By the time Lin Mo got home, it was already past one in the afternoon.
Right now, he was filthy and exuded a distinctly unpleasant odor.
Upon hearing the door open, Li Jinwen walked out of the bedroom and immediately asked with urgency, "Husband, what happened to you?"
"Heat up some food for me, I'm going to take a shower, and then I'll tell you about it."
"Oh my, did you fall into a cesspit or something... I'll get you some clean clothes."
Lin Mo offered a wry smile, without further explanation, then headed straight into the cramped bathroom.
Whoosh—
The showerhead sprayed out hot water, and mist began to rise, quickly reducing visibility within the small room.
Lin Mo looked at his blurred reflection in the vanity mirror and furrowed his brows slightly.
Through this dog-finding incident, he had learned a lesson.
His system could only provide him with information.
But how to use that information to maximize his benefits still depended on his own brain.
He had been pondering this question all the way back home.
Like today, after finding the dog, he could have taken a photo to send to the owner. Then, after negotiating good terms and securing evidence, he could have returned the pet dog to them.
The price was negotiable; it didn't have to be thirty thousand—it could be five or three thousand.
"It was the joy that the system brought that clouded my judgement. Some people in this society are still so ugly."
"I need to remember this lesson!"
.....
Twenty minutes later, Lin Mo, now dressed in clean clothes, sat down at the dining table.
On the table was a bowl of chicken soup, a dish of scrambled eggs with tomatoes, some greens, and a small bowl of rice.
Li Jinwen sat beside him, asking with concern, "Husband, can you tell me now what exactly happened?"
Lin Mo took a bite of rice and said with a bitter smile, "It's nothing, I was cycling past a manhole when I heard a dog yapping. I fished the dog out and realized it looked exactly like the one from a lost dog notice I'd seen two days ago."
"So I called the dog's owner..."
Lin Mo recounted everything that had happened just before in full detail to his wife.
"Wow! What kind of people are they! That's so mean!" Li Jinwen also turned red with anger: "How can there be such people in this world?"
"Hey, in a big forest, there's all kinds of birds." Lin Mo said with an inevitable wry smile after sharing with his wife.
"You're just too kind. You should have thrown their dog back into the manhole and let them go down and get it!"
"There's no need for that. If a dog bites us, can we really bite back?"
"Yes, bite back! Bite them to death! Hmph!"
"Alright, alright, don't be angry, look at how worked up you are, and I'm the one involved and I'm not even angry."
"By the way,"
"There's something else I need to talk to you about."
Lin Mo then recounted the morning's encounter with Zhang Ziyue's mother at the school gate to Li Jinwen.
After listening, Li Jinwen's brows furrowed even more deeply.
She pondered for a long time before saying, "So what do we do, should we join the other parents who have been bullied and ask the Education Bureau for an explanation?"
"The school protects her, so the Education Bureau must be the place that would listen to reason, right?"
Go to the Education Bureau?
Lin Mo shook his head decisively, "No, that won't do, can't go."
"Xiaoxiao is already in third grade, and in Rakshasa City we have a 5+4 system. That means in just two more years, she'll be facing middle school entrance exams."
"Our residence permit doesn't even have the full 120 points, so whether any middle school would be willing to take Xiaoxiao is already a question."
"If there's a record of us complaining about the school at the Education Bureau, let alone public middle schools, even those private middle schools that cost tens of thousands a year would be hard for us to get into."
Li Jinwen asked again, "What if we made an anonymous report?"
Lin Mo smiled and remained silent.
Li Jinwen paused for moment, and then let out a resigned bitter smile, "Then what do we do?"
Everyone understands the implications of an anonymous complaint.
"There'll be a way."
Lin Mo was truly hungry, he had two bowls of rice in succession, followed by a large bowl of chicken soup.
Li Jinwen sat next to him, occasionally reminding Lin Mo to eat slowly.
After the meal, the two of them cleaned up the chopsticks, washed the dishes, and tidied up the kitchen.
As they worked, they chatted sporadically about trivial family matters.
Once everything was done, Lin Mo grabbed his electric scooter keys and said to Li Jinwen, "Wife, you get some sleep at home. I'm planning to go see Xiaoxiao's principal."
"The parent-teacher meeting is at seven thirty, if I'm not back by six thirty, you can take a taxi there on your own."
Li Jinwen wanted to say something but in the end, she didn't speak up, just nodded, "Mm, be careful on the road."
Li Jinwen had tried to speak with the Principal before, but after waiting at the school gate most of the day, she still hadn't caught a glimpse of the Principal.
Still, knowing all this, Li Jinwen couldn't find the words to stop her husband.
What if,
What if her husband met the Principal?
What if the Principal was in a good mood today?
A word from those in high places could outweigh endless talks of the common folk for days and nights.
Even though a primary school principal wasn't much of a big shot.
But for the working class struggling for survival in Rakshasa City, it was still a powerful figure.
Lin Mo saw the worry in Li Jinwen's eyes, gently hugged her frail body, and after planting a kiss on her forehead, he whispered, "Trust me, I'll do my best to resolve this today."
"Our days will get better!"
Li Jinwen wrapped her arms around Lin Mo's waist, "Mm!"
....
An hour later,
Under the guidance of a security guard, Lin Mo smoothly entered Future Star Primary School and arrived at the Principal's office door.
He took a deep breath and knocked on the office door.
Knock.. knock knock...
"Come in." a middle-aged woman's voice answered.
Lin Mo straightened out his clothes and, with a bit of nervousness, pushed open the door to the office.
The room was quite large, about thirty to forty square meters in size.
The decor was very simple.
Besides a desk and a set of sofas for visitors, there were rows of bookshelves lining the wall.
At that moment, a woman around fifty, still exuding charm and dressed in a sharp suit, was sitting behind the desk, engrossed in something without lifting her head.
Lin Mo went to the front of the desk, gave a slight bow, and politely said, "Hello, Principal Liu."
Upon hearing movement, Liu Hongmei put down her pen, lifted her head, and took a brief look at Lin Mo, before asking, "Hello, may I know which student's parent you are?"
The attitude was very polite.
Lin Mo introduced himself: "I'm the father of Lin Xiaoxiao from the third grade (2) class."
"One moment, please."
Liu Hongmei tapped on the keyboard a few times.
Due to the angle, Lin Mo couldn't see what she was looking up.
After checking the information, Liu Hongmei looked up again and said, "Mr. Lin, what brings you here today?"
Lin Mo didn't beat around the bush and said directly, "I came to talk to you about a student named Zhang Ziyue in my daughter's class who often bullies her classmates."
At the mention of Zhang Ziyue's name, Liu Hongmei's expression flitted with a hint of discomfort but quickly returned to calm.
She picked up an exquisite cup from the side, took a delicate sip, and said, "Mr. Lin, here's the thing, I have a little matter to attend to now, would you mind waiting outside for a bit?"
"Once I've dealt with it, we can discuss this issue?"
"Sure."
Lin Mo was slightly taken aback, but with her putting it that way, he couldn't very well insist on staying, so he nodded politely and then turned to leave.
After the office door closed behind him, Liu Hongmei casually closed the computer page with information about Lin Xiaoxiao's parents, muttering disdainfully to herself, "Country bumpkins, they've all lost their minds."