Chapter 1396 - 1398

Gong Ruini yawned and ambled downstairs to Zhao Guangran’s house.

"Looks like we’ll have to start cooking at home from now on." Otherwise, going downstairs just for a meal is quite a hassle.

"Have to get them to move the kitchen supplies upstairs."

Although Zhao Xuran said that her current situation isn’t great and he can cook, Gong Ruini isn’t convinced.

It’s not because she’s worried his cooking is bad—in fact, he’s quite skilled—but he has lots of things to handle.

Don’t be fooled by Zhao Guangran going to Japan and moving the command center there. Zhao Xuran is equally busy.

If it weren’t for the concern about the school opening, Gong Ruini reckoned he would’ve flown to Japan to deal with the matter.

If it were just about taking family money to invest in stocks, no matter how anxious Zhao Xuran gets, he wouldn’t be as tense.

But there’s borrowed money involved here, and even though Zhao Guangran says older brother’s money will eventually become worthless, until that day, nobody knows what it’ll devalue to.

This sum of money is really not small, and a few times, Gong Ruini could feel Zhao Xuran getting up in the middle of the night to smoke by the window.

Even through the moonlight, though it wasn’t very clear to her, she could sense his worry and hesitation.

No matter how much Zhao Xuran wants to sort out the school matters and find time to go to Japan, he simply doesn’t have the time right now.

As Gong Ruini thought more about it, she grew more troubled until she opened the door and got startled by the two people sitting opposite each other silently.

Their expressions were too serious, so serious that Gong Ruini thought they might have gotten into some big trouble.

"What’s up with you two?" Gong Ruini cautiously asked, hoping her brother hadn’t said anything excessive.

Could it be that she complained about Zhao Xuran earlier? Otherwise, her brother definitely wouldn’t be so rash.

Seeing the slight tension in Gong Ruini’s expression, Zhao Xuran immediately softened his demeanor.

He intended to sternly teach Gong Ruzhi a lesson, not scare his own wife.

With a sigh, as Zhao Xuran got up to help Gong Ruini, Gong Ruzhi let out a long breath of relief.

"Sis, you don’t know how Brother Xu Ran bullies me." Hmph, my backing has arrived, Gong Ruzhi expressed, he wasn’t afraid of Zhao Xuran.

Even if there’s retaliation later, so what? Look at how much he’d listened to Brother Xu Ran before, and it never brought too many benefits anyway.

Brother Guangran was right, the opportunity to show off in front of Brother Xu Ran should not be missed.

Ah, just knew this kid hadn’t turned honest—being yelled at harshly by Zhao Xuran as he supported Gong Ruini gave Gong Ruzhi quite a fright.

"Can’t you lower your voice?" Wasn’t it just tattling? Zhao Xuran was mentally prepared, but he couldn’t scare Ni Zi.

Gong Ruzhi pouted, thinking, does he expect me not to tattle because of that? Fat chance.

"Sis, do you know how awful Brother Xu Ran is? He actually made me a nanny." Gong Ruzhi counted on his fingers, explaining to Gong Ruini how Zhao Xuran bullied him.

Making him do chores—Gong Ruini wondered if Zhao Xuran was venting some flames from her onto Gong Ruzhi.

Never expected him to make him do chores, although the tasks were a bit too much, there were only so many people at home, and things were indeed a bit much.

"Sis, I really don’t mind having so much work." Gong Ruzhi wasn’t stupid; he definitely wouldn’t say that the tasks were too much, disrupting his computer time.

Still, is it okay to talk so plainly? Absolutely not if you want things to go smoothly.

"What I hate is that Brother Xu Ran wouldn’t let me interact much with my little nephew." Gong Ruzhi, with a vastly aggrieved expression.

Making Gong Ruzhi do chores gave Gong Ruini a pause, but she wasn’t too surprised, as everyone at home had reasons to do chores.

The issue was why wouldn’t he let Gong Ruzhi interact with his future nephew, which Gong Ruini truly didn’t understand.

"It’s just that I feel Xiao Zhi is a bit silly, and what if he rubs off on our daughter?" Zhao Xuran also felt tired; if it weren’t for the possibility of Gong Ruzhi saying even more outrageous things, he really didn’t want to explain.

What, rub off on the daughter? Turn her into a fool? Was he implying Gong Ruzhi is a fool? Gong Ruini was stunned by Zhao Xuran’s words.

She looked at the similarly stunned Gong Ruzhi; if he were considered a fool, Gong Ruini really didn’t know who in the world would be considered smart or even passably competent.

"Ah, Brother Xu Ran, that’s a bit too much." Gong Ruzhi was genuinely about to explode with anger.

Admitting that he wasn’t all that bright compared to surrounding geniuses was fine; he really didn’t stand out.

But being a fool? That’s surely quite far off—no, it’s quite a distance indeed.

"You’re not foolish, are you? Staring at a computer every day, not understanding people." Computer programs, Zhao Xuran didn’t understand, although he watched them operate and listened to explanations, he admitted it was not easy.

But no matter how tricky it is, can it compare to the complexity of people’s hearts? People are the most unpredictable; close one moment, then betraying you the next. Such situations are hardly rare, right?

Especially when so easily ensnared by Dai Liren, Zhao Xuran felt helpless, acknowledging Dai Liren is a good person, but not everyone is a good person.

He genuinely worried his foolish child would be easily tricked by others.

Not understanding people? Gong Ruzhi was dumbfounded; he’d expected criticism from many places by Zhao Xuran, but not on this, and it really floored him.

"Sis, look at Brother Xu Ran." Gong Ruzhi angrily complained to Gong Ruini.

In this matter, Gong Ruini was firmly on Zhao Xuran’s side; Gong Ruzhi isn’t always that lucky.

Dai Liren had good character, and even if he genuinely tried some tricks to get Gong Ruzhi once, he’d still consider it carefully.

If someone unknown to them wanted to con Gong Ruzhi, what then?

No way, even his own sister wouldn’t stand by him, which really upset Gong Ruzhi.

"You really can’t devote yourself entirely to computers." Gong Ruini said, looking at her aggrieved brother, feeling quite distressed.

Clearly, this kid used to be quite capable; Gong Ruini and Gong Ruwen had mentioned feeling secure about having Gong Ruzhi inherit the family business.

But since Gong Ruwen said he’d return, this guy relaxed completely, and now he was like this.

What worried Gong Ruini more is that Gong Ruzhi’s change might simply be to reassure Gong Ruwen, as despite Gong Ruwen’s return, people still expect Gong Ruzhi to emerge and vie for inheritance against Gong Ruwen.

To those people, if given a choice between Gong Ruwen and Gong Ruzhi as bosses, they’d pick Gong Ruzhi; the latter seemed more pliable and easy-going.

Moreover, they’d believe that if Gong Ruzhi truly emerged to vie for inheritance, conflicts with Gong Ruwen would be inevitable, preventing full focus on managing the company, thus giving them an opportunity.

"I feel calculating others’ intentions is too tiring; I’d rather face the computer." Gong Ruzhi admitted, somewhat awkwardly.

If he could choose, he really didn’t want Gong Ruini or others to know his weakness.

But unexpectedly, this weakness he tried hard to hide was just known to Gong Ruini, which was indeed quite embarrassing.