Song Yi was, in her previous life, the biological daughter of the wealthiest man, lost and then found.
She thought being found would grant her the script of the family's beloved darling, but it turned out that role belonged to someone else.
Her biological father, overwhelmed by grief after her disappearance, had adopted a girl to replace her. At eight years old, when she finally returned home, what awaited her was Song Yee—vibrant, cheerful, dressed in fine clothes—cozying up in their father's embrace.
Awkward and unsure of herself, she felt like an outsider who had mistakenly wandered into this happy family.
Facing her own father, she couldn't even bring herself to call him "Dad." Naturally, no one would take a liking to such a quiet, withdrawn child.
In contrast, everyone, men and women alike, adored Song Yee.
And that group of strikingly handsome, extraordinarily wealthy men always seemed to enjoy teasing and targeting Song Yi to curry favor with Song Yee.
In the end, at sixteen, Song Yi chose to end her miserable life by suicide.
She thought that was the end of her story, but when she opened her eyes, she found herself at the entrance of an orphanage.
Song Yi looked at her own short arms and legs; she had been sitting by the door in a daze all afternoon.
After a long moment, the girl blinked heavily, snapping out of the shock of her rebirth, and began to think, somewhat bewildered.
This was an utterly absurd world where human life was cheap, and violent riots and attacks often played out on the streets.
For the wealthy, the law was virtually non-existent; power and wealth symbolized everything.
According to the script of her past life, she would be found by her biological father in three years, only to be plunged into an endless environment of comparison, disdain, and exclusion.
Given a second chance at life, she had no grand wishes, only the desire to stay far, far away from those elites, those so-called 'celestial beings' of high society.
A plain, ordinary life was the true blessing.
Song Yi took a deep breath. The biting cold wind sweeping the roadside rushed into her lungs, clearing her mind considerably.
She looked around, hoping to find a potential adopter nearby to escape the fate of being found and taken back home.
The orphanage gate was wide open now, the cold wind whistling, with very few passersby.
Song Yi waited for what felt like ages before she spotted a plainly dressed man in a white shirt and black trousers walking by.
He wore glasses, had black hair and dark eyes, his clothes bore no brand logos, and his features were as plain and unremarkable as boiled water.
To Song Yi, who was accustomed to seeing all sorts of chiseled-jawline tycoons, this type of person could only be described in three words—an extra.
But who said being an extra was bad? Being an extra was absolutely perfect!
After enduring the torment from all the scheming women and overbearing, duplicitous men around the adopted daughter in her past life, she now had a fondness only for extras.
Hesitation leads to defeat. Song Yi decisively stood up, headed straight for the extra not far away, tightly grabbed the man's trouser leg, and uttered earth-shattering words:
"Uncle."
"Can you be my dad?"
"???"
Shen Sixing's steps came to an abrupt halt.
He had been immersed in reviewing last night's mission and pondering whether to decline a troublesome assignment.
Suddenly, his trouser leg was tugged tight, followed by this clear child's voice pouring into his ears.
Be her dad?
Somewhat taken aback, he looked down. His dark eyes reflected the figure of a child.
A grubby little thing, as if dug out from a trash heap. The hand clutching his trousers was gripping with force, her tone urgent.
"What?" Shen Sixing looked at the child who had suddenly popped out, raising an eyebrow in disbelief at the absurdity.
Song Yi looked up at him. Under the dim light, the girl's pupils appeared unusually round. "I'm very smart. I eat when I'm hungry, sleep when I'm tired, and... well, I handle things when I'm sick. I won't be any trouble."
"Please adopt me!" After saying this, she bowed deeply to him.
"..." Well, she's... oddly polite?
The man crouched down.
This action brought him to a more equal eye level with Song Yi.
Shen Sixing didn't touch her, just let his gaze sweep more carefully over the girl's dry, yellowish hair and the red, swollen frostbite on her face.
She looked quite pitiful.
"Why me?"
He was somewhat curious. He didn't think he possessed any particular appeal that would make a child resolutely choose him.
One had to admit, she really was...
quite brave.
Song Yi met his dark, calm eyes and decided honesty was the best policy. "I like ordinary people."
"You look very ordinary," she said, her eyes scanning his utterly unremarkable features, her voice tinged with anticipation and happiness. "We are the same kind of people."
She was ordinary, and so was he.
