After touring most of the cultivation process, Deqing finally brought them to meet a batch of kids. This batch was the newly selected, the best seeds. However, there were only five of them and they were all boys.
"There are no girls?" He Bin enquired with curiosity.
Deqing shook his head. "No, girls that pass the selection are few and in between. Most of them are boys. Young Master, do not underestimate them because of their age, they are all little geniuses."
"Is that so? How about a little show and tell then?" He Bin mimicked He Lan Qi and suggested with a polite smile. Deqing immediately had a few boys show off their talents. To Xinghe and He Bin's surprise, all of them were computer experts!
Not only that, they were familiar with many other different fields as well. Some of them were good with engineering, others chemistry, mathematics, and physics…
However, they were expressionless when they rattled off their knowledge. These boys were like old learners or emotionless computers. Even though the knowledge they showcased were not extremely esoteric, it did give a glimpse into their unnatural learning capability and potential.
Looking at these little, cute faces devoid of their innocence and forced into becoming learning machines did not impress He Bin and Xinghe in any way. There was only a heaviness in their heart.
This was especially so when they saw the last child who was swaying from left to right when he showed them his knowledge in chemistry. Initially, he gritted his teeth and tried his best to hide his discomfort. However, his sickness was too serious that he was barely hanging on near the end.
He almost fainted and collapsed when Deqing launched himself forward to grab at the boy and demanded angrily, "Are you sick‽"
"No, no, I am not sick!" This was the first time the boy showed any emotion and it was one of fear. It seemed like he was greatly afraid of something.
Deqing ignored the boy and ordered the other boys coldly, "Get the workers now and bring him to the doctors!"
"Yes!" The other kids seemed to be afraid that they would be contaminated and scurried off like a crowd of pigeons. The sick boy paled considerably, and his slender body could not stop shaking.
His pair of eyes were filled with fear as he begged, "Manager, I am really not sick. This is just a flu, I will get better soon, I promise…"
Deqing harrumphed coldly and glared viciously at the boy. "Have you forgotten the orphanage's rules? You must tell us if you have fallen ill, the fact that you have hidden that means that you have broken the rules!"
"I am sorry, I, I thought I would recover very soon… Manager, I am really sorry, I will not dare to do that again…" The barely 5-year-old boy had tears in his eyes from sheer terror. However, he did not dare to weep openly, instead, the pearl-like tears fell from his dark eyes silently.
Facing such a lovely and pitiable child, Deqing did not soften, in fact, his face had only gotten darker.
"I have said many times, no one is above the rules! Do you think there is still a next time for you? If I do not punish lawbreakers like you, how am I going to run this orphanage‽" Deqing roared in the boy's face before slapping him hard right on his face. The force of his slap sent the little boy collapsing right to the ground.
Xinghe and He Bin were shocked by this, they did not expect Deqing to commit to his cruelty so suddenly.
When the boy raised his head and they saw the red welt that immediately surfaced on his thin face, there was a deep current of acrimony at the bottom of their eyes.