Chapter 77: A Truly Kind-hearted Mother
Tang Xiu rushed back to school lightning fast and found his mother sitting in the office accompanied by Han Qingwu, who was chatting with her. Seeing this situation, the worries in Tang Xiu’s heart slowly eased. He thought to assign someone to protect his mother secretly, in case one day he would provoke powerful enemies; of which, if they were unable to retaliate against him and target his mother, what would he do if that happened?
“Mum, why did you come to school?”
Tang Xiu looked at his mother and asked curiously.
Upon seeing her son had arrived, Su Lingyun promptly stepped forward to pull his hand and hastily asked, “Xiu’er, I’ve been looking for you in a rush. What have you done to your uncle? Your uncle and aunt dashed to our restaurant, kneeling and crying, wanting you to forgive them. What has happened exactly?”
Tang Xiu was silent for a moment before he answered, “Mum, I was shopping a couple days ago and met Su Shangwen and Zhang Meiyun. They wanted to humiliate me as well as coerce the school to expel me. At that time, my friend was tagging along with me, and he comes from a big business family 100 times bigger than Shangwen Real Estate. That time my friend stood up and defend me, for which, Su Shangwen insulted him. What we didn’t expect was that his father actually passed by and flew into a rage, and swore to make Su Shangwen’s life difficult. If I’m not mistaken, perhaps he will act to get rid of Su Shangwen, so Su Shangwen then ran to you for help, wanting me to talk good about him to my friend’s father.”
Su Lingyun’s complexion greatly changed. Anger grew on her face as she spoke, “How could Su Shangwen be like this? Whatever it is, you are his nephew, his sister’s son!! How could he treat you this badly? Son, you can rest assured, if he dares to use his contacts to make the school expel you, I… I will fight him!”
Han Qingwu at the side also looked angry. She also recalled some of school’s leaders’ attitude toward Tang Xiu. She also knew Su Shangwen’s deeds and conducts. Immediately she said, “Big… Big Sis Su, you don’t need to worry! While I’m still at school, I won’t let anyone bully Tang Xiu and expel him from the school.”
Su Lingyun replied with grateful expression, “Beautiful teacher, thank you. I have heard about the matter before, thank you for standing up for Xiu’er. Our family’s Xiu’er is very smart and well-behaved. It’s just my fault that I have no abilities to protect him, and let him get wronged.”
Han Qingwu took Su Lingyun’s hands and spoke cordially, “Please don’t say that. A year ago, had it not been for Tang Xiu who saved me, he wouldn’t have been hit by the car. This is only a natural act that I must do.”
Su Lingyun had already known that her son saved Han Qingwu. But still, she was full of gratitude. After quite a while, she turned her head and faced Tang Xiu, “Son, what should we do now? Your uncle and aunt… they are still in our restaurant and refuses to leave. I…”
Tang Xiu sighed in his heart. In the end, Su Shangwen was his mother’s brother. And his mother was a kind-hearted woman to begin with. She was unable to steel her heart to withstand Su Shangwen’s pleads and begging. She might be unwilling to see Su Shangwen end up in a miserable fate.
“It depends on you Mum. What do you think of it?”
Su Lingyun hesitated. She didn’t know what to say for a moment. Besides, it was also caused by Su Shangwen himself. If it were not because of her son’s friend, she was afraid that her son’s student status would be implicated and be humiliated. Even his schooling would not have continued. But… blood is thicker than water, and she was caught in a dilemma with this situation.
Tang Xiu the spoke in a bitter tone, “Mom, this time I’ll tell my friend to talk to his father to let the matter go! But if Su Shangwen dares to humiliate us again, I swear I will not let him go easily next time.”
Even though Tang Xiu spoke like this, but he was sneering inside. He couldn’t let Long Hanwen and Chen Zhizhong to act, but he could still make Yuan Zhengxuan strike Su Shangwen. Much less, he had neither familial love nor did he have significant importance to Su Shangwen’s family whatsoever.
Su Lingyun hesitated, “Xiu’er, will your words be heard?”
Tang Xiu nodded and spoke with confidence, “This matter is caused by me. My words certainly will be heard by them. Don’t worry! When we got back to the restaurant, you’ll know about it Mum!”
Eventually, Tang Xiu was able to comfort Su Lingyun and advised her to go back.
At the office’s door…
With a strange look on her face, Han Qingwu stared at Tang Xiu, “You didn’t tell your mother the whole truth, did you? If your friend’s father was really angry because Su Shangwen humiliated his son and wanted to kick him out, would even your words have any weight? Do me a favor and tell me the honest truth will you?”
Tang Xiu Xi laughed, “Teacher Han, if a woman is too clever, it would be bad for her.” [1]
Han Qingwu laughed with a happy and proud expression, “Who says a smart woman is bad? Now is not the era of ‘a woman lacks talent is virtuous’. Eh, no no no. You only shifted the topic, kid. Now tell me quickly, what has really happened?”
Tang Xiu had no other choice and replied helplessly, “Haih, since you really want to know, I’ll tell you. I’ve mentioned it to you before that I met Endless Virtue Pharmaceutical’s Boss, Chen Zhizhong, remember? I really have cured his illness. So he owes me a favor. When Su Shangwen humiliated me, he happened to bump into us. He was very angry and insisted on making Su Shangwen pay the price.”
Han Qingwu was surprised, “For real? It’s really Chen Zhizhong?”
