Author: Tang Xue (Primary 2[1])

My deskmate’s name is Li Yubing. He is an extremely hateful person. Why do I hate him? This is because grandpa promised me that if I become the top scorer in class, he will bring me to Disneyland. I really want to go to Disneyland! But I am not the class’s top scorer. Li Yubing is the one who is. Teacher praised Li Yubing at the parent-teacher conference. Daddy told me to take a good look at Li Yubing and then look at myself. I wish that teacher would not praise Li Yubing. This is because he is too hateful.

……

Tang Xue saw that the feedback her essay received was a string of ellipsis. She did not understand what Teacher Zhao wanted to express.

Anyway, she had already clearly expressed what she wanted to.

Teacher Zhao summoned her to the office during the break in between lessons and started telling her about certain principles. The general gist was that one should hold fraternal love for one’s schoolmate, self-reflect more to understand the cause of their troubles in studies, look forward to becoming the class’s top scorer as long as effort is placed…… et cetera.

Tang Xue nodded her tiny head. This action had a tempo akin to pounding garlic and looked exceptionally charming.

Teacher Zhao then praised Tang Xue. “This time, your essay did not have any wrongly written characters or misused words. The punctuation usage was all correct as well. You did well in this aspect. Keep it up.”

Tang Xue was very happy. “Thanks teacher. Teacher, I had Li Yubing edit the essay for me. I will ask him to edit it again the next time!”

“Cough… That’s not what I meant.” Teacher Zhao felt slightly speechless. “Tang Xue, look, Li Yubing only wrote about your good points in his essay and said that he liked having a deskmate like you.”

Tang Xue’s tiny brain was filled with glee. “Would he dare to badmouth me?!”

Teacher Zhao helplessly held her forehead. She quietly pondered to what extent had Li Yubing that poor child been bullied to…

She could only repeat her earlier words and once again try to educate Tang Xue on the principles of life.



After Teacher Zhao’s lecture, Tang Xue returned to class to see her good deskmate being surrounded by a few people.

Li Yubing always obtained full marks on his exams without exception no matter how major or minor the exam was. When coupled with his good looks, this made the teachers like him very much. The students in class all followed this trend. After lessons, there was always someone coming up to speak with Li Yubing. This guy was almost becoming a mini celebrity.

“Li Yubing, help me to sharpen a pencil.” Tang Xue started commanding him before even being seated.

Li Yubing replied with a faint “oh” and took out a mechanical sharpener to sharpen a pencil for her.

Might as well. Li Yubing sharpened two pencils for himself.

While he was rummaging through his pencil case, Tang Xue’s sharp eyes spotted a pack of stickers in it. She asked despite already knowing the answer, “What are those?”

“Stickers.”

“Rubbish, I know those are stickers. What kind of stickers?”

“Happy Star[2] stickers.”

Tang Xue beckoned him with her finger. “Lemme see.”

Li Yubing pretended he heard nothing and continued sharpening the pencils. Pencil shavings emerged from the mechanical sharpener with every turn. The layer of shavings on the table was akin to the dried leaves covering the ground in autumn. He carefully gathered them into a pile.

Seeing his indifference, Tang Xue shamelessly stretched out an arm to take the stickers. She carefully examined them and felt that they were pretty nice. As a result, she asked, “I‘ll stick them for you?”

“Whatever.”

Without hesitation, Tang Xue tore open the pack of stickers and stuck them on her own pencil case and bag.

At an angle that Tang Xue wouldn’t see, Li Yubing rolled his eyes.

……

After school, as the form teacher, Teacher Zhao needed to make sure that every student was safely picked up by their parent before she could get off work.

Li Yubing was the last child left. Teacher Zhao was standing with him at the school gates to wait for his parent.

It was September and the weather has already became cooler. Li Yubing was wearing a blue and white long sleeved school uniform. Basked in the warm evening glow of the setting sun, he curiously gazed at the pedestrians passing by. His tiny face was fair and delicate, with clean looking and exquisitely formed features. Looking at his face, Teacher Zhao wondered just how many girls this child would be a disaster to in the future. May Buddha bless them.

