November 2005.

At this time, the Yancheng Welfare Institute was only composed of several multi-storey small buildings, and the scale of the area and the environment in the courtyard were far less superior than the current one, but the wall was tall and deep, not sloppy, and the courtyard was isolated into two worlds.

Due to the special and sensitive circumstances of some people in the orphanage, especially some children, in order to prevent risks, the hospital will generally refuse to accept a single condolence visit. Unless, the visiting individual can meet the hospital's almost harsh visiting conditions. For example, visitors must have a social worker certificate or be a senior volunteer.

On this day, there was such a visitor who could enter the Yancheng Welfare Institute smoothly, her name was Li Mei. She carried a small bag of various certificates, not only professional social worker certificates, but also many communities, streets, and various volunteer certificates issued to her by the social welfare institutes of various counties and districts in Yancheng, as well as various honorary certificates such as "excellent volunteers" and "the most beautiful volunteers".

Gui Ying, who was in charge of the reception, was very welcoming. Whether it was then or now, there are very few people with professional social worker certificates, and at the same time, due to the special nature of the work, the hospital has always been short of manpower, and the work is very emphasized. At the same time, the staff of the welfare home, especially the children, will feel very warm after being visited once, and when they leave, they will be very lost, which invisibly adds to the psychological damage. Therefore, individual visitors like Li Mei, who have the dual status of senior volunteer and professional social worker, are more popular with welfare homes than those who occasionally make a hurried group visit in the form of donating supplies.

Although she knew that Li Mei in front of her should be very familiar with the environment of the welfare home, according to the usual practice, Gui Ying still led Li Mei very enthusiastically to familiarize herself in the courtyard first.

The first thing they went to was Building 1, which looked no different from an ordinary kindergarten on the outside, but was terrifyingly quiet.

"It's the worst kids in the hospital." Gui Ying stood in front of the security door on the first floor, took out the key, and paid attention to Li Mei, seeing that she was not looking around, or her face was nervous, she was more relieved, and said while opening the door: "The floors are all distinguished by age, and the higher you go, the older the children are." ”

Li Mei nodded with a normal smile and followed closely behind Gui Ying.

"There are 31 children on this floor, but there are only two staff members. There is no way, there are not enough people, it's not that you can't invite people, but you can't invite professional and caring people like you. Ordinary people, we don't dare to invite. Gui Ying said.

Li Mei noticed that none of the more than 20 children were healthy. There are brains. A paralyzed child lying on the bed with rolling eyes and drooling; There are children with mental retardation, who make strange cries from time to time; Babies of both sexes, lying with their eyes open and silent; And a child with no corners of the eyes. The membrane, which can't see anything, keeps blinking an eye, and the mouth opens and closes.

When a few children saw Gui Ying, they drooled and slurred their words, "Auntie, I want to eat Shaqima......"

Gui Ying patiently coaxed these children back, and turned back to explain to Li Mei: "There was a group of teachers and students from a university who visited here collectively and sent a lot of snacks and shaqima, and these children were always worried about the taste of shaqima. ”

There was a boy with normal intelligence but disabled legs, who seemed very happy when he saw Li Mei, and desperately held on to the windowsill to stand up and show her.

"This is Aunt Li, and she may come to take care of you in the future." Gui Ying said to the child.

The child was very disappointed, and immediately sat motionless on the bed, and did not greet Li Mei.

After the two returned to the corridor, Gui Ying whispered to Li Mei: "That kid is very smart, I think you are here to get it. Raising children. ”

Li Mei nodded and didn't speak.

One level further up, there is also a security door at the top of the staircase.

On this floor, there are only 6 bedrooms and 14 children, all brains. Paralysis.

"They look like children, but they're actually fifteen or sixteen." Gui Ying whispered to Li Mei in the corridor.

These children are already in adolescence, but they have child-like bodies, either lying in bed or sitting in children's chairs, rolling their eyes and drooling, their skin is also very pale, bloodless, and their heads are shaved.

A sixteen-year-old girl, when she saw Gui Ying and Li Mei coming in, kept getting up repeatedly, with a hint of a weird-looking smile, probably wanting to greet Li Mei. Li Mei sat on the edge of the bed and stretched out her hand, wanting to help her, but the little girl held Li Mei's hand tightly with her small hand and refused to let go for a long time. Li Mei couldn't see her smile, only the complex emotions in her eyes full of emotion. Li Mei touched her head, like coaxing a child in swaddling clothes, and calmed her before leaving.

