Chapter 12: The School Bully (12)

“So, you want to leave Xiao Qian at Soaring Lounge when you go to school, with a nanny taking care of her, while having us watch the nanny?” Li Xiu’s expression was hard to read.

He knew that Zai Ye had been traumatized by a nanny who had bullied him when he was younger, but he never expected him to come up with such a solution.

“Xiao Qian is still too young to express herself if she’s being mistreated. Plus, I’ve seen news about nannies kidnapping their employers’ children. I’m worried. For now, I’ll have the nanny bring Xiao Qian here to Soaring Lounge. You don’t need to take care of her – just keep an eye out and see if there’s anything suspicious about the nanny,” Zai Ye explained.

Though he still felt uneasy about the arrangement, it was the best option available for now.

Li Xiu complained, “I’m not here every day… fine, fine, I’ll help watch for a few days!”

Zai Ye’s expression relaxed. “Thanks, Brother Xiu.”

Li Xiu added, “But I heard you took Xiao Qian to stay at Aunt Wen’s place a few days ago. I thought your mom would be helping you take care of her.”

Zai Ye fell silent for a moment. “She has a husband and child; they’re living well together. How could I, her ex-husband’s son, bring my daughter to stay there long-term?”

Li Xiu patted his shoulder in consolation. “It’s better that way. I heard from Wen Cheng that your brother Lu Lang is quite a handful. What if he bullies our little Xiao Qian?”

Zai Ye recalled how his daughter had swatted Lu Lang in the face with a fly swatter, making him cry and roll on the ground, and nodded in serious agreement: “Exactly.”

Aunt Wu had been a nanny for over ten years with extensive experience, but in her entire career, she had never encountered such a peculiar client—a twenty-year-old high school student with a two-year-old daughter. They lived together without any parents in the household.

Her job was to care for the child and handle some household chores, but instead of working at their home, she was stationed at a “play area.”

On her first day, Aunt Wu found herself completely unnecessary. The child she was supposed to look after was well-behaved—quiet and absorbed in playing with the claw machine—while several young adults kept her company.

These young people were all dressed in designer clothes, clearly children of wealthy families, gathered around watching the child play with the claw machine.

“Recently, it’s been all over our social circle that Zai Ye’s father has been bragging about having a granddaughter everywhere. Because of this, my parents have started pressuring me to get married. What a joke—who gets married before forty these days?” said Dou Yipei, who claimed he would play forever.

“I never would have guessed that quiet Zai Ye would suddenly have a daughter. I’ve been playing the field for ten years and never produced a child,” remarked the playboy Zhang Hou, swinging his legs.

“Her name is Zai Qian? She looks exactly like her father, like they were cast from the same mold! So cute! Can she talk? Come on, call me Uncle Liu!” said Liu Shaoning with his baby face.

These three were regulars at the play area and friends of Li Xiu. After seeing the photos of Yu Qian playing the claw machine that Li Xiu posted on his social media, they came to see for themselves.

“Not only does Xiao Qian look like Zai Ye, but she also has a similar personality—doesn’t talk much, especially to strangers,” Li Xiu said, though looking somewhat smug. “She’s used to me though. If I talk to her, she’ll respond. Watch.”

He cleared his throat and leaned closer to Yu Qian: “Xiao Qian, Xiao Qian, who am I?”

Yu Qian, focused on the claw machine and ignoring the four towering adults around her, was just about to catch something when this annoying adult interrupted. Her little eyebrows furrowed: “No talking!”

Li Xiu: “…So heartless.”

The other three burst into laughter: “Hahahahaha!”

“Let me try. I’m the most handsome—no woman can resist my charm,” Zhang Hou approached with a smile. “Xiao Qian, want uncle to help you catch some toys?”

Another failed attempt with the claw made Yu Qian angry. She punched the machine with her tiny fist. Ignoring the grinning face beside her, she jumped down from her little stool, ran to a nearby table, opened a bottle of yogurt, and angrily chugged it down.

Her stance really had the boldness of someone drinking beer.

Liu Shaoning also approached, deliberately saying, “Xiao Qian, I want some too. Can I have a bottle?”

Yu Qian looked at him, then opened a bottle for him. As Liu Shaoning was showing off his yogurt to the others, the child said, “Give you one bottle today, return two bottles tomorrow.”

Liu Shaoning exclaimed, “Oh my god, this kid knows how to invest! She’ll definitely inherit the family business and become a ruthless businesswoman!”

Zhang Hou, refusing to believe he couldn’t get a smile from a little girl, watched her play with the claw machine for half an hour before suddenly having an idea.

An hour later, a small truck delivered a new claw machine.

Zhang Hou smiled: “Kids need smaller claw machines—they can actually grab something from these! The bigger ones are too hard!”

Sure enough, discovering that the smaller claw machine was easier to control, Yu Qian quickly abandoned the one Li Xiu had bought and gave Zhang Hou a perfunctory smile.

That afternoon, when Zai Ye came to pick her up after school, he saw three new small claw machines in the play area, with Yu Qian taking turns playing each one.

Zai Ye asked: “What’s going on?”

