CHAPTER 324: CHAPTER 324: A FACE OF CONFUSION

"Uh!" Xu Xiuxiu was dumbfounded as she looked down at the expectant Hao Xingxing with a clueless face, wondering how she suddenly got dragged into this situation. Faced with a girl who came knocking to call her mom, Xu Xiuxiu felt more than a little surprised.

"No way," Song Chengguang promptly and severely rejected Hao Xingxing’s proposal. "Who wants to live with you? You’re so dumb."

"Chengguang..." Hao Xingxing was on the verge of tears as she looked at Song Chengguang for no more than two seconds before large teardrops began to slide down her tender, baozi-like face. "I just want to live with you, is that really not okay? I’ll be very good."

"No way," Song Chengguang had no hesitation, a particularly obvious look of disgust in his eyes.

Clearly, the disgust in Song Chengguang’s eyes had struck a chord with the little girl. "Wah!" Hao Xingxing burst into loud crying, her little legs moving as she began to run outside. She felt like she was rejected by the whole world—her dad only loved his work, gave her an evil stepmother, Song Chengguang didn’t like her, didn’t want to play with her, and disdained her for being dumb. She felt so pitiable!

"..." Xu Xiuxiu watched the little girl run away, stunned.

"..." Hao Xingxing’s dad was also speechless, then looked at Song Chengguang with a complicated gaze. "Sorry about that! It’s my fault for spoiling her too much. Don’t take it to heart." He finished speaking and went off, rather helplessly, to chase after his daughter Hao Xingxing.

Both adults clearly felt utterly helpless with the innocent antics of the children. How, how did it develop into this? It was all so bewildering, especially for Hao Xingxing’s father, Hao Dabing, who was particularly lost for words. His daughter inexplicably dragged someone into calling her mom, and the mom he chose for her was never to her liking!

Although he had to admit, the little boy’s mother, who exuded an intelligent aura without being delicate or pretentious, definitely caught his eye. But she was a married woman!

"Song Chengguang, you’ve grown bold, bullying a little girl and making her cry. Aren’t you ashamed?" Xu Xiuxiu quirked her lips, then teased her son after lowering her head.

Song Chengguang pursed his lips tightly, watching as Hao Xingxing ran out of the nursery school, a flicker of hesitation in his eyes. "She’s the one who loves to cry," he explained with a tone mixed with accusation and concern.

"..." It was obviously you who made her cry, Xu Xiuxiu looked at Song Chengguang and saw his expression all twisted up. She really couldn’t bear to hit him hard, so she swallowed back the sarcastic remarks she had prepared. Speaking of which, her son’s lack of charm worried her—what if he ended up remaining a bachelor in the future? Somehow, Xu Xiuxiu felt she was thinking a bit too far ahead.

After the parent-teacher meeting, the nursery school arranged several activities and competitions for the parents and children. Because Hao Xingxing had run away crying, both Xu Xiuxiu and Song Chengguang weren’t really focused on the competition, and their coordination was noticeably subpar. In the end, they only received two small red flowers, and Song Chengguang seemed rather disappointed.

On the way home, Song Chengguang was carrying two small red flowers, with his little backpack on his back, one hand holding Xu Xiuxiu’s hand. His lips were pressed tightly together, and his unhappy demeanor made Xu Xiuxiu feel a pang of heartache. Plus, she was also planning to guide Song Chengguang’s character, so she deliberately brought the conversation to the nursery school children. "Chengguang, tell Mommy, why don’t you like playing with the other kids?"

"They’re all so dumb." This was a particularly vexing problem for Song Chengguang.

Stupidity is one thing, but the crying, too—he had younger brothers and sisters who didn’t cry at their age. Those little kids would bawl their eyes out over a snack or a toy, and their wailing hurt his ears. That’s why he was so annoyed by them, and Song Chengguang didn’t hide his feelings, even stating out loud the reasons he disliked them.

"..." Xu Xiuxiu was immediately choked up by Chengguang’s forthright reasoning.

"But Chengguang, you used to be just like that! You cried when your toys were taken away, you were picky with food, and you couldn’t do math. You were no different from those kids, but Mommy never despised you!" Xu Xiuxiu talked to Song Chengguang with great patience.

"..." The proud Song Chengguang felt deflated by Xu Xiuxiu’s words.

He was that dumb, too? He’d acknowledge being picky and losing his toys, but he couldn’t do math? His grades were the best in his class.

"Mom, you’re lying to me." Song Chengguang puffed up his cheeks, unwilling to believe it.

"No."

"..." Song Chengguang instantly felt utterly deflated, his little face tensing as he thought for a while, "Then Chengguang will just play with the kids from now on without despising them." Resigned to the idea, he very reluctantly agreed with Xu Xiuxiu.

"That’s a good boy." Xu Xiuxiu rubbed the back of Song Chengguang’s head contentedly.

...

After the kindergarten parent-teacher meeting, Xu Xiuxiu busied herself shuttling to Soup City every day. The closer it came to the grand opening, the more headaches and worries seemed to pile up. One day, when she finally had a spare moment to shop for some things to mail back to her hometown, she received a call from Mr. Xu. They chatted briefly about recent events and she learned that Xu Qingqing had given birth to a chubby baby boy the day before, and Xu Xiuxiu felt happy for her.

Xu Qingqing’s life was already pretty good, Cai Senlin was a reliable man, and considering rural standards, their family’s financial condition was decent. They could even afford the fines for having an excess child, so naturally, the baby was much adored by the Cai Family, with Cai Tou beaming with joy.

Because of this, Xu Xiuxiu made a special trip to the mall and sent back quite a few maternity and baby items for Xu Qingqing. As for the Song Family, she also sent Father Song and Mrs. Song food and other goods. This had become a routine for her, but this time, she didn’t buy anything for Song Tianxin.

She used to send clothes, pants, shoes for Song Tianxin and Niuniu, but this time she completely overlooked Niuniu. It wasn’t that she was stingy with money—she was actually quite attached to it—but she was also generous in a relative sense and could be quite indifferent in certain matters. However, she realized that no matter how kind she was to Niuniu, the girl never seemed to appreciate it. If that was the case, there was no need to spend money on her. She didn’t have this perverse notion to treat her well while Tianxin turned her back on her to bully her child. She didn’t care to indulge that nasty habit.

But people usually don’t reflect on themselves much, and Xu Xiuxiu just bought things for Father Song and Mrs. Song. When a big batch of parcels arrived at home, and Song Tianxin checked through them as usual, thinking about what her aunt might have sent this time, she found nothing for herself, and suddenly the situation seemed off.

"Grandma, where are the things Auntie bought for Niuniu?" Song Tianxin asked Mrs. Song with a pained expression, as if she couldn’t believe there was nothing for her. Her aggrieved questioning look was identical to Wang Qinghua’s unreasonable demeanor on any ordinary day.