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

After yesterday's conversation, Rena seems to have really started studying seriously. When she got home at noon, she went straight to her room to review her lessons without even turning on the TV.

Izuki quietly entered Rena's room and found her studying diligently. Without disturbing her, she gently closed the door.

In the evening, after dinner, Rena reviewed her Chinese exam paper in her room.

There's not much to review about English; Reina's English grades are excellent.

If you want to review math, you can study diligently, only to find that you can understand the ones you already know, but you can't figure out the ones you don't know no matter how hard you try.

There was no other way but to review Chinese. There was a lot to memorize in Chinese, so Rena followed her Chinese teacher's advice and took out the mock exam papers she had taken before, memorizing the poems and classical Chinese texts that were frequently tested.

"My head is so big." Rena had been memorizing for a while when she felt bored and dizzy. She flipped to the last page of the test and saw the essay page with a big score of 27.

The teacher wrote "Off-topic" at the end, followed by two big exclamation marks.

Just then, Yi Yue came in with some fruit: "Have something to eat, and rest for a while."

"Hmm." Rena was a little tired and started eating fruit with a toothpick.

"How's your revision going?" Yi Yue asked.

Rena sighed and said listlessly, as if she was bored with the tedious review process.

"Is there a problem somewhere?" Yi Yue asked.

Rena showed the test paper to Itsuki: "Memorizing is fine, I just gritted my teeth and persevered, but my essay was really bad, and my Chinese teacher has told me off several times."

"Where did you write poorly?" Izuki took the test paper. There were many test papers, which Reina had stapled together one by one. Izuki flipped through the essay section of each test paper and found that Reina's essay scores were not good. The highest score was 31 points, and they usually hovered below 30 points.

The essay section of the exam is worth 50 points, which is a significant portion of the total score. Generally, an essay scoring below 30 points is considered seriously off-topic.

"Off-topic," Rena pouted. "Dad, were your essay grades also very bad before?"

"No, I'm good at writing," Yi Yue said.

Rena snorted, "Then I must have inherited it from my mom." As soon as she finished speaking, she groaned and covered her head, tears welling up in her eyes. She glared at Izuki angrily, "Why did you hit my head?"

"You're talking nonsense. Your mother's writing isn't that bad," Yi Yue said irritably.

Rena whispered, "That's because Daddy knocked her head so hard she became stupid!" After saying that, she quickly covered her head, afraid that Izumi would knock her head again.

Izuki wasn't that bored; she was reading Reina's essays. After reading several, her brows furrowed.

Rena sat quietly to one side, waiting for Itsuki to finish reading.

A few minutes later, Yi Yue put down the exam paper: "How can you write an essay like this? It's seriously off-topic."

"What should we do then?" Rena asked.

Yi Yue thought for a moment and said, "First, you need to understand the topic and requirements of the essay. Did your elementary school teacher ever teach you to spend five minutes reading the topic and requirements before writing an essay?"

"Does writing an essay take this long? Do you have to read the topic and requirements?" Rena didn't understand.

"Of course, to write a good essay, you must first understand what the requirements of the topic are, and you can't just write whatever comes to mind. Then you need to think about what the central idea of ​​the essay is and try to figure out what the examiner is thinking."

"Why do we need to guess what the person who set the exam is thinking?" Rena didn't understand.

“Writing an essay is like doing reading comprehension. The topic is fixed, but the person is flexible.” Yi Yue pondered for a moment and said, “Have you heard the story of Jiu Fanggao judging horses?”

Reina shook her head and said she had never heard of it. Izuki told Reina the story: "Duke Mu of Qin asked Bo Le if any of Bo Le's sons or nephews knew how to judge horses because Bo Le was old and unable to move around easily. Bo Le said that his sons and nephews were all stupid and did not know how to judge horses, so he recommended Jiu Fanggao to Duke Mu of Qin."

