243: Chapter 244 Even if it's for your own good, I can't sign off on your future.

[Conflict Between Minor's Personal Opinion and Guardian's Opinion]

[Take the Guardian's Decision as Final?]

As this line of text lit up, all the children in the Shiqiao Elementary School auditorium fell silent.

They had only just learned to say "Stop".

They had only just seen that Lin Xiaokui's route map was not written into the hydrology reserves.

They had only just learned that praise could simply be a thank you, without having to turn into a career direction.

But now, as soon as the parent terminal connected, the system pushed the problem back to that oldest and hardest-to-refute sentence.

The child is young.

The parents understand.

Parents are doing it for your own good.

Lin Xiaokui sat in the corner, a corner of the drawing paper in her hand crumpled tightly.

She looked at her father's name on the page, her eyes painfully red.

Guo He did not answer for her immediately.

She simply squatted down, blocking the curious gazes of the other children in the auditorium, and asked in a low voice:

"Xiaokui, would you prefer not to make it public for now?"

Lin Xiaokui nodded forcefully.

Guo He turned around and wrote on the blackboard:

[Minor's Opinion Conflict, Protect Personal Expression Space First.]

[Must Not Publicly Coerce and Question in Class-wide or City-wide Channels.]

Ye Guizhou stamped:

[Protection of Expression Space Received]

Luo Wensheng recorded:

[When a minor's opinion conflicts with the guardian's, the individual's original words must not be overwritten due to the guardian's connection, nor shall they be forced to confront the guardian publicly.]

Lin Zhihai's voice quickly connected.

The background on his end was filled entirely with the sound of rain and heavy breathing.

He was not someone commanding from the comfort of home.

When the screen lit up, everyone saw that he was also covered in mud, his trouser legs rolled up to his knees, carrying half a bag of sand on his shoulder.

"Teacher Guo."

His voice was very urgent.

"I am not trying to harm her."

"Such a great opportunity as a hydrology mapping reserve."

"Luochuan will engage in flood control every year in the future, knowing how to draw waterways means having a stable position later."

"She is afraid of water, I know."

"But the more afraid one is, the more one must learn."

"No one taught me when I was young, and growing up I could only move sandbags."

Speaking to this point, his voice choked up for a moment.

"I don't want her to have to carry things with her life in the future as well."

Many children in the auditorium were stunned.

Guo He also fell silent.

This was not a bad father.

He was not trying to sell his child to the Career System.

He had simply been taught another kind of fear by this world.

Frightened by poverty.

Frightened by having no career.

Frightened by having no opportunities.

Frightened that if the child missed a single certificate of merit, she wouldn't even have the qualification to be seen in the future.

The system immediately seized upon these words.

[Guardian's Motive: Protect Children's Future]

[Household Economic Risk: Medium-High]

[Recommendation to Adopt Guardian's Training Direction]

Lin Xiaokui abruptly raised her head.

"My dad said he was afraid I'd be carrying sandbags in the future."

"But I'm also afraid of water right now."

Her voice was very small.

"I can learn to draw."

"And I can learn how to see where the water comes from."

"But I don't want to become a hydrology reserve."

Lin Zhihai grew anxious on his end.

"Can painting put food on the table?"

As soon as these words came out, the auditorium grew quiet again.

Many children lowered their heads.

Because these words were too familiar.

Dreams and food were often placed on the same scale.

And the scale never stood on the side of the children.

Lin Xiaokui's lips trembled slightly.

"Then I can think about it later."

Lin Zhihai blurted out:

"It will be too late later!"

The system immediately generated:

[Critical Training Period May Be Missed]

[Recommended for Guardian to Confirm on Behalf]

Guo He did not pat the blackboard this time.

She simply looked up at Lin Zhihai.

"Mr. Lin, you want her to have choices in the future, right?"

"Of course!"

"Then don't narrow her choices for her right now."

Lin Zhihai was stunned.

Guo He continued:

"You can request the school to give her an opportunity for explanation."

"You can require her to learn flood control common sense."

"You can demand that we not only encourage her to draw birds without teaching her the dangers of living in Luochuan."

"But you cannot turn 'I'm afraid she won't have food to eat in the future' directly into 'She agrees to be a hydrology reserve'."

Lin Zhihai panted, not speaking for a long time.

Lin Jin connected from Jiangcheng.

"Guardianship needs to be split."

The system paused.

[Guardianship is Legal Agency]

"Agency for what?"

Lin Jin asked.

"Agency for protection, agency for emergency medical decisions, agency for resource applications, agency for safety risk confirmation."

"Not agency for career aspirations."

He pressed the new tool onto the cross-city work order and wrote:

[Minor Career-Related Conflict Procedure]

[1. Guardians may raise concerns, resource needs, safety suggestions, and educational applications.]

[2. Guardians must not confirm career pre-registration, reserve training, talent binding, and future positions on behalf of minors.]

[3. The minor's personal expression must retain their original words, can be expressed privately, and can be deferred.]

[4. Schools, communities, and public systems must provide explanations rather than forcing them to make an immediate statement in front of their parents.]

