Slacker Second Gen C10

Chapter 10: School Tyrant 10

At the basketball court in Willow Park, a group of boys in sportswear were playing basketball.

This area is quite lively every Saturday night, with people playing basketball, skateboarding, and badminton, while further away there’s an area with fitness equipment for the elderly, a chatting area for the older women, and a section where parents bring their kids.

The sounds of noisy children could be heard across a small patch of woods from the basketball court.

Between the two basketball courts, separated by a meter-high fence, Zai Ye and his group of friends were on the right court.

“Bang, bang, bang.” The sound of the basketball hitting the ground mixed with the shouts of the boys, “Quick, block him!”

“Damn, can’t block him! You’re just talking, why don’t you try blocking him yourself!”

A tall, dark-skinned boy cursed as he chased after the fast-moving Zai Ye, trying to block him. Zai Ye dribbled and spun, slipping right past him as fast as the wind, and in the blink of an eye, he reached the basket.

With one hand, he lifted the ball, and as the boy guarding the basket jumped up to block him, Zai Ye spun his wrist and passed the ball to a tall, thin boy waiting beside him. The boy smiled brightly, caught the ball, and before anyone could react, he dunked it in with a loud clang.

The ball bounced out of the hoop and hit the ground, only for Zai Ye to grab it and pat it twice.

“Too sneaky, why did you pass the ball to Old Six! Weren’t we supposed to face off head-on?”

“You guys are the sneaky ones, all ganging up on Brother Ye! Do you even understand tactics?”

Having run for an hour on the court without stopping, Zai Ye was drenched in sweat. He rolled up the hem of his T-shirt and wiped his face. He had a particularly handsome face, even the way sweat dripped from his nose seemed to have a certain charm. As he wiped the sweat, his half-wet shirt revealed his abdominal muscles, causing two girls passing by the basketball court to stop and stare.

“Such a handsome guy!”

“He looks a bit familiar, isn’t he from our school?”

The two girls whispered to each other.

Zai Ye glanced at them but didn’t care. He dribbled the ball and ran off toward the other side.

Unlike the energetic father happily running wild outside, Yu Qian comfortably sat in the living room with air conditioning, lounging on a soft couch while watching TV. She wore a newly bought pajama set and smelled fresh from her bath. On the coffee table in front of her were cut-up fruits.

Meanwhile, her grandmother, Lady Wen Ling, who thought she was too skinny, was still in the kitchen, baking yogurt snacks for her.

On the TV was a recently popular campus idol drama about the love story between a genius girl who transferred schools and the school Tyrant. Lady Wen Ling watched it probably because the male lead, the school Tyrant, resembled her son a bit.

Yu Qian leaned back on the couch, watching the school tyrant show off his skills on the basketball court. The female lead passed by the court, and the school tyrant noticed her, so he deliberately threw the basketball against the netting to catch her attention.

“Hey, I’m thirsty, buy me some water.” The school tyrant said domineeringly.

The female lead blushed, unsure whether out of anger or embarrassment. “Why should I buy you water!”

In the background, the school tyrant’s lackeys cheered: “Hurry up and buy water for our boss! What’s there to be shy about?”

This made the female lead fluster, with her eyes turning red. The school tyrant stood there with a mischievous grin, waiting for her to agree. Finally, the female lead turned and ran, with the school tyrant chasing after her, calling her name.

Yu Qian began crawling around on the couch, searching for the remote.

System 65, which no one but Yu Qian could see, flickered beside her. It also watched the TV screen and sighed.

[This was the kind of strategy I wanted to recommend to you at the start, the sweet and sour love story between the school tyrant and the genius, a light-hearted comedy. I would get drenched in the rain for you, and you would cry for me. First love is unforgettable, I referenced a lot of popular love novel plots to create a strategy for 99 things the school tyrant must do! But now it’s all for nothing.]

Yu Qian squirmed on the couch for a while before finally finding the remote. She pressed a few buttons randomly and was lucky enough to switch to a anime—a classic old animated series produced by Toei Animation. She began watching it with relish.

System 65, feeling bored now that the host had turned into a childish little kid, complained loudly beside her: [Why did you change the channel? You could have learned from those characters. They’re about to start their romance!]

Yu Qian didn’t want to watch the two overly smoothed-out faces chasing each other on TV. The flickering lights were annoying, so she climbed up and grabbed a fly swatter from under the cabinet. Suddenly, she swung it at the system’s light spot.

System 65: [Ah! Why are you hitting me?!]

It flickered and dodged Yu Qian’s fly swatter, but the young girl seemed to find the game amusing, focused and persistent in trying to swat it down.

Lady Wen Ling returned, holding the baked yogurt snacks. She saw her precious little granddaughter standing on the couch, swatting at flies, and smiled warmly.

“Little Qian is swatting flies? Be careful not to fall off, let Grandma help you.”

The system cried out.

“Hey, beautiful, add me on WeChat!” A basketball bounced off the netting, startling the two girls walking by.

They had just passed by the right basketball court and had seen a handsome guy playing basketball, discussing it happily. But as they kept walking, they heard someone call out from the left basketball court.

