CH 60

Grandma.

‘Xiao Jia, if I didn’t come visit Gu Zai, would you have left without seeing me?’ Louis asked.

‘What’s the point of seeing you when I’ll be leaving soon?’ Ling Jia asked.

Upstairs, Zhen Zhen looked out the bedroom window into the garden. She saw Ling Jia and Louis sitting together in the garden under the moonlight.

Yue Gu Zai hugged Zhen Zhen from behind.

‘Gu Zai, I pity Louis too,’ Zhen Zhen said. ‘He loves your mum. But he can’t change the reality, and he can’t see your mum whenever he misses her. On the rare days he gets to see your mum, he has to look at her being happy with your dad.’

‘Zhen Zhen, let them deal with their own lives,’ Yue Gu Zai said. ‘It’s late, let’s sleep.’

Zhen Zhen saw Ling Jia left Louis alone in the garden before she walked to the bed.

The next day, Ling Jia took Zhen Zhen on a baby shopping trip. Although Yue Gu Zai could buy all the children’s shops for his and Zhen Zhen’s baby, Ling Jia wanted to choose clothes for her second grandchild.

Zhen Zhen didn’t need to buy designer clothes for the baby. She was happy to buy comfortable clothes for the baby.

Ling Jia didn’t like wasting money, but she wanted the best clothes for her grandchild. She bought all the baby clothes in a children’s clothing shop that sold designer baby clothes, and she became the shop assistants’ favorite customer of the day.

‘I want to buy two cute baby outfits,’ Lam Zheng said.

‘Miss, I’m sorry,’ the shop assistant said. ‘Today this lady bought all the baby clothes in the shop. Miss, you can come back another day to buy baby clothes.’

Lam Zheng thought the shop assistant meant Zhen Zhen bought all the baby clothes.

‘Oh it’s you,’ Lam Zheng said. ‘I’ll pay you double if you give me two of the baby outfits you bought.’

‘Zhen Zhen, is she your friend?’ Ling Jia asked.

‘Mum, this is Lam Zheng,’ Zhen Zhen said. ‘She’s an old classmate. The man next to her is Yang Cheng.’

If Lam Zheng and Yang Cheng weren’t Zhen Zhen’s friends, Ling Jia didn’t want to give away her grandchild’s baby clothes.

‘Are the baby clothes wrapped up?’ Ling Jia asked the shop assistant.

‘Yes,’ the shop assistant said.

‘Deliver the baby clothes to this address,’ Ling Jia said.

‘Hey, I said give me two of the baby outfits you bought,’ Lam Zheng said.

‘Lam Zheng, We can go somewhere else to buy baby clothes,’ Yang Cheng said.

‘No, big sister wore clothes from here since she was a little girl,’ Lam Zheng said.

Lam Zheng didn’t want to make life easy for the vixen Zhen Zhen.

‘Are you deaf?’ Lam Zheng asked. ‘Didn’t you hear me tell you to give me two baby outfits?’

‘I’m sorry,’ Ling Jia said. ‘I’m not deaf. I can hear humans talking clearly. But I can’t understand a crazy dog’s bark.’

‘Did you call me a crazy dog?’ Lam Zheng asked.

‘Mum, watch out,’ Zhen Zhen warned.

Ling Jia hit Lam Zheng’s raised arm before Lam Zheng could hit her.

‘Zhen Zhen, do you think I need a rabies vaccine after touching a crazy dog?’ Ling Jia asked.

‘Mum, don’t worry,’ Zhen Zhen said. ‘Looks like this crazy dog has no teeth and only knows how to bark.’

‘Lam Zheng, let them go,’ Yang Cheng said.

‘No,’ Lam Zheng said. ‘If those two have guts then they’ll stay here and fight.’

Lam Zheng raised her arm again to hit Ling Jia. Ling Jia knocked Lam Zheng’s phone out of her hand.

‘You!’ Lam Zheng said. ‘Do you know who my dad is? He’s the CEO of Lam’s company. He’ll make you pay for hitting me.’

‘Zhen Zhen, I haven’t heard of Lam’s company,’ Ling Jia said. ‘It can’t be that big if Yue’s company is the biggest company in Asia.’

‘Mum, you’re right,’ Zhen Zhen said. ‘Yue’s company has headquarters all over Asia.’

