Chapter 18: Chapter 18 - 18: Never-ending Squares, and Cubes Too!

Translator: 549690339

In the face of strong facts, the homeroom teacher could not refute.

Xiao Qian cornered her against the wall, and the teacher leaned against the wall, and on the wall behind her, there was a framed calligraphy.

“Thick virtue carries all?” Xiao Qian read the words on the wall, and the teacher’s face had turned pale.

“When heaven takes its course, the gentleman should constantly strive for self-perfection. When the earth is in its proper position, the gentleman should practice thick virtue and carry everything. This is the highest praise for teachers, describing a person of noble character. Teacher, tell me, every day in front of these words praising virtue, you do those conscienceless deeds, do you deserve the title, ‘teacher’?”

Xiao Qian’s voice was not loud and could even be said to be gentle.

It was such a gentle voice, combined with the sharp words interrogating her soul, that easily shattered the teacher’s psychological defenses.

The teacher covered her face, almost weeping without words.

“Please don’t tell the school and the Education Bureau about this, 1 still have a child to raise.”

When Chen Lin approached the homeroom teacher, she was hesitant, too.

Xiao Qian’s college entrance exam scores were not low, and there was a bonus for teaching such a student.

However, Chen Lin told the teacher that his family was in difficult financial circumstances, and claimed his wife had a terminal illness that they couldn’t afford treatment for, and then bribed the teacher with money, not much more than the expected bonus, just 50 more.

When the collapsing teacher mentioned the 50 yuan, Xiao Qian laughed.

“You destroyed my life for just an extra 50 yuan?”

Ha, her past life’s source of pain was only worth 50 yuan?

And that father, no, don’t call him father anymore, he doesn’t deserve it!

In order to save money for her son by not letting her daughter go to university, he even shamelessly claimed his wife had a terminal illness. Xiao Qian had thoroughly marked him down and decided to increase her efforts to retaliate against Chen Lin.

“Chen Xiaoqian, please forgive me this time, I’ll never do it again next time, never…” Her career would be over if she got reported to the Education Bureau.

“This might be the first time you’ve done something like this, but you’ve done it quite often for other students who have given gifts, moving their seats to the front row, haven’t you? I’ll never forgive anyone who has bullied me because forgiving once will lead to many more hurts afterwards.”

School, which was supposed to be the purest place, was where some of the injustices began.

“Step aside.”

Xiao Qian insisted, pulling the teacher back a few steps, grabbing a cup from the table, and smashing it forcefully against the calligraphy on the wall. The glass frame shattered, and shards flew everywhere, causing the teacher to scream.

Xiao Qian smashed right on the character &k(de) in “Thick virtue carries all,” causing it to shatter.

“You must return the money my father gave you.”

The teacher, frightened by Xiao Qian, didn’t dare argue and quickly handed over 550 yuan.

“Chen Xiaoqian, the recording matter…”

“The recording was originally meant to be reported, but your daughter saved you, ha.”

Xiao Qian took the money and pointed at the shattered frame.

“You’re not allowed to fix this or replace it, clean up the broken glass to avoid injuring your child, and let this dirty and broken virtue hang within your sight. When you’re indulging in shameless acts, look up at this, and if 1 find out you dare ruin another child’s future for money, the Education Bureau will receive the recording.”

The teacher nodded hurriedly.

At this moment, in her eyes, Chen Xiaoqian was undoubtedly a demon.

Xiao Qian stared at the broken character, expressionless.

“You will hand-copy ‘Yan’s Family Precepts,’ ‘Zhu family precepts,’ and ‘Zeng Guofan’s Ten Methods of Teaching Children,’ at least ten pages a day; there’s no limit to how much more you can write. Send me the copies once a month. Based on the current recycling price, you will be charged 3 mao per jin (pound). When you’ve copied enough to fill 166.6 jin, worth 50 yuan, 1 will return the recording to you!”

The teacher was dumbfounded.

It was the first time she’d heard… of such a unique and novel method of revenge!

“When a student’s homework does not meet your standards, don’t you punish them by making them copy? Now I’m just using your method to deal with you. I’ve been in school for over 10 years and experienced this treatment. Teacher, you think my 10 plus years are only worth 50 yuan? Well, I’ll show you how 50 yuan can be light but also heavy!”

500 sheets of AZ paper, approximately 4.3 jin (pounds) in weight, equal 160 jin, require 18,000 sheets, and it would take at least five years to complete. Xiao Qian’s brilliant mind easily calculated the data.

“Giving you five years in exchange for my thirteen, am 1 being too kind?”

When you casually step on someone else’s wounds, don’t blame them for stepping on you in return, as you deserve it.

“Chen Xiaoqian, 1 don’t have the time for this!”

“When you arbitrarily punish students to write, have you ever thought that they don’t have time either? Students need to sleep too, you know? If they can’t recite, punish them to write. If they make a mistake, punish them to write even more. If they can’t finish, punish them to write the square of the original amount, and if they still can’t finish, the cube! Teacher, these are all methods you have taught me! When you punish students, you say it is for their own good, and now, I am doing the same for your own good.”

The teacher fell silent, feeling so uncomfortable now that the methods she used on her students were applied to herself.

“Why…is it all books about raising children?”

“When you write, you should have your daughter by your side, and you must not send her away to someone else’s house. Nurture her at home, where family companionship can reduce the impulse to steal. If she continues to steal, do not hit her; just silently recite these teachings with her. She writes one time, and you write twice, and let her watch you write! 1 will not charge you for this diagnosis, and consider it a parting gift of our master-student relationship. I’ve always been fair.”

She finally understood the cause of the child’s pathological theft.

“Chen Xiaoqian, 1 cheated on your admission score which was wrong of me; you can punish me however you want, but please, don’t involve my child!”

“Who are you pretending to be a loving mother for? Your daughter, who has pathological theft, is stealing things she doesn’t even want, hiding them despite her inner struggle, and unable to overcome the urge to steal. All of this is because of you!”

“Nonsense, I’ve always taught her to be a good child…” The teacher’s child had always been a wound in her heart that she could not speak of.

Both she and her husband had decent jobs, but their child had had this habit for over two years, and both had resorted to physical punishment, but it only made the child worse. Finally, fearing the child’s presence would harm their jobs, they sent her to their grandmother’s house for care. However, during summer vacation, they discovered she was still stealing.

“Pathological theft has a cause for its formation, and even though your daughter is the one with the illness, you were the ones who caused it due to the lack of family warmth and inconsistency in your words and actions.”

Xiao Qian’s sharp eyes stared at the teacher, “Have you ever thought that thousands of empty words of education are no match for one practical action? When you preach with your mouth that stealing is wrong, but in practice, you engage in petty theft, what kind of influence will this have on a child who has not yet formed a value system?”

Parents are the best teachers for their children..