NIP Chapter 1413 Charity Project
Chapter 1413 Charity Project
Chapter 1413 Charity Project
Milan in autumn is like a faded oil painting, with golden ginkgo leaves carpeting the square in front of La Scala. Carlota stood on the steps, watching the crowd disperse, clutching the sheet music filled with Chinese annotations tightly in her hand. Ivan's words still echoed in her ears—"Have gratitude and kindness towards this world." This wasn't empty moralizing; it was a way of life, an inner belief.
She turned to look at her father, Augustus Barberini, who was chatting with several noble friends, his silver-gray hair gleaming softly in the setting sun.
“Father,” Carlotta walked over, her voice soft but firm, “I want to go to China.”
Augustus stopped talking and looked at his daughter. Her eyes were as clear as ever, but deep within them was something he had never seen before—not the reserve of a nobleman, nor the sensitivity of an artist, but a tenderness forged in the crucible of disaster, almost a resilient one.
Carlotta continued, “Professor Ivan suggested that I thank Professor Yang in another way, not by bowing to him face to face, not by naming the foundation after him, but by helping those in need, setting up a fund to help impoverished burn patients, encouraging them with my story, helping them financially, and supporting them spiritually.”
She paused: “I can go on tour with a focus on burns to raise awareness of burn patients. I can play the piano on stage and tell my story, not as a princess of the Barberini family, but as someone who was once disfigured and thought to be unable to play the piano anymore.”
Augustus remained silent for a long time. He recalled the days after the fire, when his daughter refused to see anyone in her hospital room, refused to look in the mirror, and refused to live. Now, she was asking to return to that pain, not out of self-pity, but to save others.
“What do you need?” he finally asked.
“Your support,” Carlotta said, “is not money, which I know the family will provide, but your understanding. It may mean that I am no longer just ‘Carlotta the pianist,’ but ‘Carlotta the burn survivor.’ It may mean that I will no longer be invited to certain elegant occasions, and that certain aristocratic gatherings will find me not ‘perfect’ enough.”
Augustus reached out and took his daughter's hand in his; those hands, once deformed and contracted, were now warm and strong.
"The history of the Barberini family can be traced back to the Middle Ages. We have experienced wars, plagues, and political turmoil. Each time, we have relied not on the purity of our bloodline, but on our perseverance in the face of disaster. Your going to China and doing this will be the most glorious page in our family history."
Three months later, it was winter in Nandu.
When Carlota first set foot on Chinese soil, he had no entourage, no media, only a simple suitcase and a thick business plan.
She first went to the Department of Plastic Surgery at Sanbo Hospital. Director Lan already knew she was coming, as Ivan had given advance notice. But Carlotta didn't ask for special treatment; she requested to start from the basics, to understand the current state of burn care in China, the plight of impoverished patients, and what a foundation could truly help with.
Director Lan showed her the data in the conference room: "The incidence of burns in China is about 10 million people every year, of which about 500,000 are severe burns that require surgical intervention. However, plastic surgery resources are highly concentrated. Top departments like Sanbo can only receive about 3,000 cases a year. Many more patients, especially those in rural and remote areas, do not receive timely and effective treatment."
"What about the treatment costs?" Carlotta asked.
"The average cost of treating severe burns, from emergency care to rehabilitation, is between 200,000 and 500,000 RMB. For ordinary families, this is devastating. Many patients' families give up halfway through treatment, not because the hope is slim, but because they cannot afford it."
Carlotta kept a record, each number like a needle piercing the fear she had experienced. She remembered her fire, and her father's unwavering statement, "Use the best doctors, regardless of the cost," for not everyone was so lucky.
“What can I do?” she asked.
Director Lan looked at her, this young Italian noblewoman, who possessed a humility and determination beyond her station: "You can help us screen patients. About 30% of the cases Sanbo receives each year meet the criteria for 'functional reconstruction' but cannot afford the costs. We can provide the technology, but we need funding to cover their material costs, hospitalization fees, rehabilitation costs, and necessary living expenses during treatment."
