Reborn as his Shadow - Chapter 5

“The teacher is on the way! The teacher is coming!” Shouted one of the kids closer to the door.

Hearing the sound of high-heeled shoes running down the corridor and recalling the feeling of having materialized hands, Mo Jingxuan did not hesitate any longer and tried to communicate with Xiao Ying. Since the body has changed, then…Mo Jingxuan clung to Xiao Ying’s back and whispered, “Xiao, lie down.”

The sudden touch on his back and the unfamiliar but gentle voice woke Xiao Ying from his stupor, but looking back, he did not see anything behind him. Not being able to see was nothing scary; in fact, that nostalgic voice was far more comforting than most of the voices he could see daily.

Seeing his reaction, Mo Jingxuan smiled as he continued to instruct him, “Xiao, don’t be afraid, lie down. Close your eyes and lie on the floor quickly.”

Hearing the tender voice ask him to lie down again, Xiao Ying nodded slightly and acted without hesitation to follow as he was told. He fell face forward on the hard concrete floor and closed his eyes.

“Ah! Xiao Ying fell too!” The children in the class did nothing but help escalate the situation.

Mo Jingxuan comforted the child, “Good boy!” Before leaning forward to examine the wound carefully, finding that the skin was broken, but no bones were visible. Thinking briefly, he continued to murmur in Xiao Ying’s ear, “Go to sleep for now; I’ll tell you when you can wake up later, okay?”

Xiao Ying nodded in confusion, feeling the soft weight on top of his head and relaxed, his body growing weak as he was finally able to calm down, it was warm, and with so much having happened in such a short span of time, it was no wonder that he wanted to indulge in this comfort, knowing that someone was by his side. He quickly lost consciousness and lay limp, trusting in Mo Jingxuan completely.

Gently exhaling, Mo Jingxuan lowered his head to lightly kiss the child’s forehead. Now that both involved had fallen to the ground, it was a much safer arrangement for Xiao Ying. One looked intact save for some bruises, while the other was covered in blood and marks from being beaten up. It is obvious whose injuries are worse even from a glance. This time, he would surely allow those children to be educated and let that irresponsible and ignorant teacher learn her lesson.

The homeroom teacher ran into the classroom panting, and saw the two children lying on the ground. Her body shook, and she very nearly lost her footing as she took in the scene before her. But rather than calling an ambulance or sending the children to the hospital, she ran around in a panic before calling the principal.

“What’s going on, Teacher Wang? Why are you still standing there?! You should be rushing to the hospital; if you let your student have an accident at school, I don’t care if you can afford it or not; I will not let you drag the school down with you!” The old principal frowned as he admonished the homeroom teacher, and his potbelly constricted along with his anxiety as he spat his words.

“Send– – send to the hospital, yes…yes, I’ll call an ambulance right now….”

“Call an ambulance?? No, you will not! Do you realize how large of an incident this would be if the news got a hold of it? Our school would be ruined! Quietly send the kids to the hospital yourself and have the doctor look at them before you inform their parents of the situation.” He paused to think before adding, “Also, don’t let the children in your calls tell anyone.”

Teacher Wang nodded, “Alright, I understand.” She called for Teacher Liu saying, “Come and help me carry them, I can only take one myself.”

Teacher Liu hesitated, “I’ll help, but I’m only helping. I want it to be clear that you can’t blame me for any accidents.”

Teacher Wang was stunned, picking up Wang Bin as she nodded sadly and walked out.

Acknowledging her agreement to his words, Teacher Liu picked up Xiao Ying and followed, by chance smearing the blood on him around even more.

In the taxi———–

Teacher Liu glanced at the child in his arms again, “The child looks seriously injured and still hasn’t woken up… I think he has hurt his head. If something serious happens, it may be hard for you later on. Losing your job would be the best outcome, facing the child’s family matters and maybe even legal punishment if you’re unlucky….”

The homeroom teacher looked closely at Xiao Ying before laughing it off. “Don’t worry Teacher Wang, this is the orphan boy in my class. There is no one who cares about his situation, I’d be more worried about him than me right now.”

Teacher Wang listened to her and silently disagreed but was not in the mood to say more, brushing it off with a hum of agreement.

Mo Jingxuan, who had been listening to their conversation, wanted to kick these two sorry excuses for humans out of the car at this moment. He understood the implications of their words; how easy would it be to deal with this without parents to stand up for him? From the beginning to the end, neither of these so-called teachers wanted to do anything more than protect themselves and their reputation.

Glaring at them again, he turned away to stare at Xiao Ying instead. It was truly worrisome; if he could not control his temper and ended up kicking them out, it would become a supernatural event…. and that attention was one of the last things that he wanted.

Xiao Ying was sleeping restlessly, and Mo Jingxuan raised his transparent hand to comfort him, coaxing him back to sleep.

Mo Jingxuan would never know how gentle he looked at this moment, a gentleness that he had never had in his previous life.

Just as Mo Jingxuan began to think about how to make this Teacher Wang lose her qualifications as a teacher forever, the car stopped at the entrance of the hospital, bringing a plan to his mind.

For the following hours, Mo Jingxuan trailed behind the children who were carried around and in and out of each department. During the CT scan, Xiao Ying woke up but was coaxed by Xiao Ying to sleep once more.

After the examinations were finished, Wang Bin woke up. He was still confused and somewhat dazed, not sure where he was or why he was there. Teacher Wang and Teacher Liu calmed him down, asking if he felt any notable discomfort. This left Xiao Ying, still asleep, alone on his small hospital bed across the room.

