793: Chapter 788 Did the teacher say I wasn't good?

The parent-teacher conference followed a standard procedure.

Analyzing grades, emphasizing discipline, and looking toward the future.

One hour later, the meeting concluded.

Parents swarmed the podium, surrounding Teacher Lin with endless questions.

Shen Yan did not join the crowd.

He stood up, stretched his stiff and numb legs, and prepared to leave.

"Shen Youyou's father, please wait a moment."

Teacher Lin poked her head out from the throng and called out to him.

Shen Yan stopped in his tracks.

Only after most of the other parents had left did Teacher Lin approach, holding a lesson plan book.

Her expression was somewhat grave.

"Mr. Shen, there is a situation I would like to discuss with you privately."

Shen Yan's heart skipped a beat.

"Did Youyou cause trouble?"

"No, it's not trouble."

Teacher Lin pushed up her glasses, seemingly weighing her words.

"Youyou is too sensible."

"So sensible... it makes one heartbroken."

Shen Yan didn't quite understand.

"Teacher, please speak plainly."

Teacher Lin sighed.

"Mr. Shen, have you paid attention to Youyou's social situation at school usually?"

Shen Yan paused for a moment.

During this period, he had been busy negotiating with An Ran, busy developing the sky city, and busy dealing with the Cavendish Family.

He had indeed rarely inquired about his daughter's school life.

But in his memory, Youyou was a lively and cheerful child.

"Is she... being bullied at school?"

Shen Yan's voice turned colder.

If anyone dared to touch his daughter, he wouldn't mind making that person's family disappear from Jinghai.

"No, no."

Teacher Lin quickly waved her hands.

"No one is bullying her; it's that... she is rejecting everyone."

"During recess, all the other children run wildly on the playground, but Youyou is the only one sitting in the classroom reading a book."

"During physical education free time, she also hides alone under the shade of a tree, memorizing vocabulary words."

"Classmates have invited her to birthday parties, but she refuses every time, giving the excuse that she needs to go home and help her mother with housework."

Teacher Lin opened the lesson plan book and took out a drawing.

It was the assignment from the last art class, titled 'My Paradise.'

Other children drew amusement parks, Disney, or piles of toys.

What Youyou drew was a massive, sealed glass dome.

Inside the dome, there was a desk, and a little girl was bent over writing.

Outside the dome were raging storms and black monsters.

The style of the drawing was so oppressive it made one gasp for breath.

"Mr. Shen, this should not be the psychological state of an eight-year-old child."

"She seems to be sealing herself off, working desperately inside this dome, as if the monsters outside will rush in and devour her the moment she stops."

Shen Yan looked at the painting.

His heart felt as if it had been fiercely clenched by someone.

That glass dome...

Wasn't that the high walls he had erected in the past to protect his family?

"I understand."

Shen Yan folded the drawing and put it in his pocket.

His voice was somewhat hoarse.

"Thank you, Teacher. I will handle it."

When he walked out of the school gate, it was dismissal time.

The children poured out like birds released from a cage.

Shen Yan spotted Youyou immediately.

She carried her slightly oversized pink backpack, head lowered, walking along the very edge of the crowd.

Unlike other children who walked in groups of three or five, linking arms.

She walked like a lone warrior.

Carefully avoiding puddles on the ground and the playing classmates.

Her eyes, which once loved to smile, were filled with a vigilance unfitting for her age.

"Youyou."

Shen Yan called out.

The little girl looked up sharply.

The moment she saw Shen Yan, the vigilance in her eyes instantly vanished, replaced by surprise.

"Dad!"

She ran over quickly and threw herself into Shen Yan's arms.

Shen Yan picked her up in one go; she felt a little heavier.

"Why is Dad picking me up today? Where is Mom?"

Youyou hugged Shen Yan's neck and asked softly.

"Mom is out earning money to support the family. Dad is the driver today."

Shen Yan pinched her little nose.

"Let's go. I'll take you somewhere."

Shen Yan didn't go straight home.

He drove the car to Binjiang Park along the river in Jinghai.

There weren't many people in the park at this hour.

The setting sun dyed the river surface golden.

Shen Yan bought two Häagen-Dazs bars from a convenience store by the roadside.

Strawberry flavor for Youyou, vanilla for himself.

Father and daughter sat on a long bench by the river.

The wind was a bit cool, but the ice cream was sweet.

Youyou licked the ice cream in small sips, her feet dangling in the air.

She looked happy.

But Shen Yan could feel that her small body remained tense.

"Youyou."

Shen Yan took a bite of ice cream and looked at the cargo ships crossing the river.

"Teacher Lin just complained to me."

Youyou's dangling feet suddenly stopped moving.

She lowered her head, staring intently at the ice cream in her hand.

"Does the teacher say I'm not well-behaved?"

Her voice was very small, carrying a trace of tremor.

"It's not that you're not well-behaved."

Shen Yan reached out and stroked her head.

Her hair was very soft.

"The teacher said you are a lone warrior."

"She said you don't play with the other children, and you don't go to parties."

"Can you tell Dad why?"

Youyou fell silent.

She poked the ice cream with a small spoon, puncturing the perfect sphere until it was full of holes.

"I don't like playing with them."

After a long while, she managed to squeeze out a sentence.

"Why?"

"They are very childish."

Youyou looked up, her eyes showing a premature stubbornness.

"They only know how to discuss which Ultraman is stronger, or whose Barbie doll has a prettier dress."

"They don't know how to save money, they don't know how much a jin of eggs costs, and they don't know that if they don't study hard, they won't have food to eat in the future."

Shen Yan's hand froze mid-air.

The bitterness in his heart instantly flooded like a disaster.

It turned out that the darkest period of time had not disappeared with his success.

It was like a thorn, deeply embedded in the heart of this eight-year-old girl.

When the company went bankrupt, he was hounded by debt collectors, and Shen Ya was in a coma.

The whole family squeezed into a cheap rental room.

Youyou was only five years old then.

She had seen the look on her father's face when he worried over a few dollars.

She had seen the fierce debt collectors kicking down the door.

She had carved these fears into her very bones.

"Dad."

Youyou turned her head and looked at Shen Yan.

Her eyes reddened.

"I'm scared."

"I'm afraid this is just a dream."

"If we spend all our money now, if I don't get first place, will those bad people from before come to catch us again?"

"Zhang Zixuan and the others said that our family used to be big bosses, but later we became paupers."

"I don't want to become paupers again."

"I want to help Dad protect it."

Tears slid down her little face, dripping onto the melting ice cream.

Shen Yan felt it difficult to breathe.

He had won the whole world,

But he had almost lost his daughter's childhood.

He thought that as long as he provided enough money and material things, the wounds would heal.

But he was wrong.

Some wounds are invisible.

Shen Yan put down the half-eaten ice cream bar in his hand.

He turned and hugged Youyou tightly.

Very forcefully,

As if trying to transfer his own strength to her.