Third Wheel

Shen Xinde might have spent every day at kindergarten grinning foolishly, but when it came to going to school, he was serious about refusing.

After countless early mornings getting up for school, Shen Xinde finally reached the National Day holiday.

Shen Xinde showed the holiday the utmost respect by sleeping straight through until noon.

What a satisfying sleep.

When Shen Xinde opened his eyes, the word "satisfying" popped into his mind and grew bigger and bigger. He groggily rubbed his eyes, then turned his head and saw Gu Zhuoling sitting on his sofa, reading a book.

"Dolly..." Shen Xinde rolled over, quickly got out of bed, and walked up to Gu Zhuoling. "When did you get here?"

Gu Zhuoling closed his book and looked up at the little sleepyhead in front of him. "Go wash up."

"Why didn't you wake me up instead of just waiting?" Shen Xinde muttered as he headed for the bathroom.

Hearing that, Gu Zhuoling felt a little helpless. He reached out and patted the back of Shen Xinde's round head. "If only I could wake you up."

When Gu Zhuoling arrived, Xia Wanqing had told him that Haohao had refused to get out of bed that morning and wouldn't wake up no matter what she did, so she had simply let him sleep.

Gu Zhuoling hadn't quite believed her, but when he went in and tried calling Shen Xinde twice, he hadn't stirred at all.

Gu Zhuoling was so startled that he reached out to check his breathing. He was breathing.

Only then did Gu Zhuoling breathe a sigh of relief and sit down to read.

Shen Xinde chuckled, waited for Gu Zhuoling to squeeze toothpaste onto his toothbrush for him, and started brushing.

By the time the two went downstairs, Xia Wanqing had finished preparing lunch and was bringing the dishes to the table with Shen Qiming.

"Oh, the little sleepyhead is finally up." As soon as Shen Qiming saw him come down, he couldn't help teasing him.

"I'm tired, you know~" Shen Xinde wasn't embarrassed at all and stood there acting spoiled.

Shen Qiming was a complete sucker for that. He hurried over and picked Shen Xinde up. "Oh, oh, our little darling must be exhausted, going out early and coming home late every day these past few days."

Anyone who knew the situation would think Shen Qiming was coaxing him.

Anyone who didn't would think he was being sarcastic.

Nine in the morning to three in the afternoon.

"It wasn't that early or that late." Shen Xinde smiled awkwardly and covered Shen Qiming's mouth.

If you can't talk properly, Dad, then shut up!

Shen Qiming swiftly set Shen Xinde on a chair, then turned around and casually lifted Gu Zhuoling onto a chair too.

Gu Zhuoling didn't resist. He was quite satisfied with Shen Qiming's buy-one-get-one-free treatment, since he ended up sitting right next to Haohao.

"Haohao, I talked it over with your Auntie Zhou yesterday. How about our two families take advantage of the National Day holiday and spend a couple of days at the new hot spring resort hotel in the mountains?" Xia Wanqing sat down beside Shen Qiming and spoke gently.

Shen Xinde glanced at the person beside him, who was staring at him. No wonder he had come looking for him so early today. He wanted to go have fun with Haohao.

Shen Xinde huffed and swung his dangling little feet with an air of importance. "Then Haohao wants to share a room with Dolly!"

Gu Zhuoling knew that meant Shen Xinde had agreed. His expression relaxed, and he lowered his head and began eating.

"You were going to sleep on your own anyway. Were you thinking of sleeping with Mom and Dad? What a third wheel." Shen Qiming placed a helping of vegetables in each of Shen Xinde's and Gu Zhuoling's bowls.

"Bleh, bleh, bleh." Of course Shen Xinde knew Shen Qiming was teasing him again. He picked up a piece of red-braised pork rib from the nearest dish and put it in Gu Zhuoling's bowl. "Dolly, the ribs are good!"

Seeing that, Shen Qiming wanted his precious son to serve him some food too, so he held out his bowl expectantly. "Haohao, Dad wants some too."

"Third wheel!" Shen Xinde shot back with the same words, but still put a piece of rib in each of his parents' bowls.

Shen Qiming muttered under his breath, not angry in the least, a smile on his lips. "No respect for your elders."

After lunch, Xia Wanqing said she needed to pack their luggage for the trip to the hot spring resort hotel that afternoon.