A man, looking to be in his early twenties, picked up the basketball and, with a playful grin, called out to the two girls, “Wanna join us? Let me teach you how to play basketball.”

One of the girls, a bit shy, closed her mouth in fear, while the other, braver, stepped in front, rolled her eyes, and said, “Are you crazy?”

The man’s face immediately darkened, his tone turning sharp: “You’re asking for trouble, huh? You were just happily talking about that little pretty boy over there! Now you’re acting all tough here with me!”

“Damn, women these days are all like this…”

The angry shouting caught the attention of Zai Ye and his group on the right court.

The tall, thin boy stopped and turned to look, noticing the group of people gathering. “What are they doing?”

“They seem to be bothering the girls,” the dark-skinned boy said, suddenly hearing a girl scream. He sprinted over, “Damn, they’re bullying people! Let’s go!”

Zai Ye, with the basketball in hand, furrowed his brows and ran toward the left court. To get through the gate to the other basketball court, he had to take a detour. He looked at the fence between the courts, sprinted for a jump, and grabbed the top of the fence, flipping himself over.

By taking the shortcut, he reached the scene faster than the dark-skinned boy, just as he saw the man grabbing a girl’s shirt, trying to make a move. Zai Ye picked up the basketball and, with precision, threw it at the man’s head, knocking him down.

“Damn, who the hell is this?!”

“What’s going on, bullying people?” the dark-skinned boy shouted as he arrived, his loud voice booming. The other boys followed. Zai Ye’s group of friends shielded the two frightened girls, confronting the gang of troublemakers.

“What does it have to do with you if I’m talking to them? Get lost!” The man, now standing, yelled.

Zai Ye, “Didn’t you see they didn’t want it?”

He glanced at the two girls behind him. One had a round face, looking very young, and the other, although made up, didn’t seem much older. Zai Ye’s expression darkened as he thought for a moment before coldly glaring at the men in front of him. “Don’t you have mothers or sisters? What about daughters? Why only bully them? Why don’t you come and try practicing with us?”

The man, humiliated, roared in anger, “Fine, I’ll practice with you!” and swung a punch at Zai Ye’s face.

Zai Ye’s arm muscles bulged as he blocked the punch, then swiftly retaliated with a punch to the man’s face, instantly making his nose bleed.

“Ah!” someone screamed.

Zai Ye clenched his fist, “If their dads were here and saw you harassing them, they’d beat you to death on the spot.”

The sudden words made everyone freeze. The man wiping his nose looked at Zai Ye, his expression shifting. “You know their dad?”

Zai Ye sneered, “No, but I can understand that feeling.”

The man cursed angrily and rushed at him again, “What the hell are you talking about?”

The whole group erupted into chaos.

Although still students, Zai Ye and his friends were no strangers to fights, and they didn’t back down against a group of men a few years older than them.

But they were a disorganized group, and after a few punches, they started to panic. Throwing a couple of tough words, they began to run.

“You wait, we’re here every week. If you have the guts, come back next week! We’ll make sure to finish you off!”

The boys, fueled by anger, chased after them, driving the troublemakers out of the court.

The gang of bullies disappeared, and Zai Ye and his friends returned to the court, massaging their sore arms and shoulders.

“Pah! Trash, what the hell!”

“They said next week? We’ll be stupid to show up.”

“Not that! We can go report them to the cops, then catch them red-handed.”

“Damn, that’s on you, Old Six.”

One of the girls, still holding her phone, had been recording the incident. She looked a little shaken and said, “Thank you guys so much.”

“It’s nothing.” They all replied.

Zai Ye turned to the two girls, “You should go back through the park square on the right side, you shouldn’t run into them.”

“Okay.” The girl with the phone, surprised by the cool guy’s kindness, felt a bit bolder and asked curiously, “Why did you mention our dad earlier?”

Zai Ye: “…”

Not just the two girls, but the other boys were also curious and stared at him.

Zai Ye, with a serious face, replied, “Go back quickly. Don’t make your dads worry.”

The girl rolled her eyes. “He won’t worry. He comes home later than me. He’s got no time to worry about me.”

Zai Ye’s expression tightened, and he hesitated. “Do girls grow up to have a bad relationship with their dads because of rebellion?”

The girl answered, “It’s not that I’m rebellious. He’s just a bad dad. I’ve never had a good relationship with him!”

Zai Ye’s face remained stern as he turned to look at the other girl, who had remained silent.

The girl, feeling nervous and inexplicably uneasy, spoke softly, “I… my relationship with my dad isn’t great either. He’s kind of strict.”

…

After the girls left, the boys were about to continue their game but noticed something was off with Zai Ye. His brow was furrowed, as though he had encountered a difficult problem.

“Brother Ye, what’s wrong?”

Zai Ye, dribbling the ball, sought an answer from his friends. “What if your daughter grows up and doesn’t get along with you, and she doesn’t tell you anything when something happens, what should you do?”

“Huh? We don’t even have wives, let alone daughters. Thinking about this now is a bit too early. Let’s talk about it in ten years.”

Not soon enough, it’s urgent.

Zai Ye thought to himself, ten years from now, his daughter would be entering her rebellious phase!