Shen Sixing: "..."
He fell into a rare silence.
After all, the word "ordinary" applied to him was a bit of dark humor.
As for Song Yi's plea for adoption, Shen Sixing's sharp intuition told him this little girl would bring trouble to his peaceful household.
Refusal was the easiest choice.
He never went looking for trouble.
But...
Wenya was always complaining about the house being too quiet, constantly urging him to go out and snatch a girl off the street to fill the family void.
His wife's exact words were: 'It's not that I favor girls over boys, I just want to have both a son and a daughter.'
'I just want a daughter. Stolen, tricked, snatched—any way is fine.'
'Chubby ones, skinny ones, pretty ones, plain ones—all are fine!'
Thinking of his wife's incessant nagging day and night, Shen Sixing had to consider the possibility of adopting a girl.
After a moment of contemplation, the man seemed to let out a helpless sigh. He gently raised his hand—his skin carrying an unhealthy, cool pallor—and his icy fingertips touched her little face, red with frostbite.
The girl felt soft and fragile all over.
He wondered if she might not survive being raised.
"I can adopt you," he said softly. "As long as you are well-behaved enough."
Shen Sixing was an assassin. He only liked quiet, peaceful environments. He did not need a noisy, troublesome child.
"I will definitely be good," Song Yi quickly promised, holding up four fingers as if taking an oath. "I absolutely won't cause you any trouble!"
Shen Sixing reluctantly took her at her word.
After the man agreed to adopt her, she was still anxious about the paperwork. But in reality, the orphanage director didn't even inquire in detail about his family situation.
She just quickly and cooperatively processed the formalities, pushing a few forms in front of Shen Sixing and pointing to where he needed to sign.
Song Yi stood on her tiptoes, trying hard to see the name he signed on the form.
—Shen Sixing.
The name suited him, carrying a touch of casual aloofness.
Once the simple adoption procedures were completed, she was taken away by the man on the spot.
"Sir," she decisively abandoned her previous surname, straining her little legs to keep up with his pace, her voice soft. "My name is Shen Yi."
She wanted no further connection to her scumbag father from her past life.
Shen Sixing slowed his pace. Seeing her clumsy attempt to match his speed, he simply hoisted her onto his shoulder and corrected her form of address. "You should call me Dad."
Suddenly lifted onto his shoulder, Shen Yi instinctively pressed her face against his cool nape and murmured softly, "...Dad."
The girl's voice was muffled, almost swallowed by the sound of footsteps.
Faced with this sudden physical contact, Shen Sixing paused almost imperceptibly.
Hearing that soft, gentle "Dad," he forcefully suppressed the impulse to toss her aside and gave a faint acknowledgment.
...
After a bus ride, they arrived at a residential building in a neighborhood complex.
The door was opened by a woman with delicate, gentle features.
However, the moment she noticed the thin, small figure in Shen Sixing's arms, her serene expression vanished, replaced by a shriek of delight:
"Oh my god! Honey! You... you kidnapped a child?!"
Shen Sixing lazily lifted his eyelids. Before he could even utter an "Mhm" in response, he was cut off by his wife's next words.
"I've been saying you should kidnap a child for ages. You know how long I've wanted a daughter. Thank you, darling." She gave Shen Sixing a loud, smacking kiss, then ignored her husband and eagerly wrapped her arms around Shen Yi instead.
Wait? Kidnap a child??
Is... is that right?
Shen Yi was dazed for a couple of seconds. Before she could ponder it further, she was engulfed by Mrs. Shen's enthusiastic embrace.
"Little treasure, what's your name?"
The woman smelled pleasantly of laundry detergent. The apartment was comfortably warm. Children's building blocks were scattered on the living room rug.
Everything spoke of this family's warmth.
That slight sense of oddness instantly became trivial in the face of Shen Yi's desperate longing for a home.
She wanted a warm family like this so badly.
Almost instinctively, she hugged Wenya back, tilted her little face up, and revealed an incredibly bright smile. "Madam, my name is Shen Yi."
"Xiao Yi." She affectionately held the girl before her and told her quite naturally, "I'm your mommy."
Compared to Wenya's exuberance, Shen Sixing had already sunk deep into the soft cushions, looking like a miserable office worker whose soul had been drained.
