A Paranoid Alpha Childhood Friend is Acting Spoiled Again - Chapter 3

After that incident, Zhou Kai naturally couldn’t hold his head up in front of the other children. He was even ostracized because of his parents’ barbaric behavior; most kids were unwilling to play with him, fearing that if they had a disagreement, his parents might treat them the way they treated Nuo Fanxi and Tang Mo—perhaps even worse now that they had experience. Consequently, they all kept their distance from Zhou Kai, which actually increased their favorable impression of Nuo Fanxi.

Before this, Nuo Fanxi was known as the “little devil” of the preschool. She didn’t just rule the roost in her own class; she often ran wild in other classrooms, too. However, because the other children never suffered any actual physical harm—at most feeling a bit slighted—the other head teachers didn’t feel right accusing her of “bullying.” Instead, they would frustratedly complain to Teacher Li, asking her to keep a tighter leash on her student.

Teacher Li had a massive headache over this for two reasons. First, it wasn’t that she didn’t try to manage the girl; she simply couldn’t. If a teacher complained, they needed a valid reason. If a teacher caught her student bullying another in the act, she could easily step in to educate. But there was never any evidence of Nuo Fanxi actually bullying anyone, and she couldn’t scold a student for no reason—what would the parents think?

Second, while Nuo Fanxi was a bit mischievous and loved wandering through the various classrooms, she never laid a hand on anyone. If people claimed she was too mean with her words, it was hard to judge who had started the argument. Making a wrong judgment could lead to misunderstandings, and if parents got involved, there would be no peace.

Furthermore, it was normal for children to bicker. As long as it wasn’t excessive, it was just a natural part of growing up. They couldn’t stifle a child’s nature over minor issues.

Of course, being nagged daily by other teachers was still exhausting. Thus, during recess the day after the parents’ scene, Teacher Li went to find Nuo Fanxi.

Nuo Fanxi was currently playing with building blocks with Tang Mo. Another child was squatting nearby, though they didn’t dare get too close to Nuo Fanxi, instead shifting their position to sit next to Tang Mo.

This clearly made Nuo Fanxi very unhappy. She kept glaring at the child with an obvious message: Momo and I are best friends, the spot next to her is mine, and no one else is allowed there.

Just as Nuo Fanxi was about to stand up and give a warning, Teacher Li called out to her, “Xixi.”

Nuo Fanxi turned around. “Teacher Li, is something wrong?”

Teacher Li thought: Would I call you if nothing was wrong? This child was far too clever; sometimes Teacher Li felt truly exhausted trying to deal with her.

“Of course,” Teacher Li knelt down and smiled.

Nuo Fanxi glanced at Tang Mo, then at the child huddled next to her. “Then what do you need, Teacher? Make it quick, I’m building a big house with Momo!”

Teacher Li glanced over and was surprised. The geometric blocks provided by the kindergarten were actually quite difficult for children of this age—they involved complex shapes that usually required primary school-level logic to understand. Remarkably, Nuo Fanxi had already laid out a proper foundation for a house.

And she had done it without any instructions.

“Did you build that, or did you do it with Momo and the others?”

Nuo Fanxi said proudly, “I built it, of course! Momo and the rest were just in charge of finding the pieces for me.”

Teacher Li thought that it was no wonder the girl acted like such a little mastermind; her brain was simply that sharp. She felt a twinge of envy—if only she had a child this smart, she’d save so much worry.

But on second thought, having a student this smart was a nightmare for a teacher. You couldn’t fool her at all!

Nuo Fanxi seemed unable to wait, asking anxiously, “Teacher Li, why are you looking for me? If there’s nothing, I’m going back.”

Teacher Li snapped out of it, embarrassed. “Xixi, weren’t you scared by what happened yesterday?”

Nuo Fanxi shook her head. “I could never be scared by that bad lady! But she scared Momo and gave her nightmares last night. She’s a bad person!”

Her voice wasn’t loud, but her words were powerful and filled with righteous indignation. She didn’t sound like a child at all.

Teacher Li felt like she was talking to a “little adult” and felt a sudden surge of pressure. “What that lady did was indeed wrong, but I’m not here to talk about her.”

“Then why?”

“Xixi, it’s like this: this month, teachers from other classes have told me that you keep running into their rooms to bully their students. Is that true?”

Unlike primary schools where grades are on different floors, most kindergartens have several large classes of dozens of children all on the same floor for easier supervision. This makes it easy for everyone to know when there’s a problem.

Nuo Fanxi’s little brow furrowed instantly. “Those teachers are lying! I didn’t bully those kids!”

Things rarely come from nowhere, so Teacher Li pressed on. “Then tell me what happened. I’ll stand up for you if you tell the truth, okay?”

Nuo Fanxi thought for a moment and replied, “Teacher Li, I didn’t bully them. They kept saying mean things about my parents behind my back for no reason. I went to argue with them, but they wouldn’t admit it, so I just warned them that if they dared say bad things about my parents again, I wouldn’t be nice to them!”

“Then… can you tell me what mean things they said about your parents?”

“All sorts of things. It was too ugly, I won’t repeat it for you.”

Teacher Li understood; children are very protective of their parents. It was normal to be unable to tolerate insults directed at family.

But even so, would that be enough for every teacher to complain?

