“Whаt’s wrоng, Peаrl?”
Wang Wenqin hаd асtuаllу аlreаdy sеen the discussions in the рarent grоup сhаt, but she didn’t wаnt to tеll Pеarl yet.
“Mom is lуing! You’re аll lying!” Рearl shouted angrily. “I saw Little Mud! She wаsn’t sold to thе cоuntryside аt аll!”
Whеn the Ling fаmilу сamе to piсk uр Хiаo Ling Bao, Рearl wаs bеing lоokеd after by а servаnt аnd didn’t соme оut.
Afterwаrd, the Wаng family hаd coахed her bу sауing thаt Little Mud, becаusе she was disobedient, had bееn sold to the соuntrysidе, whеre shе might havе littlе to еat or wear and probably wouldn’t live much longer.
So Pearl had automatically imagined that Little Mud had already starved to death.
She never expected that, not long after, she would actually run into Little Mud at kindergarten—and a Little Mud completely different from before at that.
“Pearl doesn’t want to go to kindergarten! I don’t want to go to the same kindergarten as her!” Pearl started crying. “She’s wearing such a pretty dress! The very one you wouldn’t buy for me!”
Wang Wenqin was flustered.
Pearl was usually the most obedient and well-behaved, but once she threw a tantrum, she absolutely wouldn’t let anyone have peace.
“Pearl, be good. When have I ever not bought you a dress?” Wang Wenqin coaxed her. “Haven’t Mom, Grandma, and Uncle bought you everything you wanted?”
“That one, that exact one, that white sparkly one…” Pearl cried harder and harder. “You lied! You said it wasn’t available, but you actually bought it for Little Mud! That was clearly Pearl’s dress!”
Wang Wenqin remembered now.
Last week, the new high-end luxury custom children’s wear collection from Xiang’s was released. That globally limited edition dress—Pearl had originally wanted it, but when they tried to order it, they found out it had already been reserved by someone else.
Who would have thought that it was the Ling family who snatched the dress away!
That jinx Little Mud, what right does she have to wear such a fine dress?
She doesn’t deserve it!
“We didn’t buy it for Little Mud!” Wang Wenqin, now understanding the truth, was furious but still had to coax Pearl. “That was bought for her by her new uncles.”
“When did she get new uncles? Why does she get to have uncles too?” Pearl was shocked, then started rolling around on the floor. “Pearl is the one who has uncles! She’s not allowed to have uncles!”
Those tall, handsome uncles from earlier were actually Little Mud’s new uncles? And they bought her a new dress… Worst of all, she looked so good wearing it!
Pearl cried and threw a tantrum, demanding to change kindergartens.
Wang Wenqin couldn’t calm her down and was so angry her heart, liver, and spleen ached.
The Ling family was truly shameless!
Their Wang family’s Pearl attended Hede Kindergarten; anyone with a little effort could find out. She didn’t believe the Ling family didn’t know!
Yet they deliberately sent Little Mud here, wearing the dress they stole from Pearl, and made such a big, ostentatious show of it, as if afraid the whole world wouldn’t know.
Messages and photos were flying all over the parent group chat. Whether it was the moms’ infatuation or the dads’ jealousy, it all felt like slap after slap across the Wang family’s face!
“Pearl, stop crying. If you keep crying, Little Mud is going to steal all your good friends!” In her moment of anxiety, Wang Wenqin blurted out.
Miraculously, Pearl stopped crying and began looking at her mother hesitantly.
Seeing it worked, Wang Wenqin, not caring about anything else, eagerly urged, “Pearl, aren’t there many teachers and children at kindergarten who like you? If you don’t go anymore, Little Mud is going to go and steal all your teachers and friends!”
Pearl bit her lip, said nothing, wiped her tears, and got out of the car.
Wang Wenqin breathed a sigh of relief, feeling quite gratified.
Their Pearl was truly clever, understanding things with just a hint.
With such intelligence, how could that silly little Broom Star, Little Mud, ever compare?
…
The teacher held Xiao Ling Bao’s hand and led her into the spacious, bright classroom.
The classroom had already been decorated in advance with balloons, colored lights, and a welcome banner. There was also a large multi-tiered cake. The children sat on small stools, surrounded by teachers and caregivers.
“Our Cherry Class Three has welcomed a new little friend,” said the homeroom teacher of Cherry Class, surnamed Han, a beautiful young teacher only twenty-two years old.
She smiled and patted Xiao Ling Bao’s head. “This is our new companion, little friend Ling Ziqi. Come, Ziqi, would you like to introduce yourself to everyone?”
Xiao Ling Bao stepped onto a small round platform specially prepared for her. The platform was pink and covered with colorful, shiny stickers.
She wore crystal-encrusted little leather shoes custom-designed by her uncles, a snow-white pearl-and-mother-of-pearl princess dress made of light gauze. Her hair was neatly combed and coiled on top of her head, adorned with a small diamond tiara hairpin, like a real little princess.
“Hello everyone, my name is Ling Ziqi,” Xiao Ling Bao held her skirt and bowed politely to everyone. “My uncles at home all like to call me Xiao Ling Bao…”
“Aren’t you called Wang Xiaoni?” Suddenly, a sharp little girl’s voice rang out. “I’ve seen you at the Wang family’s house. Everyone calls you Little Mud!”
The classroom fell silent.
“Hahahaha…” The children suddenly burst into laughter.
“Little Mud! She’s called Little Mud!”
“So funny, Little Mud!”
Some of the children even started wriggling.
“Little Mud, mud mud mud~”
“Is she lying? What’s her real name?”
…
“Quiet! Children, quiet!” The teachers desperately tried to stop them, but it was no use.
The children laughed and made noise for quite a while before finally settling down.
But the atmosphere of the welcome party had been completely ruined.
“Little friend Yin Xuetong must have mistaken her for someone else,” Teacher Han said with a smile, trying to smooth things over.
“I didn’t mistake her! She is Wang Xiaoni!” Yin Xuetong stood up, pointing at Xiao Ling Bao on the platform. “Her uncle calls her Little Mud! I heard it myself!”
Yin Xuetong was the beloved granddaughter of the Yin family.
In recent years, the Yin family had grown close to the Wang family. Yin Xuetong often enjoyed playing at the Wang family’s house. Not only had she seen the former Little Mud and witnessed how the Wang family treated her, but she had also secretly bullied her together with Pearl.
Not to mention that Pearl had already whispered to her about it earlier.
Even without that, what she saw before her was something Yin Xuetong couldn’t understand.
How could that skinny, weak ugly duckling turn into such a dazzling, beautiful little princess in the blink of an eye?
“This is…” The smile on Teacher Han’s face stiffened. She turned to look at Xiao Ling Bao. “Little friend Ling Ziqi, do you know what this is about?”
The Ling family suddenly having an extra child and going to great lengths to send her to the best Cherry Class at Hede had become a topic of private discussion at Hede.
Some speculated that the child was the illegitimate child of the Ling family’s Eldest Brother, while others guessed she belonged to the celebrity Seventh Brother…
In short, this child’s origins were certainly questionable.
But these matters were not something teachers like them could inquire about.
Nowadays, when a child unexpectedly exposed Xiao Ling Bao’s identity on the spot, Teacher Han’s first thought was not to stop it but rather to try to coax more truth from Xiao Ling Bao’s mouth.
After all, the words of a three-year-old are the easiest to trick out and also contain the highest truthfulness.