Chapter 1205 - 807: The "Plagiarism" Label Placed on Su Xiaomeng

Qin Huai tilted her head back to look at the director.

"What’s wrong with Little Huai?"

"I want to learn to play the piano too. Is that okay?"

The director chuckled softly, stroked Qin Huai’s hair, and said gently, "Of course it’s okay. But... Auntie Director doesn’t know that much. Still, Auntie Director will teach you as much as she can, alright?"

Qin Huai stared wide-eyed at the director, looking puzzled. "Can’t I learn from Grandpa Zhou?"

"Uh..." The director froze for a second, crouched down, and said to Qin Huai, "Your Grandpa Zhou is a really remarkable pianist. His students are all people who are very gifted at the piano. Not just anyone can become your Grandpa Zhou’s student..."

The director patiently explained, holding Qin Huai’s hand. "Of course, Qin Huai is so cute and so well-behaved. Maybe if you act a little spoiled with Grandpa Zhou, he might be willing to teach you a bit on the side too."

She was being as careful as she possibly could, terrified that a wrong word might hurt Qin Huai’s self-esteem.

She knew all the kids here had some degree of inferiority complex, and among them, Qin Huai was the most insecure, and the one who tried the hardest to hide it.

Even so, her words still accidentally wounded Qin Huai, though the director herself didn’t notice.

"Then... will Grandpa Zhou teach Taotao piano?"

The director smiled again. "Taotao’s piano has always been taught by Grandpa Zhou!"

"Then... why can Taotao have Grandpa Zhou teach her, but I can’t?"

Qin Huai asked again. She simply couldn’t understand. They were both children from the orphanage; there wasn’t any difference between them, was there? But why could Cheng Taotao go out to eat with Grandpa Zhou and the little big brother... even if they didn’t say anything, she knew...

Cheng Taotao loved to eat. Whenever Grandpa Zhou came to the orphanage, he would bring lots of good things, but he was still especially different with Cheng Taotao. Every time he said he was taking her out for a bit, it always turned out to be going to eat delicious food...

Taotao had never deliberately shown off in front of her; she’d just accidentally let it slip once or twice.

"Well..." The director was really just an amateur piano enthusiast. Usually she only taught the kids a few nursery rhymes. Mr. Zhou said Taotao was a genius, but the director herself couldn’t see what was so genius about Taotao...

Mr. Zhou had always been a bit eccentric, his ways hard for ordinary people to figure out.

She thought to herself that maybe Cheng Taotao really did have talent, and just happened to be discovered by Mr. Zhou, which was why he doted on her so much.

"Little Huai, if you really want to learn, you can talk to Grandpa Zhou yourself."

"I..."

Qin Huai opened her mouth, but the words wouldn’t come. She was too young to understand any of the logic behind it; she only knew that if Grandpa Zhou had wanted to teach her too, he would have done it long ago...

"Auntie Director, I was just asking casually. Learning from Auntie Director is great too."

After she spoke, Qin Huai gave Auntie Director a little smile.

The director took Qin Huai’s hand. She genuinely liked this pretty, well-behaved, polite child.

————

Yin Huaiyu’s hunch was right. The old man and the little girl eating shrimp and crab in the restaurant really did look a mess. Fortunately, Mr. Zhou cared about his image too, so they had reserved a private room in advance.

Aside from the waiter bringing the dishes, no other guests got to see their downright "terrifying" way of eating.

"Ah-woo, ah-woo, ah-woo..."

Yin Huaiyu sat right next to Cheng Taotao, watching this tomboy go at her favorite food like she hadn’t eaten in days, grabbing it with her hands and stuffing her little mouth full.

Yin Huaiyu had thought he wouldn’t be able to eat, and Taotao’s way of eating was one thing, but that old man was doing the same, practically imitating Taotao...

But the worst part was... Yin Huaiyu actually, damn it, found that this "terrifying" eating style somehow made all the food on the table look incredibly tasty.

He picked a few shrimp into his own bowl and chewed as he watched the other two eat.

This one old man, one half-old man, plus two kids, managed to polish off a whole plate of hairy crabs, a big pot of spicy boiled fish, a huge serving of fried rice, and several desserts.

Yin Huaiyu didn’t feel like he’d eaten that much, but when they walked out of the private room and he looked down, he could clearly see his stomach sticking out. His sweater couldn’t even hide it.

And as for Cheng Taotao?

Even more impressive—she ate until she was stuffed, then just passed out asleep. Right now she was in Guan Su’s arms.

"Guan Su, take Taotao back to the orphanage."

"...Alright. Then you and the teacher..."

"We’ll grab a cab, go to the Yin Family’s place, and then get the Yin Family’s driver to take me home. Huaiyu, that should be fine, right?"

Yin Huaiyu nodded.

Guan Su carried Cheng Taotao into the car. Yin Huaiyu looked at Taotao’s completely unconscious sleeping face and let out a sigh for no reason.

"What’s wrong?"

"I was just thinking that kid looks pretty ugly..."

"Really? I actually think her features have a lot of potential."

Zhou Guangren said with a laugh. Yin Huaiyu lifted one eyebrow, listening with a bit of doubt. "Potential?"

"Yeah. I’m sure she’ll grow up to be a great beauty!"

"Pfft... you really have no eye at all, do you?"

Matthew Moore glanced at Yin Huaiyu, chuckled, and said, "Otherwise... how about we make a bet?"

