Chapter 5 - I Will Discipline Her

Ashley actually didn't know how old he was. But when she heard what he said, and was reminiscent of Liam's age, she sullenly said, "You are quite old."

"..."

You are quite old.

Quite old.

Old.

Although Jacob didn't care about his age, he still felt like being stabbed in his heart when he heard this sentence.

He was given the label of "old" as soon as he turned 20, and Jacob didn't know how to describe his feelings at the moment. He breathed out slowly, and asked word by word, “Am I old?"

Ashley nodded, “Yes."

"..."

There was a few seconds of silence.

"Kiddo, you think I'm old," Jacob stared at her straightly, probably because he felt too absurd and speechless, "Then why don't you call me uncle?"

"Oh." Ashley thought for a while, felt a little reasonable, and immediately changed her words, "Uncle."

"..."

The little girl's eyes were round and big, clear and clean, without any impurities, she spoke seriously as if she said all the words from the bottom of her heart.

‘Use the most innocent expression to make up for a person's injury.’

Mr. Smith next to him interrupted the conversation between the two at this time. He handed Jacob a glass of water and said embarrassingly, “Sorry. Please wait a second. I had too much water. I have to go to the toilet first."

Jacob adjusted his emotions and replied, "Okay."

Maybe it was because he was too bored. After Mr. Smith left, Jacob turned his head and started to care about what happened with Ashley, “Do you know if you call me that way, your brother has to call me uncle?"

Ashley answered honestly, “I don't know."

Jacob, “So have you made up your mind? Calling me brother or uncle?"

Ashley thought for a while, and reluctantly said, “Brother would be better."

Jacob's brows stretched out, and he said leisurely, “It seems that you are protecting your brother."

"What?" Ashley didn't understand what he said, "Why should I protect him? He always bullies me. I just don't want him to call you uncle."

"Why?"

"He looks older than you."

"..."

Jacob didn’t expect it would be such an answer. He was taken aback for a moment, then laughed out of a sudden, and then repeated it again, holding back his laugh, “Liam looks older than me?"

Ashley, “Yes."

Although it was in the "old" contest, he won.

Jacob's mood was still very good. He coughed lightly, and asked pretentiously, “Kiddo, how do you see that he is older than me?" After that, he added, “I think we are almost the same."

Ashley looked at his face, soon dropped again, and said softly, “That's still a little bit different."

"..."

In the next second, a woman knocked on the open door of the office and looked over here, looking a little shy, “Hello, is Ethan's headteacher here?"

Miss Green quickly stood up, “Yes! Are you Ethan's sister?"

The woman pursed her lips and smiled and walked in, “That's right."

Ethan, who had been standing for a long time, couldn't help but complain, “Sister, why are you so late?"

Ashley looked over.

The contours of the woman's eyebrows were somewhat similar to those of Ethan. She wore a white dress and was full of student spirit. She wore light makeup, her lips were light, and her face was beautiful and clean. She explained to Ethan in a low voice, “ I came right after class. There’s some distance."

After speaking, the woman noticed Jacob sitting on the chair, fixed her eyes for two seconds, and quickly moved away. Her tone of voice seemed to be tenser, “Sorry for kept you waiting, Miss Green."

Miss Green waved her hand, “It's okay."

Jacob laughed for a long time because of what Ashley said. At this time, the corners of his mouth were still raised, his eyes were not shifted, staring at Ashley, “When will your teacher be back?"

Ashley retracted her gaze, “I don’t know."

"Little Ashley, brother feel bored." Jacob teased her. "Do you wanna say something nice to your brother to relieve the boredom?"

Ashley looked at him suspiciously, “What?"

"Just tell me that," Jacob didn't even think about it, "Brother Jacob is the most handsome man in the world."

"I'm not a repeater." Ashley was unhappy.

"Just praise me." Jacob said, "I didn't treat you as a repeater."

Ashley refused, “I don't want to."

Jacob was not angry, dragged his voice, jokingly, “Cheapskate."

At this time, Mr. Smith who went to the toilet finally came back. He sat down and said with a smile, "Sorry, I suddenly felt a little uncomfortable on my stomach."

Jacob, “It's okay, don't worry."

Afterward, he pushed the undrunk glass of water on the table to Ashley and asked, "Are you thirsty?"

"Cheapskate" didn't speak up.

Jacob used his knuckles to tap on the glass twice, “Drink some water."

Then he looked at Mr. Smith and listened to him seriously.

Ashley picked up the glass and took a sip in silence. Looking at the empty tabletop, and remembering the fact that he hadn't drunk water since he came over, she stood there, struggling, and finally walked to the water dispenser and filled him with a glass of water.

What Ashley annoyed Mr. Smith the most was that every time he called his parents, he would say exactly the same content. Ashley heard it several times and felt that she could recite it backward. Looking at it this way, Mr. Smith really looked like the "repeater" they just called.

