Lin Chu did not question further. She smiled and greeted Mo Jingsheng.

As this was Mo Jinxi"s parent-teacher meeting, they did not want to delay it any longer and quickly walked to the building where his cla.s.s was located and arrived at Mo Jinxi"s cla.s.sroom entrance. Lin Chu found out from Mo Jinxi that the small, skinny boy"s name was Yue Chaoqun. One could tell from his name that his parents had high hopes for him.

The parent-teacher meeting in the cla.s.sroom had already started, which was why the doors were closed. Yue Chaoqun and Xu Mingmin"s crying could be heard from within the cla.s.sroom. The door opened and the cla.s.s teacher looked at them with her mouth opened in surprise.

"Mo Jinxi, what… What is going on…" The cla.s.s teacher asked in shock.

Lin Chu could tell that this young, female teacher had just graduated a few years. Those in education were required to be in service for nine years in elementary schools. As the orphanage was located nearby, Mo Jinxi, s.h.i.+ Tou, and Tian Tian were a.s.signed to this school by the government.

This was a public school and was not a particularly outstanding one. Renowned schools would usually hire teachers who had more than a few years of work experience or teachers given the moniker of model teachers and such.

Besides a few teachers, most of those teaching in this school were fresh graduates. Most of the teachers here were gradually promoted as they got older and more experienced. The school"s current headteacher had started teaching at this very school more than ten years ago. The teacher taught language, Math and was the cla.s.s teacher as well.

To cut costs, all teachers teaching third year and lower were part-timers. Some teachers were teaching first-year Mandarin and second-year English at the same time. Others were teaching second year Math and third-year Natural Science. Sometimes, the teachers would need to take up Moral Education as well.

It was apparent that the school did not have the best education quality. All they could do was to not disrupt the children"s education. Other than that, the school was not able to provide any quality teachings that could be found in more renowned schools. Naturally, the school does not even come close to the Jixia Academy.

"I guess they are too afraid to admit when they"ve done something wrong. The moment they knew that we are coming to report this to their cla.s.s teachers and parents, they started crying," Lin Chu commented without holding back.

If the three children had expressed their regret and admitted their mistake, Lin Chu would not be acting this way and refuse to let it go. She would have spoken to them nicely and let them off.

Lin Chu was an a.d.u.l.t, after all. She would not be petty with children. As long as they were good children who knew to learn from their mistakes, she would not blame them.

However, these three children were too stubborn to admit their mistakes. One would rather continue crying than admit he was wrong. Another one had grabbed at the opportunity to make his escape, even telling them indignantly that his mum had said the same thing. The last one was the worst, not only did he refuse to admit his mistakes, he had even tried to hit others.

Lin Chu felt that these children need to be taught a lesson and the cla.s.s teacher needed to pay attention to this issue. This teacher had students who were bullying others, she should be more involved with this.

Every child was loved at home and should not be bullied for no reason at school, even if it was Mo Jinxi. Why was he bullied just because he had no parents?

"What have they done wrong?" The cla.s.s teacher was a little unhappy. These were her students, after all.

She felt that Lin Chu and the others were here to create trouble.

The parents of the three boys heard their children crying and quickly came out.

They immediately hugged their children in their arms and looked at Lin Chu unhappily.

Xu Mingmin"s mother held on to him protectively and questioned loudly, "Who are you? What"s going on? How can an a.d.u.l.t bully a child?"

The cla.s.s teacher was also frowning. She lowered her head to ask, "Mo Jinxi, what"s going on?"

Mo Jinxi was about to say something when Lin Chu patted his shoulder. She was letting him know to not say a word.

She slowly worded her reply, "h.e.l.lo, everyone. My husband and I are here to attend Mo Jinxi"s parent-teacher meeting. Jinxi might have mentioned previously to the teacher that the teachers in the orphanage had to attend the parent-teacher meeting of the younger children. As Jinxi is the older brother, he had pa.s.sed the opportunity to his younger brother and younger sister instead. This was the reason why no one was able to attend his parent-teacher meeting. Since I found out about this, I"ve taken the liberty to attend the meeting with my husband."

"Yes, I"m aware of this. Mo Jinxi had informed me about it," the cla.s.s teacher nodded.

