Slacker Second Gen C05

Chapter 5: School Tyrant 5

In the middle of the night, a big and small figure curled up together under a blanket, sleeping on the living room sofa.

The sofa was quite hard, not as comfortable as the soft sofas at Skyhigh Game Lounge, and certainly not as cozy, Neither of them slept well.

The next morning, the freshly woken father-daughter duo once again arrived at Skyhigh Game Lounge.

“Brother Li, I’m leaving her with you today. I have to go to school,” Zai Ye said.

Li Xiu deliberately exclaimed, “Wow, that’s rare! It’s not like you’ve never skipped school before. Why are you voluntarily going this time?”

Zai Ye replied, “…The homeroom teacher called to scold me. I have to make an appearance. I’ll pick her up this afternoon.”

Seeing the sleep-deprived look on Zai Ye’s face, Li Xiu stopped joking and agreed, “Alright, I’ll look after her for you today.”

Zai Ye turned and left, walking briskly.

Li Xiu, holding the hand of little Yu Qian, who was munching on a bun, pinched the uneven braids on her head and said, “Your dad is still a kid himself. He hasn’t figured this out yet. Let’s give him a day to think it through. Today, you’ll stick with Brother… uh, Uncle… or maybe it should be Grandpa? Never mind, just call me Uncle. You’ll hang out with Uncle today!”

Yu Qian, while chewing on her bun, mumbled an unclear “Uncle” in response.

“Ah, so cute! Did your dad tie these braids for you? They’re really ugly!”

As soon as Li Xiu finished speaking, Zai Ye reappeared at the door and, in an emotionless tone, said, “Remember, don’t let her drink too much cola.”

Li Xiu was puzzled. “Huh?”

The child, obediently eating her bun, suddenly remembered something embarrassing. “Ahhh!”

Li Xiu jumped in surprise, while Zai Ye, who had come back specifically to give a reminder, quickly disappeared, leaving Li Xiu bewildered and facing the child’s outburst.

Having entrusted Yu Qian to someone else, Zai Ye felt unburdened as he arrived at school. The students in their uniforms bustled about, full of energy. Though it was a familiar scene, it now felt like a lifetime ago to Zai Ye.

Just thinking about the fact that he was now a father made him feel a bit out of place as he watched his classmates fooling around in the classroom.

He had been delayed abroad for two years due to psychological issues, and when he returned, his father forced him to repeat a grade, making him the oldest student in the class. As a result, everyone called him “Brother Ye.” However, the maturity he had from being older before was completely different from the newfound emotional maturity he now felt.

Looking at his classmates today, they seemed especially childish.

“Brother Ye! You’re finally here!” One of the boys who had been goofing off noticed him at the door and greeted him with a smile.

“Brother Ye, what were you up to yesterday? Did your family find out about that fight?”

“You missed the basketball game yesterday! Our class lost to Class Four. Those cheaters even brought in outside help!”

“Brother Ye, they handed out test papers yesterday. I put yours in your desk drawer.”

Zai Ye walked to his seat and sat down. A few boys gathered around to chat. Noticing that their “boss” seemed off today, they whispered among themselves while he rested his head on the desk.

“Why does Brother Ye look so out of it today?”

“Yeah, he seems distracted.”

This distracted state lasted all day. At noon, a few boys even saw Zai Ye staring at his phone for a long time. They speculated, “Could it be that Brother Ye finally got a girlfriend?”

“Heartbroken, perhaps?”

“I’m too curious. Let’s find a way to get the details. Who’s the girl that caught our Brother Ye’s eye?”

In reality, Zai Ye was watching a video sent by Li Xiu.

The video showed Yu Qian standing on a little stool, seriously playing with a claw machine.

In the accompanying voice message, Li Xiu said, “I took Xiao Qian out for lunch, and we stopped by the mall to play on the claw machine. She didn’t want to leave, so I ended up buying a claw machine for Skyhigh Game Lounge. Look how focused she is. I don’t even have to watch her!”

With her “new toy,” Yu Qian was completely engrossed and had seemingly forgotten about her dad. After all, “dad” wasn’t going anywhere.

In the afternoon, during study class, the classroom was in chaos. A group of boys exchanged glances and pulled the spaced-out Zai Ye into their game.

“Brother Ye, let’s play Truth or Dare!” one of them said, pulling out a deck of cards from his desk.

“You play by yourselves,” Zai Ye refused.

“Brother Ye! It’s my birthday today, and since we can’t go out, I just wanted to have some fun. Please grant me this tiny wish!” The boy clasped his hands together in mock prayer.

Zai Ye sighed. “…”

The game began, and with the boys’ coordinated efforts, Zai Ye was quickly dealt the designated card.

“Truth,” he said, tossing his card onto the desk. If he chose dare, these guys would probably make him confess to someone or run down the hallway shirtless.

The boys sighed in disappointment. Then someone asked, “Alright, Brother Ye, are you a virgin?”

Before Zai Ye could answer, someone else shouted, “Why even ask? Of course he is!”

