FT DR Chapter 154: Little Pea

Chapter 154:  Little Pea

Translated by Addis of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Karai

As a father of three children, Jin Xuan was considered a seasoned stay-at-home dad. However, due to his busy work schedule, his time as a stay-at-home dad was very limited. Most of the time, the children were taken care of by caregivers or AI nannies, and Wu Chenghe managed to squeeze out some time every week to spend with them. Once he went on duty, Jin Xuan could only provide them with moral support.

During the once-every-three-years big vacation, Wu Chenghe went to visit the twins at the Tianshu Guide School, leaving Jin Xuan and Little Pea, the two bachelors, to watch over the house.

Wu Qian and Jin Xiao showed obvious guide tendencies at the age of twelve and were sent by Wu Chenghe to the branch of the guide school. At that age, it was difficult to control and hide themselves, so instead of risking staying at home, it was better to leave them in the care of professional teachers.

Fortunately, the Congress passed the new Guide Protection Act, and Tungusic Guide Schools set up multiple branches within the federal territory. Although students still couldn’t leave the school grounds at will, they could interact with their families through the holographic simulation system every day, and non-sentinel parents could also apply for regular visits. In addition, their curriculum had been greatly reformed, no longer focusing primarily on assisting sentinels, but instead emphasizing the cultivation of personal qualities.

Overall, most guide parents accepted these conditions.

At the time, Jin Xuan fully agreed with Wu Chenghe’s decision. The only thing that hurt him deeply was Little Pea. Upon learning that his two brothers were going to leave him and become good friends with other guide kids, he couldn’t accept this cruel reality at all. From the main cabin to the dormitory, and then to the control cabin, he cried his heart out, clinging to Wu Chenghe’s leg, “Brothers are my future husband, I don’t want them to marry someone else, who dislikes them so much? Why do they have to snatch mine, wuwuwu…”

With parents busy with work for a long time, Little Pea was basically raised by his two brothers. He had a deeper affection for the twins than even his little yellow cat. Wu Chenghe made an exception to stay at home for half a month, comforting him carefully every day, and almost developed shoulder periarthritis. Finally, he managed to calm him down, and successfully sent the twins to the Tianshu Guide School.

In the blink of an eye, the two brothers had been at Tianshu for three years, and Little Pea had entered the third grade of elementary school, becoming a proud academic underachiever. Although this kid had a terrifyingly high IQ, he completely failed to inherit the incredible test-taking abilities of his two dads. He always messed up in exams, and his grades were always at the bottom of the class, making him a well-known academic loser in the whole school.

What’s even more frustrating was that he completely inherited Jin Xuan’s taste in emo fashion, showing signs of early onset of chuunibyou before he even turned ten.

Good genes didn’t work, but bad ones did, damn it, retribution in this life came too quickly, Jin Xuan was getting a headache.

At seven o’clock in the standard time, the “Song of the Tianzao Fleet” resounded vigorously. Jin Xuan woke up immediately and felt a warm little head nestled into his arms. Lifting a corner of the blanket, he saw his chubby-faced son, Little Pea, whose face was as wrinkled as a bun, with his right hand tightly covering his right ear while his left ear was making full use of the terrain, pressed tightly against Jin Xuan’s chest. His empty left hand was wrapped around a plush raccoon, his sleeping companion.

Jin Xuan found it amusing. After the music finished its two-beat cycle, he reached out to turn off the alarm clock. Little Pea’s bun-like face instantly smoothed out, and he smacked his lips contentedly. Using both hands and feet, he climbed onto Jin Xuan, his voice still carrying the grogginess of sleep, “So sleepy.”

“Even if you’re sleepy, you still have to get up. You can save your sleepiness for tonight,” Jin Xuan said, lifting his lazy son, stripping off his pajamas, and dragging him to the bathroom to splash water — 

“Ah!” Little Pea suddenly woke up, shivering, and stared at his dad with wide eyes, “D-D-Dad! It’s so cold!”

Only then did Jin Xuan realize he hadn’t turned on the hot water.

Little Pea, shivering from the cold water shower, dashed out like a rabbit whose tail had been stepped on, burrowing into the blanket and shivering uncontrollably. His teeth chattered, “I-I-I think I’m sick, I have a fever, it must be because I took a cold shower… I don’t think I can go to school…” Sniffles. Today, the teacher would announce the mid-year comprehensive results, and life as an academic underachiever was not easy.

