Love’s Cruel Stroke Chapter 34
“That newly enrolled pretty little girl is autistic, and apparently, her affliction is a rather serious one.”
“Our kindergarten has never had an autistic child on the more extreme end of the spectrum. Shouldn’t she go to a special school? Why would she be sent here?”
“I heard that autistic children usually displayed violent tendencies. What if she were to act out and hurt the other children?”.
The teachers in the lounge were each adding their input on the matter when Emily opened the door and walked in. “Olivia may be autistic, but she has shown no violent tendencies thus far, so I suggest you keep your noses out of a child’s business.”
“It would be too late to stop her from wreaking havoc by the time she shows her violent tendencies,” one of the older teachers pointed out with a sigh. “We should find an excuse to expel her before the worst happens. Autism isn’t curable; to send her here would be to add extra work for us teachers.”
Emily grew grim as she countered, “It would only be extra work for me, so you can all rest easy.”
Having said that, she opened the door and walked out of the lounge. She had only just left when a small figure came out from behind one of the columns near the doorway of the teacher’s lounge.
After hearing everything the teachers had said, Casper had a somber look on his little face. It seemed as if his sister was fated to become the subject of malicious gossip no matter which school she went to, be it here in the country or in those institutions
abroad.
He was only all too adept at handling matters like this. He needed to nip this in the bud before his mother found out about it, or she wouldn’t be able to focus on her work at all.
Presently, he took out a tablet from his backpack. While others might use the tablet for gaming and other leisurely purposes, Casper treated it as a highly useful tool. His little fingers tapped away on the simulated keyboard, and within seconds, the screen of the tablet lit up in blue, followed by a series of words that popped up in quick succession.
Ten minutes later, Casper locked the tablet screen and rose to his feet. He walked over to the door of the teacher’s lounge and pushed it open.
The teachers in the lounge had moved on to another conversational topic after brutally picking apart Olivia and her condition. They were in the midst of an earnest
discussion when they heard the door swing open, and they turned to see a little boy standing at the entryway.
“Which class are you from? Hasn’t anyone told you it’s common courtesy to knock before you enter a room?” the older teacher from earlier demanded disparagingly. her brows arching
She had been an educator for over a decade, and she knew exactly which expressions would intimidate children.
Alas, she did not know that the child before her was no ordinary child.
Casper merely brushed into the room impassively, looking at ease as he pulled out a seat for himself. There was an air of superiority about him, and the atmosphere in the lounge grew heavy all of a sudden. He parted his lips and drawled, “I’d just like to know if no one has ever told you, a bunch of teachers, that it’s bad etiquette to badmouth others behind their backs.”
“What did you just say?” The older teacher had a stony look on her face as she snapped, “Tell me your name and your class right now, boy! How dare you storm in here and talk down to us? Our school could produce no insolent students like you! Have your parents drop by, and we’ll have a talk about your expulsion!”
Casper, however, was not at all rattled by her outburst. “I think you have no right to call yourself an educator if you’re going around whispering nonsense about your students.”
The teacher was so mad she thought she would lose her mind. This was the first time someone had picked on her faults in front of her colleagues, and to make it worse, she was being criticized by a child who didn’t look older than five.
The other teachers in the lounge seemed to recognize Casper. “Miss Kruger, I believe this is the new transfer student. He’s in Class Nine, and he goes by the name of… what is it… Casper Yates! Yes, that’s the one!”
It was only then that Miss Kruger understood why the child had come barging into the lounge in the first place. He must have overheard us talking about the autistic girl.
“Olwia Yates is my sister, and I won’t have you talking about her condescendingly,” Casper said imperiously as he lifted his chin. There was no mistaking the hard edge in his voice when he added, “If I hear another mean word from you about my sister, then I’m going to take this up to the education ministry.”
The adults in the lounge took a cautious step backward when they heard his warning.
As though realizing that it was ridiculous to be intimidated by a child, Miss Kruger snapped furiously, “I don’t know where you got the nerve to come in here and put us down like this, young man, but you need to be taught a hard lesson! I’ll call your
guardians right away and have them take you home!”
Instead of being frightened, Casper leaped down from the chair and sauntered over to the blackboard in the lounge. “Maybe you should hear about the statistics I’ve gathered before you make that call, Miss Kruger.” He took up a piece of chalk and scribbled down a series of figures, then said, “You‘ve been a teacher for eighteen years, and in that time, your personal assets have seen a remarkable increase. I was curious as to how that might have happened, so I did a little research and found that you have been receiving generous payments from parents over the years, the least amount of which was around ten thousand, and the highest being two hundred thousand.”
A cold smirk played on the little boy’s lips as he continued, “We’re talking about more than six hundred thousand worth of under-table money amassed over the course of these years, and according to the law, such payments are deemed illegal. With the sum that you have accrued, it could very well amount to bribery, which is a crime, in case you’re wondering.”
At once, all the color drained from Miss Knuger’s face. She opened and closed her mouth like a fish, then stammered at last, “Y-You’re making up ridiculous lies against me!”
“In that case, I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt you if I were to take my findings up to the top brass in the education ministry and have them look into these lies.”
Upon hearing this, Miss Kruger nearly fainted on the spot.
The other teachers in the lounge began to distance themselves from her like she was a leper.
Casper scoffed contemptuously. “Oh, don’t be so righteous, all of you. I’ve done some extra digging, and while the payments you all received on the side are not as ludicrous as Miss Kruger’s, I’d like to think that the education ministry would have a word or two to say if they found out about it.”
The teachers immediately bridled at this. The five or six of them exchanged bewildered looks, and the fear in their eyes was evident.
It was an unwritten custom for teachers to receive payments from parents throughout the year, and everyone in the industry knew about this. However, if this fact were to be publicized as a scandal, then none of them would be able to keep their jobs,
They were working as educators in one of the most elite private kindergartens in Seaview City, and the monthly wages here were five or six times more than the average teachers in working-class kindergartens. There was no way they could afford to lose a job that paid this well.
One of the younger teachers took a deep breath and said, “Casper, we only accepted those payments to give the parents peace of mind. It’s an unwritten custom in most kindergartens, and even if you were to take it up to the education ministry, it wouldn’t make a difference.”
“I don’t need it to make a difference; I only want you all to pay for badmouthing my sister,” he countered. “It goes without saying that I know bribery is widespread and commonplace among the elite schools, but once it blows up into a scandal, those involved would be punished accordingly, regardless of it being the norm. If you don’t want this to affect the rest of your careers, then promise me three things.”
The few teachers in the lounge knew they had no bargaining power in this matter, so they nodded reluctantly.
“One, do not ever badmouth my sister or talk about her behind our backs ever again; two, do not give my sister odd or disparaging looks; and three, if the other kids make fun of my sister, then I trust all of you to teach them all a lesson.”
