It wasn't an apple that hit Newton.

She feigned pitifulness, but her eyes darted around, and all she could think of was rushing home to tell her father, asking him to call the military police to arrest this red-haired bastard and send him to jail—as for evidence, her own backside, which was practically swollen from being beaten like a monkey, was the best evidence.

"Of course it is..."

Li Cheng gave a kind and benevolent smile: "No way!"

Agnes: ?!

"why?"

She slammed her hand on the bed in exasperation and said, "I've already hit you, apologized, and even promised not to pursue the matter. Don't go too far!"

"Don't rush. The main problem is that your butt is injured right now. How can I bear to let you go home? You'll definitely go home after you've recovered."

Li Cheng continued with a smile, "However, children recover quickly, and the spanking was on their buttocks, which are all fleshy areas. Half a day of rest should be enough, at most a day—but to be on the safe side, you should be able to go home the day after tomorrow."

Seeing that her thoughts had been seen through, Agnes's smile gradually disappeared.

She took a deep breath, realizing that staying near this devil would only lead to further torture, so she gritted her teeth and decided, "Don't worry, I won't tell my father, so there's no need to wait until..."

"What are you saying? I don't understand."

Li Cheng interrupted, "What do you mean by telling Smith? Didn't you sneak out to play with me?"

Agnes: ? ? ?

What? When did I come here to play with you?

Don't you have any idea why I came to see you?

"Although it's not good that you ran away, I'm still going to plead with Smith to let you stay with me for a few days."

Li Cheng continued, "Of course, in order to persuade him, I also promised to tutor you during this period, but time is a bit tight, so you may have to stay for a couple more days."

Agnes: !!

In other words... I won't be able to go home the day after tomorrow?

"How's it going? You can stay here for several days without going home, aren't you happy?"

Li Cheng stretched out his sinister right hand and vigorously ruffled Agnes's hair, who was still in a daze: "I beat you up and gave you a vacation in return. That's fair, isn't it? After all, I'm not some kind of demon."

Chapter 247 Are you really that free?

evening.

Inside the hotel.

"Being able to follow you and receive your guidance will surely broaden my horizons considerably..."

"Finally, regarding the trouble my naughty daughter has caused you, Mr. Banana, and for your magnanimity, I will personally visit you to express my apologies and gratitude once I have some free time..."

"..."

After reading the brief letter that had come as a reply, Li Cheng looked up at the slender figure standing across the table: "As mentioned above, Miss Brown Hair, your guardianship has been transferred to me by your father for five days—what are your thoughts on this now?"

After relaying Agnes's situation to Smith, the latter unsurprisingly agreed readily, and he then shared the good news with the mischievous child in front of him.

"Are you kidding me?"

Agnes slammed her fist on the table, her face flushed with anger: "How could my father possibly believe your nonsense so easily? He should at least send someone to see me and make sure I'm alright, right???"

"You can verify for yourself whether it's a joke or not; you should be able to recognize your father's handwriting."

Li Cheng held the paper with Smith's handwritten reply in his hand, and slid it across the table to the brown-haired young lady opposite him, indicating that she could check its authenticity at will, while saying:

"However, I must emphasize one thing before that. After you confirm the truth, as your temporary guardian for the next few days, you cannot call me 'that bastard'—you can call me Mr. Banana, Brother Banana, Teacher Banana, but you absolutely cannot call me 'bastard,' understand?"

"I can call myself whatever I want, it's none of your business."

After her habitual retort, Agnes picked up the papers on the table with a suspicious look in her eyes.

She still couldn't believe that Smith would so easily leave her with this bastard for several days. However, after confirming it several times, Agnes had to admit that it was indeed her father's handwriting. Even the distinctive cursive writing that made it difficult to distinguish between the letters o and e was exactly the same.

"Is everything confirmed?"

Li Cheng placed his ten fingers interlaced on the table and asked leisurely.

"Hey, you bastard."

Agnes looked up in confusion: "What exactly are you...?"

thump——

The knocking sound interrupted her questioning. Li Cheng slammed a wooden strip, which he had somehow acquired, onto the table. It was about 40cm long, 7cm wide, and 2cm thick. Unlike its ordinary relatives that were everywhere, this wooden strip had obviously been carefully polished. There were no rough splinters, and it felt smooth and rounded to the touch, radiating a faint luster.

The threat posed by such a weapon is self-evident, and just seeing it made Agnes's still-recovering bottom ache slightly.

"...Mr. Banana, may I ask you a question?"

"Very good, is there anything you want to ask?"

She changed her tone and manner of address, becoming as docile as a brown house cat raised from kittenhood. If her etiquette teacher saw this, she might be moved to tears.

Actually, Agnes found this obedient attitude a little strange. Although she had occasionally been obedient in the past, she knew that was just because she was too lazy to be disobedient. When she was obedient for a while, she always held the initiative in her own hands.

After all, even if someone disobeys, they'll at most get a symbolic scolding, or at worst, be locked up in that well-lit solitary confinement room to reflect on their actions.

But things are different now. This obedience isn't genuine; it's driven by external pressure. You see, that smooth, round wooden stick on the table isn't just for show; this red-haired man really does spank people.