Having grown accustomed to the domineering CEOs with their superior builds, broad shoulders, and narrow backs in stories, suddenly seeing a realistic, exhausted-looking man, she only felt an extraordinary sense of safety and said with genuine sincerity, "Daddy, you're amazing."
This kind of harmless man, like a skinny dog, was precisely the sense of security she had always sought.
The girl's gaze was full of admiration.
This completely unexpected reaction caused Shen Sixing's brain to short-circuit for a moment.
This kid's train of thought...
Seems a bit unusual?
He was this worn out, yet she looked at him with an expression of 'this little follower worships you.'
Just then.
Light footsteps sounded from the stairs.
A boy abruptly appeared at the stairway landing.
He looked about her age, wearing loungewear, with exquisite features like a porcelain doll.
His gaze was empty and vacant, resting quietly on Shen Yi, as if he was sizing her up, or perhaps just spacing out.
"Xiao Xun," Wenya stood up, a gentle smile spreading across her face as she spoke softly and utterly naturally, "Look, this is your little sister, Shen Yi. We're a family now."
She led the boy downstairs and had him stand in front of Shen Yi.
Up close, Shen Yi directly felt that this child was practically like a ghost.
Wenya tucked her hair behind her ear, looked at her younger son, and spoke word by word, smiling, "Family needs to be protected. You'll protect your little sister, right? Xiao Xun?"
She deliberately emphasized the words "your."
Shen Xun's pitch-black eyes turned to Shen Yi.
The little girl seemed completely out of the loop, staring blankly at him.
"Okay, Mom," the boy paused for about two seconds, then nodded. "I understand."
"I will protect my sister."
Wenya breathed a sigh of relief.
Shen Xun was the most worry-free among her children. With him around, she didn't have to fear Xiao Yi quietly dying in some corner without her knowledge.
"Alright," she patted both children's heads again, her smile blooming like a flower, "Xiao Xun, take your sister to play. Snacks are in the cupboard."
Wenya hurried into the kitchen to prepare dinner for the children first.
Shen Xun remained expressionless and unreadable.
He didn't go get snacks. Instead, he walked up to Shen Yi and began explaining the family situation on his own. "I'm your fourth brother."
"Dad is often not home."
"Our eldest brother is a doctor. He works late shifts seeing patients and usually doesn't come home either."
Shen Yi sat hugging her knees opposite him. "Then Eldest Brother must work very hard, right?"
Having come from an orphanage, she knew it wasn't easy for ordinary people to earn money.
Shen Xun thought about his eldest brother's sky-high consultation fees and replied with two words: "Not really."
He paused, then continued, "Second Brother works as a policeman outside. Third Brother has been sick for many years and lives with Grandpa."
"At home, it's just us."
What he didn't say aloud was—
After obtaining his medical license, Eldest Brother had been working overtime killing people until late every night.
Second Brother had secretly taken down who knows how many policemen on the side.
Third Brother was even more of a psycho. If not kept under watch, he'd cause big trouble for the family.
But to Shen Yi's ears, these words automatically translated to:
Kind-hearted Eldest Brother healed the sick and saved the dying.
Second Brother, a beacon of justice, was a policeman.
Simple, honest Grandpa was taking care of his sick grandson.
What a kind-hearted family this was!
Author's Note:
A heads-up: There's a system, but it appears later. The entire cast are villains, with twisted morals, not doing decent things—they're like typical antagonists. The female lead is a growing character, and her morals might not align with some readers' standards. That's why I categorize her among the 'bad guys.' She's actually the normal one among the villains, with relatively normal morals, but for her, family comes first, and anything her family does is fine.
The whole family dynamic is about familial bonds, leaning towards lighthearted and heartwarming. The whole family are bad people, the kind of bad seeds huddling together for warmth. Those with strong, conventional morals might want to reconsider. The setting is fictional; don't apply real-world logic. It's like a shonen manga/anime world where there are lots of abnormal people! Babies with particularly strong, conventional morals can stop here in time, please!
No romance for any of the main cast! Third Brother has a girlfriend, but they break up within a few chapters. There's no real emotional connection, just mutual use. Later, the girlfriend acts somewhat like a caring older sister/confidante to the female lead and might become a friend. If this bothers you, reconsider.
The relationship with the brothers isn't about instant doting. They'll interact, adapt to each other, and put in effort for one another.
Once they completely fall for her, they'll devote themselves to the female lead without reservation.
