When Mo Jingxi noticed that Police Chief Mo was trying his best, he truly felt that this man was his grandfather. Police Chief Mo may be stern, but he loved his grandson, so it would not be right to be afraid of him.
This was why Mo Jingxi mustered the courage to smile widely at Police Chief Mo. However, all his lips could do was twitch as he was too nervous.
Nevertheless, this was enough for Police Chief Mo. He quietly approved of his grandson, who was acting brave and courageous.
Even a.d.u.l.ts, including certain young people, did not dare to smile at him.
For Mo Jingxi to be able to speak so a.s.sertively and make the effort to try to get closer to him made Police Chief Mo think of Mo Jingxi as a good boy with potential!
Police Chief Mo continued looking stern while stroking Mo Jingxi"s head. He could feel the child go stiff all over, but still, he did not shy away. Police Chief Mo felt proud of him for this.
He turned to see s.h.i.+ Tou and Tian Tian nearby. Their eyes were red, and he could guess why.
"You can"t bear to say goodbye to each other?" Police Chief Mo asked.
Mo Jingxi nodded heavily. "I want to frequently come back to visit the old princ.i.p.al, my brothers, and sisters."
Police Chief Mo nodded in agreement. This gave Mo Jingxi confidence and his little face brightened. "That"s right. No matter how old you are or what happens to you in the future, you cannot forget this place. The old princ.i.p.al had brought you up. Without her, you never know what would"ve become of you. You could have been out in the streets and homeless; You could"ve been kidnapped and trafficked or made to beg on the streets to earn a keep for bad organizations; You could have been forced into thievery and eventually been arrested. There would not have been any shelter for you to hide from those dreadful situations. You are too young to defend yourself and could have easily been bullied. Such a thing might have ended up costing you your life.
"If it wasn"t for the old princ.i.p.al, you could have ended up in a whole plethora of terrible situations and we would never have found you. We wouldn"t have been aware of any of your suffering and you would never have been able to find anyone to save you. You wouldn"t have such a big family in the orphanage as you do now, and wouldn"t have the old princ.i.p.al who loves you like a grandmother, or siblings who care for you so much. You also wouldn"t have Lin Chu, who"s always looking out for you. You wouldn"t have had the chance to go to school or enjoy warm meals every day. Besides the fact that you were missing a biological family, you managed to enjoy a life just like any other normal child."
Images flashed through Mo Jingxi"s head as he listened to Police Chief Mo. He trembled and immediately nodded. "I know. I already have so much to be thankful for. I"ve always known that."
In reality, Police Chief Mo"s words were meant for Liang Xiulin, not Mo Jingxi.
He glanced at Liang Xiulin after he finished saying this and saw look of discomfort flash across her face. He wondered if she had listened to what he was trying to tell her, or if she would even remember his words in the future.
Liang Xiulin had always immediately expressed remorse whenever she was found to be in the wrong, but not long after, she would forget everything and return to old habits.
Police Chief Mo smiled at Mo Jinxi. "I promise you. If you work hard in your studies and can find the time, your uncle or I will bring you here to visit the old princ.i.p.al and all the children."
"I promise I will finish all my work on time!" Mo Jinxi said excitedly.
His little face lit up at Police Chief Mo"s promise. Even though his grandfather looked to be a strict man, he was very reasonable. His grandfather looked like the person to go to if he were even looking to have an open discussion, as long as it was within reason.
This was why there was a hint of relief in Mo Jinxi"s smile. He felt closer to Police Chief Mo after this.
The old princ.i.p.al soon made all of Mo Jinxi"s favorite food. He did not get to eat it often, but not because the food unhealthy, but because the old princ.i.p.al was very particular in picking nutritious food for the children.
Not many nutritious foods tasted delicious. As there were many children in the orphanage, it was impossible to make individual meals for the kids. Everyone had different preferences and it would be impossible to please all the children at one go, so there would be food you loved which did not suit other"s taste.
