The person knocking on the door was an elderly woman from one of the apartments upstairs. Although she was already quite old, her voice was still loud and clear. Even through the door, He Yingying heard every word.
She had no time to continue discussing the recruitment with her eldest and second brothers. She hurried over, opened the door, and anxiously asked, “What? My daughter got into a fight? Is she hurt? How is she now?”
The old woman shook her head. “Your daughter isn’t hurt. The teacher said your daughter was the one who started the fight. She was the one who injured another child.”
Hearing that, He Yingying finally breathed a sigh of relief.
As long as her daughter wasn’t hurt, that was what mattered.
Only then did she have time to think about the rest.
“My daughter is the most well-behaved child there is. There’s no way she would start a fight for no reason. Even if she really did fight, she must have been defending herself. The other child must have bullied her first.”
He Yingying absolutely refused to believe her daughter could be at fault. In her mind, if something had gone wrong, the other child had to be responsible.
The elderly woman lived upstairs and often came downstairs for a walk. She had seen the Qiao family’s little girl many times. Just as He Yingying had said, the little girl really was both adorable and well-behaved. She was nothing like the mischievous children from other families.
How could a child like that possibly lead a fight?
The teacher had probably exaggerated the situation.
So the old woman nodded. “Maybe the teacher’s message got mixed up somewhere. But you should still go to the kindergarten and take a look. Since they’ve already called the parents, you should find out what happened. At the very least, don’t let the child get frightened.”
The apartment building was only four stories high, so it wasn’t difficult to hear what was happening downstairs if someone opened a window. And the old woman had shouted loudly when calling for He Yingying.
By now, several neighbors who were still at home had already come downstairs to see what was happening.
Most of them were elderly men and women.
It wasn’t Sunday, and most of the younger couples in the building were dual-income workers. They had all gone to the factories, leaving only elderly family members and children who weren’t in school at home.
He Yingying had only been able to stay home that day because, after seeing her eldest and second brothers arrive, she had specifically asked someone at the factory to request an afternoon off for her. Otherwise, she would have been at work too.
“What happened? I heard something about a fight.”
“Oh my, what kind of fight could a little girl barely three years old get into?”
There were no televisions in any of the apartments at this time, and only a few families owned radios or tape recorders. There was hardly any entertainment available.
People mostly passed the time chatting with their neighbors.
So when something interesting finally happened, of course everyone wanted to talk about it.
He Yingying was in too much of a hurry to go check on her daughter and didn’t answer them. But the elderly woman who had delivered the message was still there, so she immediately began chatting with the neighbors.
“I’ll go to the kindergarten with you and your second brother!” He eldest brother called out as he came after them. “You shouldn’t go alone and risk being bullied.”
He had seen countless incidents in the village where one child was beaten and their family went to confront the other family. It was common for the adults on both sides to end up fighting as well.
At times like that, it often came down to which side had more people.
It didn’t necessarily matter who was right. The side with more people had the advantage.
He eldest brother was worried that the other child’s family might bring several relatives while his younger sister went alone, allowing them to bully her because she had no one backing her up.
He and his second brother might not be able to read and might not know much about the outside world, but they were strong men. Standing there with their tall, sturdy builds would be intimidating enough.
Even if Jia Jia really had injured the other child as the kindergarten teacher claimed, having the two of them there would at least prevent the other family from making outrageous demands for compensation.
And if Jia Jia was actually in the right, then they should take advantage of having more people on their side and make the other family apologize.
She was only a three-year-old girl. After encountering something like this, who knew how frightened she might be?
They couldn’t let her suffer for nothing.
He Yingying didn’t have time to worry about anything else either. She immediately nodded and let her brothers come along.
“What happened? Why does everyone look so anxious?”
The person who asked this was Lu Guihua, Li Fugui’s mother.
Li Fugui had taken his master’s instructions very seriously. While his master was away, he was supposed to keep an eye on Master’s Wife and help take care of anything that needed doing.
But he and his wife both had to work during the day, so they couldn’t come over often.
Therefore, he had specifically asked his mother to help.
During the day, whenever she went out for a walk, he wanted her to pass by the Qiao family’s apartment more often. That way, if anything urgent happened, she could lend a hand.
Lu Guihua knew that her son had taken Qiao Qiusheng as his master.
In the old days, an apprentice was expected to respect his master almost like a father. Now, if the master merely asked his apprentice to help with a few household matters, naturally they had to do a good job.
Since her son couldn’t be there himself, wasn’t it only right for her, as his mother, to help him?
