Chapter 919: Seeking Attention Again

Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

Huang Fei was fuming! She realized that approaching Gu Zi to make small talk had been a monumental mistake.

Her face flushed with anger as she marched home and ordered Xu Sheng to face the wall in reflection. “You need to think carefully about why you lost a point on such a simple test and how you could possibly be outperformed by a country bumpkin! You’re embarrassing me!”

Xu Sheng had just returned from school. He was stunned by the sudden outburst.

Hadn’t his mother praised him that morning for doing so well, promising to take him out to eat? Her mood seemed to shift like the wind.

Unsure of what to say, he dropped his backpack and stood facing the wall, contemplating the consequences of his supposed failure.

Moments later, Huang Fei stormed in, brandishing a sprig of cypress. Her expression was icy as she yelled, “You will complete two sets of math problems tonight! If you dare to get even one wrong, I won’t hesitate to discipline you! You’re not going to sleep tonight either! I’ve invested so much in your education, and to think you’re losing to some country kid—think about how you’re going to fix this!”

Xu Sheng’s eyes turned red, tears pooling but refusing to fall. He understood that crying would only make his mother more furious…

Meanwhile, the atmosphere at the Su household was as relaxed as ever.

Source: novgo.co

Su Bing handed Gu Zi the certificate for the first-place award in his grade, which Gu Zi treasured and promptly affixed to the display wall behind the living room sofa.

So far, Su Bing had proudly hung ten awards there. Glancing at his younger brother’s meager collection of three awards, his spirits soared.

Su Li, however, was throwing a fit. Feeling overshadowed by the relentless competition, he sought attention. “Mom! It must be because my brother has taken up all the space for awards that I only have so few! I’m not okay with this! This time doesn’t count!”

Su Li’s complaint escalated into tears. Seeing this, Gu Zi quickly rushed over to comfort him. She retrieved a sheet of large red flower stickers from under the coffee table and peeled off three, placing them on Su Li’s forehead. “Don’t be upset, Su Li! Your brother may have awards from school, but look at all these big red flowers I’m giving you! Aren’t you happy?”

Su Li nodded, still sniffling. “I’m happy, but Mom, can I have twelve big red flowers instead?” Gu Zi chuckled and handed him the whole sheet, which contained exactly twelve red flowers.

Su Li piped up with another request, “Mom, can you stick one big red flower on my forehead every day?”

Gu Zi thought this was a reasonable request and understood the underlying sentiment. Su Li was vying for attention, wanting to ensure she didn’t focus solely on his older brother’s awards. “Sure, but sometimes I might forget, so you’ll have to remind me,” she replied.

Su Bing’s expression soured at this. His annoying little brother wasn’t genuinely after the red flowers; he just wanted to draw attention to himself.

Su Bing wasn’t so childish as to engage in this competition. He firmly believed that their mother was fair and would not favor one of them over the others. In truth, Gu Zi took excellent care of all three of them, both physically and emotionally!

As the Dragon Boat Festival approached, Su Shen had to go on a business trip due to the pig farm needing to establish a factory out of town. However, he promised Gu Zi he would return before the festival to celebrate together and watch the dragon boat races by the river.

Meanwhile, Gu Zi was busy at home, juggling work, studies, and taking care of the children while also preparing for the festival.

Making zongzi, also known as sticky rice dumplings, was an essential part of the celebration.

Today, after submitting her work, Gu Zi planned to visit the local market to buy fresh bamboo leaves for wrapping zongzi. She also needed pork, salted egg yolks, glutinous rice, mung beans, and peanuts, as she loved the savory, flavorful salted meat zongzi.

Although her sister-in-law had mentioned earlier that she would make zongzi and bring some over, Gu Zi still wanted to prepare her own. Partly because she enjoyed the taste of her cooking, and partly because she wanted others to experience her zongzi-making skills—after all, they’d be in for a treat!

In the afternoon, Gu Zi went to the newspaper office. After handing in her manuscript, the staff gifted her two boxes of zongzi as a Dragon Boat Festival perk. Gu Zi felt she had no reason to decline and planned to take one box home for her sister-in-law.

While wandering around the office to say hello to Guan Xin, she found her absence puzzling; it was as if Guan Xin had vanished from the face of the earth recently, with no news at all.

A female colleague sitting next to Guan Xin noticed Gu Zi’s search. “You can stop looking; Guan Xin hasn’t been around for a few days. She said something about going on some wilderness adventure. She’s planning to create an adventure column, so I think we won’t see her until after the Dragon Boat Festival.”