Seeming to sense Teacher Zhao’s gaze, Li Yubing raised his head to look at her.

Teacher Zhao gave a light cough before remembering Li Yubing’s tyrant of a deskmate. This invoked a sudden sense of sympathy in her. She gently said, “Li Yubing.”

“Teacher Zhao, what is it?”

“Tang Xue, she…… if she bullies you, you can tell me. Don’t be afraid.”

Li Yubing tilted his tiny head, gazed at Teacher Zhao and asked, “Teacher Zhao, why am I deskmates with Tang Xue?”

Teacher Zhao was slightly flustered. “Eh……”

Being stared at by a pair of discerning and clear looking eyes, Teacher Zhao felt a little guilty.

She was silent but Li Yubing had already answered this question for her. “It’s because Tang Xue’s dad is the school principal, isn’t it?”

Teacher Zhao lamented slightly. Kids nowadays are indeed not simple minded. With such astute young minds, how do all teachers continue carrying out their duty of hoodwinking them……

Li Yubing had guessed correctly. In a single class, there will always be a scarcity of students with excellent grades. Li Yubing was both smart and obedient. Principal Tang was hoping that his daughter would be positively influenced by this outstanding child after spending time with him.

With Li Yubing’s one question, Teacher Zhao’s eyes flickered. She placed one hand on his shoulders and asked something that has been worrying her, “Li Yubing, tell me honestly, has Tang Xue ever hit you?”

Li Yubing shook his head. “No.”

“Has she ever scolded you? Said anything mean?”

“No.”

Teacher Zhao secretly gave a sigh of relief and consoled him, “I’ve already criticized Tang Xue. Should anyone bully you in the future, don’t forget to let me know.”

Li Yubing did not wish to offend Tang Xue. To be exact, the entire class did not wish to offend her.

Primary school students possess uncomplicated but acute perspectives: the principal manages the teachers while the teachers manage the students. In other words, as students, they are never able to disregard the might of the principal.

This naturally meant that they are not able to disregard the might of the principal’s daughter as well.

……

Li Yubing’s mother drove a champagne coloured minivan. She stopped the car in front of the school gates. From its exterior to its colour, the car was pretty eye catching.

With her light makeup, business attire and heels, Mrs Li looked quite young. She held Li Yubing’s hands and apologized to Teacher Zhao, “So sorry. I got delayed by some things. I apologize for troubling you.”

“No problem.” Teacher Zhao waved her hands. She smiled and asked, “What kind of supplementary classes has Li Yubing been taking these days?”

“On your advice, I’ve withdrawn him from all academic related remedial lessons. He’s learning the cello now and picking it up well.” Mrs Li gave a soft smile. When discussing their children, parents will always have a sense of tenderness and pride.

“Not taking up anything sports related? There are quite a few boys learning swimming, taekwondo, and even fencing.”

Mrs Li was a bit depressed. “He doesn’t like to exercise. After attending the swimming class once, he refused to go again. Other sports didn’t interest him either.”

The two adults did not converse for too long as Li Yubing had to rush to his cello class.

In the car, Mrs Li asked Li Yubing, “How was today?”

Li Yubing pondered for a while and gave a noncommittal reply, “Still alright.”

Mrs Li looked over to see her son’s eyebrows lightly furrowed, looking as if something was weighing heavily on his mind. She chuckled and asked, “What’s up with you?”

Li Yubing was embarrassed to tell her that he was being bullied by a girl in school. He was silent for a while before softly replying, “My deskmate is too stupid.”

“You can’t say that of a classmate,” Mrs Li corrected him, “Kind-heartedness is the most important human trait. Complaining about classmates because they are stupid is extremely narrow minded, do you understand?”

Li Yubing felt wronged but still had to agree that he had erred, “Understood.”

“Is your deskmate for this school term still Tang Xue?”

“Mm.”

Mrs Li laughed, “Tang Xue is very adorable though!”

Li Yubing’s face tightened. “Not adorable at all.”

Mrs Li thought, silly child.

She did not want to continue the conversation with her son and turned on the radio broadcast.

