After the old master left, Brian Thompson flipped through the book. Although the traditional characters on it were quite unfamiliar, he had already memorized it by heart, so he could guess what each character was. The Thousand Character Classic was written by Zhou Xingsi of the Southern Dynasties, and the entire book contains a thousand unique characters without repetition. However, he later heard that someone found repeated characters, but Thomas Thompson didn’t really care about that.

Afterwards, William Thompson lost interest in reading and glanced secretly at little Sizi, discovering that this little girl was reciting very seriously, nodding her head as if she really meant it. This reminded Charles Thompson of the children in later generations, those flowers of the motherland crawling forward under the heavy burden of exam-oriented education. At such a young age, it should be a time for play and fun—reading books every day seemed like such a waste!

Thinking of this, Louis Thompson had an idea. Seeing that the old master wasn’t paying attention, he picked up a piece of paper from the table and started folding. In no time, a beautiful paper crane appeared in his hand, which he gently tossed to the little girl.

The little girl, who had been reciting so earnestly, was stunned at first. But when she saw the exquisite paper crane, her face immediately lit up with joy. She picked it up and looked at it from all angles, clearly loving it so much she couldn’t put it down. As for the book, she had already tossed it aside. Raymond Thompson was quite skilled—paper frogs, paper rings, paper lilies, and all sorts of little things came out one after another. He had even folded six or seven kinds of paper airplanes, though unfortunately he couldn’t test-fly them now.

Little Sizi was completely drawn in by Louis Thompson’s handiwork. Every time Frank Thompson finished folding something, it was immediately snatched away by the little girl, who looked at each one from all sides, reluctant to let go. William Thompson also noticed the commotion behind him. When he saw the exquisite origami in Sizi’s hands, he was full of curiosity—he wanted one too, but didn’t dare ask, so he could only watch eagerly.

Chapter 9: The Black-Bellied Shota Gets His Comeuppance

“Sizi, give me one to play with!” At that moment, a little guy sitting next to Thomas Thompson whispered. This boy was also one of George Thompson’s sons, ranked eighth, named Arthur Thompson, and his mother was Consort Yan De. He happened to be sitting right next to George Thompson. Seeing Frank Thompson and Sizi playing with origami, he didn’t dare ask Philip Thompson, so he could only ask the younger Sizi.

“No! Sixth Brother gave these to me. I want to take them back to Mother. I’m not giving them to anyone!” The little girl wrapped her arms around all the origami, pouting as she spoke.

“No? If you don’t give me one, I’ll tell the master that you’re not studying properly!” Arthur Thompson was clearly being a brat, threatening his own little sister over such a small matter.

“Eighth Brother, you’re so shameless. You even want to snatch Sizi’s things?” William Thompson chimed in from the side, looking at him with disdain.

“No talking in class!” Before Jack Thompson could speak, a stern, aged voice shouted, startling the little ones. Philip Thompson looked up in alarm to see Master Kong striding over with an angry face. The other students in the classroom were also drawn by the master’s roar, and the sound of reading stopped at once. The little ones hadn’t been speaking loudly, and with all the reading around them, the master could still hear—was this old guy the legendary “classroom radar teacher”?

“Arthur Thompson, William Thompson, what were you two talking about just now?” the old master asked angrily. As he spoke, he noticed Sizi hugging a pile of origami, and his anger grew. He scolded again, “Your Highness the Princess, what are you holding in your arms? How can you bring such distracting things into the classroom?”

“Master, it’s not my fault. Eighth Brother tried to snatch the origami from Sizi, so I just spoke up for her.” William Thompson really was fit to be an emperor—he was a master at going with the flow, instantly shifting the blame onto Arthur Thompson. After all, Sizi was so young, the master probably wouldn’t have the heart to punish her.

“Arthur Thompson, is what the Prince of Jin said true?” The old master turned his gaze to Arthur Thompson.

“I… actually…” Arthur Thompson was, after all, just a nine-year-old child. He didn’t dare lie to the master, and his words became hesitant.

“Hmph! Disrupting the class and bullying your younger sister—two offenses at once. Twenty heavy strikes. Hold out your hand!” The old master was truly worthy of teaching princes—when he said punishment, he meant it, no hesitation at all.

Arthur Thompson didn’t dare resist. Not just him—even Crown Prince Benjamin Thompson couldn’t escape the master’s ruler when he made mistakes here. He obediently held out his hand. The old master swung the imperial ruler down hard—one strike and his palm turned red, and after twenty strikes, Arthur Thompson’s little hand was swollen like a steamed bun. His tears started falling after the third strike, but he held back and didn’t dare cry out loud, because crying in class meant five extra strikes.

After punishing Arthur Thompson, the old master ignored Sizi’s pitiful look, picked up a paper crane and examined it, saying, “This is exquisitely made—certainly not the work of the princess!” As he spoke, his gaze turned to Brian Thompson, since Sizi was only three years old, and only the two of them present had the ability and dexterity to make such origami.

“Master, these toys were folded for Sizi by Sixth Brother. They have nothing to do with me!” William Thompson, ever the fence-sitter, immediately stood up and said.