"Lina made today's bread. Everyone, give it a try and see how much she's improved..."
Mo Fei encouraged the children to try the freshly baked bread.
The freshly baked bread already had a rich aroma and was the food they looked forward to most. Now, with the director's endorsement, they could barely wait.
Boer was still the first to grab a piece and take a bite, reaching for the bread in a hurry.
Unexpectedly, the bread fresh from the oven was too hot for him to hold, and he tossed it straight into the air, but he did not want it to fall on the floor.
And so the other children watched his hands shuttle back and forth, the bread flying between them.
The children watched as though it were a magic trick, and some started laughing.
Even Kyle, who was always inseparable from him, curled the corners of his lips.
Zane was so amused by the sight that he laughed and coughed twice.
At last, the bread was cool enough to hold, and Boer eagerly stuffed it into his mouth.
"It smells so good. It's almost as good as the director's..."
That was high praise indeed. Boer had never given an assessment like "smells so good" before. Most of the time, his verdict on Lina's bread was merely that it was edible.
Moreover, Boer had become Mo Fei's devoted diner from the very first time he baked bread after improving his cooking skills.
An assessment that put her on par with Mo Fei meant Lina's cooking really was quite good.
Mo Fei looked over. Though Lina was still trying to keep up appearances, the corners of her mouth were rising little by little.
Aiwen noticed it too, then smiled happily.
The meal ended in this cheerful atmosphere.
After the meal, however, Mo Fei called Zane over to him.
In his room, Zane seemed somewhat ill at ease.
Apart from Aiwen, the children rarely came to see the director alone.
"Director, is something wrong? Did I get the accounts wrong? Or is some money missing, and I didn't count it properly..."
After a brief silence, Zane began letting his imagination run wild.
Seeing this, Mo Fei quickly softened his overly serious expression.
Just now, he had been using his limited medical knowledge to diagnose Zane. The result was far from encouraging: he had congenital heart disease.
That also provided a reasonable explanation for his slow growth.
His cough and such were common complications.
Even in the twenty-first century, this was a troublesome condition. Here and now, it was all the more a terminal illness.
The chances of curing it were vanishingly small. Modern medicine had almost no way to treat it.
Though Mo Fei had expected it, he still felt a pang of disappointment when he reached this diagnosis.
He had desperately hoped that the doctor's diagnosis back then had been wrong, but now it seemed that had all been wishful thinking.
Fortunately, this was not a world of science alone.
Wizards and magic existed here.
Perhaps if he could just reach the wizarding world's hospital, St. Mungo's, he would discover that this illness was no big deal?
The problem now was keeping Zane alive.
The poverty and hardship of the past few years had, after all, put his already frail body at greater risk.
Fortunately, it was not too late yet.
Mo Fei softened his expression. "Zane, from now on, I'll give you a massage every day. It'll also be a treatment. You'll have to bear with it, all right? It'll be quite helpful for your health..."
"Also, from now on, you'll drink a glass of milk every morning, just like Tom, for extra nutrition..."
"I want you to grow up healthy, too."
Mo Fei's words left Zane stunned for several minutes.
He had never imagined that the director would be willing to do so much for him.
Over the past few years, his repeated illnesses had required doctors to be called in again and again to examine and treat him, costing a great deal of money. Much of the orphanage's money had been used up this way.
Several times, he had seen pain and conflict in the director's eyes as he looked at him.
He seemed to have seen that look before, in the eyes of the parents who had abandoned him.
Those two pairs of eyes had already grown somewhat numb.
He did not blame them,
Though he was still young, he had long understood that his illness had left them exhausted in both body and mind.
The fact that his parents had not given up on him from the start already meant they loved him enough.
After coming to the orphanage, he had given up all hope.
Yet Director Mo Fei had not abandoned him. Though his words were unpleasant, Mo Fei had paid close attention to him ever since he was brought to the orphanage.
But now, it seemed the director was going to give up on him too.
That was fine, too. After all, staying alive only made him a burden.
Though he thought that way, his heart was still filled with despair.
But the abandonment he had expected never came. Instead, the director worked even harder.
Until today, when he seemed to have gained a chance to live.
Zane could no longer bring himself to say that he wanted to give up.
"Director, I want to live!"
He choked out those words, and his tears flowed uncontrollably.
Mo Fei felt as though he had experienced a scene like this once before. Had it been Aiwen last time?
If the system gave him another notification, it would be even more alike.
Just as he thought that, the system did indeed sound.
[An entity's trust in the host has increased significantly!]
Sure enough...
Children really were the most innocent and lovable beings...
Mo Fei was not particularly surprised or delighted. He merely comforted Zane. "Don't cry. Your body can't handle getting too emotional. Starting today, you need to remember to learn to control all your emotions, just like Kyle. You can't let them fluctuate too much..."
"All right." After wiping the child's tears away, he laid him on the bed.
"Bear with it. I'm going to start the massage. Hopefully it'll help you somewhat..."
This set of massage techniques Mo Fei used could actually be considered a form of medical treatment. It was an ability he had only acquired after gaining basic proficiency in both medicine and combat.
Its main effect was nothing particularly miraculous. It simply promoted blood circulation.
Zane's illness had reduced his heart's ability to pump blood, which also left his physical condition far below that of other children his age.
These techniques could help perform part of his heart's function.
From that day on, Zane began his daily rehabilitation training with Mo Fei's massages.
Later, Mo Fei unexpectedly discovered that Tai Chi Chuan actually helped Zane's condition somewhat.
So, to improve his treatment, he simply taught Zane Tai Chi as well.
What he had not expected was that the other children would also take a keen interest and pester him to teach them this mysterious martial art.
In the end, they all practiced Tai Chi Chuan together early in the morning, after everyone got up, before eating.
And that was after Lina had practiced a few times, found it did not do much for her, and simply given up to focus on cooking.
Mia, who always liked following Lina around, also gave up practicing Tai Chi Chuan.
What Mo Fei had not expected, however, was that both Lucy and Jimmy stuck with it.
Of course, Lucy's so-called practice was mostly just playing along with everyone, and Jimmy was much the same.
Their bodies had yet to develop, and at this stage, Mo Fei had no intention of making them practice excessively.
What Mo Fei did not anticipate, however, was that the Tai Chi he was teaching now would yield unexpected rewards in the future.