Because of being loved, it exists

April 23 is World Book Day, a live reading event jointly produced by Tencent News and the "Baby Comes Home" public welfare organization. Parents of lost children tell stories about their children and invite celebrities to read children's books for their babies in the distance.

I remember that after the release of the movie "Dear" about the search for children, I met with Du Xiaohua, who was looking for a son, in a show, and at that time I also helped the families of these children to make an appeal, hoping that more people could help them find their children, and what impressed me more was Du Xiaohua, who was not only busy with his own business, but also he was particularly enthusiastic about helping other parents who were looking for children to take care of their needs.

Later, when I saw some parents like Sun Haiyang and others, they found their children one after another, and in the busy pictures, I would still occasionally see Du Xiaohua's figure, he was still busy like that, and I seemed to be able to feel his complicated feelings, both excited and happy for his companions, but also because he had not yet found a child and felt lost, and even a little trepidation. I think all parents in the world can feel this mixed feeling, and I also hope that Du Xiaohua will not give up hope and continue to cheer, you will definitely find your child.

I chose to read aloud a fragment of the fairy tale "Flannel Bunny", which tells the pain of love and the power of love. The story of the flannel bunny becoming a real rabbit because of the true love of the little master is a very warm bedtime story picture book. The book perfectly illustrates the true meaning of love—attachment that cannot be left.

Here is the original text read aloud:

Flannel Bunny – Margaret Williams (U.S.)

Once upon a time there was a flannel bunny, very beautiful, chubby, and its tail was also shortly erect, much like a real bunny. Its coat is covered with brown and white spots, its beard is made of thread, which is very realistic, and the ear lining is also made of pink cotton satin. On Christmas morning, it sits on top of the boy's Christmas socks with a small section of holly branches in its paws, which is so cute.

Of course, there were other things in the socks: loose nuts, oranges, a little toy engine, some almond chocolate, and a clockwork mouse. However, the flannel bunny is the best of all gifts. The little boy loved it and played with it for more than two hours. After a while, the uncles and aunts came to dinner with gifts, and after a 'rustling' sound, the boy opened all the gift boxes, looked at these various new gifts with excitement, and gradually forgot about the flannel bunny.

For a long time since then, the flannel bunny has either been in the toy cabinet or on the floor of the baby room, and no one has thought of it. It was naturally shy and made of flannel, and some of the more expensive toys didn't look up to it at all. Mechanical toys are always superior, underestimating other toys, their minds are full of modern ideas, and they always pretend to be real machines. The model boat has spent two winters and summers in the toy cabinet, and most of the paint on the hull has faded. But as long as the sound of mechanical toys is heard, it will show off the ropes on its body with incomprehensible words, and it will not miss a single opportunity.

The flannel bunny didn't know what it was, because it had no idea that there were real rabbits in the world, and thought that they, like themselves, were filled with sawdust in their stomachs. In its little brain, it feels that sawdust is simply too outdated, and it will certainly not be mentioned in the modern toy circle. Even Timothy, the wooden lion made of disabled soldiers, always pretended to be well-informed, claiming to have connections in the government. In the middle of them, the flannel bunny felt that he was simply too unremarkable and too ordinary, and the only one who was friendly to it was Pima.

Pima has been in the nursery for a long, long time, longer than any other toy. It was too old to see the lives and deaths of mechanical toys, and they began to blow and swing, and slowly, their clockwork broke off, and then they were discarded.

One day, the flannel rabbit and pima lay side by side by the parapet of the nursery.

"What's true?" The flannel bunny asked, "Is it like something 'buzzing' in the body and growing a long handle?" ”

"It's really not made," Pima said. "It's something you already have. If a child loves you for a long, long time – he doesn't just play with you, but truly loves you– you become 'real'. ”

"Does that really hurt?" Flannel bunny asked again.

"Sometimes," Pima said, always telling the truth. "Once you're real, you don't care about the pain."