The radio was tuned into the traffic station which was currently broadcasting a song dedication. With his husky voice the radio DJ read, “A listener “Spinach” with the mobile phone number ending in 4591 wants to dedicate a song to his childhood sweetheart……”

Li Yubing asked his mother, “What does childhood sweetheart mean?”

“Childhood sweethearts refers to people who grew up together. For example, just like you and Tang Xue.”

“Oh. Not a good phrase.”

“……”

[1] According to google sensei, Tang Xue and Li Yubing should be around 8 years old in primary 2.

[2] Happy Star is a sci-fi children’s television series from China that was first broadcasted in 2004. There are several seasons and a movie is coming out this year.

Tang Xue picked up a red ballpoint pen cartridge. She went around playing with this pen cartridge, giving herself several  💯 on her exercise book while writing a big fat zero for Li Yubing.

Following this, a disaster befell Li Yubing’s literature textbook. Every single animal illustration in the book gained a fresh coat of blood red lipstick. Even the frog was not spared…… at first glance, the textbook looked akin to an encyclopaedia of monsters.

This was not all. She then drew a watch on Li Yubing’s wrist.

With her holding his hand, Li Yubing felt both angry and awkward. His face flushed and he said, “Stop fooling around.”

“Stop moving, I’ll draw a ring for you.”

Li Yubing was so annoyed he immediately rolled his eyes.

……

Teacher Zhao’s discovery that Li Yubing was once again being bullied made her heart ache a little.

As a result, when she was retained by Principal Tang after the school meeting to share more on her class’s condition, she decided to spill everything as it is after some hesitation.

Your daughter, she’s really a tyrant……

Principal Tang was so angry that his nose flared after listening to Teacher Zhao’s comprehensive report. When he returned home in the evening, he spanked Tang Xue’s palm. With just one light strike that was not even exerted with much force, this brat started tearing up. The large glistening tears in Tang Xue’s eyes made her seem to be in an extremely pitiable state.

Principal Tang hated himself for being useless at how his heart instantly softened.

He looked at the little rascal with a stern face. “Have you understood what you’ve done wrong?”

“Understood……”

“Will you still dare to bully your classmates in the future?”

“No……”

Tang Xue’s palms were spared but she was still sentenced to stand as punishment.

Be it eating dinner or doing her homework, Tang Xue was not allowed to sit at all.

As she completed her assignments, Tang Xue gritted her teeth and muttered, “How dare you tattle? Li Yubing, just you wait!”

……

The next day at school, the first thing that Tang Xue did was to criticize Li Yubing for being a tattletale.

Li Yubing was extremely puzzled. “I didn’t do anything.”

Tang Xue of course, did not expect him to admit it.

In a fit of anger, she finished his bear biscuits and Hot-kid milk[1]. During lunch when everyone was eating in the school canteen, she continued by polishing off his sweet and sour pork.

Li Yubing was forced to make do with the celery that Tang Xue detested.

This was not all. After lunch, Tang Xue dragged Li Yubing to the minimart where he was forced to buy a Kinder Joy for her.

Confession time: Original text was ambiguous on whether it was a Kinder Joy, Kinder Surprise, or simply a Chinese knockoff so I randomly choose one.

Kinder Joy was currently the latest fad among primary school children. Shaped like a duck egg, each Kinder Joy could be opened to reveal chocolate and a different surprise toy. It was very interesting, with the only downside of being expensive.

After buying the Kinder Joy, Li Yubing touched the remaining two coins in his pocket. His face darkened.

Saving up is not easy when you’re a primary school kid ……

On the other end, Tang Xue was in a super good mood after having obtained a Kinder Joy. She ate the chocolate while playing with the mini helicopter that was inside the egg. After returning to class, she showed off the helicopter and basked in the envious looks thrown her way, looking as if she was a winner in life.

Tang Xue told Li Yubing, “I’ve decided to forgive you.” She then paused for a while before adding on, “But you still have to let me drink your Hot-kid milk tomorrow.”

Li Yubing thought, things cannot go on like this.

He needed to retaliate.

……

There were lots of candies in Li Yubing’s home. The majority was given by his parents’ friends.

