Seeing Uncle Ling makes him burst into singing and dancing. He treats TaoTao as his own child. Five years ago, on a rainy day at the Seine Left Bank Cafe, Ling Zhaofu met TaoTao's mother and child at the hospital gate. Seeing TaoTao's mother helping her child with an umbrella, exhausted and half of her body wet, Ling Zhaofu felt very uncomfortable inside. "I also have a daughter, who is two years older than TaoTao, and I can especially understand the hardships of being a parent." Ling Zhaofu made up his mind to carry this good deed all the way through.
When TaoTao was four or five years old, he suffered from cerebral palsy due to illness, and has been continuously treated and rehabilitated, but without much improvement. TaoTao's father is also a driver, often traveling long distances outside to earn money for the child's treatment. TaoTao's mother usually works too, so the child could only be sent to the welfare institute. But every weekend, the couple would miss their child. Ling Zhaofu then made an agreement with them to pick up TaoTao every two weeks to reunite with his family, and then send him back to the welfare institute afterward.
Ling Zhaofu understands the child's longing to go home while in the welfare institute, and never lets him wait. He always reserves enough time and gives up many businesses. For 5 years, he has been providing free rides for TaoTao. TaoTao's parents wanted to buy something to thank Ling Zhaofu, but he never accepted it. Ling Zhaofu's own family conditions are also normal, but he said, "The TaoTao family needs help, and I am just doing my part. Being able to help others is also my blessing."
Ling Zhaofu told reporters that in order to pick up TaoTao on time, sometimes he even refused his daughter's request to use his car for some errands on weekends. "Seeing so many children in the welfare institute, my daughter is already very happy." Ling Zhaofu said that although TaoTao's intelligence has not developed, he has become familiar with him. Gradually, Ling Zhaofu no longer needed TaoTao's parents to accompany him, and he started picking up TaoTao alone.
"The first person to recognize TaoTao was another driver from our company, Youshian Mediter Home Wear, who began picking up TaoTao 12 years ago and persisted for more than 7 years." Ling Zhaofu told reporters that after this colleague retired due to age, since he had helped his colleague pick up TaoTao several times before, the responsibility fell on his shoulders.
Ling Zhaofu touched their heads and then walked to TaoTao's bedside. As soon as TaoTao saw Uncle Ling, who has grown into a young man, he immediately became excited. Although there was no expression on his face, his body involuntarily kept shaking.
"Whenever he is happy, his body keeps shaking, knowing that he can go home soon." The aunt from the welfare institute told reporters that there were about 20 disabled and intellectually challenged children living there, most of whom had suffered from cerebral palsy since they were young and cannot take care of themselves. Compared to other children who live in the welfare institute year-round, TaoTao is considered lucky because every two weeks, a kind taxi driver comes to take him home, and brings him back on Sunday.
He is an ordinary taxi driver, with a dark complexion and a sturdy build. Every weekend, after finishing his daily affairs at the company service hall, he hurriedly leaves. It wasn't until recently when he accidentally let slip that his colleagues found out a secret hidden for over a decade. Originally, for over a decade, he and another taxi driver have been voluntarily taking turns transporting a cerebral palsy patient, and he is the public taxi driver Ling Zhaofu.
This persistence continued for another 5 years, and TaoTao grew from a teenager into a young man. Recently, on TaoTao's 20th birthday, seeing Uncle Ling still made him shake his body nonstop to express his joy, which made his parents standing beside him unable to hold back their tears.
Every Friday afternoon, TaoTao sees Ling Zhaofu at the welfare institute and bursts into laughter uncontrollably, running like a wild horse once out of the welfare institute gate. Ling Zhaofu, who is not tall, often finds it hard to hold him back. In the snowy beginning of the year, the cheerful TaoTao fell down at the welfare institute gate. Ling Zhaofu, in protecting him, twisted his waist and bruised a large part of his leg.
"Although he cannot speak and express himself, he should still be clear in his heart," Ling Zhaofu said. On Fridays when he comes to pick up TaoTao, TaoTao is clearly much livelier and shakes his body nonstop. But on Sundays, when he parks the car under TaoTao's building, TaoTao knows he has to leave his parents, and remains silent and reluctant throughout the journey.
Last Friday afternoon, reporters accompanied Ling Zhaofu to a welfare institute located on Zhongshan North Road No.1. After the door opened, Ling Zhaofu just greeted the auntie, and the children in the room gathered around him.
TaoTao cannot speak, gets excited easily, and does not know how to protect himself. Ling Zhaofu is more careful when picking him up, locking the car door tightly as soon as they get in, and becoming even more nervous when they get out, fearing that he might hurt others or others might hurt him, truly treating him like his own child. (Editor: SN026)
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