The flannel bunny asked again, "Is that all at once true, or will it slowly become real little by little?" ”

"Of course it doesn't turn out to be true all at once," Pima said, "it will take a long time." That's why easy-to-break, sharp-horned, and well-preserved toys generally don't come true. Generally speaking, when you become real, a lot of the hair on your body will fall off due to the child's caresses, your eyeballs will fall out, and the body connections will become loose and crumbling, looking shabby and old. But none of that matters, because once you become real, you certainly won't be ugly, except for those who don't understand that. ”

It goes on to say, "Once you become true, you will always be true and will not change back." The flannel bunny listened and sighed, and it felt that it must take a long, long time for the magic to take effect and make it real. It longs to come true, to experience what it feels like; but then it will become ugly, torn, lose its eyes, lose its beard, and that will make it even more sad. So it fantasizes that one day, without having to experience these uncomfortable things, it can become real.

One day, because the boy could not find a ceramic puppy to sleep with him, a baby room administrator named Nana picked a flannel bunny to sleep with the boy, and since then the boy has loved the flannel bunny. The beard on the side of the flannel bunny's mouth was worn off by his kiss, and the pink lining of the ears turned gray. Even its figure began to look out of shape, no longer looking like a rabbit. But the boy still liked it as always.

Then one day, the boy fell ill. The flannel bunny obediently accompanied the boy, not even daring to move, for fear of disturbing the boy. ......

On a sunny morning, the boy gradually recovered. The adults talked about everything, and the flannel bunny crept out his head and listened carefully. They said the room needed to be carefully and thoroughly disinfected, and all the books the boys had read and toys they had played with in bed should be burned.

At this moment, Nana saw it at a glance. "What about this old rabbit?" she asked. "It?" The doctor said, "It's covered with scarlet fever bacteria, burn it down immediately!" - What? monkey business! Buy him a new one and never let him play with this old rabbit again! So the flannel bunny, along with the picture books and a whole bunch of garbage, put them in a marijuana bag and threw them into the corner of the garden behind the chicken coop. It was a good place to burn the garbage, but the gardener was too busy to notice the bag of garbage, and he had to dig up potatoes and pick tender peas. But he promised to come early the next day and burn all the garbage.

The boy fell asleep and dreamed of the seashore, but the flannel bunny was lying in a pile of picture books in the corner behind the chicken nest, feeling very lonely. It couldn't help but feel sad when it was time to think of those sunny days when they were playing in the garden—how happy they were then.

The scene of the boy who had been with him before him flashed before his eyes, and the scene was better than the other, the elven hut in the garden, the quiet evening, it lay in the anchovy grass, the little ants crawling at its feet; and the day when it was very excited, it knew for the first time that it was real; it thought of Pima, so clever, so gentle, and thought of Pima and all that it said. If the ending is destined to be burned, then what is the point of the process from being loved at the beginning, slowly becoming broken, getting old, and finally becoming real? At this moment, a tear, a real tear, slid over its small worn-out flannel nose and fell to the ground again.

Just then, a miracle happened! Where the teardrops fell, a flower, a mysterious flower, slowly opened, and a flower fairy came out of the flower. The flannel bunny looked up at her as if she had seen it somewhere, but could not remember anything. She held the flannel bunny tightly in her arms and flew with it into the woods. The moon rose and shone brightly on everything. The woods were beautiful, and the leaves of the anchovy were shiny, as if they had been covered with a layer of white frost.

Time passed year by year, and when spring came again, the boy came out of the house and played in the woods behind him, and two rabbits slipped out of the anchovy bushes and watched him. One of the rabbits was covered in brown fur, and the other had strange markings under its fluff, as if there had been spots there a long time ago, and they could still be faintly seen now. Its little soft nose and round black eyes were so familiar that the boy thought to himself, "Why does it look so much like my original flannel bunny, which I discarded when I got scarlet fever!" "He'll never know, that's his flannel bunny, and now come back to see him." Because it was he who helped the flannel bunny turn into a real rabbit for the first time.

Believe in the power of love, in the not far days, children who can't find a home will eventually embark on the road home.

END