CHAPTER 488: CHAPTER 488: APOLOGY

Ruby Sullivan furrowed her brows with concern, "Parent, have you suffered a stroke? Need me to call 911 for you?"

Seth, who had been wearing a gloomy face all along, couldn’t help but burst into laughter upon hearing his mom’s words.

"What the hell are you saying?" The plump mother finally forced out her words.

Ruby Sullivan immediately put on a stern face and coldly said, "If you forgot to brush your teeth this morning, turn right after you leave and hurry to find a restroom to rinse your mouth. This is a school, not a place for you to spout nonsense."

At first, the plump mother thought Ruby Sullivan looked thin and small, seemed young, and should be easy to talk to. Unexpectedly, she was wrong; being scolded like this, she immediately stood up looking ready to teach someone a lesson.

"Who are you calling nonsense?"

Ruby Sullivan feigned surprise, "You couldn’t even hear that? Obviously talking about you, no one else here has that skill." After she finished, she glanced at her plump son, "Hmmm, someone might surpass and outshine their master."

The plump kid saw her smile at him, though feeling suspicious, he still shyly said, "Are you complimenting me?" He learned the phrase "outshine their master" was a compliment in linguistics class.

"Really smart!" Ruby Sullivan couldn’t help but give him a thumbs-up.

"Tha-thank you." The plump kid rubbed his round scalp, grinning till his eyes squinted.

The plump mother was outraged, slapping him on the forehead, "Are you dumb or what?"

Ruby Sullivan couldn’t be bothered with them, turning to the troubled homeroom teacher, "Teacher, is there a reason you called me over?"

The homeroom teacher was already losing it; she wanted to take back the desire to act just now, Mrs. Sterling wasn’t someone to mess with either!

She chuckled wryly, "Just wanted to solve the children’s issue."

"Then... can we wait for the driver to take them to the hospital?"

"Of course not!" The plump mother interjected, "Your son hit mine, he must apologize."

"Makes sense." Ruby Sullivan nodded, squatting to smile at her stern-looking son, leaned in to whisper a few words.

Seth also nodded, stepped forward saying, "Joel Lawson, come here for a sec."

"What for?"

"Aren’t you asking me to apologize?"

The plump mother said somewhat irritably, "Go ahead, what are you afraid of."

The plump kid finally stood in front of Seth, "You can apologize now."

Seth suddenly flashed an evil grin, sprang up and punched the plump kid’s mouth; immediately, the other burst into tears, covering his mouth with blood, and soon spat out a front tooth.

"My tooth!" The plump kid screamed while holding it.

Everyone except Ruby Sullivan was stunned.

Then Seth bowed deeply, sincerely saying, "Sorry, Joel Lawson, for knocking out your tooth."

After he finished, he turned back to his mother’s side, holding her hand again, looking all obedient.

The plump mother snapped out of it after her brief disorientation, "Fine, I’ll show you what it’s like to have parents who don’t know how to teach!" She said and tried to hit Seth.

Ruby Sullivan immediately stepped forward, shielding her son behind, grabbing the opponent’s raised wrist. The opponent was clearly a seasoned fighter, when one wrist was restrained, she quickly used the other hand trying to grab Ruby Sullivan’s hair.

But this time, she just saw a dark shadow dart past, making her hand immobile.

Ethan Sterling frowned, gripping her arm, gently directing her aside, and looked at his wife with concern, "Are you okay?"

Ruby Sullivan shook her head.

The plump woman seeing the man’s arrival, thinking he wouldn’t be easy to deal with either, suddenly dropped to her knees shrieking, "How can you bully people like this, is there no law? I don’t want to live, finish me off then!"

"Mom!" The plump kid also started panicking, disregarding his tooth and bloody mouth, rushed over trying to pull his mom up, crying as he tugged.

Old Black came over to ask gently, "Madam, who needs to go to the hospital?"

Ruby Sullivan tilted her chin up, "The two on the ground."

Old Black looked at the large and small duo sprawled on the floor, swallowed, walked over, asking, "Are you done crying or wanna go to the hospital now?"

"Call the cops! I want the police to settle this for me!" The plump mother continued her theatrics.

Ruby Sullivan frowned at the dumbfounded homeroom teacher, "Teacher, my son has already apologized, can he get back to class?"

The homeroom teacher gulped, unsure how to answer.

It was indeed an apology, but the manner was quite peculiar.

She hurriedly summoned the Sterling family’s parents outside the office, gazing at Seth with some anger, "Why did you punch Joel Lawson earlier? It could’ve been resolved with just an apology, now it’s blown to the point of police involvement!"

"I told him to hit," Ruby Sullivan interjected, "Previously, my son endured him because he deserved a beating, given his size, he probably didn’t expect he’d lose to Seth and was overconfident. You, as a teacher, not distinguishing right from wrong, only asking my son to apologize, isn’t it biased?"

The homeroom teacher didn’t expect to be accused, her face looked as though covered in smog, more unsightly, "Seth just applied for skipping grades; if this incident escalates, the application would surely be rejected. It’s all because of the parents’ conduct, instead of teaching children to resolve issues through force, might as well pay more attention to your behavior for the sake of the kids."

Seth angrily retorted, "My parents have a great relationship and haven’t divorced, all rumors online!"

Ethan Sterling patted his son’s shoulder as consolation, looking at the homeroom teacher with a calm voice, "I enrolled my son in public elementary school hoping he’d interact with kids from ordinary families, hoping he’d become more outgoing. But I didn’t expect the quality of public school teachers to be so poor, given that, he might as well not attend."

Ruby Sullivan smiled, "Son, what do you say?"

"I agree with Dad."

Finished saying, the family of three walked off hand in hand, leaving behind a dumbfounded homeroom teacher.

Old Black returned giving the plump woman a final ultimatum, "If you don’t head to the hospital now, I won’t have time to waste here with you, if your son’s tooth goes to the hospital earlier, it might still be salvaged."

"But I want to call the cops!" The woman continued threatening.

"Then call them." Old Black said and was about to leave.

The plump woman thinking they were loaded, if she truly made a fuss, wouldn’t gain much either; silently teared up, saying, "After the check-up to my son I’ll call the cops, you wait!"

Old Black couldn’t be bothered with her, seeing them stand up, turned quickly to leave, and followed the hospital call to notify the boss.

"Heard her son was beaten by Seth needing an eye removal, tell Mercy over there, I’m willing to pay for replacing with the best eye."

"Okay." Old Black hung up, glanced at the mother and son without hindsight, regretfully shook his head.

Sometimes, the price of a lack of intelligence is immensely high.