"Are your feet rusty?"

Adrian Hawthorne couldn’t stand it anymore. He scooped Tang Xiao’nan up in one go, easily stepping over the threshold. But when he put her down, his hand accidentally brushed against her lower back, and Tang Xiao’nan cried out in pain.

"It hurts..."

Tang Xiao’nan’s face scrunched up, and tears welled in her eyes from the pain.

"You’re hurt?"

Adrian Hawthorne casually moved to lift Tang Xiao’nan’s shirt. Tang Xiao’nan jumped in fright and dodged behind Rosalind Green. ’Boys and girls shouldn’t touch! I’m a proper maiden, after all. Even the future big boss can’t just go around touching me!’

Rosalind Green was delighted. ’This little girl already knows about the difference between boys and girls, how interesting.’ This made her impression of Tang Xiao’nan even better. She liked well-behaved girls, as it was a sign of a good family upbringing.

Adrian Hawthorne rolled his eyes irritably. ’It’s not like I’m eager to look. What’s there to see on a six-year-old brat?’

Rosalind Green lifted the back of Tang Xiao’nan’s shirt and pulled out the sweater tucked into her pants. Her movements were very gentle, but Tang Xiao’nan still cried out in pain. Once the shirt was pulled up, a large, dark bruise on her lower back was revealed. The surrounding skin was pale and tender, which made the injury look even more frightening. Rosalind Green gasped, not expecting it to be so severe.

"How did this happen? It’s all black and blue. Did you put any medicine on it?"

"Ms. Spann’s grandma pushed me, and I hit a rock. Grandpa put medicine on it."

Tang Xiao’nan leaned against Rosalind Green. ’She smells so good and feels so soft, I don’t even want to move. No wonder they describe beautiful women as "warm, fragrant, soft jade." The ancients certainly weren’t lying.’

Adrian Hawthorne also noticed the girl’s badly bruised right wrist, and a cold glint appeared in his eyes. In one respect, he was very much like the Thorne family: fiercely protective of his own.

Anyone he acknowledged as one of his own could not be bullied by outsiders, no matter their faults. This chubby girl was now his junior apprentice, so of course, he wouldn’t let an outsider bully her.

"Who did that to your hand?"

"Teacher Golding broke my arm, but Mr. Xavier fixed it for me. He just gave it a push, and it was all better." Tang Xiao’nan deliberately exaggerated to win the future big boss’s sympathy.

’Powerful people always sympathize with the weak, right? I’m so pitiful right now, Adrian Hawthorne must feel terribly sorry for me, right?’

Adrian Hawthorne frowned. For some reason, hearing the chubby girl call him ’Mr. Xavier’ left a sour taste in his mouth.

’But the chubby girl’s arm was probably just dislocated. If it were really broken, she’d be in the hospital right now. Still, Phoenix Golding went too far. Even as a teacher, she can’t just inflict corporal punishment on a student for no reason, especially a six-year-old child. What kind of serious mistake could she have even made?’

Tang Xiao’nan chirped out the whole story. "Her whole family bullied me! I’m not going to school anymore!"

"It’s for the best. Your Grandpa Tate’s knowledge is far superior to that Teacher Golding’s," Rosalind Green readily agreed. She looked down on Phoenix Golding completely. ’Her education level isn’t even as high as mine, yet she gets to be a teacher. She’s simply a menace to her students.’

Tang Xiao’nan nodded vigorously. ’Old Master Tate is a university professor, hundreds of times better than Phoenix Golding. Why should I bother learning from a promiscuous, uneducated woman?’

Her eyes darted around, and Tang Xiao’nan said mysteriously, "I know why Teacher Golding hit me. She’s my dad’s old flame."

She had just dropped a bombshell. Rosalind Green’s eyes went wide with disbelief. ’How could Phoenix Golding have had a fling with Felix Thorne too?’

’Just how many lovers does this woman have?’

The corner of Adrian Hawthorne’s mouth twitched. ’Truly a "good" daughter, throwing her father under the bus like that.’

"Who told you that?"

Tang Xiao’nan said smugly, "I heard Mommy and Daddy fighting. Teacher Golding ate dozens of pounds of our family’s meat, and she almost married my dad back then. Good thing they didn’t. I would never want her as my mom."