Chapter 173
The Principal's expression became even more awkward. She rubbed her hands together and said in a low voice, "Ms. Brown, strictly speaking, it's not exactly bullying. It's just some childish exclusion behavior between kids. The main thing is, our teachers here aren't sure if this is true or not, and we were just about to talk to you to understand the situation..."
"Not sure if it's true?" My voice turned cold. "Not sure about what?"
The Principal didn't answer directly. She just gestured for me to keep watching. "You... you should watch a bit more."
Just then, in the activity room, a little girl named Lily with pigtails seemed to think Milly looked too lonely by herself. She hesitated for a moment, then started walking toward Milly.
She'd only made it halfway when a loud, clearly malicious child's voice suddenly exploded through the activity room, "Lily! You're not allowed to go play with her!"
It was Jack.
He appeared out of nowhere, hands on his hips like a proud little tyrant, blocking Lily's path. Behind him were two mischievous boys who always played with him.
Jack lifted his chin and shouted loudly, "Lily, if you go play with Milly, you'll catch it and turn into a big dummy!"
Lily was startled and stopped in her tracks, looking at him in confusion.
Seeing that he'd gotten everyone's attention, Jack became even more pleased with himself. His voice got even louder, each word coming out clearly, "Her mom can't do anything! She's a useless woman! Not like my mom who can do everything! My mom is even a rich heiress, beautiful and wealthy!"
He paused, his eyes filled with a viciousness and resentment that didn't match his age. Pointing at the lonely Milly, he said loudly, "And her mom is so shameless! She keeps trying to steal my dad! It makes my mom cry secretly at night!"
Finally, he concluded forcefully, as if announcing some terrible truth, "Milly! She's the daughter of a homewrecker! She's a bad woman's kid! We won't play with her!"
The activity room instantly went quiet. All the children's eyes focused on Milly. In those gazes were curiosity, confusion, and mostly a kind of naive, guided rejection.
Milly's little face turned deathly pale. She suddenly looked up, her eyes filling with tears.
But she bit her lip hard, not letting the tears fall. Instead, she used all her strength to shout back, "You're lying! My mom is not! You and your mom are the bad people!"
Her rebuttal seemed so weak against Jack's prepared attack.
"You dare talk back!" Jack acted like he'd been provoked. He suddenly grabbed an ocean ball from the nearby toy bin and threw it hard at Milly. "Bad kid! Take that!"
Once he started, the two boys behind him immediately copied him, grabbing ocean balls and throwing them at Milly.
Milly couldn't dodge in time. A blue ocean ball hit her right on the forehead.
Though it didn't hurt, the feeling of being publicly attacked and humiliated made Milly's small body shake violently.
The tears in her eyes could no longer be held back. They rolled down in big drops.
Seeing this scene, all the blood in my body instantly rushed to my head.
Staying calm, observing—all of that was thrown out the window.
I shoved open the side door next to the observation window that led to the activity room. Despite the Principal's panicked shouts, I strode in.
"Milly!" My voice trembled with anger and heartache.
I rushed to Milly's side in a few steps and pulled her tightly into my arms, using my body to shield her from any more incoming projectiles.
"Mom?" Milly looked up at me from my arms, her little face covered in tears. Seeing it was me, her eyes filled with shock.
Jack clearly hadn't expected me to suddenly appear. He was still holding an ocean ball, and the arrogance and smugness on his face instantly froze, turning into obvious fear and guilt.
But he still tried to act tough, craning his neck and looking at me defiantly, though his eyes flickered and he didn't dare meet my gaze.
I didn't bother with him. I quickly bent down to check Milly's forehead.
Thankfully, it had only been lightly touched by the soft ball. There wasn't even a red mark.
But my heart felt like it had been hit hard by that ball—a dull, persistent ache.
I gently wiped away the tears on Milly's face. My voice was low and hoarse from trying to hold back my emotions, "Milly, tell Mom, did you get hurt? How many times has this happened? Why didn't you tell Mom?"
Milly leaned against me, her little hands gripping my clothes tightly. She sobbed but still tried to reassure me, "It's okay, Mom. It doesn't hurt, really doesn't hurt."
She looked up at me, her big eyes shimmering with tears. Besides the hurt, there was a kind of stubbornness and maturity that broke my heart, "I think these are all small things. Jack is too childish. He thinks that by getting these people to isolate me, he can make me sad."
She sniffled, her voice very small but unusually clear, "But Mom, I don't want to play with these people anymore."
"The teacher said my math competition scores are really good, and I can be admitted early to a better school."
"Mom has to work every day and take care of Grandma. You're already so tired."
"I... I didn't want Mom to worry about my problems, so I didn't say anything."
Hearing my daughter say these things—clearly she'd been terribly wronged, yet she was still thinking of me—my eyes welled up and I almost cried.
My Milly, she's still just a child.
She shouldn't have to endure these malicious attacks and slander.
She shouldn't have to learn to hide her hurt and bear the pain of being isolated alone at an age when she should be carefree and innocent.
I suddenly looked up at the Principal, who had walked over to me with an extremely uncomfortable expression on her face. My gaze was ice cold.
"Principal, this is what you call childish exclusion between kids?"
I held Milly and stood up straight, speaking clearly, word by word, "If your preschool can't handle this kind of blatant verbal bullying and personal attacks, if you can't even tell basic right from wrong, and you're even allowing this slander and harm to continue..."
My voice suddenly rose, with an unquestionable determination, "I don't mind having the education department come help manage things. After all, at the last citywide preschool math competition, the education bureau director was there the whole time. He knows my daughter's abilities and character very well, and he really appreciates her."
Hearing the mention of the education department, the Principal's face instantly turned extremely ugly.
Her lips trembled as she tried to explain, "Ms. Brown, you've misunderstood. It's not that we're not handling it. We wanted to..."
"Wanted what?" I cut her off, my gaze sharp. "Wanted to wait until things got worse? Wanted to wait until my daughter actually got hurt? Or..."
My eyes swept over Jack, whose face had gone pale and whose gaze was evasive, then returned to the Principal's face. The sarcasm in my tone was undisguised, "Because certain people have special backgrounds, you chose to wait and see, or even in your hearts you've already sided with the other party, thinking there's something wrong with my daughter, or with me as her mother?"