In his confused state of mind, Wan Qiu suddenly heard a faint, familiar voice coming from the phone.
He immediately looked at the homeroom teacher's phone.
"Hello? Is this Chu Wanqiu's parent? I need to tell you that Chu Wanqiu got involved in a fight at school."
The person on the other end of the phone seemed to say something, and the homeroom teacher frowned before finally switching the phone to speakerphone.
Yang Xiaoyu's voice sounded a little distorted when it came through the phone, but it still made Wan Qiu suddenly tense.
"Honey, what happened? Tell Mommy."
However, the furious outburst that Wan Qiu expected did not occur from Yang Xiaoyu. Her voice remained gentle, making Wan Qiu feel very safe.
Before Wan Qiu could immediately compose himself, Yang Xiaoyu's voice came from the other end of the phone again.
"It's okay, baby, take your time, no need to rush."
The homeroom teacher raised an eyebrow, a vague sense of foreboding creeping in.
"Mom, I..." Wan Qiu regained her voice and slowly told Yang Xiaoyu what had happened.
"I see." After hearing the whole story, Yang Xiaoyu paused for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Wan Qiu, you can hear me from the back seat, right?"
The boy, suddenly called out, stared at his phone, his mind blank when faced with the adult's questions.
Why did you provoke Wanqiu and slander his friends?
Upon hearing this, the homeroom teacher was startled and immediately said, "Chu Wanqiu's parent, it was your child who hit him with another classmate."
Yang Xiaoyu replied lazily, "Teacher, didn't you call me so I could seek justice for my child?"
The homeroom teacher was stunned and didn't react for a moment.
"My darling was inexplicably mocked and insulted by her friends. Isn't that unfair?" Yang Xiaoyu's tone was icy, clearly indicating her displeasure.
"Conflicts don't arise without a reason..."
However, Yang Xiaoyu suddenly interrupted the homeroom teacher's voice.
"Teacher, understanding your child is fundamental for a mother. I understand my child very well, so I know for sure that he will never provoke others."
Yang Xiaoyu's voice was filled with arrogance and confidence, as well as absolute protectiveness towards Wan Qiu.
“You’re not with Chu Wanqiu all the time, so you can’t just make that judgment based on your own assumptions,” the homeroom teacher immediately retorted to Yang Xiaoyu.
“It’s not subjective assumption, it’s trust.” Yang Xiaoyu’s voice came from the other end of the phone with a chilling tone. “So, you’re saying you don’t trust your child?”
The homeroom teacher suddenly fell silent.
"No matter what, my child's friend stood up for my child and did hit someone."
Yang Xiaoyu chuckled softly after saying that, a sound that the homeroom teacher detected as contempt.
"How is the boy's injury? Does he need to be taken to the hospital for a check-up? I can cover all medical expenses if necessary."
Yang Xiaoyu spoke slowly and deliberately, as if she didn't care about the matter at all.
"Did you call to ask for my parents? I can come over now. Would you like to wait for me in the office?"
Will my child's friends' parents come too? I'd like to treat them to a meal to express my gratitude for their support of my child; their children are very well-educated.
These are the unreasonable parents. The homeroom teacher pinched his brow, starting to feel a headache.
"You can't educate your child like this. If you educate your child like this, you will spoil him sooner or later, and there will be problems in the future."
"I said this based on my understanding of my child. As for how I educate my child, that's my business."
Yang Xiaoyu's voice was light and airy, without any anger or unreasonable arguments.
They completely disregarded the homeroom teacher's phone call.
This left the homeroom teacher speechless, unable to say anything at all.
Just then, someone knocked on the door. The homeroom teacher looked up and saw a familiar figure standing at the door.
This person is someone the homeroom teacher, or even any teacher in the school, would be very familiar with.
Chu Yigui was the student who never fell out of first place in any exam from first grade to junior high school.
Their school is the best in the city, and the title of first place in this school is extremely prestigious. In addition, Chu Yigui has achieved excellent results in various competitions, so the school has high expectations for him.
Why did we come here?