Jin Xuan completely understood his son’s dilemma. He dried Little Pea’s short hair with a hairdryer, sympathetically patted his head, “Be good, I’ll go prepare breakfast now. You have ten minutes to get dressed. If you’re not ready by the time I call you for breakfast, you know the consequences.”

“…,” Little Pea, with tears in his eyes, whimpered in frustration. Who invented exams and rankings, those cruel and insane things? The mid-year reckoning was too harsh! Jin Xuan smirked mischievously and left the bedroom to prepare breakfast. After being a fleet captain for over a decade, his cooking skills hadn’t diminished at all. Soon, toast with fried eggs and a rich strawberry yogurt were ready. The Barbary lion obediently fetched the fat yellow cat, who was dozing off, and placed him on the dining table. A minute later, the dejected Little Pea sat at the table, slumped shoulders, lacking appetite even for his favorite food.

It was a miserable judgment day, even his favorite food lost its appeal… Little Pea rested his head on the table, looking at the breakfast in front of him with a bitter expression. Father and son connected emotionally. Jin Xuan, while mentally encouraging his son, spread jam, added fried eggs, and prepared a rich sandwich, placing it on a plate in front of him, “There, don’t be so gloomy. It’s just announcing the rankings. So what if it’s bad? Only when it’s bad, there’s room for improvement, right? Work harder in the future.”

Little Pea looked dispiritedly at the sandwich on his plate, frowning, “Easy for you to say, you’re a top student, of course, you wouldn’t understand the pain of a bottom-feeder like me.”

“Bottom-feeder? Is that an excuse?” Jin Xuan got angry and patted his head, “Stop dawdling, eat quickly. Do you want me to feed you?”

“No.” Little Pea wouldn’t let his dad feed him, even if it meant his death. He picked up the sandwich and started eating like a dog.

Jin Xuan was speechless at his son’s pitiful eating manners. Considering the limited time, he didn’t bother arguing with him. After finishing his own breakfast, he went to the children’s room to prepare what his son needed for school.

“The meteorological station said there would be a cold air stream today. Should I wear the school uniform jacket?”

“Yes, please help me take it out.”

“We have painting class in the afternoon. Should I bring watercolor paints?”

“Yes, please help me pack them in my backpack.”

“Should I bring the new baseball glove? We have additional after-school training for the regional league next month, right?”

“We have training on weekends too.” Little Pea, eating at the table, cheeks bulging like a hamster’s, spoke indistinctly, “Help me pack the baseball glove.”

Children are such a debt! Jin Xuan held the backpack in his left hand, the painting supplies box in his right hand, the school uniform on his shoulder, and the baseball glove in his mouth. After finally getting everything ready and placing them at the entrance, his annoying son said again, “Oh, I don’t know where I put my school badge. Dad, can you find it for me? Maybe it’s on the collar of my jacket.”

“What were you doing last night?!” Jin Xuan was thoroughly enraged. Being a dad was much harder than being a fleet captain,wasn’t it? Am I your father or your servant? “You didn’t do anything, and now you want me to do everything for you? Fine, I’ll go to school for you today!”

Little Pea swallowed the last sip of yogurt, rolled his eyes for a second, then jumped down and grabbed his dad’s right hand, clapping it firmly, “Deal! So today, I’ll be your dad.”

“…,” Jin Xuan felt like he must have owed this kid a lot of money in his past life!

A man’s word is his bond, but Jin Xuan slipped up momentarily and was caught by his youngest son. Reluctantly, he had to fulfill his promise and accompany his son to school for a day.

At eight o’clock in the standard time, Jin Xuan, wearing the school uniform he had retired from the stage of history more than twenty years ago, was driven to the entrance of the Star Core Elementary School by his youngest son. Little Pea finally escaped the mid-year reckoning, feeling exceptionally good. He busily took out the backpack, painting supplies box, and baseball set from the trunk and handed them to Jin Xuan one by one, “Study hard, okay? Listen to the teacher.”

“When I played this game, you were still playing with mud by the reincarnation machine. Don’t challenge me!” Jin Xuan chuckled coldly, ruffling his son’s hair. “Remember what you promised me. You have to make me a gourmet meal, clean the room, feed the dog, and complete a fifty-kilometer simulated cross-country training.”

