Song Tan's Notes

Tsk.

The little girl had a round head, round face, and round eyes. She looked quite cute when she looked at him with a blank expression. Song Tan was a little conflicted about whether or not to call her Lu Chuan.

God knows how a homebody like him developed such refined language skills...

She herself had absolutely no experience dealing with children, and upon reflection, she decided to shift the blame—

"How about this? It's really hard to say who's responsible for the dispute between your baby and our Big White. Let's ask an official to judge it."

An official?
The baby's mother thought about it carefully, and then nodded in agreement with a serious expression.

Meanwhile, Wulan chatted with Liu Baoni.

"You know, kids these days are so smart! When I was six or seven, all I knew was catching bugs, cutting pig feed, feeding chickens, and gathering rice. I couldn't understand a word adults said about disputes or responsibilities."

Liu Baoni chimed in, "That's right! Don't even mention us, my son was still playing in the mud on the dirt road at the edge of our village when he was seven or eight years old."

Song Tan sent a message to Party Secretary Xiao Zhu, and upon hearing it, she was both amused and exasperated:

"Mom, it's not that you weren't smart back then, it's just that the information environment you received was different."

Back then, travel was slow and illiterate people were numerous. Apart from the loudspeaker at the village entrance, what other public information channels were there?
Putting aside other things, in the old days, when people went on blind dates, the man would have to borrow grain from his fellow villagers and pile it up in his own warehouse to show the matchmaker.

What now?
From the moment a child is born, there is early education, kindergarten, mobile phone, computer, television... If all else fails, there are also various environments to enjoy when shopping malls and parks.

What about Ulan?
Back then, she lived in a poor mountain village. She only went to a department store with Song Sancheng when she was about to get married.

In a small, third-tier city like Yuncheng, being behind means being behind at every step. Back in the 80s, when you bought something, the ticket seller would still use a small metal clip on their head to hold the ticket and slide it around.

In short, the density of information and the knowledge gained were vastly different from what they are today.

Ulan waved her hand: "Why talk so much! Do you think I can't tell whether the child is smart or not, clever or not? Forget about information, it's just that our baby's mother is smart!"

When someone was praising their granddaughter, Liu Baoni smiled so broadly her eyes disappeared:

"Oh dear, her child..."

The baby's mother, eagerly awaiting the arrival of officials to uphold justice, moved her small stool to sit in the corridor, huddled together with her poor baby.

When Xiao Zhu, the Party Secretary, arrived in a hurry after receiving the news, he saw a round-faced girl with red eyes hugging her bald and disheveled goose, looking at him expectantly.

Party Secretary Xiao Zhu: ...What a terrible thing to do!
Song Tan is bullying someone's child!

Upon seeing her appear, the mothers in the hallway immediately stood up, their eyes lighting up!

The little chubby legs were bouncy and full of anticipation:
"A high-ranking official!"

"Come help my baby!"

Party Secretary Xiao Zhu: ...

Ulan: ...When she was a child, she didn't call the village secretary "big official" either.

Song Tan chuckled. If he had known this would happen, he would have at least recorded a video! Little Zhu's reputation for integrity might have gone viral online!

Party Secretary Xiao Zhu cleared his throat: "I'm not a high-ranking official."

This needs to be emphasized clearly.

However, if an official doesn't serve the people, he might as well go home and sell sweet potatoes. Therefore, even though it was a minor dispute, she took it very seriously.

"Come on, little friend, what's your name? What do you want?"

The child speaks Mandarin quite well, with clear and accurate pronunciation.
"I am the baby's mother. My baby has been bullied. You must seek justice for my baby!"

After saying that, she clenched her little fist and even swung it hard.

It is clear that the presence of high-ranking officials did indeed give her some confidence and support.

Everyone: ... Well, the most difficult part of this dispute is how to suppress laughter without hurting the child's self-esteem.

Then, Party Secretary Xiao Zhu displayed his official authority: "Fine! Explain the matter clearly, and let me see how to handle it."

This time, Song Tan remained silent, letting the baby's mother stammer and explain the situation clearly.

Kids are so great; they speak without any subjective bias, it's purely a combination of Song Tan's description and her own.

Fortunately, she had a good memory and even managed to recall roughly what Chen Xi had said in defense of Da Bai.

The new brain is so useful!

As the perfect straight man, Party Secretary Zhu wore a serious expression. He would hum in response, then nod, and ask, "And then?"

In short, the emotional value was fully provided, and as the baby's mother was talking, seeing how serious she was, she suddenly felt a little embarrassed.

It seems like my baby did make a little mistake...

One more look at the baby: No!
Their babies are still babies, they haven't grown up at all. That big white goose is so big and fierce, it's wrong for the older one to bully the younger one!
She clenched her fists, firmly maintaining her stance.

After hearing the whole story, Party Secretary Xiao Zhu suddenly said:

"Actually, your baby did nothing wrong in this matter."

"When playing in the wild, if a goose sees a strange, large leaf, it might stick its head out and poke it. This is not a problem at all; it's a goose's nature! How can we say it's wrong just because it's its nature?"

Seeing a smile spread across the baby's face, she said again:
"However, Big White wasn't wrong either."

"The entire riverbank, along with the surrounding mudflats and the rocky slopes that extend up from the edge, is all contracted out to Aunt Song Tan's family. She grows the pasture, manages the riverbank, and the entire lotus pond was also built, planted, and maintained by her family."

"Suddenly, the baby ruined everything. Their big white dog is the deputy captain of the security team (the captain is the king), and it's not a problem for him to protect his own property."

She didn't use more childish terms just because the baby is a child, but the fact that the mother could say something like "seeking justice" shows that she's been exposed to these things a lot in her daily life. It's quite understandable that she might have guessed it.

Then the problem is coming.

The baby is not wrong, and neither is the fierce-looking Big White. So how do we resolve this?
She stared longingly at the high-ranking official.

The high-ranking official's gaze swept across the onlookers and landed directly on Liu Baoni.

"Actually, the person most at fault in this dispute is your grandmother, Comrade Liu Baoni—"

what?
Liu Baoni pointed to herself and said, "Me?"

“That’s right!” said Secretary Zhu earnestly.

"You told me yesterday that your granddaughter brought back a goose. What were my instructions to you?"

"Did you say that it's best not to go to the Jinhe River beach, but to take it to the pond on the back slope to familiarize it with the way?"

Did you bring it?

Ouch!

Liu Baoni was really wronged.

If this is just a matter of giving instructions to geese, who would take it seriously and treat it as a major issue?
It's raining, a steady drizzle. That goose grew up in a cramped city apartment; it's never seen the world, and it can poke at roadside weeds for ages.

Liu Baoni never expected that without a second glance, it would waddle so far, all the way to the riverbank.

At that moment, the granddaughter's eyes were already looking over:
"Grandma! You didn't convey the high-ranking official's instructions to the baby!"

The kindergarten teacher said that the children must tell their parents what she instructed them to do.

Grandma, you made a mistake! (End of Chapter)