She wanted to yawn, and her mind was gradually wandering.

Suddenly she noticed that the atmosphere next door was actually quite harmonious, unlike her side, who only listened to Mr. Smith's constant complaints.

Ashley listened carefully.

Miss Green suddenly laughed, “At the beginning, this kid had poor grades, but everything else was quite good. This time it was not because he did something wrong that he called you over. It was he who suddenly rushed into the office yesterday. I was shocked and he shouted that he wanted to call the parents over."

"..."

As soon as she said this, Ethan looked at Ashley immediately.

The eyes of the two met.

---silence.

Ethan's expression changed, and he was extremely embarrassed as if he would find a hole to bury himself in the next moment.

Ashley obviously found it incredible, and silently tapped her temple twice with her finger.

Silently asked: Are you having a problem here?

‘How can anyone voluntarily ask for such a requirement?’

Ethan pretended to be calm, lip-synched, and said, "Explain to you another day," and then kept his eyes away.

When he turned his head, Ashley happened to notice that Ethan's sister glanced at her, but not exactly her.

Ashley followed her gaze.

Sure enough, she was looking at Jacob.

She thought it was just an accident. But then, Ashley saw her look over again and again.

She didn't know if it was accidental or for some other reason.

Ashley lowered her eyes, her fists slowly tightened, and then she moved her position calmly, blocking the woman's gaze.

The conversation lasted about forty minutes.

Mr. Smith finished the complaint and swallowed his saliva, “It's almost like this. Actually, I don't want to trouble you all the time, but Ashley really caused me a headache. I asked her to get up to answer the question, and she asked me if I asked her was because that I didn’t know how to work out the problem and also said that she couldn't take my job, which made other children not focus on the lesson."

Jacob paused, and glanced sideways at Ashley, “Is that so?"

Ashley immediately lowered her head, pretending to be introspective.

Mr. Smith nodded, “I also communicated with your mother several times before, which took a lot of your time, but it was also for the good of this child. Ashley is very smart, and if she studies hard, she will definitely be able to pass the entrance exam. You may discipline her after school."

"Sure," Jacob said.

The two went out of the office.

Things went smoother than expected, Mr. Smith had no doubts, and the big stone that hung on Ashley's chest also fell. She looked at Jacob, with a little closer expression, “Thank you, brother."

Jacob said, "Go home?"

"Ok." Ashley blinked, because he helped himself solve the problem, and at this time she said a bit of flattery in his tone, "Otherwise, what else can we do?"

"It’s just that," Jacob's voice stopped and reminded slowly, "I have not started to discipline you yet."

"..."

These words were like a pot of cold water poured on Ashley's body, and her happiness was lost, and she reluctantly squeezed out the sentence, “You want to nag me, too?"

"Let's go." Jacob was noncommittal. "Brother will take you home."

He didn't answer. Ashley thought what he said was just a joke. Before she could breathe a sigh of relief, Jacob went on to say, "I will slowly nag you on the way home."

Ashley, “..."

The two walked left and right towards the school gate.

He did give her a buffer of time and did not continue to talk about these things in school. Ashley squeezed the strap of her schoolbag in fear, and couldn't help saying, “My brother won't nag me anymore after he met my teacher."

Jacob, “Really?"

Asley, “Of course it is true!"

Jacob stared at her, as if trying to tell the truth of what she said, and then took out his mobile phone from his pocket, “I'll ask him."

"..."

"Wait!" Ashley was taken aback and jumped to grab his mobile phone. "If you ask, doesn't my brother know it? If he knows it, it means the whole world knows it!"

"I need to check it out." Jacob was like teasing a cat. He raised his hands up and down, just not letting her get it. " I came all the way here. If I was still cheated by you, how pitiful I would be."

At this moment, a female voice interrupted the interaction between the two of them. The voice was soft, small, and almost inaudible, with obvious tension, “He…hello!"

The two turned their heads subconsciously.

It was Ethan's sister. At this moment, she stood alone, and Ethan was not there.

The woman was not tall but had a thin body. The facial features were small and delicate, and the face was flushed. She looked at Jacob and took her phone out of her pocket in a panic, “Can you give me your phone number?"

The atmosphere suddenly became subtle.

Jacob looked at her without speaking.

It was like a silent rejection.

The woman's expression became more and more awkward and uncomfortable.

Ashley's eyes were spinning around the two of them, and she couldn't see the meaning of approval. Before Jacob could respond, she suddenly raised her head and said in a shocking voice, “Sister, my brother has 29 girlfriends."

Jacob lifted his eyebrows and he looked down at her.

"You don't need to be nervous, he should give it to you." Ashley didn't dare to look at Jacob. She said sincerely and cheerfully. "He changes one every day, and one is missing this month. I guess it will be you."

"...."