Chapter 27: The School Bully (27)

Zai Ye noticed that as his daughter grew older, her clever mischievousness became increasingly apparent.

Take this recent incident as an example. When he mentioned making 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 resolve the situation, cleverly identifying company employees who could help with the game and winning them over to her side. This move to undermine his authority was quite elegantly executed.

Though her methods were still crude, they were promising enough to make him proud. The “undermined” father couldn’t help but smile, looking forward to his child’s future.

However, with growth comes challenges.

His clever daughter had a notable flaw—she was lazy. She would procrastinate on her homework until the last possible moment. Teachers had repeatedly instructed parents to supervise their children’s assignments. Given Zai Ye’s history as a problematic parent, he received special attention from teachers. Every day, he had to send photos showing his daughter doing homework.

Zai Ye found these staged photos pointless, but when facing his child’s teacher, even as a company CEO and former school tyrant, he could only obediently follow along with the class group’s requirements.

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

“…”

“Zai Qian?”

“…”

The child lay sprawled on the sofa, completely absorbed in watching animations on her tablet.

Knowing her habits, Zai Ye walked over, opened her schoolbag, and checked against the homework posted in the class group. He took out her textbooks, notebooks, and a pen, ready to drag her to her desk.

Suddenly, a piece of paper fell from her Chinese textbook. The words “Invitation Card” were scrawled on it in childish handwriting.

[Inviting Zai Qian to my house to play.

From: Ke Yuxiang]

Below was today’s date, with two hearts drawn beside the text.

Zai Ye stared at the paper in silence, his expression darkening as he fixated on the hearts. What was their meaning? An invitation to play at someone’s house? Play what? What could possibly be so entertaining?

And Ke Yuxiang—clearly a boy’s name.

Alarm bells rang in Zai Ye’s head. Could this boy have feelings for his daughter? Why else would he write such a thing?

He changed his grip on the paper, finding it more irritating from every angle, his brows furrowing deeply. What was wrong with kids these days? They were only in first grade—how could they be so precocious? He had thought he wouldn’t have to deal with puppy love until she was sixteen, but here he was, handling it at age six.

Putting down the invitation, he stood by the sofa with his arms crossed, silent.

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

Zai Ye asked, “Are you hiding anything from me?”

Yu Qian: “?”

“Daddy already knows your secret.”

After he spoke, he watched as his daughter slowly processed his words. Her eyes darted around nervously, avoiding his gaze.

Seeing her guilty expression, Zai Ye’s face grew sterner. “Do you know how serious this is? How could you not tell daddy?”

Yu Qian lowered her head, fidgeting with her fingers. Finally, under her father’s intense gaze, her little shoulders drooped in defeat.

“Then I’ll… just tell you alone.”

“Go on.”

Yu Qian leaned in mysteriously, cupping one hand around her mouth like she was about to share a momentous secret. Zai Ye, maintaining his stern expression, tilted his head to listen.

“I have a fairy,” Yu Qian whispered. “A blue fairy that can talk.”

Zai Ye, who had braced himself for some tale of first-grade romance, was completely blindsided by this whimsical confession.

“What?”

Yu Qian grabbed her tablet and pointed to the cute fairy flying beside the protagonist in her cartoon. “It looks just like this one!”

His daughter had recently become obsessed with magical girl animations. While Zai Ye previously thought nothing of it, now he wondered if it might be affecting her grip on reality. Then again, thinking back to his own childhood when he believed in light and dreamed of being a world-saving warrior, perhaps it was normal for his daughter to believe in magical girls and fairies.

When she was even younger, hadn’t she once tried keeping flies as pets? Zai Ye decided not to shatter these innocent childhood fantasies for now. There were more pressing matters at hand.

“That’s not what I meant,” he said. “Don’t you have any other secrets you’re keeping from me?”

Hearing that her father wasn’t referring to this secret, Yu Qian sighed dramatically, flopping back onto the sofa. “Nope.”

Zai Ye held up the invitation card. “Then what’s this about?”

Yu Qian glanced at it, completely unbothered. “It’s scratch paper.”

Only then did Zai Ye notice that the back of the invitation was covered with his daughter’s doodles—turtles, strange spiky balls, and various scribbles. She had simply used someone’s heartfelt invitation as scrap paper.

“Who is Ke Yuxiang?”

“My deskmate.”

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

Yu Qian thought for a moment. “Because he’s greedy?”

Zai Ye: “?”

How did she arrive at that conclusion?

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

Their conversation continued to veer off in unexpected directions, with father and daughter talking past each other. Finally, Zai Ye confiscated the “scratch paper.” Yu Qian, completely unconcerned about its fate, reluctantly went to do her homework as time was running out.

Still troubled by the matter, Zai Ye brought it up during his phone call with Li Xiu.

Unlike the father’s worried vigilance, Li Xiu burst out laughing. “Our little Zai Qian already has boys chasing her? That’s wonderful!”

The father grew even more displeased. “Don’t you think this is serious?”

“Not at all! Relax—they’re just six or seven-year-old kids. What could they possibly know about romance? He probably just wants to play with our Zai Qian.”

Standing on the balcony, watching the city lights twinkle like stars below, Zai Ye suddenly felt melancholic. “Zai Qian has grown up so fast…”

“Yeah,” Li Xiu teased, “your daughter might have a boyfriend before you do.”

Zai Ye: “…”

The conversation shifted to birthday presents, but even afterward, Zai Ye couldn’t shake his wariness about Ke Yuxiang. When the school announced a parent-child sports day, he seized the opportunity to investigate.

Leaving behind his nearly-balding employees at the company, he arrived at his daughter’s school in sportswear. His youthful appearance drew attention—many parents mistook him for Zai Qian’s older brother.

From the moment they entered the school, his gaze turned razor-sharp, scrutinizing every boy who approached his daughter. Finally, a chubby little boy bounced over to them.

“Zai Qian, this is for you.” The boy pulled a piece of candy from his pocket.

Zai Qian accepted it naturally and took out a packed bag of cookies from her backpack. “Here’s yours.”

Zai Ye watched their interaction, eyebrows raised. “Zai Qian, who is this?”

“Ke Yuxiang.”

At this name, Zai Ye’s expression instantly changed. He crossed his arms and looked down at the short, pudgy little boy before him.

The boy seemed confused and somewhat frightened by his stare.

“You’re Ke Yuxiang?”

The boy nodded timidly.

“I’m Zai Qian’s father,” Zai Ye said coldly. “What did you give her?”

“Candy.” The confused boy instinctively reached into his pocket again, offering another piece to this intimidating father. “Want some?”

Zai Ye blocked it with one hand. “No need. It’s not time for you to try winning me over yet.”

Poor Ke Yuxiang didn’t understand; he only knew the man didn’t want it, so he ate it himself, trying to escape this strange uncle while sucking on the candy.

“Wait, I’m not finished.” Zai Ye caught him at the classroom door.

Just then, he looked up to see his daughter, already inside the classroom, surrounded by classmates. Several other boys were particularly close, each pulling treats from their pockets to give her.

His daughter accepted their gifts one by one, then distributed snacks she had prepared.

Looking between that scene and the unattractive little chubby boy in his grasp, Zai Ye wordlessly let go.

He suddenly realized that this little fellow had no chance in the competition.