"When you were little, you didn't talk to your classmates and even got into fights with them," Director Qin chuckled, "because back then, in your first art class, the art teacher asked you to draw about going out with your mom and dad."
"That art teacher was new, or substituting for your class's art teacher, and didn't know the class situation."
"You first drew the picture on the right with a mom and child, handed it to the art teacher, and the art teacher asked why there was no dad, so you drew a picture with a dad and child."
"The art teacher thought you were being mischievous and got a bit angry, asking why can't dad and mom be in the sa picture? You said because you've never seen your mom and dad together, you've always been with Mrs. Qin, so if you went out, it would definitely be mom taking you out."
"But in the future, when you have a dad, Mrs. Qin won't be able to take you out, so if you go out with dad, it will be dad taking you alone."
"At that ti, the art teacher asked to go to school to apologize and even bought you a new set of watercolors and crayons. Do you rember that?"
Qin Huai stared blankly at the painting on the table.
He didn't rember at all; he didn't rember that art teacher, nor rember drawing those two pictures as a child, but he did rember that Director Qin never kept long hair.
Taking care of children is a tiring and troubleso task; many children don't understand and would pull people's hair, so Director Qin always kept her hair short.
But the mother in the painting had beautiful long hair, reaching down to her waist.
Director Qin choked a bit: "Actually, since you, Huaihuai, started elentary school, I didn't expect you to be adopted. You were already so big to rember things, families wanting to adopt healthy boys wouldn't choose you, and you usually didn't talk much, always moving around inexplicably like a fool."
"At that ti, I thought you would be like the other children, staying in the orphanage until your teens, then going out to work to support yourself."
"But after seeing those two pictures you drew, I suddenly wanted to find you a pair of loving parents. I didn't want a child I raised with my own hands not even to know that moms and dads should be together."
"Though you never said it, in your drawings, you wanted a mom with long hair who could take you out to play."
"Children coming out of the orphanage inevitably beco eccentric, inevitably get bullied by others. It was an unresolved issue at the ti. I was quite happy; I had only been working at the orphanage for 10 years, still full of enthusiasm, not accustod to the situation yet."
"That day after returning from school, I secretly drank two or three glasses of Uncle Qin's homade brew, slapped tables with Uncle Qin, and swore to find you a pair of good adoptive parents. I couldn't let a healthy child be wasted in the orphanage."
"Later, when you were adopted by your parents, I considered it as fulfilling my promise of that year. But I still worry about you."
"You seem smart and normal, but in reality, you're withdrawn, without many friends. This isn't your fault; most of the children from our orphanage are like this, putting on a façade of enthusiasm, but in reality also..."
"Huaihuai, you can't be like this when making friends."
"Making friends requires you to connect genuinely. Whatever kind of person you are, your friends will definitely sense it."
"So, I've always looked forward to you bringing friends to the orphanage. That way, I'd show them your childhood paintings, tell them you're not intentionally withdrawn or pretending to be bright and cheerful; there's a reason for it—you're a genuinely good kid."
"Although today's situation is a bit different from what I imagined then, I still want to do it. After all, I've been preparing for more than 10 years, I can't just let it end without success."
Director Qin forced a smile at Qin Huai.
Qin Huai knew he should also muster a similar smile in response now, but he just couldn't.
Qin Huai tried to tug at the corners of his mouth, and a tear fell from the corner of his eye.
"Mrs. Qin."
"I really always thought I was pretty cheerful and outgoing."
Director Qin chuckled softly.
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