"Hello, teacher, I am Chu Wanqiu's younger brother." The tall Chu Yigui, who didn't look like a junior high school student, took the initiative to enter the office and stood next to Wanqiu.
Yang Xiaoyu, who was on the other end of the phone, also heard Chu Yigui's voice.
"Yi Gui, Mom's coming over now. You should check on things first." With that, Yang Xiaoyu hung up the phone, clearly not wanting to argue with the homeroom teacher anymore.
The homeroom teacher was almost dumbfounded.
Is Chu Wanqiu Chu Yigui's younger brother?
Everyone stared at Chu Yigui, who had suddenly arrived, dressed in a high school uniform.
Chu Yigui paid little attention to the people around her, but instead looked down at Wan Qiu.
"elder brother?"
Chu Yigui's voice completely pulled Wan Qiu back from the chaos and confusion.
The first thing Wan Qiu did was to use his free hand to tightly grasp Chu Yigui's clothes.
Chu Yigui could see Wanqiu's current confusion.
Chaotic, indeterminate, selfish, like countless incompatible soft syrups mixed together, turning into a jumble of colors.
Wan Qiu leaned against Chu Yigui's side, as if he had finally found someone to rely on.
Chu Yigui reached out and quietly pulled Wan Qiu into his arms.
Looking up at Fu Zhengyu, who also seemed somewhat at a loss, and the boy beside him.
Chu Yigui stretched out her hand, placed a crumpled piece of paper on the homeroom teacher's desk, and pushed it out.
"What is this?" The homeroom teacher was taken aback and subconsciously took the note.
The note read, "What are the answers to the multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions? Write down the answers to the three main questions and the four main questions."
The teacher's expression suddenly became quite interesting.
"I found this next to my brother's seat. I don't know whose it is."
Chu Yigui did not suggest comparing the notes.
However, the boy who had been standing innocently to the side immediately tensed up the moment he saw the note, and his face gradually turned red under the homeroom teacher's gaze.
What is there that a teacher who has seen so many students can't understand at a glance?
He asked for the answers during the exam but didn't get them. He got angry and retaliated, but ended up getting beaten up instead.
Fu Zhengyu also looked curiously at the note he had never seen before, wondering what was written on it.
"Teacher, you know about my brother's situation. Please take good care of him so that no one can bully him."
Chu Yigui's words seemed to be nothing more than a polite remark, just like any other parent would make.
But after this incident, the homeroom teacher obviously didn't feel comfortable hearing those words.
The homeroom teacher's expression gradually turned somewhat unpleasant.
Chu Yigui didn't intend to drag this out any longer.
His brother was agitated.
"Teacher, should we wait for the parents to arrive now?" Chu Yigui asked.
"No, I didn't invite them." The homeroom teacher, who should have been off work long ago, rubbed his temples in annoyance and slammed the creased note face down on the table. "Alright, everyone go home, it's too late today."
Chu Yigui said, "Then I'll take my brother with me."
The homeroom teacher waved her hand: "Call your mother and tell her not to come. I'm going home too."
Chu Yigui then said, "Teacher, don't worry."
Yang Xiaoyu is coming over immediately, not to resolve anything, but simply to check on Wan Qiu.
It's just to appease Wanqiu.
Fu Zhengyu followed Wan Qiu and Chu Yigui out the door with a blank look on his face. The two of them even went to the classroom to pack their schoolbags.
Then Fu Zhengyu suddenly turned his head and looked at Wan Qiu with eyes as bright as if a bright light bulb had been inserted.
"Wanqiu, your mom and your brother are so handsome."
Wan Qiu paused.
"Seriously, you didn't see the look on the homeroom teacher's face. It felt so good. It's the first time I've ever felt this good being called to the office."
Fu Zhengyu felt refreshed and invigorated; all the resentment that had been weighing on his chest had dissipated, leaving him feeling incredibly comfortable.
He just didn't notice Wan Qiu quietly packing his schoolbag, and didn't look at him.