If she really helped the Qiao family with something, wouldn’t the master remember his apprentice a little more fondly?
Besides, the Li family also lived in an apartment building, less than a kilometer from the Qiao family’s building. It was very close.
During the day, when Lu Guihua had nothing else to do, she either chatted with the neighbors or went out walking around.
Taking a few extra walks past the Qiao family’s building was no trouble at all.
Now, seeing that Master’s daughter-in-law looked flustered, as though something serious had happened, she hurried over to ask.
If there was really a problem, perhaps she could help.
He Yingying answered while walking quickly.
“It’s nothing major. It’s something involving my daughter at kindergarten. The teacher just sent someone to tell us that she got into a fight and asked the parents to come over. As soon as I received the message, I hurried over.”
Lu Guihua was actually relieved to hear this.
At first, she had been worried that something serious had happened and that she might not be able to help.
But if it was a fight between children, this was something she had plenty of experience handling.
She wasn’t bragging.
Her two grandsons had been nothing but trouble since starting school. Her son and daughter-in-law both had to work and had no time to deal with them, so whenever something happened at school, it was always up to Grandma to handle it.
If her grandson injured someone, then paying the medical expenses was only fair.
But if the other side demanded an outrageous amount, that was another matter.
Lu Guihua had her own way of dealing with that.
She would simply refuse, make a scene, and play the helpless old woman.
She was already in her sixties. Did those people really dare get physical with her?
And if her grandson was the one who had been injured, then naturally she would demand compensation from the other family.
If they refused, Lu Guihua would use the same method—cry, make a scene, and sit right down on the ground.
It didn’t matter if the trick was old. As long as it worked, it was good enough.
Lu Guihua felt that being old actually had its advantages sometimes.
No matter what had happened to the Qiao family’s little girl at kindergarten, she was confident that she could handle it properly and make sure the Qiao family didn’t suffer a loss.
Master Qiao’s wife didn’t have the same advantage.
She was young and easily embarrassed. If the other side sent an elderly woman over to make a scene, she might not know how to deal with her.
Lu Guihua walked alongside He Yingying and said, “I’ll come with you. I have plenty of experience with this kind of thing.
“You young people are all inexperienced, and during the day most adults are at work. The only people who can go to the kindergarten are usually elderly grandparents.
“If you go there alone and the other side starts making a scene, you won’t know what to do. Let me come along and see if they still dare to pull that trick.”
He eldest brother and He second brother didn’t know this old woman, but they felt that having her come along would be a good thing.
After all, if the other child’s family sent an elderly woman who simply threw herself onto the ground, they really wouldn’t dare do anything to her.
If something happened to her, they could easily be blamed and forced to pay compensation.
He Yingying was also reluctant to trouble the old woman, but her daughter’s situation was more important.
This was the first time Jia Jia had ever gotten into a fight since she was born, and the message from the kindergarten had been far too vague.
She was worried.
What if her daughter was frightened and crying at the kindergarten right now?
So she quickly said, “Then we’ll have to trouble you to come with us. As long as it doesn’t interfere with anything you need to do.”
Lu Guihua waved her hand.
“What could it interfere with? I’m an old woman with nothing much to do every day except walk around and chat. Going to the kindergarten will just count as exercise.”
Meanwhile, while He Yingying was anxiously rushing toward the kindergarten, worried about her daughter, Qiao Jia Jia was not frightened at all.
She was currently surrounded by all the children in her class, almost like the center of attention.
Sitting on a little chair with her chin raised, she calmly looked at the chubby boy sitting opposite her.
His eye was badly bruised, and one of his knees had been scraped and was bleeding.
“Little Tao, hurry up and bring that little girl from your class over here and make her apologize to Comrade Chen Guoqing!” said Jin Weihong, the teacher from Chen Guoqing’s class, frowning.
“She already dared to lead a group fight over a little argument at such a young age. She even injured another child. What will she become when she grows up? A delinquent girl?”
Jin Weihong pointed at Chen Guoqing.
“Look at Comrade Chen Guoqing. His eye has been beaten black and blue, and his knee is bleeding. How could she do this over such a small matter?
“Hurry up. Bring that little girl over here. Her parents are already angry.”
Seeing that Teacher Tao remained where she was, Jin Weihong ordered her sternly.
“That’s right! Hurry up and bring that little brat over here. How dare she beat my grandson like this? She’s out of control!”
Chen Guoqing’s grandmother glared angrily.
“Guoqing, don’t cry. When that little girl comes over, Grandma will let you hit her back. We’ll make both her eyes black and blue!”
