Chapter 78.2

After the New Year, An An would turn ten. In her past life, her life had ended abruptly that year.

Jiang Rou felt this time would be different. Both she and Li Xiao were well, and they often taught An An to stand up for herself if she was bullied.

She had a happy family, no one mocked her background, and no one looked down on her.

What Jiang Rou didn’t expect was that, somehow, An An seemed destined to face some hardships.

Not long after starting school, An An began to feel unhappy.

Jiang Rou and Li Xiao were usually busy, and at first, they hadn’t noticed. One evening, while Jiang Rou was telling An An a bedtime story, An An suddenly asked in a soft voice, “Mommy, how did you and Daddy get together?”

Jiang Rou didn’t think much of it and assumed she was just curious about her parents’ past. She answered with a touch of embarrassment, “Your daddy chased after me.”

“How long did he chase you for?” An An asked.

Jiang Rou didn’t answer and instead asked, “Why do you ask?”

An An fell silent, puffed up her cheeks, and then, with a look of frustration, said, “Mom, someone likes me.”

Jiang Rou watched her in silence, waiting for her to continue.

An An pouted unhappily. “There were people who liked me before and secretly gave me love letters, but I just made things clear with them.”

“But this time, a new boy transferred to our school. He’s in fifth grade and, when he saw me at the start of the school year, he said he liked me and asked me to be his girlfriend. I refused, but he kept coming to find me after class and loitering around our classroom door. I’m so scared I don’t even dare to go to the bathroom.”

“The teacher even scolded me, saying that it takes two to tango and wondering why he likes me and not someone else. She said it must be because of something I did.”

By this point, An An’s eyes were full of tears—feeling very wronged.

Jiang Rou frowned. “Was it Teacher Ouyang?”

An An shook her head. “No, it’s a new teacher at the school. Teacher Ouyang hasn’t arrived yet; she’s on leave.”

She hugged Jiang Rou tightly. “Mommy, I’m so scared. I heard that the boy’s family is very wealthy and even donated a building to the school. I don’t know what to do.”

Jiang Rou hugged her back. “What are you afraid of? Our family has money too. This isn’t the only school in the world. I’ll take a day off tomorrow and go to the school with your dad to see who dares to bully our daughter.”

An An looked at Jiang Rou with concern. “Will it really be okay? I’m worried it might affect Dad’s company.”

“Even if it does affect it, we’re not afraid. We’ve earned enough money. Even if your dad stops running the company in the future, it’ll be enough for us to live comfortably for three generations. We can just spend our days traveling with you.”

After hearing this, An An stopped crying and began to smile.

Jiang Rou tucked her in, gently touching her soft, tender face, feeling regretful that she had only learned about this situation halfway through the school term.

An An’s appearance resembled Li Xiao’s—her features were delicate, her stature tall, and her skin was as fair and tender as Jiang Rou’s. At just ten years old, she had already blossomed into an exceptionally striking and charming young girl.

Previously, they hadn’t worried much about the high fees of the international school, thinking that the teachers would be responsible. However, they hadn’t anticipated such an issue arising.

After Jiang Rou had coaxed An An to sleep, she went back to the room and spoke to Li Xiao about the matter.

Li Xiao, who was reaching out to embrace Jiang Rou, had his expression darken instantly upon hearing the news.

He exploded with foul language, “Fuck! Did that teacher really say that? I’m going to confront him in person tomorrow. How can I leave my daughter to a person like this?”

Jiang Rou quickly tried to calm him down, “Please calm down. Let’s go and find out what’s going on tomorrow. An An mentioned that the boy’s family is quite wealthy. We don’t know if they’re just bullying us because of their money. Let’s not end up in a situation where we can’t support An An because of one mistake and end up worsening the situation of An An.”

“So what if they have money? Does that mean they can bully my daughter?” Li Xiao’s face was grim as he resolved to go to the school the next day to address the issue.

—o—o—o—

Early the next morning, before Jiang Rou could call him, Li Xiao got up promptly. He stood by the wardrobe, selecting a dignified black suit for himself.

Jiang Rou called the school director to request a half-day off and tidied up after breakfast.

Before leaving, An An felt a strong sense of security seeing her parents accompany her to school.

Jiang Rou drove, and Li Xiao asked An An what the boy’s name was so he could find out more.

He had been in business for years, and he had heard of the most prominent people in the circle. An An furrowed her brow and said, “His last name is Wen. I think people call him Haibo. He transferred this year from S City. I heard his family is very rich—they own a chain of hotels and his uncle runs a casino in A City, involved in both legal and illegal businesses.”

An An was hesitant to tell her parents, knowing they loved her dearly and might become angry or offended.

Li Xiao remained silent, immediately pulling out his phone to make a call.

He first called Madame Song, a shareholder of the school, asking her to look into the boy’s situation. Upon hearing Li Xiao’s description, Madame Song promptly had her assistant contact the school’s leaders and discovered that the boy was the grandson of Wen Lanshan from S City.

“His family’s hotel is quite famous. They used to run a restaurant, but when it wasn’t doing well, they switched to hotels. Wen Lanshan is 97 this year and has three sons. The eldest lives abroad and is married to a foreign woman. The youngest was the most intelligent but unfortunately died in a car accident. The family business is now managed by the second son.”

“I haven’t had dealings with their family and don’t know much about them. Please have someone investigate thoroughly. As for An An’s teacher, I have already had her dismissed. This teacher got the job through connections—she is the school head’s wife’s relative.”

Madame Song couldn’t help but ask with concern, “Is An An alright?”

An An, sitting nearby, answered obediently, “Aunt Song, I’m fine.”

