Chapter 89: Small-minded Chuck
"Okay, Charlotte, come have breakfast."
Angela, who had prepared breakfast, smiled as she watched her husband playfully encouraging their daughter to pester Chuck. After bringing the plate over, she gently pulled her daughter, who was clinging to Chuck, away from him and said, "Chuck, how does it taste?"
"The bacon is undercooked. You should cook it more thoroughly," Chuck said bluntly, looking at the breakfast in front of him.
"I'll cook it longer for you," Angela said with a smile, taking Chuck's plate.
"You're so picky," Patrick said, feeling bad for his wife. "Bacon cooked like this is perfect."
"Yeah, Mom's bacon is the best!" Charlotte nodded enthusiastically.
"This bacon is made from pork, which can contain pork tapeworms. If you don't cook it long enough to kill the parasites, you could develop neurocysticercosis," Chuck said, looking at Charlotte.
"Daddy!" Charlotte, who had been enjoying her meal, was immediately frightened when Chuck looked at her. She dropped her fork with the bacon and cried out, "I don't want to get sick!"
"Sweetheart, it's okay." Patrick immediately went over to hug his daughter and comfort her, "Uncle Chuck is just trying to scare you. Eating bacon won't make you sick at all."
"Really?" Charlotte lay in her father's arms, looking at Chuck with tear-filled eyes.
"It's true," Chuck said expressionlessly.
"Waaah!" Charlotte burst into tears. "Daddy, I ate so much bacon, will my tummy be full of worms?"
"No, no!" Patrick glared at the petty Chuck and kept comforting his baby, "Charlotte, you're so smart. Think about it—do your classmates eat bacon?"
"Yes," Charlotte nodded through her sobs.
"That's right, have you seen any of your classmates get sick from eating bacon?" Patrick soothed, "Mommy and Daddy eat bacon too. Millions of people in America eat bacon every year, and very few get sick."
"Not as few as you think." Chuck saw Charlotte looking at him again, and said matter-of-factly, "The less sanitary the conditions, the more likely these diseases become. Pork tapeworm is just one of them..."
"Enough!" Patrick shouted, "Are you a doctor? If you're not a doctor, what gives you the right to say these things to scare Charlotte!"
"I'm a detective," Chuck said calmly.
"So?" Patrick said irritably. "You're a detective, so what?"
Chuck glanced at him and said bluntly, "As a detective, if you don't understand observation, deduction, medicine, physics, general knowledge, and caution, you're mediocre!"
"..." Patrick's eye twitched. "What does this have to do with physics?"
"To convince people with logic," Chuck said matter-of-factly. "Only after you master various scientific principles can you better persuade others and make everything make sense."
From small-scale forensics to medium-scale ballistics, to large-scale crime scene analysis, physics was essential.
Chuck chose physics for his second doctorate, not just because it looked impressive and helped him get closer to brilliant colleagues.
"Mommy!" Little Charlotte, seeing her father get shut down by Chuck, could only cry and reach for her mother as Angela approached.
"Sweetheart, let me cook it longer for you, okay?" Angela's mood was much calmer. She didn't have the same competitive streak as her husband Patrick, and she felt immense gratitude toward Chuck. So she wasn't angry that Chuck had frightened her precious daughter. Instead, she felt Chuck's behavior was endearing. She smiled and said, "Uncle Chuck is right. Children, especially girls, need to be careful about food safety. As long as you do that, everything will be fine, okay?"
"Okay!" Charlotte nodded repeatedly, offering her plate to Angela to recook. Then her beautiful eyes looked at Chuck sympathetically.
Chuck slowly continued eating.
Charlotte unconsciously adjusted her posture, copying Chuck's way of sitting.
Patrick watched this scene with a heavy heart.
It had always been so difficult to teach his little girl to be cautious, no matter how hard he tried. But now look—after just a few scary words from Chuck, his precious daughter was actually starting to imitate Chuck.
Thinking about his daughter ending up like Chuck, probably friendless and living alone, he felt deeply troubled. He secretly decided to re-educate his daughter as soon as Chuck left and they moved away.
While being careful about hygiene was right, it shouldn't be taken to extremes. She definitely couldn't become a severe germaphobe with OCD like Chuck.
Chuck ate, feeling disappointed.
The system in his mind didn't react at all.
Confirmed! Intimidating children didn't earn the system any positive or negative points.
Little Sheldon must have been a special case.
After a few more tests on new targets, he could completely give up on little Leonard.
After breakfast,
Patrick and his family saw Chuck off.
"Have a safe trip. We're moving soon too. I'll call you when we get settled in our new place." Angela smiled. "Charlotte, say goodbye to Uncle Chuck. Remember, he's our family's closest friend. If anything ever happens again..."
She paused, turned away to wipe the tears that had welled up in her eyes, and forced a smile. "You can trust Uncle Chuck just as much as you trust Mommy and Daddy. Remember?"
"Uh-huh." Charlotte gave her mother a puzzled look, not understanding what was wrong, but nodded obediently. She stepped forward, instinctively wanting to hug Chuck, but something held her back, and she stepped away. "Uncle Chuck, goodbye."
Chuck ignored Patrick's pleading look to hug Charlotte, and simply nodded to Angela. "Don't worry."
"Thank you, thank you," Angela said, overwhelmed with emotion.
She said this because she was worried that if something like last night happened again, or if she and her husband were killed, their daughter Charlotte would have someone to protect her.
It wasn't that she didn't have family, but her parents had died young, leaving only her grandparents, who were elderly and couldn't protect her daughter much longer. She also had a brother, Danny, but he was a lazy con artist. She was grateful he didn't cause her trouble, but he was completely unreliable.
After this incident, she felt that only a man like Chuck could be trusted—the best guardian for her daughter Charlotte.
So seeing Chuck nod in agreement to her request to look after her child, how could she not be overjoyed?
Chuck looked at Patrick and gave him a knowing look.
"..." Patrick was silent.
If he hadn't screwed up so badly before, how could his wife Angela have even considered such thoughts? Ultimately, it was all his fault.
"Chuck, if you need any help in the future, call me." After a long pause, Patrick finally stopped being defensive and looked at Chuck seriously.
Chuck's kindness to him was immeasurable.
Seeing this, Chuck nodded and walked away. He had a flight that morning.
(End of Chapter)
If you enjoyed this chapter, leave a Power Stone or Review!
P@atreon/Soulforger (45+ advanced chapters)