Slacker Second Gen C18

Chapter 18: School Tyrant 18

“Xiong Xiong is so cute!” Yu Qian also expressed her love for the two-meter-tall bear.

As Zai Ye returned home, one arm holding the child and the other holding the bear, Yu Qian kept trying to reach over his head to hug the bear. This caused some minor trouble for Zai Ye, so in the end, he placed the child on his chest, wedged between him and the bear, which made her calm down.

The large bear’s long legs wrapped around Zai Ye’s waist, tying a knot behind him. The position was quite eye-catching, and Zai Ye’s steps as he entered the house were unusually quick.

It was a struggle for Yu Qian to let go of her new toy even after getting home.

The bear, which had been bought somewhere, was not only cute in appearance but also extremely soft to the touch. Yu Qian buried herself in the bear. Zai Ye grabbed a drink from the fridge, took a few sips, and saw the bear lying on the couch with the child lying on it. Compared to the bear, the child looked like a little bear.

At bedtime, Zai Ye changed into his pajamas and came out of the bathroom. He saw the child trying hard to carry the bear from the living room to the bedroom.

She was small, and with such a big bear on her back, most of the bear’s body was dragging on the floor. The child was completely covered by the bear, and for a moment, Zai Ye thought the bear had come to life and was crawling on the ground.

Luckily, the cleaning lady was diligent, and the floors and carpets were spotless. Otherwise, Zai Ye would never have allowed Yu Qian to drag the bear around like a mop.

On the first day Yu Qian came to this house, the bear successfully inserted itself between the father and daughter, becoming the third person sleeping in the middle of the bed.

The bed, which had been spacious, became very cramped with the addition of the giant bear. Late at night, when Zai Ye was once again squeezed by the bear, he angrily pulled it out and threw it to the bed’s head, using it as a pillow.

He used one of the bear’s legs as a pillow, while the child used one of its arms.

Seeing how much Yu Qian loved the bear, Zai Ye endured it. But soon after, a group of people, almost as if they had coordinated, began sending over a large pile of stuffed toys.

It started with small bear and rabbit toys, then half-human-sized duck and goose toys, and eventually even one-meter-tall Ultraman and monster toys. Zai Ye endured them all, but the most absurd was Li Xiu, who had custom-made a four-meter-long “Paw Bear.”

Upon seeing it, Zai Ye couldn’t help but ask, “Are you crazy?”

Li Xiu confidently responded, “As Yu Qian’s godfather, I should give her the biggest one, since she is closest to me after you!”

Zai Ye couldn’t understand this strange sense of competition, and he was even more concerned with another issue: “When did you become her godfather?”

Li Xiu: “I’ve been helping you look after her for so long! Don’t I deserve to be her godfather?”

Zai Ye: “…”

Li Xiu: “You’re heartless! With the summer vacation coming, you’re on your own with the kid. I’m not helping anymore. The Skyhigh Game Lounge is closing for two months, so I’m going to have some fun.”

Zai Ye: “Wait…”

When summer vacation arrived, Zai Ye discovered that his house had turned into a sea of stuffed toys. The originally spacious and quiet house had become overly crowded. Even sitting on the couch required clearing off the toys like cats, dogs, chickens, and ducks before he could find a spot for himself.

He tossed the toys to the side, but Yu Qian diligently moved them back onto the couch.

Zai Ye had tried to stuff most of the toys into an empty room or closet, but soon after, he found Yu Qian pulling them out and placing them back in visible areas. Even when he hid them in high cabinets, the child insisted on having them brought down.

Despite so many toys, Zai Ye couldn’t remember them all, but Yu Qian could. If even one was missing, she would squat in front of him and ask repeatedly where it went. Eventually, Zai Ye, fed up with her constant questioning, took the toys out from the highest shelf, and she would finally stop nagging.

Over time, Zai Ye got used to it. When sitting on the couch, he was too lazy to clean, so he just lay on the toys playing games, with his feet on the dog toy and stepping on the rabbit toy’s ears.

In the first few days of summer vacation, Zai Ye spent his time playing games at home, leading a lazy yet leisurely life. He played games while Yu Qian seriously watched TV, but soon, Zai Ye got bored. He couldn’t stay at home forever.

If he wanted to go out, he had to take the child with him, but most of the activities he wanted to do weren’t suitable for a child.