"What kind of bet?"

"I bet that Cheng Taotao will have a total glow-up when she grows up, and she’ll definitely turn into a peerless beauty!"

"And if she doesn’t?"

"If she doesn’t... I’ll call you ’Teacher’ once. How about that?"

Yin Huaiyu’s brows arched even higher; he clearly thought this wager was pretty good. Just imagining this unreliable old man calling him "Teacher" felt delightful.

The two of them got into a taxi. Seeing Yin Huaiyu sitting there grinning to himself, Matthew Moore shook his head and sighed inwardly: Still just a kid at heart... I only hope these old bones of mine live to see the day you and Taotao grow up, make your mark, and become famous the world over...

After Matthew Moore and Yin Huaiyu arrived at the Yin Family home, Elder Zhou very proudly announced that he had successfully taken Yin Huaiyu under his wing.

Yin Shixiu and Su Xiaomeng really hadn’t expected this; they were very curious where exactly Elder Zhou had taken Yin Huaiyu that afternoon. Elder Zhou didn’t say; he deliberately kept them in suspense.

Once the Yin Family driver had taken Elder Zhou home, Yin Huaiyu became the target everyone was scrambling to question.

Yin Huaiyu simply said,

"If I study with Matthew Moore, I’d have to leave home, right... Studying with this old man should still be okay..."

He said that and then went back to his room on his own.

After Su Xiaomeng heard this, she turned around and jumped straight onto Yin Shixiu. Yin Shixiu, quick-eyed and quick-handed, grabbed both of Su Xiaomeng’s legs, looking at her laughing like some half-grown kid...

"My son clearly can’t bear to leave his mom!"

"Right, right, he can’t bear to leave his mom... Eh, though I don’t know what’s so good about this mom of his..."

"Hmph, you don’t know what’s good about this mom? You can’t say it? You find it suspicious?"

With a few rapid-fire questions, Yin Shixiu immediately surrendered, planting a heavy kiss on her. "Everything about you is good! There’s not a single part of you that isn’t good—utterly delicious!"

"Ah... Yin Shixiu, what are you even saying..."

The man didn’t just talk; his mouth moved in too, catching her chin, ears, neck, and shoulders and giving little bites, making Su Xiaomeng let out soft, startled cries... Very soon, the sound disappeared behind the closed bedroom door.

One of Su Xiaomeng’s worries was finally laid to rest.

Elder Matthew Moore, who had popped up halfway through, really did solve a big problem for the two of them as a couple. After all, even if they managed to get in touch with Matthew Moore through various channels, he might not be willing to take their son on as a pupil. Mr. Ke was afraid that if he guided the boy wrong, it would negatively affect Yin Huaiyu’s piano studies. And aside from Mr. Ke, for the moment Su Xiaomeng and Yin Shixiu really couldn’t find a piano teacher who understood Yin Huaiyu and could guide the child the right way.

Still, Su Xiaomeng was curious where exactly Huang Huang had gone with Elder Zhou that afternoon—his attitude before and after the outing was completely different.

————

On Monday, Su Xiaomeng drove Shuangshuang and Huang Huang to school. Shuangshuang had around twenty amusement-park tickets stuffed in her bag, and the whole child looked very pleased with herself.

"Shuang’er, even though Dad said anyone who looks down on the gift you’re giving isn’t worthy of receiving anything from you, if you have extra tickets and those classmates who bullied you sincerely apologize, then you can show a bit of your generous side... okay?"

Yin Jinxi blinked her big eyes at Su Xiaomeng. After listening, she shot back without hesitation,

"I don’t want to be a generous person. Being petty is pretty nice."

With that, she waved at Su Xiaomeng. "Mom, I’m going to class. See you tonight!"

"Oh... okay, bye..."

After Su Xiaomeng said goodbye to Yin Jinxi, she felt a sudden, inexplicable pang of disappointment. Yin Shixiu’s words she was willing to listen to; her own words...

"Huang Huang, keep an eye on your sister. Don’t let her get into trouble, alright?"

"Oh, I’ll do my best."

Yin Huaiyu shrugged. The two of them weren’t in the same class, so of course he couldn’t watch Yin Jinxi every second. Fortunately, the two classes weren’t far apart.

After dropping the kids off, Su Xiaomeng headed to work.

She’d been teaching for a month now. Although the beginning hadn’t been ideal, it was at least eventful—in fact, in the first few days of term, her name had already spread among the students.

Whether as the young overseas-returned lecturer or as the Madam of the Yin Group’s CEO, Su Xiaomeng found that none of this had actually affected her teaching career much.

What the students cared most about was still her teaching ability.

Fortunately, Su Xiaomeng wasn’t just a pretty face. The years she’d spent at Bath had already laid a solid foundation for her professional life.

Beijing Foreign Studies University also had a very strong academic atmosphere...

Everything was going quite well—until, out of nowhere, a charge of plagiarizing someone else’s academic paper was suddenly slapped onto her, leaving her somewhat at a loss.

"Take a look and compare. This is the paper that was published in LONDON LANGUAGE at the beginning of last month. This one was posted on an academic forum at the end of August."

Chi Lun held a coffee cup in one hand and put two manuscripts down in front of Su Xiaomeng with the other.

"..." Su Xiaomeng was completely bewildered.

"Seventy‑two percent similarity," Chi Lun said. "Plagiarism is the number one taboo at Beijing Foreign Studies University."