If Teacher Tao hadn’t been blocking her, she would already have dragged the little girl over to get revenge for her grandson.
The children surrounding Qiao Jia Jia immediately reacted.
Like chicks protecting one another from a hawk, they joined hands and formed a barrier around her, blocking the adults from getting any closer.
“Don’t bully our Jia Jia!”
“Jia Jia didn’t do anything wrong! If anyone comes over, I’ll bite them!”
“Teacher Tao, don’t give Jia Jia to them! They’re bad people! Chen Guoqing was the one who bullied us first!”
Teacher Tao was a new kindergarten teacher, and this was her first year working with young children.
She had no real standing at the kindergarten yet and was nowhere near as influential as Teacher Jin, who had been there since the kindergarten first opened.
But Teacher Tao wasn’t afraid.
There was no way Qiao Jia Jia was at fault here.
The kindergarten had been open for quite some time, and Jia Jia was the most well-behaved child in her class.
Under Jia Jia’s influence, the other children had also become much more obedient. Apart from their first few days of adjustment, they rarely cried or threw tantrums anymore.
Jia Jia had saved Teacher Tao a tremendous amount of trouble.
Teacher Tao was certain there had to be a reason for what happened.
Although Chen Guoqing was the one who had been injured, that didn’t automatically mean his side was in the right.
Teacher Tao argued firmly, “Teacher Jin, we should bring the children from both classes together and ask them what happened before deciding how to handle this.
“We can’t simply conclude that Comrade Qiao Jia Jia is at fault.
“And what you just said was inappropriate. As a teacher, how can you talk about a child like that?
“If Jia Jia isn’t at fault, then you owe her an apology.”
“I’m a teacher. I have to apologize to her?”
Teacher Jin sneered.
“Teacher Tao, you’re new here. Do you even know what you’re saying?
“A little girl beat someone until he looked like that, and you’re still saying she isn’t at fault?
“What is there to investigate? Isn’t it obvious? That little girl beat him.
“Look at her. She doesn’t even have a scratch on her.
“Hurry up and bring her over here to apologize. Once this is settled, it’ll be over.”
Teacher Jin had no intention of handling the matter fairly.
She simply wanted to settle things quickly and curry favor with the Chen family.
Chen Guoqing’s father was a deputy director of the steel factory, and he also had a brother-in-law who was an official in the municipal government.
If she could build a good relationship with the Chen family, there would be plenty of benefits.
Seeing Teacher Tao being so uncooperative made her increasingly impatient. She almost wanted to walk over and drag the little girl out herself.
“No.”
Teacher Tao’s voice was firm.
“Until we find out exactly what happened, I will not agree to your demands or the demands of Comrade Chen Guoqing’s family.”
Qiao Jia Jia liked Teacher Tao very much.
Teacher Tao was gentle with them and always spoke softly.
Now she was seriously defending Jia Jia, so Jia Jia couldn’t let her down.
Sitting on her little chair, Jia Jia loudly said, “Teacher Tao, Chen Guoqing was the one who started it. He almost made Jiang Jiang lose her eye.”
“What?”
Teacher Tao was furious.
So the other side had actually tried to turn things around and blame her class’s children!
Qiao Jia Jia was not a real three-year-old child who struggled to explain herself.
She clearly and fluently told them what had happened.
“Chen Guoqing took Jiang Jiang’s ball—”
“What do you mean Jiang Jiang’s ball? That belongs to the kindergarten.”
Teacher Jin impatiently interrupted her.
Teacher Tao said sternly, “Teacher Jin, don’t interrupt her. Let Jia Jia finish.”
Qiao Jia Jia wasn’t about to let the obviously hostile teacher frighten her into silence.
She continued without even blinking.
“The ball belonged to our class. Chen Guoqing already had a ball from his own class, but he still wanted to take Jiang Jiang’s.
“Jiang Jiang tried to get it back, but he wouldn’t give it to her. He pushed her.
“There are bamboo poles buried in the sand over there. If He Xiaojun hadn’t grabbed Jiang Jiang and pulled her back, one of those bamboo poles could have gone straight into her eye!
“Then I went over and asked Chen Guoqing to apologize. He refused and even tried to hit me.
“Then He Xiaojun and I pushed him to the ground together.
“He kept insulting me, so I punched him once.”
Qiao Jia Jia felt that, since she wasn’t actually a real child, fighting with a little kid was somewhat unfair.
Normally, she didn’t hit children.
But that chubby boy had dared to bully her favorite Jiang Jiang.
