Chapter 16: Unprecedented Kindness

Chapter 16: Chapter 16: Unprecedented Kindness

The man reacted quickly.

He quickly feigned surprise, apologizing with flustered gestures:

"Oh, I-I’m so sorry! It was my mistake! I thought I’d already paid... I really remember scanning the payment code! The network probably glitched, and the payment didn’t go through!"

His rapid-fire speech, his urgent attitude, his embarrassed expression...

It all seemed to tell everyone—

—that this was all just a misunderstanding.

Seeing the man bowing and scraping as he apologized, he then pulled out 60 yuan in cash to shove at Nan Zhi.

A crowd of onlookers assumed the matter was over and began to disperse...

"Wait."

Nan Zhi avoided the man’s proffered money, not even looking at him.

Her hand on Nan Yi’s shoulder squeezed gently, giving him silent support.

"Yiyi, was this ’uncle’ really just being careless?"

Nan Yi’s reply was firm and decisive.

"No, he did it on purpose!"

The childish voice rang out with conviction, making the crowd stop in their tracks once more.

What was going on?

Wasn’t this over?

The man was no longer as composed as before; his expression turned particularly ugly.

"I’m a teacher, an educator. Do I really need to ruin my own reputation over 60 yuan?"

Nan Zhi looked at him meaningfully. On her delicate, pure face—like translucent white jade—a sharp edge was faintly visible.

"That’s right. Why would a teacher, an educator, ruin his own reputation?"

Seemingly agreeing, but actually mocking him.

Realizing this wouldn’t end easily, the man’s face flushed red.

"Then what do you want?"

Nan Zhi pulled out her phone.

"Let’s call the police."

The man stammered, retorting loudly:

"N-No! You can’t! You have no proof, no evidence! Why are you slandering me?"

Nan Zhi spoke slowly.

"Whether it’s slander or not, won’t we find out once we call the police?"

For once, Nan Yi was in perfect sync with Nan Zhi, nodding vigorously in agreement!

Nan Zhi glanced at Nan Yi’s little head with amusement, gently stroking the back of his neck.

"...Besides, how do you know we don’t have evidence?"

The people here didn’t know, but she knew perfectly well—

—they weren’t actually running a fried rice stall; they were filming a show.

So every moment at the fried rice stall had been recorded by the cameras, including this man’s every move.

When the police arrived, they would only need to check the footage to see if he was being wrongly accused. The truth would come to light!

Nan Zhi’s attitude was so certain that it made the man wonder if he had indeed left some incriminating evidence behind. Now he was truly panicking!

The noisy chatter from the surrounding crowd started up again:

"What’s going on? Didn’t they say it was a misunderstanding?"

"The mother and son are saying it wasn’t a misunderstanding. That he dined and dashed on purpose, and they’re calling the cops!"

"From the looks of it, do they have evidence? That guy’s expression doesn’t look right, either!"

"Whoa, a plot twist?"

"Isn’t that guy an elementary school teacher? How could he do something like this?"

"Goes to show you can’t judge a book by its cover!"

"Maybe he made up the whole teacher thing..."

"..."

Now, the person being pierced by the verbal daggers was no longer Nan Yi, but the man.

The man was indeed an elementary school teacher, but his habit of petty theft was also real.

If the police investigated, the truth was exposed, and word got out...

Wouldn’t he be utterly humiliated in front of his wife, child, relatives, and colleagues?

A vicious look suddenly flashed in the man’s eyes.

Without a second thought, he charged straight at Nan Zhi!

Although Nan Zhi dodged in time, the man’s shoulder still grazed her. Her frail body swayed, and she was about to fall!

"Mama!"

Nan Yi’s tiny frame, with a sudden burst of strength from who knows where, used all his might to grab Nan Zhi’s hand, pulling her back from the brink of falling!

Nan Zhi steadied herself, still shaken.

Besides the lingering fear from the scare, she was mostly filled with joy at hearing him call her that.

She didn’t even notice that the man had already shoved past several people, broken through the thick crowd of onlookers, and vanished in the blink of an eye...

"Yiyi, what did you just call me?"

A faint blush lingered on Nan Yi’s face. As if shy, he turned his head away, refusing to look at Nan Zhi’s expression.

Nan Zhi knew she shouldn’t press him, but she couldn’t resist bending down and giving him a tight hug.

Suddenly, a fierce commotion broke out.

Nan Zhi looked toward the sound.

She saw that the man who had just fled had actually been caught and brought back by a few enthusiastic onlookers!

The man was held between them like a scrawny chick. He desperately tried to shrink his neck, his eyes darting left and right, looking utterly pathetic.

One look at his demeanor, and everyone understood what had happened.

Soon, the police arrived.

Nan Zhi didn’t even need to say a word. The eager crowd, speaking over one another, explained the whole story.

"We all saw it with our own eyes! We’re all witnesses!"

"He even steals fried rice! A person like that can’t be a teacher! You have to report this to his workplace!"

"It’s our fault for being tricked by him. We actually thought this little kid remembered wrong..."

"I’m sorry, little one. I shouldn’t have said those things to you earlier."

"Grandma was being foolish. Here, take this. It’s my little grandson’s favorite chocolate!"

"Wow, what a great kid! Helping your mom catch a dine-and-dash thief. You’re going to be amazing when you grow up!"

"..."

Nan Yi looked a little flustered.

In his short life, he had long grown accustomed to all sorts of cold shoulders, contempt, and disgust...

Being bullied was the norm; kindness was a rarity.

But now, so many people were apologizing to him.

People were smiling at him, giving him candy, giving him a thumbs-up in praise...

It was as if he wasn’t the world’s most hated, insignificant little sinner, but a good boy who was genuinely loved and cherished.

The cold, hard shell he had built around himself quietly cracked open, revealing a rare bewilderment and a child’s innocence.

He looked a little dazed.

Nan Zhi smiled and patted the top of his head.

The two police officers who had arrived had more or less figured out the situation.

However, the man still insisted he hadn’t dined and dashed, that it was all a misunderstanding. The officers had no choice but to ask Nan Zhi if she had any evidence.

Nan Zhi was about to nod...

But Nan Yi beat her to it.

"Yes."

Nan Zhi was curious. ’Did Nan Yi think of the same thing I did?’

Nan Yi said, "I saw it!"

The police officer found it amusing, but seeing that Nan Yi was a small child who barely reached an adult’s waist, he said gently:

"It’s not enough if you’re the only one who saw it, little guy."

Nan Yi didn’t explain. He enunciated every word clearly:

"When he arrived, I happened to look at the time. It was 7:47 PM. He ordered three portions of egg fried rice, and there were five orders ahead of him."

"He was standing next to a big sister in a red dress. He bumped her shoulder and didn’t apologize, so she glared at him."

"Then he walked away for a bit and came back at 7:56 PM. There were seven people standing in front of our cart then. He went past a big brother with a blue backpack, secretly took the fried rice, and left. I saw him."

"He never once came to me to scan the code and pay."