After finishing all the exercises for today, Hesta let out a long yawn, stood up and started packing away his stationery. At this moment, the familiar violin sound sounded again.
Hesta stood there and listened for a while. When the music ended, she got up and left.
…
September 1st is the last day left before the official start of classes. Hesta got up early that day. Since Yugali had training today and couldn't leave, she decided to go to the Hope Center to see Eleven alone.
Before stepping into the door of the Hope Center, Hestad knew that Eleven's performance this week should be okay. After all, Teacher Xing did not send any messages this week.
After meeting Teacher Xing, part of her suspicion was verified. Things had indeed not gotten worse, but they were not as good as she had imagined. This week of National Day is still full of bad things, but it no longer challenges the bottom line of the Hope Center - no matter what, this can be considered an improvement.
Teacher Xing was still very busy and went out again midway. She left Hesta and Eleven to sit in the office. Without Yugali's instant translation, the communication between the two with the help of the translator was a little difficult. However, this did not prevent Eleven from excitedly telling Hesta a shocking secret:
There is also a place for slaves in the Hope Center.
At first, Hesta thought it was an error in the translator, but then Eleven described a location very clearly, as well as the scene she saw accidentally - on the top and third floor of their dormitory, there was a window filled with iron. The room with the fence has two iron doors. No one except the teachers can enter.
A few days ago, she went back to the dormitory with her friends. They raised their heads inadvertently and found two shirtless men standing at the window, staring at them motionlessly.
The companion was frightened and cried on the spot. Eleven ran to find the teacher, but when the teachers arrived, the two men on the third floor were gone.
"What did the teacher say?" Hesta asked.
"The teacher told me not to be afraid, but he didn't tell me what was inside, and told me not to talk nonsense to other students."
"Did you say that?"
Eleven shook the armband on his arm.
"Of course I can't say it. They are so cowardly. It will scare them to death if I say it."
Hesta was lost in thought.
At lunch time, Teacher Xing came back, and she invited Hesta to eat in the cafeteria. When Hesta mentioned this during the meeting, Teacher Xing said calmly, "Yes, they are all members here. Some are born with autism, some have acquired brain damage...but all have severe intellectual disabilities. , completely unable to take care of himself, and must be taken care of by someone for a long time.”
Hesta was a little confused, "You still accept adults here?"
"Of course not. Those were children who were accepted more than ten years ago. At that time, the institution was not perfect and there were no clear acceptance standards, so there were many such children..." Teacher Xing whispered, "They can't adopt like this. Get out, if we don't care, they won't survive long. In the end, we can only use this method, keep them but lock them up. It's not decent, but there is no other way... Do you care about this matter? "
"It's a bit," Hesta replied. "It's a bit of a safety hazard."
"We have been contacting relevant institutions since last year. We may be able to transfer them to other welfare institutions by the end of this year or early next year." Xing Riwei shook his head, "I also considered renting another place to transport the people there first. But we really can’t get rid of the extra labor.”
"Understood," Hesta said softly, "When I watched the choir rehearse before, I felt that most of the girls your center accepts are girls. You can count the boys here on one hand... Do you think you don't accept little boys now? ?”
"We accept all normal children. It's just that boys find their place of origin and are adopted quickly. Girls have more trouble, so there are more left."
Hesta vaguely felt that something was wrong, "...then among the batch of defective children you accepted, were there only boys?"
"Both men and women."
"That girl——"
"It is troublesome to find a girl for adoption, but there is always a family that can accept her when she reaches the age."
…
Like last week, Hestad remained at the Hope Center into the afternoon.
Under the leadership of Eleven, she saw the iron window covered with steel bars. Behind the blue glass was a dark hole, and no one could be seen.
At this moment, Hesta felt her phone vibrate. When she lowered her head, she saw a message from Yu Xuekun:
"Where?"
"Outside."
"There's something wrong with your procedures. I've been a little busy these past two days and haven't paid much attention to you. Do you still have a place to live now?"
"Yes, I have always lived on West 29th."
"Why don't you go back and take a look first?"
"What's wrong?"
There was no new news from Yu Xuekun. Hestad put away her phone with some confusion. After returning Eleven to the teacher, she left quickly and rushed back to school.
Soon, she realized that there must be a reason for Yu Xuekun's inquiry just now - West 29th Building, which was empty last week, was now full of freshmen dragging suitcases. Many of the windows upstairs had been opened for ventilation, and some new faces were standing there. Looking down from the window.
Hesta quickly went upstairs. She saw that the door of her dormitory was open, the ground was wet, and four strange young girls were cleaning the windows and washing the mops respectively.
"...Hello?" Hesta took the initiative to say hello.
The four of them looked back at Hesta at the same time, "Hello..."
After everyone communicated with difficulty for a while, the four strange girls finally confirmed that Hesta was the "bed 4" who had moved into this dormitory early.
However, now there are five people in this four-person dormitory.
According to the girls, they came to the dormitory one after another today. It was not until everyone arrived at noon that they discovered that a bed in the dormitory was already occupied. They contacted the life teacher and the dormitory manager, but they did not know the result. what's going on.
An hour ago, an aunt who claimed to be the dormitory manager came up and tried to collect all of Hesta's luggage, but the girls couldn't figure out the identity of the other party, so they firmly refused.
Fortunately, now Hestad himself is back.
They were curious about Hesta's origins, and Hesta explained awkwardly. Just then, Yu Xuekun called.
"simple--"
"I probably have no place to stay," Hesta held her forehead, "What's the problem?"
Yu Xuekun laughed a few times and said, "As you know, the procedures in your school have been stuck..."
"But I paid all my tuition fees——"
"These are two different systems. It means nothing whether you can pay the tuition," Yu Xuekun said with a smile. "In short, letting you live in the student dormitory was a temporary measure. Now things have changed. Please pack your luggage. At four o'clock in the afternoon Go to the West District Canteen and wait at the door, someone will pick you up."