However, his parents did not allow him to eat too many candies. This meant that most of these sweets were often kept past their expiry date.

That day, looking at his mother throwing away the expired candies, Li Yubing suddenly asked, “What would happen if someone ate these?”

Mrs Li tried to scare him. “You’ll get a tummy ache and have to go to the hospital to get an injection before you can get well. So don’t ever eat food that has expired.”

Li Yubing obediently nodded his head. He pointed to the discarded jar of candies in the bin and said, “Can I take some?”

“Mm? What for?”

“To feed stray dogs.”

Li Yubing brought the expired candies to school. As expected, he had only taken out the candies for a moment when Tang Xue immediately scooted over like a dog that had seen a bone.

“These are even imported candies,” Tang Xue pointed to the foreign words on the wrappers and said.

“Mm,” Li Yubing purposely replied in an indifferent tone, seeming as if the candies were something very ordinary to him.

Tang Xue swallowed her saliva. “Lemme help you taste them?”

Listen to this, just listen, how can someone be so shameless……

Without waiting for Li Yubing’s reply, Tang Xue nonchalantly took a candy, unwrapped and popped it into her mouth at lightning speed. She was in no way giving him a chance to refuse.

Li Yubing turned his head to the side, the corners of his mouth slightly turning up.

“Stray dog.” With his back facing her, he quietly murmured.

“What did you say?” Tang Xue did not catch that and questioned him while sucking on the candy.

Li Yubing did not reply. He tossed the remaining two pieces of candies in his hand onto her desk before fishing out his brand new literature book – the previous encyclopaedia of monsters had already been thrown into the rubbish bin by him. This was a new book that his mother had just bought.

His mother even called him a blockhead for being able to lose his book from just attending school.

Even though his eyes were fixed on the textbook, Li Yubing’s attention remained on Tang Xue who was sitting beside him. He could not wait to see this fellow get a tummy ache before being sent to the hospital to get an injection. It would be perfect if he could personally hear her anguished cries while receiving the injection.

Craaack—

After Tang Xue bit down on the candy in her mouth, she suddenly felt that something was wrong and immediately halted after that one bite.

Li Yubing tilted his head to the side and secretly observed her.

With just one glance, his mind instantly went blank.

Tang Xue was bleeding.

One side of her cheek was puffed up like a bun from the candy. Her mouth was slightly agape and bright red blood was trickling down the corners of her mouth. The trickle of blood slowly increased and increased until it seemed like a red waterfall. It was a shocking sight to see.

Li Yubing was so stunned that his whole body felt cold and his limbs went numb.

Tang Xue felt the edges of her mouth itching and raised a hand to rub it. She looked down at her fingers and saw them covered in blood.

She was immediately scared silly. She twisted her head to stare blankly at Li Yubing.

Li Yubing was staring blankly at her as well. Her tiny face was deathly pale and tears were welling up in her eyes.

Their abnormal behaviour quickly gained the attention of their classmates. At this moment, the school bell rang to signal the start of class. Teacher Zhao stepped into the classroom and said, “Stop messing about, can’t you hear that it’s time for lessons? Sit down properly!”

Mo Xiaolu who sat in front of Tang Xue cried sharply, “Teacher, Tang Xue is throwing up blood!”

Teacher Zhao turned towards Tang Xue, and saw that her complexion was pale and there was indeed blood at her mouth. What was even odder was that one side of her cheek was severely puffed up. Teacher Zhao immediately put down the lesson plan she was holding and quickly ran over in a fright. She bent down and cradled Tang Xue’s face with one hand. She gently touched the swollen cheek with a thumb. The swollen area was solid and firm.

“What’s going on? What did you eat?”

Tang Xue was in a state of shock. She looked blankly at Teacher Zhao in silence.

In a trembling voice, Li Yubing said, “It’s candy, it’s exp, exp——”

Teacher Zhao interrupted him and told Tang Xue, “Spit it out.”

Tang Xue obediently lowered her head, opened her mouth and spat.

What came out was the two split halves of the candy.

Tang Xue spat again.

This time, what came out was a white object covered in blood foam.