Little Pea scratched his head. He didn’t have much of a concept of “fifty-kilometer cross-country,” but being able to escape the mid-year reckoning made everything worthwhile. He nodded, “Don’t worry, I’ll do my best to complete all the tasks you’ve assigned me.” He tried to pat his dad’s head, but he was too short to reach, so he patted his shoulder instead. “Do you want me to handle the daily fleet documents for you?”

“Let’s keep the fleet going a bit longer,” Jin Xuan snorted. “No need. There’s no official business to handle today. Just focus on the tasks I gave you.”

Little Pea expressed great regret that he couldn’t be the fleet captain. But as the school bell rang for the second time, he didn’t have time to dawdle further. He gave Jin Xuan a farewell hug, “Goodbye, Dad, be good.” He stood on tiptoe, leaving a kiss on his dad’s forehead. “Love you, Dad!”

“Who are you calling ‘Dad’?” Jin Xuan exploded, grabbing his son’s collar from behind, as if to spank him. “Are you itching for a fight, Jin Chi?”

With a mischievous grin, Jin Chi, also known as Little Pea, agilely dodged his dad’s grasp, then dashed away like lightning, “See you later!”

Goodness gracious, how did I end up with such a little rascal… Jin Xuan felt his heart breaking.

With no time to deal with the little troublemaker, Jin Xuan carried all the bags and entered the school, heading straight for the homeroom teacher’s office. He wasn’t so naive as to actually attend school for his son, but he had made a promise. The Star Core Elementary School had invited him to give speeches several times, so this was an opportunity to have a face-to-face discussion with the teacher about his child’s education issues.

And Little Pea’s education was indeed a serious issue.

The homeroom teacher, upon learning that the captain of the Federation’s largest fleet, the “Tianzao” Fleet, had taken time out of his busy schedule to visit the elementary school, was ecstatic beyond words. Rushing downstairs to greet King in person, the teacher was so overwhelmed to see the real King that he burst into tears, “King! I-I-I’m your die-hard fan! I-I-I grew up watching your performances, I-I-I never thought I’d live to see you in person… Sob, sob, sob…”

Jin Xuan hadn’t encountered many brainless fans in his years in the military, so this was quite unsettling. He shook hands with the teacher, “Hello, please treat me like an ordinary parent. Jin Chi has caused you a lot of trouble over the years, and I’m very sorry.”

“No, no, no, he’s very adorable and not troublesome at all!” The teacher, seeing the flawless face of the real King up close, immediately went into awe mode, “I-I-I consider teaching and educating as my lifelong mission. You can rest assured, I will definitely nurture Jin Chi into a talented individual!”

This feeling of entrusting his child to someone else… Jin Xuan felt it was ominous. He coughed awkwardly, “Thank you for your hard work. My co-parent and I have been busy with official duties over the years, neglecting our son’s upbringing, which has led to his… somewhat premature eccentric tendencies. This time, my son and I agreed to exchange roles for a day to experience each other’s lives and better understand each other. I apologize for not obtaining your permission in advance…”

“No, no, no, you’re so thoughtful and touching! To understand your child, you actually came to school for him and even wore the school uniform!” The teacher was deeply moved by Jin Xuan’s deep love for his son. If it weren’t for maintaining his public image, he would have wanted to kneel down and worship Jin Xuan, “Having a thoughtful parent like you is Jin Chi’s blessing! Rest assured, although Jin Chi’s grades are not good, his ranking is low, his personality is strange, and his aesthetic taste is unique, but he is very lively and friendly to his classmates. His IQ exceeds that of normal people by nearly sixty points. His poor grades are only temporary. Once he masters the secrets of exams, he will definitely become a role model for the entire school!”

Jin Xuan silently summarized the homeroom teacher’s comments on his son and felt disheartened.

A role model? Was the teacher just spouting nonsense?

The enthusiastic homeroom teacher and the weary parent chatted about the child’s education for an hour. Then the headmaster and the director of education rushed over upon hearing the news. After worshiping the fleet captain, they asked him to give a speech to the entire school. Jin Xuan, now a legendary figure in the Zhi Fu Chain Nebula, had built a peaceful and harmonious environment as the leader of the “Tianzao” fleet for years. If it weren’t for the rebellion ten years ago, just his efforts in maintaining peace and harmony in the area would be enough for admiration!

Moreover, he was King, the top-tier performance artist renowned in the Federation twenty years ago, and for thirty years, he had been a legendary hacker roaming the internet!