Jiang Jiang was such a cute little girl, and Jia Jia liked her the most in the entire class.
There was no way Jia Jia could just let that slide.
One punch wasn’t even enough.
She should have hit him a couple more times and given him two black eyes!
And his mouth was so filthy.
What a brat!
Qiao Jia Jia hated troublesome children like him.
Children like Jiang Jiang were so adorable. They were sweet and innocent, and everything they said was soft and cute.
As for that chubby boy…
Hmph!
He was nothing but a foul-mouthed little brat.
To Jia Jia, a brat like that didn’t count as a real child. She had absolutely no psychological burden about hitting him.
The children around her nodded one after another.
“Jia Jia is right! Chen Guoqing bullied Jiang Jiang first!”
Jiang Jiang was also an adorable little girl.
At this moment, she pressed tightly against Qiao Jia Jia’s side, her eyes shining as she looked at Jia Jia as though she were some kind of great hero.
Her tiny hand was still tightly holding Jia Jia’s hand.
She was afraid that the friend who had just chased away the bad guy for her would be taken away by those fierce-looking adults and bullied.
Although Jiang Jiang was only a little child herself, when she looked at the intimidating adults across from her, she instinctively began to cry.
Between sobs, she said, “Jiang Jiang’s eye almost went blind. Jiang Jiang almost didn’t have an eye anymore!”
After hearing the children’s explanation, Teacher Tao was both angry and frightened.
There was a large sandy area in the kindergarten where the children loved to play.
Bamboo poles were also everywhere.
Many children liked sticking bamboo poles vertically into the sand, leaving only a small section above the surface and piling sand around them to make little mounds.
Teacher Tao had never realized that this could be such a serious safety hazard.
Now that she thought about it, the danger was enormous.
If someone wasn’t careful, a child could actually be killed.
At this moment, she just wanted to finish dealing with the current incident as quickly as possible and then remove every bamboo pole from the kindergarten and store them somewhere safe.
The children could no longer be allowed to play with them.
Teacher Tao said, “Comrade Qiao Jia Jia has explained everything very clearly. This was Comrade Chen Guoqing’s fault.
“Chen Guoqing needs to apologize to Jia Jia and Jiang Jiang.
“And Teacher Jin, you also need to apologize to Jia Jia. You falsely accused her just now.
“Even teachers need to learn how to apologize when they’ve done something wrong.”
“What if the little girl is lying?”
Teacher Jin was disdainful.
“How can you be so certain that what she said is true?”
Teacher Tao’s expression turned cold.
“They’re only three or four years old. How could children this young even know how to fabricate a story?
“And so many children are giving the same account. Are you saying they all got together beforehand and rehearsed the same lie?
“If you still don’t believe them, we can ask children from another class. There should have been some older children nearby just now.
“There’s no way our class could have somehow told children from another class what to say, right? Bring them over and ask them. We’ll know the truth.”
Teacher Jin’s position was already obvious.
At this point, regardless of who had been right or wrong at the beginning, the injured child was Chen Guoqing.
Therefore, in her mind, Jia Jia had to apologize.
But before Teacher Jin could say anything, the elderly woman standing behind her—Chen Guoqing’s grandmother—had already planted her hands on her hips and started cursing.
“How could it possibly be our Guoqing’s fault?
“Those two little girls don’t have a single injury, while my grandson has a black eye and a scraped knee!
“Hmph! Teacher Jin, hurry up and make that family give us an explanation.
“My son is the director of the steel factory. If you don’t deal with that little girl, just wait until my son gets off work. None of you will be able to escape the consequences!”
The old woman’s son was actually Chen Jianming, one of the steel factory’s five deputy directors.
He was only one of several deputy directors, but the old woman always told people that her son was “the factory director,” making herself sound very important.
Chen Guoqing had also developed his domineering personality partly because of this.
He was constantly taking other children’s toys at kindergarten and hitting people.
But his teacher, Jin Weihong, always favored him.
Instead of criticizing him, she would soothe him and make excuses for him.
“Deal with it?”
A cold voice suddenly came from outside.
“I’d like to see who dares to ‘deal with’ my daughter.”
He Yingying had finally arrived.
“Teacher Tao, I’m Qiao Jia Jia’s mother. Could you please tell me exactly what happened?”
He Yingying had practically run all the way to the kindergarten.
Halfway there, she suddenly remembered that she could have ridden her bicycle.
She had been so anxious that she had completely forgotten.
