Chapter 38
It was almost an hour later when the teacher called.
Hu Zhenzhen wasn't quite sure how Jiang Chen communicated with the teacher. When she arrived at the office, Teacher Jiang Xin looked extremely apologetic and kept apologizing to Hu Zhenzhen.
The moment Jiang Chen saw her, he silently hid in her arms.
His little face was red from crying.
Even though Hu Zhenzhen knew that her child hadn't suffered any loss, she still felt a little sorry for him after seeing it.
"Xiao Chen, are you alright?"
Jiang Chen nodded in Hu Zhenzhen's arms, looking as if he refused to look up.
"It's like this, Jiang Chen's mother. Today's PE class was a joint class with a third-grade class. One of the kids in that class seemed to have a conflict with Jiang Chen. He made a lot of sarcastic remarks to Jiang Chen, and Jiang Chen hit that kid."
Jiang Xin began to describe the scene as clearly as possible.
"In the end, this whole thing was started by the other party's child, but it was also our child who started it."
"He has already apologized to Jiang Chen, but since his nose is bleeding, he may need to pay some medical expenses."
Jiang Xin finished speaking, and he was also a little nervous.
She knew the parents in front of her were wealthy, but that didn't mean she would necessarily agree with the school's solution.
Both of them were at fault in this matter.
The third-grade child was wrong for bullying Jiang Chen and constantly belittling him in his ear.
Jiang Chen was wrong to lay a hand on another child, causing him to bleed from the nose.
Fortunately, the child's injury was not serious; the nosebleed stopped before any treatment was needed.
Jiang Xin and another homeroom teacher had already called the child's parents. When the parents heard that it was a second-grade child who did it, they clicked their tongues.
"It's so embarrassing that a third-grade kid got his nose bleed from being hit by a second-grade kid."
These were the parent's exact words, and Jiang Xin still finds them somewhat unbelievable.
Seeing Hu Zhenzhen and Jiang Chen embracing each other makes the contrast even stronger. They are both parents, so how come one of them doesn't even care when he hears that his son has been beaten and has a bloody nose?
“We have already contacted the other party’s parents, and they said they would be happy to pay only the basic medical expenses.”
After conveying this message, Jiang Xin waited quietly for Hu Zhenzhen to respond.
"Excuse me, Ms. Jiang, may I ask him how he apologized?"
"Oh well."
Jiang Xin hadn't expected Hu Zhenzhen to be so concerned about this, and hastily tried to find the right words to describe it in his mind.
“It happened during a physical education class, and many of the students in the class saw it.”
"Before Jiang Chen took action, the third-grade child had actually frightened quite a few of the children in our class. After he stopped bleeding from his nose, we talked to him and decided to have the child apologize to Jiang Chen in front of the whole class."
"He had just apologized before you arrived."
Hu Zhenzhen laughed immediately, "It's good that you apologized. I believe that child won't do it again."
Jiang Chen, nestled in her arms, secretly raised his head, glanced at his mother's face, and winked at her.
Hu Zhenzhen saw this and, taking advantage of Jiang Xin's inattention, pinched her son's cheek.
"I will cover the medical expenses. You can just send the bill to my WeChat account."
Jiang Xin breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay, then I'll send you the bill directly and then pass it on to the other party's parents."
"Thank you for your help, Teacher Jiang."
After what happened today, Hu Zhenzhen simply asked for a day off for Jiang Chen and brought him out of school with her.
As soon as Jiang Chen stepped out of the school gate, all the unhappiness on his face disappeared.
Hu Zhenzhen chuckled, squatted down, and patted the dirt off his pants. "Did our Xiao Chen suffer a loss today?"
Hu Zhenzhen witnessed almost everything that happened on the playground and was able to confirm that Jiang Chen had not suffered any loss.
Later, the matter was handed over to the teacher to resolve. Hu Zhenzhen didn't see it and didn't know the specifics, which is why she asked him about it separately.
"No," Jiang Chen said, gently shaking her hand.
"I learned something from my mom today!"
Hu Zhenzhen suddenly remembered what Jiang Chen had said that morning.
She didn't quite understand back then, but now that he brought it up again, she realized that what he had learned was not how to directly refuse people, but how to make those he disliked suffer.
Hmm──
Learning this seems like a good idea.
At least from now on, Hu Zhenzhen won't have to worry about Jiang Chen suffering losses outside.
"Good, it's good that Xiao Chen wasn't bullied by him."