"In the beginning when Jinxi told you that no one was able to attend the meeting on his behalf, the Mandarin cla.s.s representative heard about it and spread the news everywhere. Do you know which student is the Mandarin cla.s.s representative? I"d like to ask that student about why she had told everyone about this. Was she pitying Jinxi, or making fun of Jinxi? I know that children tend to keep to their cliques once they start school. There will be students who aren"t well-liked by their cla.s.smates. As a parent and as a teacher, we need to remind the children and teach them about unity and learn how to care for each other. We can"t be bullying our cla.s.smates. We need to help each other in school," Lin Chu was slightly agitated over the situation as she sounded a little angry.

The cla.s.s teacher was a little embarra.s.sed. The female student who held the post of cla.s.s representative in the Mandarin cla.s.s did often spread gossips of students who had been lectured by the teachers in the office. Students who were lectured were often children who were behind in their studies. Once word got out that they were lectured, it caused some cla.s.smates to boycott them at play.

Some of the students would be very blunt to tell the lectured students that their studies were bad and were always in trouble, and they did not want to play with people like that.

The cla.s.s teacher was aware of the problem, but she did nothing about it. There were too many things to handle. She could not be the one to manage every single problem, she did not even have the time to manage it.

Besides, the cla.s.s teacher had thought that this was a form of encouragement. At the very least, these "naughty" students would study hard in order not to be boycotted by their friends and they would stop being so playful. To be honest, the Mandarin cla.s.s representative was not overboard with her actions. No parents had complained about it, so the cla.s.s teacher did not do much about it.

She had not expected Lin Chu to bring this up.

Lin Chu"s voice was loud and clear. The mother of the Mandarin cla.s.s representative was present as well. Her face immediately went red with embarra.s.sment. No matter what, it was not a good thing for others to be talking bad behind another"s back. This action reflected a lot on the child"s manners.

This was not the first time the parents of this cla.s.s were here for the parent-teacher meeting. Everyone had an inkling of who the other was, especially for this mother, as her daughter was the Mandarin cla.s.s representative. Everyone was now looking at her and she felt uncomfortable.

Yue Chaoqun"s mother asked accusingly, "What does this have to do with my son? There are so many children here, but why are you targeting our children?"

"Madam, we did not do anything to these three children. No matter how angry we may feel, we would not do anything to these children, but they did do something wrong and it"s only right of us to protect our child!" Lin Chu a.s.serted. Reason was on her side and she was not about to back down easily.

"The other day, after the Mandarin cla.s.s representative spread the word about no one attending the parent-teacher meeting of Jinxi, your children had immediately surrounded Jinxi to tease him. They told him that he had no parents and that his parents did not want him. They had said even worse things that Jinxi refused to reveal, but these words alone were enough to make us feel angry about it."

"That is why I"ve decided to attend this parent-teacher meeting with my husband. We are a little late because we"ve had a minor accident on the way here. When we got out of our car, we happened to see your children surrounding Jinxi, accusing him of being a liar. They teased him that he had no parents to teach him manners and said so many bad things about him. These words should not be uttered by people of any age. It should not be an excuse for them to hurt others just because they are young."

"So, you think you can bully children then? We"re their parents and we can teach them properly. What right do you have?!" Hu Dongyi"s mother said loudly in a feisty manner.

Lin Chu replied calmly, "They"ve said those words twice before. The first time they said it was when the Mandarin cla.s.s representative had spread the news. The second time was just now. The last time, Jinxi had cried the whole night. This time, we happened to see the whole thing. We didn"t do anything to them at all. After we stopped them, not only did they not admit their mistake and apologize, but this Hu Dongyi had even attempted to hit my husband. Such a small person, yet he has such a big temper and capability."

Hu Dongyi"s mother went pale and green in the face. Lin Chu continued, "All we said was that we wanted to bring the three of them to their parents and cla.s.s teacher and figure out how to solve this problem. Yue Chaoqun and Xu Mingmin then immediately cried. They must be aware of what they had done wrong and felt scared. However, Xu Mingmin made a run for it and he got caught by this policeman."

Mo Jingsheng was not surprised to be called out. He nodded calmly. "I saw the whole thing at the school"s entrance. I"m not the parents of these three children and I have no right to lecture them. So, when this little student ran out and got caught by me, it"s only right that I bring him to his parents and teacher to teach him a lesson."

"Whoever Jinxi"s parents were, it"s not for anybody to judge them as no one knows what happened with their situation. Jinxi can"t choose his upbringing. Even though he grew up in an orphanage, he is still a very well-mannered child. He is much better taught than children with parents. He loves his little brothers and sisters and studies hard. Some boys may be playful and cheeky, but they know when to draw the line. What right do your children have to hurt him with such horrible words? I"d like to ask if you are aware of what your children are thinking about?"