Only during dinner on the eve of Lunar New Year would the old princ.i.p.al make a few more of the children"s favorite dishes for them to enjoy at the huge table. The children mostly loved meat dishes, especially chicken. They loved fried food too, which was not really nutritious. This was why the old princ.i.p.al seldom made them and only reserved these dishes for Lunar New Year. Only then would she indulge the children and let them have fun eating rather than focusing on nutrition.
After dinner, Teacher w.a.n.g took out Mo Jinxi"s luggage. Mo Jinxi"s daily necessities had been packed inside, which included his clothes and toys.
However, Liang Xiulin did not take the luggage. Instead, she simply smiled and said, "When Jinxi comes home with us, we"ll just buy whatever he needs. We"ll change everything to symbolize a fresh start for him."
Mo Jinxi lowered his head slightly in disappointment. "But I… I want to bring them back with him. These are still usable, and I"ve always been using them."
These items reminded him of the orphanage, so they comforted him in a way.
"Be a good boy. We"ve already had a discussion about this. We"re transferring you to Jixia Academy, so if you wear these old clothes when you start schooling there, your cla.s.smates will laugh at you," Liang Xiulin pulled Mo Jinxi over and explained.
Meanwhile, Teacher w.a.n.g was bringing the luggage over to them when she stiffened after hearing these words. It became too awkward for her to even pa.s.s them the luggage. Thus, she simply smiled patronizingly and did not say a word.
Mo Jinxi frowned slightly. He was about to say something when Police Chief Mo, who was by the side, spoke up, "What"s there to laugh about? All clothes are made from the same materials. Put on a label and it becomes expensive. Take off the label and it would go back to being an ordinary s.h.i.+rt. Stop instilling these sorts of values in children. If you"re an outstanding person, even if you aren"t wearing anything particularly flashy, others will still respect you. Just look at Ruan Lichuan, Old Master Ruan. He wears a singlet with a polyester coat and goes off to the Chinese Academy of Science to conduct research; don"t forget, he even went University A for his studies. Who dares to look down on him then? No matter how casually he dresses, people are still respectful of him."
Liang Xiulin"s face darkened. How could Mo Jinxi be compared with Ruan Lichuan?
The thing that made her most unhappy was that Police Chief Mo had embarra.s.sed her in front of outsiders. He did not bother helping her save face and had reb.u.t.ted everything she had said.
Mo Jinxi thought that Police Chief Mo was being very reasonable and nodded vigorously. Police Chief Mo looked at the serious expression on his face and got the feeling that this was a boy that could be taught well.
No words were exchanged between grandfather and grandson, but they knew that they approved of each other. There was an aura of harmony between the two as the a.d.u.l.t and child stood together whilst looking at each other.
Moments later, Mo Jingsheng took the luggage from Teacher w.a.n.g"s hands and thanked her.
When Mo Jinxi left with the Mo Family, Lin Chu felt fine. She had Yan Beicheng backing her up, so Liang Xiulin could not do much to stop her from seeing Mo Jinxi.
However, the old princ.i.p.al, Teacher w.a.n.g, Teacher Yuan and the rest of the children could not help but cry. The elder ones were much more reserved as all they did was wipe away their tears secretly. They did not want Mo Jinxi to feel sad.
Despite this, s.h.i.+ Tou and Tian Tian could not help it but sob loudly. They hugged Mo Jinxi and could not bear for him to leave.
In the end, Mo Jinxi had to repeatedly promise them that he would return to visit them. After making the same promise an endless amount of times, s.h.i.+ Tou and Tian Tian finally let go of him and allowed Mo Jinxi to leave.
Lin Chu and Yan Beicheng did not leave at the same as the Mo Family. Instead, they stayed back to console the old princ.i.p.al and the rest of the children.