“Damn it! Who told you to ask that? Ask about his girlfriend!”

After a moment of silent contemplation, Zai Ye replied, “I’m not.”

He reasoned that he couldn’t possibly be a virgin if he had a biological daughter. His logic was sound.

“You’re not?! How is that possible?!” The boys erupted in chaos, with one even yelling excitedly, “Who is it? Who’s the girl?!”

That was a question even Zai Ye wanted to know.

Amid the uproar, Zai Ye suddenly stood up. “I’m skipping evening study. I’m leaving.”

“Hey, Brother Ye, you’re leaving already?”

“Is he mad at us?”

“Doesn’t seem like it… Brother Ye’s been acting so mysterious these past couple of days.”

Zai Ye pondered one question as he left: How does one become a good father?

It was an overwhelmingly complex question.

He went to Skyhigh Game Lounge to pick up Yu Qian. Li Xiu asked, “What’s your plan from here? You’re still in school, and she’s so young. You can’t manage alone. I’ll say this now: I’ll only help you babysit for a day. Don’t count on me all the time.”

“I think you should hire a nanny. You can’t handle this by yourself,” Li Xiu added.

Zai Ye stayed silent.

He wasn’t unaware of the necessity, but his own childhood experiences made him resistant.

When his parents were going through a year-long divorce, the house was filled with arguments and tears. During that time, he was neglected. A young nanny tasked with looking after him began abusing him when no one was home. She even drugged his food with sleeping pills, which sent him to the hospital.

He later learned that this nanny had been having an affair with his father. His mother had discovered this and demanded a divorce. His father, overwhelmed, ignored the nanny, who retaliated by taking her anger out on him.

Because of this, Zai Ye developed an intense dislike for his father and a deep mistrust of nannies.

While at school, he had looked into preschools that accepted two-year-olds. The problem was that Yu Qian had no official documentation.

If he applied for her papers, his parents would undoubtedly find out. Just thinking about it frustrated him.

When he returned home, he found the place spotless, thanks to the cleaning service.

“Come here. Let’s wash your hair.”

For the past few days, Yu Qian had been bathing herself but hadn’t washed her hair properly. Zai Ye thought it smelled a bit off.

He filled a basin with water and grabbed the shampoo. However, faced with the task, he felt as clueless as someone washing a cat for the first time. Despite how docile the “cat” appeared, he had no idea where to start.

Yu Qian gave him a look, then dipped her head straight into the basin.

“Hey!” Zai Ye quickly pulled her back up.

Yu Qian struggled. “Pfft, my eyes!”

While pouring water over her head, he also wiped her eyes, as she would scream if even a little water got in. If he didn’t wipe her eyes quickly enough, she would rub them on his knees.

When it came time to apply shampoo, he accidentally poured too much, and her entire head was engulfed in foam.

“My eyes hurt!” she cried.

“Don’t open them!” he instructed.

“My scalp hurts!” she protested as he scrubbed too hard.

Her protests turned into wild thrashing, sending foam flying everywhere, some of it landing on his face.

Eventually, he had to hold her under his arm, flipping her upside down to rinse her hair.

After drying and combing her hair, he realized he couldn’t face the ordeal of braiding it again tomorrow morning. He decided on the spot to take her for a haircut.

The freshly washed and fragrant child bounced onto the bed, completely forgetting her accident from the previous night.

Exhausted and drenched, with soap suds still on his hair, Zai Ye locked himself in the bathroom to shower. As soon as he pulled off his black T-shirt, the door burst open.

Grabbing a towel to cover himself, he glared at the little head poking through. “What do you want? You can’t look!”

Yu Qian blinked. “I want yogurt!”

Remembering the previous night’s events, he said, “No. You’ll wet the bed.”

She insisted, “I won’t wet the bed! No cola, just yogurt!”

“Cola and yogurt are both liquids. Drink too much, and you’ll still wet the bed,” he argued.

A two-year-old’s conviction is hard to shake. After a ten-minute standoff, he relented and let her have one bottle.

That night, he barely slept. At the slightest movement from the child, he jolted awake, quickly carrying her to the toilet before anything happened.

After resolving that, he finally fell asleep—only to be awakened by a message notification.

It was from Li Xiu.

“Ye, I need to tell you something. Remember when I shared Xiao Qian’s picture with your cousin? Well, that unreliable idiot accidentally posted it in the family group chat while drunk. Aunt Ling saw it.”

“Wen Cheng just messaged me. Aunt Ling called him to ask about it. I don’t think you can keep this under wraps anymore. Just a heads-up.”

Wen Ling—Zai Ye’s mother.

“By the way, I’m not at Skyhigh Game Lounge for now, so don’t come looking for me!”

Cursing, Zai Ye tried calling him, but his phone was off. He then tried calling his cousin Wen Cheng, but it was also off.

“…!” He had a torrent of curses on the tip of his tongue.

At that moment, the child beside him suddenly laughed in her sleep.

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—”Xiao” (小) means “little” and is used as an affectionate or casual prefix before names, often for younger or close individuals.