Yu Li came back this time just to ask He Gui some questions.
She turned to Bo Jingmo. "Do you mind looking around by yourself for a bit? I need to talk with Aunt He in her office."
The man smiled gently, eyes curved as always in warmth.
"Go ahead. Just send me a message when you’re done."
He Gui also chimed in from the side, "I’ll have someone show your boyfriend around."
She turned to an older auntie behind her. "Aunt Chen, you’re free right now, aren’t you? Why don’t you take Yu Li’s boyfriend for a little tour?"
Aunt Chen nodded. "Sure, no problem."
He Gui smiled at Bo Jingmo. "You can have Aunt Chen tell you a bit about this place. She’s been here for a long time—she basically raised Yu Li, so she knows quite a bit about her past."
The man paused briefly, then nodded politely. "Alright. Thank you for your time."
Watching the two walk away, Bo Jingmo pressed his lips together and slid his hand into his pocket. The warmth from Yu Li’s hand still lingered in his palm.
Next to him, Aunt Chen had already greeted him warmly.
"Xiao Bo, let me take you to see where Yu Li used to stay."
He hesitated, then gave a slight nod and followed Aunt Chen.
There were lots of playground facilities on the lawn nearby, with plenty of kids playing. The orphanage was used to visitors, so the children didn’t really pay much attention, continuing to play on their own.
"Yu Li... did she used to play with these too?"
The sudden question from behind startled Aunt Chen. She instinctively turned her head and looked to the side, then smiled.
"No, these were all replaced just a few years ago. And Yu Li—she wasn’t the talkative type. She usually preferred playing alone, so she didn’t use these much."
"...Not very talkative?"
Aunt Chen let out a sigh, then continued thoughtfully, "Among the kids, Yu Li didn’t really stand out. She had a quiet personality. You know how kids are—they like to hang out with energetic ones. So she was mostly on her own."
Hearing this, something unreadable flickered in Bo Jingmo’s dark eyes. He pressed his lips together and said nothing, simply watching the children on the lawn.
Aunt Chen didn’t rush him. She just stood by and watched with him.
Many of the children recognized Aunt Chen, some even ran over and greeted her sweetly, calling out "Aunt Chen" one after another.
They occasionally glanced at Bo Jingmo curiously.
Aunt Chen was just telling the kids to be careful not to fall when the man’s low voice sounded beside her. "Was Yu Li ever bullied before?"
Aunt Chen was briefly stunned, then smiled. "Bullied? No, she just liked being by herself more."
Seeing the slight frown on the man’s face, she instantly knew what he was worried about.
"If you had asked me this ten years ago, I might not have had a clear answer. But after that incident ten years ago, something like that would never happen again."
Aunt Chen looked toward the school buildings beyond the fence, speaking with emotion.
"More than a decade ago, the conditions here really weren’t great. Some kids didn’t even get enough to eat. With too few staff, we couldn’t watch over everyone. So even if bullying happened, we wouldn’t notice right away..."
And then that woman appeared—no, she was really just a girl.
She was very young, just over twenty. Stunningly beautiful, with an elegant aura.
Those captivating fox-like eyes, and the tear-shaped beauty mark beneath them, made her even more alluring. She always carried a lazy air about her.
The moment she walked in, she went straight to Director He Gui and declared, waving her hand, "I’ll give you eighty million to renovate this place."
Director He Gui was completely stunned at the time—thought she had run into a scammer.
But as it turned out, the girl wasn’t joking at all.
She really did eighty million to completely renovate the orphanage.
Even the leftover funds—she just waved them off casually, not caring at all. "Leave it here. You’ll probably need more money down the line anyway."
He Gui suddenly felt like she’d just stumbled upon five million on the street.
No, not five million—eighty million.
Looking at this young woman, He Gui was deeply grateful, but also puzzled.
"Why… would you help us?"
But the girl just let out a laugh. "I can’t take it with me anyway. Might as well not let that d*mn system benefit from it."
As she spoke, she turned to look at the children playing on the lawn, the corners of her lips lifting slightly.
"And isn’t this a good thing? With better conditions here, these kids won’t have to fight tooth and nail over adoption spots anymore. Or risk ending up in danger."
He Gui was taken aback, feeling a surge of complex emotion.
Because the girl wasn’t wrong.
Back then, life wasn’t easy for the kids. To live a decent life, they had to stand out and be noticed by the right people.
But sometimes, those adoptive families looked great on the surface—and turned out to be monsters in private.
He Gui had seen too many of those.
"Then how should we repay you?" She suddenly realized something—she’d never even asked the girl’s name. "Would it be alright to know your name?"
The girl chuckled softly. "Repay me?"
Then she tilted her head and looked over.
"Sure, you can repay me—why not build a statue of me right in the middle of the orphanage? Have the kids worship it every day, chanting 'thank you, pretty sister' out loud? Or they can say it in their hearts too."
He Gui froze, unsure whether to agree or not. But when she saw the teasing glint in the girl’s eyes, she realized it was a joke and couldn’t help but smile.
She had almost forgotten—the girl in front of her was only twenty-something.
The girl leaned back in the chair, eyes half-closed like a relaxed, beautiful little fox. She lazily replied, "Li Mu."
Just hearing it out loud, He Gui couldn’t tell how it was written.
So she cautiously asked, "Li Mu… how do you write the characters?"
The girl turned her head at the question, blinked once—
Then let out a quiet laugh.
"The 'Li' from 'pear blossom'—split it top and bottom, and that’s my name."