Chapter 290: "I Don’t Want to Be Abandoned by Mom.
Chapter 290: Chapter 290: "I Don’t Want to Be Abandoned by Mom.
Teacher Yardley stopped Zane and Jasmine as they were about to leave her office. "Hold on, you two."
"Teacher Yardley, is there something else?" Zane asked.
Teacher Yardley frowned, staring at them. "Are you going home to tell your mother what Zoe Archer said about you not having a father?"
"Yes!" Jasmine nodded.
Teacher Yardley’s expression darkened. "You two are so inconsiderate," she said, her voice full of disapproval. "You haven’t considered your mother’s feelings at all."
A confused look crossed Zane’s face. "What do you mean, Teacher Yardley?"
"Do you think your mother doesn’t want you to have a father?" Teacher Yardley said, feigning a tone of earnest advice. "Your mother wants a husband, too. But your father didn’t want her, so what could she do?"
"Is that true?" Jasmine furrowed her little brow, looking distressed. "Daddy didn’t want us and Mommy?"
"That’s right," Teacher Yardley nodded. "Your mother was abandoned by her husband, and she’s even more heartbroken than you are. If you go home and tell her about this, she’ll be devastated."
Zane asked worriedly, "Will Mommy cry?"
"Of course she will," Teacher Yardley said with certainty. "The more she thinks about it, the sadder she’ll get. She might even abandon you, just like your father did."
"No!" Jasmine burst into tears. "I don’t want Mommy to abandon me!" she wailed, her eyes welling up.
A terrified look spread across Zane’s face. "I don’t want Mommy to abandon me either! My sister and I want to be with Mommy forever!"
"If you don’t want your mother to abandon you, then you can’t bring this up at home." A faint smile appeared on Teacher Yardley’s grim face. "Understand?"
Zane and Jasmine nodded obediently.
Teacher Yardley smiled and added, "Not a single word."
"Okay," Zane mumbled.
Teacher Yardley stared at Jasmine. "And you?"
Jasmine sniffled. "I understand, too," she sobbed.
Only then did Teacher Yardley smile brightly. "From now on, when you have a problem, don’t just blame others. You should look at yourselves first. Why does Zoe Archer only make fun of you two and not anyone else?"
Zane and Jasmine exchanged a look but said nothing.
"Alright," Teacher Yardley waved her hand. "Go on, back to your classroom."
"Goodbye, Teacher Yardley," Zane said politely, then took Jasmine’s hand and left the office.
"Close the door." As the siblings left, Teacher Yardley rolled her eyes and muttered, "So poor, yet so much drama. All they ever give me are pathetic gift cards. How can that compare to the jewelry from Zoe Archer’s family?"
The little goldfish stared at Renee Jennings through the glass with its round eyes. "And that’s what happened," it said, blowing a stream of bubbles.
Renee Jennings’s brow furrowed, her fair face flushing with anger. She glanced down, tapped a few things on her phone, then looked up at Teacher Yardley. Her voice was icy. "Can you wear the jewelry from Zoe Archer’s family with a clear conscience? How do you sleep at night after telling my niece and nephew those horrible lies?"
Diana Jennings also shot Teacher Yardley a cold glare.
Shock flashed in Teacher Yardley’s eyes. "Wh-what are you talking about?" she stammered in disbelief. "I don’t understand."
’How could Zane and Jasmine’s aunt know?’
Renee Jennings strode up to Teacher Yardley and demanded, "’If they go home and tell their mother that Zoe Archer made fun of them for not having a father, their mother will abandon them too.’ You said that, didn’t you?"
"I-I didn’t," Teacher Yardley retorted guiltily.
"How could you say something like that to my children?" Diana Jennings’s eyes instantly turned bloodshot, her anger swelling like a tidal wave. She strode quickly to Teacher Yardley, raised her hand, and slapped her hard across the face. "You’re despicable! They’re barely over four years old!"
The little goldfish in the tank cheered, blowing bubbles.
"Great hit!"
"Get the bad teacher! Hit her, hit her!"
"Oh yeah! Hit her again!"
Teacher Yardley staggered back from the force of the slap, clutching her face as she glared at Diana Jennings. "How dare you hit me! Have you forgotten your children are still in my class?"
Renee Jennings pointed at her, her eyes sharp as she sneered, "Are you threatening us?"
"You can take it that way," Teacher Yardley said, lifting her chin arrogantly.
Renee asked, "Then I suppose we need to send you piles of jewelry, just like Zoe Archer’s family does?"
"Can you even afford that?" Teacher Yardley dropped all pretense, her tone dripping with mockery. "You think you can compare to Zoe Archer’s family? That’s hilarious."
Diana Jennings stared at her in disbelief. "How can you say something like that? You’re a teacher!"
"A teacher has to eat, too, doesn’t she?" Teacher Yardley retorted brazenly.
"You..." Diana couldn’t believe how shameless she was and was at a loss for words.
"Doesn’t the kindergarten pay you a salary?" Renee’s voice dripped with sarcasm. "Or is it not enough to even put food on the table, so you need parents’ gifts to survive?"
Teacher Yardley rolled her eyes. "What do you two know? I’m not the only teacher who accepts gifts! Besides, taking care of kids all day is exhausting. What’s wrong with accepting a few gifts?"
Renee Jennings asked coolly, "So, because the gifts we gave weren’t expensive enough, when my niece and nephew were bullied, your solution was to tell them to blame themselves and hide it from their mother?"
"What did you expect?" Teacher Yardley asked nonchalantly.
"Alright." Renee Jennings tightened her grip on her phone, a mocking smirk playing on her lips. "From now on, you won’t have to wear yourself out taking care of children anymore."
"What?" Teacher Yardley frowned.
Renee tilted her head toward Diana. "Sis, do you know the principal?"
"I do," Diana nodded.
"Let’s go to the principal now and report Teacher Yardley for taking bribes from parents."
When Teacher Yardley heard this, she didn’t panic in the slightest. "Go ahead," she said arrogantly. "Need me to show you the way?"
Renee Jennings and Diana Jennings ignored her and walked straight out.
「The Principal’s Office.」
"Zane and Jasmine’s mother, and this is...?" The principal, a middle-aged woman with short, curly hair and metal-rimmed glasses, let her gaze rest on Renee Jennings.
"This is my younger sister, Zane and Jasmine’s aunt," Diana Jennings explained.
The principal nodded, smiling at Renee Jennings. "You sisters are both very beautiful."
Renee was sizing her up as well. "You bear some resemblance to Teacher Yardley from the younger kids’ class, Principal."
"Ah, Teacher Yardley. She’s my niece," the principal chuckled. "I’m an aunt, just like you."
"I see." Renee Jennings raised an eyebrow slightly and turned to Diana. "Sis, it looks like we came to the wrong person."
’No wonder Teacher Yardley wasn’t the least bit scared when we said we were going to the principal. Her attitude was so brazen.’
"What do you mean, ’wrong person’?" the principal asked, confused.
Renee hesitated for a few seconds, then stood up. "Sis, you chat with the principal for a bit. I’m going to step out and make a call."
"Okay," Diana nodded. "Go ahead."
Renee Jennings walked out of the principal’s office on her long, slender legs, took out her phone, and dialed Henry Stark’s number.