Chapter 142 I’ll Only Take Care of Lin Chu’s Matters for My Whole Life (1/2)

After the passers-by listened to the recording and understood what had happened, they took pictures of it to spread the news on the internet, heavily criticizing Jiang He's actions.

Reporters who had heard about it also came; these included television stations and newspapers.

This was the effect intended by the old Principal, which was why she did not panic when she saw them carrying a video camera.

When a female reporter used the microphone to interview her, Teacher Wang and Teacher Yuan helped up the old Principal.

”I have no other purpose my whole life but to take care of all these children. What more could I hope for living to this ripe old age? These poor children are innocent. It's not their fault that their parents had abandoned them, it's their parents who have no conscience! These are all really good children. They are obedient and understanding. They have been living in the orphanage for as long as they can remember. There are good people out there who sponsor them to study in school, allowing them to live the life of a normal child. They may not have parents, but they still have us, and they have friends. They are optimistic, happy and always looking to improve and develop themselves.”

”Where would they go if the orphanage is demolished? Another orphanage? Force them to leave a life they are familiar with? I'd like everyone to think for them and not treat them as orphans. The orphanage is their home. Look at them as children who have a home. Imagine if they are suddenly forced out of their home one day and go to a strange place. They would lose their friends with no one to take pity on them.”

The old Principal continued sadly, ”I heard that they would be placed in another orphanage in the suburbs but each orphanage can only accept a certain amount of children. Once the allocated quota is full, the children would need to be transferred somewhere else. They won't be able to attend the schools they are attending now. Would they even have the opportunity to continue schooling? Just because this company called Jiang He wants to make a profit, they have disrupted the lives of these poor children.”

”It's okay for grown-ups like us. I don't need any jobs at this age and as for the other teachers, they can look for another job. But what about these children? They are helpless and unable to take any action. Besides being forced to accept this, they are unable to do anything else. They don't even have the capability to fight for their rights and can only allow these strangers with no connection to them to decide their fate. Why should it be this way for them?”

”Does Jiang He lack money? Are they going to sacrifice these children for the sake of money? Are they abandoning their humanity for the sake of money? There are so many enterprises doing charity work but what about Jiang He? All they do are bad things! The children would have to be sacrificed for them to earn money! They are destroying these children's lives for their gain! What wrong have these children done? It's not their fault they have no parents. Why would Jiang He destroy them?!”

One of the children suddenly started crying. The other children followed suit as he cried. It sounded so pitiful and broke everyone's heart.

”What loss could there be for earning a little less? But they won't let go of any black-hearted earnings, no matter how little, even if it will destroy these children's lives! Look at all these young girls and boys. They are currently attending university, some are even working and doing quite well even though they are normal employees. But they are willing to use their downtime to visit the children at the orphanage, buying them books and stationery. While they are not financially strong enough to sponsor these children, they would still use their free time to give these children tuition lessons. Some of the children aren't able to follow up with the lessons in school, so these students come in to give them free tutoring.”

”Every one of them here does not have an easy life but in the eyes of Jiang He's owners, these are unworthy commoners. Their monthly expenses cannot even compare to whatever little thing that the Jiang family buys for fun. But these girls and boys are truly compassionate towards these poor children. This boy, for example, only earns 6000 Yuan a month. Everyone knows how high the rent in B City is. He would rather compromise a better living environment and live in a lesser house and use only 2000 Yuan per month for rental to save money for the children's school fees and help them go to school.”

”When he found out about what happened to the orphanage, he came all the way here without a word to support us. They are people without great living condition but they have hearts of gold. What about Jiang He? They think they are superior to a common person and would do anything to betray others for money. They don't care about others, even going to the extremes of forcing innocents into a corner. And for what? Are they doing this so that they could live in glory in front of other rich people and live a more luxurious life?”

The old Principal reached out to Teacher Wang with trembling hands. Teacher Wang immediately understood and took out a phone from her pocket. She turned on the recording app and passed it to the old Principal.

The old Principal placed the phone in front of all the microphones now pointing at her.

A voice could be heard on the phone.

”I know you have a grudge against me. Taking apart the orphanage would just give more misery to these originally homeless children. But you shouldn't be angry at me, the future of these children and where they would be placed have nothing to do with me. The only thing you should be angry about is their fate of being orphans. They have a lousy life for being abandoned by their parents the moment they were born. The only thing I have right now is the power to decide your future. There is no changing the fact that the gap between us is so huge. Since I have a natural advantage in this case, there's no reason for me not to use it. Besides, I have no obligation to be thoughtful on your behalf. It has nothing to do with me that fate had dealt you this hand.”

”Well, that's just what fate gave them, what has that got anything to do with me?! You commoners should stop taking advantage of others. So, what if we're rich? Is it necessary for us to give money to you just because we have them? Does it mean we're not kind people if we refuse to give money?”

”Since Jiang He has already bought this piece of land, we'll be back to discuss matters of moving this orphanage. There will be someone from the company coming over this afternoon to talk to you about this.”

