Chapter 26 — The Child You Never Knew

As Deputy Lady. A person who once tacitly agreed with, and even participated in, harming her, three years later showed a seemingly unconditional goodwill. She put the documents in the drawer and closed it. Don't rush to act yet. But she kept this matter in her heart. The first week Tieu Chau entered the Genius Class. Khai Minh School's Genius class is located in a separate building on the east side of the campus, a stadium away from regular classes. The class has only eight children, ages 5 to 7. The learning content goes beyond the normal curriculum, including logic, mathematics, creativity training and social communication simulation. On the first day of picking up her child, Khuong Niem noticed that the traffic in front of the school was very different from normal schools. They are all luxury cars, with private drivers opening the doors, and nannies carrying briefcases following the children. And she was riding an electric motorbike, carrying Tieu Chau. Tieu Chau jumped down from the back seat, wearing the school bag she had used for more than half a year, with a natural look on her face as she entered the school gate. A boy got out of a black sedan, followed by two adults, a man and a woman, the man carrying a briefcase, the woman holding a water bottle. That boy glanced at Tieu Chau, then looked at the electric motorbike in front of the gate, the corner of his mouth raised but said nothing. When school ended, Tieu Chau walked out, her face no different from that of the morning. The boy climbed onto the back of the electric motorbike and fastened the helmet strap.

“How are you today?”

"Pretty good. The test is more interesting than kindergarten."

“What about your classmates?”

"There was a friend who was very noisy. The two of them didn't say anything. There was a friend who was two years older than me. He thought he was the best."

“How do you think you are best at treating your children?”

"She asked me what my dad did for a living. I said I don't have a dad. He said, 'Then how did you get here?'"

Khuong Niem's hands tightened on the steering wheel. “How do you answer?”

“I said I passed the exam.” Tieu Chau's voice was light, as if she was telling him what to eat for lunch. "After that, she didn't say anything more."

“Did he bully you?”

"No. She just raised her nose very high when looking at me. But in the afternoon Math class, there was a problem she couldn't solve but I could solve it, her nose was no longer high."

Khuong Niem tightened his hat strap and started the engine. "In the future, if she says something unpleasant, please tell me."

“No need.” Tieu Chau said, "I can handle it myself. No matter how harsh her words are, they can't be as harsh as the words she scolded me on the internet. I can endure those words, and you can endure them too."

The electric motorbike rolled on the road, the wind blew the skirts of the mother and child. Khuong Niem did not turn her head, but her eyes were burning hot. In just a moment, the wind quickly blew it dry. The third week of Genius Class, the school held a public observation day for parents. Eight children in the class worked on a group project together, with parents watching in the last row. The content of the project is to collaboratively design a model of "Future City", with each child in charge of different parts. Khuong Niem sat in the corner of the last row. Seven other parents sat around, dressed elegantly, whispering loudly. No one actively started a conversation with Khuong Niem, but no one expressed a clear rejection attitude either. A polite disregard. When the project was halfway done, the boy who "turned his nose up very high" - Trinh Trinh - appeared disagree with Tieu Chau. The traffic module in charge of Trinh Trinh conflicts with Tieu Chau's energy module, both sides insist on their opinions on how to resolve it.

“My plan is correct.” Trinh Trinh's voice was not loud but very firm, "Your energy lines are not arranged properly, they will get entangled in my overpass."

“Your overpass was in the wrong place from the start.” Tieu Chau pointed to a connection point on the model, "Look here, if you follow your plan, the entire power source of the East area will be cut off."

“Then you fix your line.”

"If I fix it, the East area will lose power. If you fix the location, it will only affect the turning radius of one intersection. Your cost is lower than mine."

Trinh Trinh's face turned red. His family was in the construction business, and from a young age he had seen and heard that being told the plan was wrong, making the boy feel insulted.

“It's always up to you to decide based on what?” Trinh Trinh raised his voice.

The other children in the class stopped what they were doing and turned to look at them. The parents sitting in the back also fell silent. Trinh Trinh's father - a middle-aged man wearing a dark suit - leaned forward slightly, his face somewhat unsightly. Tieu Chau was not scared by Trinh Trinh's volume. The boy put down the components in his hand, stood up, walked to the whiteboard, and picked up the marker.

“I'll draw it for you to see.” The boy said.

He drew two lines on the board. One line represents Trinh Trinh's flyover, the other is his energy pipeline. The two lines intersect at a point.

“Look at this intersection.” Tieu Chau's pen wrote on it, "If your overpass moves ten centimeters south, the intersection will disappear. Your car can still go, my electricity can still be supplied. No one has to yield to anyone else."

After finishing drawing, he turned around to look at Trinh Trinh. “Can you see it?” Trinh Trinh stared at the whiteboard for five seconds. His lips pursed, the red color on his face gradually faded. Finally, the boy replied sullenly: “Okay.” The teacher sitting in the back clapped twice. Some parents looked at each other. Trinh Trinh's father leaned back in his chair, his unhappy expression turning to a subtle scrutiny. The day of observation ended, the parents took turns leaving in the hallway. Khuong Niem packed her bags and was about to leave when Trinh Trinh's father - real name Trinh Han Vu - stopped her. "Hello Ms. Khuong, I'm Trinh Nhac, Trinh Han Vu's father. At home everyone calls him Trinh Trinh." He gave her his business card, "Your son's performance during today's observation session left a deep impression on me." Khuong Niem received the business card and glanced at it. Trinh Nhac, Chairman of Trinh Thi Construction Group.

"Thank." She put her business card in her pocket.