“Was there anything else?” Teacher Li felt there was more to it. “Children shouldn’t lie to teachers. If I find out our smartest and most obedient Xixi lied to me, I’ll be very, very disappointed, you know?”

Fearing the teacher’s disappointment—as children often crave the support and praise of adults—Nuo Fanxi hesitated for a long time before stammering, “Actually… that wasn’t all.”

“Mhm? Xixi, lying is wrong.”

“Teacher, I didn’t mean to.”

“Then tell me why.”

“It’s just… they…”

As she spoke, Nuo Fanxi glanced toward Tang Mo several times. After confirming Tang Mo wasn’t listening, she continued, “It’s just that they are always pestering Momo, asking her to play with them. They clearly have other friends to play with, yet they won’t go to them—they just have to stick to Momo! So I…”

Teacher Li was momentarily speechless. She had never expected such a young child to have such a strong sense of possessiveness.

However, she could understand it. The two families were close, and the girls had played together since birth. Seeing other children “monopolize” her best friend, it was natural for Nuo Fanxi to be unhappy.

“You don’t want Momo to play with other kids?”

Nuo Fanxi didn’t answer, her little head hanging low as she thought about something.

Teacher Li understood. “But you could all play together, couldn’t you? Isn’t it more fun when more people play?”

“But Teacher Li, they already have plenty of their own friends. Why do they have to stick to Momo?” Nuo Fanxi looked up slowly. “It’s not like they have no one else to play with.”

It was difficult to explain social dynamics to such a small child. Teacher Li carefully chose her words. “Xixi, that way of thinking isn’t right. Other kids wanting to play with Momo means they really like her and want to be her friend. They even come from other classes just for her! As her best friend, you should be happy for her. Plus, kids should make many friends so everyone can share different kinds of fun and happiness. Don’t you think?”

Nuo Fanxi lowered her eyes and said nothing, clearly disagreeing.

Children are very territorial; to her, a best friend was like a favorite toy—she didn’t want to share. Teacher Li had a headache. She didn’t know how to correct this behavior without sounding too harsh and hurting the girl’s feelings.

“Xixi, this behavior…”

“Teacher Li, aren’t you done talking to Xixi yet?” Tang Mo had reached a tricky part of the building blocks and didn’t know how to proceed. Seeing the teacher talking to Nuo Fanxi for so long, she had grown impatient and walked over.

Teacher Li gave up; the conversation had to end. “Alright, let’s leave it at that for today. You two keep playing, and I’ll head off.”

Tang Mo waved her little hand. “Bye-bye, Teacher Li!”

Once the teacher was out of earshot, Tang Mo saw the unhappiness on Nuo Fanxi’s face and waved her hand in front of her. “Xixi, what’s wrong? Was Teacher Li scolding you? But you didn’t do anything wrong yesterday.”

Nuo Fanxi remained sad for a while before looking up. “Momo, I want to ask you a question. You have to answer me seriously.”

Tang Mo nodded vigorously. “Ask away! I’ll definitely be serious!”

Nuo Fanxi asked, “Momo, do you like playing with me?”

Tang Mo nodded. “Of course! Didn’t we make a pinky promise? You said it yourself, Xixi—we are best friends forever!”

Nuo Fanxi thought about it and asked again, “Then, do you like playing with other kids, or do you like playing with me more?”

Tang Mo answered without hesitation, “Xixi, of course! I never made a pinky promise with the other kids; they’re just normal classmates. But Xixi is different. We made a promise, so we are ‘Number One’ best friends!”

Nuo Fanxi was clearly satisfied with this answer. Her unhappy face immediately broke into a grin.

“Let’s keep building the house!”

“Okay!”

Recess in kindergarten is quite long. The three of them worked on the blocks for a while, and by the time class was about to start, a small red house was finished.

Suddenly, Tang Mo needed the bathroom. She wanted Nuo Fanxi to go with her, but she was worried that someone might knock down their hard-earned house while they were gone. After hesitating, she asked Nuo Fanxi to stay behind and guard the little red house.

Nuo Fanxi didn’t argue this time and told Tang Mo to go ahead.

Once Tang Mo left, Nuo Fanxi stood up and walked over to the other classmate who had been playing with them, a girl named Chen Zichen. Nuo Fanxi looked down at her and said, “Next time, you aren’t allowed to cling to Momo. If you want to build blocks, I can help you instead.”

Chen Zichen, who usually got along well with Tang Mo, was confused. “Why? I always play with Momo. If you want to join, Xixi, the three of us can build together.”

Nuo Fanxi was immediately displeased. “You were playing with other people before. Why are you coming over here to cling to Momo now?”

Chen Zichen said, “That was then, this is now. I want to play with Momo now. Is that not allowed?”

Technically it was allowed, but if Chen Zichen played with Tang Mo, Tang Mo’s attention would be on Chen Zichen, and Nuo Fanxi would get less. This realization made Nuo Fanxi very grumpy.

“NOT. ALLOWED.”

“Why?”

Chen Zichen picked up an extra block to start building something else. “You play with Momo, I play with Momo. Three people—why not?”

Nuo Fanxi was frustrated, but she couldn’t bully her—if she did, Chen Zichen might tell Momo. Nuo Fanxi could only sit back down in a huff, staring at the little red house with a pout.

It’s just not allowed! Nuo Fanxi thought stubbornly.