Ren Xinxin put her backpack on the sofa, then opened it and took out a stack of money.
“Huh?” Li Yao had almost lost count of how many times she’d been shocked today.
Ren Xinxin, however, wasn’t satisfied. “My tuition cost more than this.”
“Wow.” Wang’s eyes widened. “She even got her tuition back.”
【You tell Yaoyao to ask what happened.】Tao Fangyi could only act as a doll right now; he was anxious but helpless.
Wang poked the still-stunned Li Yao. “Get her to describe the whole thing.”
Li Yao regained her composure, sat down next to her half-sister, and softened her voice as much as possible. “Why did you fight with the teacher?”
Ren Xinxin was furious. “She’s annoying!”
Then, still angry, Ren Xinxin recounted the whole story.
It wasn’t anything major to begin with. A kid in the kindergarten ran out of snacks, and that kid kept crying. A bunch of kids were comforting him, but Ren Xinxin didn’t.
Somehow, some kids started jeering that it was Ren Xinxin’s doing. She got angry and got into a fight with them.
“So she beat up the kids first, then the teacher?” Wang was pleasantly surprised. “I like this kid!”
A tugging sensation came from Wang’s neck.
Wang clicked his tongue and shut up.
Anyway, up to that point, it was just a squabble between kids.
The kindergarten’s dormitory had surveillance cameras, after all, these kids were small and all sorts of things could happen.
But the teacher messed up the response. After the kids fought, the teacher only scolded Ren Xinxin.
“I don’t like that person, I didn’t want to comfort him!” Ren Xinxin was still seething at this point. “The others said I stole something! I didn’t! But the teacher made me apologize!”
The teacher used ‘Ren Xinxin started the fight’ as the reason, but Ren Xinxin refused to apologize.
Then the teacher asked if she could make peace with those kids.
The group of kids agreed to the teacher’s suggestion, but Ren Xinxin still refused.
The teacher pointed out that Ren Xinxin had also brought snacks today and asked if she’d be willing to share her food with the kid who’d been crying for a long time.
When the teacher said this, she already picked up Ren Xinxin’s little backpack, making Ren Xinxin anxious.
“I don’t like that person! I don’t want to give him my snacks.” Ren Xinxin’s voice became shrill when she was angry.
“Alright, alright, you won’t give them.” Li Yao held Ren Xinxin’s arm and examined it carefully. The green and purple bruises looked especially frightening. “Then why did the teacher hit you?”
“She called me ‘wan wan’.” Ren Xinxin snorted heavily.
【Probably ‘stubborn’.】Tao Fangyi explained.
“She said I’m ‘bu qun’,” Ren Xinxin continued.
Tao Fangyi continued translating: 【Unsociable.】
“Then she told me to stand outside. I didn’t want to, so she dragged me! She pulled my clothes!” Ren Xinxin tugged at the back collar of her own shirt. “She dragged me outside the door, so I bit her.”
After that, the teacher got furious too. At first she wanted to slap Ren Xinxin’s palm, but Ren Xinxin clenched her fist tightly. Whenever the teacher reached out her hand, Ren Xinxin opened her mouth to bite.
Then the teacher was completely enraged. Ren Xinxin wasn’t a child who’d be intimidated by an adult’s fury either. Despite the extreme disadvantage, she actually fought back against the teacher.
Of course, the one actually getting beaten was probably only Ren Xinxin.
The fight ended with the teacher cursing Ren Xinxin out and telling her to get lost. Ren Xinxin packed up her things, put on her backpack, and was about to leave.
Halfway there, she felt something wasn’t right, so she went back with her backpack and demanded the teacher return her tuition.
“That teacher really just threw a kid like you out of the kindergarten?!” Li Yao was getting angry.
Ren Xinxin nodded.
“That can’t be. Isn’t she afraid the parents will hold her accountable?” Wang felt something was off.
“But the kindergarten gate wasn’t open. I climbed out,” Ren Xinxin added.
