Chapter 5: The School Bully (5)

Late at night, one big and one small figure curled up with their blankets, sleeping on the couch in the living room.

The couch was quite hard, far less comfortable than the plush sofas at Soaring Lounge and certainly not as cozy as a proper bed. Neither of them slept well.

The next morning, the newly minted father-daughter duo returned to Soaring Lounge.

“Brother Xiu, can you watch her for the day? I have to go to school,” Zai Ye said.

Li Xiu raised an eyebrow. “Well, this is rare. It’s not like you’ve never skipped class before. What’s making you so diligent now?”

Zai Ye muttered, “The homeroom teacher called and chewed me out. I have to show up. I’ll pick her up this afternoon.”

Seeing Zai Ye’s sleep-deprived face, Li Xiu decided not to tease him further. “Alright, I’ll look after her for the day.”

Zai Ye turned and left in a hurry.

Li Xiu, holding the hand of Yu Qian who was munching on a steamed bun, playfully pinched her uneven pigtails. “Your dad’s still a kid himself. He probably hasn’t figured out what to do yet, so let’s give him a day to think. Today, you’ll hang out with big bro—uh, uncle? No, wait, should it be uncle or… forget it, just call me uncle!”

Yu Qian, mouth full of bun, mumbled an indistinct “uncle.”

“Aww, so cute! Did your dad do these pigtails? They’re so ugly!” Li Xiu joked.

Just as Li Xiu finished speaking, Zai Ye reappeared at the door and said emotionlessly, “Remember, don’t let her drink too much soda.”

Li Xiu blinked. “Huh?”

The well-behaved child suddenly remembered something embarrassing and shrieked, “Ahhh!”

Startled, Li Xiu watched as Zai Ye disappeared again, leaving him bewildered facing the screaming child.

Having offloaded his responsibility for the day, Zai Ye arrived at school. The campus bustled with uniformed students, their youthful energy filling the air. Though familiar, the scene felt oddly distant now.

Just thinking about being a father made everything feel surreal as he watched his classmates horsing around. Though he was already the oldest in class—having lost two years abroad and being forced to repeat a year due to personal issues—today’s sense of responsibility felt completely different from his usual age-related maturity.

His classmates suddenly seemed impossibly young.

“Brother Ye! You finally showed up!” the roughhousing boys called out when he appeared.

“Where were you yesterday, Brother Ye? Did your family find out about the fight?”

“We lost yesterday’s basketball game to Class Four while you were gone. Those bastards even brought in ringers!”

“Brother Ye, I put your test paper from yesterday in your drawer.”

As Zai Ye sat at his desk, several boys gathered around to chat. They quickly noticed their leader seemed off, responding slowly to everything they said. While he rested his head down, they huddled nearby to whisper.

“What’s wrong with Brother Ye today? He seems so out of it.”

“Yeah, totally distracted.”

This continued all day. At lunch, they spotted him spending ages looking at his phone, leading to speculation: “Could our Brother Ye finally have found a girlfriend?”

“He’s lovesick!”

“We have to find out who captured our Brother Ye’s heart!”

In reality, Zai Ye was watching video clips from Li Xiu showing Yu Qian totally absorbed in playing with a claw machine, standing on a small stool with intense concentration.

Li Xiu’s voice message explained: “Took Xiao Qian for lunch, then to the mall. She got obsessed with the claw machine, so I bought one for the bar. Look how focused she is—doesn’t need any supervision.”

Indeed, with her “new toy,” Yu Qian was so engrossed she seemed to forget all about her “daddy.” Not that he was going anywhere.

During a rare afternoon self-study session, the classroom descended into chaos. Several boys exchanged knowing looks before dragging the distracted Zai Ye into their game.

“Brother Ye, let’s play Truth or Dare!” one produced a deck of cards.

“Play without me,” Zai Ye declined.

“Come on, Brother Ye! It’s my birthday, and we can’t go out. Just make it fun for me!” one pleaded with clasped hands.

“…”

Through careful coordination, they ensured Zai Ye drew the designated card.

“Truth,” he said, tossing it down. Choosing dare was risky—these guys would definitely make him confess to someone or run shirtless through the halls.

The boys sighed in disappointment before one asked, “Are you a virgin, Brother Ye?”

Zai Ye stayed silent as others protested: “Of course he is!”

“Who told you to ask that… ask about girlfriends!”

