The Three-Year-Old Lucky Charm Speaks, and the Nation Spoils Her Rotten

Modern Fantasy, Adorable Child, Beloved by Everyone, Donating Discoveries to the Country, Fallen Heroes Coming Home, Tearjerker, Episodic Stories, Healing, Mystery and Family Searches, Firefighters, Anti-Drug Operations, Military Life, Love of Country and Family

Three-and-a-half-year-old Nuonuo has a secret she can't tell anyone.

She can hear old things talk.

A blackened police badge sobbed, "Baby, I want to go home."

A charred firefighter's helmet said, "My mom is still waiting for me to come home and eat dumplings."

An old canteen whispered, "Comrade, did we win?"

An unsent postcard said, "Please tell Dad I wasn't scared."

Clutching the keepsakes, Nuonuo toddled all the way to the police station.

"Uncle, this big brother says he's been lost for a very, very long time."

At first, everyone thought it was just a child's make-believe.

Until one long-buried story after another was brought to light.

A missing anti-drug officer, an unidentified firefighter, a soldier buried in the mountains, a rural aid worker who never came back...

The answers people had waited years for were brought home by a tiny, sweet-voiced little girl.

Later, the country established the Homecoming Task Force.

They gave Nuonuo a little backpack, a red flower, and a special pass that would never expire.

Nuonuo raised her hand earnestly. "Nuonuo doesn't want candy. Nuonuo wants every family waiting for someone to have their loved one come home."

About the heroine:

Shen Tingnuo, nickname Nuonuo, three and a half years old.

Raised in an orphanage, she's soft and sweet, loves strawberries, and isn't especially brave, but she can't bear to see anyone cry.

She can hear old things bearing powerful attachments "speak." Each time she helps a hero come home, a star lights up on the red cord around her wrist.

Her catchphrase: "Don't be scared, don't be scared. Nuonuo's here. You're not forgotten."