After dinner, Chen Man was in no hurry to leave. She was returning to Beijing in two days, thus she wanted to take advantage of the time she finally had today to chat with Mo Zhu.
Pulling the girl to sit on the sofa, Chen Man said kindly, “Xiao Zhu, I have something to do in two days and I have to return to Beijing. If you need anything and it’s not convenient to talk to Xuan’er, call me. I can arrange it for you!”
Mo Zhu smiled and patted Chen Man’s hand. “I’m not short of anything, Auntie. There’s everything in the Huo residence. Huo Xuan treats me quite well too.”
Hearing Mo Zhu’s words, Chen Man was relieved. The two of them chatted casually. After a while, Chen Man’s sensitiveness told her that Mo Zhu seemed to have something on her mind. She took the initiative to ask, “Xiao Zhu, you’ve been frowning. Is there something bothering you recently?”
Raising her head to look at Chen Man, Mo Zhu pinched the space between her eyebrows and replied plainly, “It’s not anything important. Auntie, don’t worry about me. I can handle it myself.”
Chen Man’s eyes darkened and she said in a gentle tone, “You don’t have to be so formal with me. Just treat me as your biological mother and tell me about it. Two brains are better than one.”
Seeing how serious Chen Man was, Mo Zhu felt bad hiding it from her. She smiled and said, “Auntie, you don’t have to be so nervous. It’s not a big deal. It’s just that the school is holding a parent-teacher meeting on Saturday for the monthly examination. My grandmother is still sick in the hospital, I…”
Before Mo Zhu could finish, Chen Man interrupted her, “What’s wrong with that? Xiao Zhu, you’re the future daughter-in-law of the Huo family. You don’t have to trouble your grandmother for a small matter like the parent-teacher meeting. Just let Auntie go!”
After adjusting her expression, Chen Man recalled Mo Zhu’s background and touched the girl’s hand with her heart aching for her.
She had grown up alone with her grandmother and her mother had treated both of her two daughters differently. To be honest, this daughter-in-law of hers was too pitiful.
With this in mind, Chen Man became even more determined to attend the parent-teacher meeting.
When Mo Zhu heard Chen Man’s words, she was also shocked and she seemed to have not reacted to Chen Man’s words. She looked up at the woman in a daze and asked, “You’re going to the parent-teacher meeting for me?”
“Yes! You’re going to marry into the Huo family sooner or later anyway. I’m the most suitable person to attend the parent-teacher meeting as your future mother-in-law. Even if Qin Ya comes, she won’t be able to say anything about it!”
Chen Man nodded confidently. Afraid that the girl would be worried, she patted Mo Zhu’s shoulder comfortingly.
“Alright, sorry to trouble you, Auntie.” Mo Zhu came back to her senses and replied with a smile, her brows relaxing.
Time flew by and before they knew it, it was Saturday.
Since the students did not attend classes on Saturday, the parent-teacher meeting of Jingyang High School usually took place at the usual time classes were held. It started at 8am sharp in the morning. Parents started to stand and wait at the entrance of Class Eight at 7am.
Chen Man had made ample preparations for this parent-teacher meeting. Not only did she choose the jewelry to wear that day in advance, but she had also asked for the location of Mo Zhu’s class in advance. She had even specially prepared a map of the campus of Jingyang High School for this.
She arrived at the entrance of Class Eight. The moment Chen Man stepped in, she shocked the other parents who had arrived early.
Just as they were discussing and guessing Chen Man’s identity, Li Xiao walked over and asked, “Hello, Madam. I’m Class Eight’s form teacher, Li Xiao. May I know whose parent you are?”
After calmly giving Mo Zhu’s name, Li Xiao nodded in understanding and brought Chen Man to the girl’s seat.
On the seat beside her, a middle-aged woman was already sitting upright and ready for the meeting. When she saw Chen Man sit down, she rubbed her hands together cautiously and greeted Chen Man with a smile. “Hello, you must be Mo Zhu’s parent.”
Chen Man turned to look at the woman and thought about it for a few seconds. After confirming that she had never seen this face before, she asked plainly, “You are?”
“I’m the mother of Meng Ran, Mo Zhu’s deskmate. Recently, I’ve been hearing our child mention Mo Zhu at home. She said that not only did Mo Zhu take care of her in every aspect of her life, but she was also happy to help others help her in many other aspects. Seeing you today, I just wanted to thank you for it.”
Chen Man silently sized up the woman who spoke. She noticed that she was dressed very plainly and there were thick calluses on her hands. It seemed that Mo Zhu’s deskmate had an honest and down-to-earth family.
Nodding, Chen Man smiled and said, “Mo Zhu has a good heart since she was young. She especially likes to help others. This is not a big deal.”
After the two of them exchanged a few pleasantries, the form teacher, Li Xiao, had already placed Mo Zhu’s test papers and total score sheet on the table in front of Chen Man.
The pile of red crosses in front of her eyes was really bright. She took Mo Zhu’s total score sheet and looked at it. It was really as Fang Ran had said yesterday. The girl’s total score did not even exceed 200 points.
Chen Man took a deep breath and comforted herself. It’s alright, it’s alright. There’s still almost a year left. When she returns to Beijing, she will immediately mention this to Huo Tao and invite a master teacher from Beijing to the Huo residence to tutor Xiao Zhu. She does not believe that this would not improve her daughter-in-law’s results!
