CHAPTER 1423: CHAPTER 1423: MOVED BY COMPASSION

When you have money and manpower, things are easier to handle. It didn’t take long for Xu Shifan to complete the paperwork for the children’s welfare institution. Coincidentally, a factory was being sold due to poor management, and the price wasn’t too high.

The worker dormitory was built just a few years ago. After some basic tidying up, it would be suitable for habitation.

This year, with the reforms in state-owned enterprises, many people were laid off, so recruiting staff turned out to be relatively effortless. Following Luo Qiao’s instructions, Xu Shifan aligned the salary and benefits with those of the state-owned enterprise service industry but added specific requirements: not only must the candidates have good character, but they also needed to show compassion and patience.

After all, the workplace is a children’s welfare institution, and the ones they’d care for in the future are a group of children. If someone has a poor temperament and lacks patience or love, they might end up causing secondary harm to the children.

Her mission in establishing the welfare institution was to help children in need, provide them with a place to stay, spare them from unbearable suffering, and at the same time help them feel kindness and warmth there, so they can face life positively and with sunshine in their hearts.

So, after the recruitment was over, Luo Qiao also arranged for Shen Jianzhong’s team to conduct thorough background investigations. Better to be meticulous from the beginning to prevent issues down the road.

The investigation indeed ruled out a few candidates, and those remaining were uniformly scheduled for pre-employment training.

Coincidentally, the welfare institution renovations were completed, and the staff could formally start work.

The employees cherished this rare opportunity for re-employment. Moreover, the welfare institution offered benefits comparable to their previous workplaces—in some cases even better. They even promised that after three years of service, if a person’s performance was outstanding, the welfare institution would contribute towards continuing their prior pension insurance.

The welfare institution conducts annual performance evaluations, broken into two categories: one focuses on work capability, assessed by the supervisors; the other evaluates daily attitudes, assessed by the children in the welfare institution. In short, the goal is simple—do good work and treat every child kindly.

Such treatment was something the laid-off workers hadn’t even dared to imagine. Everyone was highly motivated during training, striving for an opportunity to have the institution pay into their pension fund.

Everything in the welfare institution proceeded in an orderly manner, and it was expected to formally start operations in two months.

As for Ran Jinsong and Ran Weiming, the school they attended was far from Luo Qiao’s home and the welfare institution. Luo Qiao didn’t feel comfortable letting the brothers live alone in their former home. After discussing with the school, it was arranged for them to temporarily stay in the teacher dormitory at school and eat in the cafeteria alongside staff.

Once accommodations became available at the welfare institution, transfer procedures would be handled for them.

Before the school year began, Luo Qiao sent someone to help the two children clean up their home. Then, with the children’s consent, witnessed by the neighborhood committee and old neighbors, she rented out the house.

She also opened a savings account specifically for Ran Jinsong, instructing the tenant to deposit rent quarterly into this account. The foundation’s phone number was left in case issues arose, ensuring there’d be someone available to assist.

When relatives of the Ran family heard about the house being rented, they came to cause trouble. The neighborhood committee members directly refuted them: "You all refused to take in the two children earlier. Now what are you here for? Plus, the rental income is to ensure the children’s living security after they turn eighteen. None of you should even think about messing with it."

Though the courtyard wasn’t large, the rent now amounted to sixty yuan a month. Over the year, that added up to seven hundred twenty yuan. The tenant was required to give notice one month in advance if they intended to stop renting; otherwise, their deposit held by the neighborhood committee would be forfeited.

The rental agreement was also clear that rent prices wouldn’t remain static but would adjust according to market rates. This clause was explicitly written in the lease.

Logically, with this income, the two children wouldn’t need to rely on the welfare institution if a relative was willing to adopt them.

Initially, Ran Weiming wanted to sell the house to leave the children a sum of money. But when this information spread, it was twisted into claims that Ran Weiming had sold the house to pay for his medical treatment. The relatives feared taking custody of these "hot potatoes," so no one wanted to adopt the two brothers.

Ran Weiming eventually reached out to a friend he trusted to arrange for the two brothers to be sent away, thinking they could return to the Capital once they were grown and capable. As for the house in the Capital, it was intended for them to inherit in the future too.

However, once the relatives learned the house hadn’t been sold, their ambitions rekindled. Thankfully, Luo Qiao had anticipated complications.

While Ran Weiming was still mentally sound, Luo Qiao had a lawyer draft an adoption agreement in front of the neighborhood committee and old neighbors. She also helped Ran Weiming finalize his will, ensuring any attempts at interference afterward would be futile.

It must be said that the two children were fortunate to encounter Luo Qiao, who was moved by compassion to intervene.

When they turned eighteen and left the welfare institution to live independently, they’d at least have funds on hand and wouldn’t start life completely penniless with no way forward.

Seeing no profit to be gained, the relatives gradually dispersed.

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Meanwhile, the Ning Family didn’t have much peace either during this period. Ever since that day when they left the Wang Family, they’d been planning to return in three days to collect the money. Unfortunately, it ended up being nothing more than a pipe dream.