Chapter 1319: Fortunately Discovered Early, There Is Still Time to Change 2

It tastes bad.

Even though I was already very hungry, it still tasted terrible; it was undoubtedly noodles cooked by Mom.

If a hired cook made it like this, they should have changed professions long ago.

"Did you cook this?"

"Mm, I cooked it," Shi Youxuan admitted generously.

She then gave her reason: "From the time you were small until now, I have paid more attention to your other brothers than to you. Each of them has more or fewer problems, and only you have been the most worry-free, so I paid the least attention to you."

"Today, watching a movie, going to the amusement park, visiting the company, and cooking noodles by hand—all of this was done specifically for you alone to make it up to you."

She spoke very calmly, but Zirui's eyes welled up with tears.

There is no child who does not hope to receive the love and care of their parents.

Zirui is the same; he also wants his mom and dad to revolve around him.

Although his parents and family are also very good to him, without comparison, there is no hurt!

Just as Mom said, among the children in the family, he is the most worry-free.

Because he is not naughty or mischievous, he received the least attention; as time went on, Zirui's heart became unbalanced, and he gradually became indifferent toward his brothers.

It was not a superficial indifference, but an alienation radiating from the depths of his heart.

He is a very smart child and knows that if he acts too obviously, his parents will see it and he will be scolded.

Because Mom and Dad often teach them to be united, and he does not want to be united!

Everything Mom did today moved him.

Shi Youxuan's words, "You are the most worry-free child in the family, so Mom and Dad paid less attention to you, I'm sorry," instantly smoothed out all the imbalance in his heart.

He ate the entire bowl of bad-tasting noodles, not even leaving a drop of the soup.

Although the taste was not great, he knew his mother had done her best.

Given his mom's standard, being able to reach this level was already not bad; one cannot demand too much, as she cannot achieve anything higher.

While he was busy eating the noodles, Shi Youxuan also finished reading his "post-movie reflection."

It was just as he himself had said.

The first one hundred words were the general content of the movie, then three hundred words were his reflections on watching the movie, then another one hundred words were the significance of watching the movie, and then after that, he indeed wrote three hundred words on his future plans, and the remaining twelve hundred words were all self-criticism.

Zirui is very smart.

Mom taking him out alone, he had already realized what it was about.

The child is teachable.

This child is still salvageable.

That he had not become indifferent by nature made Shi Youxuan feel relieved.

When it was time to sleep at night, Mom came over with a quilt.

"Zirui, how about Mom sleeps with you tonight?"

Zirui refused: "Is that necessary? I've already grown up; I'm not a little kid anymore."

In fact, he is only eleven years old this year; how could he not count as a little kid?

It is just that he has already become accustomed to sleeping alone, eating alone, and completing everything by himself.

Before the two were eight years old, he and Zihan shared a room.

At that time, Zihan would always hug her quilt and run to Mom and Dad's bedroom to sleep, and would show off to him when she came back.

He would act very indifferent, indicating that he didn't care at all, and that only childish little kids would go find Mom to sleep with, while mature little kids sleep by themselves.

The "mature" little kid would have his pillow soaked with tears, but he never told anyone.

"Mom seems to owe you a bedtime story, I want to return it to you."

Shi Youxuan was very overbearing and stayed without further discussion.

She gently patted her son, coaxing him to sleep, and told him a bedtime story!

The story Mom told was very childish to Sheng Zirui.

But he still felt it sounded very nice, and he fell asleep without realizing it.

"Boom—"

"Crack—"

In the middle of the night.

Zirui was startled awake by the sound of thunder.

It was thundering, and it was raining outside.

He was a little scared and wrapped his small body tightly inside the quilt.

Zirui is afraid of thunder; people all have shortcomings and weaknesses, and he is no exception.

It is just that no one knows; he would deliberately hide his shortcomings and not let anyone see them, including the few people in his family.

Suddenly, he was pulled into a warm embrace; Mom seemed to still be asleep, or perhaps she was awake, he wasn't sure.

He was not very used to it and subconsciously wanted to break free, but did not succeed!

Mom's embrace was very warm and very safe.

"Mom?"

"Mm?"

"Zihan is also afraid of thunder; how about I give her a call? To comfort her."

Shi Youxuan said: "Sure, do you need me to step away?"

"No need."

Zirui dialed the phone.

The children do not have phones, but they have Xiaotian smartwatches, so they can also make calls.

"Sob... Zirui, I'm scared. Where are you? I miss you so much. Mom isn't here, and you aren't here either. I can't knock open Big Brother's door, and I don't dare go to Dad's room..."

Sheng Zihan is still that same Sheng Zihan.

Silver-tongued yet cowardly as a mouse.

Zirui said, "Don't be afraid. Thunder is no big deal. Shall I tell you a story?"

"What did you say?"

Zihan simply could not believe his own ears.

The person on the phone with him is Zirui?

Has the sun risen from the west?

Because he was too shocked, he even forgot about being afraid of the thunder.

Under normal circumstances, Zirui would usually lecture him impatiently and then hang up the phone; that is his style.

Zirui was very patient and said, "I said I would tell you a story. Do you want to listen?"

"Mm-hmm, I want to listen." Zihan heard clearly this time and nodded hurriedly, even though the person on the other end could not see him.

"Once upon a time, there was a timid rabbit..."

Zirui told Zihan a story; Shi Youxuan was awake, but she pretended to be asleep and did not participate.

The next morning.

Zihan called: "Zirui, Zirui, come back. I can't be without you."

Zirui wanted to say, "Don't use your glib tricks on me, they don't work," but what he said instead was, "Really?"

"Really, really, I miss you so much. It's not just me; Big Brother and Second Brother also say that with one person missing from the four of us, there's no fun in playing anymore."

"Are you coming back or not?"

"If you don't come back, we'll go back to find you."

They had gone to visit and had already returned home; how could there be any reason to go back again?

But in order to make Zirui change completely and for his relationship with his brothers to improve, what did pride matter? Just buying more things to take back would do.

When Shi Youxuan took Zirui back, she brought a car full of things!

Rice, flour, oil, soy sauce, vinegar, tea, sea cucumber, bird's nest, fish maw, and abalone...

Gu Zhihao grinned from ear to ear, yet he said words that did not match his heart: "Look at you, we are close relatives, why be so polite? We haven't even finished half of the things you sent a few days ago, why bring so much more?"

Things are different now than before, and Gu Zhihao's life is very good, but habits formed since childhood are not easy to change.

He likes to take small advantages.

He is especially happy when he takes a small advantage; in fact, he is not a greedy person. He has his own internal scale—he definitely cannot suffer a loss, but he won't take too much from others either.

As long as he takes a little bit and doesn't suffer a loss, that's fine.

"These, and these, I can't take. You take them all back. We country folk don't eat such expensive things."

Gu Zhihao picked out all the valuable gifts and refused to take them no matter what.