Chapter 85: Rebellious

Names mentioned in this chapter :

-苏芮 (sù ruì) - Su Rui, our female protagonist

-顾煜城 (gù yù chéng)- Gu Yu Cheng, the male lead

-顾言睿(gù yán ruì)- Gu Yan Rui, the son of Gu Yu Cheng and Su Rui.

-顾安安(gù ān'ān)- Gu An An, Gu Yan Rui's nickname.

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The next day, Gu Yu Cheng drove his car and brought his wife and son to the children's centre that Su Rui booked in advance.

Today, Gu An An was tremendously handsome, as always, except that his father still forced him to put on his hateful diaper. Gu An An was frowning throughout the journey, with a look that states, 'This baby is very upset now. Whoever you are, don't bother me.'.

Occasionally, this guy would be attracted by something novel on the road and would stick his head out to look at it curiously, and then he would be amused by it and giggle.

After a few minutes, when the novelty wore off, he continued to hang his head in his child safety seat with an unhappy expression on his face.

He would stomp his foot to express his displeasure when Su Rui turned his head to look at him every now and then.

Su Rui was amused by his son's behaviour.

She looked at Gu An An. Then, she looked at the angular side face of the man beside her. Finally, her eyes landed on her beloved son.

"What are you looking at?" Gu Yu Cheng asked.

"I'm looking at your son." Su Rui smiled and commented, "I think Gu An An will be super handsome when he grows up!"

Gu An An looked like Gu Yu Cheng, and they seemed similar too.

Su Rui felt that she couldn't get enough of him as she looked at her son's cute and handsome face.

Upon hearing Su Rui's words, the corners of Gu Yu Cheng's mouth pursed slightly.

"Then you might as well look at me," Gu Yu Cheng casually uttered this sentence. His eyes glanced at Gu An An in the back seat through the rear-view mirror.

"Pfft. Gu Yu Cheng, are you jealous of your son?" Su Rui asked, unable to contain her laughter.

"With him?"

......

The three of them arrived at the children's centre.

As soon as they arrived at the entrance, a teacher came out to receive them.

Pictures of Chairman Gu and Su Rui, the chairman's wife, were all available on the Internet, and very few people had not seen them.

However, the teacher at the children's centre lit up when she saw the three of them appear.

Su Rui felt quite satisfied when she saw the amazement in the teacher's eyes.

The three of them were wearing matching parent-child outfits today.

A low-key sailor series.

Gu An An was wearing a little sailor's infant bodysuit.

Gu Yu Cheng was wearing a polo shirt in the same colour, while Su Rui was wearing a long sailor dress. The designs of her shoulder strap were the same sailor design as Gu Yu Cheng's collar.

The teacher said enthusiastically, "Mr and Mrs Gu, please come inside. Today's lesson is ready."

"So, when can we begin?"

The teacher responded, "We can do so now, Let's have a perception test first."

The teacher explained, "Babies can already sense the outside world when they are in their mother's tummy, and this sense will gradually become stronger as they grow and develop. What we are about to do is to test the abilities of the baby's five senses to perceive things in the outside world, as well as his reaction ability."

The teacher cited a few more statistics, which Su Rui roughly noted.

She then followed the teacher's instructions and placed Gu An An on a baby chair in a very adorable room.

"Firstly, it is the visual test." As the teacher said this, the staff placed several small toys of different colours and shapes in front of Gu An An,

"Usually, babies are curious about the things that appear in front of them and pick out the ones that interest them or make them feel happy."

After the teacher finished speaking, she originally wanted to see which toy Gu An An would grab.

Who knew that Gu An An only glanced at the toys in front of him indifferently and was not the least bit interested, let alone grab them?

Su Rui said with some embarrassment, "Teacher, most of these toys are found at home." And most of them were abandoned by this guy who was bored of playing with them.

"Oh, so that's the case." The teacher smiled back and added, "Then let's do the listening test."

