A kid's play (Teach me how to live again) - Hualian AU + TGCF as kids

A few days or weeks after the semester start

"I just... I need..."

Xie Lian guided the kid by the shoulders. "Mu Qing, you literally just went to the infirmary two times, to the bathroom three times, and to get water five times. Feng Xin is fine."

Mu Qing refused to move. "I don't care about him. This is not... I just need to go out, teacher!" As Xie Lian tried to conduct Mu Qing back to his sit, he escaped and started running towards the door.

Right then, Hua Cheng blocked his way and lifted him up, folding the kid over his shoulders.

"Put me down!! Put me down," Mu Qing screamed.

Hua Cheng walked over to the little table where Mu Qing usually sat and placed the kid on the chair. "Unless you are also sick or hurt and needs to stay in the infirmary too, you better finish those exercises before the break, or you will stay here finishing it."

"Who are you to tell m..." Mu Qing started protesting but stopped. Hua Cheng was able to see the moment when the gears started turning in the kid's brain. "You know, I'm feeling sick, my stomach, I'm gonna throw up, aahh," Mu Qing said as he contorted and held his belly.

Hua Cheng arched his brows up while Mu Qing sprawled his arms on the table and started to convulse as if in pain. The assistant kneeled, and he was so tall that a few minutes seemed to have passed as his slender figure lowered down.

Even though tall, his movements weren't clumsy, Xie Lian noticed, watching from afar. Maybe it was kinda... gracious? As Hua Cheng's body bent down, a smirk angled his lips up. Xie Lian was so lost analysing that picture that he did not even care to hear what Hua Cheng whispered to Mu Qing.

However, the silence that fell on the room alarmed the teacher, and he then realized the entire class now watched the scene. Frowning, then creasing his brows, then looking startled and briefly scared, Mu Qing stopped wriggling as he heard what Hua Cheng was whispering to him and picked up his pencil. He started to furiously write on the piece of paper in front of him.

"What did he say to Mu Qing, Ling Wen?", Xie Lian heard Jian Lan ask. He couldn't deny that he was now curious for the same reason too.

"I don't care, but it did good to Mu Qing" was all Ling Wen replied and continued the fine contours of the numbers in her paper.

Hua Cheng stood up and looked around. Smiling to the other kids while walking past them, his expression could have almost been angelic, if not for what just happened. The other kids shivered as Hua Cheng said, "You should finish your activities, it's almost break time."

Already bored in his seat after watching the scene, Jun Wu leaned to Qi Rong' side. "Assistant Hua Cheng is... peculiar."

Qi Rong had finished writing numbers in green crayon, then ripped his sheet and stuck it in his mouth, lost in the moment. Now, he spat the piece of paper he was chewing on and his lips were green. "What peculiar means?", he asked.

Jun Wu leaned back and widened his eyes, "Weird."

Qi Rong looked up at Hua Cheng when he walked past saying, "Drink some water and wipe your mouth, Qi Rong." The kid kept staring at the two teachers talking and repeated without thinking too much. "Yes, weird."

At the front of the class, Xie Lian was silently complimenting Hua Cheng for handling the situation. Getting a new assistant could be a great help, or a great bother. Since Xie Lian had no time to even process the fact he was getting an assistant, seeing Hua Cheng keep the situation under control was actually reliving.

"Have you worked with kids this age before?", he asked the assistant.

"Officially, only for a short period during my teaching practice," Hua Cheng replied while erasing the board, "but my family was always too chaotic, so I learned a trick or two to help me getting what I wanted." He finished the sentence and looked at Xie Lian, adding "Some may even call it being 'persuasive' ", he said winking.