She set a rule for herself: In the initial phase of launching the charity fund, she must et every patient funded by the foundation in person; for every major surgery, she must be present, not as an observer, but as a spiritual supporter; she must see off every patient who recovers and is discharged.
The first patient was a six-year-old boy from a rural area in Henan. At three, he knocked over a hot water bottle, severely burning his face and neck. Due to the family’s poverty, he missed the best window for treatnt. Now, with a neck contracture, he cannot lift his head, nor can he live or learn normally.
When Carlotta saw him in the ward, the boy was lowering his head, looking at the floor with deford eyes. His mother stood beside him, with rough hands clenched together and a look of exhaustion and despair intertwined in her eyes.
"Hello," Carlotta said in recently learned Chinese, crouching down so her gaze was level with the boy’s. "My na is Carlotta. I..." She pointed at her own neck, where there were almost invisible surgery marks. "I was also burned. Here, here, and my hand."
The boy raised his head, looking directly into her eyes for the first ti.
"I’ve had many surgeries," Carlotta continued gently, "They hurt, they were scary. But now I can lift my head, play the piano, co see you. You can, too. We will help you, you’ll have new skin, you can live healthily."
The surgery was led by Director Lan, with Ivan providing remote video guidance. Carlotta waited outside the operating room for six hours, chatting with the boy’s mother, learning about their family, with a father who worked away and a mother caring for two kids alone.
Carlotta said, "Please don’t worry, the foundation’s assistance will cover all expenses. You just need to cooperate with the treatnt and let the child recover."
The surgery was very successful, and Carlotta felt genuinely happy.
As the foundation operations gradually hit their stride, Carlotta assembled a professional team to manage it. She nad it the "Jasmine Fund," inspired by the Chinese folk song she planned to dedicate to Yang Ping—"Jasmine Flower." The foundation’s logo is a simplified white jasmine flower with five petals, symbolizing the reconstruction of the five senses after burns.
The operational model was jointly designed with Sanbo Hospital: the hospital would provide dical technology, the foundation would cover the patient’s out-of-pocket expenses, and Carlotta and hired psychologists would be responsible for the patient’s psychological support and recovery tracking throughout. More importantly, each patient receiving aid is invited to beco "Jasmine Partners" after recovery, to use their experiences to encourage new patients.
"This is not one-way assistance," Carlotta wrote in the foundation’s charter, "It’s a mutual aid community, where today’s aid recipients are tomorrow’s helpers. It’s about building a self-sustaining, self-expanding support network."
She began hosting "Jasmine Concerts" in the Sanbo Hotel’s conference hall, performing for patients, their families, and dical staff—Chopin, Mozart, Chinese folk songs, and that song "Jasmine Flower."
Before every performance, she would narrate her own story—not as a princess of the Balberini family, but as soone once disfigured, deed unable to play piano ever again. She showed her scars on her hands, spoke of those painful nights, the days she refused to look in the mirror, and the journey of learning to reconcile with the past.
She always said, "I’m not perfect; my skin isn’t the sa; my hands aren’t the sa; my face isn’t even the sa. But I’ve learned to live in the present and look forward to the future."
These concerts gradually beca a tradition for Sanbo Hospital’s burn unit, with patients looking forward to her arrival—not for the music itself, but for the feeling of "being understood," a sense of empathy from soone who truly experienced the sa pain.
Carlotta’s Chinese gradually beca fluent, and she learned to use simple language to communicate with patients from different regions.
After the foundation settled on its course, the Jasmine Fund launched a "Touring Performance Plan." Carlotta took her story and music to major cities across China, where her "Nocturne in E-flat Major" symbolizes the calm before the disaster; "Revolutionary Étude" symbolizes the struggle against fate; then the Chinese folk song "Jasmine Flower" symbolizes cross-cultural understanding and gratitude; finally, her own composition, "Rebirth," an untitled, improvised-style piano piece symbolizing an uncertain but full-of-possibilities future.
In each city, she would visit local burn wards, understand their needs, and establish cooperation networks. The influence of the Jasmine Fund gradually expanded from pure dical assistance to funding for dical staff training, public education, accidental burn prevention, and more.
It was at an academic conference at Sanbo Hospital, showcasing recovery results from patients funded by the Jasmine Fund. Carlotta, as the representative of the "social support dinsion," reported experiences in psychological recovery and community rebuilding.
She wore a simple black suite, without jewelry, her hair tied back, interspersing her report with patients’ stories, data, and musical snippets.
After the report ended, Yang Ping stood up from the first row of the audience.
"Ms. Carlotta, your report is excellent. I have a question: How do you evaluate the quantitative impact of ’social connection’ on physical recovery?"
This was not small talk, but a straight academic question. Carlotta paused for a mont, then answered, "We have a professional team using the quality of life scale (SF-36) and burn-specific health scale (BSHS-B), tracking at 6, 12, and 24 months post-surgery. The data shows patients participating in the Jasmine partner program score 15-20 percentage points higher in the social functional dinsion than the control group. But this might not be the best indicator of ’quantitative impact’; we’re also looking for more sensitive biomarkers, such as cortisol levels, immune indicators..."
Yang Ping nodded; she was sincerely doing this work, not seeking fa or praise.
"Professor Yang, thank you!"
Carlotta once felt she wasn’t qualified to say it; now, she’s sincerely grateful to this society and feels she can say "thank you."
Yang Ping said, "You are already thanking , in the best way."
The Jasmine Fund officially established a cooperative relationship with the Sanbo Research Institute. The scope of foundation funding expanded to research fields, with the institute’s young team setting up a project on "functional nerve regeneration research." Carlotta beca the bridge between this team and the patient community. She was no longer just a "spiritual supporter," but a participant in the research.
She still played the piano, still toured, but added a new song to her repertoire—"Jasmine Blooming," a song she composed herself, dedicated to everyone reborn after a disaster. In the lody of this piece, you can hear shadows of "Jasmine Flower," but it is more complex and profound, like life itself.
At the performance in the Scal Opera House, she played this piece once again. Sitting in the audience were Augustus, mbers of the Balberini family who ca specifically from Italy, and Ivan, who flew in from New Zealand, his hair whiter but his smile still bright.
After the performance, Ivan hugged her: "You did it, Carlotta."
Carlotta said, "Not yet, the Jasmine Fund still has more patients to help, I still have more music to play, more stories to tell, I’ve fallen in love with this work, and I’ve decided to make it a long-term endeavor."
She paused and smiled, saying, "Plus, my Chinese still needs improvent; next ti I see Professor Yang, I want to report our latest progress in fluent Chinese."
Ivan had that sa seabird-like, bright laugh: "Actually, I can also join your charity plan. I can reserve so ti each year to perform surgeries for your patients free of charge."
"That would be wonderful, thank you!" Carlotta jumped up in excitent.
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