After a thoughtful pause, Zai Ye answered: “No.”

He reasoned he couldn’t be—after all, how could a virgin have a daughter?

…This logic seemed sound.

“Not a virgin?! Really?!” The boys erupted in shocked excitement.

“Then who was it?!”

That was something Zai Ye himself wanted to know.

While they continued their uproar, he suddenly stood. “Skipping evening study. See you.”

“Eh? Brother Ye’s leaving?”

“Is he angry?”

“No… but he’s been acting weird lately.”

A question weighed on Zai Ye’s mind: How does one be a father?

The complexity of this question overwhelmed him.

At Soaring Lounge picking up Yu Qian, Li Xiu pressed him: “What’s your plan? You’re still in school, she’s so young—you can’t manage alone. I’ll be clear: this is a one-time thing. Don’t count on me forever.”

“I suggest you find a nanny to help. You definitely can’t handle everything alone.”

Zai Ye remained silent, his childhood memories making him hesitant.

His parents’ divorce had dragged on over a year, filled with endless fighting and tears. No one had time for him then. The young nanny hired to care for him had abused him when no one was home, even drugging his food, landing him in the hospital.

Later he learned she’d been his father’s mistress. When his mother discovered the affair and demanded divorce, his father grew distant from the nanny. Jealous and bitter, she’d taken her revenge on him.

The incident left him despising his father and distrusting nannies entirely.

At school, he’d researched daycare centers. They accepted two-year-olds, but without proper identification for Yu Qian, enrollment was impossible. Getting those documents would mean involving his parents—the thought alone made him anxious.

Back home, the cleaning lady had tidied everything.

“Come here, let’s wash your hair.”

The child hadn’t bathed properly these past days, her hair was unwashed. Zai Ye thought he detected an odor.

He filled the basin and got out shampoo, then faced his small charge with uncertainty, like a first-time cat owner attempting a bath. Though she seemed well-behaved, he had no idea where to start.

Yu Qian gave him one look before grabbing the basin and dunking her head in.

“!” Zai Ye quickly grabbed her head and pulled her up.

She struggled: “Puh, ah, my eyes!”

He rinsed her head while wiping her eyes, because she would start yelling whenever her eyes got wet, and if he didn’t wipe them, she would rub the water onto his knees.

Finally reaching the shampooing stage, he used too much—her head disappeared under foam. “My eyes hurt!” she cried.

“Keep them closed!”

“Ow! My hair hurts!”

His large hands and strength were too much; each touch made her feel her head would deform. Pain made her thrash, spraying foam everywhere, including his face.

Finally, he had to tuck her under his arm upside-down to finish.

After washing came drying and combing. Thinking about tomorrow’s hair-styling hell, he decided then: tomorrow, they’d get it cut short.

Now clean and fragrant, she bounced into bed, yesterday’s bed-wetting apparently forgotten as she jumped on the mattress.

Exhausted and soaked, foam still in his hair, Zai Ye closed the bathroom door to shower. He’d barely removed his black T-shirt when the door opened.

He quickly grabbed a towel, frowning at the small head peeking in. “What are you doing? No looking!”

Yu Qian blinked. “I want yogurt!”

Remembering last night, he refused: “No, you’ll wet the bed.”

She insisted confidently: “Won’t wet the bed. Not drinking cola, drinking yogurt!”

“Cola and yogurt are the same—they’re both liquid. Drink too much, you’ll wet the bed.”

But arguing with a determined two-year-old (or not quite two) proved futile. After ten minutes, he relented.

Because of this, he slept poorly, instantly alert when she stirred. He quickly whisked the whimpering child to the bathroom.

Only after this crisis was averted could he truly rest.

Just as sleep approached, his phone buzzed. A message from Li Xiu:

「Hey, about those photos of Xiao Qian I shared with your cousin? Well, that idiot got drunk and accidentally posted them in the family group chat. Aunt Ling was in there and saw them.」

「Cheng just told me she called asking questions. Your secret probably won’t stay hidden. Just giving you a heads up.」

Wen Ling was Zai Ye’s mother.

「Also, I won’t be at the Lounge—don’t come looking!」

Cursing, Zai Ye tried calling both Li Xiu and his cousin. Both phones were off.

As a string of expletives filled his mind, beside him, Yu Qian laughed softly in her sleep, lost in pleasant dreams.