Striding ahead, the man led Chen Yu and Wang Shanzhang into a room and pulled a thick book from a bookcase to one side.
Opening the book numbered one, the man told Chen Yu, "This is the Register for our Happy Baby Welfare Home. All the children in here are available for adoption, long-term or short-term. Four hundred a month."
In the Register, the children stared expressionlessly into the camera. Every one of them looked much younger than their actual age.
Malnutrition had left them undersized. Some tried hard to look stronger, but their clearly visible ribs gave them away.
"These are the healthy ones. Six hundred. The sick ones are cheaper, four hundred. The contaminated ones are cheaper still, just two hundred a month for food. Oh, and by food expenses, I mean commission. Just so you know. By the way, how much did you pay to adopt that Little Lunatic behind you?" the man asked with a smile.
"Five thousand," Chen Yu replied without looking up as he leafed through the Register.
"Five thousand? What a rip-off. Here, two hundred a month is enough. Out of those two hundred in monthly food expenses, we deduct a month's food costs for you, then charge an eighty management fee. That leaves the child with a hundred and twenty a month for food. Then we deduct what they owe us here, and the child gets about sixty. Enough to buy four steamed buns a day."
"Two hundred ends up being sixty? What if I give a child five thousand a month for food?"
"Then they'd get about two hundred." The man smiled candidly. "That's how things work here. No matter how much you pay, the child gets two hundred at most. Don't worry, I save the money for them. I won't