‘Zhen Zheng, we don’t need to be angry over a crazy dog,’ Ling Jia said. ‘Let’s go home.’

‘You two dare run away after hitting me?’ Lam Zheng asked. ‘Lam’s company is negotiating a business contract with Yue’s company. Now you two know how big Lam’s company is.’

Ling Jia smiled at Lam Zheng and she called Louis.

‘Louis, is it true Lam’s company wants to collaborate with Yue’s company?’ Ling Jia asked.

On Louis’ end of the phone, Yue Cheng Tian stared at Louis’ phone. Yue Cheng Tian was curious why Ling Jia’s voice was coming out of Louis’ phone.

‘Lam’s company?’ Louis asked. ‘I don’t know. I left Wo Ta Tian in charge while I’m on work leave.’

‘Um, Louis tell Wo Ta Tian to say to Mr Lam not to let his daughter run around outside barking at Gu Zai’s wife unless Mr Lam wants Lam’s company to go bust.’

‘Xiao Jia, did you meet a hateful person?’ Louis asked.

‘Not a person,’ Ling Jia said. ‘Only a hateful crazy dog.’

Ling Jia held Zhen Zhen’s hand and they left a frightened Lam Ting standing frozen in the shop.

In the meeting room at Yue’s company, Lam Li Zhang was waiting for Wo Ta Tian to sign on behalf of Louis to authorize the business contract Lam Li Zhang worked hard to get with Yue’s company.

After Wo Ta Tian received a call from Louis, he smiled apologetically at Lam Li Zhang.

‘Mr Lam, I’m sorry to say that Yue’s company won’t be settling this contract today,’ Wo Ta Tian said.

‘Mr Wo, why is the settlement day suddenly changed?’ Lam Li Zheng asked.

‘Mr Lam, your daughter offended Louis’s friend and Yue Gu Zai’s wife,’ Wo Ta Tian said. ‘You should go home and discuss it with your daughter.’

Lam Li Zhang left Yue’s company with an unsigned contract. He was angry at Lam Zheng for ruining Lam’s company business deal with Yue’s company. He called Yang Cheng’s phone to talk to Lam Zheng.

‘Hello,’ Yang Cheng greeted.

‘Give the phone to Lam Zheng,’ Lam Li Zhang said.

‘Hello,’ Lam Zheng greeted.

‘You bitch,’ Lam Li Zhang cursed. ‘Do you know what you’ve done? Yue’s company refused to sign the business contract with Lam’s company because of you. Tonight you better explain what you did.’

Lam Zheng hung up the phone. She didn’t think she did anything wrong. Wo Ta Tian was sick of Lam Zheng’s bad behaviour, he turned around and walked away from Lam Zheng.

‘Ta Tian, wait for me,’ Lam Zheng said.

When Ling Jia and Zhen Zhen arrived home, Zhen Zhen received a phone call from Zhen Wu’s teacher.

‘Hello, is this Zhen Wu’s mum?’ Miss Chen asked.

‘Yes, I’m Zhen Wu’s mum,’ Zhen Zhen said.

‘Miss Zhen, you need to come to the school,’ Miss Chen said. ‘Zhen Wu was involved in an incident at school.’

‘What happened?’ Zhen Zhen asked.

‘Zhen Wu fought with his classmate,’ Miss Chen said.

‘I’ll be there soon,’ Zhen Zhen said and hung up the phone.

‘Zhen Zhen, what happened?’ Ling Jia asked.

‘Zhen Wu fought with his classmate,’ Zhen Zhen said.

‘Um, Zhen Zhen calm down,’ Ling Jia said. ‘You’re pregnant. Don’t worry, children fighting with each other is common.’

‘Mum, Zhen Wu is a good boy,’ Zhen Zhen said. ‘He wouldn’t hurt anyone.’

‘Um, there’s no rush,’ Ling Jia said. ‘I’ll take you to Zhen Wu’s school safely.’

Ling Jia took Zhen Zhen to Zhen Wu’s school. Zhen Wu was playing on his computer in the school office. There was a small bruise on the corner of his lips and a small bruise on his arm.

Next to Zhen Wu was the mother of a boy taller than Zhen Wu. Behind them were the mother’s two guards. The mother wore designer clothes, and the taller boy sat on his mother’s lap. There were bruises all over the taller boy’s face.

