The Mischievous Child

Author: Dexin Kong
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-3831-5725
Structured and refined with assistance from ChatGPT
AI Automatic Translation (Unreviewed)

Fragment

Several years ago, my daughter came home from school and told me about a small incident.

There was a child in her class who liked to play strange pranks.

During breaks, he would secretly smear nasal mucus onto the spout of the public drinking fountain, seemingly finding amusement in doing it repeatedly.

Many students had seen it happen, but nobody stopped him.

I asked her, “Does the teacher know about this?”

She thought for a moment and replied, “Some classmates probably told the teacher quietly, but nothing really happened afterward.”

I picked up my phone, then put it back down.

After a brief pause, I turned to my daughter and said:

“Fill your water bottle at home every morning. Don’t drink from the school fountain anymore. And try not to provoke that child.”

My daughter was very sensible.

From that day on, she never mentioned that child or the drinking fountain again.

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