Wang: “…That makes sense.” The teacher probably intended to make Ren Xinxin stay in the small yard to scare her, since it was already dark.
But the teacher didn’t expect Ren Xinxin to find a way out, scaling the wall and running home just like that.
Fortunately, she didn’t run into any bad people on the way, or the consequences would have been unthinkable.
Li Yao found some bruise medicine in the adults’ room and carefully applied it to Ren Xinxin.
During this time, Ren Xinxin didn’t cry or fuss, still looking angry.
“You’ve got some nerve.” Li Yao said. “Running home alone at this hour.”
“I don’t like them.” Ren Xinxin’s courage wasn’t actually that great; she was just angry the whole way.
“I’ll call Mom.” This kind of thing was best handled by an adult.
Ren Xinxin suddenly reached out and grabbed Li Yao’s clothes.
Li Yao froze.
The just-now angry Ren Xinxin opened her eyes wide and made whining sounds in her throat.
“What’s wrong?” Li Yao asked her.
Ren Xinxin leaned closer. “Mom and Dad are at work.”
“But look how that teacher beat you up!” Now it was Li Yao’s turn to be angry. “No matter what, a teacher shouldn’t lay hands on a four-year-old! This is abuse!”
“But… but…” Ren Xinxin suddenly stammered.
Li Yao could see she was afraid.
Li Yao met Ren Xinxin’s eyes. Wang analyzed Ren Xinxin’s behavior from the side, though Ren Xinxin couldn’t hear him.
“Let me get this straight. So, assuming this child didn’t steal anything, she was first framed, then singled out?” Wang really hated this.
【This child started the fight with the other kids.】Tao Fangyi said.
“Because she was misunderstood!” Wang spun toward Tao Fangyi. “Do you know what ‘misunderstood’ means?!”
【I know, don’t get so worked up.】Tao Fangyi soothed him. 【The teacher is definitely at fault. I’m just saying her act of hitting those kids first played a contributing role.】
“Contributing role?! She was wronged! It’s those evil kids’ fault, and that bastard teacher!” Wang completely disagreed. “Don’t you think blaming a child like that would hurt her feelings?”
【I’m not blaming her, she can’t hear me.】Tao Fangyi explained. 【Also, those kids aren’t necessarily evil. Four-year-olds are still in the stage of learning about the world.】
“So their badness is the purest.”
【They might not even have a standard for good and bad yet, going through the transition from nothing to something.】Tao Fangyi didn’t agree with Wang’s view.
“Oh, so you’re speaking up for a group of people who bullied your mission target?” Wang put his hands on his hips and asked.
Tao Fangyi was quiet for a moment, then said: 【I’m not arguing with you.】
Wang’s face was pressed against Tao Fangyi’s; both had flat faces, so the contact area was quite large. “Me neither.”
【Oh…】Tao Fangyi fell silent.
“Say what you’re thinking.” Wang’s voice softened, as if trying to entice someone.
【My views might conflict with yours, but I have no personal problem with you.】Tao Fangyi wanted to push Wang away, but with the child present, he worried about being seen. 【And please don’t turn this topic into a personal attack on me.】
“I don’t like this overly rational look of yours.” Wang always found Tao Fangyi’s sometimes flat tone infuriating.
【I can’t help it.】That was just Tao Fangyi’s personality.
Wang stepped back and stared at Tao Fangyi’s cute doll expression for a while. “You know? People like you tend to attract some real perverts.”
Tao Fangyi didn’t know, and he felt he couldn’t attract anyone: 【I’m from The Nineteenth Level. I probably won’t attract perverts, and I’ll more likely end up being posted on forums because I frightened people on the street.】
Wang: …
“But there will always be someone who wants to tear off that calm exterior and pry into what you look like when you break down.” Wang said viciously.
【So do you want to see it?】Tao Fangyi asked him.
