Slacker Second Gen C21

Chapter 21: School Tyrant 21

The basic curriculum in kindergarten can be summed up in one word: “Play.” Therefore, most of the time, the children are in the activity room, playing games with other kids.

Among the group of children, there are always a few who behave differently, and Yu Qian is one of them. She idly holds her water bottle and watches the other children play simple games with the help of the teacher.

She seems uninterested in the other children, and even less interested in the toys in front of her. She lies down and starts to daydream for a long time.

Zai Ye is standing in a tree, holding onto the trunk, just in time to see Yu Qian lying there silently through the large window.

Most of the time, he looks like he’s daydreaming at school as well, but when it comes to his daughter, Zai Ye can’t help but feel a little anxious. The child’s boredom and idleness, in Zai Ye’s eyes, represent “listlessness” and “depression.”

He furrows his brow tightly, closely watching to see what action the child will take next. After a long time, he sees another child approach Yu Qian, and Zai Ye thought they would interact or play together, but instead, the little girl directly took the small toy in front of Yu Qian and played with it elsewhere.

Zai Ye: “……Why doesn’t she react when her toy is taken away?”

The young father expressed his frustration about his daughter’s failure to socialize in kindergarten and raised his hand to hit the tree trunk.

Yu Qian doesn’t particularly like kindergarten; she prefers staying at home or at the play lounge with many large toys. There, she can choose what to eat, drink, and play with freely, unlike now, where she’s restricted from wandering around.

She lies there for a while, almost falling asleep. But the lively little blue light spot next to her is very noisy, shouting: 【So pitiful, our male lead is already a mature father, sneaking outside to watch his child.】

【Host, look! The male lead is outside!】

For this occasionally noisy little light spot, two-year-old Yu Qian doesn’t understand its “system” identity that appears in some memories and simply considers it some special companion or pet.

After hearing it talk for a while, Yu Qian lifts her head and looks out the window.

She makes eye contact with Zai Ye, who is standing on the tree outside the wall.

Three seconds later, Yu Qian, who was almost falling asleep, suddenly opens her mouth and starts crying loudly.

This sudden cry causes an immediate chain reaction in the classroom, just like how a wolf’s howl triggers many others. Soon, the room is filled with the cries of children at varying volumes.

Young children are especially susceptible to being influenced by their peers. No matter what they were doing before, once one child starts crying, several others follow, and soon all the children begin to cry.

The three teachers here quickly start comforting the children. One of them rushes to Yu Qian, calling her name. Before asking what happened, she suddenly notices something unusual in Yu Qian’s gaze and realizes that she too is making eye contact with Zai Ye outside the wall.

At this point, Zai Ye is leaning forward in the tree, curious about why Yu Qian suddenly cried.

One teacher noticed, and the other two quickly did too.

The younger teacher’s expression turned serious: “Who is that? Why are they peeping from the tree? Did the child get scared?”

The older teacher, more experienced, said: “You should have the security guard ask if that’s the child’s parent. Regardless, tell him to come down, don’t stand there.”

Zai Ye soon faced the scrutinizing security guards and had no choice but to climb down from the tree. However, instead of leaving, he shrugged his backpack and, after registering, entered the kindergarten.

Before long, Yu Qian was taken out of the classroom. Her father, who had been spying from the tree, stood by the door and reached out to take her hand, walking her out.

The morning’s lessons were far from finished, but Yu Qian, the student, was excused with the help of her parent and left the kindergarten openly.

The sun was still bright, and Zai Ye placed his hat on Yu Qian’s head to shield her fair face. He slung her little backpack and water bottle on his elbow and carried her under the shade of the trees along the street.

“Why did you suddenly cry just now?” Zai Ye asked.

The child blinked her big, dark eyes. “Daddy climbed the tree!”

Zai Ye: “Shut up.”

Although he kept a cold and indifferent expression under the strange gaze of the teachers and security guards, the awkwardness of being singled out as a suspicious person while climbing down the tree still lingered in his mind.

“Daddy, Xiu Ge!” Yu Qian requested to go to the Skyhigh Game Lounge, where there were many large toys.

Zai Ye also had the same idea. He impulsively took the child out, but now he wasn’t sure where to go. However…

“Xiu Ge is what I call him. You should call him Xiu Shu.” (Uncle)

“Xiu Shu.” Yu Qian obediently called out.

Unfortunately, their plan failed. When they arrived at Skyhigh Game Lounge, they found the door shut. A sign on the door read that the owner was away on a trip and the reopening date was uncertain.

Zai Ye and Yu Qian: “……”

Zai Ye had to find another way to pass the time.

Passing by a movie theater, Zai Ye noticed a poster of a game character he played. Upon closer inspection, it was a movie adaptation of a game, which was said to be a big production. He had heard about it from some of the younger students at school. He became a little interested and pointed to the poster, asking Yu Qian: “Do you want to watch it?”

