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I Adopted a Homeless Girl for 25 Years, but Her Biological Parents Came to Take Her
墨書 Inktalez
Twenty-five years ago, I adopted a homeless girl. I raised her with great effort and supported her through college. It wasn't until her graduate school graduation banquet that her biological parents appeared before us. My daughter, however, seemed completely unfazed.
On a summer night in 1998, a torrential downpour hit Nanjing. My name is Wang Jianguo, and at that time, I was a 40-year-old ordinary Chinese language teacher at Nanjing No. 3 Middle School. My wife had passed away from illness, and I had no children. I lived alone in a two-bedroom apartment provided by the school, leading an unremarkable life.
"Teacher Wang, are you working late again?" the security guard, Old Li, handed me an umbrella.
"Yes, I still have essays to grade for the senior class," I replied with a wry smile as I took the umbrella and stepped into the pouring rain.
Just as I reached the school gate, a faint sound of crying made me stop in my tracks. Following the sound, I walked to the large banyan tree beside the gate and found a little girl, around three or four years old, completely soaked and shivering by the roots of the tree.
She wore a dirty pink cotton jacket and had a small silver locket around her neck engraved with the word "Safety."
"Little one, why are you here all alone? Where are your parents?" I crouched down and tried to soften my voice.
The girl looked up at me but said nothing; she only shrank back in fear. I glanced around; there was no one else in sight amidst the heavy rain.
I took off my coat and wrapped it around her. "Don't be afraid; Uncle will help you find your mommy and daddy, okay?"
She still remained silent, clutching tightly to the hem of my shirt. I carried her back to the security office and asked Old Li to help me call the police.
After waiting for two hours, the police arrived and then left, saying they would keep an eye out for any missing person reports and that I should take care of her for one night before she would be sent to an orphanage the next day.
The following day, I bought some children's clothes and milk. The police called to inform me that they had not yet found her family. After waiting three more days, seeing that the little girl was about to be sent to the orphanage made my heart ache.
"Little one, what is your name?" I asked her once more.
She simply shook her head.
"Then let me give you a name. How about Wang Xiaowen?" I said softly.
The little girl nodded vigorously.
Thus, by some twist of fate, I applied for temporary guardianship from the police and made countless trips to the civil affairs bureau until I finally completed the adoption procedures.
"Wang Jianguo, are you out of your mind? A grown man taking care of a child?" My neighbor, Aunt Li, stormed into my house after hearing the news.
"I can raise the child just fine on my own."
"Hmph! I bet you won't last three months! You'll regret it then!" Aunt Li slammed the door behind her.
The neighbors began to gossip, but I paid them no mind.
"Daddy, why don't I have a mommy?" Wang Xiaowen asked me after she started kindergarten.
"Because," I squatted down to meet her gaze, "the angels brought you directly to Daddy. We don't need anyone else; the two of us make a complete family."
"But the other kids say I'm adopted. Is that true?" She pouted, her eyes filled with grievance.
I hugged her tightly: "Wang Xiaowen, Daddy didn't pick you up; Daddy found you. You are the most precious treasure in this world to me, and anyone who says otherwise is wrong!"
That night, I secretly placed the dirty little cotton jacket and silver locket she wore back then deep inside the safe.
I told myself that one day, when she grew up, she would have the right to know her origins.
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