One night, after Yu Qian had fallen asleep early, Zai Ye was still playing on his phone when he suddenly received a message from his younger brother(lackey), inviting him to go out for a late-night snack.

Having been home for so long, Zai Ye was eager to get out. He checked to make sure the child was asleep, then quietly got up, changed into sportswear, and left the house wearing a cap.

The night air felt so free, and as a young high school student, Zai Ye leapt off the steps with ease, walking with a breeze. He hopped on his motorcycle, speeding through the night streets.

After half an hour of freedom, he couldn’t help but check his phone to look at the surveillance footage. In the footage, the bedroom still looked the same as it had before he left, with a small bump under the blanket where the child’s head was visible.

The young people’s nightlife had just begun. Zai Ye, smelling the smoky air of the night market, found his younger brothers waiting for skewers and beer.

He sat at an empty spot, and others greeted him.

“Ye Bro, you finally showed up! What have you been doing lately? No time to hang out?”

“Ye Bro, all-nighter today!”

“Ye Bro, play some games!”

Zai Ye casually responded to their chatter, cracked open a can of beer with one hand, took a couple of sips, and sighed in relaxation.

After about ten minutes of eating, Zai Ye pulled out his phone to check the surveillance again.

Zai Ye: “…!”

Suddenly, he spit out his beer. He put the beer down and stared at the screen. The bump where the child had been lying was gone!

The bathroom light was off, so she wasn’t inside. He switched to the living room and kitchen surveillance, but everything was silent, and the child was nowhere to be seen.

“Hey, the butter’s ready, come eat… Hey, Ye Bro, where are you going?”

Zai Ye hastily stood up and said, “I’ve got something to do, I’m heading back.”

He rushed through the crowd of people eating late-night snacks and headed straight for where he parked his bike. He sped back home, burst into the bedroom, turned on the lights, and pulled the blanket aside. The child wasn’t in bed, and there was no sign of her under the big bear or the bed.

He searched the bathroom and all the closets, but found nothing.

“Qian?”

“Yu Qian?”

Zai Ye left the bedroom and searched the living room and kitchen again, but still found nothing. He frowned deeply, and suddenly remembered he could replay the surveillance footage.

He was so flustered.

He pulled out his phone, dragged the progress bar on the footage, and saw the child suddenly wake up, sit up in bed, and wobble to the bathroom. After a while, she came out again, but instead of going back to bed, she crawled into the corner of the bedroom.

In that corner was the giant four-meter-long Paw Bear Li Xiu had given. Because of its size, it had been squeezed into the room when it first arrived. Now it was folded up in the corner of the bedroom, with other small toys piled beside it.

The child, so small, had crawled into the gap in the giant bear and was hidden from view. No wonder he couldn’t find her.

Zai Ye, both angry and amused, walked back to the bedroom and finally saw the child’s short, chubby feet sticking out of the gap between the toys. This little brat was sleeping soundly. Zai Ye dragged her out, and she was still clutching a rabbit toy’s ear.

Zai Ye sat down cross-legged on the floor and pinched her cheek as she woke up groggily. He sternly asked, “Why didn’t you sleep in bed and ran off to hide here?”

Yu Qian rubbed her eyes and sniffed, suddenly noticing the smell of food on him, and mumbled, “Late-night snack! I want to eat too!”

Zai Ye cursed, “Eat my foot! I’m already full from being scared by you!”

After this close call, not long later, Zai Ye received another invitation—this time from Ning Zeyi to race on the mountain road. It had been a while since he had ridden there, and he was itching to go.

This time, he learned his lesson. He locked the door, cleared the stuffed toys from the corner of the bedroom, and made sure there were no surveillance dead zones before sneaking out.

On the mountain road, the long-lost Fire Ghost reappeared.

Zai Ye rode around for two laps, feeling exhilarated. At the finish line, he checked his phone again for the surveillance footage. The child was still sound asleep in bed.

Noticing that Zai Ye kept checking his phone, Ning Zeyi stopped beside him. “What are you looking at?”

Zai Ye put a foot on the ground to steady his bike, removed his helmet, and shook his sweat

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—”Xiong Xiong” is a playful nickname derived from the Chinese word for “bear” (熊), used to sound cute or affectionate. It keeps the original tone better than a literal translation like “Bear Bear.”