From the homeroom teacher's description, Hu Zhenzhen had already guessed what had happened before. Verbal bullying was definitely not the first time it had occurred, but this time Jiang Chen retaliated, and did so with exceptional gusto.
The little boy's parents seemed to be very concerned about saving face.
Hu Zhenzhen saw the child once in the morning, but only once, and doesn't know if he inherited this trait from his parents.
If so, Jiang Chen's move should make Tong Shuai avoid him from now on.
To lose face like this in front of Xiao Chen and have to apologize in front of the entire Class 3 of Grade 2, even someone with thick skin would feel ashamed.
And that goes without saying for children who care about their reputation.
Hu Zhenzhen suddenly felt a pang of emotion and patted Jiang Chen's head.
She still remembers the first time she met Jiang Chen.
Back then, he was thin and small, almost skin and bones, and you could tell at a glance that he was not doing well.
Even though the Jiang family bullied and bossed him around, Hu Zhenzhen never heard Jiang Chen say a single bad word about him behind his back.
Even though Jiang Lin did such a terrible thing in the end, when Hu Zhenzhen rescued him, Jiang Chen only cried a lot and told Hu Zhenzhen that he was scared.
He never mentioned his aunt or the Jiang family.
Hu Zhenzhen used to think Jiang Chen was a pushover, someone who didn't know how to be cunning and only knew how to swallow his bitterness.
She felt a sense of relief that her son had finally learned to fight back.
“Our Xiaochen cried for a long time today, he must be very tired. Mom will take you to eat some meat to nourish him.”
Hu Zhenzhen had Chen Kai drive the car directly to the barbecue restaurant.
The barbecue table was large enough that Chen Kai sat next to the young master. While eating, he thoughtfully cut the grilled meat into small pieces and put them into Jiang Chen's bowl.
With him around, Hu Zhenzhen didn't really have much of a chance to get involved.
Jiang Chen ate until he was half full before he vaguely remembered.
He didn't seem to mention that he cried today. How did his mother know?
Here, the mother and son are loving and filial, and the atmosphere is happy and joyful.
Tong Shuai wasn't so happy.
He was already upset after being beaten up at school and getting a nosebleed.
The teacher even sided with Jiang Chen, making him apologize to Jiang Chen in front of the second-grade kids.
Tong Shuai was not entirely convinced, but he still complied on the surface.
He had never been so humiliated. When he returned to his class, he heard his classmates laughing and joking, and he felt that they were mocking him.
Tong Shuai returned home somewhat disheveled, with toilet paper stuffed in one nostril.
"Dad, I'm home."
Tong Shu was sitting in the living room. He grunted in response and looked up to see his expression.
"What the teacher told me on the phone this afternoon was true. You really got hit by a second-grade boy who's a head shorter than you."
Tong Shu said with dissatisfaction, "When I was your age, I could take on three people by myself. But you, you can't even get your nose bleed from being beaten by someone who's a head shorter than you in a one-on-one fight."
The more he talked, the more Tong Shuai felt ashamed to lift his head.
"I didn't fight back then."
After Tong Shu finished speaking, he quietly defended himself.
The father's scolding grew even louder: "Are you stupid? Why aren't you fighting back?"
"Did they not fight back, or were they too cowardly to fight back?"
The stubborn and prideful boy, though he was scolded at home, had red eyes but managed to hold back his tears.
"He doesn't act like a man at all, he's so embarrassing."
This statement was the last straw that broke the camel's back.
Tong Shuai couldn't hold back and looked up to glare at his father, who had verbally insulted him.
"Do you even act like a man?"
"What did you say?"
Tong Shu's voice suddenly lowered, anger rising within him; he hadn't expected that the man would dare to talk back.
"How dare you talk to your father like that? I spent so much money to send you to the best school, and this is the kind of attitude you learned?"
Tong Shuai gave a mocking laugh.
"You did spend money to send me to school, but you also spent a lot of money to send other people to school."
Tong Shu was taken aback by this statement; he hadn't expected Tong Shuai to bring it up.
"They are your younger siblings. Are you blaming me for sending them to good schools?"
"Younger brother and sister..."
Tong Shuai felt disgusted.
“My mother wasn’t even dead yet, and my younger brother and sister crawled out of another woman’s belly.”
These words were truly offensive. Tong Shu's old face turned bright red, and in a fit of impulse, he slapped Tong Shuai across the face.
"Shut up! Is it your place to discuss the affairs of your elders?"