"What do young children know?" Xu Mingmin"s mother retorted stubbornly.

Lin Chu smiled coldly when she saw that there was no reasoning with her. "Young children may not know anything but you as an a.d.u.l.t should know better, right? Xu Mingmin told us just now that his mother was the one who said those words to him. His mother had also said that Jinxi had no parents to educate him and was a bad child. She even forbade him to be friends with Jinxi. Xu Mingmin has a set of parents to teach him manners, yet this was what he learned from them. Is this your version of manners? Jinxi may not have parents but there are teachers in the orphanage. He also has an old princ.i.p.al with a big heart who takes the time to teach him about life. He had never said anything bad against his cla.s.smates and have never hurt anyone with vicious words. He has much better manners than most!"

"I can bear witness to this. These three students had indeed gone overboard at the school"s entrance. Mo Jinxi did not say anything mean to them at all. All he did was insist that he was not a liar," attested Mo Jingsheng.

Mo Jinxi teared up as he puffed up his little face, "I"m not a liar! I won"t disappoint the old princ.i.p.al and Chu Chu!"

Lin Chu"s heart ached for him when she heard his words. She lowered her head to rub his little head.

Hu Dongyi"s mother pointed at Mo Jingsheng instead, "Who knows if you are ganging up with them?!"

"Madam, you are being unreasonable here. If you act this way as well, how are you going to set a good example for your son?" Mo Jingsheng said.

Yan Beicheng could not help glancing at Mo Jingsheng. He thought that Mo Jingsheng had too much time on his hands today. He was staying back to be a witness for this.

Lin Chu ignored her and said to the cla.s.s teacher, "Jinxi heard their words the other day and went home crying the whole night. Despite what happened, he still insisted for the orphanage teachers to attend the parent-teacher meeting of his younger brother and sister. He didn"t want them to be disappointed. Even when his brother and sister wanted to give Jinxi the opportunity instead and take their turns the next year, Jinxi refused because he said he was the older brother and it was okay. They"re not blood-related siblings and are just fellow orphans in the orphanage, but they love and care for each other very much."

Lin Chu did not elaborate but glanced at the three children. It was a look that did not make them feel proud of themselves as they lowered their heads.

"There"s one more thing. I came out of that orphanage as well, so I"m especially aware of how much those children need love and care. When I married my husband and had the capability, I offered to adopt Jinxi into my family," said Lin Chu.

The cla.s.s teacher and the three mothers were not foolish people. Even though they could not recognize the brand based on the look of Lin Chu"s clothes, but her maternity clothes were very pretty and elegant. One look and they knew it was different from normal brands.

In addition to that, Yan Beicheng had a charisma about him that was easily recognizable as being someone of a different hierarchy than the common man. This husband and wife must have excellent living conditions. Based on their love for Mo Jinxi, if he got adopted into their family, his life would be completely changed. He would be somebody.

"Jinxi rejected us without even hesitating because he was worried that his brother and sister would be sad. He wanted to wait until they got adopted into their own families. When the time comes, if we are still willing to take him, then only will he be willing to become our son."

Lin Chu lowered her head to see Mo Jinxi had his head lowered as well. His little body looked so fragile that she felt so much love for this little boy.

From where Mo Jingsheng was standing, he could see Mo Jinxi"s tears fall, which dripped onto his sports shoes.

"If this child is considered a bad child, then madam, can you tell me what a good child looks like?" Lin Chu looked at Xu Mingmin"s mother.

Lin Chu did not know what the other two mothers were thinking. They might have the same thought as Xu Mingmin"s mother and could have said the same thing to their children, although only Xu Mingmin had voiced it out definitely.

Xu Mingmin"s mother"s face went bright red. She was not able to give a reply.

"I came here today not only to attend Jinxi"s parent-teacher meeting. I would also like to meet you and request for these children to apologize to Jinxi, and to never say such things to Jinxi again. It"s okay if you are not friends, but please do not hurt him! The hurt caused verbally is no less serious than physical harm!" Lin Chu looked sternly at the three mothers. It was a look that pressured them greatly.

Despite Lin Chu"s reasoning, they were not happy with her as she had made them lose face. However, they knew that reason was not on their side. It was no use giving excuses, it would just embarra.s.s them further.

The three mothers looked grim. In the end, Yu Chaoqun"s mother gave him a slight push and said sternly, "Apologize!"

It was quite shameful for your son to do something like this, how would one continue facing the other parents in the future?

There were also her colleagues present. She would still need to see them at work every day!

