“First, you need to compensate Harvey for his medical expenses and emotional distress. The total is ten thousand dollars. Second...”

She adjusted her glasses.

“Given Nina’s repeated aggressive behavior recently, we recommend that she transfer to another school.”

I looked down at the document.

It was a voluntary transfer agreement, neatly printed and ready to go. All it needed was my signature and a fingerprint.

“You’re saying Nina has been aggressive more than once?”

I looked up and stared at Ms. Carter. “When exactly? Where are the records?”

Ms. Carter froze for a second, as if she hadn’t expected me to question her.

But she quickly put on her superior attitude again.

“We’ll organize the details later. Right now, the priority is resolving the matter in front of us. You should sign first, and then...”

“I want to see the security footage.”

“The security footage?” Ms. Carter frowned impatiently. “The cameras happen to be under maintenance today, so we can’t pull up the footage right now.”

“Ms. Zeller just said you confirmed from the footage that Nina attacked Harvey first. So did you watch it or not?”

I stared at both of them.

The office fell silent for a moment.

Ms. Carter and Ms. Zeller exchanged a look.

“I... I was talking about the hallway footage,” Ms. Zeller said weakly. “Anyway, we would never falsely accuse your child. So many children saw Nina hit him first. How could that be fake?”

Her explanation was flimsy, and her eyes kept darting away.

Before I could press her further, Ms. Carter’s phone rang.

She put it on speaker.

“Ms. Carter! Have you handled this or not? Let me tell you, our Harvey was beaten. We’re only asking for ten thousand because both children attend the same kindergarten. We’re already being considerate enough!

“If they refuse to pay and refuse to sign, I promise I’ll make their whole family get out of this city!”

Ms. Carter immediately put on a fawning smile.

“Don’t worry, Mrs. Harris. I promise I’ll take care of this properly for you.”

After saying that, she gave me a meaningful look.

The woman on the phone was Karen Lincoln, John’s wife.

Years ago, she had come to my door with John to beg me for help. Later, she had knelt in front of me and said she could never repay my kindness in this lifetime.

And now, she was threatening to drive my entire family out of the city?

Behind me, Nina suddenly tugged at my sleeve.

“Grandpa, let’s go home. I don’t want to go to kindergarten anymore.”

She nervously picked at her fingers.

But every day when she came home, she used to tell me how much she liked the children here and how much she liked the playground.

Maybe right now, she was afraid I would get angry.

Maybe she was afraid I would be bullied.

Maybe she thought all of this was her fault.

But I would never let her suffer this kind of humiliation.

I, Steven Spencer, had been through every kind of storm in my life.

Back when I went bankrupt, debt collectors blocked my front door. Business partners turned against me and held knives to my throat. Banks suddenly pulled their loans and almost drove me to the edge.

I survived all of it without my hands shaking once.

But now, looking at the fear in Nina’s eyes, I couldn’t stop my hands from trembling.

My heart ached for her.

And I was furious over what she had been put through.

Ms. Carter was still urging me.

“Can you just sign it already? Stop wasting everyone’s time.”

“I’m not signing.”

I cut her off coldly.

Then I dialed a number.

The call was picked up after one ring.

“Mr. Spencer, what can I do for you today?”

John’s ingratiating voice came through the phone, just as it had for decades.

“Stop waiting by the car. Come to your grandson’s kindergarten,” I said slowly.

“Huh? Mr. Spencer, why are you at the kindergarten?”

“Why?”

I glanced at Harvey, whose face was practically glowing with arrogance.

“Because the grandson you begged me to help get into this kindergarten just beat up my granddaughter.”

The other end of the line went silent.

Even the sound of breathing disappeared.

“You’d better hurry.”

No one in the office said a word.

After a while, Ms. Carter suddenly burst out laughing.

“Sir, you’re already this old. How can you still say something so childish?” Ms. Carter shook her head.

Ms. Zeller looked at me with the same speechless expression.

“You’re an old man in cheap slip-ons, yet you’re claiming the richest man’s grandson only got into this kindergarten because you helped him? Are you losing your mind?”

I ignored their mockery.

Soon enough, they would understand exactly how stupid they were.

I took Nina to the side and sat down, waiting in silence.

Ten minutes later, hurried footsteps sounded in the hallway.

They came closer and closer.

At last, the office door was pushed open.

The man who walked in carried himself with great importance. He wore a dark navy suit, a gold watch on his wrist, and his hair was combed neatly into place.

It was John.

Ms. Carter quickly got up to greet him, smiling so hard her face almost split.

“Oh, Mr. Harris! What brings you here?”

Ms. Zeller also rushed forward and bowed deeply in front of him, bending so low her head was almost touching the floor.

“Mr. Harris, don’t worry. We’re handling the matter right now. It’ll be settled very soon.”

But John didn’t even look at them.

His eyes swept quickly over Harvey before finally landing on my face.

Then his expression shifted from confusion to realization, and finally to complete despair.

“You... you hit Mr. Spencer’s granddaughter?”

John looked at his grandson. His legs went weak, and his voice shook so badly it nearly changed pitch.

Harvey lifted his chin, looking smug.

“Yeah, that little brat. I took her stuff, and she actually dared to refuse me. Of course I had to beat her up! Heehee!”

Ms. Carter cleared her throat twice and stepped forward to stand in front of Harvey.

“Oh, Harvey was only defending himself. Mr. Harris, please don’t worry. We will deal with the child who hit him very seriously.”

“Exactly!” Ms. Zeller hurried forward too, desperate to make herself useful.

“Our kindergarten will never allow any unfair treatment. We’ve already decided to expel that badly behaved child!”

After hearing them, John’s face looked worse than if he had been crying.

He stumbled over to me.

“Mr. Spen... Mr. Spen...”

I looked at him coldly, sitting on the sofa without moving an inch.

“John, I haven’t seen you for a few days, and you’ve already replaced me as the richest man in the city?”

His lips trembled as he tried to explain.

“You don’t need to drive today,” I said, giving him no chance.

His eyes widened.

“Actually, you won’t need to drive for me ever again.”

I nodded to myself.

Ms. Carter still had no idea what was going on. She stepped forward to support John, whose legs were going weak, and pointed at me as she snapped.

“What driver? What do you mean, drive? Show some respect to the richest man in the city.”

“You... shut your mouth!”

John finally turned and slapped her hard across the face.

Then, in front of everyone in the office, he dropped heavily to his knees before me.

Under everyone’s stunned gaze, he cried out and begged for mercy.

“Mr. Spencer, please forgive me!”