Li Xiu, lounging on the sofa playing games: “Oh, Zhang Hou and his friends came by today and bought these toys for Xiao Qian.”

When Zai Ye took Yu Qian home, Aunt Wu followed to prepare dinner for the father and daughter. This was finally when the nanny, who had been idle all day, had something to do.

As an expert nanny, her specialty was cooking for children, from infant food to nutritious meals for teenagers. Seeing her employers finish their plates with satisfaction, Aunt Wu finally felt somewhat reassured.

“Mr. Zai,” Aunt Wu suggested, “why don’t I just take care of the child at your home? At that play area, they take her out for lunch, and they don’t need me to play with her. I’m not doing anything to earn this salary—it doesn’t feel right with my professional ethics!”

Zai Ye was watching videos Li Xiu had sent from that day, showing the child focused on her games while the adults kept trying to make her talk. Her face clearly showed how annoyed she was, but the more annoyed she looked, the more those mischievous guys tried to engage her.

His expression turned exasperated as his eyebrows nearly shot up into his hairline. Hearing Aunt Wu’s words, he looked up: “Aunt Wu, you do have a job. At the play area, you need to watch these questionable characters and make sure they don’t get too close to Xiao Qian. Ensure her safety.”

Hearing this, Aunt Wu nodded repeatedly. “Don’t worry! I’ll definitely keep a close eye on Xiao Qian. Tomorrow I’ll prepare food to bring over so she won’t have to eat out!”

Zai Ye nodded with satisfaction: “Good.” This way, with everyone watching each other, plus people to play with and someone to cook, it was a perfect system.

This worried new father had never put this much thought into his math exams.

…

The next day, when Zai Ye came to pick up his child after school, he found a new space cleared next to the claw machines, with mats on the floor, a half-assembled large LEGO set, and a small mountain of yogurt bottles stacked nearby.

Zai Ye asked: “What’s this about?”

Li Xiu, lying on the mat playing with his phone: “Oh, my cousin and the others came to see Xiao Qian today and bought her LEGOS to play with. Those yogurt bottles are from Liu Shaoning—he drank one of Xiao Qian’s bottles yesterday, so he brought over a dozen boxes today.”

On the way home with his daughter, Zai Ye watched the videos Li Xiu had sent.

Today’s videos showed several young men unpacking LEGOS, trying to get the child to play along, but faced with the complex large LEGO set, she quickly lost interest. She ran to the side to unpack the yogurt boxes, very seriously taking out each bottle and arranging them.

When she had arranged them in neat rows, Li Xiu’s cousin Liang Haoqing suddenly came over and messed up her arrangement. This twenty-one-year-old college student grinned mischievously at her: “Are you angry? Are you going to cry?”

The child stared at him silently for a while, didn’t argue with him, and started arranging the yogurt bottles again.

Zai Ye: “…” Her temper had become so good—she didn’t even kick him in the knee.

The later videos showed Zai Ye that things weren’t so simple.

Liang Haoqing went to the side to work on the LEGOS, and after finally assembling half of it, the child quietly walked over. At this point, Liang Haoqing hadn’t realized the severity of the situation and was still showing off: “Look, I’m better than you…”

The next second, his assembled LEGOS scattered across the floor, and the child withdrew her hand, giving him the exact same smile he had given her earlier, saying quite vindictively, “Cry now.” Her childish, cute voice made it sound so demonic.

Against the background of Liang Haoqing’s frustrated outburst, the child opened another bottle of yogurt and chugged it down.

Zai Ye: “…” Hmm, save video.

…

On the third day, when Zai Ye came to pick up his child after school.

As soon as he entered, he heard several people laughing. Looking closer, he saw the sofas had been pushed together, with Yu Qian sitting in the middle, holding a large wine glass—though of course it was filled with yogurt.

Several familiar young heirs sat on the surrounding sofas, with a half-finished game of Chinese Checkers on the coffee table in front. Li Xiu held the dice: “It’s Xiao Qian’s turn!”

Yu Qian took the dice and threw it hard. It spun and landed on six, causing all the young people to exclaim in unison: “Oh! Amazing! Xiao Qian is amazing!”

“Move six steps, let’s see where six steps takes you… Hahaha, Li Xiu, you got sent back home by Xiao Qian!”

Zai Ye: “…”

This lively scene, if the one being surrounded wasn’t a two-year-old girl, if they weren’t playing Chinese Checkers, and if they weren’t drinking yogurt, would have perfectly resembled the atmosphere of a host club.

That evening, after watching Li Xiu’s usual video updates, Zai Ye suddenly received a message from his cousin Wen Cheng.

「”Zai Ye, I know many parents can’t help but show off their children on social media once they have them, but could you reduce the frequency a bit? These past few days, every time I open my feed, I see posts about your Xiao Qian—my entire timeline has been taken over by her!”」

Zai Ye checked and confirmed that his dozens of posts were all set to private, then righteously sent a voice message to his cousin: “Look carefully, am I the one posting all that stuff?”

A while later, Wen Cheng replied: “Oh, my mistake, it’s Li Xiu and the others posting… Wait, she’s your daughter, why are they posting so much about her?!”

“How would I know? I’m not like them—I don’t like posting on social media,” Zai Ye said.