Li Shuo, who had been waiting at the school gate with others, saw Chu Yigui and the others come out and asked, "What's going on?"
Upon seeing Li Shuo, Fu Zhengyu immediately became confident and began cursing, "That boy started it. He called me a bad classmate and said Wan Qiu's grades were bad."
Li Shuo scoffed, "That's it? You hit someone?"
“I didn’t hit him, I just kicked his chair and he fell flat on his backside.” Fu Zhengyu pouted. “Thanks to him, I’m going to get a beating from my parents again tonight. Wanqiu’s mother is the best; she didn’t blame him at all.”
Li Shuo laughed out loud, and several of his junior high school classmates laughed along with him.
"Alright, it's just a beating. I'll provide you with lunch for a week and a Coke every day." Li Shuo squatted by the roadside and smiled at Fu Zhengyu. "It's not a big deal."
Fu Zhengyu's eyes lit up: "Really? Brother, you can't go back on your word."
"When have you ever seen me go back on my word?" Li Shuo laughed heartily, completely disregarding the small amount of money.
"Bro, you're a real savior. Let me tell you, that bully is a real coward. He looked like he was going to come up and beat me up, but he didn't dare to come over. When others spoke to him, he hid behind them. He's such a coward."
Fu Zhengyu seemed to have completely forgotten about being called to the teacher's office just now.
Li Shuo replied with a smile, "Oh, really? You dare to bully people like this?"
“That’s right.” Fu Zhengyu rubbed his nose.
Li Shuo squatted by the roadside, laughing heartily as he listened to Fu Zhengyu's voice.
Several people gathered around, all expressing their mockery of the incident.
Wan Qiu stood in the middle, watching Fu Zhengyu, who was almost dancing with joy.
Fu Zhengyu didn't seem discouraged at all, nor did he feel ashamed for calling his parents.
He acted as if nothing had happened.
"Well done, keep up the good work. If you encounter a bear like this, just fight it. If you can't beat it, come find me," Li Shuo said.
“I have my brother backing me up, so I’m not afraid,” Fu Zhengyu said immediately.
"Alright, I'll treat you to something tonight as a reward. Come on, Chu Yigui, Wan Qiu, shall we go together?" Li Shuo stood up from the roadside and stretched his legs.
"You guys go ahead, Mom's coming back today." Chu Yigui put his arm around Wan Qiu's shoulder.
"Fine," Li Shuo said, not caring.
Chu Yigui left with Wan Qiu.
Wan Qiu's gaze, however, was briefly unable to leave Li Shuo.
Li Shuo was also looking at him.
Even though Li Shuo never spoke to Wan Qiu from beginning to end, every word he said to Zheng Yu was meant for Wan Qiu.
Wanqiu didn't understand.
But Wan Qiu couldn't take her eyes off Li Shuo's unrestrained smile.
It wasn't until Li Shuo turned around first that this happened.
Chu Yigui used his phone to send a message to Yang Xiaoyu, asking her to come directly to his house.
Wan Qiu held Chu Yigui's sleeve as they walked along the bustling street where people were coming and going after get off work and school.
The sun had already set, and it was getting late. The gradually fading light of dusk was turning the world into a bluish-white hue.
Wanqiu looked at the ground and could see the hurried footsteps of people passing by. He could see the steps on the blue stone slabs.
Looking up, you can see Chu Yigui's back.
"Little brother." Wan Qiu's voice rang out softly, almost insignificant in the noisy crowd.
But Chu Yigui heard it and responded softly, "Hmm?"
"Is Fu Zhengyu a bad classmate?" Wan Qiu asked.
"What do you think, brother?" Chu Yigui asked in return.
Wan Qiu was clear about his own thoughts.
Wan Qiu shook his head firmly.
“Then it isn’t,” Chu Yigui replied.
"But why did the person behind me say that Fu Zhengyu is a bad classmate?" Wan Qiu asked.
"Because he thinks Fu Zhengyu is a bad classmate," Chu Yigui said.
Wan Qiu stopped and looked up at Chu Yigui, his expression full of confusion.
