Just as Connie thought her inquiry would be fruitless, Missy suddenly said, "I know what happened with dad and mom."
"Oh, Missy, tell me about it." Connie looked at her granddaughter.
Indeed, in terms of emotional intelligence, Missy was much stronger than Sheldon.
"Mom wanted to confiscate dad's secret stash of money, and he didn't want to give it up, so he used his private money to buy a lot of beer. Then the two had a big fight..." After Missy finished her discovery, she stated, "Finally, mom brought Sheldon and me here."
After hearing the reason for George and his wife's spat, Connie's first feeling was that Mary's way of handling family matters was too overbearing.
Perhaps Mary's way of handling problems in the past was not wrong, but recently, many unpleasant things have happened to George, and his emotions are also in a sensitive period, requiring more tolerance and understanding from his wife and family.
However, it was clear that Mary had not realized this; instead, because she had recently found a job at the church, she felt more confident. Therefore, in the couple's relationship, she unconsciously wanted to take more control.
If this kind of contradiction and cognitive error continued for a long time, even without the private money issue, it would eventually erupt one day because of other things.
The issue of private money was, at most, a fuse.
Connie, who saw the problem very clearly, immediately wanted to persuade her daughter. However, seeing Mary's distressed look, she decided to talk to her after dinner, once her daughter's emotions had stabilized.
As the inquiry ended, Connie went to the kitchen to prepare dinner for everyone, and Sheldon also came to the computer with Missy.
At this moment, Mike was playing a small game on the computer.
Looking at the bouncing little man hitting mushrooms on the computer, Missy asked curiously, "Mike, what are you playing?"
"'Super Mario,' it's a very interesting little game, do you want to try it?" Mike asked with a smile.
For Mike, computer games now were more about nostalgia; after the novelty wore off, they weren't that interesting.
Just as Mike was about to move aside, Sheldon suddenly asked, "Mike, has Dr. Ronald replied to us yet?"
Hearing Sheldon's question, Mike switched the computer screen to the email interface, but there were no new emails.
"The other party probably hasn't seen the email you sent..." Mike explained.
"No, it's been a day. I'm going to call and ask." Sheldon said, then walked towards Connie's landline.
It could be said that Sheldon had been waiting for Dr. Ronald's reply all day. Now, seeing that his efforts were not taken seriously, he was very dissatisfied.
On the other side, Mike also began teaching Missy to play a small game on the computer.
It wasn't until the little girl had lost three lives in a row that Sheldon stomped back, looking angry.
"What's wrong, Sheldon? What did they say?" Mike asked.
"The NASA customer service told me not to make harassing calls anymore..." Sheldon replied dejectedly.
The customer service representative on the other end probably recognized from his voice that Sheldon was a child, so her attitude wasn't very good.
After hearing about the unfair treatment Sheldon received, Mike frowned and said, "I'll help you ask what the situation is."
With that, Mike took out his mobile phone and called the Houston Space Administration.
"Hello, how can I help you?" The person who answered the phone was a female customer service representative with a clear voice.
"I'd like to ask if Dr. Ronald received the email we sent him earlier?" Mike asked.
"May I ask your name and title, please?" The female customer service representative was very meticulous in her work.
NASA's public email receives many emails every day, and to prevent malicious files from being sent, there are dedicated people to categorize the emails.
Finally, after confirming that an email is valuable, it is then forwarded to the corresponding researcher.
This process can also be considered a form of protection for high-level talents.
"My name is Mike, and I'm a high school student from Medford. Dr. Ronald previously gave a public lecture at our school." Mike said truthfully.
"Okay, thank you for your call. We will resolve your issue according to the correct procedure. Please wait patiently." Hearing that the caller was a high school student, the female customer service representative politely hung up the phone.
Listening to the busy tone on the phone, Mike was also disheartened, just like Sheldon earlier.
"How was it? What did they say?" Sheldon asked anxiously when he saw Mike put down the phone.
"They said they would handle our issue, but their attitude was very perfunctory..." Mike briefly explained the situation.
Clearly, the NASA female customer service representative probably dealt with high-level talents like master's and doctoral degree holders every day. Mike's identity as a high school student did not receive enough attention from her.
"I knew it, we should have gotten Dr. Ronald's private phone number or private email..." Sheldon showed annoyance after hearing Mike's account.
Seeing that the other party was upset, Mike comforted him, "Let's wait a bit longer, maybe Dr. Ronald will reply to us soon."
"No! I can't let this go on." Sheldon said firmly, "I've decided, until I get a reply, I will call every day to inquire about the situation."
Clearly, this matter had become a personal obsession for Sheldon.
"Awesome! I got a mushroom!" On the other side, Missy, controlling Mario to hit a mushroom, cheered happily.
Evidently, human joys and sorrows are not interconnected.
Soon after, Connie also finished preparing dinner.
After dinner, Sheldon temporarily forgot the unpleasantness of his earlier phone call, and he and Missy began researching computer games together.
The lively Missy enjoyed small games that required operation. Sheldon, on the other hand, preferred intellectual online games.
The two even had a small dispute over this.
Meanwhile, Connie pulled her daughter aside to a quiet place for a heart-to-heart talk.
"Mary, I think you should learn to be more tolerant..." Connie handed her daughter a bottle of beer and continued, "George has had some setbacks at work recently, and he might be a bit emotional. But this situation will get better soon."
In Connie's opinion, small conflicts in married life are normal, and as long as the couple is more tolerant, life will continue as usual.
"No, this isn't an emotional issue. He's just becoming less and less concerned about this family..." Mary began to pour out her husband's recent wrongdoings.
Ever since George started working at the sporting goods store, he had been leaving early and coming home late every day, with little time to spend alone with his wife.
Moreover, the most crucial point was that the salary George brought home could no longer keep up with the family's expenses.
Given this situation, a depressed George had been drinking beer more and more frequently.
In Mary's eyes, all of this was a sign of irresponsibility.