[5. Household economic pressure must not be translated into the child's career consent.]

[6. Open courses and experiences can be established without generating reserve lists.]

[7. Major divergences enter a cooling-off period and third-party corroboration; invalidity shall not be judged based on crying, fear, or silence.]

Teacher Song Qing immediately added:

[When a child says "think about it later," it is a valid response.]

Fang Ning added:

[When it comes to life-saving emergency treatment, guardianship can decide current treatment; when it comes to future careers, it cannot be analogized to emergency treatment.]

Inspector Han Su pressed the back of the Shizhi Blade against an old definition.

[Guardian's Consent = Minor's Consent]

He said in a cold voice:

"This provision has harmed many children in the old archives of the Department of Education."

Teacher Xu Wenzhou brought his blade down.

Snap!

The definition shattered.

New grey-white characters emerged:

[Guardian consent can initiate explanation, protection, resource application, and risk accompanying procedures; it must not replace the minor's career intention confirmation.]

The parent application page on Lin Zhihai's side began to cool down.

The original [Modify Lin Xiaokui's Career Training Direction] was returned and changed to:

[Guardian Concerns: Family Economy, Future Employment, Flood Control Safety]

[Available Applications: Flood Control Common Sense Class, Drawing Experience Class, Career Briefing Session, Family Support Consultation]

[Unavailable Application: Confirming Hydrology Reserves on Behalf of the Individual]

Lin Zhihai looked at that line [Family Support Consultation], his face flushing red.

"I am not asking for relief."

Lin Jin said:

"It's not relief."

"It's that you cannot press all the pressures of life onto her career page."

He Zhibai wrote:

[Family poverty, insufficient career resources, and educational opportunity gaps enter the public ledger; they must not be disguised as the child's voluntary choice.]

Lin Zhihai remained silent for a long time.

Rainwater dripped down from his chin.

He looked at his daughter inside the screen.

"Then if you want to learn to draw, who will teach you?"

Lin Xiaokui was stunned.

Guo He said softly:

"The Luochuan Temporary Classroom can first open two courses: drawing and flood control routes."

"Drawing, not bound to hydrology."

"Flood control routes, not bound to careers."

Lin Xiaokui asked softly:

"Can I listen to both?"

Guo He nodded.

"Yes."

Lin Zhihai opened his mouth, as if he still wanted to say "useless".

But seeing his daughter's red eyes, he finally swallowed those words back down.

"Then... listen first."

His voice was very hoarse.

"But you must learn to dodge water."

Lin Xiaokui nodded forcefully.

"I'll learn."

Ye Guizhou stamped:

[Lin Xiaokui's Current Response: Willing to listen to the drawing class and flood control route class, not entering hydrology reserves, to think about the future later]

Luo Wensheng recorded:

[Guardian Lin Zhihai's concerns received, not converted into career confirmation.]

[Father-daughter Current Consensus: Learn safety knowledge and drawing, no career pre-registration.]

System write-back:

[Guardianship Conflict Case One: Luochuan Lin Xiaokui]

[Principle: Doing it for your own good does not equal signing on your behalf; family pressure does not equal child's consent; guardianship can protect the present, but cannot possess the future; open courses do not generate reserve lists]

In the auditorium, Lin Xiaokui finally unfolded the half-drawn bird again.

Beneath the bird's wings, she drew a winding river.

This time, the system did not deduce that she was suited for hydrology.

Nor did it deduce that she was suited for flying.

It only recorded:

[Personal artwork, containing a bird and a river.]

[No career inference made.]

But just as this barrier stabilized, outside Luochuan, more parent terminals on the map began to light up.

[Parent Request: Child is young, parents sign hydrology flood control reserves on behalf]

[Parent Request: Family consent to enter mine rail observation training]

[Parent Request: Refuse the child's temporary non-awakening, demand restoration of pre-registration]

[Parent Request: Child doesn't understand opportunities, apply for family career inheritance protection]

Request after request densely packed the screen.

There was greed.

There was fear.

There was genuine care.

There was calculation.

And there were many ordinary parents like Lin Zhihai, driven by life to see only "stable positions".

Teacher Song Qing looked at those lit parent terminals, her expression sinking bit by bit.

"This is not a problem of a few parents."

"This is families and the system bound together."

The next second, the underlying system popped up an old template.

[Minor Career Training Family Consent Form]

[Number of Signatures: 7.62 million]

[Status: Historically Valid]

[Description: Guardians previously agreed for their children to enter corresponding career training directions]

[Continue to Recognize?]

Lin Xiaokui's page was just one of them.

At the edge of Zhao Jing's page, an even older family consent Record also surfaced.

Next to A-Lu's non-career birth page, an automatic system suggestion even appeared:

[No complete guardian Record, can be signed on behalf by public guardianship]

He Chunlian hugged A-Lu tightly.

Inside the Old Awakening Hall, Lin Jin's gaze turned cold.

"Parent consent forms."

"Public guardianship proxy signing."

"So it had long ago organized children's futures into a stack of forms."