The old princ.i.p.al still had some tissues in her hand as she sniffled into them and sighed. "I know Police Chief Mo and Mo Jingsheng are big-hearted people. They will definitely bring up Jinxi well and will be good examples for him. When they get back to the Mo Family, the education, life and the people Jinxi will come into contact with will be much better than if he had stayed in the orphanage. He will have better resources, a broader world-view, and will get to know people that we, at the orphanage, will never get the chance to meet. He will enjoy a brighter future. At the orphanage, the best a child could hope to do is become an ordinary employee. If that child worked hard and has the capabilities, he or she could become a manager, but it still can"t compare to the life or someone in the Mo Family. I"m really happy that Jinxi will be able to enjoy this.
"However, I can tell that Madam Mo does not intend to let Jinxi stay in contact with us. She"s afraid that we will only create trouble for Jinxi and turn him into a rotten apple. I think it will be difficult to see Jinxi again," the old princ.i.p.al wiped the tears in her eyes and said.
Lin Chu knew that this was the harsh truth. The old princ.i.p.al could discern the situation very clearly, so Lin Chu did not try to lie to console her.
All she said was, "Don"t worry. She may not allow Jinxi to come here, but she can"t stop Jinxi from seeing me. She may look down on the orphanage, but she can"t look down on the Yan family. She can"t stop me Jinxi from seeing me because of the Yan family, and because of Beicheng. I"ll bring Jinxi back here for visits whenever I can. Jinxi is a good boy, and he won"t break contact with the orphanage."
"As long as Jinxi is doing well, nothing else matters," the old princ.i.p.al sighed tiredly.
"You"ve had a busy night. Get an early rest. We should also head home soon. The children will need to wake up early tomorrow," Lin Chu advised.
The old princ.i.p.al nodded. Teacher w.a.n.g and Teacher Yuan led the crying children back to their rooms as the old princ.i.p.al stood up as well.
It has been a tiring and sad night. With Mo Jinxi no longer around, the old princ.i.p.al felt that a part of her was missing while walking back to her bedroom.
The orphanage seemed quieter now.
The Mo Family had quickly transferred Mo Jinxi out of his school, and Liang Xiulin had personally worked on getting the transfer done. When the headmaster found out that the school had a student from the Mo Family, he was stunned. Police Chief Mo"s grandson had been studying in the school for two years and no one knew about it. It was too much of a low profile!
The headmaster personally brought Liang Xiulin to meet Mo Jinxi"s cla.s.s teacher at once.
Since the incident with Lin Chu, the cla.s.s teacher was constantly afraid that another parent would come and cause her trouble. Because of this, she had been especially responsible at work. The Mandarin cla.s.s representative must have been lectured by her parents at home, and when she returned to school, the cla.s.s teacher had given her another talking to. As a result, she felt embarra.s.sed by the whole ordeal. She had always enjoyed spreading news she overheard in the teacher"s office as it got her attention and reinforced her position as the cla.s.s representative, but now, she was forced to take a step back from the habit.
The cla.s.s representative had always thought of Mo Jinxi as the main reason behind her predicament, so she had gathered a bunch of cla.s.smates by abusing her position as the Mandarin cla.s.s representative to boycott Mo Jinxi.
Primary school students had an admiration for their cla.s.s representatives as students now were different from the past. In the past, when cla.s.ses chose their representatives, the criteria was based on their performance in cla.s.s, which includes their results, rapport with cla.s.smates, as well as if they were well-liked by teachers.
Teachers would be fond of students who had good results and had a high integrity. For example, they would single out a student as a role model and give praise to them, or would get a few favorite students to help out at the office. Children were straightforward with their thoughts, and they would use these examples as a standard to identify good students to act as their cla.s.s representatives when voting during every school term.
However, nowadays, parents who were building portfolios for their children so that they would get better educational opportunities in the future would use multiple tactics to get the teacher to treat their child better. Some would go so far as to try to influence the teacher to pick their child to be a representative in cla.s.s.
Some parents used money to do this, while others used power.