The teacher first called out "Gu Yan Rui" very gently into the microphone, and the voice sounded from one direction of the room through the microphone.

However, Gu An An did not seem to react when he heard his name being called.

Upon seeing this, Su Rui suggested, "Teacher, we rarely call him by his first name at home, so why don't you try calling him by his nickname 'An An'?"

"Okay." The teacher nodded and called out "An An" again into the microphone.

Unfortunately, Gu An An still didn't respond at all this time.

This time, even the teacher was a little embarrassed.

"Then let's try something else."

As the teacher said this, she turned on the device, and a pleasant sound of birds chirping sounded from the other direction of the room.

Gu An An: No response.

Then, the sound of a children's song was played.

Gu An An: Still no response.

After that, the teacher tried several more sounds, one after another.

Gu An An was sitting in her chair like an old man, without any response.

As Su Rui saw this, she tightened her grip on Gu Yu Cheng's hand.

"Gu Yu Cheng, your son isn't a fool, right?" Su Rui asked anxiously.

Why else would he not even react?

One will never understand this feeling without being a parent.

Only after having a child of her own did Su Rui know what it was like to be afraid of what is wrong with her child and how her child is not as good as other children.

When the teacher heard what Su Rui said, she hastily said, "It won't happen. Mrs Gu doesn't have to worry too much. According to my experience, there's absolutely nothing wrong with An An."

"Let's take a closer look." While the teacher spoke of this, she accessed the only video surveillance in the room. "See, Mr and Mrs Gu. In fact, An An is having a sensory reaction."

As the teacher said this, Su Rui stared very meticulously at the screen again and finally saw the reaction that the teacher was talking about.

Sure enough, Gu An An's ears and head moved a little when a sound was made. His eyes would glance up in the direction of the different sound sources, before looking away again.

It is a response.

But.

"His reaction is too minute, right? Isn't it abnormal?" Su Rui asked nervously.

"It's like this, the reactions to things perceived are different between individuals. A baby like An An can't be said to be abnormal."

On the contrary, it is evident that this child's perceptions are very acute based on the observed reaction time.

"He is just...."

"Lazy." Without waiting for the teacher to find a suitable word to clarify with Su Rui, Gu Yu Cheng had already uttered a word that could summarise it concisely.

The teacher almost choked once Gu Yu Cheng said this.

This was the first time I had ever heard a baby's father gives such a...Er... direct remark of his own baby.

"Is that the case, teacher?" Su Rui asked.

Su Rui could see that her son was lazy. But it wouldn't be that exaggerated, right?

"Not exactly." The teacher smiled and added, "This type of test can actually reflect the baby's personality traits from another aspect."

The teacher explained, "A child like An An is one of those children who are less susceptible to external interference and have a strong sense of subjectivity. But they also tend to show traits in their personality, not swayed by others and are rebellious."

Through Gu An An's series of performances just now, a word actually popped into the teacher's head: black-bellied.[1]

It just felt that these words didn't seem appropriate for an 8-month-old baby. Hence, the teacher thought about it and switched to a more euphemistic term.

Gu Yu Cheng borrowed the teacher's microphone and called out in a slightly threatening manner, "Gu Yan Rui."

Once Gu An An heard Gu Yu Cheng's voice, he, unsurprisingly, turned his head towards the direction of the sound source at once.

After realising that the direction of the sound was not his father's silhouette, but a large fake tree, a flash of doubt flashed across Gu An An's face very vividly.

He looked in the direction of the tree and then turned his head back to look at Gu Yu Cheng through the glass. It was as if he had encountered something he couldn't understand, and his entire tiny face was scrunched up.

He was babbling something.

Looking at Gu An An's funny appearance, the teacher said as she stifled her laughter, "Then let's proceed to the next test."

Not sure whether Gu Yu Cheng's threat worked, but Gu An An was much more cooperative in the subsequent tests throughout the training.