Chu Yigui stood in front of Wan Qiu and said, "Brother has his own ideas. There's no need to care what others say or think. That's their business."
Wan Qiu loosened Chu Yigui's clothes, his hands unconsciously clasped together.
He was confused and at a loss.
The look Li Shuo gave him at the end made Wan Qiu unable to ignore it.
Li Shuo praised Fu Zhengyu and said he would reward him.
So……
"Fu Zhengyu hit someone, is hitting someone right?"
Chu Yigui seemed to understand what was entangled in Wanqiu's ideas and what made him unable to make sense of them.
Wan Qiu still couldn't make an accurate judgment about the act of 'hitting'.
When he was absolutely certain that hitting someone was wrong, what happened now confused Wanqiu.
Chu Yigui still remembered seeing Wan Qiu holding Fu Zhengyu's hand before she entered the office.
If hitting someone is wrong, then Wan Qiu is on the same side as the wrongdoer.
It's self-blame.
It was the fear of being on the same side as himself and those who had abused him.
“Brother, some things are very personal and require emotional judgment; they are neither right nor wrong in themselves.”
Chu Yigui earnestly went to sort out the simplest methods that Wan Qiu could accept.
"Hitting someone is wrong, but it is not unforgivable."
Chu Yigui bent down slightly, looking straight at the anxious Wan Qiu.
"Brother, if I'm constantly being insulted and beaten, then brother..." Chu Yigui lowered his voice and asked, "Would you take action against those who treat me maliciously?"
However, the moment he finished speaking, Chu Yigui suddenly felt Wan Qiu grab his collar.
Wanqiu reacted quickly, faster than ever before.
"No...no, you can't, you can't!"
In Wan Qiu's eyes, it seemed as if he could truly see Chu Yigui being humiliated.
Seeing Chu Yigui being insulted, wronged, and bullied.
Disgust and despair were now evident in his usually calm eyes, and blood even trickled down his forehead...
For some reason, this scene suddenly appeared in Wan Qiu's mind, almost like an illustration.
"No, I will protect you, I will..."
What can he do?
Suddenly Wanqiu got stuck.
That intense, angry, uncontrollable emotion briefly and overwhelmingly consumed his thoughts.
Chu Yigui was also stunned.
He simply raised a simple possibility.
He even prepared to say things like, "What if my older brothers are bullied, or my parents are bullied?"
But Wan Qiu reacted so strongly just because it was just him.
--Protect.
These two words seemed to be more important to Wanqiu than he had imagined.
Chu Yigui grasped Wan Qiu's hands, which were gripping his collar.
Wanqiu's hands were slightly cool, enveloped in his palms.
He could always sense Wanqiu's appreciation for him in all sorts of things.
Is he really that important to Wan Qiu?
Chu Yigui did not want to think about it any deeper.
Wan Qiu's concern was as dangerous to him as an unknown quagmire.
He felt as if his legs were already stuck in the mud, and any struggle would only lead to his being swallowed up.
Wanqiu's brief appearance and swift disappearance of anger were like a spark that suddenly ignited in the darkness, dazzling and beautiful.
Chu Yigui comforted Wan Qiu, waiting for Wan Qiu to return to calm and reason.
"Brother, emotions cannot be judged as right or wrong at will."
Chu Yigui spoke to Wan Qiu with great seriousness.
Wan Qiu's fingers, which were gripping his collar, were gradually loosening, but were still held in Chu Yigui's palm.
"Not everything in this world needs to be judged as right or wrong."
"If you don't know, then do what you think is right."
“But if you do something wrong…” Wan Qiu hates everything that makes people hate you, and doing something wrong makes people hate you.
"It's alright. I can help you judge right from wrong before you learn to distinguish them." Chu Yigui smiled slightly. "Just like today, I will explain it to you carefully."
At least for now, they are so close that Chu Yigui is qualified to help Wan Qiu make a choice.
Wanqiu calmed down.
Chu Yigui noticed that Wan Qiu's previously unfocused gaze had become more settled.