The first two recordings had no evidence that it was said by someone from Jiang He. Anyone could have spoken those stupid words but the last recording had completely put a nail in the coffin. There was no way of denying it.

The female voice from the phone sounded dainty and gentle yet her words were so mean. It was very easy to bypass that gentle voice, as her words could make anyone hearing them boil with rage.

”The woman who said those words is Jiang Changdai,” Teacher Wang said.

It had turned out that when Jiang Changdai brought Yan Zhiqing and Lu Weining to talk terms with the old Principal. Teacher Wang was looking after the children when she heard the commotion. She had placed the children in proper care before checking what was going on and recorded the conversation.

Hearing how rude and mean Jiang Changdai was, she did not hesitate to use a phone application to record the conversation despite not knowing if the recording would be useful or not.

Teacher Wang had always been interested in electronic gadgets. Even though her phone was not a particularly expensive brand, she was still very good at using it. The applications on her phone were pretty much complete.

On the way here, she had made some editing to the original recording, removing parts of the conversation that involved or mentioned Lin Chu.

Teacher Wang continued, ”Every reporter here should listen and get to know these people. Do allow me to explain if some are unaware. This is Miss Jiang. We heard that she is part of the Jiang family, and is the sister of Jiang He's President. If anyone is not convinced of the voice's owner, we don't mind you taking a copy of the recording back to make a comparison. I am not familiar in operating such hi-tech tools but I think it could be used to compare the voices.”

”She mentioned very clearly that she does not care what would happen to others, the most important thing is that she gets what she wants. How arrogant is Jiang He to be able to make money by forcing people into a corner?” Teacher Want said coldly.

”If Jiang He has a legitimate reason, no one can do anything,” the old Principal said, staring straight into the camera as if wanting to go through the camera lens to see if Jiang Changdai was on the other end of it. If she was, what would her reaction be watching this? Would she get flustered?

”But we can't ignore the negative impact of others and chase these children out of their homes for this piece of land. Even if we can't do anything to change the results of this matter, I'd still like everyone to see the true colors of the Jiang family, for everyone to witness how inhumane they can be!” The old Principal laughed bitterly.

A volunteer by the side walked up with an angry expression, and said, ”I don't care about what the others say. From this day onwards, I am boycotting all products under Jiang He.”

Another female volunteer who was holding onto her phone added, ”I've just checked all companies and properties under Jiang He. They include Jiang He Properties, Jia Ye Movie Studio and Jiang Jin Beer. The properties in B City is so expensive, and I wouldn't be able to own any property now but I will not be watching any movies in Jia Ye Movie Studio no matter how cheap the tickets are or how great the special effects would be. And from this day on, I will not be buying any Jiang Jin Beer. I'm boycotting it!”

”Me too!”

”Me too!”

The emotions of some of the passers-by were influenced as well as they too, proclaimed their rejection of all Jiang He products. Some decided not to listen to one side of the story and just stood to observe the whole situation. They would decide later after seeing how things would develop. But even so, Jiang He's reputation was already affected as the story started to spread.

Two more volunteers came by at noontime during their office lunch break.

Both had driven over and even brought lunch with them.

The children were too young and could not stay out too long. They were carried into the cars to take a nap.

The old Principal was not getting younger too. It took quite a while for Teacher Yuan and Teacher Wang to convince her to return to the orphanage with the children.

Teacher Wang and Teacher Yuan stayed back with the volunteers to continue protesting.

It was until around 4 something in the afternoon when both started to feel tired as well. After all, they were people past their 40s. They thanked the volunteers and invited them back to the orphanage for a meal.

However, the young volunteers politely declined, citing that it had been a tiring day and they would rather the old Principal and the two teachers to rest well and not be bothered to prepare food for the volunteers.

As for the few of them, it was not every day that they could get together. They would find a nearby restaurant to have a meal together and discussed what else they could do for the orphanage.

Teacher Yuan and Teacher Wang did not insist and thanked them again, but emphasized for everyone to visit the orphanage one day to have a meal together.

What they did not mention was that, if they did not return for the meal, there might not be another chance.

Everyone felt a little sad and agreed to it. Even though no one said anything, everyone was thinking about the same thing. They would discuss when to visit the orphanage together again during dinner later.

…

Teacher Yuan and Teacher Wang took the train back to the orphanage. It took around 15 minutes for them to walk from the station to the orphanage's entrance.

”Teacher Yuan, Teacher Wang.” Teacher Yuan and Teacher Wang saw Zhu Hexuan walking towards them from the opposite side, greeting them.

”Hexuan, when did you arrive? Did your office let you off work early today?” Teacher Wang smiled.

”They didn't, I left work early today. My colleague came back to the office saying that you all went protesting in front of City Hall. I was worried so I came over to look,” said Zhu Hexuan.

Teacher Wang did not feel strange with her words. Zhu Hexuan was a reporter. It was only natural that she would find out about the news very soon.

”Come in quick,” Teacher Wang smiled as she said. She opened the gate to the orphanage and the three of them stepped in.

The old Principal was surprised and happy upon seeing Zhu Hexuan and asked, ”Hexuan, what brings you here?”