Upon seeing it, Teacher Zhao’s shoulders instantly relaxed. “Tang Xue, you’re changing teeth.”

……

Teacher Zhao brought Tang Xue to rinse her mouth. Afterwards, lessons resumed as per normal. Actually, quite a few students in class had changed teeth before. However, cases like Tang Xue’s that had managed to re-enact a scene from a horror movie were rare exceptions.

Having just recovered from a shock, Tang Xue looked exceptionally demure. After sitting down, she told Li Yubing, “I thought I was going to die.”

Li Yubing replied in a low voice, “Me too.”

Tang Xue felt that she needed to calm her nerves by eating some candy. She silently reached towards the two remaining pieces of candy on her table.

Li Yubing quickly took them away.

“Hey,” Tang Xue was a little unhappy.

“Stop eating,” Li Yubing said.

Tang Xue ignored his words. She stretched an open palm towards him. “You’ve already given them to me.”

Li Yubing: “I regretted it.”

In the front of the class, Teacher Zhao rapped the blackboard. “Pay attention! Tang Xue, Li Yubing, do you two have a lot to say? Why not come up here and tell it to the whole class?”

Tang Xue immediately shut her mouth. Nonetheless, she continued to stare stubbornly at Li Yubing with her palm outstretched.

Li Yubing unwrapped the two candies and gave each piece a lick. He then rewrapped and dropped them into her palm.

“Enjoy.”

Tang Xue: “……”

[1] It is called 旺仔牛奶 (wàng zǎi niú nǎi) in Chinese. It’s not actual milk but a sweetened milk flavoured beverage that’s a childhood staple and favourite for most kids growing up in some Asian countries.

Tang Xue’s birthday was coming up. She informed Li Yubing a week in advance and told him to prepare a gift.

Li Yubing did not intend to spend any effort to celebrate this fellow’s birthday. He initially planned to fold a paper plane and present it as a birthday gift.

However, that day, he saw fake spiders for sale at the supermarket. The fake spiders were made of plastic and the size of a soup bowl. Their dark and lifelike appearances were enough to send tingles down one’s spine.

Such a disgusting item was very suitable to be used to disgust a scoundrel.

As a result, Li Yubing secretly bought a spider and even spent an additional two yuan for the shop owner to wrap it up nicely for him.

While wrapping the spider, the shop owner asked, “Who are you giving this present to?”

Li Yubing pursed his lips and honestly replied, “My deskmate.”

“Oh, is your deskmate a boy or a girl?”

“A girl.”

The shop owner passed over the wrapped present and concernedly warned, “Kid, if you give this to a girl, I’m afraid you’re going to get beaten up.”

……

Tang Xue began to impatiently tear open the gift the moment Li Yubing gave it to her.

He stood at the side and silently observed her facial expression, anticipating the moment she turned pale with fright.

Tang Xue revealed a face of surprise upon seeing the spider. She stroked the back of the spider with her fingers and said, “I almost thought it was real and jumped up from shock.”

Jumped up from shock…… why not you really jump for me to see……

Li Yubing was disappointed. He asked, “Aren’t you afraid?”

“Not at all. My mother said that all animals are afraid of humans.”

Li Yubing found Tang Xue mildly terrifying.

During lunch, Tang Xue hung the spider down Li Yubing’s back. When the two of them reached the canteen, other children started crying from the fright and they almost caused a stampede.

Their parents were even notified because of this incident.

When Mrs Li heard what happened, she felt extremely incredulous. On the way back home, she asked Li Yubing, “Are you daft, it’s a birthday present for a girl and you chose to give a spider? You’re going to end up single for the rest of your life being like this.”

Li Yubing’s mood was gloomy and he stared blankly out of the car window.

His journey to get even with Tang Xue was way too arduous.

……

In the beginning of November, Tang Xue welcomed the school event that she loved, loved, loved the most—autumn excursion.

This year, the location of their autumn excursion was Mount Lu that was in the suburbs. Mount Lu overlooked Lu Lake Park and was in actual fact only a small hill. There were numerous apple trees planted on this hill. Every autumn, the whole expanse of the hill would be strewn with bright red apples that seemed like thousands of small lanterns, looking exceptionally beautiful. Thus, locals also commonly referred to Mount Lu as “Apple Mountain”.