One could say that these cla.s.s representatives were often elected with the help of their parents who did their best to b.u.t.ter up to the teacher.
There was an alumni from the orphanage who was now working as a primary school teacher and was also a homeroom teacher as well. Once, when she had returned to the orphanage to visit the old princ.i.p.al, it just so happened that Lin Chu was visiting as well. The teacher had told Lin Chu about how she had accepted bribes from parents and would make a decision based on who gave the most attractive bribes.
There was a parent who had even driven her to a luxury mall to pick out her favorite pair of shoes. The parent went straight to the point when she proposed this and also made the payment on the spot.
The teacher was very realistic when she described the situation as she explained that she did not earn much working as a teacher. She had to find an alternative way of getting extra income for her to spend on clothes.
She had even shown Lin Chu her Wechat group which was filled with parents. She had initially started it with good intentions as she wanted to make it more convenient to contact parents if she wanted to discuss their children"s issues. She could also directly inform parents on school activities and upload doc.u.ments that could immediately be sent out to the parents.
However, as time went by, the intention of the chat group changed as parents started to brown-nose her.
When Teachers" Day came around, the parents took extra effort to heap praise on the teacher.
Lin Chu had read one of the praises from a parent that said, "We told our child that it"s Teacher"s Day today. He loves drawing, so in order to send his blessings to the teachers, he said he wanted to draw something for his dear Teacher Zhu and Teacher Xue. Teacher, you"ve worked hard, do take care to have a balanced lifestyle."
The teacher had mentioned in the group that she needed to collect money to purchase books and melodicas and gave a reminder to the parents to pa.s.s the money to their children. Almost immediately, a parent said, "I suggest we hand in the money separately; We"ll write down our names and prepare the exact amount. After all, we shouldn"t be causing too much trouble for the teacher as she has been working hard."
The parents would try all they could to get their teacher to form a good impression of their children.
All the old princ.i.p.al and Lin Chu could do after listening to her stories was sigh once the teacher had left. Even primary school was not free from politics.
Mo Jinxi might have scored really good results in school but he was not a cla.s.s representative. The old princ.i.p.al had not been aware of these tactics, but she finally understood things after that teacher had explained it to her. Despite this, there was still nothing she could do, even if she did indeed understand the situation. The conditions of the orphanage did not allow her the finances to b.u.t.ter up to the teachers. Besides, the old princ.i.p.al was not that skilled in using her phone to go online.
Most of the students in the cla.s.s listened to the cla.s.s representative. When the teacher was not in cla.s.s and it was time for self-study, the cla.s.s representative was in charge of maintaining discipline. It was a position of trust and power.
Mo Jinxi was an orphan and there were few who would stand up for him. Despite having good results, he was considered one of the weaker links in the cla.s.s.
When the Mandarin cla.s.s representative came back after being lectured by the cla.s.s teacher, the cla.s.s was just about to start. The teacher had not yet arrived in cla.s.s and most of the students were already in their seats, save for a few naughtier children. Those in their seats had already placed their textbooks on the table.
The Mandarin cla.s.s representative did not bother to hide her snort as she took her seat. She immediately announced to the cla.s.s, "Someone has been a tattle-tale. The teacher had just given me a warning to stop informing everyone about what happens in the office. This is unfortunate as now, none of you will be able to find out when our next outing will be or when the next sports day will be held. You won"t be able to learn what questions will be included in the next exam paper."
When the Mandarin cla.s.s representative spread news, it was not just gossip about which student had been lectured by which teacher. The news covered a variety of topics which included school trips, sports day, movies day, etc. The students were always eager to know about anything that involved having fun.
When the Mandarin cla.s.s representative started complaining about this, many students had started to boycott Mo Jinxi. During Physical Education cla.s.s, when the students had to pick their teams, Mo Jinxi would always end up being the last one chosen. It was the same situation in any other activity.
