Slacker Second Gen C27

Chapter 27: School Tyrant 27

Zai Ye thought that as his daughter grew older, her cleverness became more apparent.

For example, in this situation, when he purposely said he was going to make a game to scare her, her first reaction wasn’t to throw a tantrum or cry to stop him. Instead, she immediately considered how to solve the problem, and cleverly found someone in the company who could help him make the game. She bribed them and brought them to her side… It was a brilliant move of sidelining him.

Although her methods were still immature, they were already enough to be reassuring. Her father, who had been “sidelined,” couldn’t help but show a smile of anticipation as he looked forward to her growing up.

However, as children grow, bad things also happen.

The smart daughter also had some bad habits. She was very lazy and often refused to do her homework until it was absolutely necessary, when she couldn’t delay it any longer. Teachers repeatedly instructed parents to supervise their children’s homework, and Zai Ye, a parent with a history of problems, especially received extra attention from the teacher. Every day, at the appointed time, he had to take photos of his daughter doing homework and send them to the teacher.

Zai Ye felt that these staged photos were pointless, but when dealing with his daughter’s teacher, even though he was the CEO of a company and once a powerful school tyrant, he had no choice but to obediently participate in the class group’s check-ins.

“Zai Qian, it’s time, shouldn’t you be doing your homework?”

“…”

“Zai Qian?”

“…”

The child was lying on the sofa, engrossed in the animation playing on the tablet.

Zai Ye knew her bad habit. He walked over, opened her schoolbag, and compared the homework the teacher had posted in the group. He took out her textbooks and homework, and even grabbed a pen, preparing to force her to write.

Suddenly, a piece of paper fell out of the Chinese textbook in his hands. It had the words “Invitation Card” written in childish, awkward handwriting.

[Invitation: Zai Qian, come play at my house.

Inviter: Ke Yuxiang]

It also had the date, which was today.

Zai Ye silently stared at the paper for a while.

He coldly stared at the two hearts drawn next to the invitation, thinking, What does this mean? What do the hearts mean?

Is this boy inviting his daughter over to his house to play? What is there to play?

This Ke Yuxiang clearly sounds like a boy’s name.

Zai Ye became alert. Could this kid have feelings for Zai Qian? Otherwise, why would he write something like this?

Zai Ye changed his posture while holding the paper and scrutinized it. No matter how he looked at it, something about it displeased him. His brow furrowed.

What is going on with kids these days? She’s only in first grade. Are they really this precocious? He thought he wouldn’t face the issue of early romantic relationships until she was sixteen, but now it seemed like he might have to deal with it when she was only six.

Zai Ye put down the paper, crossed his arms, and stood silently by the sofa.

Yu Qian finally looked up from the animation and reluctantly said, “I’ll do my homework after this episode.”

Zai Ye asked, “Is there something you’re hiding from me?”

Yu Qian: “?”

Zai Ye: “Your secret is already known by your dad.”

After saying this, he saw that his daughter seemed to slowly realize what he meant. Her eyes wandered, glancing at the air beside her.

Seeing her guilty expression, Zai Ye immediately confirmed something was going on. His face grew colder. “Do you know how serious this is? Why didn’t you tell your father?”

Yu Qian lowered her head.

Zai Ye sat next to her. “Now, tell me what’s going on.”

Yu Qian looked at him, then looked away again, twisting her fingers as she thought for a long time.

Finally, under her father’s burning gaze, Yu Qian slumped her small shoulders and spoke.

“Well, I’ll tell you, but only you should know.”

“Tell me.”

Yu Qian leaned toward him, cupping her hand near her mouth, as if about to reveal a big secret. Zai Ye, with a cold expression, leaned toward her to listen.

“I have a little elf, a blue elf.” Yu Qian whispered her biggest secret.

Zai Ye, who had prepared to hear a story about a first grader’s early love, never expected to hear such a childish fantasy.

Zai Ye: “What?”

Yu Qian held up the tablet she was watching and pointed to the cute elf flying next to the main character. “It’s like this little elf, it can talk.”

Lately, his daughter had been really into magical girl cartoons. Zai Ye hadn’t thought much of it before, but now he felt there might be a problem. After watching so many of these cartoons, his daughter really seemed to believe in the existence of little elves.

He thought about how he believed in light and saving warriors when he was young. It was probably normal for his daughter to believe in magical girls and elves.

When she was younger, hadn’t she once treated a fly as a pet? Such innocent childhood fantasies, Zai Ye decided not to shatter them just yet. There were more pressing issues to deal with.

So he said, “I’m not talking about this. Don’t you have any other secrets you’re hiding from me?”

Yu Qian heard her father say it wasn’t about that secret. She sighed, threw herself back on the sofa, and continued watching the animation. “Nope.”

Zai Ye picked up the invitation card from the table and gave her a hint. “Then what’s this about?”

Yu Qian glanced at it and seemed unfazed, saying with complete confidence, “It’s just scrap paper.”

Zai Ye then noticed that the back of the invitation card was covered with his daughter’s random doodles. She had used someone else’s invitation card as scrap paper.

“Who is this Ke Yuxiang?”

