Hearing her daughter's excited voice, Li Yan's heart sank. She smiled bitterly, "Mommy got the news. Baby, how about Mommy takes you out to play today?"

"good!!"

Li Yan held her daughter's hand, looking down at her daughter jumping around, laughing innocently and beautifully. She couldn't bear to think about the scene of her being forced to kneel down and apologize in front of everyone.

At worst, she'll lose face, but she can leave this place with her child, and no one will recognize them. Their lives will go back to normal...

No one can hurt her daughter!

Having made up her mind, Li Yan suddenly felt as if an invisible boulder had been removed from her back.

Monday arrived in the blink of an eye. Mingyue led the 26 students of Class 6 of Grade 11 to their places and stood in line. Well, the question was about the reason why some students in the class had to drop out of school this week because their family businesses went bankrupt.

On the playground, there were many scrutinizing gazes. The students of Class 6 almost all had a look of suppressed resentment on their faces, and their faces looked haggard as if they were possessed by ghosts.

In contrast, their homeroom teacher, Mingyue, had a rosy complexion and was leisurely holding a deluxe version of jianbing guozi (Chinese crepe), showing no signs of being the one who caused so many students in their class to drop out.

Under immense pressure, the principal and director finished reading the inspiring speech and then turned their attention to Li Yan.

Li Yan gripped the manuscript, the paper soaked with sweat from her palms. She lifted her legs, which felt as if they were filled with cement, and walked step by step to the center of the podium. She grasped the microphone and emitted a piercing, high-pitched voice.

Nearly a thousand students covered their ears and frowned as they looked at Li Yan on the podium.

Startled, Li Yan let go of the microphone, licked her dry lips—her mouth was so dry she could barely swallow—and lowered her gaze uncomfortably before returning to the conversation, "I am Li Yan, a teacher at Shengxian High School..."

Her voice trembled slightly, and some students, puzzled, began to whisper among themselves.

These words, falling into Li Yan's ears, made her feel as if she were hallucinating. Helplessly looking into the eyes of those students, she seemed to see the contempt, ridicule, and disdain in their eyes...

With nowhere to hide, she stammered, her voice trembling, "I... I shouldn't have... I shouldn't have slandered him..."

As Li Yan spoke, she subconsciously glanced in Mingyue's direction. Mingyue smiled, her eyes devoid of warmth. Li Yan's voice abruptly stopped as she instantly recalled the conditions she had agreed to.

She didn't kneel!

Li Yan's face turned visibly pale. She bit her lip tightly until it bled, and the manuscript in her hand was so tightly gripped that it tore apart.

Mingyue narrowed her eyes. Since you know that such a gaze will crush a person's self-esteem, Teacher Li, why do you still do it?

Principal Li was so tormented by this that he could hardly sit still. The way he looked at Li Yan seemed to reflect his own past, and he couldn't help but wipe the cold sweat from his forehead.

Without Mingyue's permission, the school assembly dared not disperse, and the students' complaints grew louder and louder, even the teachers in charge could not suppress their voices.

"Teacher Li, please say what you need to say quickly! Don't waste our time!"

"It's so annoying. They said it was some kind of apology conference. Is it so hard to apologize? The class she used to teach, Yun Duo, has been on stage several times already."

"Exactly, I think it's better to go back to class and do practice problems than to waste time standing here."

Li Yan felt a bitter pang in her heart. She licked the blood from the corner of her lips and swallowed it back down. With sharp eyes, she noticed that Mingyue seemed to be raising her hand to signal the end of the meeting. Her daughter's lovely face flashed through her mind, and she collapsed to her knees!