Since the excursion location was Apple Mountain, the planned activities would definitely include watching apples being picked by the farmers. It was also reportedly said that they will get to personally pick some apples if they were obedient enough.

Upon arriving at Mount Lu, the children started twittering about noisily like birds that had just escaped from their cages. Looking at these restless little monkeys, Teacher Zhao warned, “Listen to my instructions. Stop running about. There are tigers on this hill that specially eat small children…… Tang Xue, why is your red scarf like that?”

Tang Xue accidentally undid her scarf while playing with it a moment ago and was not able to get it back into its original shape. She gave up retying after trying a few times and casually draped the red scarf over her neck, looking like someone who just came out from the public bath.

“Teacher, I don’t know how to tie it,” Tang Xue said.

Teacher Zhao did not have time to bother with her at this moment. She called out Li Yubing, “Li Yubing, help Tang Xue to tie her red scarf.”

Li Yubing was a little reluctant to do so but could only helplessly do as he was told.

As he tied the red scarf, Tang Xue keep fidgeting and shifting her head. Li Yubing impatiently said, “Stop moving.”

The two of them were standing very close to each other. Tang Xue examined Li Yubing’s face. His eyelashes were very long, just like a pair of tiny fans. Li Yubing’s lips were also tightly pursed which resulted in an extremely stern and serious look on his face.

“Li Yubing, you look like my doll.”

“Stop talking.”

Tang Xue suddenly felt her hands itching. Hence, she raised them and began to knead Li Yubing’s face. Her hands were one moment on the left and another on the right, with actions of kneading and pinching that seemed like she was playing with dough.

Li Yubing wrinkled his brows. “Stop fooling around.”

He must had accumulated a whole lifetime’s worth of bad karma to be punished with helping her to tie her scarf while letting her play with his face.

Teacher Zhao led the children on foot to a relatively flat area. With an unobscured view of the entire Lu Lake, this area was perfect for a lunch picnic.

She then directed everyone to sit down for lunch.

After lunch was a short period of free time where students were allowed to do their own things. However, they were not allowed to roam too far and had to remain within the teachers’ sights.

Li Yubing sat on the grass and observed the scenery serenely—the light reflecting off the lake, the colours of the hill, the birds flying above, the boat in the lake…… this trip was not purely for leisure. An essay assignment had to be completed after heading back.

Fortunately, Tang Xue that fellow did not come to bother him. She was noisily playing tag with someone else.

Li Yubing sat there for a while more. Then, someone unexpectedly tapped his back. He turned his head to see Tang Xue beaming at him.

“Li Yubing, look, what’s this?” Tang Xue cheerfully shook her hand in front of him.

Li Yubing’s gaze lowered and saw Tang Xue holding a fleshy looking worm in her right hand. The worm was around the size and length of a finger, and was a dull bean green with a smattering of multi coloured spots along its back. At this moment, the worm was being held upside down, resulting in the struggling twists and turns of its fat and meaty body.

Li Yubing’s face instantly changed. He leaped up and broke into a run.

Honestly speaking, he was not afraid of any snakes, rats or even cockroaches. The only thing that he was scared of was exactly this type of worm.

This was because he once had the nightmarish and traumatizing experience of having a caterpillar crawl into his ear.

Tang Xue took one look at the scene of Li Yubing running and burst into laughter. She held up the worm and chased after him while saying, “Stop running. Look at how adorable it is!”

Li Yubing picked up his pace and ran even faster.

He was like a wild little pony, frantically and aimlessly running towards any direction that could get him away.

Teacher Zhao saw that something was wrong and immediately yelled, “Hey! Li Yubing, Tang Xue, what are you two doing? Stop running and come back.”

Li Yubing turned a deaf ear to her words.

He was running way too fast, to the extent that it was abnormal. Tang Xue was a little frightened. She hurriedly threw away the worm and called out, “I’ve thrown it away. Stop running. Look, I have nothing in my hands now!”

