CHAPTER 261: CHAPTER 259: CINDERELLA’S COMEBACK AGAINST ALL ODDS 4

Anning’s memory recovery was complete, and the big screen also displayed the entire chess game.

Everyone started to compare one by one, especially those who understood Go were looking even more carefully.

Looking back and forth, no one could spot any differences.

The store manager had sought professionals for the comparison, and after a lengthy period of checking, they finally announced that Anning had placed everything correctly.

Then, Anning was invited to the rest room.

She needed to present her identification and sign a form to claim the prize money.

But Anning didn’t have any identification at all, which was quite troubling for her.

A staff member suggested that she let a family member come to collect the prize money.

Having no choice, Anning called Mr. Gu and Mrs. Gu.

Mr. Gu and Mrs. Gu were at their stall when they got the call from Anning, and it scared them terribly; they thought something had happened to Anning, and without even caring to pack up their stall, they hurriedly took a taxi over.

By the time Anning waited for Mr. Gu and Mrs. Gu, she saw them both drenched in sweat.

They looked particularly disheveled when they arrived, not only were their clothes dirty and old, but their hair was also wet with sweat and stuck to their faces, and their expressions were very panicked, which made them look nothing like the indifferent and composed Anning, like they weren’t from the same family.

If it were another child, they might even feel embarrassed by their parents.

But Anning felt no such thing.

She walked over and took Mrs. Gu’s hand: "Mom, I won a big prize."

Mrs. Gu was scared to death, quivering as she asked Anning, "What exactly happened? Your dad and I thought you were in trouble?"

At this moment, Mr. Gu came back to his senses, glared at Anning: "Why didn’t you go to school?"

Anning lowered her head and remained silent.

This made Mr. Gu even angrier: "You’ve started to skip school now, huh?"

Mrs. Gu, feeling sorry for Anning, quickly tugged at Mr. Gu’s clothes: "Her dad, don’t scold the child, don’t scare Ningning. Let’s go home and talk about it properly, okay?"

Only then did Mr. Gu stop questioning her.

Anning led Mr. Gu and Mrs. Gu to find the manager and explained what had happened, then Mr. Gu took out his identification to register, and the three of them collected the prize money and left.

Mr. Gu and Mrs. Gu didn’t return to their market stall either.

First, they went to the bank to deposit the check into their own bank card, and then they took Anning home.

As soon as they got home, Mr. Gu began to question Anning: "Tell me, what exactly happened? Why are you wandering the streets at this time? Are you not going to school?"

Mrs. Gu also started to scrutinize Anning: "Ningning, tell mom clearly, what exactly is going on?"

Anning sat on the chair, looking very flustered and helpless in front of Mr. and Mrs. Gu, and kept her head down in silence.

Mr. Gu was really getting anxious and raised his hand as if to hit her.

Anning looked up, tears filling her eyes, and she burst into crying: "I don’t want to go to Shengzhe school anymore, I won’t go, I don’t want to anymore, I will die..."

Mrs. Gu immediately stopped Mr. Gu when she saw this and carefully soothed Anning: "What exactly happened, just speak up, Ningning, can you talk to mom properly? Don’t cry, we won’t go anymore, we won’t..."

Mr. Gu was so distressed to see Anning crying so hard, his anxiety and heartache were overwhelming.

He didn’t even know how to ask her, so anxiously he slapped himself on the face, "Ningning, it’s all dad’s fault, I shouldn’t have scared you, let’s stop crying, okay? Don’t cry anymore. If you have any problems, talk to mom and dad."

Anning cried for quite a while before calming down.

She sniffled and rubbed her reddened eyes, "Mom, the students at Shengzhe all come from wealthy families; they look down on me. Ever since I started at the school, I have been discriminated against. Later on, they even hit me. Every day I go to school I’m on tenterhooks, terrified someone will jump out and bully me. Yesterday... yesterday several classmates doused me with cold water and locked me in the bathroom so I couldn’t get out. If it wasn’t for a cleaning lady passing by who let me out, I surely would have frozen to death in there."

