Chapter 274 - Dong Xiaoye's Strange Behavior
Chapter 274: Chapter 274 Dong Xiaoye’s Strange Behavior
“Xiao Chu, I think you might have misunderstood me. I can’t guarantee that they will live in the school for a long time is not because of their living expenses or accommodation fee,” Zhu Danchen put down the alcohol glass and smiled bitterly, “You must also feel strange, right? How did I become the principal of an elementary school when I am still so young? Hehe, actually, I inherited this school from my dad. My dad was a teacher all his life. After he retired, he couldn’t stay at home, so he went around raising money to start this school. His purpose was simple. It was to help the children of migrant workers, give them a stable learning environment, and help them to lay a good foundation, so they will be able to get into the universities in the future… Although this idea sounds very noble, so much so that it is also hypocritical, my dad was such a foolish person…”
Judging from the tone Zhu Danchen used. Although she was mocking her father for being foolish, she didn’t despise or look down on her father, in fact, it was filled with admiration and a faint of helplessness.
“Without a steady income, how easy is it to run a school? Borrowing money and raising donations, my father worked very hard for five years non-stop. After the school was finally built, he fell ill from constant overwork and left this world… Since I inherited his school, so naturally I also want to inherit his ideals and spirit,” Zhu Danchen said proudly and solemnly, “most of the migrant workers are from rural areas. Many students in the school have financial difficulties. Not only do we not charge accommodation and textbook fees, but we also subsidize their food expenses. Even if some children did not have any IDs, the school would still take them in. So why would I ignore the plight of old women and Ku’er for the sake of money?”
Zhu Danchen’s father was a great man. Although as a selfish person, I didn’t understand why he wanted to go through all those troubles to make his own life difficult, I had great respect for him, whether it was his ideal, spirit, or the great daughter he had brought up… My old man was also a teacher, but compared Chu Yuan to Zhu Danchen, I couldn’t help but shake my head and feel embarrassed for my old man.
Seeing that Zhu Danchen’s beautiful brows were pressed together, seemingly having something that she was hesitant to tell me, I couldn’t help but ask, “Sister Danchen, what is the problem. You can just tell me straight away. I am Xiaoye’s friend, so you don’t need to treat me as an outsider. If it is really difficult, I can still think of other methods. Hehe.”
“Don’t try to cotton up to Sister Danchen,” Dong Xiaoye said vigilantly, “Little Chu, I am warning you, don’t you dare have any funny idea about Sister Danchen! She is not the kind of woman who likes Mo Fei or Shu Tong!”
What kind of women were Mo Fei and Shu Tong?!
If Sister Tiger wasn’t drunk, then she must have mistakenly thought that I was really a womanizer because of what Shu Tong had said yesterday. This kind of warning made me instantly blush.
‘Damn you, I am not interested in other people’s wives, alright!… Wait, I am not interested in any other women, other than Liusu!’
“I don’t have any problem with your request. It’s the school…” Zhu Danchen ignored Dong Xiaoye’s words, and poured a glass of alcohol, with a more sad expression, “In fact, the school has encountered a little trouble. If I can’t solve this problem, it may be demolished. Therefore, I cannot guarantee how long the old woman and Ku’er will be able to live in the school.”
“It may be demolished?” I said in a surprised tone, “Why?” Why hadn’t I heard Dong Xiaoye mention this kind of thing? Wasn’t she the honorary principal? She must have known about this, right? Seeing me looking at her in confusion, she hurriedly lowered her head to focus on eating.
“Dong Dong, you did not tell him?” Zhu Danchen asked Dong Xioaye in surprise. Sure enough, Dong Xiaoye knew about it!
I didn’t know why Sister Tiger was feeling nervous. She almost choked on a pancake. After she finally swallowed it into her stomach with difficulty, she said to Zhu Danchen in a low voice, “It is not like the school will definitely be demolished. Why do I have to tell him this? Besides, it is not summer vacation yet. Sister Danchen, we still have enough time to figure out a solution…”
When speaking of the word ‘solution’, Sister Tiger glanced at me unconsciously, and I was dazed a little.