Wang sensed what Tao Fangyi might do next and hurriedly said, “You are not allowed to deliberately act like you’re breaking down just to placate me!”
【Fine.】Tao Fangyi had already thought up a script.
“I’ll turn you into that with my own hands.” Wang was really looking forward to the day he’d fully provoke Tao Fangyi’s emotions.
【Wow!】Tao Fangyi was very obliging.
“I don’t need you to play the straight man,” Wang added. “Can’t you at least act a little angry?”
Tao Fangyi shouted a 【Wow】 in an angry voice.
Wang was startled by the sudden sound. Looking at Tao Fangyi, he was still the same smiling, cute-faced doll.
The anger Tao Fangyi performed was just cheerful shouting.
Ren Xinxin held Li Yao’s hand, refusing to let her make the call. She was scared.
Tao Fangyi guessed the teacher had said something to Ren Xinxin during the fight. It was too easy for an adult to threaten and frighten a child.
Li Yao tried to reason with her; at a time like this, an adult had to step in.
Ren Xinxin clung to Li Yao’s arm, refusing to let go.
Wang heard a thin, sharp sound. Sure enough, before long, a kettle-like screech came from Ren Xinxin’s mouth.
“Why won’t you tell Mom?”
“I just can’t tell Mom!” Ren Xinxin cried anxiously.
“You ran home alone in the middle of the night. This is the kind of thing that warrants calling the police.” Li Yao’s tone was stern. “Don’t be scared. The teacher is the one at fault. Mom and the others will understand.”
Ren Xinxin was so frantic that she muttered something unintelligible through her tears.
As Li Yao started to dial, Ren Xinxin suddenly yelled, “You don’t even have a mom and dad! How would you know?!”
Li Yao froze.
Tao Fangyi couldn’t move or show his shock, while Wang covered his mouth with his hand.
Ren Xinxin realized she’d said something wrong. Her grip on Li Yao’s sleeve slowly loosened.
But Ren Xinxin didn’t apologize; she just alternated between staring nervously at the phone and staring at Li Yao.
Wang immediately lost his appreciation for Ren Xinxin. “Give this kid a spanking.”
Li Yao stood up silently. “You’re right. I don’t have a mom and dad.”
Wang retreated to the sofa and poked Tao Fangyi, urgently seeking help; he wasn’t good with this kind of situation.
But Tao Fangyi still couldn’t move.
“This isn’t my home either,” Li Yao continued. “And it’s not my place to discipline you.”
“I’m still going to contact your mom, whether you like it or not.”
Li Yao took a couple steps toward the door as if to leave. Wang shuffled to the door, said nothing, and squatted down against it. Letting a twelve-year-old kid wander around in the middle of the night would be too dangerous.
“What should I do now?!” Wang asked Tao Fangyi.
【Give Yaoyao a hug. Then first soothe the older child’s emotions. Temporarily separate the two kids. Make sure Yaoyao cries, but don’t talk about her parents at first.】Tao Fangyi began to share his experience: 【Have her stay in her own room. Didn’t we just skip a meal? You can start by talking about that. Later, when you bring up the main issue, don’t pin the blame on Xinxin or her mom. After all, they’re going to live together in the future.】
Wang: …
Tao Fangyi: 【Alright, start comforting now.】
Wang also used Sound Transmission this time: 【This is so annoying. I want to kill everyone in this room.】Once they’re all dead, there won’t be any conflict.
Tao Fangyi: ?
Tao Fangyi couldn’t get his phone right now; otherwise, he’d immediately search for how to balance relationships among children in a three-child family.
How do other people manage to raise kids so well?
Tao Fangyi thought again of the beaming Wenren Fu.
Then he looked at Wang in front of him. Wang’s entire face only had one outrageously large mouth, and it would bare its teeth as soon as it was touched. Like a crazy flip-top trash can that flips open when you step on it.
I’m so envious of my old friend. Look at how well that person’s kid is raised.
