After the morning lessons were over, Gao Han took Su Lin out for lunch in a relatively upscale sushi restaurant. Actually, he had wanted to go to the family restaurant next to this place. But he realized when he drove up to it that he needed to take this time to explain more about the orphanage. Doing so in a family restaurant where other kids are having fun with their parents would just be awkward. So he pulled the girl to this place. Even though it was lunch time, it was relatively empty.
"So what type of sushi do you want?" he asked little Su, while looking over the menu. The girl shook her head, and replied in a meek voice, "First time."
Who knew that the itamae (Japanese sushi chef) heard her. He laughed, "Ha ha, so it's the little lady's first time having sushi. Then I need to work extra hard to make sure you have a memorable 'first' time. He he. This one with the fish on top of rice is called nigiri sushi. Our fish is..." He excitedly started to introduce his craft.
"Uh, please wait. This child just recovered from an illness. She shouldn't have raw fish yet," Gao Han somehow managed to get a word in. He really regretted coming into this place. Now he won't be able to have a quiet chat with the kid.
The itamae wasn't daunted by this restriction at all. "I have the perfect sushi for the little miss," he said. He quickly went over to his wok, and was back in a bit with several pieces of Inari-zushi. (Link showing this specialty: https://bit.ly/2Gy3RgQ)
"This is made from deep-fried tofu, and is filled with rice mixed with chives. I lowered the salt and sugar content to make sure it's very healthy. How is it, little miss?" the itamae asked.
Su Lin nodded, giving a rare smile. The food was delicious, but this person was also very kind. Of course, this got the itamae doubly excited, and he began filling up their plates with tamago (omelet) maki, avocado maki, coconut tempura sushi, roasted sweet potato maki...Gao Han felt a pain in his wallet even thinking about their meal. Thankfully, after they were done, the itamae gave them a special 20 percent discount "to celebrate little lady's first time" as he put it.
With no time to explain things, Gao Han drove Su Lin directly to the orphanage. It was a well-maintained 3-acre complex called Sunshine Children's Palace. It had been started about 10 years ago with foreign sponsorship and housed about 700 children from all over the country. It came with its own clinic, elementary school and even a small vocational training center where the children could learn crafts like sewing, weaving, cooking, carpentry and the like. It looked much better than the horror stories of the orphanages one reads about. Gao Han felt much better about his choice.
Gao Han asked around to find the office of the head of institution. She turned out to be an elderly woman with a head of gray and a kindly face called Feng Mian. She commiserated with Su Lin's circumstances when she heard about the full history of the matter. She patted little Su's head and immediately arranged one of her aides to get a room for her. When Gao Han explained about the child attending his chess academy, Feng Mian quickly agreed to the arrangement. Gao Han's good feeling about this place increased. He left happily with Su Lin in tow.
As soon as they were out of the door, Feng Mian's face contorted hideously. "Putting a kid in an orphanage and having high expectations, yet not even bringing a small donation. How can there be such a good thing? Give her the spare bed in room 32." She left the room in a huff- so much for her hopes of a big red envelope- all her efforts to put on a gentle act were in vain.