About seven or eight minutes later, a monk wearing plain linen cotton clothes walked out of the temple. His face was wrinkled but he looked very kind.
There were patches of all sizes on the heavy cotton-padded clothes, and his thin figure looked very thin even in thick clothes.
"Hello, Master Xiangyun." Shen Yichen said.
"Amitabha, Donor Shen, you have been waiting for a long time. Who is this?" Master Xiangyun raised his hand and bowed slightly to the two of them.
"Hello, Master Xiangyun, I am Yichen's friend Chen Yuanyuan." Chen Yuanyuan said.
"Hello, Almsgiver Chen, I've been waiting outside for a long time. Come in and sit down." After Master Xiangyun said this, he also called on the children to go back indoors quickly to avoid getting cold.
The two followed Master Xiangyun into the temple. After the end of the world, no one came to worship the Buddha, but the temple was still clean and tidy, and there was a faint scent of incense in the air.
Master Xiangyun took three straw futons to one side of the temple, invited the two of them to sit down, and then took a small charcoal stove to make tea.
"I'm really sorry. The side hall has now been transformed into the children's living room, so the two donors can only drink hot tea with the poor monk here." Master Xiangyun said.
"It's okay, thank you for your hard work in hosting." Chen Yuanyuan said.
"I just received the news yesterday that a shelter specially used to house orphans has been arranged. Someone will land on the island the day after tomorrow to pick up the children." Shen Yichen said.
"It's good, it's good. Thanks to the help of Donor Shen, the children can have a safe place to live. Try it. It's just some rough tea. I picked it on the mountain earlier." Master Xiangyun poured a cup of hot tea for the two of them and then coughed. A few times.
Chen Yuanyuan took a sip of the hot tea. After swallowing the slightly bitter taste, it brought back some sweetness. After the hot tea, her whole body warmed up.
"Host, I'm here to get seafood for lunch!" After Ye Ye took the child back to the bedroom, she and an older boy went to the main hall to get seafood to cook.
"Go ahead and pay attention to safety when lighting the fire." Master Xiangyun said.
Chen Yuanyuan watched the two older children leave with seafood. It was rare for an age of around eleven or twelve to be able to make a fire and cook.
In Xiangcheng, and even in most families everywhere, children at home regard them as treasures. Not to mention cooking, some can't even boil water to make cup noodles.
The three of them drank tea and chatted. Master Xiangyun did not hide the secret of the jade relic and told Chen Yuanyuan generously.
When asked about Master Xiangyun's physical condition, Master Xiangyun sighed.
"The gathering and dispersing of fates are like clouds and smoke. The separation of life and death is the natural way of heaven." Master Xiangyun said thoughtfully.
"Aren't you going to go to the shelter with your child?" Chen Yuanyuan asked curiously.
"Amitabha, the Buddha allowed me to be temporarily associated with the jade relic. He has his own arrangements." Master Xiangyun said.
After a while, Ye Ye came to call Master Xiangyun to have lunch. The two of them didn't want to disturb him at first, but after the children's enthusiastic persuasion, they stopped making excuses.
The seafood is mainly steamed. Although there is not much seasoning, the fresh ingredients taste very good. With a bowl of wild vegetables and multi-grain porridge, the children eat it very well.
Chen Yuanyuan usually eats hot and spicy food. Even if she has space when she goes out, she can still eat a variety of dishes.
But the taste of this meal was particularly profound. It was not about how delicious the food was, but the taste of a peaceful place and a peaceful meal that was rare in the apocalypse.
"Master Xiangyun, we came here to bring some new clothes and supplies for the children. Do you have a scooter that we can borrow? We will go to the ship to get it." Chen Yuanyuan asked Master Xiangyun after the meal.
"Thank you, donor. We don't have vehicles here, but we do have a tricycle. I'll ask Liu Xiao to accompany you to get it." Master Xiangyun said.
Master Xiangyun and Liu Xiao took Chen Yuanyuan and Shen Yichen to the backyard, and saw only three cars and a dilapidated bicycle.
There were only two cars for transportation, and Shen Yichen happened to have nothing to do, so Chen Yuanyuan asked Shen Yichen to stay in the temple, and then rode to the pier to pick up supplies with Liu Xiao, the boy who was cooking just now.
It was noon. On the way here, several villagers happened to go out to replace some supplies. When they saw Liu Xiao, they also greeted him and forced some food on their hands to him.
After arriving at the pier, Chen Yuanyuan said hello to the fisherman who just got off the straw hat and went to the yacht.
"Little brother, how many children do you have?" Chen Yuanyuan only saw about a dozen children while eating. She was afraid that if she took too many, it would be inconvenient to move to the shelter, and if she took too few, it wouldn't be enough.
"We have twenty-one children, but Sister Ye was taking care of the baby in the house just now, so she didn't come over for dinner." Liu Xiaodao.
"Do you have a baby? How old is it? Are you still taking milk powder?" Chen Yuanyuan asked.
"It's been four months. The baby's grandparents left last month and can't contact his parents. Now it's Sister Ye who feeds him rice soup when making porridge." Liu Xiao thought for a while.
Chen Yuanyuan couldn't help but feel heartbroken when she heard that they were all a group of children who had to take care of younger children.
"Wait for me here while I get on the boat to clean up." It was not convenient for Chen Yuanyuan to pick up the items in front of outsiders, so she asked Liu Xiao to wait at the dock.
"Okay, if it's too heavy to lift, you can call me again." Liu Xiao said.
After Chen Yuanyuan entered the cabin, she took twenty-five sets of children's down jackets, cotton clothes and pants of different sizes and some clothing from the space.
Previously, Chen Yuanyuan was afraid that Zhang Linlin would be pregnant, so in order to prepare for the child, Chen Yuanyuan bought a lot of children's clothes.
In addition, when searching in Industrial Daguang in Kwai District, there were several merchants dealing in children's clothing. At that time, Chen Yuanyuan collected a lot of them without thinking of using them. At this time, it was just right to donate a small part.
Thinking of having a baby over four months old, I also took the baby's blanket, thickened onesie, diapers and a box of milk powder.
Although a box of milk powder won't last long, it's almost four months before I can eat complementary foods. I hope I can survive this period.
There is no shortage of food on the island, but they are all a group of developing children. Chen Yuanyuan took more than thirty bottles of calcium tablets and various types of vitamins on the way.
After taking out everything, Chen Yuanyuan took the supplies to the deck and called Liu Xiao to help move them to the tricycle.
When Liu Xiao saw a large pile of supplies, he thanked Chen Yuanyuan repeatedly and started to carry the supplies onto the car.
The clothes piled up the car, but fortunately it was not too heavy. Originally, Chen Yuanyuan wanted to ride a heavier tricycle, but at Liu Xiao's insistence, she still rode a bicycle.
After the two returned to the temple with supplies, they saw Shen Yichen busy cutting the children's hair with a hair clipper. Master Xiangyun saw the full tricycle and thanked Chen Yuanyuan repeatedly for his donation.
Ye Ye and Liu Xiao assigned clothes to the children on the spot based on their body shape and height.
Chen Yuanyuan watched the children happily try on new clothes, and felt that this trip was quite meaningful.
Although Chen Yuanyuan was not stupid enough to adopt two children home, looking at the children jumping happily, she suddenly felt that the children were quite cute.
But cuteness is cute, and having children in the last days is not a consideration.
(End of chapter)
