There are no bad children

Tiantang Village Primary School is located in a remote mountainous area with inconvenient transportation, and it is only occasionally visited by philanthropists who come to donate. Each time, the entire school community turns out: students stand on the ridges, dancing with wildflowers to welcome the guests; and Principal Fang Sirui personally leads the way, carrying the guests up the mountain in a rudimentary sedan chair made from tree vines.

Today, Tiantang Village Primary School welcomed a special guest. This young man walked alone for two hours on the mountain path without making a sound. Due to the rugged road, he injured his knee along the way. When he appeared before Fang Sirui with a limp, he had lost the polished image of a city dweller.

"I'm sorry!" The young man seemed a bit embarrassed, "I... would like to sponsor 10 students from particularly difficult backgrounds."

Fang Sirui was very pleased. This place is notoriously a poor township in the county, and such an unsolicited good deed was exactly what they needed. However, why did he say he was sorry? Fang Sirui hospitably offered, "How about you freshen up first? I can have the students line up to welcome you?"

The young man frantically waved his hand, "Please don't... I don't want to delay, I'll donate and leave immediately!"

Fang Sirui nodded.

15 minutes later, Fang Sirui respectfully presented a list of sponsorship candidates.

The young man didn't even look at it, saying, "Principal, I think you've misunderstood!"

Fang Sirui was taken aback, thinking he might have changed his mind, and anxiously said, "But these are the students we have carefully selected. They are excellent in both character and academics, and will surely become pillars of the nation in the future!"

The young man was silent for a moment, then said, "Principal, may I personally select the recipients of the sponsorship?"

"Of course!" Fang Sirui let out a sigh of relief, "It's your right! But... they are definitely the best students! If you don't believe me, you can check their past report cards!"

The young man smiled, "I trust you, but please give me the list of all impoverished students!"

Although puzzled, Fang Sirui brought the list of all 30 impoverished students. The young man asked for a piece of white paper, carefully tearing it into small pieces. Then, he began to write each impoverished student's name on a piece of paper, crumpling it into a ball and throwing it into a plate after each one.

Fang Sirui finally caught on and asked doubtfully, "You... are you going to decide the sponsorship recipients by drawing lots?"

The young man nodded, "Yes, I think that's the fairest way!"

Fang Sirui urgently said, "No, you might accidentally draw the names of the naughty children. They are mischievous by nature, climbing trees, fighting all day, and barely passing any subjects!"

The young man stopped writing and asked, "Have they ever played truant?"

Fang Sirui thought for a moment and said, "Well... no. They are just not good at studies, otherwise, they are no different!"

The young man firmly said, "In my eyes, there are no bad children, we love them all the same. Who can say that the mischievous ones won't amount to anything in the future? They are all innocent, and their hearts are filled with the most beautiful dreams..."

3 minutes later, the young man drew 10 names. As expected, four of the students were not on Fang Sirui's recommendation list.

Fang Sirui insisted on holding a public donation ceremony, as it was the school's usual practice. The young man shook his head, saying, "Principal, could you please apologize to the other 20 impoverished students on my behalf?" Fang Sirui's face was full of astonishment, thinking he had heard wrong.

The young man's eyes were a little moist, and he said with regret, "I'm sorry, I don't have the ability to sponsor all the impoverished students yet. The reason they weren't selected is not that they are not good enough, just that they were a bit less lucky! One day, I will come back to make up for their regret."

The young man did not tell the principal that 15 years ago, in a poor mountain village, he was also fortunate to receive a donation from an old overseas Chinese. At that time, he was an undeniable bad child in the eyes of the villagers. However, one sentence from the old overseas Chinese changed his life: "In my eyes, there are no bad children, we love them all the same!"

Stay tuned for more updates, the next episode will be more exciting.