Back to 1984: Earning Money, Raising Kids, and Keeping the Household Busy

Seeing Lin Qin's calm demeanor and her well-reasoned rebuttal, the group of teachers in the office realized that the matter was somewhat tricky and might be difficult to handle.

Zhang Chunhe looked them over seriously, took a deep breath, and said, "Alright! Now that I and several other teachers are here, you can tell me how Li Xiaomei framed and bullied you!"

Lin Qin looked at Du Juanhua and said loudly, "Director Zhang, instead of asking us, you should ask Li Xiaomei. Du Juanhua has no grudge against Li Xiaomei, and she is a freshman who has just joined the Ancient Poetry Society. It hasn't been long since she was isolated and targeted by Li Xiaomei and her group."

She did nothing but questioned Li Xiaomei about why she was being targeted. As a result, she was publicly humiliated by Li Xiaomei and cried in the dormitory for a whole day. We went with her to reason with Li Xiaomei and asked if it was wrong for Li Xiaomei to apologize to Du Juanhua.

Before we could even open our mouths, Li Xiaomei started arrogantly berating Du Juanhua, calling her shameless! I just want to ask her, did Du Juanhua dig up her ancestral graves or something? What gives her the right to treat Du Juanhua like that!

All the teachers looked at the azaleas.

Seeing Du Juanhua's tears falling in a steady stream, Zhang Chunhe's tone softened unconsciously. "It's alright. Just tell me what happened. Let's make things clear today. If it really was Li Xiaomei and her gang bullying you, your teacher will back you up!"

Du Juanhua slowly raised her head, her eyes red and swollen, and told her what had happened.

So everyone in the Ancient Poetry Society was called to the office.

As the president of the student association, Wang Xinyuan witnessed Du Juanhua being humiliated by Li Xiaomei but did not stand up for Du Juanhua, and was severely scolded by their grade counselor.

"As the president of a club, you're supposed to play a leadership role. Why did you remain silent when your members had conflicts? Speak up!"

Wang Xinyuan's face flushed red, and he quickly lowered his head to admit his mistake. "Director Ye, it was my oversight. I thought Li Xiaomei was a senior member of the club, and she hadn't had any conflicts with anyone in the two years she'd been in the club. I instinctively assumed that it was junior Du Juanhua who had made a mistake, which is why I didn't say anything. I didn't expect things to turn out this way."

"You think! As the president of the club, you should be based on facts! Not judge things based on subjective assumptions! Du Juanhua is a freshman who has just joined the Ancient Poetry Club. As far as I know, she doesn't have any companions yet. Tell me, what exactly did she do wrong? Why did Li Xiaomei insult her so harshly?" Director Ye stopped Wang Xinyuan from making excuses.

He was already furious. Regardless of whether Azalea had actually made a mistake or done something wrong, how could she be so rude to a freshman, especially one who had just joined the club! Besides, the activity hadn't even officially started yet, so what could have happened? If nothing had happened, then Li Xiaomei was deliberately picking a fight! He had even been indignant about Li Xiaomei's injuries earlier.

Wang Xinyuan couldn't explain it, and his face went from flushed to deathly pale.

Director Ye waved his hand wearily and looked at Zhang Chunhe, "Director Zhang, let them go back first."

Zhang Chunhe secretly breathed a sigh of relief, got up, and led Lin Qin and the others out of the office building.

Once they reached the lawn on the first floor, he pointed at the six people in front of him with exasperation, "Luckily, Director Ye is a reasonable person, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to protect you today! If you've been wronged, come to me. I'm not just a figurehead as your counselor. Do you really need to beat someone up to the point of hospitalization? Now the school even has to step in to appease the other party's parents!"

Just as Bai Junjun was about to say something, Lin Qin immediately grabbed her hand and nodded obediently in apology, "Director Zhang, we acted impulsively and caused trouble for the school. We won't do it again next time!"

"Yes, yes, we won't do it again. We didn't expect them to be so arrogant and even dare to hit us. We were so angry that we didn't think straight. We're sorry, Director Zhang!" Ge Qiuyue bowed her head and apologized.

Zhang Chunhe couldn't vent his anger, no matter how much he wanted to, and sullenly told the six of them to go back first.

The six of them ran all the way back to their dormitory, and burst into laughter as soon as they entered.

Lin Qin quickly recovered and said to Ge Qiuyue and Du Juanhua, "Let's go! Let's take these fruits to the teacher's office now and say that we feel bad for causing them trouble. We'll try to make amends and let them calm down." The girls, who had never been in society and didn't know how to handle social situations, looked like they had learned something and quickly went over to help.

Lin Qin was very glad that she had brought a lot of fruit this time. In addition to a large watermelon, there were longan, pineapple, guava and mango, all in bags.

While Director Ye was still reprimanding Wang Xinyuan, Zhang Chunhe was pondering what to do next. When he saw Lin Qin and the others return, he felt a pang of anxiety and quickly asked, "What happened now?"

The group quickly put the fruit down, and Lin Qin said in a clear voice, "Director Zhang, Director Ye, teachers, this is fruit I picked from home. Please have a taste. I'm really sorry for troubling you all today."

"No need, no need, you should take it back quickly." Zhang Chunhe told them to take the fruit back with them.

Ge Qiuyue and the others took off running.

Lin Qin, who was at the back, said loudly, "Teacher, don't be so polite with me. These are all grown by my family. They didn't cost any money. Please don't send them back. We're going out to play and won't stay in the dormitory!"

Zhang Chunhe had no choice but to check the fruit after they all disappeared, and distribute some to the teachers in the office one by one.

"Hey! There are mangoes here too! Old Zhang, what's your student's background? Does his family run a fruit business?"

Zhang Chunhe shrugged. "How would I know! These guys were a bit reckless, but luckily they can still be saved!"

They were furious with me, but then I brought them food to comfort them, making it impossible for them to get angry.

Director Ye also received a handful of longans and a few mangoes. He was so thirsty from all the cursing that eating two sweet longans made him feel a little better. Then, seeing a slice of watermelon handed to him, he finally made a stern face and told Wang Xinyuan and the others to leave.

After leaving the office building, the members of the Ancient Poetry Society harbored considerable resentment towards Li Xiaomei.

"What's wrong with Li Xiaomei? She's made such a big fuss, and we're all getting scolded because of her. What exactly is she trying to do?"

"Exactly! She used to seem pretty good at handling things, but is she possessed? Why is she targeting newcomers like this? Well, look what happened, she's bitten off more than she can chew!"

The group walked towards the dormitory building, grumbling and cursing.

Wang Xinyuan's roommate, Li Ke, glanced at him twice and asked, "President, what do we do now? Go back to the club or back to the dorm?"

Wang Xinyuan remained silent for a moment before pondering, "Let's go to the hospital to see Li Xiaomei and the others!"

Li Ke looked shocked. "No, no! Li Xiaomei has caused us so much trouble, and you still want to go see her? If you ask me, we should just kick her out of the club. Anyway, she's universally hated now, and there's no good in getting close to her."

The more he spoke, the uglier Wang Xinyuan's expression became. "There must be some misunderstanding here. As the president, I need to understand the situation to prevent further mistakes." (End of Chapter)