How to raise a father who is overly controlling of his daughter

"I...I don't want to disappoint Dad."

Rena bit her lip, "Think, think!" But her mind was blank, and she couldn't think of the next sentence.

"Sigh." The Chinese teacher sighed and returned the book to Rena.

Rena took the book with a sense of despair, but to her surprise, the Chinese teacher did not ask her to stay and continue memorizing. Instead, she said, "Go back and memorize it carefully. Come to my office this afternoon and recite it to me again."

Rena was stunned: "Aren't...aren't you going to let me stay?"

"Why keep you here?" The Chinese teacher looked at Rena in surprise, then suddenly understood what Rena was thinking. She gave a bitter laugh: "Do you think I want to keep you here? What good would it do me to keep you here?"

As she spoke, the Chinese teacher lost her usual sharp and rigid demeanor, as if she had shed her disguise, and instead truly exuded the kind and gentle feeling of a fifty-year-old.

Rena felt a pang in her heart.

"You really can't memorize things like that. Learning isn't about having someone follow you around; you have to be self-motivated and proactive. You have to understand that high school teachers won't have time for you. Do you think they'll be like your middle school teachers, constantly nagging you around?"

The Chinese teacher sighed, patted Rena's head, noticed her twin ponytails, and her loving expression turned stern: "Why is the student wearing such a hairstyle? It's so inappropriate."

Rena is of mixed race and has blonde hair; the school didn't force her to dye it black. Blonde hair was tolerable, but why did she have to wear it in pigtails?

"School is a place for learning, not a place for expressing one's personality."

The Chinese teacher untied Rena's hairband and tied her hair into a neat single ponytail.

Looking him up and down, the teacher said with satisfaction, "That's more like a student!"

"Um, my twin tails."

Rena, who was initially touched, now touched her ponytail with some disgust. The pigtails her father had tied for her had turned into ugly pigtails again after only one morning.

"As expected, the old witch is indeed an old witch."

Rena rubbed her fangs, thinking to herself, but her gaze towards the teacher changed slightly.

"Thank you so much, teacher," Izuki said shyly in a low voice. "Is Reina being naughty at school again?"

The teacher snorted, which only fueled Yi Yue's anger. She immediately launched into a tirade: "How do you teach your child! Giving her that kind of hair! You're a teacher yourself, don't you care about your child's grades? Don't you care if they've finished their homework? How can a child's grades improve if the parents don't care about them!"

Rena blinked, watching Izuki being scolded with great interest.

Izuki lowered her head and silently endured it, noticing Reina's gaze beside her, and felt extremely embarrassed.

The teacher and Yiyue were acquainted and had a special connection.

She taught Yi Yue Chinese in high school. Later, when Yi Yue became a teacher, she was still the grade leader, one head above Yi Yue.

Yi Yue no longer works as a teacher because being bothered by students negatively impacts the school. Her health also suffered. With both her daughters in middle school and needing more care, Yi Yue quit her job to focus on caring for them at home.

"You're no longer a teacher, what do you do now?" The teacher started chatting with Yi Yue about everyday things.

"I haven't done anything. I'm just taking care of my two children at home now," Yi Yue said.

The teacher frowned and said, "You're taking care of the child, where's your wife?"

Yi Yue felt a little embarrassed by the question and said softly, "She has a job abroad, so I'm the only one who can take care of the child."

The teacher shook his head: "How can a man like you stay at home taking care of the children instead of going to work? You should go to work, and your wife can come back to take care of the children."

Yi Yue looked embarrassed and nodded slightly.

The teacher didn't say anything more and returned the question to Rena: "You're a teacher too, you should know how to teach children. She didn't memorize the ancient poems well after class, so go home and check them carefully."

"Mm." Itsuki nodded, glancing at Rena, whose head was bowed low.

Izuki asked, "Teacher, how has Reina been doing at school lately?"

When Rena heard Izuki ask that question, she immediately looked up nervously.

Last time, she secretly called the Chinese teacher an old witch behind her back, and she overheard it. Although she didn't say anything then, she'll definitely tell Yi Yue this time.

"It's over..."

To Reina's surprise, the Chinese teacher didn't complain. Instead, she said, "You're alright, nothing particularly bad. It's just that you're easily distracted in class. If you focused on your studies, your grades would definitely improve."

“Teacher…” Rena looked at the teacher in surprise.

The teacher smiled and said, "Remember to memorize and review carefully when you get home."

"Did you hear what the teacher said, Rena?" Itsuki said earnestly to Rena, who was standing to the side.

Reina lowered her head in shame: "Mm!"

"It's so late, you should all go home and have dinner," the teacher said.

"Well, you should go back and eat too," Izuki smiled and said to Reina, who was standing there dumbfounded, "Hurry up and say goodbye to the teacher."

"Oh, goodbye, teacher." Rena realized what was happening and quickly said goodbye to her teacher.

"Okay, goodbye. Take care on your journey."

After saying goodbye, Yi Yue and the others left the office.

The Chinese teacher's smile slowly faded, and as she looked out the window at the students standing in the corridor as punishment, her expression gradually became serious: "It's not time for me to go home for dinner yet."

Looking out the window at the students being punished, you can clearly see all their little actions.

They weren't standing properly; they didn't look serious at all while reciting their lessons. Some were chatting idly with their backs to the wall, while others were kicking the wall or scratching at it with their hands out of boredom.