Artist, war hero, all-around agent, guardian of the galaxy, super hacker… He could fulfill any need, satisfy any fantasy. As the father of a troublesome kid, he was just that cool!

After leading for so many years, giving speeches was nothing to Jin Xuan. He gladly accepted the principal’s request and gave speeches to the students of the high, middle, and low grades. At noon, he had lunch with Little Pea’s classmates in the school cafeteria and met some self-proclaimed “Little Pea Die-Hard Fans.”

It must be said that his little son surpassed both of his biological fathers in social skills, not to mention his two biological brothers.

The whole day was lively and bustling. Even though it was supposed to be a day off, it ended up being more exhausting than patrolling. After completing his final speech and realizing it was almost time, Jin Xuan bid farewell to the homeroom teacher and headed home.

There was still half an hour before school ended, and Jin Xuan didn’t inform Little Pea. He took public transportation back home. The house was quiet, with shoes scattered around the entrance just as they were in the morning, leftover dishes piled in the sink, and the toy guns played with last night left on the sofa—his son, who had vowed to be his dad for a day, seemed to have disappeared!

If it weren’t for the lingering scent of nutrients in the air, Jin Xuan would have suspected that Little Pea had been kidnapped on his way home in the morning!

What had he been doing all day? Jin Xuan frowned. He considered calling but changed his mind, sending his quantum beast inside to find his son instead. The Barbary lion, inheriting its master’s skills, stealthily entered the children’s room.

Through the sensory link, Jin Xuan saw his academically challenged son rummaging in the study, while the fat yellow cat lay on Wu Chenghe’s favorite cushion, snoring peacefully. Several storage boxes on top of the cabinet seemed to have been opened, with signs of rummaging inside. Before Jin Xuan could examine them closely, the fat cat noticed the presence of the Barbary lion, opened its eyes, and struggled to flip over.

The kid’s insight was astonishing… Jin Xuan frowned. He realized that his son had better observational skills at his age than he did.

“Dad, you’re back!” Little Pea quickly pushed the storage box back into the cabinet, closed the door, and then ran out, jumping into his father’s arms. “I missed you so much!”

Jin Xuan helplessly lifted the chubby boy, intending to kiss his forehead, but found his face covered in dirt and sweat stains. “What have you been doing all day? How did you get so dirty? Didn’t you use the cleaning robot? Didn’t you clean your room? Did you run fifty kilometers cross-country?”

Little Pea’s chubby face froze for a moment, then he laughed and jumped into his father’s arms. “Dad, I missed you all day! I was thinking about you the whole time, and I couldn’t do anything else!”

Jin Xuan hadn’t planned on having his son do any chores. After all, he was only ten years old. Seeing the pleading expression on his son’s chubby face, so similar to his own but a bit rounder, his heart softened. He sighed and carried him to the door of the children’s room. “Okay, stop buttering me up. Go take a bath. You’re as dirty as a pig! Dad will make you a big meal.”

“Waaah, Dad, you’re my god!” Little Pea clenched his fists with sparkling eyes. “King, I’m your die-hard fan!”

Jin Xuan was now afraid of that name. He turned his son around, gave him a kick on the butt, and said, “Go!”

After a quick scan of the study, finding nothing unusual except for the opened storage boxes on top of the cabinet, Jin Xuan recalled that they contained childhood toys sent by Jin Zhe. He didn’t pay much attention and went to the kitchen to cook. He hadn’t eaten much in

“Hmm, the teacher praised you for your poor grades, low ranking, peculiar personality, and bizarre taste…” Jin Xuan observed his son’s expression as he spoke. He saw his chubby face go from sunny to cloudy to drizzling, but then a smirk appeared, “But this time, you’ve improved in the mid-term assessment. You’re finally not at the bottom anymore. The teacher said you have potential!”

“Wow!” Little Pea’s eyes lit up instantly. “Dad, I’m awesome!”

“Awesome!” Jin Xuan raised his glass. “The teacher also said you have a lively personality, you’re good at uniting classmates. You need to keep it up, of course, and continue to improve your grades, understand?”

“I got it!” Little Pea picked up his juice and clinked glasses with his dad, then drank it all in one gulp. “Dad, you need to work hard too, and become a General soon!”

“Focus on yourself!” Jin Xuan chuckled. Despite himself, he felt uplifted by his son’s encouragement. He smiled and served him a forkful of cod.