The tissue in Tong Shuai's nasal cavity flew out directly due to the force.
The nosebleed, which had long since stopped, congealed on the paper, standing out starkly against the white porcelain floor tiles.
Tong Shuai sniffed, suppressing a sob in his throat.
He preferred to go home looking disheveled, stuffing himself with toilet paper.
As a result, his father didn't even bother to ask a single question.
For no apparent reason, Tong Shuai remembered the things he had said to Jiang Chen.
"You'd better try to curry favor with your stepmother, because once she has her own children, you'll probably end up as a pitiful nobody."
Tong Shuai said this with the intention of ruining Jiang Chen's good mood, but his words also contained a hint of his true feelings.
He has suffered hardships.
Because of the two women who can't yet be called stepmothers, and also because of their children.
That's why Tong Shuai particularly disliked Jiang Chen, who seemed happy.
Jiang Chen's father died, and he had severed ties with all his relatives and friends. Surprisingly, he did not become a beggar, but was cherished and loved by his stepmother, Hu Zhenzhen.
On what grounds?
Why is it that he has biological parents, but after being punched and returning home, he only gets slapped again?
Why should he be expected to respectfully address someone as an elder and call her "Auntie" when someone else has broken up his family?
Tong Shuai had long recognized the unfairness of the world.
He was just unwilling to accept it, just jealous.
Just like now, after being slapped by his father and hearing his thunderous curses, he could only stare intently at the glaring red stain on the ground.
What happened?
A woman's voice came from inside, "Why are you so angry?"
Her voice was soft, weak from illness, and she slowly walked out of the house, one hand supporting herself against the wall.
Her heart skipped a beat when she saw the state of the living room.
"Why is Xiaoshuai's nose bleeding? Quickly rinse it with ice water!"
Although her voice was soft, it silenced Tong Shu.
"It's nothing, my son and I just had a little disagreement."
This statement was not convincing at all, and the woman did not believe it at all. However, Tong Shuai's face had obvious slap marks, and his nose was still bleeding. She was worried and did not respond to Tong Shuai's words.
When she came out, Tong Shuai couldn't hold back anymore. It felt like a big rock was stuck in his throat, and he couldn't swallow it down.
Tears streamed down his face uncontrollably. Feeling ashamed, he rushed into the bathroom, turned on the tap, and splashed water on his face repeatedly.
Sometimes, you can't hide a cry no matter how hard you try.
Even though Tong Shuai bit his lip, muffled sounds still came from the toilet.
The woman turned her gaze to Tong Shu.
He stood in the living room, looking extremely awkward.
“He got into a fight at school with a second-grade kid, and the kid even made his nose bleed. I couldn’t help but say a few words to him.”
This is how he explained it to the woman.
"Why did you come out for such a small thing? The doctor said you need to rest more and recuperate to get better. Let me help you back to your room."
"Tong Shu, I'm sick, not deaf."
In a single sentence, Tong Shu's paint job was completely ruined.
His face turned bright red, and he stared at the woman for a long while before finally uttering a sentence.
"Forget it, you're sick, I don't want to argue with you."
The woman refused his help and then snapped at him. Tong Shu felt embarrassed and couldn't yell at a patient, so he simply grabbed his bag and left.
This is what Tong Shuai saw when he came out of the restroom.
Both he and his mother knew where Tong Shu would go.
"Mom, you know why—"
He only asked half of his question before hurriedly helping the woman up as she collapsed to her knees.
"Mom, are you alright? Let me help you sit down."
Fortunately, Tong Shuai is tall. Although he is only nine and a half years old, he can already support the weight of an adult.
He helped the woman sit down on the stairs, and after a while, his mother opened her eyes again and relaxed her face, which had been contorted with pain.
But this time, she didn't say the comforting words she usually used to say to Tong Shuai.
Instead, she stared at the scars on his face in silence for a long while.
"Little handsome, I don't have long to live."
Upon hearing this, Tong Shuai's tears began to fall.
"No, Mom, don't say that. You'll live a long time. Dad has money; he'll find you the best doctors."
Only on times like these does Tong Shuai feel grateful that he was born into a wealthy family.
The woman gave him a deep look and then asked her son to sit down beside her.
"Little Shuai, sit down. It's been a long time since we, mother and son, had a proper conversation."
Tong Shuai sat on the outside of the stairs, holding his mother's hand tightly and refusing to let go.
The woman remained silent for a long time.
