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

Chapter 80 The Child is Bullied

The walls were covered with pure white tiles, all the way to the ceiling, it was unbelievably beautiful.

Even Zhang Yongquan was amazed by the final result.

Overjoyed, Chen Wenjun immediately said, "Master Zhang, I'll pay you back the three hundred yuan I owe you next month."

Zhang Yongquan waved his hand dismissively, "The house is right here, why would I worry about you running away? I was initially worried about spending too much money, but after seeing the results, I think you're smart, the money was well spent!"

Lin Yi carefully cleaned the stairs, not allowing the two children to run up and down and make the stairs dirty.

After seeing Zhang Yongquan off, Nanyu welcomed another unexpected guest.

Gao Lei, in a wheelchair pushed by Wu Agui, walked along the dirt road in Nanyu, looking around with astonishment in his eyes, "Brother Chen, is this all yours?"

Chen Wenjun felt awkward being addressed as "Big Brother," but forced himself to ignore it and nodded, explaining, "Strictly speaking, I only bought the wasteland and slopes. The surrounding mountains aren't mine, but they're full of hidden caves and have no development value, so nobody wants them, hehe."

Gao Lei immediately gave a thumbs up, "I thought you were talking about buying land to build a house, just an ordinary piece of land, but it turns out to be this huge area! When my mom went back, she kept praising you, saying you're really amazing."

Praise him? Chen Wenjun was somewhat dazed. Having lived two lives, this was the first time someone had praised him behind his back. The feeling was truly subtle!

As they were talking, the three of them reached the steps, and Chen Wenjun and Wu Agui together carried Gao Lei up.

Lin Yi knew that guests had come to his house, so he immediately went to cook.

Seeing that the house was not yet renovated, Gao Lei immediately asked Wu Agui to bring out a large bag.

"This money is to thank you for saving my life."

Gao Lei's attitude was unusually serious. After more than a month, his hair had grown longer, and his skin had become much fairer after recovering from his injuries. If you didn't know his background, you would never mistake him for a gang leader.

Chen Wenjun's expression changed drastically, and he shook his head frantically, "Your family has already thanked us before, so I absolutely cannot accept this money."

Gao Lei shook his head, "It's different. My mom, my sister, and my brother-in-law can't be high-profile because of their work. The things they gave me were just a formality. Today, I'm here to truly thank you for saving my life."

“What’s the difference! I didn’t do anything, I just lent a hand,” Chen Wenjun insisted.

Wu Agui, who had been silent all along, suddenly knelt down before Chen Wenjun, startling him so much that he rushed down into the yard, shouting, "What are you doing? What are you doing?"

Wu Agui burst into tears, “The doctor said that if you hadn’t taken Brother Lei to the hospital in time, he would have been crippled even if he hadn’t died. We underlings would definitely have been in trouble too. Most importantly, Brother Lei has done me a great favor. Saving his life is saving mine.”

From now on, Brother Chen is my brother, Wu Agui's brother. If you need anything, just say the word. I'm always in the area, ready to come at any time.

Chen Wenjun was a little confused, and nodded repeatedly in agreement with Wu Agui's words, "That's possible, but I really can't accept the money."

Seeing that Chen Wenjun insisted, Gao Lei stopped trying to persuade him and steered the conversation toward the house.

Speaking of the house, Chen Wenjun immediately led them inside for a tour. "The second floor is all finished. This stairwell is the most beautiful. Even the craftsmen praised us for choosing good materials. Now all that's left is the second floor. My wife and I have discussed it and decided to save up enough money to renovate the kitchen and bathroom on the second floor first. It doesn't matter if we don't have time to finish the rest. It will be completely finished next year."

Gao Lei looked around carefully and found that there wasn't a single decent piece of furniture in the house; even the bed in the room was made of bricks and wooden planks pieced together.

After reading it, he felt more confident.

After Lin Yi finished cooking, the two stayed in Nanyu to eat before leaving.

The next day, when Chen Wenjun and his wife returned from work, they were stunned to find a pile of tiles, cement, and gravel next to their fishing boat. The cabin door was open, and Lin Qin quickly went up to them, "Dad, what happened to those tiles?"

Lin Yi turned around with bloodshot eyes, looking ready to fight to the death. "Ya Ya and Ping An were beaten up at school."

Lin Qin then noticed the injuries on the two children.

Ping An had a large bump on his forehead, abrasions on his face, scraped and bleeding knees, and many marks on his body from being beaten.

"Who did this?" Lin Qin crawled into the cabin and carefully examined the two children.

Chen Wenjun didn't care about the tiles either; once on the boat, he followed suit and climbed inside.

After the couple finished examining the two children, their faces were so somber they looked almost dripping with water.

At midday, the two of them didn't even have time to eat. They took the children to the clinic to treat their wounds, and after returning to Nanxi, they took them to school as soon as possible.

At that time, there was no such thing as a security guard in the village school.

When it's time for school, the school gates open and anyone can enter the school.

The couple took their two children to the classroom in person.

When the classmates saw that Chen Ruiyu and Chen Xinyue all acted as if it were none of their business, some even gloated. If Lin Qin and Chen Wenjun hadn't been there, those kids probably would have already started making fun of them.

The couple went to their children's seats and saw the table that had been drawn on.

Lin Qin took a deep breath and looked at the two children seriously, "Did you draw this?"

The two children shook their heads.

"Was it like this from the beginning?"

The two children still shook their heads.

Lin Qin understood instantly.

Five minutes before class started, the homeroom teacher, An Meihua, stepped into the classroom carrying a stack of books. She immediately spotted Lin Qin and Chen Wenjun. Thinking about what had happened that morning, she unconsciously frowned and walked towards the couple. "You must be the parents of Chen Ruiyu and Chen Xinyue. I need to talk to you about what happened this morning."

Your two children don't get along with their classmates, often fidget during class, are sensitive and quiet, and can't answer the teacher's questions. I don't know what they're learning at school.

They'll negatively impact others in the class, and in that case, they'll likely drop out and go back to work anyway, so it's better they didn't go to school at all.

Lin Qin clenched her fists in anger, pulled Chen Wenjun behind her, and roared, "My child was beaten like this at school, and you, as the homeroom teacher, not only did you not discover the problem and tell us parents in the first place, but you also did not take timely remedial measures afterward. We have come to the school to demand an explanation. What do you mean by making up excuses?"
"Let me tell you, I can call the police for these injuries on my child. Let's see if your school will take responsibility!"

An Meihua was shocked. When did the Tanka people start speaking to her so loudly?

An Meihua, feeling ashamed and indignant, immediately started arguing with Lin Qin, "I've already said it's your children's problem. Look at all these children in the class, why are they all fine, but only your two children are being bullied? You need to look for the problem within yourselves, instead of making trouble unreasonably! I'm not afraid even if you call the police."

"Our school never wanted to accept kids like you, and now that we've made an exception, you're not only ungrateful, but you blame the school when things go wrong. I remember emphasizing at the beginning of the semester that you should discipline your children and not cause trouble!"

(End of this chapter)