Gu Anning kept it from her parents thinking it was better for the family, but in fact, she was totally wrong.

Even if Mr. Gu and Mrs. Gu were unworldly, they’ve lived through hardships. They were not as fragile as Gu Anning thought. If Gu Anning had told her parents earlier about these issues, Mr. Gu and Mrs. Gu would have definitely gone to the school to speak with the principal and teachers. They would have stood up for Gu Anning, or otherwise, they would have transferred her to another school.

Then none of those terrible things would have happened.

What Anning needs to do now is just that. By speaking out, she will only make the whole family more united in their efforts.

"Is this true?"

Mr. Gu and Mrs. Gu were utterly shocked after hearing Anning’s story.

Mrs. Gu was especially outraged, "How could this be? When Shengzhe contacted us, they promised your safety at school, but it hasn’t been very long, and they dare to bully you like this? No way, I have to confront them."

Mr. Gu was also very angry, but what hurt him more was his concern for Anning, "Why didn’t you say something earlier? If you had told your dad sooner, your mom and I would definitely have sought justice for you at school. They think they’re so great because they have money? They can just bully people? I refuse to accept this. If the school doesn’t handle it, I’ll go to the education bureau, and if that fails, I’ll protest in front of the government office with banners..."

The concern and love that Mr. Gu and Mrs. Gu had for their daughter was genuine.

They only have this one daughter; what would they do if something happened to her?

"I’m okay."

Anning had stopped crying by now and timidly smiled, "I can endure it. I just didn’t want to worry you, that’s why I didn’t say anything."

"You silly girl."

Mrs. Gu was crying too, hitting Anning lightly while crying, "How could you think that way? Your dad and I live for you. If something happened to you, how could we go on?"

Mr. Gu, seeing Mrs. Gu crying like that and thinking that it was his incompetence that led their daughter to be bullied, felt extremely bad.

Anning hugged Mrs. Gu and consoled her, "Mom, I’m really okay. I’ve come to terms with it. I’ve been thinking that if we can’t confront them, we should avoid them, right? I don’t want to continue at Shengzhe; I want to go to First Middle School. Today, I... I was a bit scared, so I asked for leave from the teacher. I just wanted to walk around outside, to clear my mind, and then I stumbled upon this memory test game. I thought I have a pretty good memory, why not give it a try? And I didn’t expect to win the grand prize."

Anning smiled and took out the bank card, "This money came at just the right time. Together with what we have, we should be able to make up one hundred thousand yuan. Once I pay back Shengzhe, I can transfer schools."

After placating Mrs. Gu, Anning began to comfort Mr. Gu.

"Dad, you don’t need to go to the school and talk to the teachers anymore. Those students all have powerful backgrounds; it would be useless for us to even try. It would be better to transfer schools first."

Mr. Gu sighed deeply, his heart filled with even deeper sorrow.

He knew Anning was being sensible, afraid to inconvenience the family with her words.

Such a young child being bullied must feel grievance, yet Anning still bore the unfairness and comforted her parents. It was also because of his own incompetence.

"Dad, I am not inferior to anyone else, in fact, I work even harder than others. I refuse to believe that I will always be oppressed," Anning, holding Mr. Gu’s hand, softly persuaded him, "As a family, we must work together. You focus on getting better, mom supports me in the background, and I dedicate myself to my studies. I refuse to believe that there won’t come a day when we turn our fortunes around."

"Okay."

Mr. Gu nodded emphatically, "You... are grown up now, dad will listen to you. But if anyone bullies you again in the future, you must tell me and your mom. We might not have much, but the barefoot are not afraid of the shod. If we fight with all we’ve got, they will have to take us into consideration."

Anning smiled, "Okay, from now on, I won’t keep things from you anymore."