She could not help but turn around, grab his shoulders, and shake him vigorously, "...Just what kind of nonsense have you been learning on the internet, brother!"
"Let go." Shen Xun was dizzy from the shaking. He frowned, displeased, "You're going to shake the smarts out of me."
Shen Yi: "You don't need to be any smarter!"
"You've already transcended the realm of mortals. You're a god now."
"Really?" The boy poked the corner of her mouth expressionlessly, poking out a small dimple.
He felt that not a single good word ever came out of her mouth.
"Really!" Shen Yi assured him. "You are the smartest."
Shen Xun: "I'll reluctantly believe you."
...
Wen Ya's slap finally made Shen Wenta restrain himself quite a bit.
Over the next half a month, they managed to maintain a superficial harmony in their interactions.
But on a daily basis, the look in Shen Wenta's eyes when he stared at Shen Yi remained dark and clingy, like a malicious viper ready to strike her at any moment.
To prevent being retaliated against again, Shen Yi decided to strike first.
At the dining table, the girl clutched the spoon in her hand, pursed her lips, and her gaze constantly wandered over Wen Ya.
She seemed to want to say something but stopped on second thought.
Noticing Shen Yi's hesitant expression, Wen Ya stopped serving the soup and asked softly, "Is there something else you want to tell Mom, baby?"
Under her mother's encouraging gaze, the girl seemed to muster up the courage to speak, "I think the reason Third Brother's health is so poor is definitely because he's been pampered too much since he was little. Someone like Third Brother needs to exercise a lot, just like me, to stay healthy. Don't you think so, Mom?"
Wen Ya immediately put on an enlightened expression. "You're right, Xiao Yi, why didn't Mom think of that!"
"He was so weak when he was little that I didn't even dare to touch him. To prevent me from accidentally raising him to death, Shen Sixing sent our three-month-old baby to his father's place."
Mentioning that old father-in-law, Wen Ya's expression instantly turned gloomy. "And it turns out he raised my son to have such a personality..."
Seeing her mother's expression, Shen Yi knew her plan had succeeded.
She beamed with joy.
When a child keeps making trouble, it's mostly because they have too much free time.
What irritable maniac? Make him train!
Once he starts training, he won't have the time to cause trouble.
Shen Wenta, who had been eating quietly without saying a word: "?"
His pupils shrank slightly. Out of astonishment, he didn't care about the rule of not speaking while eating and hurriedly spoke up, "Me? Train?"
"Mom," the teenager tilted his head absurdly, trying to find a trace of a joke on her face, "Are you serious?"
Wen Ya gave him a smile in return. "When have I ever joked around, Wenta?"
She issued an ultimatum.
"After eating, rest for two hours, then come to the living room."
"Mom will personally formulate a future training plan for you."
Shen Wenta: "..."
He slowly turned his head, his gaze piercing toward the culprit, Shen Yi, as if it were dipped in poison.
Shen Yi also flashed him a bright smile.
She, Shen Yi, rampaged through this house, completely fearless.
...
Shen Wenta had only learned the most basic social etiquette of high society and a bit of flashy but impractical self-defense.
But in front of Wen Ya, he was just an empty shell, a piece of trash not even as good as a child like Shen Yi.
"Weak wrists, unstable stance. Your grandfather has really gone senile in his old age. What's the use of learning those flashy moves?" The woman finished speaking gently, her fingers gripping his frail shoulders.
With just a slight exertion of force, Shen Wenta was forced to his knees, his face turning pale from the pain, unable to get back up.
Too weak.
Such a useless son would easily die if left outside, wouldn't he?
Wen Ya had an almost neurotic paranoia when it came to her children's safety. Driven by this sense of insecurity, she stayed up all night to draw up a training plan for her son.
Continuous high-intensity training left him dead tired every day, finally leaving him with no time to cause trouble.
Shen Yi could finally catch her breath.
She went to and from school as usual, and occasionally, she and Shen Wenta would be supervised by their mother during training.
As time went on, Shen Yi realized that her third brother did not seem to need to go to school.
"Aren't you going to school?"
Packing her schoolbag and getting ready for school, Shen Yi could not help but ask.
He cast an annoyed glance at her. Perhaps out of boredom, he actually condescended to answer her question, "I'm temporarily suspending my studies and staying at home."
"Why?" Shen Yi scratched her head. "Were you bullied at school?"
After saying that, Shen Yi felt her words were quite funny.
With his arrogant and vicious demeanor, who would dare to bully him?
"Of course not." Shen Wenta sneered, laughing at her naivety, his expression a matter of course. "Previously, someone in our class insulted me behind my back. Once I found out, I had someone beat him up."
"Later, it resulted in a lost life." The teenager was playing a shooting game. With a swipe of his fingertip, he aimed and shot, and the continuous sound effects of headshots came from the phone.
He said it casually, "I just said a few words. Who knew those people would bully him to death? What does it have to do with me? His parents were also ridiculous, actually daring to ask the school to expel me."
Shen Yi: "...?"
Throughout the entire time Shen Wenta talked about that dead classmate, he didn't even lift his head from the game.
It was as if human life, coming from his mouth, was not even worth a game.
Shen Wenta's living environment made him aware of the power of authority from a young age. His absolutely privileged family background, combined with his handsome face, put him at the very center of the elite school.
With just one word from him, naturally, there would be people who would target the person who displeased him in order to curry favor with him.
Killing with a borrowed knife was a game these privileged elites played best.
"You really are a complete scumbag."
Hearing this five-year-old girl call him a scumbag, Shen Wenta's finger paused, the end of his tone rising:
"A scumbag?"
He put down his phone, looked up, and smiled faintly, "Then what do you think you are, associating with a scumbag?"
"Speaking of which, Mom and Dad haven't told you about our family's situation yet, have they?" Shen Wenta said, breaking into a wicked smile.
He suddenly looked forward to seeing how Shen Yi would face all this once she knew what their family did.
Therefore, he decided not to tell her for now.
He would wait until she was completely immersed in the hypocritical warmth constructed in this home before piercing the illusion.
Would she cry?
Would she break down?
Would she want to escape from this home?
He really wanted to know.
Shen Yi acutely realized that his words carried a hidden meaning. She was neither afraid nor did she have any desire to investigate. She raised her head, "So what? I don't care anyway."
Shen Yi's underlying nature was also coldness.
Since she could remember, she had been in an orphanage, fighting for food with all the other children and trying every means to please people. She had seen too much unpleasantness between people since childhood.
Her experience with the Song family had given her a deeper understanding of the evil of human nature.
Frankly speaking, Shen Yi's personality was somewhat like her scumbag father's.
As long as it didn't concern her, she couldn't care less if the world flooded and drowned others.
Shen Yi was not some savior who could rescue others from their fates.
She couldn't even save herself.
So Shen Yi put on her schoolbag, "I'm going to school. Bye-bye."
Shen Wenta was slightly stunned. He hadn't expected his malicious hints to be met with such a calm reaction from her.
He inexplicably felt a sense of being looked down upon.
It felt as if, in front of her, he was the one acting like an immature child.
"Who wants to say goodbye to you!" The young man's eyes snapped up, his voice laced with flustered indignation.
Clearly...
Clearly, he was supposed to be the older brother here!