What are the selection criteria?
"Priority will be given to children, those whose quality of life is affected by functional impairments, and those with a clear desire and ability for rehabilitation." Director Lan paused for a moment.
Carlota nodded.
The establishment of the foundation was more complex than expected. Chinese charity regulations, foreign exchange controls, and collaborations with medical institutions—every step required patience and meticulous attention. Carlota stayed in a hotel for extended periods, walking to Sanbo Hospital daily and returning to the hotel in the evenings to handle emails and documents. She learned to use Chinese office software, communicate with different departments, and even mastered basic everyday Chinese phrases.
“You don’t have to do these things yourself,” Augustus said in a video. “We can hire a professional charity management team.”
“No, Father,” Carlota shook his head. “I must do it myself. For every person I help, I must know their name, their story, how their burns happened, and whether they really need help. Otherwise, it’s just a public relations project for the Barberini family, not Carlota’s commitment.”
She set rules for herself: in the initial stage of the charity foundation's launch, she must personally meet with every patient funded by the foundation; she must be present for every major surgery, not as a bystander, but as a spiritual supporter; and she must see off every patient who recovers and is discharged from the hospital.
The first patient was a six-year-old boy from a rural area in Henan Province. He suffered severe burns to his face and neck when he was three years old after knocking over a thermos. Due to poverty, he missed the optimal treatment window and now suffers from neck contracture, is unable to lift his head, and is unable to live and study normally.
When Carlota saw him in the hospital room, the boy was looking down at the floor with distorted eyes. His mother stood beside him, her rough hands twisted together, her eyes filled with exhaustion and despair.
“Hello,” Carlotta said in her newly learned Chinese, crouching down to make her eyes level with the boy’s. “My name is Carlotta. I…” She pointed to her neck, where there were still barely visible surgical scars, “I was also burned. Here, here, and my hands.”
The boy looked up and looked directly into her eyes for the first time.
“I’ve had many surgeries,” Carlota continued softly. “They were painful, they were horrible. But now, I can lift my head, I can play the piano, I can come see you. You can too. We will help you, you will have new skin, and you can live a healthy life.” The surgery was performed by Dr. Lan, with Ivan providing remote guidance via video. Carlota waited outside the operating room for six hours, during which time she chatted with the boy’s mother to learn about their family; the father worked away from home, and the mother cared for two children alone.
Carlota said, "Please don't worry, the foundation's funding will cover all costs. You just need to cooperate with the treatment and help your child recover."
The surgery was a great success, and Carlotta was overjoyed.
The foundation's operations gradually got on track, and Carlota assembled a professional team to manage it. Carlota named it the "Jasmine Foundation," after the Chinese folk song she intended to dedicate to Yang Ping—"Jasmine Flower." The foundation's logo is a simplified white jasmine flower with five petals, symbolizing the reconstructed facial features after the burns.
The operating model was jointly designed by her and Sanbo Hospital: the hospital provides medical technology, the foundation covers patients' out-of-pocket expenses, and Carlota and the hired psychologists are responsible for the patients' full psychological support and recovery follow-up. More importantly, every patient who receives funding is invited to become a "Jasmine Partner" after recovery, using their own experience to encourage new patients.
“This is not a one-way aid,” Carlota wrote in the foundation’s bylaws, “but a community of mutual help, today’s beneficiaries, tomorrow’s helpers. It is about building a self-sustaining, self-expanding support network.”
She began hosting "Jasmine Concerts" in the conference hall of the Sanbo Hotel, playing Chopin, Mozart, Chinese folk songs, and "Jasmine Flower" for patients, their families, and medical staff.
Before each performance, she would tell her story. Not as a princess of the Barberini family, but as someone who had been disfigured and thought to be unable to play the piano again. She showed the scars on her hands, recounting those painful nights, those days when she refused to look in the mirror, and the process of learning to reconcile with the past.
