and handed it to the girl's mouth, and the baby, who had finally quieted down, began to cry again.

"Oops, don't burn her, let me come." Sister-in-law Dong was only distressed when she saw this scene, and hugged the girl from Old Man Pei's arms. Sister-in-law Dong is in her forties this year, because she has no children and no daughters, so she loves her children very much, and she treats the children in the orphanage as her own and takes good care of them. Because of this, the children in Chrysalis Hall will affectionately call her Dong's mother, even those children who have devoted themselves to social work, they will return to the orphanage to visit Dong's sister-in-law and Old Man Pei whenever they have time.

"Does this kid have a name?" After feeding the porridge, Sister-in-law Dong gently patted the baby in her arms and asked while coaxing the child to sleep.

Old man Pei took a puff of dry smoke, first shook his head, and then said: "I'm thinking about it, or call her Pei Yuan." ”

"Don't smoke it yet, it's not good for the child." Sister-in-law Dong stretched out her hand and slapped Old Man Pei's hand holding the cigarette stick, and motioned for him to extinguish the cigarette. Pei Yuan ...... The children of Chrysalis Hall are all called pillars or dogs and other easy-to-feed names, and it is really a little unaccustomed to suddenly giving this child such an elegant name. Sister-in-law Dong scratched her head at this time and smiled innocently.

"Girl, the name can't be too rough, I hope she can become a slim beauty in the future." Old man Pei narrowed his eyes as he spoke, and a smile appeared on his face, as if he had seen Pei Yuan ten or twenty years later.

"Pei Yuan, go to sleep...... Dong's mother will go into the city tomorrow to buy you something delicious. Sister-in-law Dong also looked at the girl in her arms with a smile at this time, and then said to Old Man Pei: "Old Pei, let Pei Yuan sleep in my room, and I can take care of her." Old man Pei nodded and did not object.

......

As the old man Pei expected, soon, Pei Yuan was promoted to junior high school, not only beautiful, but also very good-looking, and after graduating from junior high school, he was admitted to the city's key high school with excellent results, but like everyone, Pei Yuan also entered adolescence at this age, and rebellion followed.