Mo Jingxuan confirmed that Wang Bin was awake and whispered in Xiao Ying’s ear to wake him up, “Good boy! You can open your eyes now, but stay quiet and do as I say.” Mo Jingxuan looked at the door before continuing, “When the doctor comes with the results later, you call for your mother and complain that it hurts, okay?”

Xiao Ying, who had already opened his eyes, stayed still as he thought about it, nodding his head imperceptibly and murmuring, “No, mom….”

Hearing the movement, Teacher Liu walked back over to him, complaining as he came, “You finally woke up, come on, tell Teacher Liu quickly, just what happened for you two to fight so badly?”

Mo Jingxuan frowned, not at all happy with the teacher’s priorities. To think that someone in charge of educating the youth would be so fixated on appearances and care so little about the physical welfare of his students. Not to mention the completely different attitudes that they both had towards Xiao Ying and Wang Bin. He put his finger against Xiao Ying’s mouth, silently signaling that he didn’t need to answer.

The mouth was gently pressed, and the smart child understood instantly, looking up at Teacher Liu with bright, starry eyes and an obediently closed mouth.

Teacher Liu was about to continue to ask for more information when there was a knock on the door of the ward, causing him to stand up quickly and allow the doctor in.

The doctor held a stack of documents over his white coat and flipped through them as she said, “Wang Bin is fine, though a little overweight. Pay attention to his diet, eat more fruits and vegetables, and exercise more. As for Xiao Ying, he needs much more attention. He is malnourished, and accompanied by anemia. As for the injury on the head–”

“Auntie,” Xiao Ying interrupted the doctor with a weak childish voice, “My head hurts, can you help me?”

Seeing the doctor walk towards them without hesitation, Mo Jingxuan felt the urge to dote on Xiao Ying again, hugging him tightly as he kissed him on the forehead.

“It’s so warm,” the child murmured.

Facing the weak, people will naturally soften, not to mention a little cutie like Xiao Ying. The doctor lovingly stoked Xiao Ying’s hair as she softly comforted him, “Don’t worry Xiao Ying, your head will not hurt in a few days. Xiao Ying is a strong man, Auntie believes that Xiao Ying will be strong enough to endure it. Right Xiao Ying?”

Xiao Ying nodded obediently, and the doctor turned to look at the two teachers with an ugly expression on her face, “Be more careful with your children. It will itch as the wound heals; he cannot scratch the area else he will have to deal with infection or inflammation afterwards. And going back to what I said earlier, he is severely malnourished and has moderate anemia.” The more the doctor spoke, the more severe her tone grew, as if convincing herself of her beliefs. “I don’t understand how people like you can be parents, your children are so young, and you still don’t understand to feed them? If you can’t keep up with them now, what are you going to do in the future?”

Embarrassed, Teacher Liu stepped in to argue, “We are not the parents of this child…” before realizing that he could not mention they were the teachers before things were taken care of.

Wang Bin, however, had no such hesitation in explaining the situation. “The teachers aren’t that bastard’s parents; he is an orphan that no one wants. He doesn’t have any parents, doctor.” As he said this, Teacher Wang, who was holding him, almost recoiled in shock…how could this child say such a thing without regard to the consequences?

The doctor frowned, “What are you saying? Who taught you to say these things?” She turned back to the teachers, “This child is also your student? If so, then the two of you are incredibly unqualified to educate anyone of anything. Your student insulted a classmate in front of you and your expression hasn’t changed. How accustomed must you be to take such harsh words for granted? I’m afraid that any bystander passing by would be able to tell just how problematic Xiao Ying’s situation is at school.”

Wang Bin was completely unable to pick up on Teacher Wang’s flushed face and continued to loudly say, “Of course, I am a student of Teacher Wang. Teacher Wang treats me very well, and I am even a sports committee member!” The stuck-up boy could not help but show off even while in the hospital due to his misdeeds.

The doctor’s expression sank even further, something that seemed to be almost impossible at this point, but before she could say anything more, Xiao Ying spoke up again, “I have no family anymore. They are teachers though, so it makes sense that they can’t take care of me, so don’t blame them, Auntie. It’s okay. I’m used to it.”

Mo Jingxuan nodded encouragement to Xiao Ying before remembering that he still could not be seen and squeezing his hand instead.

The doctor was stunned and did not even try to speak anymore. She just gently hugged the child lying alone on the small bed and patted his back. The young boy reminded her of her frail son who had died when young… He used to chase after her legs, calling her mother and waiting for her to get off work every day. At this moment, apart from sympathy for Xiao Ying, there was even more heartfelt distress.

After holding this pose for a while more, the doctor made up her mind as she began to instruct those in the room, “Quickly notify Wang Bin’s parents first. The child is injured and the parents are not present, this means that the school has done something wrong and this matter cannot be let go. I will not let this matter be settled behind the backs of the parents. As for Xiao Ying, let me make the decisions for him. I will be inquiring about his specific situation later, so be sure to have the materials ready. They will include some recordings of what occurred in the classroom before either child came here. Although I am only a doctor, I still know several people. Including a reporter from the Nancheng Morning Post, so…I sincerely hope that there is a reasonable solution to this matter. It would be terribly bothersome if it needed to escalate to an issue of teacher morality in the school , don’t you think so?” After finishing her speech, the doctor picked up Xiao Ying and walked with him directly out of the ward.

Mo Jingxuan stretched across the ground as the doctor strode forward, feeling gratified that there was not only darkness in the world. There were also people like this doctor, people who would step forward for no reason other than their belief that a wrong was committed.

The development of the situation was honestly beyond Mo Jingxuan’s expectations. He had not thought he would meet such an honest woman and had planned to take much more effort to win over a few of the doctors and nurses to gather sympathy. Now, with this kind of person, things were far easier to handle.