The teachers who were helping with the test were amused by Gu An An's quick-wittedness.

The two adults followed the teacher and learnt some more ways to help the baby train and interact with him. Then, they left while carrying their son.

In the car, Su Rui couldn't help but sigh as she stared at the tired Gu An An that was asleep in the child safety seat.

"Yu Cheng."

"Hm?"

Su Rui sighed and said, "Say, why can't your son's personality be a bit like yours?"

Upon hearing Su Rui's words, the corner of Gu Yu Cheng's mouth raised as he drove.

"It would be good if he is like me?"

"Of course, it is good."

It would be great if Gu An An could be like his dad's personality.

Reliable, serious, mature, and self-disciplined.

If he was of such a character, Su Rui felt that she wouldn't have to worry much about Gu An An from kindergarten to university.

He would be like the "other people's children"[2] series.

As a mother, she would be very pleased.

"I don't know whose personality he is like now..." Su Rui said with a sigh.

At only 8 months old, he has been labelled as "rebellious" by the teachers at the children's centre.

Su Rui couldn't help but imagine: If her son was older, he wouldn't be like one of those rebellious teenagers, tricking her into skipping school, fighting and running away from home, right?

Moreover, with Gu An An's appearance, what if he deceived a whole bunch of young girls in the future and dumped trouble back home?

The more Su Rui thought about it, the more worried she felt.

Like you. Gu Yu Cheng said inwardly.

Gu An An's personality, in some ways, was indeed more like Su Rui's.

Especially the drunk Su Rui. Gu Yu Cheng added inwardly. However, he did not dare to say that to Su Rui.

While the car stopped at the red light, Gu Yu Cheng turned his head and looked at Su Rui beside him.

Although he didn't know how far into the future Su Rui randomly imagined, Gu Yu Cheng concealed the smile on his face after noticing the woman's frown. He said in a serious and comforting manner, "Don't worry, our child can't be any worse."

"Really?"

"Mm," Gu Yu Cheng replied. He added, "I will teach him well."

Upon these words, Su Rui reluctantly nodded her head.

Su Rui thought of something and suddenly said, "No, no. There are some things that have to be controlled from a young age."

"I'll have to speak to Mum and Dad, in a roundabout way, about it sometime." They can't spoil their grandchildren too much either.

Gu An An was simply doing whatever he wanted in front of the four elderly.

If this goes on, what if he really becomes spoiled?

"Oh right. I have to drag them to watch that variety show."

"What variety show?" Gu Yu Cheng asked somewhat curiously.

"X-Change."[3]

The author has something to say:

Gu An An: In the same world, there is the same kind of mum and dad.

[1] 腹黑(fùhēi)- 'Black-bellied' is a word from Japanese anime culture (haraguroi 腹黒い) that signifies someone who is superficially kind and nice, but inwardly mean and cruel. This Chinese term is used often in web novels. The term exists because someone will only know that person's true nature only after "being eaten up." Credits: Languagelog & Urbandictionary

[2] 别人家的小孩(biéren jiāde xiǎohái)- Other people's children. In February 2011, a post titled 'Other people children' became popular on the Internet. Netizens responded that 'Other people children' were their 'enemies' because they were always 'compared' by their parents. An example would be when parents nag, "My colleague's daughter was admitted into a prestigious middle school this year. Why aren't you as good as her?!" to their children. When one goes to school, the parents compare their child's grades. When their child graduates, parents compare their certification. After the child has graduated, parents compare career and income. When the child retires, they compare their grandchildren. Credits: Baidu

[3] 变形记(biànxíng jì)- X-Change is the first reality show about switched lives in China. However, compared with other entertainment shows, X-Change focused more on its educational theme. It integrates the most recent problems among Chinese teenagers and features typical teenagers as participants. This reality show recorded the mental changes during their seven days of exchanged lives. Credit: Show the Shows