On the other end, Madame Song smiled gently, “That’s good to hear. An An, don’t be afraid. If you have any issues, let me know, and I’ll take care of it.”

“Yes, thank you, Aunt Song.”

Once Li Xiao learned who the boy was, it became easier to investigate. He immediately contacted his friends to find out more about Wen Lanshan’s grandson. With many connections, he quickly discovered that Wen Haibo was indeed a grandson of the Wen family, but he was born of a woman outside the marriage. Wen Haibo’s father was Wen Lanshan’s second son, but not his biological child. He was adopted by Wen Lanshan from a deceased friend.

Wen Lanshan’s eldest son was a failure, and the youngest son had died young, leaving the family business to this adopted son. Wen Lanshan’s second son was skilled in handling people and had always been very filial. His only flaw was his mediocre relationship with his wife, leading him to maintain a mistress outside who bore him a son.

Though he had a son and a daughter with his wife, he favored the son from the mistress the most.

This illegitimate son had been well protected and had caused no trouble for years until he made headlines last year in S City.

The illegitimate son had fallen for a female student from the same school, who was two grades above him and exceptionally beautiful. The girl did not return his affection. After several failed attempts to court her, he threw sulfuric acid on her, disfiguring her.

However, the Wen family quickly covered up the incident and sent the son away.

Given Wen Lanshan’s age, he was no longer involved in daily affairs and likely did not know about this incident; otherwise, the illegitimate son would not still be living comfortably.

Li Xiao’s phone was on speaker, so Jiang Rou and An An in the car heard everything. Jiang Rou, being a medical professional, and An An, having been influenced by her mother’s knowledge, understood that sulfuric acid was extremely dangerous.

Upon hearing that Wen Haibo had disfigured a girl with sulfuric acid, An An’s face turned pale with fear. She was young and had always lived in a very safe environment, having never encountered such terrifying individuals.

Jiang Rou was also taken aback. She hadn’t realized the extent of the boy’s viciousness; she had only expected the boy to be persistently troublesome. She had planned to discuss things at the school, but with such a horrifying individual, it seemed that mere discussion might not be sufficient.

The level of danger was not any less than the few boys An An had encountered in her previous life.

She couldn’t help but glance at Li Xiao, hesitating as she asked, “Should we still go?”

She was worried that the boy might hold a grudge against them and seek revenge in secret.

Without a moment’s hesitation, Li Xiao replied, “Yes, we will give An An a two-month leave and send her to Lele’s place for a while. I’ll handle the rest.”

Jiang Rou chose to follow Li Xiao’s advice.

After the car arrived at the school, Li Xiao instructed An An to stay in the car and not get out; he and Jiang Rou would take care of things.

An An nodded obediently.

—o—o—o—

Li Xiao and Jiang Rou went directly to meet the school leadership. Li Xiao rarely visited the school; even when he did, it was just to drop An An off at the school gate, and he seldom went inside.

It seemed that Madame Song had called the school leaders beforehand. When Li Xiao arrived, several school leaders were present. He handed out his business card and explained the purpose of his visit.

Upon seeing his card, the school leaders became even more courteous and expressed their apologies for the incident involving An An. “This was a personal action of Director Wu. We were unaware of it until just now. We immediately dismissed Director Wu and his wife. Our school also bears some responsibility for this oversight, and we ask for your understanding.”

Li Xiao did not press the issue further with the school. Such matters couldn’t be entirely prevented; where there were people, there would be personal biases, even in his own company.

An An still needed to continue her studies at this school. The more he made a fuss, the worse it would be for her.

He only exchanged a few polite words and then requested a two-month leave for his daughter.

The school heads quickly agreed.

After leaving the principal’s office, Li Xiao and Jiang Rou went to An An’s classroom to collect her belongings.

An An had left many of her belongings in the classroom—she was usually too lazy to bring them back.

When they arrived at the classroom, they saw a boy sitting at An An’s desk. He looked older than the other children and was not wearing a school uniform. His expression was relaxed.

Jiang Rou knew where An An’s desk was, having personally accompanied her daughter on the first day of school and watched her choose her seat.

The cup on the desk had a drawing on it, so there was no mistaking it.

At that moment, before the class had started, the boy was casually flipping through a book at An An’s desk.

Several nearby children had subtly moved away, seeming somewhat frightened.

Jiang Rou tugged on Li Xiao’s sleeve and whispered, “That should be the boy.”

Li Xiao’s gaze turned cold instantly.

However, unlike before, he was no longer impulsive.

In the past, he would have immediately gone up and grabbed the boy by the collar and given him a beating. Now, he acted as if he had noticed nothing, calmly walking over to pack up An An’s things.

The boy frowned when he saw them approaching. “Who are you?”

Jiang Rou knew that Li Xiao was not one to just swallow his anger, and seeing his demeanor, she guessed he had his own plans. So, she didn’t show her displeasure and simply smiled. “You must be An An’s classmate? We are her parents. An An hasn’t been feeling well these days, so we’re planning to take her abroad for a little while to cheer her up.”

“You can continue reading. We’ll pack up her things ourselves.”

The boy remained silent, his eyes darting between Li Xiao and Jiang Rou.

Suppressing her frustration, Jiang Rou quickly packed up the items, while Li Xiao took An An’s cup and small toys.

After they left, the boy followed them and asked, “Which country is Li Qingshu going to?”

Li Xiao glanced back with a cold look and said nothing.

Jiang Rou, with her good temper, replied, “Country J.”

She fabricated a response.

Afterward, she caught up with Li Xiao. Once they were far away, Li Xiao’s expression darkened. He disdainfully tossed the cup he was holding into the trash can and muttered angrily, “Daring to bully my daughter, I’ll let you personally experience how I’ll deal with you.”