Chapter 140

As the brother and sister embraced passionately at the front door, silently promising each other to forever be a safe haven, a little tigerish head popped out with curiosity, asking:

“So it’s Big Brother coming back! Are you gonna hit Melanie today?”

???

With that information-heavy question, Leon felt the person in his arms stiffen suddenly, and an unusually clear grinding of teeth echoed by his ear.

“Hit! Must hit!”

After letting go of the arms wrapped around Leon’s waist, the sickly girl stomped her foot forcefully, gritting her teeth as she said with hatred:

“Even if our parents came back today, it wouldn’t matter; she’s not escaping this beating!”

?!!?!!?! Ah?! Is it that serious? Seeing Anna, who rarely mentions their parents, getting so angry that she starts talking nonsense, Leon quickly hugged the fuming younger sister tighter and pleaded:

“Not-not-not, don’t rush to use force. Education first, education first!”

“I’m hitting her for educational purposes, Bro! Let me go! Let go!”

Under William’s reminder, Anna, who had just been as gentle as water moments ago, regained her anger and struggled fiercely while angrily complaining:

“It’s all because you always stop me from hitting her. Do you know what they did?”

“Hmm… What did they do?”

“They’ve only been in school for a week, yet they already gathered those noble kids together, chased away the teacher, and established some kind of class parliament!”

“It’s the class senate.”

After correcting Anna’s mistake, William, while tying his pants, explained seriously: “We’re learning the kingdom’s two-chamber system. Those from big noble families are stuffed into the upper chamber; those from very wealthy families or academically excellent or exceptionally strong fighters join the lower chamber.

The upper chamber drafts class rules, but these rules must be passed by a vote from the lower chamber. Finally, the class president elected by the lower chamber announces them and is responsible for negotiating with the principal and teachers. It’s quite a rigorous model.”

“…”

Good grief, perfectly replicated. Aren’t today’s kids too over-the-top? When I was their age, I was still arguing with my seatmate about whether there were urinals in the girls’ restroom!” “You still have the nerve to say that!”

After hearing William’s adult-like correction, Anna struggled even harder in Leon’s arms, shouting furiously: “Melanie asked me for two packets of small sweet cookies, saying she’d share them with classmates. But she used the cookies I baked to bribe votes, securing support through bribery, and became the class president! Bro, do you know what the first class rule she implemented was? She united all the kids in the class to chase away the religious studies and home economics teachers!

Those two teachers are almost a hundred years old combined. When I went, one pointed at my nose and scolded me, while the other hugged the teaching classics and cried loudly. I didn’t know how to apologize to them!”

“…”

Ah, this… That is a bit excessive. They need proper education.

Furrowing his brows slightly after feeling a headache, Leon carried the struggling sister into the house, glanced at the tightly closed inner room door, then turned to look at William beside him, with a somewhat serious expression: “Well, other things aside, why chase away the teachers? If the reasons aren’t appropriate, don’t blame your older brother for not covering for you.”

“The reason is, those two teachers really sucked.”

Little William tilted his head, thought for a moment, and then answered:

“The home economics teacher is the homeroom teacher’s cousin, and her cooking is truly terrible. Moreover, she always favors those noble children and is harsh on us common-dressed kids.

The chores William and I got in home economics were nothing but washing potatoes, cleaning innards, and scraping fish scales. Then we had to eat the failed dishes made by those noble kids, which we hated very much.”

“The religious studies teacher was similar. He would only make us read the classics aloud every day, then randomly check our recitations. If we couldn’t recite, he’d beat our palms and call us irreverent brats who deserved to go to hell after death and be caught by devils.

William and I just transferred there for a week, unfamiliar with that classic compared to others, so we got our palms beaten every time. Melanie found some tricky questions in the classics that stumped him, then asked him if he wasn’t devout either, should he get his palm slapped too. As a result, he kicked her.”

“…”

So that’s the situation…

“Why didn’t you tell me when I asked earlier?”

Upon hearing this, William remained silent but hesitated and looked at Leon once. After observing the little guy’s eyes, Leon vaguely guessed the reason they hadn’t told him before.

Knowing the children at home were wronged, Anna would definitely confront the issue directly, but her body hasn’t fully recovered yet, and she needs to take medicine for several more months. And these days, Leon has been away from home. They thought telling might cause more trouble, so they figured it would be better to just endure the punishment quietly.

Moreover, ordinary children might think that “parents” could certainly help them seek justice, but these two little ones clearly understood from a young age that their older siblings weren’t omnipotent. If merely enduring a beating and writing a self-examination could resolve the matter, they’d likely choose to just take the beating and move on.

These two little ones are… heartbreakingly sensible yet annoyingly clueless…

…

“Maybe the kids have grown up and don’t want to report everything to the family anymore.”

Worried that revealing the truth would upset Anna, Leon ambiguously evaded the topic and then said to William: “You guys endure a few more days. These days, Big Brother is too busy with work and can’t take care of things at home temporarily, but once I finish this busy period, I’ll immediately go to your school to check things out.”

Letting go of the no-longer-struggling sister, Leon squatted down and touched William’s head, solemnly promising: “Big Brother guarantees that if it’s true as you say, these two teachers will definitely be replaced, and they must apologize to you and the other children.

But in the future, if something like this happens again, you’re not allowed to act on your own initiative and gather classmates to drive people out. You must tell the family first. As long as we’re justified, Big Brother will definitely stand up for you!”

“…”

As long as we’re right, huh? Looking at Leon’s serious face, William tilted his head and pondered for a moment, then vigorously nodded his little head.

“Okay! Next time, we’ll definitely ensure we’re justified first!”

“…”

Although what he said sounds fine, but… Why does it feel like what you understand isn’t exactly what I intended to tell you? Helplessly smiling, Leon scratched his ever-original-thinking little brother’s head and stood up again, patting him on the back.

“All right, call Melanie out. Tell her she doesn’t have to take the beating.”

“Uh-huh!”

Thanks to his outstanding eloquence, successfully preventing a family war from happening, William quickly ran to the locked inner room and started knocking hard on the door.

“Come out, it’s all good now!”

“No way!”

After hearing the knock, Melanie’s cautious voice came from inside the room.

“You’ve definitely finished hitting and are now tricking me to open the door for another beating! Forget it, I’m not coming out until dawn!

If I go out now, I might get hit for an hour. If I can hide until tomorrow morning when it’s time for school, Anna will probably only hit me for ten minutes to avoid making me late!”

“Come out quickly!”

After knocking for a long time without success, William obviously became impatient and shouted: “Big Brother’s back, Sister doesn’t have time to hit you now!”

“No way, you’re lying. I won’t let you drag me along to get beaten!”

“If you don’t come out, don’t blame me!”

Seeing her lack of camaraderie, William couldn’t help but narrow his eyes and turned to Leon, saying:

“I’m reporting her. Melanie stole my pocket money, bought roses to send to the home economics teacher’s house, making her husband suspect she’s cheating! Yesterday, she also wrote a complaint letter to the church, accusing the religious studies teacher of being too unfamiliar with the classics, suggesting the church verify his qualification to see if he bought it!”