At 63, singer-producer Kuo Chu-kuan hosted a birthday banquet, her 23-year-old adopted son, orphaned at birth when mother Pauline Chan died, stood by the cake. Kuo raised him away from rumors, and he now lives a sound life.
On the day Qiu Likuan hosted her 63rd birthday party, a young man standing 1.85 meters tall stood next to the cake in the banquet hall. His arms were covered in neat tattoos, and with his handsome features, he immediately drew the discreet glances of many guests as soon as he appeared.Everyone present knew that this was the son Chen Baolian had left behind, who was now twenty-three years old.
Twenty-three years ago, when Chen Baolian passed away, this child was still in swaddling clothes; before he could even remember what his parents looked like, he became a helpless orphan with no one to turn to.At the time, many who followed the story couldn’t help but feel anxious for this newborn child, whose future was uncertain and who would undoubtedly face countless hardships.
No one expected that Qiu Likuan, who held a prominent position in Hong Kong’s entertainment industry at the time, would quietly take the child into her own home to raise him. It wasn’t until then that those who had been worried about the child finally felt somewhat reassured, and everyone agreed that the child had found a caring guardian.
Over the next twenty-plus years, strangers would pop up every now and then claiming to be the child’s biological father. The rumors were so detailed that some even claimed the man was a DJ at a disco in Taipei, but twenty-three years later, not a single person has been able to provide any solid evidence.If it were anyone else, raising a child of such unknown origins would have long since left them entangled in a web of gossip—and they might even have taken their frustration out on the child.
But Qiu Likuan, who wasn’t related by blood to the child in the slightest, raised this orphan all on her own,Over the years, she has deliberately avoided all rumors related to the child’s biological mother’s past; she has never let the child hear a single word of gossip, nor has she allowed him to be trapped even slightly in the shadow of the previous generation’s tragedy.The young man standing beside the cake now has completed his formal education and holds a stable job. He exudes the ease and confidence typical of his age, with not a trace of the painful past visible on him. Seeing him like this, those in the know can’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.This child has truly grown up well, without being tainted in the slightest by those unpleasant events.
People often say that “blood is thicker than water,” believing that blood ties are the foundation of family bonds. Yet, watching how Qiu Likuan interacts with this child—one who has never given birth, and the other whom she did not deliver or raise herself—it’s clear that their relationship is closer and more intimate than that of many biological families.There are many relatives who share the same blood, yet they end up turning against each other over trivial matters of family inheritance, cutting off all contact until the end of their lives. In contrast, some complete strangers are willing to treat each other with complete sincerity, showing more genuine care than even blood relatives.The relationship between Qiu Likuan and this child has also reminded many people of their own interactions with the younger generation in their families. Rather than forcing a close bond with children based solely on blood ties, treating them with genuine sincerity is the most genuine way to build a relationship.