“I know my illness well. It has been getting worse over the years. I always think about entrusting you to your father so that you will respect him and he will love and care for you more.”
Her gaze was somewhat vacant as she recalled the past.
“We were a young couple who lived in poverty. Thinking back on the past, I still hold a place in his heart. I always feel that he will remember me and take good care of our son.”
Tong Shuai's nosebleed had just stopped, and his face was still wet. Hearing her words, he couldn't help but feel a lump in his throat again.
"Now it seems I was overthinking it."
“My son and their children may not be any different in his eyes.”
The woman held Tong Shuai's hand and pulled him closer to her with all her might.
Tong Shuai sensed it and quickly leaned his head gently on her shoulder.
Cold hands wiped away the tears on his face.
Tong Shuai heard her say, "I'm going to divorce your father, Xiao Shuai. I've thought it through. If you live with him, you might not be able to grow up properly."
Women can see things clearly.
Over the years, the son has become increasingly extreme due to the influence of his father, Tong Shu.
He is concerned about saving face, speaks harshly, and acts in an extreme manner.
Her little boy used to be a gentle and lovely child. How could he have been raised like this in just a few years?
"This can't go on any longer."
The woman made up her mind. "Little Shuai, would you like to move with Mommy to Grandma's house?"
Tong Shuai had been waiting for this day for far too long; he almost doubted that he was hallucinating to hear his mother say those words.
"I do, Mom, I do."
Divorce is not an easy thing, especially divorce with someone like Tong Shu.
The woman knew perfectly well what was going on, but she didn't say anything to Tong Shuai. She simply had her son help her up, and then went back to her room to make a phone call by herself.
"Mom, I have something to ask you."
Tong Shuai was outside the door, his ear pressed tightly against the door panel, and he could only clearly hear this one sentence.
He could tell who was on the other end of the phone; it was his grandmother, who was still living in the countryside.
She's old, but still quite healthy. She tends her small vegetable garden and farms, and with her house renovated, she lives a fairly comfortable life.
Tong Shuai hadn't seen her for several years.
Back then, my mother had a big fight with my maternal grandparents because she wanted to marry my father. It is said that their relationship only improved after he was born, and they would visit each other a few times a year.
Later, my mother fell ill, and my grandfather also passed away, and those few interactions ceased.
What did my maternal grandmother look like?
Tong Shuai recalled that she was an old lady with a lot of energy and spirit. She was thin and small, but very strong.
At that time, Tong Shuai still harbored illusions.
She fantasizes that her mother can divorce her father immediately and take him to her maternal grandmother's house, and that her illness can gradually get better.
But his dream didn't last long, as it was soon shattered by his father rushing home.
Tong Shu ignored Tong Shuai in the corridor and went straight into his mother's room as soon as he got home.
"You want a divorce? No way."
He left those words in a huff, threw a huge tantrum in his mother's room, and then stormed off.
Tong Shuai didn't really understand.
Why would two people who no longer love each other stay together?
Especially the father, he already has money and a concubine, why doesn't he dare to let the mother and him go?
After Tong Shu left, Tong Shuai carefully went into his mother's room and tidied up the messy floor for her.
Perhaps because he had been holding it in for too long, Tong Shuai couldn't help but ask the question.
"Because he cares about his reputation."
The woman on the bed said this and then coughed intermittently. Her coughs were barely loud, more like heavy breathing.
"But don't worry, Mom can hold on, she can hold on until the day she takes you away."
Tong Shuai didn't know what to say, and nodded thoughtfully.
Great changes often occur hidden in the mundane aspects of life.
On Monday, Tong Shuai got up and, as usual, prepared to eat breakfast before going to school.
He passed by his mother's room, wanting to say good morning to her.
When Tong Shuai saw the new lock on the bedroom door, he panicked.
He recalled his mother's words.
“He’s concerned about his image, he’s too concerned about his image. We were married young and started from scratch. If he divorces me, he will definitely be subject to speculation and disdain from others. How could he be willing to do that?”
"I'm dying soon, I can't get in anyone's way."
The boy's mind was not yet fully developed. Tong Shuai could understand his mother's words, but he could not perceive the danger hidden within them.
With Tong Shu not home, Tong Shuai could only rush to the kitchen and ask the housekeeper, "What's wrong with the door lock?"
"Mr. Tong said that his wife needs to rest and recuperate recently, and no one is allowed to disturb her mood except for the doctor, so he specially bought a lock."
