The Husband From the Original Pairing is Now Divorced - Chapter 5

Chapter 5: The Little One — “Teacher Sheng, let’s exchange contact info.”

“Teacher Sheng, did a new little one transfer into your class today?”

During lunch, Teacher Li asked Sheng Jia.

Sheng Jia nodded. The boy’s name was Zhou Jiayi. He had been dropped off that morning by a man—likely his father—but the principal hadn’t said much to Sheng Jia, only providing the boy’s name and age and asking Sheng Jia to take extra care of him.

“Teacher Sheng, is the new kid a troublemaker?”

Jiang He was curious too. Sheng Jia hesitated, unsure of how to answer.

“He’s not a troublemaker. He’s a very well-behaved child, it’s just… he doesn’t really talk.”

Jiang He let out a “whoa” and joked: “If even our Teacher Sheng says he doesn’t talk much, then he probably hasn’t uttered a single word.”

Sheng Jia gave a helpless smile; Jiang He had hit the nail on the head. Since the boy arrived, he had just sat in his seat alone. When Sheng Jia tried to have him introduce himself, he stood there in total silence. He only answered with shakes or nods of his head.

“Well, that sounds like a bit of a handful…” Teacher Li said with a frown.

“It’s okay. Maybe there were too many people around this morning and he felt shy. I’ll try chatting with him again before nap time.”

Sheng Jia was gentle and patient with children. He never lost his temper, so almost all the children in the kindergarten liked him and clung to him constantly.

…

After lunch, once all the children had been sent to the nap room, Sheng Jia called out to Zhou Jiayi, who was the last one lingering at the door.

Sheng Jia squatted down and asked with a soft smile: “Baby, if you don’t want to sleep yet, shall we have a chat? Can you tell Teacher your name?”

The hallway was empty, and Sheng Jia’s voice was light and soothing. The child finally seemed tempted to speak.

“Zhou… Jiayi…” The little boy, wearing a pale yellow t-shirt, tugged at his hem and answered in a small voice.

Sheng Jia nodded and took the child’s hand: “Then, can Teacher Sheng call you Yiyi?”

Zhou Jiayi was caught off guard. His chubby little face instantly turned red, and he pulled his hand away. “You… you’re a girl. You can’t just pull my hand.”

Sheng Jia froze, then was tickled by the boy’s dead-serious expression. He burst out laughing. His beautiful eyes curved into crescents, and his shoulder-length black hair tumbled forward as he shook.

“Yiyi, Teacher is a boy. Come, look—” Sheng Jia tilted his head up, pointing to his fair, slender neck and the protrusion of his Adam’s apple.

Zhou Jiayi blinked and leaned in. Under Sheng Jia’s encouraging gaze, he reached out and touched it. Only then did he confirm that this long-haired, gentle teacher was the same gender as him.

“See? Teacher has an Adam’s apple, just like the daddy who dropped Yiyi off. We are both boys.”

Upon hearing this, Zhou Jiayi’s head dropped. “He’s not my daddy, he’s my uncle… Mommy and Daddy are divorced. My daddy doesn’t want me anymore. He doesn’t want to see me.”

Divorce.

A word that usually only appears in the adult world had now surfaced in Zhou Jiayi’s childhood. Sheng Jia’s heart tightened. He saw himself in the boy—the same suppressed crying, the same trembling hands.

Sheng Jia slowly knelt on one knee and pulled the small, trembling body into a hug. “Yiyi, did you know? Sometimes adults are even more cowardly than children. When they fail, they get scared and hide away.”

“Daddy didn’t throw you away. Maybe he’s just temporarily afraid that Yiyi will call him a coward.”

Sheng Jia didn’t know the truth about the father, but he knew the father was a coward for abandoning custody. He didn’t criticize the man to the boy, though; he just held Yiyi and let him cry into his shoulder.

…

When nap time ended, Zhou Jiayi woke up and seemed to have forgotten his troubles. By the time school let out, Sheng Jia stood at the gate, handing each child over to their parents.

He was like a temporary parent to all of them, answering their questions with his trademark “smiling eyes.” As the crowd thinned, only Zhou Jiayi remained, sitting on the slide.

“Teacher Sheng, should we call the parents?” the security guard asked.

Just as Sheng Jia was about to call, a breathless male voice rang out from the gate. “Sorry, Teacher, I’m late! I’m Zhou Jiayi’s family!”

Sheng Jia turned around and froze. Red hair, dark jeans, and a black t-shirt. The face he had once thought looked “a bit fierce” was looking at him apologetically.

It was the racer. The one who had gripped his hand so tightly at the track. Zhou Zifei.

“Uncle!” Zhou Jiayi lunged forward to hug Zifei’s leg. Zifei, already weak in the knees from seeing Sheng Jia, nearly fell over.

“Yiyi’s uncle,” Sheng Jia said, his voice uncharacteristically stern. “You are far too late today. Seeing everyone else go home while he was left here alone makes a child scared. Please come earlier next time!”

Zhou Zifei panicked. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. Don’t be angry. I had training and couldn’t get away…”

“You should apologize to Yiyi, not me. I’m just worried about him.”

Sheng Jia realized he was projecting his own past trauma and softened his tone. “I’m sorry, I was a bit impatient. Please take Yiyi home; he’s probably hungry.”

As Sheng Jia turned to leave, his shirt hem was grabbed. “Teacher Sheng… I wasn’t scared,” Yiyi said, hugging his leg. “Because you were with me.”

Sheng Jia’s eyes burned. Zhou Zifei stepped forward, looking like a child who had also been caught doing something wrong. “Teacher Sheng, I’m sorry. I won’t be late again. Don’t be unhappy.”

Sheng Jia turned back and smiled at both of them. “Mr. Zhou, you didn’t make me angry. And… this isn’t the first time we’ve met.”

Zifei froze. “Ah, you remember?”

“I have a good memory,” Sheng Jia replied. “We met at a convenience store a month ago, and then at the race where you insisted on a high-five.”

Zhou Zifei stared blankly at Sheng Jia’s eyes. He had passed Sheng Jia countless times in the past, but Sheng Jia had always looked at him like a stranger. Now, finally, he existed in Sheng Jia’s world.

…

“Teacher Sheng, let me drive you home,” Zifei offered. After some persistent begging from Yiyi, Sheng Jia agreed and sat in the back seat.

The drive was short. Through the rearview mirror, Zifei caught Sheng Jia’s eye. The aggression Sheng Jia had initially sensed in Zifei’s gaze was gone, replaced by something deep and soft.

“I live alone,” Sheng Jia mentioned when Zifei asked if his family would be worried.

In the front seat, a wild, triumphant grin spread across Zifei’s face, though he kept his voice calm.

When they reached the apartment complex, Zifei turned around before Sheng Jia could leave. “Teacher Sheng, let’s exchange contact info?”

In the dim light of the dashboard, Zifei’s sharp features looked like a predator lurking in the dark, but Sheng Jia simply thought he needed it for school-related matters.

“There,” Sheng Jia said, handing the phone back. “I’ve added you on WeChat and saved the number.”

After waving goodbye to the pair, Sheng Jia headed inside. On the drive back, Zhou Jiayi sang a song from school. Zifei, usually silent, suddenly chuckled.

“Uncle, what are you laughing at?”

“Nothing,” Zifei said, tapping the steering wheel with a lazy, joyful rhythm. “Just thinking that I might be bringing you a ‘new aunt’ (a partner) before long.”