Chapter 183: Chapter 183: Pleasing Yourself
The little boy with red lips and white teeth looked at her sullenly.
"I’m not a Prince, don’t call me Prince."
Tuanzi was full of question marks.
Clearly, in "Go on an adventure together," Gu Jiujiu rather liked this title and was even very confident.
"Why?"
Tuanzi asked bluntly, "Didn’t you used to like this title a lot?"
Gu Jiujiu puffed his cheeks and refused to talk, walking quickly with his little legs.
Tuanzi scratched his head and chased after him, "The path here is hard to walk on, don’t fall down."
Gu Jiujiu immediately stumbled, and Tuanzi quickly grabbed his little arm.
The little boy steadied himself, huffing angrily, as if angry with himself.
Tuanzi smiled and poked his cheek.
"Soft and fun."
Gu Jiujiu glared at her, but the glare was not threatening, so Tuanzi was not afraid at all.
"Tell me, we’re good friends, you can talk to friends about anything."
The little boy thought for a moment before saying very sullenly, "Because everyone in kindergarten says I’m not a Prince and laughs at my imagination."
Gu Jiujiu had once stayed at a kindergarten for some time, where some innocent yet malicious kids attacked him with stories about his father, gradually making him gloomy, and Gu Ran simply took his son home.
Later, he participated in "Go on an adventure together," and Gu Jiujiu’s condition improved, even expressing that he could go to a new kindergarten to make new friends.
The results were not good.
No one wanted to play the Prince game with him, which was fine; it was the kids’ right. But some kids mocked him and spread it to all the kids in the big, middle, and small classes.
Not believing in the existence of a Prince and intentionally mocking him are different. He can understand the former but cannot accept the latter.
Gu Jiujiu became reclusive again, sullenly staying at home, refusing to go back to kindergarten.
This time, even if his family played the Prince game with him, he was unhappy and didn’t want to play.
"I’m not a Prince." The little boy’s eyes were red, his soft voice tinged with tears.
Tuanzi thought seriously for a moment, "What kind of Prince do you want to be? The one who marries a princess in fairy tales?"
"No way!"
Gu Jiujiu argued loudly, "I want to be a Prince who can protect my mom, protect my grandparents! I’ll be amazing, have lots of territories, and earn lots of money, so they won’t have to work so hard."
Gu Ran, who had been following them silently, was slightly startled, realizing that her son wanted to play the Prince game for different reasons than she had thought.
"Oh, oh."
Tuanzi clapped excitedly, "Your mom is the queen, and you’re the Prince, is that it?"
Gu Jiujiu thought about it, "It’s different from fairy tales anyway."
"Yeah, you know it’s different."
Tuanzi hopped around, "Then why do you care what others say? You are a Prince, as long as you recognize it yourself, your family recognizes you, and your friends recognize you, you are a Prince, a brave and invincible Prince!"
She raised her small paw, waved to Gu Chi who was tailing them, smiling more brilliantly than sunlight.
"For example, right now, Miaomiao thinks you’re a Prince, Brother Gu Chi, do you think he’s a Prince?"
Gu Chi replied with a smile.
"Auntie Gu Ran, do you think he’s a Prince?"
Gu Ran also responded loudly.
Tuanzi leaned closer to Gu Jiujiu again, smiling pleasantly, "And you, Gu Jiujiu, do you think you’re a Prince? A Prince who can become excellent and protect family and friends?"
The little boy seemed to hear the sound of flowers blooming.
A warm flow surged in his chest.
He said loudly, "I am a Prince!"
Tuanzi smiled with her eyes bent, pinching his cheek, "If anyone argues with you in the future, just ignore them. We need to be low-key Princes and surprise everyone later!"
"Mm!"
Gu Jiujiu thought seriously, "Miaomiao, I’ll give you all my candy from now on."
His mom said to thank those who helped him and share with his friends. Miaomiao was not only someone who helped him but also a good friend, so he wanted to give her his favorite candies.
Tuanzi’s big eyes instantly turned into candy shapes.
"Wow, Jiujiu, you really are the best, most excellent Prince!"
[The kids’ friendship is really enviable]
[How do I feel like Miaomiao is a chicken soup master]
[No, I think Miaomiao is young but very insightful. She’s right, don’t worry about what others say, just focus on those you care about, and life becomes easier]
[I used to care a lot about what others thought of me and hoped everyone would like me. Only later did I realize that no one can be liked by everyone, so it’s better to please yourself than others]
[Gu Jiujiu is a strange kid, maybe his mom didn’t teach him well, why expect the kids at kindergarten to recognize him as a Prince]
[You misunderstood, it’s not about them recognizing him as a Prince. They don’t have to, but they shouldn’t mock him, that’s a different matter]
[Yeah, not playing with Gu Jiujiu is fine, but mocking him is too much. I used to think Sun Wukong would come and take me to soar through the clouds. Who didn’t have a fantasy as a child]
Not far away, the twins’ eyes were sparkling as they watched the boy and girl whispering together.
The siblings tacitly tugged on their mom’s clothes.
Ai Jie looked down at them in confusion.
Ai Tanbo whispered, "Mom, I’m a Prince too, a Prince who will protect Mom in the future."
Ai Fengyi quickly followed, "Then I’m the little queen, the most powerful little queen!"
Ai Jie smiled and agreed.
She thought, I must take advantage of this show to gain the upper hand and never let that man take her children.
They all arrived in front of the villa.
The large courtyard was already desolate, and much of the villa’s outer wall paint had peeled off. The whole house looked like it was under a black-and-white filter, a bit eerie.
"It looks like a haunted house," Tuanzi whispered.
Standing right next to her, Gu Jiujiu: "..."
Jiujiu, don’t be afraid, you are a Prince, and Princes are not afraid of ghosts or haunted houses!
The little boy cheered himself on.
Miao Mu explained, "The villa owner has been hospitalized for several years and hasn’t come back, and has no relatives. So the villa has been abandoned, we’ll all take a look inside now."
Yi Heng felt more uneasy, and he instinctively said to the person next to him, "This house probably needs to be renovated inside and out, can’t be done with zero funds."
Standing next to him happened to be Gu Chi.
Gu Chi smiled, "Don’t worry, let’s go in and take a look first."
He had inquired about the villa owner’s past; the old lady was a good homemaker. He thought the interior wouldn’t be too bad.
Once inside, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Though some walls were cracked and moldy, the overall decor was quite cozy. However, some wooden floors were warped and needed fixing.
Gu Ran smiled wryly, "Thankfully, honestly, I was a bit scared just now."
If renovations were needed everywhere inside and out, they might spend the whole season trying to figure out how to make money, leaving no time to convert it into a restaurant.