"Dr. Zhang just left, and now only doctors can open that lock. Even when we deliver food, we have to do it through the other window."
After she finished speaking, she muttered a complaint under her breath.
"Why not just say something and be done with it? We won't bother you, Madam, so why treat you like a thief?"
Tong Shuai's heart sank immediately, and he went to school absentmindedly.
In an instant, he thought of his father's thoughts.
If the mother dies, then there's no need for a divorce; no one will gossip about the father, and his remarriage becomes a normal thing.
Tong Shuai felt a chill run down his spine as he thought about it. He knew that he was the only one who could save his mother now, but when he looked up to ask for help, he found that he was all alone and there was no one who could help him.
Should we call the police?
But will the police arrest his father just because he reported him?
Tong Shuai has reached the age where he can think. He specifically searched for and read many cases of domestic violence online. Most of them involved persuasion, and few involved arrests.
Advice will only make things worse.
Tong Shuai was terrified; he was afraid his mother would die in that house.
Along the way, his eyes were glazed over, and he had no interest in attending class at all. He walked to school by relying on muscle memory.
"Hey! Tong Shuai, I heard you beat a second-grader so badly his nose bled yesterday? That's so embarrassing!"
His classmates' laughter drifted over, and he patted them on the back.
Seeing Tong Shuai's pale face, I was startled.
Are you alright?
Suddenly, as if he had just thought of something, Tong Shuai shouted loudly, "That's it!"
It startled the student next to him.
He ran away quickly, with a clear destination: the school gate, the place where he usually waited for Jiang Chen.
Hu Zhenzhen also came to see Jiang Chen off today. When she saw the familiar figure at the school gate, she couldn't help but frown.
"Why is this child here again?"
Jiang Chen, however, noticed that something was wrong with him.
"Mom, maybe he's here to apologize. Look how pale he is, like he got scolded at home."
Jiang Chen stopped Hu Zhenzhen from getting out of the car to see him off.
He got out of the car by himself and walked towards the school gate.
The moment Tong Shuai saw him, his eyes lit up.
"Jiang Chen, please wait a moment."
Jiang Chen had never heard such polite words from him before. He raised an eyebrow and stopped walking. "Is there something you need?"
“I was wrong about everything that happened before. I shouldn’t have tried to sow discord between you and your stepmother. I was jealous of you. I was a petty person.”
Tong Shuai's mouth was like a machine gun, opening and spewing out a long string of apologies.
His voice was loud, attracting the attention of students passing by.
"I really know I was wrong, and I sincerely apologize to you. Jiang Chen, please don't hold my past mistakes against me."
Jiang Chen didn't expect him to say these things right away, and stared wide-eyed in surprise. "It's okay, I even made your nose bleed, so we're even."
As soon as he finished speaking, Tong Shuai, who had been acting arrogantly, bent his knees and knelt directly in front of him.
This really startled Jiang Chen, who took two steps back.
"Please, Jiang Chen, only you can help me this time. If you help me this once, I will repay you by serving you like a slave for the rest of my life."
Tong Shuai raised his head, his eyes filled with a desperate, reckless courage, his bloodshot eyes showing a hint of madness. "I don't know who else to ask, Jiang Chen. Please, help me."
Jiang Chen had only ever seen that look in the eyes of kidnappers in his life, and he was momentarily terrified.
Hu Zhenzhen has been keeping an eye on this situation.
Seeing that something was wrong, she immediately got out of the car and rushed to Jiang Chen's side, just in time to hear what Tong Shuai said.
"What can a little kid like him do to help you?"
Hu Zhenzhen pulled Jiang Chen into her arms and gave Chen Kai a wink, signaling him to pull Tong Shuai up.
“Even if you have something to ask of someone, you shouldn’t go to a child who is younger than you.”
Tong Shuai looked so pitiful; his eyes held so much weight, they hardly seemed like those of a child.
That's the look that only appears when someone is driven to the brink of despair.
When Hu Zhenzhen met his gaze, she couldn't utter the words she had intended to say.
"If you're looking for someone, you should look for an adult like Auntie."
Tong Shuai lowered his head in despair because of Hu Zhenzhen's involvement.
Upon hearing this, hope suddenly appeared before his eyes.
Like a wolf starving to death, it was fed a bite of meat and regained the strength to live, staring intently at Hu Zhenzhen.
"Alright, Chen Kai, brush the dust off him. We'll talk about it once we get in the car."
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