Pei Yizhou invited the best etiquette teacher.

The etiquette teacher was a little frightened when he saw An Zimo for the first time. The young boy sat with his backlit, his brows gloomy, and the corners of his eyes contained a silence that did not belong to his age, like a wave of stagnant water or a dead tree, lifeless.

, no fireworks.

"Mo Mo, this is Teacher Xu."

An Zimo nodded, stood up, looked up at the young etiquette teacher, paused, and stretched out his hand.

The etiquette teacher was stunned for a moment, then held the cold little hand.

Pei Yizhou had something else to do next, so he left space for the two of them.

It was quiet for a long time, and when Teacher Xu was thinking about how to break the silence, An Zimo suddenly said: "Can you teach me to smile?"

"Why?"

"Smile." An Zimo pursed his lips, thought for a moment and handed him a photo close to his chest, "Like this." He pointed at the woman in the photo.

That was clearly An Xiang.

She smiled like a flower in the sunshine and was incredibly gentle.

Teacher Xu suddenly remembered the servant's advice that this young child had just lost his mother and was determined to die. She silently focused her eyes on the scar under An Zimo's collar and slowly nodded in agreement.

Smiling, crying, laughing, these are the expressions that humans are born with. But An Zimo rarely smiles, he will sneer, ridicule, and laugh, but he will not smile gently with others. Now facing himself in the mirror

, he stiffly pulled the corners of his lips, outlining a very strange and unspeakable smile.

Teacher Xu's eyes twitched, and his tone was tactful: "You can relax a little."

An Zimo frowned: "I'm very relaxed."

Teacher Xu said: "It's too deliberate, so it looks unnatural. Look at me, smiling like this." After saying that, he looked in the mirror and showed a standard smile showing four teeth.

An Zimo was thoughtful and started to laugh, imitating his example.

"Relax."

"Don't be so stiff in your muscles."

"You can think of something happy."

Happy things?

An Zimo couldn't help but recall the details of getting along with An Xiang in his mind, and then he slowly formed a faint smile.

That smile was a brilliance that bloomed on his face. Teacher Xu's eyes lit up and he was extremely excited: "Yes, yes, that's it! Keep it up!"

An Zimo stared in the mirror for a long time, still maintaining this smile until the teacher left. He even had this look when facing the three brothers and sisters.

"Good afternoon, grandchildren."

puff--

The water Pei Chen just drank choked his throat.

He turned back to look at An Zimo, who was smiling like a robot, frowning, and his expression became weird.

An Zimo completely ignored Pei Chen's unnaturalness and sat back down, his spine straight, and he used the knife and fork elegantly.

Pei Chen: "...?"

Pei Chen swallowed and said cautiously: "Zimo, are you okay?"

An Zimo didn't raise his eyebrows, "Don't talk when you eat or sleep. Don't talk when you eat."

"..."

This is really fucking hell!!!

Pei Chen knew that An Xiang's death had a huge impact on An Zimo, but now that it had been two months, it was understandable that he hadn't come over, and it wouldn't... wouldn't cause a drastic change in his temperament.

Pei Chen felt extremely uncomfortable, "Zimo, do you want to go out and play tomorrow?"

An Zimo shook his head: "I want to learn."

"ah?"

"I'm going to attend the gifted class in No. 1 Middle School."

No. 1 Middle School is the best middle school in Jiangcheng. Ten years ago, the country set up a gifted class to recruit children with extraordinary IQs across the country. An Zimo is less than five years old, and even in a gifted class full of talents, he will be the youngest and the best.

exist.

Pei Chen felt even more uncomfortable.

An Xiang was not willing to let An Zimo experience teaching in advance, fearing that he would miss his free childhood. Now that An Xiang is gone, An Zimo's childhood will end here.

His heart was sour. He lowered his head to suppress his tears and said, "Does your father agree?"

An Zimo nodded: "Yeah."

"But No. 1 Middle School is far away from home, you..."

"It's okay, I can take care of myself."

He has always taken care of himself...

An Zimo suddenly thought of An Xiang, slapped his wrist, then lowered his head and continued cutting the steak.

An Zimo studied etiquette carefully in the next few days. He would say hello to the servants when he saw them, play with Pei Nuo patiently and gently, teach Pei Yan his homework, and always smile gently to everyone. His smile seemed to be embedded in

The skin mask is nice to look at, but it will make people who know him well shudder. The twins who originally wanted to continue playing with him were frightened and avoided An Zimo every time they saw him.

He eats on time, sleeps on time, and behaves like a robot programmed in advance.

"Pei Chen, do you need me to teach you how to study?"

An Zimo couldn't find anyone else, so he came to Pei Chen's room.

Pei Chen, who was having a headache over the physics question, thought about it and shook his head: "No need."

"Well, then I won't disturb you." After An Zimo finished speaking, he slowly exited the room.

He had never been so polite before.

