Chapter 30 Max Stands Up for Liam
Alexander said, "I don't know her that well, but I know she's not malicious."
Emily pressed, "You can never truly know someone's heart... Besides, after what she did—having an affair behind your back, cheating with another man, and having his child. How can you let such a shameless, despicable woman near Liam?"
Alexander replied, "Liam is seven years old and has never spoken a single word. The therapist says he lacks maternal love and has no sense of security, but at least he's willing to speak in Grace's presence. I still haven't been able to track down Liam's birth mother. Until then, I want her to fill that role."
Emily said urgently, "I can do that too! I've studied child psychology specifically for Liam. I think I can take good care of him."
Alexander said, "But Liam has never accepted you."
"What about you?" Emily asked. "Have you ever liked me? When you risked your life to protect me—was it because you felt guilty, or because you cared about me, because you liked me?"
Alexander said coldly, "Don't ask me questions like that."
Emily was stunned.
Alexander continued, "In my entire life, besides Liam, there's no one I particularly care about."
Before having Liam, he had felt nothing for children. Seeing other people's kids only annoyed him, and naturally, he never thought he'd be a competent or responsible father.
But after having Liam, his paternal love had awakened.
Liam was so endearing, so adorable, and most importantly—he was his son.
Emily felt a pang of hurt hearing this.
Just then, a servant hurried downstairs, looking distressed. "Mr. Hayes, Liam is crying!"
Alexander asked, "What happened?"
The servant said, "It looks like he and Max had an argument."
Emily said, "Alexander, let's go check on them!" She tried to appear very concerned.
Outside the study.
As Alexander approached, he could hear Liam's pitiful crying, along with Max's somewhat angry voice: "Are you stupid or something?"
Grace said, "Max, don't yell at Liam."
Liam sat with his head down, fidgeting with his soft little fingers. Faced with an angry Max, he looked both guilty and wronged, with tears still clinging to his eyelashes.
Max said in exasperation, "There are 25 students in Grade 1 Class A, and Grade 1 Class B has 17 more students than Class A. How many students are there in both classes combined? Is this problem really that hard?"
Liam burst into tears with a "Waaah," sniffling with red-rimmed eyes, his eyelashes wet with tears.
Alexander rubbed his forehead.
He actually understood Max's frustration. When he tried to help Liam with homework, he'd also lose control of his emotions, yet couldn't bear to scold Liam.
Emily, eager to protect Liam, walked over and said to Max, "What gives you the right to bully Liam?"
Max looked confused. "How am I bullying him?"
Emily said, "Why are you being so harsh with him? This is Hayes Manor—I won't tolerate you acting out here!"
Max was stunned.
Emily continued, "Besides, Liam has intellectual problems. He's mentally disabled. You're making him solve such difficult math problems, and when he can't figure them out, you yell at him? You'll traumatize Liam!"
Suddenly, Grace and Max said in unison, "He's not mentally disabled!"
Both mother and son were outraged by this statement.
Grace looked at Max in surprise.
Max glared coldly at Emily. "Liam is my best friend. He's not mentally disabled, and he's not stupid! He's just not paying attention! I'm angry because he's not studying seriously. He's not stupid! I won't let you talk about Liam like that, or I'll get really mad!"
Liam was shocked, his crying stopped as he looked at Max with emotion.
Max was so determined, refusing to let anyone call him mentally disabled.
Max turned to face Liam. "Liam, you're not stupid, right? You just weren't paying attention."
Liam sniffled and wiped his nose, looking at his homework notebook that had been dampened by a few teardrops. Suddenly, he picked up his pencil, furrowing his brow seriously as if trying hard to calculate.
Max said, "Think about it again. Use the formula I just taught you. I don't believe you can't solve this problem."
Liam began writing formulas on his notebook.
Alexander was somewhat surprised.
The reason Emily thought Liam was mentally disabled and had intellectual problems was that Liam couldn't even do basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Forget formulas—he couldn't even do addition and subtraction within ten.
Windsor Academy had made an exception to admit him.
To get Liam into Windsor Academy, Alexander had donated tens of millions in sponsorship fees. He had only one requirement for the school: help Liam learn to speak, and ensure his academic performance could match normal children.
As the future heir of the Hayes family, everyone had high hopes for him, but also felt disappointed.
In such a short time, Max had actually taught him formulas?
Although they were the most basic formulas, he could actually use algebraic equations to solve word problems now.
Soon, Liam solved the problem using the equation Max had taught him.
Liam showed his notebook to Max.
Alexander and Grace instinctively gathered around to look.
"Answer: Both classes have 67 students combined."
Grace said in surprise, "Are first-grade problems already this difficult?"
Alexander said, "Windsor Academy has a very fast learning pace."
Grace said, "But this is a formula they don't teach until third or fourth grade! No matter how fast the pace, they wouldn't teach equations to first-graders, would they?"
Max said, "Such a simple problem—using equations is the fastest way to solve it."
Grace broke out in a cold sweat.
No wonder Liam found it difficult—this was third or fourth-grade problem-solving logic!
Alexander asked, "How do you know equations?"
Max said, "They're so simple—I learned them ages ago!"
He had always loved math and enjoyed reading math books beyond his grade level. Elementary school problem sets could no longer satisfy him. As a genius, Max had already moved on to studying sequences and functions.
Alexander said, "If you use equations like this, the teacher will think I did your homework for you."
Liam looked confused.
Alexander explained, "You haven't learned algebraic equations yet."
Max fell silent and quickly flipped through Liam's textbook.
Indeed, they hadn't covered algebraic equations yet. The problem-solving method he'd taught Liam was too advanced.
Grace said, "But Liam actually learned algebraic equations—that's amazing! Liam is such a smart boy!"
Max sought credit, "What about me? What about me? I'm the one who taught him!"
Grace kissed his cheek. "Max is amazing too!"
"What do you mean 'too'?" Max put his hands on his hips, looking proud. "I'm the most amazing!"
As he spoke, he looked at Alexander, waiting for Alexander's acknowledgment, blinking as if waiting for praise.
Alexander read his expression and satisfied him by saying, "Yes, you're the most amazing."