Chapter 64

64 It was all a set-up

Zi Han sighed before he dozed off in the hovercar. He hadn’t slept enough hours last night and today he still had to wake up and go to school. He was so exhausted that he didn’t feel anything even as his grandfather carried him into the house and tucked him in.

He was a grown teen but to Zi Feiji it made no difference. That’s because of his SSS physic that he was able to carry him as though carrying a sheet of paper. After tucking him into bed Zi Feiji left the bedroom only to be met by the old steward.

Old Lu was also concerned for Zi Han so he spoke up for him just like he spoke up for Zi Xingxi back then. “Sir, don’t you think you should ease up the punishment for the young sir. He barely slept last night that is why he passed out on the ride home,” said the steward explaining in great detail.

Zi Feiji patted his shoulder while saying, “You treat the both of them like they are kids. When they have done something wrong they need to be punished otherwise they will think there are no consequences for their actions. He has two days left.”

For these two days, Old Lu tried by all means to help the young sir complete his punishment. He didn’t have the talent for calligraphy but he brought Zi Han healthy snacks and hot beverages to keep him awake.

This did help but in truth, it did nothing to improve his skills. They looked like messy scribbles done by a fifth-grader. At this rate, he stopped caring about how pretty it looked and rather focused on completing the task.

Unfortunately, despite working his ass off Zi Han still couldn’t meet his deadline and as he descended the stairs with the ugliest work he had ever done in his entire life he looked like a prisoner walking towards a guillotine.

Apart from mech repair he had never failed anything in his entire life. He especially hated the feeling of failure. It was a shitty feeling he never wanted to feel ever again.

“Let me see,” said Zi Feiji as he put down his cup of tea.

.....

Zi Han was very reluctant. It looked so ugly that he couldn’t bring himself to show anyone more especially his grandfather but he had no choice in the matter.

“I..... it’s too ugly,” he said handing the papers over. The very first few pages were smudged with ink but it gradually got better in the next pages but his characters didn’t improve.

“Do you think you did your best?” he asked while trying to make sense of the characters.

Zi Han sat up straight as the steward placed a steaming cup of black tea in front of him. “In the time frame provided, yes. I did my best,” replied Zi Han a little nervous.

After a long time, Zi Feiji nodded his head and placed the papers down before saying, “Have you learnt anything from this experience?”

“I learnt to be patient which was incredibly difficult under the circumstances,” he responded while adding sugar into the teacup.

“Mm..... not bad. Unfortunately, you only managed to copy fifty per cent of the text and of the fifty per cent, only a third is readable so... I have a new punishment for you. This one will be a lot easier.”

Zi Han’s brows knitted together hearing this. One thing he had learnt ever since he met his grandfather was that there is no such word in Zi Feiji’s dictionary.

As expected Zi Han’s next punishment didn’t conform to the word easier. The steward placed a neatly folded uniform in front of him. It was very familiar to him because he had seen it every day ever since he enrolled.

This was the daily uniform for girls in the academy and from what he could gather his grandfather meant for him to wear it as punishment.

‘Fuck,’ he swore internally as he poked the skirt with his index finger.

“For how long?” He asked feigning calmness but internally he was a trainwreck.

“Three days. I have already discussed it with the dean and we both agree it’s a better-suited punishment. We can’t use extra training as punishment because I know for a fact that you love it so I came up with this method instead.”

Zi Han, “!!!”

At this moment he would rather be beaten by a broom instead of this. This wouldn’t be the first time he had worn a skirt. The first time was when his mother dragged him to a mummy and daughter talent show when he was eight.

At that time he thought that his mum wanted to do it for the prize money but now that he thought about it she blew the money in one single night at a fancy restaurant with him. Knowing what he knows now he suddenly realised it wasn’t about the money but the ‘Best mummy and daughter’ trophy.

Yes, he wasn’t a little girl but because there weren’t mommy and son talent shows she could only settle for this competition just to get that trophy. That very trophy was one of the most valuable things she owned.

After that embarrassing incident, he thought he would never have to wear a skirt again. How wrong he was. As punishment, his grandfather was telling him to wear a skirt to school. What kind of nonsense was this?

“For three days I now get to have a granddaughter. Hehehe... it’s going to be so much fun,” he said his excitement clearly written on his face.

“Fuck..... this was a set-up,” he murmured feeling like he had been scammed. Zi Feiji knew all along that he wouldn’t be able to meet the deadline.

His grandfather had clearly stated before that he wished he had had a granddaughter. Zin Han just didn’t think he would have to pretend to be one for three days as punishment.

“I am not wearing make-up,” said Zi Han looking like he had just signed up for squid games only to realise that the games have nothing to do with a squid.

Zi Feiji, “I didn’t expect you to.”

Zi Han, “I won’t wear a wig and nail polish.”

Zi Feiji, “Not every girl has to have long hair or paint their nails.”

Zi Han, “Fuck.... can’t I just do another punishment?”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Zi Feiji, “It’s either that or you get my map back.”

After much deliberation, Zi Han discovered that he had better odds wearing the skirt than trying to convince the Marshal to bring back the map.

“Urgh.... fine.... just no pictures,” said Zi Han before lifting the silver-grey skater skirt.

Zi Feiji smiled slyly while lowering his head to drink his tea, “Sure sure,” he said before the rim of the cup touched his lips.

Author’s note: That sounds like a fucking lie grandpa Zi.