Watching An Zimo leave, Pei Chen sighed and vaguely realized the reason for his change. It was just that he wanted to become an excellent child, and he just wanted to be another An Xiang.

But--

There is only one An Zimo, he doesn't have to be anyone else.

Pei Chen stood up and chased after him, and saw An Zimo still practicing his smile in front of the mirror, holding An Xiang's photo in his hand and imitating it.

"An Zimo, stop practicing." Pei Chen stepped forward and took the photo into his palm, "That's enough."

An Zimo had a look on his face in the photo that he had taken away, "Give it to me." He looked unkind, with murderous intent in his eyes. Then he realized something was wrong, and anger flashed across his eyes. He raised his lips and said in a gentle tone, "Pei Chen, please give me

Return the photo to me."

Pei Chen was really fed up. He held the photo high using his height advantage to prevent An Zimo from succeeding, "Sister An Xiang has left."

"Give me."

"There's no point in what you're doing."

"I said...give it to me."

An Zimo repeated it over and over again, no longer patient, his eyes filled with undisguised anger.

His look made Pei Chen hesitate, but he still said: "You abandon your nature and become a so-called good boy. Do you think Sister An Xiang will be happy when she sees it? No, she can't see it because she is long gone.

.Sister An Xiang hopes that you will be gentle and sensible, but you are definitely not gentle and sensible on the surface. An Zimo, ask yourself, is your smile now coming from the bottom of your heart? No, you are just deceiving yourself."

An Zimo, who was told the central issue, didn't start, his voice hoarse: "You don't have to worry about it."

"Everyone felt sad after Sister An Xiang left. But Mo Mo, you still have my father, me, Pei Nuo and Pei Yan. We will all grow up with you and watch you go through the changes in the world and become truly gentle.

People. So...please stop doing this, okay?"

In the end, it was cautious, almost pleading.

An Zimo pursed his lips and slowly looked away, "I just want my mother."

"Zimo..."

"You don't understand at all." He didn't bother to say more and walked around him to leave.

Pei Chen was annoyed and shouted at An Zimo's back: "An Zimo, do you think you are the only one who lost your mother?"

An Zimo's shoulders trembled and his steps stopped.

The boy's eyes were red, and he tried his best to hold back his tears, "When my parents passed away, my brothers and sisters were less than a month old, and they didn't even have time to call mom and dad. Aren't I pitiful? Aren't my brothers and sisters pitiful? You still have my grandfather.

, we are here, can’t we live well together in the future?!”

He bit his lower lip and said nothing.

Pei Chenping calmed down his breathing, walked over and bent down to hand the photo to him: "We all like your fierce look, don't learn that damn etiquette tomorrow, what if we don't know how to be polite? Those people outside have no shit.

Dare to let one go."

An Zimo took the photo and slowly rested his forehead on Pei Chen's belly, like a little tiger taking off its armor, full of powerlessness and grievance.

He curled his lips uncomfortably, squatted down and held her in his arms, "So... do you want to go out and play with us?"

"Um."

"Where's the gifted class?"

"Not yet."

After receiving the answer, Pei Chen smiled and ruffled An Zimo's hair.

After today, An Zimo returned to normal. He still had etiquette classes, but he was not as paranoid as before. He went to school during the day, taught his grandchildren homework at night, and went out to play with his family on Sundays. His life was fulfilling.

An Zimo would go to the cemetery every night to talk to An for a while. He could talk when he grew taller, he could talk when he got the little red flower, and he would tell him even if Pei Chen failed the exam.

In the blink of an eye, summer came, and his longing for his mother spread to his bones.

But An Zimo knew...the dead cannot come back, just like the ice and snow melting into the ground cannot bloom.

**

The next day, An Zimo didn't go to school and was dragged to a place by Pei Yizhou.

He didn't say where he was going. It wasn't until he arrived at his destination that Pei Yizhou concentrated on telling him: "We will go see An Yanze later. Don't talk after seeing him. Remember to listen to his thoughts and don't miss any details."

An Zimo was smart and immediately understood what Pei Yizhou meant.

Pei Yizhou has been secretly investigating An Yanze in the past few months, and now he must have found something when he broke into the house.

After entering the door, the father and son were taken to the living room.

Not long after, An Yanze came over from the study.

"Sorry, I handled a work call and asked Pei Dongjiu to wait."

An Yanze was wearing comfortable casual clothes, with a pair of silver-rimmed glasses on his nose, looking like a well-dressed beast.

"It's really surprising that Director Pei can take time out of his busy schedule to visit me."

Pei Yizhou didn't care about the man's cynicism, looked at him coldly, and said after a while: "Where is my wife."

He spoke directly, surprising both people present.

An Yanze maintained the surprise on his face, "Dr. Pei, are you mistaken?"

Pei Yizhou directly threw the documents he brought over, "Your sister An Xiang died of blood allergy, and your body was taken away and destroyed by you a few days later. But strangely, what Mr. An burned that day was an unknown female body in the morgue.

"
Chapter completed!