"A few months later, when Jiu Fanggao returned from judging horses, Duke Mu of Qin asked him what kind of horse he had chosen. Jiu Fanggao said he had chosen a yellow female horse, but when he brought it back, it turned out to be a pure black male horse."

Duke Mu of Qin was greatly disappointed and said to Bo Le, "The person you recommended can't even distinguish between male and female horses, how can he know whether a horse is good or not?" Bo Le sighed and said, "Jiu Fang Gao is better at judging horses than him."

"Jiu Fanggao judged horses not by their outward appearance, but by their inner qualities. He only observed what he observed, not what he did not observe. This kind of horse judging contains a higher principle than simply judging horses."

"Sure enough, after being brought back and trained, this horse was a fine steed that could travel a thousand miles."

After Yiyue finished telling the story, Lingna said, "Did this talent scout take bribes from Jiufanggao and just make things mysterious?"

Yi Yue shook her head: "This story seems to be about judging horses, but the principle it contains is more precious than a fine steed. Duke Mu of Qin wanted a good horse, regardless of whether it was male or female, yellow or black. The same principle applies to writing."

"Many articles nowadays seem concise and insightful, but they don't actually address the main point or what the examiners want. Truly good articles don't care about the writing style, they only care about the ideas. Expressing ideas is what makes an article good, not going off-topic."

Yiyue added, “Bo Le wrote a book called ‘The Book of Horse Judging.’ His son followed the book’s contents to look for a thoroughbred horse, but ended up finding a toad. Reina, writing should not be rigid; it should be flexible and thoughtful. Every article must have its own ideas, otherwise it is not like Jiu Fanggao judging horses, but rather following a map to find a horse.”

Rena gave an "oh" and nodded, half understanding.

Yi Yue shook her head, feeling that Rena was still too young to understand the meaning, so she told her the techniques of writing: "Talented horses are common, but discerning judges are rare. If you want to improve your writing in a short time, you need to learn from others. First of all, your handwriting should be neat and legible, without any corrections. When an examiner grades so many papers, your neat handwriting will stand out and make him notice you. He will find it easy and comfortable to read."

"In exam essays, the first and last paragraphs are the most important. Many teachers only look at the first and last paragraphs and skim through the middle part. Therefore, the first two paragraphs should be eye-catching and contain something that will make people's eyes light up. The last two paragraphs should reveal the theme and elevate the moral of the story. Teachers will definitely pay more attention to the middle part. In the middle part, you should use examples and stories to illustrate your central idea. If you write this well, you can basically get a high score."

Izuki pointed to Rena's essays on the exam paper and analyzed with her how to write each one.

Rena nodded and hummed in agreement from time to time.

The night grew deeper.

Chapter 102 Parents' Meeting

Rena studied diligently for several days in a row, and finally the final exams arrived.

The final exams will last for two days.

The first day of exams was over. On the second day at noon, Rena returned home, ate lunch, and then eagerly ran to the living room to watch TV.

Rena plopped down on the sofa, the air conditioning was set low, and leisurely took out a bag of potato chips to eat.

Yi Yue saw this and asked in surprise, "The exam isn't over yet, and you're already watching TV? Didn't you say you'd watch it after the exam was over?"

Rena said with a grin, "That's about it. All the main exams are over. The afternoon exam is open-book, so it's not difficult."

Yi Yue shook her head and sighed, "Even so, we should wait until after the exam to see."

Reina's state left Itsuki feeling quite helpless.

"By the way, when is the parent-teacher conference?" Yi Yue suddenly remembered this.

"The parent-teacher meeting is on Monday evening at seven o'clock." After saying that, Rena turned her gaze to the TV and watched the anime intently.

Yi Yue pretended to be angry and said, "If you don't do well on the exam, I'll teach you a lesson when I get back."

Rena laughed, "Come on, come on." She lay on her side on the sofa, her smooth, energetic little feet swinging, and she slightly raised her bottom. "Is Daddy going to spank me?"

