Song Yi.
Shen Yi's pupils contracted slightly.
The deliberately blurred images from her past life crashed into her mind with sudden, startling clarity at this moment.
Shen Yi took a deep breath, trying her best to maintain her composure.
The girl wore a pale yellow dress under the school's custom dark blue blazer.
Her bow tie was custom-made from pale yellow satin, adorned with a single pearl.
Her long hair was loosely braided into two pigtails, the ends tied with ribbons of the same color, looking cute and playful.
The initially noisy classroom fell silent.
Over twenty pairs of eyes looked at her in unison.
It was as if...
She was the center of the world.
"Hello everyone, I'm Song Yi," the girl walked up to the podium somewhat shyly, her voice soft and sweet. "Please look after me from now on."
Three seconds of silence.
Then, a flurry of chatter erupted around them:
"She's so cute, just like a doll!"
"It's the little princess of the Song family—"
"I heard that even the capricious Song Guanyan dotes on her so much he'd pluck the stars from the sky for her."
"She really is as pretty as the rumors say..."
Amidst this string of compliments, there was inevitably a discordant note.
"Are they out of their minds?"
In the back row of the classroom, a girl in a burgundy dress couldn't help but mutter a curse. "I didn't hear them praising me like that when I walked in."
Shen Yi shook her head.
Sometimes, having hearing that was too good and observation skills that were too sharp was a pain.
In just that brief moment.
Shen Yi could simultaneously catch the whispers of at least seven different people.
Heaven knew she didn't want to know any of this at all.
Shen Xun stared at her thoughtfully, then looked toward the little girl at the door.
Every sound in the classroom drilled accurately into his ears, collected and organized in his mind as he meticulously calculated the information he was processing.
Then...
He leaned close to Shen Yi and whispered in her ear, stating calmly, "Are you afraid of that idiot?"
Shen Xun never understood the meaning of tact; he asked his sister point-blank.
He couldn't help it. According to the information he had gathered, innocent and naive was synonymous with being an idiot.
Driven by the environment Shen Xun grew up in—Xiaoyi was smart, his older brothers were smart, and his entire family was abnormal—his first reaction upon seeing such an innocent, worldly-ignorant girl was: Is she mentally deficient?
Shen Yi snapped her head around. "I am not afraid!"
The girl raised her voice, pushing his head away in flustered embarrassment.
Shen Xun tilted his head. "I'm just stating a fact. You have PTSD."
"Maybe you didn't even notice it yourself, but the moment you saw her, your pupils contracted, your breathing quickened, your fingers trembled, and you subconsciously gripped my hand to relieve your tension. It's an obvious post-traumatic stress response."
Shen Yi couldn't be bothered to argue anymore. Shen Xun was inhumanly smart.
She gave up trying to deny it. "Fine, I just don't want to see her."
"I hate her."
She bluntly expressed her likes and dislikes.
Shen Yi always felt that Song Yi possessed some magical charm; as long as she stood there, everyone would naturally fall in love with her.
She turned her head and suddenly hugged Shen Xun tightly, whispering, "Will you stay by my side?"
Shen Yi had never hugged him so proactively before, Shen Xun thought.
She was feeling insecure.
She was relying on him.
After all, in this uncertain environment, he was her only unwavering ally.
This realization caused a faint, subtle smile to curve the corners of Shen Xun's lips.
For the first time, he felt a sense of pleasure toward this damn school. He spoke slowly, "Of course I will. I hate this place, and I hate everyone here. Xiaoyi doesn't like it here either, right? So, we only have each other."
"I'm not an incompetent older brother."
"Nor am I a useless adult."
He wasn't like those useless adults on TV who were all talk and no action.
The boy's gaze locked tightly onto hers. "You can trust me."
"Of course I trust you." Shen Yi's voice quickly regained its vitality.
It no longer mattered whether anyone loved her or not.
As long as no one tried to harm her, she would thank her lucky stars.
Shen Xun even took the initiative to scheme for his sister. "Do you want to take revenge on her?"
He wasn't sure what kind of grudge existed between them. After all, Xiaoyi came from an orphanage; the two of them shouldn't have ever crossed paths.
"Eh?" Shen Yi tilted her head, actually giving it some thought. "Are we supposed to act like the villains in a TV show, mocking and pulling pranks on her?"
After saying that, she shook her head in self-denial. "People who jump around acting like that always meet a miserable end."