If you don't obey, you'll get a beating.

A strange feeling filled my heart. If I had to describe it, it was like a kid trying alcohol or chili for the first time. I wouldn't say I liked it, but that special sense of novelty definitely filled my heart.

However, while alcohol is not a good thing, some people will stop after trying it a few times, while others will gradually come to like its taste with each try.

"What are you spacing out for? What do you want to ask?"

Li Cheng's voice suddenly rang in her ears, snapping Agnes out of her reverie. She uttered a couple of "ahs" and "ohs" before quickly asking, "How exactly did you convince my father?"

She couldn't understand how this bastard could have gotten her father to trust him so much that he didn't even send someone to check if she was still alive and kicking.

"This involves many secrets that a little kid like you with no sense of privacy shouldn't know, so I can't tell you."

Li Cheng brushed it off with a single sentence: "Anyway, let's skip this topic and talk about your schedule for the next few days—what do you usually do at home?"

Why are you asking this?

Although she knew she would get a beating for disobeying, Agnes still instinctively retorted, "What I do is none of your business!"

Seeing that she seemed to be refusing to cooperate, Li Cheng began to casually fiddle with his specially made wooden strip, sometimes measuring its length with the back of his hand, sometimes stroking its smooth surface...

Biting her lower lip, Agnes counted on her fingers as she began to recall: "In the morning, the maid woke me up, then I took off the nightgown I wore the night before, spent some time choosing a dress to wear during the day, and then..."

"No need for such details."

Li Cheng put the wooden stick aside and interrupted, "Remove all the stuff about eating, drinking, and relieving yourself. Focus on the important parts. Also, remove the part about outsmarting the servants and running away from home."

“Then all that’s left is to complete the tasks assigned by the tutor.” Agnes pouted. “Sewing, embroidery, singing, dancing, reading and writing... they’re all troublesome and boring things.”

These were all ladylike courses, designed to prepare women for marriage and help them become competent mistresses. The math courses, which taught reading and writing, only taught simple calculation methods—this was why Agnes was so angry that she kicked the door. She had only recently finished learning addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division before being asked to do Olympiad problems.

"alright, I got it."

Li Cheng nodded to indicate that he understood.

It's not fair to say Smith did anything wrong. Women in this era did indeed lack career paths, and Agnes received the kind of education that most wealthy families would give their daughters.

Li Cheng didn't have that much time to change everyone's mind. Besides, to be fair, Agnes really needed some ladylike training. Just imagining this little brat going on like this was awful.

"It's clear that your ladylike lessons have been a complete failure."

So he quickly finalized the plan: "Starting tomorrow, I will arrange a few days of training for you to prepare yourself mentally."

?

No, you're so free?

Agnes looked puzzled by this sudden arrangement, her eyes widening as she asked, "Didn't you tell my dad I could rest here with you for a few days?"

Chapter 248 Entrapment

Whether I'm free or not is none of your business.

With his busy schedule finally over, Li Cheng, who was quite free for the moment, turned around and pretended that his chair was one of those modern office chairs that could swivel: "Anyway, that's enough for today. It's getting late, go wash up and get some rest."

go to bed?

Agnes blinked and drawled, "Okay—"

Li Cheng, expecting a retort, raised his eyelids slightly, then flashed a smile completely invisible from Agnes's angle, while pointing his index finger at what should have been Lavoisier's room:

"Yes, that's your room. Sweet dreams—by the way, your father also sent a suitcase with the letter; your pajamas should be inside."

"I see."

"I'll knock on your door to wake you up tomorrow morning. You'll get a spanking if you stay in bed too long."

"Ok."

After hearing the instructions, Agnes suppressed her impulsive emotions and walked at a leisurely pace to the room assigned to her. She then closed the door tightly behind her before revealing a wicked smile of triumph.

Are you kidding me? Who wants to sleep peacefully?

I got a wet dream in the middle of the night.

Meanwhile, not far from the living room, Lavoisier remained seated on the sofa with a subtle expression. As she listened quietly to the conversation between the two, she recalled the things Li Cheng had discussed with her earlier.

"Anyway, I'm just idling around."

"Let's give it a try, consider it practice for educating our children in advance."

"Seven-Day Re-education for Mischievous Kids... Ugh, Correction Plan, what do you think of this name?"

"..."

"I'm such an idiot for agreeing to something so boring."

Lavoisier covered his forehead with one hand, his face slightly flushed, and muttered, "Besides, we haven't even done it yet, so where would a child come from..."

"What child?"

The sudden question nearly made Lavoisier jump out of her seat, but she quickly regained her composure and controlled her tense muscles.

"It's nothing, I'm just curious about your thoughts. How can you possibly correct that brat in just a few days?"

"It doesn't matter if it fails. We're just killing time anyway. We can treat it as a sample for the mischievous kids to observe."

Li Cheng shrugged and said indifferently, "At least it proves that just as a country is not suitable for completely abolishing the death penalty, it is also not suitable to completely abandon physical punishment in educating children. After all, there are a few unruly children who are just like incorrigible extreme criminals, and they cannot behave without the use of some violent means."