Orphanage of Compassion

Mother Theresa's Orphanage of Compassion is located in a residential area for commoners on the west side of Black Iron City, near the city wall. Standing at the entrance, one can see the city's thirty-meter-high walls and the various military structures pressed against the inner perimeter. The walls of Black Iron City are the source of the citizens' confidence and security; although they can feel oppressive and unappealing when viewed up close, in this era, no one living in a city would ever complain about their walls being too high. These towering fortifications are the very reason everyone wants to live within the city, driving property prices to soar—not for any other reason, but because the walls provide a sufficient sense of security.

I wonder if my brother is standing guard on the wall right now? Seeing the wall made Zhang Tie think of his brother. As a member of the Black Flame City City Guard, protecting the safety of the walls is their bounden duty. Zhang Tie does not know the daily work schedules or deployments of the Black Flame City City Guard, so naturally, he has no idea where his brother is or what he is doing at this moment. Zhang Tie has no interest in prying, either, because strictly speaking, all information regarding the deployment, defense, and military operations of the Black Flame City City Guard is classified. People might not pay much attention to such things in casual conversation, letting many details slip, but if one were to take it seriously, that excessive curiosity could bring a great deal of trouble and disaster to oneself and one's family. As an ordinary person, Zhang Tie has always strictly kept to his own business and avoided excessive curiosity. However, after hearing the news about the Red Scarf Bandit Group from his brother yesterday, Zhang Tie kept a watchful eye, deliberately taking a few extra looks at the situation on the distant wall. Whether it was psychological or real, Zhang Tie felt that the soldiers standing guard on the Black Flame City wall today and the grim, murderous atmosphere seemed significantly more intense than before.

As he withdrew his gaze from the wall, Zhang Tie saw Mother Theresa standing at the entrance of the Orphanage of Compassion. As usual, at this time every week, Mother Theresa would be waiting at the gate for Zhang Tie's arrival.

As a devout believer of the Grapis Sect, Mother Theresa always wears a green nun's habit, adorned with white patterns of olive branches that symbolize the spirit of the Grapis Sect. Being slightly plump, Mother Theresa in her green robes gives off a gentle and kind aura, much like a neighbor's grandmother.

Green and white are the colors cherished by followers of the Grapis Sect, and they are also the colors that symbolize their doctrine. If nothing else, just looking at the fashion, Zhang Tie thinks that the combination of green and white is quite nice, always giving people a feeling of warmth and visual pleasure.

Seeing Zhang Tie riding his tricycle over, a smile appeared on Mother Theresa's face. She turned back and called out, "Children, the things you love most to eat have arrived..."

As soon as Zhang Tie stopped his tricycle at the gate of the Orphanage of Compassion, five or six children, aged eight or nine, ran out. Working in pairs, they began to skillfully help Zhang Tie with the items on his vehicle without needing any instructions.

"Heh... heh... be careful, if you can't carry it, let me do it!" As he spoke, Zhang Tie helped move the large ceramic jars off the cart. The little ones, full of joy and smiling faces, carried the jars into the orphanage. Soon, cheers erupted from inside as more children ran out. Those with a bit of strength came to help, while the younger ones stood by the roadside, eyes wide, sniffing the air hard and drooling as they looked at the rice soup in the jars. For these children who grew up in the orphanage, this snow-white rice soup, always carrying a rich fragrance of rice, is a peerless delicacy.

At this moment, Mother Theresa always watches these children, who lost their parents at a young age, with a kind and benevolent smile.

Every week, when Zhang Tie's family makes rice wine, they are left with a large amount of rice soup after boiling the rice. This rice soup is a treasure; Zhang Tie and his brother grew up drinking it. Whenever a neighbor around Zhang Tie's house has a baby but lacks breast milk and cannot afford cow's milk, they often come to Zhang Tie's house to ask for some rice soup to feed the child.

Rice soup is good stuff and highly nutritious, as it is the essence of the rice, but it cannot be stored for long and basically spoils after two days. His mother says that wasting food is a sin, so after keeping enough for the family for two days, the Zhang family gives the rest away. Many people with biased views might look down on this bit of rice soup, but for the children in the orphanage who often struggle just to get a full meal, this might be the best thing they have ever tasted since they were born. The rice soup the Zhang Family sends to the orphanage every week can feed the children for two days; in Mother Theresa's words, it is the best gift from heaven for these children.

In the past, it was Zhang Tie's father who delivered the rice soup, then it became his brother, and now it is Zhang Tie. The Zhang family has been delivering rice soup to the orphanage for as many years as they have been in the rice wine business; it has become a tradition for the Zhang family.

Mother Theresa, who had been directing the little ones to move the ceramic jars into the orphanage, walked over. After giving Zhang Tie a gentle hug, she held his head and kissed his forehead as if bestowing a blessing.

"Child, God will bless everyone who has a loving heart. Those who can give to others with a merciful heart will surely be blessed by God in the unseen, and there will surely be miracles in their lives..."

Mother Theresa had said this many times before, but this time, it felt different to Zhang Tie, and he felt a slight stir of emotion in his heart.