But by then, it was too late to turn back, so she could only hurry onward, afraid that if she arrived too late, her daughter might be bullied.
The moment she entered the kindergarten and heard them talking about “dealing with” her daughter, anger surged through her.
Fortunately, Jia Jia was surrounded by a group of children and appeared unharmed.
Otherwise, He Yingying didn’t know what she might have done.
Seeing Jia Jia’s mother arrive, Teacher Tao also breathed a sigh of relief.
She had been the only adult on Jia Jia’s side, and she really couldn’t stand against Teacher Jin and Chen Guoqing’s two family members by herself.
She quickly explained everything that had happened to Jia Jia’s mother.
Then she reassured her, “Please don’t worry. This wasn’t Comrade Qiao Jia Jia’s fault. She was standing up for another child and protecting her classmate.”
After hearing the full story from Teacher Tao, He Yingying became even angrier.
So her daughter really wasn’t at fault.
The other side had actually tried to twist the story around and bully her daughter!
She walked directly up to Chen Guoqing’s grandmother and said coldly, “Your son is the factory director of the steel factory?
“How come I’ve never heard that Director Wen has such an unreasonable family?
“Your grandson is named Chen Guoqing, while Director Wen’s surname is Wen. So which is it? Did your son somehow take your surname, or are you lying and deliberately using Director Wen’s name to bully people and damage his reputation?
“Even if we take a step back and assume your son really is Director Wen, that doesn’t mean a factory director gets to interfere in a kindergarten.
“Your own child bullied someone, and now you’re using the factory director’s position to force the victim to apologize and threaten to punish her family.
“What is this? Is he the Emperor of Heaven?
“Our family may just be ordinary workers. We don’t have any leaders among us.
“But if this matter gets serious, we’re not afraid.
“A factory director can’t simply bully ordinary workers. If necessary, we’ll go to the factory’s Party secretary and the union chairman. One way or another, we’ll demand an explanation from the higher authorities.”
He Yingying could tell at a glance that the elderly woman could not possibly be Director Wen’s mother.
Director Wen was already fifty-six. If this woman were his mother, she would have to be well over seventy.
Besides, Yingying had heard her father-in-law say that Director Wen’s parents had died many years ago.
So this woman’s son definitely wasn’t Director Wen.
Chen Guoqing’s grandmother hadn’t expected the little girl’s mother to be so sharp-tongued.
She immediately shouted, “Who my son is is none of your business!
“Your daughter beat my grandson this badly, so she has to apologize to him!
“And you have to pay compensation!
“Thirty yuan. Not a single cent less!”
Seeing that the little girl’s family had arrived—and that there were four of them—the old woman naturally no longer dared threaten to drag the girl over and beat her.
Instead, she simply demanded an outrageous amount of money.
“Hmph. You don’t dare say who your son is?
“So you were lying just now and using Director Wen’s name to damage his reputation?
“Director Wen really has suffered an undeserved blow. He probably never imagined that while he was away on business, someone would be working so hard behind his back to ruin his reputation.
“As for compensation? We won’t pay you a single cent.
“We haven’t even asked you to compensate us yet!
“Your grandson was the one who bullied people first. He must have frightened my daughter and that little girl Jiang Jiang terribly.
“Now I want your grandson to apologize to them.”
Teacher Jin couldn’t help saying from the side, “Hmph. The old lady’s son is Deputy Director Chen. She never said he was Director Wen.”
He Yingying gave a cold, humorless smile.
“Oh, he’s a deputy director?
“So the old lady was just exaggerating her son’s position to make herself sound important.
“But even being a deputy director doesn’t change anything.
“Your grandson still has to apologize to my daughter.
“Otherwise, we’ll reverse the situation and demand thirty yuan from you instead.
“After being frightened by several fierce-looking adults like you, what if my daughter and that little girl have nightmares tonight?”
Chen Guoqing’s grandmother hadn’t expected anyone to refuse to take her son’s position seriously.
She stood there stunned for a moment.
But she quickly recovered and brought out her ultimate weapon.
She dropped herself heavily onto the ground, slapped her thighs with both hands, and began wailing.
“Oh, what an injustice! Young people bullying an old woman!
“Hurry up and apologize to my grandson, and pay us compensation!
“Otherwise, I’ll sit right here and refuse to get up!
“I’m not in good health. I was even hospitalized earlier this year.
“If something happens to me because you’ve made me so angry, none of you will get away with it!”
After delivering her threat, the old woman simply sat on the ground, crying and refusing to move.
Standing nearby, Lu Guihua’s eyes immediately lit up.