The story of an uncared-for little girl in China who became a different person thanks to the love of her stepmother has melted hearts on mainland social media.
The stepmother, surnamed Weng, married the girl’s father in 2021 when both were divorced and each had a daughter and a son, the news outlet Zhejiang News reported.
The girl, who is now 10 years old, is the youngest child in the new family, earning her the nickname Laosi, meaning “the fourth one”.
Weng said the first time she saw the girl in 2020, her heart ached for her because she was so thin, like a “bean sprout”, and had poor personal hygiene.
“She wore dirty clothes and had lice on her body. She was frowning and looked sad for one so young,” Weng said.
At the time, the girl and her brother lived with their grandparents in a village in central Henan province because their biological mother left when they were little and their father worked away from home.
According to Weng, the girl learned domestic chores as a toddler and sometimes helped take care of her brother who is two and a half years older.
Weng decided to bring both to live with her and dedicated herself to caring for them along with her own two children.
The stepmother said she bought the girl beautiful dresses, sent her to dancing and violin lessons and accompanied her to painting and calligraphy classes.
They also travelled together as a family and have developed a close bond over the last four years.
“Gradually she turned into a confident girl who smiles all the time,” Weng said.
“The first time she called me mum, I vowed in my heart that I would do my best to protect her no matter how hard life might be in the future.”
In June, Weng asked the four children to write a wish list.
While the other children hoped for gifts of books or toys, Laosi said she wanted to sleep in the same bed with her mother for a week. The girl’s wish was fulfilled.
Weng and her husband, surnamed Guo, had been lovers more than a decade before but separated in 2011 and married other people.
They met again in 2020 when Weng travelled to Henan and hailed a taxi driven by Guo. They began a relationship and married in 2021.
All four children get along very well, as shown in Weng’s videos on Douyin, and the family now lives in eastern China’s Jiangxi province, Weng’s hometown.
In May, she gave birth to a baby son, who was called Laowu, which means “the fifth”.
