Chapter 84: Make You Call Me Brother (IV)
Gu Yinnian’s care for Xiao Ji was never expressed verbally.
But he tacitly allowed Xiao Ji to be his deskmate.
He tacitly allowed Xiao Ji’s elbow to cross the dividing line he drew on the desk when sleeping in class.
He tacitly allowed Xiao Ji to read from the same book as him before getting his own textbooks.
He also tacitly allowed Xiao Ji to use his pencils and erasers.
But soon, Gu Yinnian discovered that while he tolerated Xiao Ji running wild in his life, he couldn’t tolerate Xiao Ji getting too close to other children.
Fortunately, Xiao Ji was truly obedient.
He circled around Gu Yinnian every day and wasn’t willing to communicate with others himself.
Whenever other kids came to talk to him, he would always hide behind Gu Yinnian and ask him for help.
After receiving a call from the kindergarten teacher, Chen Lan thought about it for a long time before deciding to have a chat with the two children.
She first looked at Gu Yinnian to confirm the facts with him:
“Teacher Zhao said that you watch over Xiao Ji every day at school, and anyone who wants to talk to him has to get your permission. Is this true?”
Gu Yinnian didn’t have a habit of lying. Hearing Chen Lan ask this, he simply kept a straight face and said seriously:
“Xiao Ji is my brother. I definitely watch over him every day, but I didn’t require others to get my permission to talk to Xiao Ji.”
Chen Lan had that much trust in her son.
She just couldn’t figure it out. “Then why would Teacher Zhao say that?”
Gu Yinnian looked at Xiao Ji.
Xiao Ji looked at Chen Lan. “I don’t want to talk to others.”
Chen Lan was stunned. “You don’t want to make new friends in kindergarten?”
Xiao Ji nodded. “Correct.”
Children of this age usually liked liveliness.
Chen Lan couldn’t quite understand and asked him, “Why?”
Xiao Ji said bluntly, “Unnecessary.”
Chen Lan couldn’t help but start suspecting that Xiao Ji had developed psychological issues after the car accident. She asked tentatively:
“Then what about getting along with Big Brother? Does that feel forced?”
Xiao Ji shook his head. “No.”
The conversation ended without a conclusion. Chen Lan only learned that Gu Yinnian hadn’t forcibly listed Xiao Ji as his private property, but she still couldn’t make heads or tails of Xiao Ji’s situation.
She didn’t know the past Xiao Ji, so she didn’t know if he had always been this unsociable and reticent, or if it had started after the car accident.
She could only observe first. If Xiao Ji showed any other strange behaviors, she would take him to see a doctor sooner rather than later.
That night, after the couple fell asleep, Gu Yinnian sneaked into Xiao Ji’s room again.
After interacting for a while, Gu Yinnian was already very familiar with Xiao Ji. As soon as he entered, he looked at the floor by the bed.
After confirming Xiao Ji wasn’t on the floor, he climbed onto the bed, burrowed into the quilt, reached out to touch Xiao Ji, and poked his waist:
“Why don’t you talk to the other kids?”
Xiao Ji had guessed Gu Yinnian would come tonight. To prevent him from thinking he was scared and talking endlessly, he had gotten into bed early.
He turned over, his dark eyes looking at Gu Yinnian.
“You don’t like it.”
Gu Yinnian denied it. “I don’t.”
Xiao Ji then said, “Then can I talk to other kids?”
Gu Yinnian refused. “No.”
Xiao Ji asked, “Why?”
Gu Yinnian said fiercely, “You are my brother.”
He emphasized the word “my.”
But after saying it, he seemed to regret it a little and asked Xiao Ji, “Do you think I’m very bossy? Are you afraid of me? Do you want to be friends with others?”
Xiao Ji shook his head. “Brother Xiao Nian, I only need you.”
Gu Yinnian was obviously pleased. He reached out and pinched Xiao Ji’s face. “You are very obedient. You must stay this good.”
Xiao Ji didn’t need social interaction anyway.
Especially not invalid social interaction with little bean sprouts.
“Okay.”
He agreed very readily, not caring at all if his indulgence would spoil Gu Yinnian.
Receiving a satisfactory answer, Gu Yinnian was in a great mood and started telling bedtime stories on his own to coax Xiao Ji to sleep.
Listening to his disjointed stories, the veins in Xiao Ji’s temples throbbed incessantly.
Before the first story ended and Gu Yinnian could start the second, he closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep.
Gu Yinnian was very gratified. He patted Xiao Ji through the quilt, then quietly got out of bed and sneaked back to his own room.
Xiao Ji’s unsociability continued.
After the kindergarten teacher reported Xiao Ji’s situation to Chen Lan for the third time, Chen Lan finally took Xiao Ji to see a child psychologist.
But the doctor said Xiao Ji could communicate normally, his logical thinking was very clear, and he even possessed a maturity far beyond his peers.
Unwillingness to make friends with other children might be due to an introverted personality on one hand, and on the other hand, it could be because his IQ was on the high side, making him disdain socializing with peers.
Only then did Chen Lan set her mind at ease.
She had thought Xiao Ji’s isolation was entirely Xiao Ji’s own problem.
But not long after, an incident occurred that made her vaguely realize that her son wasn’t innocent either.
The cause was Father Gu’s mother, Gu Yinnian’s grandmother. Hearing that the couple had adopted another child, she came knocking on their door personally.
At that time, Chen Lan had just picked up the two children from kindergarten. As soon as she got home, she saw Old Mrs. Gu and her sister-in-law sitting on her sofa.
Both of them had long faces; judging by their posture, they had not come with good intentions.
Old Mrs. Gu had always been prejudiced against Chen Lan.
Because before Father Gu got married, she had looked at several Omegas for him, but Father Gu hadn’t followed her wishes and insisted on marrying Chen Lan.
After marriage, the two had originally lived in Old Mrs. Gu’s house.
But Old Mrs. Gu acted like the matriarch of a grand mansion from the past, demanding Chen Lan take on all the housework and hand over her salary for safekeeping.
Father Gu wouldn’t accept it and didn’t want Chen Lan to be wronged, so he tactfully indicated that he had bought a house outside and would move out with Chen Lan.
In the beginning, Old Mrs. Gu would come to make a scene in front of Chen Lan at the drop of a hat.
It wasn’t until Chen Lan’s belly lived up to expectations and she gave birth to Gu Yinnian—who was 100% confirmed to be a little Alpha—that Old Mrs. Gu quieted down for a few years.
Therefore, as soon as she arrived today, Chen Lan immediately felt an ominous premonition.
Sure enough, before she could even speak, Old Mrs. Gu smashed a cup and put on airs:
“Such a big matter as adopting a child… if I hadn’t heard others gossiping, I would still be kept in the dark by you two. Do you have any respect for me at all?”
Gu Yinnian had no affection for Old Mrs. Gu. Every time his parents took him to eat at her house, she would scold Chen Lan, making everyone unhappy.
The Gu family’s conditions were average. Old Mrs. Gu not only never lent a hand to help but would also call Father Gu asking for money to travel or to drink tea and sing with her old sisters whenever she felt like it.
Now she was sitting in his house so brazenly, opening her mouth to lecture his mother and target his brother.
Gu Yinnian immediately became unhappy.
“Grandma, what is your job? Does our family need to report to you before adopting someone?”
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