"Nan Thorne, you come up to the board and solve this problem," Phoenix Golding suddenly called out, her eyes dark and unreadable.

It was math class, and first-grade math was incredibly simple—just addition and subtraction within ten. Nan Thorne could do it with her eyes closed. But the problem Phoenix Golding wrote was clearly not for first-graders.

7+8=?

Nan Thorne sneered to herself. The problem was clearly beyond the curriculum. ’This Phoenix Golding... some might call her clever, but she always tries to be too clever for her own good. To use such a petty trick on a child... she’s truly crooked.’

"Hurry up. Don’t hold up the lesson. If you can’t solve it, go stand outside."

Phoenix Golding gloated inwardly. ’This damn brat definitely can’t solve it. This way, I can justifiably make her stand outside all day long. So what if the Thorne family is powerful? They still had to obediently deliver this brat right into my hands.’ 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

Nan Thorne understood Phoenix Golding’s plan, which only made her despise the woman more. She deliberately shook her head. "I can’t do it. You never taught us this, Teacher."

"That’s right, she didn’t teach it!"

Amanda Chapman yelled. She came to class every single day and knew for a fact it had never been taught. ’This stinking bitch is no good. She’s got evil intentions!’

"Was I talking to you? Go stand outside for disrupting the class. This afternoon, you’re punished with cleaning the toilets," Phoenix Golding barked.

Amanda Chapman shuddered but mustered her courage to argue, "But you never taught it! I take notes every day."

"It’s obvious you weren’t paying attention in class. You can’t do the problem and now you’re talking back? Get outside and stand there now, move it!"

Phoenix Golding strode over to Amanda Chapman and gave a hard yank, pulling the small girl right out of her seat. Amanda gripped her desk for dear life, glaring stubbornly at Phoenix Golding, refusing to go no matter what.

"You never taught it! I listen carefully in every single class and I take notes! You just never taught it! You’re doing this on purpose to mess with Nan!"

Amanda Chapman had the Thorne family’s stubborn streak in her bones; once she set her mind to something, she would never back down. It hadn’t been easy for her to be able to attend school, so she listened with extreme focus in every class. Even when Phoenix Golding’s lessons were dreadfully dull, she still took diligent notes.

No one knew better than she did whether Phoenix Golding had taught this problem. Even at only eight years old, Amanda Chapman could see the teacher’s malicious intentions. She was deliberately trying to make trouble for her cousin!

’Pah! Shameless old hag!’

"Still talking back? I clearly taught this in class. You’re the one who wasn’t paying attention, and now you blame your teacher? Classmates, did I teach this or not?"

Old hatreds and new grievances surged in Phoenix Golding’s heart. ’A snot-nosed brat dares to talk back to me? This job is so infuriating!’ She was determined to make these two damn brats stand outside all day, and they’d have to clean the toilets after school, too. ’In fact, I’ll make these two brats handle the toilets for the rest of the semester.’

The other students looked hesitant, not knowing what to say. The truth was, they couldn’t solve the problem either. But students have a natural sense of reverence for teachers; whatever a teacher said must be right. If Phoenix Golding said she had taught it, then she must have. ’Maybe we just didn’t pay enough attention in class?’

"You did!"

The students answered in unison, all thinking the same thing. ’We can’t let the teacher know we weren’t paying attention. Otherwise, we’ll end up like Amanda and Nan, punished by having to stand outside. That would be so humiliating!’

Phoenix Golding was instantly pleased, her sense of superiority as a teacher restored. Aside from the two brats from the Thorne family, every other student respected her. Even if she pointed at a deer and called it a horse, none of them would dare disagree.

"Did you hear that? All the other students were paying attention in class, it was just the two of you who weren’t. Both of you, get outside and stand there!"

Phoenix Golding put more force into her pull. With a loud THUD, Amanda Chapman was slammed against a desk and cried out in pain.