Yu Qian bounced in his arms and eagerly responded: “Yes!”

Zai Ye bought tickets and took the child inside. On a weekday morning, there were few people. He and Yu Qian sat in the middle of the theater, with no one around them, waiting for the movie to begin.

Holding a bucket of popcorn, Zai Ye kept his hand over the top, occasionally giving a piece to the child, who struggled to grab a kernel from his fingers. But she enjoyed it and didn’t really watch the movie.

She didn’t quite understand the special effects or the heroes, but the fragrant popcorn was far more appealing to her.

“What is this?” Zai Ye muttered after watching for a while. The plot of the game adaptation movie was rather nonsensical, and he sighed, grabbing another handful of popcorn. He considered leaving early to avoid being tortured for the next hour by this nonsensical thing.

But soon, he noticed that the child hadn’t grabbed any more popcorn. He looked over and saw that she had fallen asleep.

The child seemed very small in the wide theater seat, sliding down. Zai Ye put down the popcorn bucket, lifted her, and laid her in his arms so she could sleep on him.

He wasted more than an hour watching a bizarre movie while Yu Qian slept for over an hour. When the movie ended, she was still asleep, and only when the cleaning staff entered did Zai Ye carry his child out.

“You really can sleep,” he muttered.

The child, snuggled against his shoulder, felt soft and warm. After a while, she woke up and started asking for various things.

And so, the first day of school ended with the father and daughter duo skipping class.

That evening, Ms. Wen Ling texted, asking how Yu Qian had reacted to her first day of school and if she was adjusting well.

She had no idea that her child hadn’t attended school at all today, but had spent the whole day playing outside. Recalling her own experience of sending her child to kindergarten, Wen Ling had many thoughts and sent some messages to her eldest son about encouraging the child to be independent, to develop practical skills, and the importance of interacting with peers.

Zai Ye felt a bit guilty.

The next day, Zai Ye went to school early, leaving Wu Yi (Aunt Wu) to take Yu Qian to kindergarten, as kindergarten starts later than high school. He thought Wen Ling’s words had some merit.

However, while sitting in the high school classroom, listening to the teacher, Zai Ye couldn’t help but wonder: “Did Wu Yi take the child to kindergarten on time? I didn’t take her today, did she cry? I wonder what she ate for lunch, did she get enough sleep? Her nap schedule is quite casual; will she get used to it?”

In kindergarten, with so many children, one teacher has to take care of many, and it’s impossible to be that meticulous.

Before he realized it, Zai Ye was once again standing outside the kindergarten wall.

This time, he didn’t climb the tree and decided to just take a quick look from outside the wall.

It was outdoor activity time, and a group of children were playing near the playground equipment. Yu Qian, holding a small bucket of sand, spotted Zai Ye peeking from outside the wall.

Yu Qian: “Wah!”

Ten minutes later, under the teachers’ helpless gaze, Zai Ye took the happy child away.

Though teachers had seen parents who couldn’t bear to watch their children outside, it was rare to see a parent directly taking their child home during class time. This particular parent was also unusually young.

On school days, Yu Qian happily spent another day skipping school with her father.

On the third day, before leaving, Zai Ye told Yu Qian: “Today, you go to school properly. I won’t come to see you. I’ll pick you up in the afternoon, okay?”

Yu Qian didn’t speak, only twisting her fingers while looking at him.

Zai Ye coldly carried his backpack and left.

Around noon that day, Yu Qian spotted her cold-faced father, wearing his backpack, standing outside the bush by the wall.

Once again, he took the child from the teacher and led her, pondering where they should go.

As they walked near a primary school, they unexpectedly ran into Wen Ling, who was there to deliver something to her son, Lu Lang. She looked at the father and daughter in surprise, somewhat puzzled.

“Zai Ye? What are you doing here? Isn’t it class time? Shouldn’t Yu Qian be in class? What are you two doing…”

Both skipping school, caught on the spot.

Zai Ye didn’t know what he was thinking. In that moment, he suddenly grabbed Yu Qian and ran.

They ran for two streets before Zai Ye stopped, slapped his forehead in frustration, and muttered to himself, “Damn it, why am I running?”

Yu Qian, who had been carried all the way, laughed and reached out her little hand to slap his forehead.

The sound was particularly crisp.

That evening, Wen Ling indeed came to visit. She found it a little funny as she looked at the father and daughter on the opposite sofa, one pretending not to care while hugging his arms and refusing to look at her, and the other swinging her short legs in confusion.

“I asked Yu Qian’s teachers about her situation over the past few days… Zai Ye, tomorrow, make sure you go to school properly, and let Yu Qian go to school properly too, okay?”

“……Mm.”

Wen Ling spoke with a smile and helplessness: “Zai Ye, children have to grow up. When she grows up, she will leave you, so you need to start getting used to it now.”

———

—Adding “Shu” (叔) to a name means uncle, typically referring to someone younger than your father or used respectfully for an elder man.