Seeing Reina grinning, Itsuki reached out and slapped Reina's butt in annoyance.

Reina grunted, her expression strange as she trembled, then blushed and turned over, glaring at Izuki with a huff, like a kitten whose tail had been petted: "Daddy, you really hit me."

Seeing Rena's reaction, Itsuki laughed. Rena blushed, grabbed Itsuki's hand, and gently bit it.

……

……

On Monday evening, Izuki finished her dinner early and instructed her daughters, who were still eating at the table, "I have to go to the parent-teacher meeting now. Put your dirty dishes in the sink, and I'll wash them when I get back. Leave the vegetables aside for now, and clean up any trash on the table if you can. If I come back late, you should go to bed on your own, okay, Reina?"

"Okay, I understand," Rena said.

Yi Yue gave a few more instructions before leaving the house with peace of mind.

When I drove to the school, there were many cars parked on the roadside in front of the school.

There were quite a few people at the school gate, mostly parents of the students.

When Izuki arrived at Reina's class, although it wasn't time yet, most of the students were already there. She sat down in Reina's seat, next to Kyoko's mother.

"You are..." Yi Yue felt she looked familiar, and suddenly remembered that day at the dessert shop when she met those two beautiful sisters. Xingzi's mother was the older sister.

Xingzi's mother smiled and said, "What a coincidence! I am Lin Xin's parent."

"Hello, I'm Reina's parent." Itsuki smiled in response.

The two started chatting and gradually became acquainted.

"I think it was your wife who came to the parent-teacher conference last semester," Xingzi's mother asked.

“Yes, my wife attended the parent-teacher conference last semester,” Yi Yue said.

"You two look very young and beautiful," said Xingzi's mother.

"Where?" Yi Yue said, noticing a report card in the drawer. She took out the report card, and underneath it was a sealed envelope.

Izuki didn't rush to open the envelope; she wanted to see how Rena's grades were first.

"Chinese 117, Math 107, English 132, Biology 71, Geography 69, Politics 78, History 86."

My grades are average, with all subjects passing.

Izuki was not surprised by this result.

Xingzi's mother asked Yiyue, "How did your child do on the exam?"

"I didn't do well on the test, barely passed." Yi Yue shook her head.

Xingzi's mother smiled happily, and with a hint of pride, told Yiyue about her child's grades.

Apricot scored above 90 in all her major subjects except Chinese (120), Math and English (around 130), which is considered a very good result.

"You did very well on the exam," Yi Yue said.

Apricot's mother smiled and said, "Not at all. It's all thanks to the child's hard work. I haven't taught her anything."

Yi Yue smiled and nodded.

At this moment, the math teacher came in, gestured for the parents to be quiet, and talked about some educational and student-related matters. After speaking, she said, "There is an envelope in your drawer. Some of you have probably already seen it. If you haven't, please open the envelope. Inside is what your child wants to say to you."

Izuki opened the envelope, inside was a 400-square-grid composition paper, on which Reina wrote what she wanted to say to Izuki.

The handwriting is neat and there are no typos. It's clear that Rena wrote a draft first, and this is a rewritten and corrected version.

Yi Yue read it silently. This is what Reina wrote: "Dad, I know you love me very much. The more you love me, the more I worry that you will hate me and be disappointed in me."

“I’m a bad student. My grades are poor, and I’m immature. I’m not as good as my sister at all. I’m afraid my dad will be disappointed in me. I’m afraid he will only love my sister.”

"Although Dad always says he treats everyone equally, what if, I mean what if, I do something that Dad dislikes? Will he ignore me and go to care for my sister instead?"

"Knowing this, I should be even more obedient and sensible. But I just don't like it. I feel that if I do that, I won't be myself."

"I'm so immature, all I have left is immaturity. My sister is well-behaved and sensible, what do I have? How can I get Dad's attention?"

"After saying all this, Dad, please don't overthink it. You're really a good person; it's all my fault."