Zhen Zhen ran to Zhen Wu and she checked Zhen Wu’s body for injuries.

‘Zhen Wu, are you in pain?’ Zhen Zhen asked.

Zhen Wu shook his head.

‘Miss Chen, Zhen Wu’s mum is here,’ Sun Li Li said. ‘You can ask his mum why she taught Zhen Wu to hit other people. Look at what Zhen Wu did to Xu Xiao Fei’s face.’

Sun Li Li heard Zhen Zhen was a single mum. She wasn’t surprised Zhen Zhen didn’t know how to teach good behavior to Zhen Wu.

‘Miss Chen, what happened?’ Zhen Zhen asked.

‘Xiao Fei wanted to play with the little girl Tiao Yuan,’ Miss Chen said. ‘Tiao Yuan wanted to play with Zhen Wu. Zhen Wu only wanted to play on his computer. Xiao Fei was upset Zhen Wu didn’t pay attention to Tiao Yuan when she was talking then Zhen Wu hit Xiao Fei.’

‘Did you hear Miss Chen?’ Sun Li Li asked. ‘It was your son who hit my son first. Hitting your classmates is wrong.’

Zhen Zhen ignored Sun Li Li.

‘Zhen Wu, did you hit Xiao Fei first?’ Zhen Zhen asked.

Zhen Wu nodded his head.

‘Xiao Fei deleted a program I spent two weeks coding,’ Zhen Wu said.

‘Zhen Wu, it’s wrong to hit your classmate,’ Zhen Zhen said.

‘Mum, I’m sorry,’ Zhen Wu said. ‘I know it was wrong of me to hit Xiao Fei.’

‘Miss Sun, I’m sorry Zhen Wu hit Xiao Fei,’ Zhen Zhen said. ‘Zhen Wu admitted he was wrong. I’ll pay for Xiao Fei’s medicine.’

‘Do you know how precious Xiao Fei is?’ Sun Li Li asked. ‘He’s the Xu Household’s heir. What happens if he was beaten to the point of being an invalid? Do you think paying for medicine and saying sorry is enough to compensate Xiao Fei’s bruised face?’

Ling Jia thought Sun Li Li was an eyesore. Ling Jia thought Xu Xiao Fei provoked Zhen Wu first. Zhen Wu wouldn’t have hit Xu Xiao Fei if Xu Xiao Fei didn’t try to break Zhen Wu’s computer.

Ling Jia gently rubbed the small bruise on the corner of Zhen Wu’s lips.

‘Little boy, why did you let another person hit you?’ Ling Jia asked.

‘Grandma, Xiao Fei’s face has more bruises than my face,’ Zhen Wu said.

‘Um,’ Ling Jia said. ‘Next time if someone provokes you first, you can hit them to the point they become an invalid. Your grandma will take responsibility.’

‘Grandma, you’ll be going home soon,’ Zhen Wu said. ‘How can you take responsibility if you’re gone?’

‘You have nothing to fear,’ Ling Jia said. ‘Even if I’m gone, you have your dad. Your dad wouldn’t let anyone hurt you. You have teacher, Louis, uncle Bai, Cheng and Huyen and aunty Chu too.’

‘Mum, Zhen Wu is still young,’ Zhen Zhen said. ‘We shouldn’t teach Zhen Wu bad behavior even if we’re only joking.’

‘What are you three whispering about?’ Sun Li Li asked. ‘How are you going to compensate my son?’

‘Miss Sun, I’m sorry,’ Zhen Zhen said. ‘What compensation do you want?’

‘I don’t want money,’ Sun Li Li said. ‘You should let my son hit your son’s face like how your son hit my son’s face.’

‘Miss Sun, it’s wrong to teach children to use fists to clear misunderstandings between them,’ Zhen Zhen said. ‘Zhen Wu was wrong to hit Xiao Fei, and Xiao Fei was wrong to wreck Zhen Wu’s computer.’

‘Wrong to use fists?’ Sun Li Li asked.

Miss Chen panicked when the two guards behind Sun Li Li walked up to Zhen Wu.

Zhen Zhen protected Zhen Wu in her arms.

‘Ah!’ the two guards cried out.

Ling Jia had kicked the two guards onto the floor.

***

End of Chapter Sixty