Yue Chaoqun continued crying. He wiped his tears as he said to Mo Jinxi, "I"m sorry."

Hu Dongyi and Xu Mingmin"s mothers also instructed sternly for their sons to apologize. However, their stern att.i.tudes were put on because they wanted to try and save face, and not really because they thought that their sons had done something wrong.

Regardless if Hu Dongyi and Xu Mingmin were sincerely apologetic, they still apologized to Mo Jinxi in the end.

Lin Chu said, "Even though I did not officially adopt Jinxi, but he is a son to me. I will follow up on his matters in the future. I hope the teachers would pay more attention to the students in the school. If Jinxi does anything wrong, I will lecture him; but if he is bullied in school, I would be here to get an explanation just like the other parents. We send our children to school not only for their education. It"s not that we treat teachers as our nannies, but we do hope that the teachers would be able to take extra care of the students" wellbeing."

The cla.s.s teacher had gone red in the face after Lin Chu"s lecture. She had nothing much to say and could only nod in agreement.

Hu Dongyi"s mother said to Hu Dongyi, "That"s enough. Go home now. You"re not allowed to go out and play. I"ll go home and give you a good talking to after the parent-teacher meeting!"

Hu Dongyi replied a listless "okay". It did not seem like he had put this matter to heart. He had believed that he had done nothing wrong and left with Xu Mingmin and Yue Chaoqun just like that.

Lin Chu watched them leave. She knew that this did not solve the problem"s root cause. These children would continue saying vicious things when no one was looking, and they might even say worse things than before. However, the three boys had already given their apology. Lin Chu could not hound on the matter and could only watch as they leave.

Their mothers gave Lin Chu a dirty look and walked back into the cla.s.sroom. The other parents in the cla.s.sroom stared at them, which made them red in the face with embarra.s.sment.

Lin Chu no longer had the intention to stay long after that fiasco. The cla.s.s teacher was still very young and was quite thin-skinned.

This happened because the teacher had not done her job well. If Lin Chu made a complaint to the headmaster, she would be given a warning. If things escalated, she could be fired.

However, Lin Chu had no plans to make any complaints. Mo Jinxi was still attending school here. If this teacher continued to be Mo Jinxi"s cla.s.s teacher, then she would know well to keep the peace.

Reporting the teacher would just give a momentary satisfaction. If the cla.s.s teacher was given a warning, what would happen to Mo Jinxi if she decided to release her anger on him? Lin Chu could not be watching the school every second. If Mo Jinxi was bullied, he would not necessarily say anything. It would be terrible if he ended up not wanting to attend school.

Lin Chu did not want to think the worst of people, but she had seen many different characters in her work. Many situations were unavoidable.

Lin Chu did not know this cla.s.s teacher, but this cla.s.s was a mess and this teacher had done nothing to manage the students. Naturally, this made Lin Chu distrust her.

If she was a responsible teacher who cared about the students, none of this would have happened.

The second child policy had just been introduced. Before this, most families had only one child. The elementary school now was different than before. There were fifty to sixty people in a cla.s.s. The teachers could not watch over every single student. There would be times when certain issues would slip through their fingers.

However, it was not the first time that the Mandarin cla.s.s representative had done something like this. Yet, the cla.s.s teacher did nothing. This meant that the teacher was not a disciplinarian and did not take responsibility for the children. It was a different situation than issues slipping through their fingers.

Judging by this, Lin Chu could not help suspecting that if this matter were to blow up, the cla.s.s teacher would give trouble to Mo Jinxi.

Besides their cla.s.smates, the children in school would spend the most time with teachers. These children had respect for their teachers and would listen to the teachers obediently. If a teacher did not like a student, or if they were cold to them and ignored them, it would be a troublesome situation.

The cla.s.s teacher was aware that she had created trouble and knew that this was a serious matter. She apologized humbly, "I"m sorry, I didn"t manage the situation well. I"ll pay more attention in the future to prevent such a thing from happening again. I know Jinxi is a good boy. He usually gets along well with the other children in the cla.s.s and has never argued or fought with anyone. He also studies hard and maintains within the top three positions in cla.s.s."

There was nothing the cla.s.s teacher did not like about Mo Jinxi.

The cla.s.s teacher lowered her voice and said quietly, "The three boys just now… They are the naughtiest in cla.s.s. They"ve bullied many of the students, who had come to me with the problem. I"ve tried to talk to those three boys about it, but they have never really listened to me, there"s really…"

The cla.s.s teacher did not dare to say that there was nothing she could do. It sounded like she was s.h.i.+rking responsibility.