Shen Yi was also brainstorming what exactly was going on.
She seemed to understand why Shen Zhi Zhao's attitude toward her was both distant and filled with an inexplicable interest.
So it all stemmed from this old photograph.
But why? Why would there be someone who looked exactly like her?
Did this world have a bug?
"Shen Yi."
Seeing the girl deep in thought, he leaned back, softly called her name, and looked at her calmly. "I'm very curious as to why you look exactly like this person."
To be honest, he couldn't even remember what he looked like at seven or eight years old, and he had very few photos from that time.
But the boy being held by the girl in the picture was him.
Shen Zhi Zhao didn't let her look too closely.
The boy was about seven or eight, wearing a small white shirt with his soft hair resting against his forehead. He had been pulled in front of the camera by the young girl. Looking shy and bashful, the corners of his mouth were slightly turned up. He seemed unaccustomed to having his picture taken, yet also very happy, as he hesitantly reached out his hand to make a peace sign alongside her.
That smile, how should he put it...
A phrase popped into Shen Zhi Zhao's mind: he looked entirely too easily won over.
"I don't know," Shen Yi paused for a couple of seconds upon hearing this. "Who is that boy?" She had only glanced briefly at the people in the photo, her attention mainly focused on the girl.
She didn't have much of an impression of the boy.
At first glance, the child in the photo seemed cautious, a bit shy, smiling as if he had just received a precious treasure.
At a glance, he looked easy to fool, easy to bully, and easy to manipulate.
He was a completely different person from the man currently standing by the window, casting his eyes down to look at her quietly.
The young man wore a white shirt and black trousers. Standing against the light, his face was completely expressionless, and his eyes were like a barren wasteland.
Shen Yi didn't associate the boy with him at all. And it wasn't just Shen Yi; even Shen Zhi Zhao found it hard to believe that the boy was him.
The boy's expression was far too eager and unguarded. The severe sense of detachment made him suspect this was an AI-generated photo.
Was this his personality during his childhood?
He couldn't remember.
Shen Zhi Zhao had never been very willing to dwell deeply on his past.
Regarding her eldest brother's question, Shen Yi hesitated for a couple of seconds and gently shook her head. "I think the girl looks a lot like me, but I don't know the boy. But maybe this photo is just a fake?"
Shen Zhi Zhao leaned against the back of his chair, pressing his hands lightly together. "Is that so?"
"Aren't you curious at all? You look exactly the same." He observed her, speaking in a casual, conversational tone.
Shen Yi answered honestly, "I think obsessing over it too much doesn't have much meaning."
For the time being, she truly couldn't figure out why an older version of herself would be in this old photograph.
And holding a little boy she didn't know at all, no less.
After four days of living together, Shen Yi had somewhat grasped Shen Zhi Zhao's personality.
He was the type of honest man who appeared colorless and odorless, but was highly toxic.
Normally, when the three of them lived under the same roof, their conversations were always concise and to the point.
Usually, it went like this:
"Hungry?"
"Hungry~"
"Want to eat?"
"Eat~"
"Go to bed early."
"Okay~"
The two children would always drawl out their replies to their older brother, like two pre-programmed little robots.
Shen Zhi Zhao would leave as soon as he finished asking, never wasting a word.
As for why she called him an honest man, it was because his temper was indeed incredibly good.
He was a man of absolute endurance.
Just yesterday, Shen Zhi Zhao had to go out for some business and left her and Shen Xun to stay in his office.
At first, the two of them were fairly well-behaved, sitting on the sofa playing with a Rubik's Cube.
But even the most fun game gets boring after three days, let alone a Rubik's Cube, which was boring to begin with.
Shen Yi felt like she was about to turn into moldy moss. Lying on the sofa, she suddenly went crazy without warning and threw a pillow at Shen Xun.
Shen Xun got hit in the head and looked up.
His expression was flat.
He looked a bit speechless.
As if asking: What is it now?
Shen Yi didn't look at him. She sat up and enunciated every word, "I'm bored—"
She never expected that one day the word "bored" would come out of her mouth. In the past, this had always been Shen Xun's catchphrase.
Bored? Shen Xun, whose ability to understand human emotions was absolutely zero, mistakenly thought she wanted to play with him.
He immediately stood up, grabbed the pillow next to him, and smashed it hard on his sister's head.
Shen Yi was caught off guard.
She was knocked flat on the floor.
Biting the corner of her mouth, she turned her head to look at him in disbelief.
Half an hour later.
The office floor was covered in documents, and the two children were going crazy like two wild, frolicking dogs.
Shen Yi was holding a throw pillow, riding on Shen Xun's back, smiling triumphantly.
And Shen Xun had given up struggling, obediently acting as a horse for his sister.
Then the door opened.
Shen Zhi Zhao stood in the doorway.
Behind him were two assistants holding documents, staring at the scene in stunned silence.
The office was a total disaster area.
Documents were scattered all over the floor, chairs were knocked askew, and the trash can lay on its side with waste paper rolling everywhere.
One child was riding on top of the other. Their faces were flushed red, their hair was as messy as a bird's nest, and they were clutching pillows—like two dogs taking advantage of their owner's absence to go crazy and wreck the house.
Hearing the door open, Shen Yi's smile gradually vanished.
Shen Xun lay on the floor, looking blankly at the door.
The air froze.
Shen Zhi Zhao stood at the door and just watched. After about three seconds, he turned his head and said to the two assistants behind him, "Leave the documents at the door. You can head back first."
The two assistants felt as if they had been granted amnesty. They quickly put the documents down and fled as if running for their lives.
The door closed.
Only the three of them were left in the office.
Shen Zhi Zhao walked in, every step stepping on the scattered papers, making soft rustling sounds. He walked over to his desk and set down the stack of documents in his hands.
He turned around and looked at the two children who were still frozen in place.
"If all the documents get messed up, organizing them can be very frustrating," Shen Zhi Zhao said in a slow, mild voice, lightly asking them, "I'll let it go this time, but there shouldn't be a next time, right?"
Shen Yi and Shen Xun exchanged a glance.
The two of them nodded frantically in perfect unison.
Seeing that they were behaving themselves well enough, Shen Zhi Zhao didn't continue to lecture them.
He pressed the intercom on his desk and told the other end, "Send someone to clean up the office."
The person on the other end said something, and he gave a simple "Mhm" before hanging up. He sat back down in his chair and picked up a document.
Acting as if nothing had happened.
Shen Yi and Shen Xun stood frozen on the spot, taking several seconds to react.
It was over?
Just like that... they were off the hook?
Shen Yi sneaked a glance at Shen Xun.
Judging by his slightly relaxed shoulders, he had also breathed a sigh of relief.
The two silently climbed up from the floor, silently placed the pillows back on the sofa, and silently sat down.
Shen Yi whispered into his ear, "Do you think Big Brother is angry?"
"I don't know." After a pause, the boy added, "But it looks like he currently has no plans to dump our bodies in the South Pacific."
Shen Yi probed further, "Then what if we do this a next time..."
She seriously thought about that scenario and said, "Will he dump our bodies in the South Pacific then?"
Shen Xun also thought about it and answered breezily, "Maybe he'll switch to the North Atlantic."
Shen Yi: "..."
