Qiao Mu had just returned to the country when a foreign company hired her. A seven-figure annual salary was quite comfortable for her. Once, she went to volunteer in a poor mountainous area in the south and met Lin Li, who was still in high school. He invited her to his home. The dark, skinny boy lived with his grandmother, an elderly woman in her sixties. Their house was bare of possessions, yet spotlessly clean and tidy. Qiao Mu began to see the boy in a new light. When it was time to head back, her friend said, "Old Qiao! I sponsored a child."
Qiao Mu sat by the stone mill at the village entrance, looking surprised. "What made you think of doing that?"
Her friend answered calmly, "That girl's family is just so..." She didn't finish, but Qiao Mu understood what she meant. Her friend walked around the mill and sat beside her. "It doesn't cost much, anyway. Just the price of a piece of clothing. Buy one less outfit each year, and that child can go to school without having to sleep rough."
And so, after listening to her friend go on and on, Qiao Mu also sponsored Li Li, leaving him her contact information before she left. Three years later, she received a call from an unfamiliar number...