Zhu Danchen shook her head and smiled, “You know the problems of the school, we have been thinking about the solution for half a year, and we have dealt with the district government for half a year. If it can be solved, wouldn’t it have been solved long ago? There are indeed problems in the school. If those problems continue to exist, I also feel like I am being unreasonable. Moreover, they have already promised me that in September, they will help us to transfer 286 students of our school to four other elementary schools. All the students will be exempted from tuition fees, textbooks fees, and other fees. In that case, I have no reason to keep this…”
“But this school is your dad’s dream, and he had spent a lot of effort to build it. Are you really willing to see it being demolished?” Dong Xiaoye suddenly raised her voice at Zhu Danchen, but her eyes were glaring at me…
I was speechless… If Sister Tiger was acting, then I could only say that her acting skills were really bad…
“Even if I don’t want to see it being demolished, what can I do?” Zhu Danchen said sadly, “This is the reality. I have tried my best, but I am still defeated by reality…”
From Zhu Danchen’s words and combined with the current situation of the school, I had faintly guessed what their so-called difficulties were. It was no wonder that Sister Tiger would behave so strangely…
Seeing that I had a strange expression on my face, Zhu Danchen must have misunderstood something. She hurriedly smiled, “Xiao Chu, don’t worry. Although I can’t guarantee that they will be able to live in the school for a long time, as long as they live in the school for one day, I will try my best to take care of them. After all, you are Dong Dong’s friend, so I won’t let her friend down. Haha, you can send them to the school tomorrow. In terms of the accommodation and food expenses, Dong Dong was joking with you. I don’t need them. I have already arranged a job for the old woman. She can work in the school’s cafeteria. Every month, she will also get eight hundred…”
Zhu Danchen’s straightforward personality was really not inferior to Dong Xiaoye. Such people were becoming increasingly rare in our mercenary modern society. She already had a lot of problems to deal with, but she was not hesitant to help me. Even if I was a shameless person, I couldn’t help but feel embarrassed at this moment.
“I mean…” I thought for a second and asked, “if you don’t mind, can you tell me exactly what kind of difficulty is the school facing at the moment?”
After I said this, I clearly saw Sister Tiger’s eyes light up, her hand holding the corner of the table unconsciously clenched into a fist, and she repeatedly winked her eyes at Zhu Danchen again and again. I was completely lost for words. She must have guessed that I would say this already. Or maybe, this was her original goal.
“Dongdong, what’s wrong with you? Did something get into your eyes? “Zhu Danchen’s reaction showed that she didn’t know Dong Xiaoye’s secret plan. This made me feel much better. After all, there was still a big difference between being deceived by one woman than being deceived by two women.
“What? No…No, it seems that I have drunk a bit too much. I feel so sleepy…” Dong Xiaoye’s embarrassed expression made me want to laugh, and she probably also found out that I seemed to have seen through her plan. While Zhu Danchen was pouring the drink, she quickly leaned toward her intimately and urged, “Sister Danchen, little Chu is asking you a question, quick, tell him.”
“Why do you want me to tell him this kind of thing at this moment? Wouldn’t it only ruin the mood?” Zhu Danchen had also drunk quite a lot of alcohol. She also wanted to vent her grievances by telling other people what the difficulties were. So although she said that she didn’t want to tell me, after being urged by Dong Xiaoye, she slowly started to tell me everything. “In fact, it is quite simple. There are problems with the school’s buildings. There are hidden safety hazards. The district government has issued a statement saying that if it is not renovated, it must be completely demolished. Haha, if they want to demolish it, then they can just demolish it; lest those guys who have nothing better to do come to the school to find problems all the time. The school is not a profitable organization. If I have money to bribe them, I would rather use it to renovate the classroom. If they really cared about those students, they should’ve…”
Sure enough, for a privately owned charity school, money was always a problem. Besides, in the past two years, the municipal government has paid more attention to all the schools’ facilities in the city. The poorly constructed school buildings or the old buildings with hidden safety hazards were all targeted by the municipal government. It was not like Zhu Danchen’s complaints that it was only aimed at private schools. In fact, the high school that Chu Yuan attended was also forced to move to a new site because her old school building was too old.
I interrupted Zhu Danchen’s complaint and asked a question that Dong Xiaoye wanted me to ask under her expectant gaze, “Sister Danchen, how much will it cost to renovate the school?”