Wanqiu, just like before, always trusted him.
It was Wanqiu who gave him this responsibility.
Chu Yigui, holding Wan Qiu's hand, was about to leave when she suddenly noticed a familiar car parked on the side of the road not far from them.
Chu Yigui paused slightly.
That car belongs to Yang Xiaoyu.
Chu Yigui's expression was unusually subtle as he led Wan Qiu toward the car.
Yang Xiaoyu opened the car door and got out of the passenger seat. She leaned against the side of the car and smiled as she looked at her two children.
When Wan Qiu and Chu Yigui were seen not far away, Wan Qiu was grabbing Chu Yigui's clothes.
For a moment, Yang Xiaoyu even wondered if her two children were fighting.
However, based on her understanding of Wanqiu and Chuyigui, it was unlikely that the two children would have any conflicts.
Wan Qiu doesn't know how to create conflict, while Chu Yigui will definitely avoid conflict.
Although she couldn't hear what her two children were whispering about, she could see Chu Yigui's expression.
That is...
A gentle expression.
Yang Xiaoyu, who had once been taken care of by Chu Yigui, was arguably the closest person to Chu Yigui in the entire family.
Even so, Yang Xiaoyu had never seen Chu Yigui look like this before.
It's like a ripe watermelon with a small cut, releasing a sweet, delicate aroma that tempts those with dry mouths on a hot summer day.
Was it because he thought no one was watching that he dared to show such an expression? Yang Xiaoyu wondered.
So that's why Chu Jianshu kept saying that Wan Qiu and Chu Yigui should spend more time together? Is it because of the tacit understanding between peers?
"Mom?" When Wan Qiu's round eyes looked at her, the joy that burst forth always made Yang Xiaoyu forget all her thoughts and just want to give the child a big hug.
Yang Xiaoyu not only thought this way, but also did it, stepping forward to rub her adorable child.
"Oh dear, what's wrong, my darling? Are you upset because you were bullied? Don't worry, just tell Mommy and I'll beat him up for you!"
The soft touch, the tender child, and the frail little body that was completely different from Chu Yigui's.
It was a rare opportunity for her, after becoming a mother, to see her child still so young.
"No." Wan Qiu did not struggle, even though Yang Xiaoyu's movements were a bit rough and hurt a little.
"It was my brother's classmate who wanted him to pass him the answers during the exam, but he ignored him. This was his revenge after the exam," Chu Yigui explained simply.
Yang Xiaoyu raised an eyebrow: "Oh, so bold as to directly provoke our darling."
However, Wan Qiu was even more surprised than Yang Xiaoyu, her eyes widening in astonishment.
Yang Xiaoyu couldn't help but chuckle: "What, baby, didn't you know?"
Wan Qiu then remembered the vibration he had ignored when he kicked the chair during the exam, the feeling of being poked in the back, and the sensation of something sweeping across his desk...
Oh, I see.
That's because he did something wrong.
Cheating is not allowed in exams; it is wrong.
Wan Qiu's mood, soothed by Chu Yigui, finally calmed down completely, without any more worries.
“Fu Zhengyu helped me.” Wan Qiu grasped Yang Xiaoyu’s arm, instinctively and carefully pressing down on it, merely resting it there.
"Where is that child?" Yang Xiaoyu asked.
She happened to see two children by the roadside when she came over, but she didn't see anyone else with them.
"I'm not quite sure." Chu Yigui thought for a moment and added, "According to my classmates, they're probably having dinner together, and right now they're probably at a barbecue stall."
"They probably haven't finished eating yet."
Yang Xiaoyu calculated the time, looked at Wan Qiu, raised her eyebrows and smiled.
"Contact them and tell them that your mothers are inviting these friends to dinner. Ask them to let their families know. We will take care of getting all the students home together tonight."
Yang Xiaoyu put her arm around Wan Qiu's shoulder and rested her head on Wan Qiu's head.
We must properly thank the people who helped our baby.
Yang Xiaoyu glanced at Chu Yigui.
Chu Yigui understood immediately and made the call.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