But it was too late.

Li Yubing had been running too fast. He stumbled over something and tripped in an instant, his tiny body flying out with a whoosh like a leaf caught in the autumn wind. Teacher Zhao felt her heart in her mouth at this sight……

Li Yubing landed in the bushes at the side of the road.

Teacher Zhao’s temples started throbbing and she hastily ran over.

……

Upon hearing that her son was in the hospital, Mrs Li cast aside her uncompleted work and rushed over.

She ran into consultation room 1 of the paediatrics department and saw her son sitting on a chair. A doctor was applying medicine for him with a cotton swab. The doctor was female with loosely permed waves and a pair of spectacles with thin golden frames. While applying the medicine, the doctor said, “Tell me if it’s painful. Don’t hold it in.”

Teacher Zhao was standing at the side and watching concernedly.

Mrs Li gave out a sigh of relief. In her mind, her son was already closer to a corpse more than anything else. It was a great blessing that he was able to be still sitting like this.

She walked in, relaxed her tone and asked, “Doctor, my son he…… how is he?”

The doctor did not raise her head. She continued applying the medicine and replied,“He fell into some thorn bushes. It’s nothing much so don’t worry…… Your son is really tough. He did not cry out in pain or make a scene at all. This child is definitely going places when he grows up.”

“Why does he still need to apply medicine if it’s nothing much?”

“His face was scratched a little by the thorns. I just cleaned the scratches for him and am now applying a little antiseptic for disinfection. It is a good thing that it’s currently autumn. The thicker clothing protected him from further scratches on his body.”

Mrs Li furrowed her brows and looked at Li Yubing. No matter whether he was currently fine or not, her heart ached for him as his mother……

Teacher Zhao said, “Sorry, Mrs Li. It was my negligence in failing to look after the children properly. They ran too fast and I did not have ample time to respond.”

Mrs Li was about to reply when a tiny figure unexpectedly appeared from behind Teacher Zhao.

The tiny figure sprouted two ponytails and possessed a fair face with a pair of dark round eyes, looking cute beyond measure.

The child walked in front of Mrs Li and thrusted an apple into her hands. The apple was bright red and looked especially fresh. There were even some dew drops on the apple surface, seeming like the apple had just been freshly picked off a tree.

Mrs Li’s heart melted. She bent down, stroked the child’s head and smiled. “Tang Xue? What are you doing here? My goodness, why are your eyes red, who made you cry? Stop crying, auntie will help you to whack that person.”

Teacher Zhao explained, “Li Yubing fell and she insisted on coming along no matter what.”

At this, the doctor who was applying the antiseptic for Li Yubing suddenly burst into soft laughter and spoke, “She’s feeling guilty. Teacher Zhao, take her back and question her. She must had played a part in this incident. If she dares to not tell the truth, just inform her father.”

Mrs Li felt that the doctor’s words were a little strange. She asked, “Do you know Tang Xue?”

“Of course. I’m her mother.”

“……”

Mrs Li’s first reaction was astonishment, followed by a sense of affinity. This was her first time meeting Tang Xue’s mother. In the past, Principal Tang was always the one who attended the parent-teacher conference. However, since the two families’ children were deskmates, there was naturally a stronger sense of familiarity between them as compared to the parents of other students. Furthermore, Tang Xue was such an adorable child.

Mrs Tang straightened up, looked at Mrs Li somewhat apologetically and said, “I’m really sorry about this. My child is too mischievous. I sincerely apologize to you.”

“Ah? It’s not a big deal. It’s perfectly normal for children to be rowdy.” Mrs Li rubbed Tang Xue’s tiny head and concernedly look at Li Yubing. There was something that she was quite worried about. She carefully asked, “That is…… Li Yubing he, will he be disfigured? If he ends up with a pockmarked face, how will he get himself a wife in the future……”

Mrs Tang laughed in amusement and answered, “Please rest assured that if your son is disfigured, I’ll marry my daughter to him as compensation.”

In this instant, Li Yubing who had been bearing the pain and resisting the urge to cry suddenly teared up.

“Can I refuse……” He weakly protested.