Standing Next To You

The next day, the little girl's parents came to the school to seek justice.

"Where is that stinky brat?! How dare she make our little princess cry?!"

The Teacher was speechless. The parents looked like they came here to kill a person.

She already heard about the situation from Fei Chuan and understood the whole matter. It was just a small fight between children. Is it necessary to make a big deal out of it?

"Ma'am, Sir, please calm down. The children just have a misunderstanding. Your daughter wanted to change her seat but because the seat is arranged based on ranking, she cannot change seats just because she asked to. But this arrangement is only temporary. On the next semester, we would change the arrangement then."

"Why my daughter can't seat in the front row? She can't see from the back. She has to seat at the front!"

"I want to seat beside Fei Chuan!" The little girl added.

Her parents patted her head, "Right, let her choose her seat."

The teacher: "...."

Didn't she just explain the rules to them? They were so stubborn...

The teacher resisted and explained again.

If it was another time, she would not think too much about it and have agreed to them. It was just a seat anyway. But after hearing the whole matter from Fei Chuan, the teacher decided that she would follow the rules.

At this time, Bei Sangyun arrived.

When the little girl saw her, she immediately pointed her finger at her and pulled her parents.

"Mom! Dad! It's her! She doesn't want to change seats with me!"

The parents were tough when facing the teacher, but the teacher also had an uncompromising attitude. They were in a stalemate.

So when the parents saw the cause of the problem- the thin and weak little girl, they decided to pressure her instead.

"So it's this child! You little girl, let have our Xiao'er change seats with you." The parents said domineeringly.

The Teacher frowned. "Ma'am and Sir, I already said it's not possible at the moment."

"We are asking her, teacher. We can't just force the rules if both children agreed, right?"

The Teacher was about to lose her patience when Bei Sangyun answered.

"I won't change seats with her. That seat is something I earned."

The Teacher's eyes suddenly lit up. "That's right. If you want your daughter to choose her seat next time, she should work hard for it and get a better rank. In the next semester, I will change the arrangement and let the top rankers choose their seats first."

The parent was stunned. They looked at Bei Sangyun in shock, "This little girl has a better rank than our Xiao'er? Are you sure she is not cheating?"

Bei Sangyun was neat and clean. But her old clothes that were clearly for adults, her yellowish cloth bag, and her straw sandal, screamed that she was from a poor village. Compared to the other children who were dressed in new clothes, Bei Sangyun looked poor.

Bei Sangyun was scalded by their strange gaze. She could not help but fidget and felt offended. Why were these people suddenly accused of her cheating?

And their strange gaze....it was uncomfortable. She did not like those gazes at all.

The teacher understood the hidden meaning behind their words. Her face had turned cold, "Bei Sangyun is very smart. She is the second rank in the whole grade. I testify on this."

The teacher's words comforted Bei Sangyun a lot.

However, this made the couple become more stubborn.

"How could a poor child from an unknown village be the second rank?! Our Xiao'er finished kindergarten in a big city. She knows more than this poor child!"

"Perhaps she copied answers from Fei Chuan. Fei Chuan is the smartest in the class. And they sat together." The little girl felt that her parents were right.

There was no way Bei Sangyun was smarter than her.

Her words caused her parents to be enlightened. So that's how it is.

"This matter should be reported to the principal. A child like her who can't afford to buy shoes won't afford tutors and surpassed my Xiao'er. As you know, my Xiao'er is learning from her tutor on weekends. There is no way a child like her knows a lot more than our Xiao'er." The parents justified.

The teacher was once again speechless by this couple's unscrupulousness. She never met such people like them!

On the other hand, Bei Sangyun stood blankly as the words 'poor', 'can't afford shoes', 'a child like her', struck her to the core.

Although some children said her outfit looked ugly and dull, she never mind it.

But the words of adults rattled her mind. It made her question herself if she was really miserable as they said.

Was there something wrong with her?

Was she really that strange that she went to school with straw sandals?

Was she really that poor in their eyes?

.....

In the end, with the parent's insistence, this matter was brought to the principal office.

When the parents saw the principal they exclaimed in pleasant surprise. It turned out this principal was an acquaintance of their friend in the big city.

The principal did not know them at first but after hearing where they came from and the mention of his friend's name, he showed familiarity with them.

So when he listened to the argument, he was more biased toward the parents.

"I see, so that is the case." He looked at Bei Sangyun, "This child, did you not bring your parents with you?"

Bei Sangyun was stunned. Should this matter concern her parents?

The teacher explained to the Principal, "Bei Sangyun only has her grandma in her family. It's not convenient to call her grandma for this misunderstanding."

The principal's eyes glinted. But he smiled gently, "I understand it's not convenient to bring her grandma. But this matter has been taken seriously. Our student here brought her parents so this issue has escalated for adults to discuss. And this child here did not bring anyone. How could she make a decision by herself alone?"

He turned to Bei Sangyun, "I heard you are the second in your whole grade. You are a very smart and hard worker student. I can see that you are very sensible and mature. But this concern the adults. Don't you have anyone to call?"

Bei Sangyun was intimidated by his stare. Although he was smiling, Bei Sangyun felt she was being cornered.

She glanced at the parents who were smiling knowingly and at the Teacher's angry expression.

Their stares made her feel suffocated.

At this moment, she felt all terrible, as if she was riding a boat all alone by herself on the raging sea.

But she was not alone! She had her grandma!

However, she could not bring her grandma here.

Her grandma was busy selling her handmade products in the market. And she did not want to bring her grandma here because of a simple dispute.

With her grandma's tough attitude, she might even stop Bei Sangyun from coming to school while scolding the whole school.

If that happened, Grandma Bei would be the topic of strange rumors.