Zhu Hexuan repeated what she explained to Teacher Wang and Teacher Yuan.

The old Principal sighed and nodded. She did not say anything more.

Upon seeing the old Principal's reaction, Zhu Hexuan's thin lips pressed together so tight and hard it was nearly impossible to see them if not for the lipstick on her, which managed to maintain a straight line on her face.

Zhu Hexuan sat down beside the old Principal and held her hands. ”Now that the orphanage is in trouble and is close to disappearing, have you told Lin Chu about it yet?”

The old Principal did not think too much with her question and shook her head. ”Nope. Why give her the extra burden? She's not having an easy time now either.”

”What are you saying? How is she not having an easy time?” Zhu Hexuan was not willing to hear that. While she tried her best to hide it, she could not help but expressed slight displeasure over it.

She let of go of the old Principal's hands and stood up to move in front to look straight at her. ”Lin Chu is with Yan Beicheng now and Yan Beicheng is the one in power within the Yan family. There is no family in the country as powerful as the Eight Dominant Families. You might not be aware of how formidable Yan Beicheng is and how powerful the Yan family is. Just give this a thought, no other families in the country could compare to these eight families, they even have an international ranking. That should give you an idea of how powerful they are.”

”How difficult can Lin Chu's time be if she is with him? I don't want to say this but this trouble that the orphanage is facing is nothing to Yan Beicheng. It's just an easy matter for him to settle. All you need to do is mention this to Lin Chu and get her to help. How difficult could that be? Besides, what's happening to the orphanage is Lin Chu's fault.” The more Zhu Hexuan talked, the more unhappy she was.

”What did you say?” The expression on the old Principal's face changed slightly.

”You don't need to hide it. Others may not be aware, but I do. Remember what I do for a living. When you mentioned Jiang Changdai during your interview, I understood everything,” Zhu Hexuan sat down again and continued to advise earnestly.

”Who is Jiang Changdai? She is Yan Beicheng's mother. Even though she is not always in B City but she is back now. Why would someone staying in Ning City suddenly return? She even chose to come over here the moment Yan Beicheng and Lin Chu got together. She doesn't approve of Lin Chu and Yan Beicheng's relationship. Besides, there were news reports of Yan Beicheng going outstation to Ning City and having a meal with a young woman. By the looks of it, it was a matchmaking attempt.”

”You might not be aware, but I could recognize from the photos and I've confirmed it with my colleagues in Ning City. Other than Yan Beicheng's mother at the table, the lady that Yan Beicheng was supposed to be matchmade with is Lu Weining. Lu Weining's father, Lu Zhenting, was also present.”

”It's obvious that Jiang Changdai wants Yan Beicheng to be with Lu Weining and is unhappy about the fact that Lin Chu is an orphan,” Zhu Hexuan said, smiling sardonically. One could not be sure if it was meant for Lin Chu, or herself as well.

”People like us are only meant to be in a relationship with an ordinary man. His family may not mind us being orphans and have no family as we won't have any emotional baggage and can give our all to his family. That is assuming that they looked at the positive side of things. But others might see us as a taboo and feel that we do not have good lives and would bring bad luck.”

”A big family like the Yan family will mind an orphan's status. It's not unexpected that Jiang Changdai is not happy with Lin Chu, which is why it was easy for me to guess that Jiang Changdai is partially supportive toward Lu Weining. Jiang He's sudden decision to buy this piece of land and demolish the orphanage has something to do about threatening Lin Chu, am I right? They couldn't convince Lin Chu to break up with Yan Beicheng, so they came to threaten you instead. They are holding the orphanage and the children hostage so you can talk to Lin Chu,” said Zhu Hexuan.

The old Principal's mouth moved a little. Since Zhu Hexuan had already guessed the full story, she could only sigh helplessly. Even though she did not say a word, but she had silently admitted to it.

”Principal, at the end of the day, the root cause of all of these troubles is Lin Chu. If not for Lin Chu, Jiang Changdai would not come looking for the orphanage. The orphanage had been doing well on its own, you didn't need to pull along all the teachers and children to protest. The children could have continued to stay here safely. Since Lin Chu was the cause of it all, why not tell Lin Chu about this?”

”Since this is because of her, then this should be solved by her and Yan Beicheng. She found herself such a capable man, it can't be that she couldn't be bothered to take care of this small issue. We all originated from this orphanage, how would she do nothing about it? If it was me, my conscience would not let me do so!”

”Hexuan, I know you mean well. But I was the one that didn't want Lin Chu to find out about this. Yes, Jiang Changdai did approach me because of Lin Chu. You're a reporter and you know many people, so you should be aware that our orphanage would be demolished sooner or later. It's just that it was brought ahead of schedule because of the Jiang family. It's because Jiang Changdai was after Lin Chu hence all the more that we should not tell Lin Chu. She has not had an easy life, we…”

”How does she not have an easy life? I've analyzed so much of it to you. Yan Beicheng is very capable, would it hurt for him to help us? This is just a small matter to him,” Zhu Hexuan said unhappily.