Once the luxury car left the area, Edith slumped into her seat. Then, her brain replayed the situation just now and she started to think of how she might have looked like in front of student Hazel.
Because she was teaching at an elite kindergarten, Edith Qian had learned her etiquette and had always done her best to act politely in front of the children. After a while, she was used to integrating this well-mannered attitude into her daily life.
It was only when she returned to this small town and met the townspeople that her carefree attitude would come out.
However, just now, Hazel might have seen the way she was eating her noodle without care. What if the little girl would copy her way and the school found out that she was giving a bad example to the kids? Will she get fired over this?
What if President Mo thought that she was too unruly? Would he report it to the kindergarten and have her replaced? She did not want to lose this job!
"What's wrong with you?" Mike Qian asked when he saw the strange way his granddaughter was reacting.
Edith turned to her grandfather with a complicated look on her face. In the end, she was unable to say anything.
"That young girl was really your student?" Mike Qian inquired.
"Hmm," Edith nodded.
Mike Qian let out a long breath. "Looking at the little girl reminded me of you. Before your mother passed away, you used to be that cute."
Edith narrowed her eyes as she looked at her grandfather. As the memory of her mother came to her mind, her gaze began to soften again. Though it has been years and those memories were starting to grow fuzzy, Edith found that she was missing her late mother.
It was not long ago that Hazel lost both her parents at the same time. At this time, Edith was worried about the little girl.
"Grandpa, did you heard about the accident in L City months ago? The Vice President of MH Group and his wife met in an accident and died."
Mike Qian found that it was strange for his granddaughter to suddenly change the subject. "Un. I heard."
The couple's accident had become a hot topic. Especially after there were rumors that the couple's accident might not be an accident. Whenever Mike met up with those guys from the police force, he would often hear them discussing this matter.
"That student, Hazel is the daughter of the couple," Edith spoke. She lowered her gaze and stared absentmindedly at her unfinished bowl of noodles. "For five years old who suddenly lost both her parents like that… I wonder how must that make her feel."
Mike Qian was surprised. He shifted his gaze to where the luxurious vehicle was parked before. His mind reeled back towards how his granddaughter had acted after her mother passed away.
His granddaughter grew up with only her mother and the were very close. When her mother passed away, Edith was at loss. She would not cry in front of him, but Edith would create a problem for him almost every day.
She ran away from home a few times and was involved in a fight with other students. Back then, Mike Qian would receive a call from the headmaster, telling him to come over to the school to discuss his granddaughter's problematic act almost every week.
Raising Edith was hard, but he was glad that this girl turned out alright.
"As long as she had someone to look after her, that little girl would be fine," Mike Qian whispered. He turned to his granddaughter and patted at her shoulder. "Just treat that student of yours gentler next time."
…
The grandfather and granddaughter returned to their house after a while. Edith stared at the locked door and was suddenly reminded that she had left her friend, Aaron just like that.
After making a mental note to thank him later, Edith went to her room to clean up. Knowing that she was going to return home that week, her grandfather had cleaned up the room a little bit and changed the sheets.
The room was exactly like how she had left it.
"What do you want to eat for dinner?" Mike Qian asked as he appeared behind his granddaughter. "Is steamed fish alright with you?"
Edith let out a long sigh as she was suddenly reminded of her grandfather's obsession with fishing after he was retired from the police force. Even Grandpa Bei was pulled along to join this new hobby.
Although she was glad that her grandfather found something he liked to do, she was worried whenever she heard that her grandfather would leave for the sea for weeks.
If something happened to her grandfather, then she would have no one else.
Seeing that she did not reply, Mike thought that his granddaughter was not in the mood to eat steamed Sea Bass. "Alright. I'll deep-fry it in sweet and sour sauce. You're fine with that, right?"
Another long sigh escaped her. "Fine. As long as you stay and have a meal together with me later instead of running around to go fishing."
Mike clicked at his tongue. "What kind of person do you think I am? I still have common sense."
His granddaughter had returned home and it was his daughter's anniversary tomorrow. Of course, he was not going to head over to the sea with his friends.
"Alright, you should go and take a rest," Mike said. "You just got back and you must be tired. Later, didn't you promise to meet the little girl and take her to the beach?"
Edith was suddenly reminded of her promise with Hazel and was nervous at meeting the cold president again.
...
Back in the luxurious villa in the west part of the town…
Hazel Mo has been sticking to her grandmother's side as soon as they arrived at the villa. It has been a few months since Sophie Huang had spent time with her granddaughter and now that the little girl was at her side, Sophie had refused to be apart from her.
It was only after Hazel was too tired and had to take her nap that Sophie left the little girl's side.
Neil watched as his mother closed the door softly and walked over to him.
"Hazel told me that she was going to the beach with her teacher later on," Sophie said to her son.
"Hmm," Neil nodded. "We ran into her kindergarten teacher at the noodle stall earlier and she invited her to play together."
"Hazel's kindergarten teacher?" A person appeared in her mind. "Teacher Qian?"
"Mom, you know her?"
Sophie nodded. "We met previously when I went over to Hazel's kindergarten the last time. You have been with Hazel and had went to her kindergarten for a few times... What do you think about that teacher?"
"It seemed like Hazel really liked her teacher," Neil said as he recalled his niece's expression whenever she talked about this teacher.
"That teacher had almost the same experience as Hazel," Sophie let out a sigh before she told her son about what the teacher had shared with her previously. "I think it's a good thing that Hazel was close to her."