Shen Xinde had said he wanted to help, but Xia Wanqing saw that he seemed ready to empty the room of everything in it. Without another word, she picked him up, carried him over to Gu Zhuoling, and told Gu Zhuoling to keep an eye on him.

Gu Zhuoling took Shen Xinde to his house. Zhou Jingyi had received the message and was packing too, while Gu Ruize sat on a chair beside her.

His approach was neither to disturb her nor to leave.

But in fact, he had caused trouble and been ordered by Zhou Jingyi to stay sealed on the chair.

"Mom asked Dad to put together a few outfits for himself today, and Dad got several identical suits and pairs of dress pants ready."

Gu Zhuoling spoke quietly.

On the night Shen Xinde and Gu Zhuoling had their heart-to-heart, they had agreed to tell each other about anything that made them happy or unhappy from then on.

Gu Zhuoling didn't feel that anything particularly happy had happened that day, so he chose to tell Shen Xinde something he thought might make him happy.

If Shen Xinde was happy, he would be happy too.

"Hahahahahahaha!" Sure enough, Shen Xinde laughed.

Shen Xinde really hadn't expected Uncle Gu to be like that in private. He usually seemed so imposing, but he could be funny with a perfectly straight face.

Gu Zhuoling smiled along with him, his lips pressed together.

The two stood at the door to Zhou Jingyi's room, whispering to each other.

"What are you two talking about? Are you speaking ill of someone?" Zhou Jingyi had naturally noticed the two children too. Seeing them huddled together so mysteriously, she was curious.

Gu Ruize also turned his gaze on the two of them, as though he could see at once that they had just been speaking ill of him.

Afraid they would be found out, Shen Xinde hurriedly laughed it off. "No! Auntie Zhou! Uncle Gu! Dolly and I are going upstairs to play!"

With that, he grabbed Gu Zhuoling and hurried away.

"Those two children." Zhou Jingyi watched their retreating backs with some emotion.

"After A-Ling met Xinde, he started smiling a lot more."

"That's a good thing." Of course Gu Ruize knew about the changes Shen Xinde had brought about in Gu Zhuoling. Seeing the gentle look on his wife's face, his heart softened too.

"It's a good thing, a good thing." Zhou Jingyi murmured with her head lowered, "It's also our fault for choosing work before, leaving A-Ling like a little adult at such a young age, keeping his thoughts to himself and unwilling to say much."

Seeing Zhou Jingyi grow a little emotional as she spoke, Gu Ruize hurriedly stood up to comfort her. "It's all right. We'll spend more time with him from now on. Xinde and A-Ling get along well, and he's gradually become much more cheerful. Don't worry, and don't blame yourself."

Zhou Jingyi sighed and fell silent for a while, gradually recovering her composure. Then she turned and saw that Gu Ruize had left the cage she had drawn for him. Her gaze sharpened. "Who told you to stand up? Sit back down and don't cause trouble."

Gu Ruize: ...

Women can change their expressions so fast!

Upstairs, Gu Zhuoling picked up the drawing he had been working on for the past two days from his desk.

They had agreed to exchange drawings. Gu Zhuoling had taken Shen Xinde's drawing, put it in a frame, and placed it on his desk. Over the past two days, he had started drawing one for Shen Xinde.

Shen Xinde took the drawing and saw that Gu Zhuoling had drawn a bouquet of lisianthus. Actually, it wasn't particularly obvious that the flowers were lisianthus.

But Shen Xinde knew, because Gu Zhuoling had drawn not only the flowers, but also two children sitting beneath them: one was him, and the other was Gu Zhuoling.

"You made Haohao look ugly." Shen Xinde saw that Gu Zhuoling seemed a little nervous about his assessment of his drawing skills, so he decided to tease him.

"I'm not very good at drawing..." Gu Zhuoling turned into a perfectly ripe red tomato again in an instant.

"I'm kidding! Haohao could tell which one was Haohao at a glance! Dolly, you did a great job!" Shen Xinde stuck his tongue out at the mischievous Gu Zhuoling and held the drawing up to the sun.

Soft sunlight shone through the paper as Shen Xinde carefully studied the two little figures nestled together beneath the flowers.

"I'm going to put this drawing on the desk in my room too!"