It would be one thing for her to play the vicious female supporting character and provoke her, but for someone like Shen Xun—who had a surplus of IQ but a severe lack of EQ—to play a brain-dead villain would just be too weird.
"So the only thing you can think of is provoking her." He looked into her eyes, covered his mouth with one hand, and sighed, his voice muffled. "You're hopeless, Shen Yi."
However.
He really couldn't expect Shen Yi to understand how to make someone she hated die.
That was fine.
He would always help her.
No matter what it was.
After all, he was her older brother.
"Let's just keep our heads down and behave," Shen Yi said. She absolutely did not want the two siblings to become the class pariahs on the very first day of school.
Kids from ordinary families like them should just serve as background characters in a class filled with wealthy people.
"Idiot Xiaoyi," he concluded. "You're way too timid."
"You're the idiot," Shen Yi retorted unhappily, swatting him on the head with a book.
Shen Xun frowned out of habit. "You're going to knock the smarts right out of me."
"I've told you before, you don't need to be too smart. Men who are too smart have trouble finding a wife to marry into her family."
"..."
He could never win a debate against Shen Yi.
When they argued, Shen Xun would try to cite various scientific theories to claim victory, but he was always defeated by her barrage of twisted logic and fallacies.
In the end, the siblings both lay bored on their desks, watching the little girl who was surrounded like the moon by a cluster of stars.
Song Yi was like a little sun. Both the teachers and the students adored her. She opened her small backpack, which contained many Chinese and Western pastries made by professional pastry chefs, as well as candies and chocolates, and generously distributed them to everyone.
Shen Xun was very satisfied with the current situation.
No one was crowding around his sister anymore.
And Shen Yi's attention remained entirely on him.
This was exactly the kind of school life he liked best.
...
The girl in the burgundy dress was named Chen Jiaojiao.
Shen Yi learned her name from the chatter of the people around them.
Her family ran a chain of high-end hotels, and her mother was a famous jewelry designer.
She was the only daughter in her family.
When Song Yi walked up to Chen Jiaojiao's desk and offered her a beautifully packaged candy, Chen Jiaojiao merely rolled her eyes upwards. "I don't eat candy. Go away."
Song Yi froze for a moment. "Then... can we be friends?"
"I don't want to be your friend," Chen Jiaojiao said, then deliberately raised her voice. "And I don't like you."
Several girls nearby immediately reprimanded her:
"Chen Jiaojiao, how can you speak like that!"
"Song Yi was just being nice."
"That's so rude..."
"Where are your manners?"
Chen Jiaojiao rolled her eyes, laid her head on her desk, and pretended not to hear them.
This scene felt quite familiar.
Watching Song Yi distribute gifts desk by desk, knowing she was about to reach theirs, Shen Yi felt a headache coming on.
Song Yi brought out a box of desserts and walked right up to the seemingly aloof brother and sister. "These are macarons made by my family's pastry chef. I really love them. Please, have a try."
Shen Yi said nothing.
Shen Xun remained expressionless as well, pretending to be mute.
This was what he did best.
He hated everyone at school. No matter who spoke to him, he would always respond with silence.
Seeing that neither of them paid her any attention, Song Yi felt a little awkward.
These siblings... were truly bizarre.
At the very least, she had never encountered anyone who ignored her so completely.
The girl flashed a bright, energetic smile and carried on talking anyway. "My name is Song Yi. My dad likes to call me Baby Yi. What about you guys?"
Seeing that she still wasn't leaving, Shen Yi had no choice but to force a standard, fake smile. "My dad likes to call me Shenbao, or Kidney Treasure."
Baby Yi, Shenbao... Song Guanyan was truly as nauseating as ever.
"What a strange nickname."
Song Yi chattered away like a duck.
"Are you two siblings? You don't really look alike."
"But that's totally normal. I have a twin brother who doesn't look like me either. Ever since he got sick recently, he hasn't been paying much attention to me..."
"What do you guys usually like to play? I have a huge game room at my house..."
Song Yi seemed genuinely eager to be friends with the two of them.
She even dragged her own chair over, sat down at their table, and began sharing her daily troubles.
"It seems like my dad is secretly looking for someone behind my back." Song Yi rested her chin in her hands. "I asked him about it, but he wouldn't tell me. It was our nanny who secretly told me. She said my dad is looking for a very important person, and he has been searching for a long time..."
Shen Yi's heart gave a heavy jolt.