She always says, "I'm not perfect. My skin isn't the same as before, my hands aren't the same as before, and even my face isn't the same as before. But I've learned to live in the present and look forward to the future."
These concerts have gradually become a tradition in the burn unit of Sanbo Hospital. Patients look forward to her arrival, not for the music itself, but for the feeling of being "understood"—understanding from someone who has truly experienced the same pain.
Carlotta's Chinese gradually became fluent, and she learned to communicate with patients from different regions using simple language.
After the foundation was on track, the Jasmine Foundation launched a "tour performance plan." Carlotta took her story and music to major cities in China. Her Nocturne in E-flat major symbolized the calm before disaster; then came the Revolutionary Etude, symbolizing the struggle against fate; followed by the Chinese folk song "Jasmine Flower," symbolizing cross-cultural understanding and gratitude; and finally, her own composition, "Rebirth," an untitled, improvisational piano piece, symbolizing an uncertain but full of possibilities future.
In each city, she would visit local burn units to understand their needs and build a network of collaborations. The Jasmine Foundation's influence gradually expanded from simple medical assistance to funding healthcare worker training, public education, and accidental burn prevention, among other things.
It was at an academic conference at Sanbo Hospital, where the recovery outcomes of patients funded by the Jasmine Foundation were presented. Carlota, representing the "social support dimension," reported on her experience in psychological rehabilitation and community rebuilding.
She wore a simple black suit, no jewelry, and her hair was tied back. Her report was interspersed with patient stories, data, and musical snippets.
After the report, Yang Ping stood up from the first row of the audience.
“Ms. Carlotta, your report is excellent. I have one question: How do you assess the quantitative impact of ‘social connection’ on physical rehabilitation?”
This wasn't small talk; it was a direct academic question. Carlotta paused for a moment, then replied, "We have a professional team using the Quality of Life Scale (SF-36) and the Burn-Specific Health Scale (BSHS-B) to track patients at 6, 12, and 24 months post-surgery. Data shows that patients participating in the Jasmine Partner Program scored 15-20 percentage points higher on the social functioning dimension than the control group. However, this may not be the best indicator for 'quantifying the impact,' and we are still looking for more sensitive biomarkers, such as cortisol levels and immune indicators..."
Yang Ping nodded. She was putting her heart into this, not just seeking fame or fortune.
"Professor Yang, thank you!"
Carlotta used to feel she wasn't qualified to say it, but now she's sincerely grateful to society and feels she can say "thank you" now.
Yang Ping said, "You're already thanking me in the best way possible."
The Lee Foundation and the Sanbo Institute have officially established a partnership. The foundation's funding scope has expanded to the field of research, with a young team at the institute establishing a "Functional Neural Regeneration Research" project. Carlota has become a bridge between this team and the patient community. She is no longer just a "spiritual supporter," but a participant in the research.
She still plays the piano and continues to tour, but she has added a new piece to her repertoire—"Jasmine Blossoms," a composition she wrote herself, dedicated to all those who have been reborn after the disaster. The melody of this piece echoes "Jasmine Flower," but is more complex, more profound, like life itself.
At her performance at La Scala, she played the piece again. Sitting in the audience were Augustus, members of the Barberini family who had come all the way from Italy, and Ivan, who had flown in from New Zealand; his hair was whiter, but his smile was still as bright as ever.
After the performance, Ivan hugged her: "You did it, Carlotta."
Carlota said, "Not yet. The Jasmine Foundation has many more patients to help, many more pieces of music to play, and many more stories to tell. I've fallen in love with this work, and I've decided to do it as a long-term commitment."
She paused, then smiled and said, "Moreover, my Chinese still needs improvement. Next time I see Professor Yang, I'd like to report our latest progress to him in fluent Chinese."
Ivan still had that seabird-like, hearty laugh: "Actually, I can also join your charity program. I can set aside some time each year to perform surgery on your patients for free."
"That's wonderful, thank you!" Carlotta jumped up with joy.