On the third floor lived a girl of about twenty years old, of normal intelligence, but suffering from "porcelain doll" syndrome. Her skin was pale, smooth, even reflective, and her whole body was twisted except for one arm.

Gui Ying woke her up when she covered her with a quilt. She moved, and the corners of her lower body moved inward, revealing a curled leg with a shocking surgical suture scar on it.

When she saw Li Mei in front of her, she cried "wow", and the cry was the same as that of a child of several years old.

Under the comfort of Gui Ying and Li Mei, she quickly stopped crying, and then raised her only hand that could move to shake Li Mei's hand, muttering a few tones in her mouth. Li Mei stretched out her hand, she held Li Mei's hand tightly, and she was willing to let go for a long time.

Her hands were cold, cold, soft, and small.

"This child hasn't gotten out of bed since he was born." After coming out, Gui Ying whispered: "She knows everything, she can feel the love of others, and every time she sees a new face coming to visit, she will be very excited." Although she has lost the ability to express herself, her emotions are the same as those of us normal people. ”

The next two floors were empty, but still locked at the top of the staircase.

Building 2 is full of "three-no" elderly people, and the number is not as large as that of children.

Building 3, a little further away, is populated by normal children, and most of them attend the nearest school. When they go to school, the orphanage will arrange for staff to pick them up according to the age and needs of the children. At this time, the staff is more of a parent to make them look no different from other children.

In this building, in addition to the 20 or so children who are still in kindergarten, elementary school, and junior high school, there are also several children who are in high school and college, and because they are all boarding schools, they will not return until winter and summer vacations.

At this time, it was the time for afternoon reading, and the entire No. 3 building was empty.

Outside the building, there is a wall of honor. Children who excel in their studies and make significant progress will have their photos and names pasted on the wall. The photos on the wall are of children who have successfully been admitted to university, children who have found jobs after vocational high school, and elementary and middle school students who have been rated as "three good students" or "excellent class leaders" by the school.

Gui Ying pointed to the photo of one of the children and said, "This child is the smartest and best learned one in our hospital, and he will definitely be the most promising in the future." ”

Li Mei took a closer look and saw that the child in the photo had thick eyebrows and big eyes, red lips and white teeth, and was smiling very sunny. She also smiled and said, "This kid is likable at first glance." ”

Gui Ying smiled very proudly and said, "He is the 'star of hope' of our hospital. ”

Li Mei smiled and agreed, couldn't help but look at it a few more times, and then remembered the child's name - Li Zhudao.

On the same day, Li Mei began to volunteer in the hospital. Whether it is with the children or with the elderly, Li Mei's communication and nursing work are impeccable.

It wasn't until eight or nine o'clock in the night that Li Mei's work for the day was finished. Gui Ying saw that it was too late, so she simply cleaned up an idle office room in the courtyard and used it as Li Mei's living room.

No one expected that Li Mei would work in the welfare home for more than ten years. She always goes out early in the morning to "work", returns to the hospital in the evening to volunteer, and sleeps in her own living room at night. In addition to being sick or unwell, occasionally a few days apart is also because her two children who are out of town have come home to join her. Li Mei's volunteer career in the welfare home has truly been the same for more than ten years.

She is meticulous, conscientious and responsible, hard-working, both the children and the elderly have praised her, and the hospital management has acquiesced to her "privilege" of treating the welfare home as their home. After the large-scale expansion of the welfare institute on the original basis, the leadership of the hospital. The floor even held a special meeting to study and discuss whether to keep her personal "living room", and finally agreed that she had made a "special contribution" to this hospital, and her "living room" should be reserved and reserved until she herself applied for cancellation.

As for what Li Mei's "work" is, both the hospital and Gui Ying have verbally understood it, but they have never verified it. What they care more about is that such a down-to-earth and hard-working "most beautiful volunteer" is really hard to find. At the same time, Li Mei's two children have very good surnames, and they don't know where they are.

At that time, Li Zhudao was studying in school and was going all out to prepare for the college entrance examination. I hurriedly went back to the hospital during the winter vacation and spent the New Year. As for the new person in the hospital, he didn't know at all. After the college entrance examination, he went out to work for the summer vacation, and after receiving the admission notice from the police academy, he went back to the hospital, and then went to school and work, and the time to come back became less and less.

Perhaps, Li Zhudao had a casual meeting with Li Mei in the courtyard, but he didn't know which one he had seen was "Li Mei". After all, with the development of the times and the progress of society, there are more and more caring people and volunteers who care about social welfare institutions, and more and more people come to volunteer.