Chapter 306: Feeling Wronged |
The atmosphere instantly turned a little awkward.
Liu Changqing looked at An Yuanyao, who had just spoken, and frowned slightly.
“So... that led to a fight?”
“Mm... It was because those sixth graders made fun of Xiazhi for stepping in dog poop... and even gave her a nickname…”
“They gave her a nickname? What was it?”
“They called her… ‘Liu Xiazhi the Poop Player’…”
“……”
“Then Xiazhi got angry after hearing it and started arguing with them. But she and Feng Shuyan couldn’t win against the three sixth-grade girls, so she ended up crying and went to the teacher. The teacher helped clean the dirty stuff off her shoes…”
“Those little brats…”
As An Yuanyao spoke, he could already picture the whole scene in his mind.
His sweet and innocent, small and helpless daughter being verbally attacked by three older girls, given such a nasty nickname…
Just thinking about how limited his daughter’s vocabulary was when it came to arguing, and how Feng Shuyan always had a blank expression and wasn’t talkative—it wasn’t hard to imagine the one-sided nature of the argument.
“This really hit her hard… she cried the whole time after she got home…”
An Yuanyao said worriedly.
As she spoke, she suddenly froze.
She sniffed the air, looked down, and immediately saw what Liu Changqing was holding.
In that instant, her eyes lit up like a lightbulb. She looked up at Liu Changqing, face full of excitement, and her voice shot up without her even realizing.
“You bought pig trotters!”
“Sniff sniff... Huh? Pig trotters…”
Liu Xiazhi, who was lying on the couch heartbroken, stopped crying when she heard An Yuanyao say that. She quietly sat up and looked over at the two sneaky grown-ups in the corner.
An Yuanyao also realized she had gotten too excited, which had made her voice way louder.
She looked over at Liu Xiazhi too.
A while later…
Liu Xiazhi sat on a little stool, gripping the pig trotter in both hands. She opened her mouth and took a bite, chewing while still tearfully sobbing.
Her words came out choppy because she was chewing as she spoke.
“Dad… Daddy… they were so mean… they laughed at me the whole class… and even after class, they stood outside our classroom just to keep making fun of me… sob sob…”
Even though An Yuanyao had already comforted her and she was feeling a bit better, retelling the whole thing to her dad brought all the frustration flooding back.
But that didn’t stop her from eating.
After that, she looked at An Yuanyao with teary eyes and gave a heartfelt approval.
“These pig trotters… are so yummy…”
“If you like them, you can have another one.”
An Yuanyao said gently, heart aching at how pitiful Xiazhi looked.
Meanwhile, Liu Changqing sat nearby watching the pig trotters he had bought get divided between the mother and daughter. All he could do was sit there alone, watching them eat.
Thankfully, Liu Xiazhi didn’t eat much. After finishing the first one, she only took a few bites of the second roasted pig trotter before getting tired of it. As usual, she handed the rest to Liu Changqing.
Already used to this routine, Liu Changqing accepted it without a word and started eating slowly. He also pulled out a few tissues and handed them to his daughter to wipe her mouth.
She took them, wiped her mouth clean, then stood up from the stool and tossed the balled-up tissues into the trash can.
After all that, she sat back down again.
“Those three are such bullies. I’ve seen them picking on other classmates before too…”
Liu Xiazhi was feeling a lot better now—at least the tears had stopped. But her mood was still a little down, and as she spoke, the events from school played out in her head again.
Her little fists clenched tightly.
“They’re even fatter than me, and they still called me a little fat pig!”
She frowned, her whole face full of anger. She turned to Liu Changqing.
“Dad, don’t you have any good ideas? I want to get back at them!”
“I’m an adult… It’s not really appropriate for me to interfere in you kids’ issues.”
Liu Changqing replied.
Right after saying that, he felt An Yuanyao elbow him in the side. He immediately caught on and looked at his daughter.
And sure enough, he saw the hurt look on her face after hearing what he just said.
He quickly changed his tone.
“But… those three sixth graders really did go too far. You just stepped in something by accident—did they really need to shout about it at your classroom door?”
“Exactly! That’s what I’m saying!”
Hearing her dad take her side, Liu Xiazhi quickly agreed, clearly very pleased.
Liu Changqing put down the roasted pig trotter in his hand and went in for the follow-up.
“But that being said, even if they were super rude, it’d be a bit much if your dad stepped in at school…”
“Then what do I do?!”
“Talk to your brother.”
“Huh?”
Her big round eyes were full of confusion. Liu Xiazhi had no idea what her dad meant.
Liu Changqing continued.
“Wait until your brother gets back from school, then ask him to stand up for you. Kids’ issues should be settled between kids. But if it gets to the point where parents have to step in…”
At that, Liu Changqing’s expression turned serious.
“…then don’t blame me if I go too far…”
Before he could finish, An Yuanyao nudged him again.
She’d been quietly munching away beside him, but she couldn’t stay quiet any longer. Leaning close, she whispered,
“Is this really a good way to teach our kid…”
“What’s wrong with it? Xiazhi didn’t cuss them out or hit anyone. Why were they targeting her for no reason?”
“Shouldn’t we let the teacher handle it… what do you think?”
Hearing her, Liu Changqing just shook his head a little.
Even though he was familiar with Xiazhi’s homeroom teacher—and she was actually quite responsible—problems like this between kids weren’t easy to handle. No matter which side a teacher leaned toward, the other would feel unfairly treated.
And if you ended up dealing with unreasonable parents, they might even go to the school and cause a scene.
Besides, it wasn’t even a big deal.
No one got into a fight or anything. At most, the teacher might talk to those kids. But judging by Xiazhi’s story, those sixth graders weren’t the kind who’d listen to a few words and change.
In these kinds of cases, most parents either try to smooth things over or just ignore it completely.
Listening to their conversation, Liu Xiazhi quietly sat on the stool with her head down. After a while, she stood up silently, deep in thought, and walked toward her room.
Once the door shut, the room was left with just Liu Changqing and An Yuanyao again.
Watching Xiazhi head back to her room, An Yuanyao lost her appetite.
Suddenly, the roasted pig trotter in her hand didn’t taste so good anymore.
With that thought, she set it down and pushed the rest of the trotters toward Liu Changqing, then got up to go wash her hands in the bathroom.
Comments 1