"Mr. Yan, WAH... It hurts! Is my finger broken?"
"It’s not broken. That’s a dislocated joint caused by excessive force."
Yan Feifan explained, then quickly followed up, "First, tell me how it happened."
On the screen, Tian Yu stopped crying. Pouting her lips, she said pitifully, "That boy in my class is always bullying me. I told the teacher today, and he got a scolding."
"After school, that guy came to block my way."
Yan Feifan’s expression turned cold. "Did he do that to your finger?"
Tian Yu shook her little head and said timidly, "I was reminded of how heroic Ruoruo is."
"In that moment, I was possessed by the spirit of Ruoruo."
"I beat him up."
Tian Yu’s lips puckered again, and she said in a tearful voice, "I didn’t use the right force, and my finger ended up like this."
Tian Yu wiped her eyes and said with great bravado, "Mr. Yan, I didn’t cry then. I just walked away with a nonchalant look on my face."
"It scared him half to death."
"Mr. Yan, it hurts..."
And Tian Yu started crying again, this time delicately...
Hearing that she hadn’t been bullied but had instead beaten someone else up, Yan Feifan relaxed.
"Take a taxi to the hospital. I’ll reset your finger for you..."
At 6:20 in the evening, Yan Feifan was waiting for Tian Yu at the south entrance of the hospital.
Dressed in her middle school uniform and carrying a backpack, she got out of the taxi and even flaunted her dislocated middle finger at Yan Feifan.
Yan Feifan didn’t say much. He simply reached out, gave her finger a pull, and with a CRACK, reset it.
The little rascal froze for a second, then her mouth twisted and she started crying again.
"It hurts! WAH... Mr. Yan, why didn’t you give me a warning?"
Yan Feifan held back a laugh and said, "Warning or not, wouldn’t the result be the same? You couldn’t have avoided that."
Tian Yu stopped crying but angrily punched Yan Feifan in the chest.
"If you’d said something, I could have prepared myself!"
Yan Feifan reached out and patted her head. "Your finger is fine now, so don’t be so petty."
"Are you hurt anywhere else?"
"Do you want to go home?"
Tian Yu shook her head. "Only my finger was hurt."
"I already told Mom I was coming here and that I’ll go straight to school from here tomorrow morning."
Then she said pitifully, "Mr. Yan, I’m hungry..."
Yan Feifan took Tian Yu to the hospital’s Cafeteria Number One, gave her his card, and let her get whatever she wanted to eat.
When he saw the dishes she brought back, Yan Feifan was a little speechless.
A large clay pot of braised pig’s trotters with soybeans, a serving of braised pork belly, and two crab roe "lion’s head" meatballs.
The only vegetable was the free, self-serve winter melon soup from the cafeteria.
Yan Feifan said helplessly, "Xiaoyu, I already told you, I’ve eaten! And I ate a lot!"
Tian Yu rolled her eyes at him and huffed, "I remember. These dishes are all mine. None for you."
"I got in a fight and got injured today. I need to replenish my strength."
Yan Feifan teased, "You’d better replenish yourself into a little fatty."
Tian Yu ignored him and buried her head in her food.
It had to be said, the fighting power of a foodie was formidable.
In Yan Feifan’s eyes, what looked like enough food for at least two adults was nearly polished off by the little rascal in just over ten minutes.
Her mood having improved, she picked at the soybeans in the clay pot and said with a grin, "Mr. Yan, our homeroom teacher held a class meeting for us today."
"He said that to get into a good high school, besides relying on your own abilities and solid scores, there’s another way."
Tian Yu picked up a soybean with her chopsticks and tried to feed it to Yan Feifan.
Yan Feifan dodged with a look of disdain, so Tian Yu ate it herself.
"The teacher said the other way is through connections, where everyone uses their own special tricks to get ahead."
"The teacher said that if you have connections, you need to start planning now."
Tian Yu said sweetly, "Mr. Yan, you’re so amazing and well-connected. Do you have any strings to pull in this area?"