NOVEL NEXT Chapter 353: Song Yuanming Calls
Song Yuanhuan would only go home once a week, so he could accept eating homemade popsicles just once a week. "All right, then! Cheng Guang has made a deal with Mom, no backing out or overindulging." Xu Xiuxiu was willing to compromise, otherwise, little Song Chengguang wouldn't get what he wanted and would give her the silent treatment for days. That kid could really endure, although the so-called silent treatment was only from his perspective.
"Thanks, Mom, you're the prettiest, the very best. Cheng Guang loves you the most..." Song Chengguang began to gather all the words of praise he could think of from his mind.
"Who do you think is better, me or Dad?" Xu Xiuxiu raised an eyebrow and couldn't help asking. Although she would be happy no matter the answer, she would definitely be even happier if Song Chengguang said Mom was better.
"Of course..." Song Chengguang was about to speak but suddenly stopped himself, "Mom is better, Dad is always mistreating Cheng Guang." After saying this, he pouted his lips to show his discontent.
Hearing this, Xu Xiuxiu burst into laughter.
Knock knock knock—
After breakfast, Xu Xiuxiu began to tidy up the dining table, really intending to dig the boy and girl twins out of bed soon and take them out to bask in the sun, when there was a knock at the door: "Sister Xiu, are you home? There's a call for you at the convenience store!" Sister Hu's voice called out from outside.
Since moving to Imperial City, making calls wasn't as convenient as before. They hadn't installed a landline in the house either. Considering there might be occasions when she needed to be in touch with Sichuan Pavilion or her old home, Xu Xiuxiu had made a good relationship with Sister Hu, who ran a convenience store not too far away. She'd also agreed to give Sister Hu a few yuan every month as a token of appreciation, hoping that Sister Hu would let her know if there was a call for her. Gradually, she got to know Sister Hu better, who would occasionally come to remind her in person to pick up a call if she had free time. If she was busy, she would send her kids over to fetch Xu Xiuxiu.
"Sister Hu, is that you? Is there a call for me? I'll be right there," Xu Xiuxiu opened the door and replied to Sister Hu outside. "Do you want to come in and sit for a bit?"
"No need for me to sit, I still have to watch the store!" Sister Hu nodded with a smile, graciously declining Xu Xiuxiu's politeness. "Alright, then you hurry up! I'll head back first."
"Okay! Thanks for the trouble, Sister Hu."
"No trouble at all," Sister Hu waved her hand and went back.
Xu Xiuxiu turned her head to instruct Song Chengguang to stay put at home: "Cheng Guang, be good at home and look after your brother and sister, okay? Mom will go answer a call and then come back to take you guys out."
"Okay! Mom, you go!" Song Chengguang was being good this time, knowing not to cause trouble for Xu Xiuxiu.
Seeing this, Xu Xiuxiu finally left the house at ease, but it was only after getting through a phone call at the convenience store that she learned the caller was Song Yuanming. On the phone, he stammered without clarifying the situation for a long time, but Xu Xiuxiu more or less understood. He said that something happened at school, and now the school was trying to forcefully expel him. He had no idea what to do. Although he was close to home and could tell Father Song and Mrs. Song to ask for their help, he feared disappointing and saddening them. After much indecision, he finally decided to call his sister-in-law, Xu Xiuxiu.
He instinctively felt that maybe only his sister-in-law could resolve the matter.
"Yuanying, tell me what exactly happened? And why is the school forcefully asking you to withdraw?" Xu Xiuxiu felt the situation must be serious if it had come to the school forcefully demanding a student to withdraw. Certainly, this was no simple matter.
"…" Song Yuanming was silent on the other end of the line for a long time, his tone filled with conflict and helplessness, "Sister-in-law, it's like this. When the summer vacation ended and I returned to school, didn't you and my second brother give me a fountain pen? I thought it was too valuable and kept it without using it. The day before yesterday, the school held a fountain pen competition, so I used it. There is a classmate named Liao Shixing who also has the same kind of pen. He brought it to school and then it went missing. When he saw me with the fountain pen, he thought it was his and accused me of stealing it, demanding that I return it to him. Despite my explanations, he wouldn't listen. He even mocked me with other classmates, saying I couldn't possibly afford such an expensive pen. In the end, the matter was taken to our homeroom teacher. After understanding the situation, the teacher asked me to return the pen to Liao Shixing without asking further. Naturally, I disagreed. During the argument, I accidentally pushed Liao Shixing, and he broke his arm. The school said the incident was too serious. Apparently, Liao Shixing's family has some backing, so the school directly asked me to withdraw…" Song Yuanming said, his voice carrying hints of bitterness and grievance.
"Sister-in-law, I didn't take his pen." By the end, Song Yuanming's tone had become weary, perhaps having said this many times over the past few days.
Xu Xiuxiu hadn't expected things to be so complicated, and quite melodramatic at that.
Initially, when she bought the pen for Song Yuanming, it was because he had good penmanship with much character. Song Yuan Yao and Song Yuanming had spent two months in Z City over the summer vacation. When they returned to school, she as their sister-in-law naturally wanted to buy them some gifts. The pen she got for Song Yuanming was indeed pricey, costing nearly 200 yuan. It pained her to spend so much, but because it was a foreign brand known for its fine craftsmanship, she bit the bullet and bought it, especially with the encouragement of Song Yuanhuan, her second brother-in-law, who claimed every man must own a good fountain pen. Little did she know that a pen could cause so much trouble.
"Where are you now? Are you still staying in the school dormitory?"
After Song Yuanming entered high school, he had been boarding at the school dormitory. Now that the school had requested him to withdraw, they would likely ask him to move out of the dormitory as well. Xu Xiuxiu was worried the boy might have nowhere to go.
"Mhm." In fact, the dorm supervisor had already asked him to move out, but he wasn't willing to go just like that, merely dragging his feet in a futile struggle.
"Alright, your sister-in-law is coming right away. Don't worry, and don't confront your classmates or the school head-on. Let's discuss it once I'm there." Xu Xiuxiu immediately comforted Song Yuanming, realizing that for a teenager, this incident must have been very unsettling. Otherwise, he wouldn't be calling her. Moreover, being such a proud young man, being wrongfully accused of theft was something he certainly couldn't accept.
"Okay." Song Yuanming sighed with relief upon hearing that Xu Xiuxiu would come to help deal with the matter.
Xu Xiuxiu hung up the phone without lingering and went straight home. She picked up the three children and went directly to the military school to find Song Yuanhuan. After briefly explaining the situation to him, she left the children with him and bought the fastest plane ticket available to Song Yuanming's school.
However, this was Xu Xiuxiu's first experience flying in this world. If not for the slowness of the train, which took over twenty hours from the Imperial City to Song Yuanming's city, N City, she would not have opted for a plane, no matter how expensive. A plane ticket from the Imperial City to N City, where Song Yuanming was studying, cost a staggering seventy-something yuan – equivalent to a month's salary for someone employed. Besides, planes were small, carried few passengers, and even the take-off and landing sites were just grass fields. The harrowing experience left Xu Xiuxiu full of dread, but given its speed, which was indeed much faster than a train, she managed to arrive in N City by evening.