I was originally going to come out now and send them home, but seeing their leisurely and idle appearance, I became furious and my temper flared up.

They don't even know how to act properly, how can they possibly respect a teacher?

Chapter Twenty-Three: Disrespect for Elders

Outside in the hallway, Chen Mingzhen and the others saw Yi Yue and Ling Nai come out of the office and walk downstairs.

"They just left like that?" Chen Mingzhen asked.

"Yes, her father came to pick her up, so of course the teacher had to give her face and let her go." Zhu Ke's words were tinged with sarcasm.

"Sigh, when can we leave?"

"Is the teacher crazy? Why is he keeping us here? Is he really going to keep us here and not let us go home?"

"She wouldn't dare!" Zhu Ke raised an eyebrow. "Why should she keep us here? If she really dares to keep us here and not let us go home, I'll have my parents go to the school and the education bureau to complain about her!"

The group was chatting idly, and the teacher, standing at the door, heard everything clearly. Furious, she snorted and came out.

When they saw their Chinese teacher, they quickly straightened up, shut their mouths, and pretended to be reading attentively.

"Can you recite it yet?" the Chinese teacher asked coldly, suppressing her anger.

"Almost there, almost there," Zhu Ke said boldly, blinking her eyes. "Or, teacher, could you let us go back first, and we'll recite it for you this afternoon?"

Zhu Ke knew that the Chinese teacher had no classes in the afternoon or the next morning, and wouldn't have any classes until the afternoon of the next day. By then, the Chinese teacher would probably be busy with other things and wouldn't have time to listen to them recite.

"Ha—" The teacher laughed angrily, "Then you can memorize this point before going home. It won't waste much of your time."

"Tch." Zhu Ke clicked her tongue softly in resentment and lowered her head.

The teacher glanced at them and said, "Whoever can recite it, come out and recite it first. You can leave after you're done!"

But they all looked at each other, staring at each other blankly, and no one dared to be the first to recite it, because no one else knew how to recite it.

One of the mischievous students was named Li Yong. He was a bit clever. Li Yong rolled his eyes and, thinking of Ling Nai who had just left, had an idea: "Teacher, my dad called me. He's waiting for me at the school gate."

The other students knew what Li Yong was thinking, and the students around him chimed in, "My dad called too," "My mom called to ask where I was."

The teacher snorted coldly, "Then let them come to school! If they can't memorize it today, none of them are going home! This old man can skip meals and stay with you. It doesn't matter who comes. If your parents call, just say I left them here. If they want to come, tell them to bring some food for you!"

The teacher was clearly serious.

They looked at each other, cursing inwardly, thinking the teacher was crazy and deliberately targeting them.

Fearing the students might run away, the teacher told them to come into the office: "Come in, all of you!" He stood next to them and waited until they were all inside before going in himself, afraid they might sneak away in the hallway.

With no other option, the students had to go inside. Zhu Ke said resentfully, "Why can we leave when Reina's father is here!"

"She can recite it, but can you?" the teacher said coldly. She hated students who were disrespectful and opportunistic the most!

Zhu Ke looked at the teacher staring coldly at her and had no choice but to lower her head. She didn't believe that Ling Nai could recite it.

The teacher saw right through Zhu Ke's thoughts: "Even if she can't recite it, I'll let her go. She has the attitude, do you?"

They don't respect the teacher, so why should the teacher respect them? Do they think they're the boss?

"Memorize it quickly! We'll let you go when you can memorize it."

After speaking, he returned to his seat and began grading the exam papers.

……

Rena went down the stairs, thump thump thump, and suddenly stood in front of Izuki.

"Rena, don't run so fast."

It would have been better if you hadn't mentioned it, because once you did, Rena ran even faster.

Yi Yue gripped the handrail and sighed helplessly. For some reason, Rena seemed to be deliberately avoiding her, running very fast. There was nothing she could do but quicken her pace to keep up.

Izuki had just recovered from a serious illness and was in poor health. No matter how fast she ran, she couldn't outrun Reina. Seeing Reina running faster and faster, she was afraid that Reina might trip and fall to the ground. However, she didn't notice the step under her feet and tripped over it.

"Ugh!" Yi Yue quickly grabbed the handrail and cried out in fright.

Hearing Izuki's voice behind her, Rena immediately turned around and saw Izuki leaning on the handrail, bent over as if she had just fallen and gotten up. Rena's pupils contracted slightly, and she quickly ran over to support Izuki: "Dad, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing, I just tripped a little." Yi Yue forced a smile, shook her head, straightened up, and indicated that she was fine.

That was close; I almost fell to the ground.

Seeing the smile on Izuki's face, Rena began to feel guilty, as she had almost caused Izuki to fall again.

"What am I doing?"

She was just afraid that Yi Yue would blame her and scold her. She wanted to run home quickly so that she could get over this once she got home.

Unexpectedly, Izuki almost fell because of her.

Noticing Rena's remorseful expression, Izuki patted her head and said gently, "It's okay, I didn't fall. Be careful next time, don't run so fast, okay?"

Reina pursed her lips and didn't speak. Although she didn't speak, she didn't run anymore. Instead, she took Izuki's hand and, like a good daughter, slowly accompanied Izuki downstairs.

After going downstairs, Izuki felt that Rena's backpack was unusually heavy, so she took it off and carried it in her hand with a bit of indulgence.