Tang Xiu’s eyes rolled and spoke, “Anyway, tonight I’ll take a leave of absence and see Chen Zhizhong. Do you want to come along?”
Han Qingwu snapped angrily, “You want a leave of absence? Again?”
Tang Xiu wryly smiled, “Teacher Han, there’s no class at night. I want to talk to him about this matter, or you want my Mum to feel awkward and embarrassed?”
Hang Qingwu’s anger vanished quickly as she relaxed, “If that’s the case, then I’ll give you a leave tonight. Do remember that you must attend class tomorrow morning, and don’t be late.”
“Alright!” Tang Xiu smiled and nodded.
He had made an appointment with Chen Zhizhong tonight and was pondering how he would get a leave of absence. But, much to his surprise, he never thought that his mother would come to school, helping him obtain it.
Han Qingwu said, “Ah yes. The Principal talked to me today to give you a holiday for a week. Tell me honestly, what really happened?”
Tang Xiu said with a surprised expression, “He really complied and agreed?”
Han Qingwu snapped, “Only agreed? Bah, it’s far more than that! He even told me to lie to your Mother that you’re going to participate in the Subjects Competition. But, judging from your words, you know the reason, right? Be honest and tell me quickly, what happened?”
Tang Xiu’s mind rotated faster as he grinned, “Someone’s Master has gotten sick, and it’s quite severe. My medical skill is good, so he asked me to go to another city and help to treat his Master’s sickness. You also know, when have I had the time to go to another city? So to refuse him, I told him that I don’t have the time since I don’t have any just reasons to tell Mum and the school. But I never thought that he would see the Principal, even arranging to make you talk to my mother and covering this issue from her.”
“You didn’t lie to me?”
Tang Xiu raised his hand and vowed solemnly, “In the name of my future wife, I swear that I absolutely didn’t lie to you.”
“Pfft …”
Han Qingwu glanced at Tang Xiu with a supercilious look, as she ridiculed with a smile, “You boy, how old are you, huh? Even talking about your future wife! Fine, I’ll handle the talk with your mother! But remember! You only have one week including today.”
Tang Xiu smiled wryly, “B-But, tonight is not included. It’s different!”
“You get what you deserve!”
Han Qingwu smiled triumphantly.
Su Xiangfei glared angrily at him when Tang Xiu entered the classroom. He only glanced and straightly chose to ignore him. He returned to his seat, watching Yuan Chuling studying diligently. Curiosity suddenly itched him as he asked, “Man, how come you changed so much today? I have never seen you this diligent before?”
Yuan Chuling lightly laughed, “That was my past confused-idiot me. Anyways, Tang Xiu, do you know something? My parent’s divorce is a fake. Although they applied for the divorce certificate, but their feelings for each other are much better than before.”
Tang Xiu asked in confused, “How so?”
Yuan Chuling shook his head and said, “I’m also clueless as to what happened. Mum told me that having a divorce was their last resort. They won’t tell me why as of now, and only told me to graduate from college and have the ability to survive in society. Only then will they tell me the whole story. Man, how stupid I was to fall into depression and abandon myself because I didn’t understand them.”
Tang Xiu suddenly realized as he patted his shoulder and smiled, “Want me to help you?”
Yuan Chuling confused, “Huh? How will you help me? There’s only a month left before the College Entrance Test. I’m racing against time right now to study. I wanna make my parents happy and get high scores on the test.”
Tang Xiu smiled again, “Wait for a week! Then I’ll teach you my experiences in studying. As long as you study with my method, your performance would improve by leaps and bounds.”
“Really?” Yuan Chuling replied with an overjoyed expression.
With a confident smile, Tang Xiu replied, “Haven’t you seen my previous grades? If I really want it, it’s easy for me to be the top student at school!”
At this moment, Cheng Yannan, who was secretly eavesdropping Tang Xiu and Yuan Chuling’s conversation, suddenly turned around and spoke, “Yo, Tang Xiu, you cannot only favor him. We are also your classmates. Since you will teach Yuan Chuling your studying method, please teach it to me too! It shouldn’t be a problem, right?”
Tang Xiu couldn’t help laughing and replied, “Fine, I’ll be generous today and help you.”
Cheng Yannan nodded, but suddenly her eyes turned, “Can I bring along another 2 girls? Just imagine! If many students from our class got outstanding scores in the College Entrance Test, our teacher-in-charge, Teacher Han would get an award!”
Tang Xi hesitated for a moment before he nodded and said, “OK! But don’t bring along too many people.”
Tang Xiu hadn’t a good impression toward his classmates. He could see that his classmates were only accepting in what they heard from others and followed it blindly, even driving them to curse others. If it were not for Cheng Yannan, he would have refused to teach the other classmates of his.
Yuan Chuling said, “Eldest Brother, you said to wait for a week, why not start now?”
Tang Xiu smiled, “I got a leave of absence from Teacher Han for a week and will leave school this afternoon.”
“What the? You asked a week leave?” Yuan Chuling involuntarily exclaimed out loud.
And in a flash…
All the students in the class turned around toward Tang Xiu and Yuan Chuling. In their opinions, Tang Xiu was an ignorant and good-for-nothing student. He might have scored first in the previous test, but it was only by relying on luck, nothing more. He even became more and more disliked by students with his unceasing class-skipping and leaves of absence.
~~~~~~~~~~
[1] This was not intended to belittle women, but to express praise.