Due to their “role reversal” day, Jin Xuan inexplicably felt closer to his son. From dinner to an after-dinner walk to playing holographic games together in the evening, he felt like there was something shining in Little Pea’s eyes that he hadn’t seen before.

Respect? Admiration? Reverence? Jin Xuan couldn’t accurately summarize it, but he felt that something between them had changed from that day on. Did my strong personality finally influence him?

However, the homeroom teacher soon slapped him hard with harsh reality.

Two weeks later, just as Jin Xuan was eagerly awaiting his wife’s return, he received a message from the homeroom teacher, “Do you have some free time these days? If possible, please come to the school. I have something very important to discuss with you regarding Jin Chi.”

Jin Xuan immediately drove to the school. The homeroom teacher personally waited for him at the school gate and led him to his office. “Sorry to disturb your vacation. I didn’t expect things to develop like this, but now I have to talk to you.”

Seeing the seriousness in the teacher’s face, Jin Xuan’s heart skipped a beat: Did the brat get into a fight? Or did he accidentally discover a guide and secretly claim it for himself…

Wait, such things aren’t hereditary! Jin Xuan immediately interrupted his runaway thoughts and composed himself. “What happened?”

The homeroom teacher paused and said, “Jin Chi has established a cult. Did you know?”

“A cult?” Jin Xuan was completely caught off guard by this revelation, feeling a strange sense of familiarity with this plot…

“Yes, it happened last week.” The homeroom teacher said gravely, “At first, I didn’t pay much attention, thinking he was just fooling around with his friends. You know Jin Chi, he’s outgoing and has a wide circle of friends. It’s not unusual for kids his age to form cliques. But then, last Wednesday night, his art teacher sent me an email saying he received a homework assignment he couldn’t understand.” With that, the homeroom teacher opened his personal terminal and projected an image—a stack of papers with some incomprehensible, non-human text written on them.

Looking at these texts, a flash of white light flickered in Jin Xuan’s mind, as if an ancient dark door, long sealed shut, was slowly creaking open, emitting a spine-chilling squeak.

“This is what Jin Chi gave to his art teacher. He must have made a mistake, thinking this was his art assignment.” The homeroom teacher lowered his voice. “Fortunately, the art teacher is an amateur cryptography enthusiast. He used ancient Chinese oracle bone inscriptions and Greek texts to decipher the meaning of these papers—it’s a language invented by Jin Chi, detailing how to establish a grand cult…”

“You don’t need to say anything more!” Jin Xuan interrupted the homeroom teacher. Cold sweat poured down his forehead like heavy rain. That dark door in his mind was now wide open. He vividly remembered how, over twenty years ago, he had written these spine-chilling teachings during his late-night episodes of chuunibyou…

Like father, like son. Little did he expect that over twenty years later, his dear son would dig out his dark past from the pile of old papers and faithfully inherit his unfinished ideals—Little Pea must have found Pandora’s treasure trove while rummaging through the storage box in the study during their role reversal day!

Instant karma was too quick. Jin Xuan finally realized why his son had been looking at him with the eyes of a god lately—wasn’t this the same expression he had seen on his classmates’ faces over twenty years ago when they worshiped him as the leader of a cult? The difference was, now he was the object of his son’s cult.

Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, Jin Xuan’s long-tested face finally turned slightly red. He coughed and said, “Please, don’t report this to the school for now. Give me some time to handle it. Trust me, these things weren’t written by him. He didn’t have any intention of establishing a cult; he was just curious and wanted to take a look. I’ll talk to him seriously about this when I get back and strictly discipline him. I won’t let him go down the wrong path!”

The homeroom teacher didn’t expect King’s attitude to be so low-key, so gentle, so rational. He thought King would immediately jump up and beat his son to a pulp, or at least leave him half-disabled—he heard that soldiers had a bit of a temper.

An idol was still an idol. Too wise, too tolerant, too rational—his realm was different from ordinary people’s! The homeroom teacher looked at him with admiration. “Don’t worry, I won’t report it to the school. I believe Jin Chi’s worldview and outlook on life are absolutely normal, and I believe you’ll be able to educate him well. Of course, as his homeroom teacher, I’ll do my best to assist you.”

“Thank you for your understanding.” Jin Xuan bid farewell to the homeroom teacher, his legs feeling like jelly as he walked out of the school gate.

Standing there, looking back at the majestic teaching building of the elementary school and the students inside, he couldn’t help but remember a saying, “You reap what you sow.”

The true essence, indeed.

 

 

 

 

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