"Thank you, Mother, I also believe that God will bless kind people!"

Zhang Tie's face turned slightly red. Mother Theresa's body was plump and soft; he hadn't felt anything when she hugged him in the past, but now that he was older and understood a bit about the relations between men and women, he felt a little uncomfortable. Although he wasn't so beastly as to have any thoughts about someone old enough to be his grandmother, he still felt a bit awkward.

After the little ones in the orphanage moved the six jars inside, it didn't take long for them to bring the washed jars back out. Each jar could hold over ten pounds of rice soup, and the five jars added up to sixty or seventy pounds. For the orphanage, which is always short on food, this could be considered a "generous" gift.

"By the way, Mother Theresa, when I went to the rice shop today, I found that many grains are starting to rise in price, and sugar is also getting more expensive!" While waiting for the little ones to load the clean jars onto the tricycle, Zhang Tie chatted with Mother Theresa about the rising food prices. This information was certainly not good news for the orphanage.

After carefully asking Zhang Tie for details, a look of worry appeared on Mother Theresa's face. She looked into the distance, silent for a long time, before finally letting out a long sigh.

Looking at the worry on Mother Theresa's face and the happy smiles of the little ones beside her, Zhang Tie felt a rush of heat to his head. He reached into his pocket, took out the ten copper coins his mother had given him as pocket money, and placed them in Mother Theresa's hand. "Mother, this is all the money I have on me. Consider it my donation to the children here. Although it's not much, it's good to be able to help a little!"

This was the first time Zhang Tie had donated money to the orphanage. In the past, he was so poor he couldn't even scrape together a penny, but having felt his mood lighten over the last two days since obtaining the Castle of Black Iron, he had acted "generously" in a moment of heat. Once the money left his hand, Zhang Tie felt a slight regret, thinking he should have just donated five copper coins. Why was he so generous to give it all away? Now he was penniless again. But it would be too shameful to back out now, so Zhang Tie tried his best to act like a good boy, smiling shyly and showing his two neat front teeth.

Mother Theresa, who had been handed the ten copper coins, was slightly stunned. She then looked deeply at Zhang Tie and reached out to pat his head. "Child, your kindness will surely be rewarded!"

Hearing the word "reward," Zhang Tie suddenly remembered something and said to Mother Theresa with some embarrassment, "Mother, I heard that you have many plant seeds here. Could you give me some? A classmate of mine just moved, and his house has a fairly large yard. I want to give him some seeds as a gift!"

God, forgive me, I lied to your servant. Having lied to the kind Mother Theresa for the first time, Zhang Tie really felt his face burning and his heart racing with shame. It was only when Mother Theresa mentioned the word "reward" that Zhang Tie remembered he could "ask" for something here. However, to Mother Theresa, Zhang Tie's slightly flustered appearance only made this "child" seem even more pure and simple.

The Grapis Sect is also known as the Church of the Guardian God. The doctrine of the sect is represented by the two colors on their clothes—using green to protect the earth and white to eliminate slaughter. The sect does not worship any idols or deities, but rather the very earth beneath everyone's feet. This earth has a name among the followers of the Grapis Sect: Mother Earth Gaya. It is a sect with the philosophy that all living beings on the earth are children of Mother Earth Gaya, and all green things on the earth are gifts and guardians from Mother Earth Gaya to all living beings.

Zhang Tie doesn't know how the Grapis Sect fares elsewhere, but in Black Flame City and the Andaman City-State Alliance—places full of commercial atmosphere where gold coins are worshipped as God—the Church of the Guardian God is not well-regarded. One look at Mother Theresa and the Orphanage of Compassion before him is enough to tell. In Black Flame City, any religion with even a little influence has grand churches or temples, while the Church of the Guardian God doesn't even have a decent prayer room, save for this orphanage. In the eyes of many in Black Flame City, this sect has nothing to speak of other than teaching people to care for flowers and plants, advocating for tree planting every spring, and taking in a few orphans. On the second Sunday of March each year, the "Grace Bathing Day" of Mother Earth Gaya as called by the Grapis Sect, the sect holds an event in Black Flame City to give away various plant seeds to citizens for free, while also raising some charitable funds for the sect. Since "Grace Bathing Day" had passed some time ago this year, Mother Theresa should still have quite a few seeds left. Thinking of this, and then thinking of the vast space inside his empty Castle of Black Iron—which only had a few potatoes and corn planted—and its pitifully low Spirit Qi Value, Zhang Tie felt he could ask for some seeds. It didn't matter what kind of plant, as long as it could sprout, he would plant it in the Castle of Black Iron so that it could accumulate the Spirit Qi Value he needed as soon as possible.

Hearing Zhang Tie ask for seeds, Mother Theresa's face lit up with a smile that seemed even happier than when she saw him donate money. She asked Zhang Tie to wait a moment, and a few minutes later, she reappeared and handed Zhang Tie a cloth bag. It was heavy, weighing nearly half a pound. Zhang Tie didn't open it; after thanking her, he climbed back onto his tricycle with excitement and pedaled home in a rush.