“My deskmate.”

“Why did he write you an invitation card, wanting you to go to his house to play?”

Yu Qian thought for a moment. “Because he eats a lot?”

Zai Ye: “?”

How did she come to that conclusion?

Yu Qian complained, “Ke Yuxiang eats too much. He ate half my cookies, and Wang Xinxin didn’t get any.”

Zai Ye and his daughter’s conversation went in all sorts of unexpected directions, neither of them understanding the other perfectly.

Eventually, Zai Ye confiscated the invitation card. Yu Qian didn’t care what he planned to do with her scrap paper, and seeing that time was running out, she sighed and reluctantly started her homework.

Regarding this matter, Zai Ye felt it was necessary to stay vigilant. He mentioned it during a phone call with Li Xiu.

In contrast to her father’s discontent and alertness, Li Xiu laughed out loud.

“Has our little Qian already got a boy chasing her? How awesome!”

Her father was even more displeased. “Don’t you think this is a serious issue?”

Li Xiu: “Not really, relax. She’s only six or seven years old. What does she know? He probably just wants to play with our little Qian.”

Zai Ye, leaning on the balcony, looked out at the twinkling city lights below, and a sense of melancholy suddenly surged within him. “Qian is already at this age.”

Li Xiu: “Yeah, your daughter is almost in a relationship, and you’re still single.”

Zai Ye: “…”

Li Xiu: “I’m serious. Since little Qian is already this grown up, you don’t have to watch over her all the time. Don’t you want to find someone?”

Recently, Li Xiu had fallen in love and turned into that type of person who wanted everyone to feel the joy of love. He had been keen on meddling in the romantic lives of his friends, and this wasn’t the first time he’d brought it up with Zai Ye.

Zai Ye glanced at his daughter, who was playing games in the living room. He whispered, “I’m not considering it.”

Li Xiu, regretful, said, “You’ve never even experienced the feeling of being in a relationship? That’s too much of a loss. You don’t know, after getting a girlfriend…”

Zai Ye: “I’m hanging up now.”

Li Xiu: “Wait, wait, can’t I stop talking about this? Didn’t you just say that little Qian thinks she’s a magical girl?”

Zai Ye paused the action of hanging up, suddenly interested in continuing the conversation. “Yeah, she said she has a little elf.”

Li Xiu: “Hahaha! Now I know what to get her for her birthday this year.”

Zai Ye, recalling the gifts he had given her in previous years, warned, “Don’t send her anything ridiculous again.”

Li Xiu: “How can a magical girl not have a magic wand? And those special clothes magical girls wear…”

Hearing this, Zai Ye had an idea. Why not make her a dress-up game this year?

Although he had talked it over with his friends, Zai Ye was still somewhat concerned about his daughter possibly being pursued by a little boy. Over the next week, every time he went to pick up his daughter, he would scrutinize the other boys with suspicious eyes. Unfortunately, he never managed to encounter Ke Yuxiang.

Soon, an excellent opportunity to investigate came up.

Yu Qian’s school was holding a parent-child sports day. Zai Ye, leaving behind his stressed-out employees, donned sportswear and went to his daughter’s school.

Compared to the other parents, he looked exceptionally youthful. Many thought he was her older brother.

Following behind Yu Qian as they entered the school, Zai Ye’s eyes were sharp. Whenever any boys spoke to Yu Qian, he would examine them carefully. When they arrived at her class, many kids were playing outside.

When Yu Qian arrived, a little boy was the first to run over.

“Zai Qian, here, have some candy.” The boy took a piece of candy out of his pocket and handed it to Yu Qian.

Yu Qian naturally accepted the candy from the little boy and took out a bag of cookies from her backpack to give him. “Here, have some.”

Zai Ye raised an eyebrow as he watched them interact.

“Zai Qian, who is this?”

Yu Qian: “Ke Yuxiang.”

As soon as the name was spoken, Zai Ye’s expression changed. He crossed his arms and scrutinized the short, chubby little boy before him.

The boy, confused and slightly scared, looked up at him, unsure of what to make of the situation.

“You’re Ke Yuxiang?”

The boy nodded timidly.

“I’m Zai Qian’s dad.” Zai Ye’s tone was cold and aloof, as though on a higher plane. “What did you give Zai Qian?”

“Candy.” The boy’s face, as pale as dough, looked puzzled, and he instinctively took out another piece of candy from his pocket to offer it to this imposing man. “Candy.”

Zai Ye blocked it with his hand and said coolly, “No need. It’s not your turn to try to please me yet.”

The poor Ke Yuxiang didn’t understand. He just knew that Zai Ye didn’t want it, so he ate the candy himself and tried to run away from this strange uncle.

“Wait, I’m not finished.” Zai Ye took a couple of steps forward, grabbing the child before he could escape.

At this moment, he looked up and saw his daughter, already inside the classroom with her backpack. She was surrounded by little friends, and several boys, especially, were gathered close by, each pulling something from their pockets to give her.

Zai Ye glanced at the scene and then back at the chubby little boy in his hand. He silently let go.

Suddenly, he felt that this little boy had no competition compared to the other boys.