Transmigrated as the Villain Boss's Precious Darling-Chapter 46: One Dares to Teach, One Dares to Learn

"Little Sis, I already taught you how to read that," Jim Thorne reminded her unhappily.

"I’m just testing Mr. Hawthorne to see if he’s as smart as you."

’Tang Xiaonan felt a pang of guilt. This future titan could demolish her brother in a heartbeat. But her third brother, just like Phoebe Huxley, was someone you had to handle with flattery. You could only say nice things, otherwise he’d explode.’

Jim Thorne’s expression softened a little. He snorted disdainfully, "How could he compare to me? He’s never even been to school."

Adrian Hawthorne had never attended a single day of school. The official reason was that he couldn’t afford the tuition, but in reality, he didn’t feel comfortable leaving Rosalind Green home alone. Besides, he looked down on the village’s elementary school teachers, figuring their abilities were so poor he was better off teaching himself.

"Third Brother, you’re the best! You should teach me and Mr. Hawthorne to read together. Mr. Hawthorne, my third brother is really amazing. He taught me to read on the way here. This one says ’startle-bug,’ and now I can read it!"

Tang Xiaonan started laying it on thick again. Jim Thorne began to float, his tail practically wagging. He temporarily forgot all about his "class struggle" with Adrian Hawthorne, lost in the bliss of her praise.

Adrian Hawthorne’s mouth twitched. He stared at the pair of foolish siblings as if they were complete idiots. ’Startle-bug?’

One dared to teach it, and the other dared to learn it.

"And this one! It says ’central vitality.’ Third Brother taught me that one, too. Mr. Hawthorne, do you want to learn to read? You can let my brother teach you!" Tang Xiaonan suggested, looking at Adrian Hawthorne sincerely.

’Of course, Adrian Hawthorne didn’t want to learn from him. He looked down on the actual elementary school teachers, so how could he possibly respect an ignorant loser like Jim Thorne?’

"That’s an excellent idea. Kenneth, you can learn how to read from Jim. It’ll be a bit of trouble for you, Jim, though," Old Master Tate said with a beam.

Adrian Hawthorne was stunned. He looked at Old Master Tate in confusion. ’Did he really need a loser like that to teach him how to read?’

Old Master Tate gave him a meaningful look, so Adrian Hawthorne could only suppress his objections. ’He had no idea what Grandpa Tate was up to.’

"My third brother is amazing! It won’t be any trouble at all. Right, Third Brother?"

Jim Thorne was already floating on a cloud from all the praise, his head spinning. Seeing the expectant look in Tang Xiaonan’s eyes, he nodded without a second thought. "What’s so hard about teaching someone to read? I’m so amazing, I could teach ten more people, no problem."

"You’re the best, Third Brother!" 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Tang Xiaonan praised him with a thumbs-up. Jim Thorne grinned foolishly, finding that even Adrian Hawthorne looked a little less irritating now. ’Oh well,’ he thought, ’I’ll just let bygones be bygones and teach this jinx how to read. It’s kind of pathetic, never having gone to school for a single day.’

"So this says ’startle-bug’?" Adrian Hawthorne couldn’t help but taunt.

Jim Thorne’s confidence suddenly wavered. He knew that while Adrian Hawthorne and Tang Xiaonan couldn’t read, Old Master Tate definitely could. If he had read it wrong, he would look like a complete fool.

"The ’startle’ part is definitely right, and the ’bug’ part should be right too... Old Master Tate, am I right?" Jim Thorne, now unsure himself, decided to ask.

A smile twinkled in Old Master Tate’s eyes. He praised him first before gently correcting him. "’Startle’ is correct. And ’bug’ isn’t entirely wrong, as this character does relate to insects. The actual term is ’Awakening of Insects’."

Jim Thorne’s face flushed. ’Damn, I really did get it wrong,’ he thought. ’Good thing I got half of it right, so it’s not a total loss of face. That Adrian Hawthorne couldn’t even read one bit of it!’

"Getting it half-right is still really impressive! If you study hard, Third Brother, you’ll definitely get everything right in the future. Right?"

"Of course."

Jim Thorne puffed out his chest, refusing to admit he wasn’t up to snuff. ’Worst comes to worst, I’ll just have to stop spacing out in class from now on,’ he resolved. ’I can’t let my little sister down!’

’And more importantly, I can’t let that Hawthorne kid see me as a joke!’

"Grandpa Tate, what does ’Awakening of Insects’ mean? My brother said it means scaring the bugs away," Tang Xiaonan asked loudly.

Jim Thorne’s face turned even redder. He had just been guessing blindly; how the hell was he supposed to know if he was right?