"Wait!"
A pleasant voice of a young boy sounded from behind, causing An Xin to involuntarily stop in her tracks. She didn't dare to turn her head as she asked, "What's the matter?"
The girl's voice was soft, resembling that of a startled little deer. Gu Heng couldn't help but say, "Let me walk you home!"
"No need!"
After An Xin finished speaking, she walked away quickly, as if avoiding a plague.
That evening,
While having dinner, Li Man and Chen Xiaohui discussed the details of setting up a stall.
An Xin listened silently, then suddenly put down her chopsticks and said, "Mom, I want to join you and Aunt Li Man in running the stall. I don't want to go to school anymore."
Chen Xiaohui thought An Xin was joking and smiled, saying, "No need. Aunt Li Man and I can handle it ourselves. You should focus on your studies and not worry your mother."
"Mom, I'm serious. I really don't want to go to school."
Seeing An Xin's distressed expression, Chen Xiaohui finally realized that An Xin wasn't joking with her.
She felt a bit angry and asked sternly, "Why don't you want to go to school? You're still young, what can you do if you don't go to school?"
Seeing that the atmosphere wasn't right, Li Man quickly said, "Don't speak so loudly to the child. Let's talk calmly."
Then she looked at An Xin and softly asked, "An Xin, why don't you want to go to school?"
An Xin, with tears streaming down her face, sobbed, "I... I don't want to go to school. My classmates are gossiping about me... wuwuwu... I really don't want to go to school."
Seeing her daughter crying so heartbrokenly, Chen Xiaohui felt extremely distressed. She quickly sat next to An Xin, hugged her, and comforted her, saying, "Alright, An Xin, don't cry. It's Mom's fault. Mom shouldn't have said those things to you. But you're still young, what will you do if you don't go to school?"
"Wuwuwu... I don't care. I just don't want to go to school anymore. I really don't want to go to school!" An Xin cried, gasping for breath, throwing a tantrum.
Thinking about her own experiences at work, Li Man empathized and thought for a moment before saying, "How about we arrange for An Xin to take a break from school first? After such an incident, she needs time to recover emotionally."
Chen Xiaohui thought that Li Man made sense and reluctantly said, "Okay then, tomorrow Mom will arrange for you to take a break from school. After a year, you can go back to school. Is that alright?"
An Xin nodded repeatedly and said, "Okay!"
"But even when you're at home, you have to continue studying. You can't neglect your education. The competition in society is fierce nowadays. If you don't study well, how can you get into a good university? And how will you find a good job in the future?"
"Mom, you're a college graduate too, and now you're going to set up a stall. If I join you now, maybe when I grow up, I'll become a boss myself. Then I can hire college students to work for me. Wouldn't that be better?" An Xin wiped her tears and said.
Chen Xiaohui couldn't understand why An Xin had such thoughts and quickly corrected her thinking. "Are you so sure that you can become a boss? Do you think being a boss is that easy? What if you can't become a boss? Without an education, what kind of job can you find? Washing dishes? Being a waitress? Being a nanny? Being a salesperson? If you don't study, you'll only be able to sell your physical labor and suffer for a lifetime!"
"Studying is only temporary hardship, but if you don't study, you'll suffer for a lifetime, my daughter."
Li Man chimed in as well, "That's right. Your mother is right. Without an education, the friends you make will also lack education, and the person you end up with will be someone who does physical labor just like you. It will be incredibly difficult for you to turn your life around."