Mo Jinxi did not tell anyone about this situation because he was worried that the old princ.i.p.al would start fretting about him. He was also afraid that his little brothers and sisters would be disappointed in him as he was supposed to be the big brother.
This was why Mo Jinxi had determinedly been silent for so many days.
The headmaster had brought along Liang Xiulin to the office to finish the school transfer process for Mo Jinxi.
This was also when Liang Xiulin learned of Mo Jinxi"s last two cla.s.ses for the day. One was a DIY cla.s.s while the other was Physical Education cla.s.s. They were not really important cla.s.ses, so Liang Xiulin did not feel that it could be too detrimental for Mo Jinxi to miss them. Furthermore, she would be taking him to view Jixia Academy the next day as once the procedure was completed, he would officially start schooling there. Thus, she decided to take him out of school early.
The headmaster readily agreed as he rubbed his hands together and said, "Madam Mo, can I take a photo with you and hang it in the office?"
He could show it off if his superior from the Education Department dropped by for a spot check. How can his school not be doing well if Madam Mo herself came to visit?
Liang Xiulin was quite a generous character when it came to the public. Thus, she smiled and agreed to take the picture with the headmaster.
The cla.s.s teacher had never expected Mo Jingxi to be the grandson of the Mo Family. How could there be such a big change in just a few days?
She had just felt comforted when she learned that Lin Chu did not plan to report her failure to the headmaster, but now a new worry had emerged.
Liang Xiulin had wanted to give this cla.s.s teacher a piece of her mind, but she could not embarra.s.s the teacher too much in public.
This was because Liang Xiulin had always carried an image of elegance and dignity. Even if she had wanted to teach this teacher a lesson, she could not do so in the open.
So, she followed the cla.s.s teacher into Mo Jinxi"s cla.s.s. When the headmaster opened the door, the DIY cla.s.s teacher was surprised.
The headmaster waved Mo Jinxi over. "Mo Jinxi, your grandmother is here to pick you up."
Mo Jinxi was surprised. He ran toward his grandmother as Liang Xiulin looked at him in adoration and said, "Grandma has just completed your school transfer procedure. You can skip your cla.s.ses for today as Grandma will take you home now. We"ve already informed Jixia Academy about you and we"ll be taking you for a visit tomorrow to get to know the place. You"ll officially start cla.s.ses the day after."
Mo Jinxi replied "okay" in a daze. He had not expected things to happen so soon.
However, he did not feel too sad about transferring to another school. It did not feel the same as the orphanage.
He was not really happy here anyway. Although Mo Jinxi was nervous about going to Jixia Academy as it was filled with children from prestigious families, which was quite different from this school, Yan Ningbai was already studying there. He had a friend there, which made Mo Jinxi feel much better about the whole thing.
"Go and pack your schoolbag then," the headmaster smiled as he said.
Mo Jinxi nodded. He returned to his seat to pack his books and everything on his desk. He would not be returning anymore, so he made sure not to leave anything behind.
They were making a coin purse for DIY cla.s.s today. He had just cut out the shape of the purse and made some drawings on it when the headmaster had walked in. He had not even started sowing it, but he swiftly packed everything into his schoolbag.
A boy and a girl were always paired together in the seating arrangement of this particular primary school. The girl paired with him was close to the Mandarin cla.s.s representative, and so, had stopped talking to him because of what had happened to the cla.s.s representative. She had even drawn a clear white line between them and did not allow him to cross it.
However, now, the girl suddenly spoke to him, "Where are you going, Mo Jinxi? Why are you leaving? You"re not sick."
Mo Jinxi shook his head. "I"m transferring schools. I won"t be coming here from tomorrow onward."
Mo Jinxi spoke calmly. He did not really hate anyone here, but he did not make an effort to lower his voice either. He spoke in his usual tone, so those who were seated further away could not hear his words clearly and they thought they had misheard.
The male cla.s.smate at the very end of the cla.s.s suddenly said in surprise, "You"re transferring schools?"