...
The first lesson the children studying at Hejing School learned was how to read the room.
Who they could afford to provoke, and who they couldn't.
They didn't dare to take their bullying too far when it came to Chen Jiaojiao.
But when it came to the siblings, Shen Yi and Shen Xun, they acted without any restraint.
Shen Xun, however, was quite satisfied with the school.
No one was bored enough to try and befriend them. In this school, he and his sister only had each other.
It was just that there were always blind fools who insisted on bothering them.
After dealing with countless troublemakers, Shen Xun's patience had finally run out.
To solve the problem once and for all, he somewhat reluctantly decided to seek his older brother's help after class.
After finding out his brother's exact location, Shen Xun made his way up to the school's rooftop. The view here was excellent. Shen Wenta had monopolized the spot, and no one else dared to intrude.
Just as Shen Xun was about to get straight to the point.
He unluckily walked in on his brother having a date with a girl.
Shen Xun's dark, pitch-black eyes stared at his older brother for two seconds before naturally ignoring the girl beside him.
He couldn't help but complain to his third brother, "The people in this school are really annoying."
"I've clearly taught them plenty of lessons, yet they still never learn."
"Could it be that I'm not vicious enough?" The boy's voice carried a hint of genuine confusion. He didn't even know how many people he had taught a lesson to by now.
Had these idiots still not realized the problem?
Shen Wenta thought about the commotion his younger brother had caused recently, a hint of mockery appearing on his face. "Just because she was pushed and stumbled a bit, that boy almost fell to his death the next day. Isn't your protectiveness a bit too strong?"
"Because he would push her again," Shen Xun argued. "If he doesn't succeed the first time, there will be a second. Only by making him completely terrified will he stop."
"Are you planning to make everyone completely terrified?" Shen Wenta's tone was cool. "Shen Xun, you are simply not a normal child. You're not very happy at this school, are you?"
"It doesn't matter," Shen Xun said.
As long as Shen Yi was there, he could continue staying at the school.
"I came to ask for your help."
Shen Xun actually did want to make everyone completely terrified of them so he could avoid any trouble.
But he didn't really want his sister to find out.
Perhaps if she knew, she would be afraid of him, or even avoid him.
"This is not the attitude to have when begging your older brother, Little Xun."
"You clearly have the ability to solve this kind of thing yourself, yet you come to me instead. Let me guess why." Shen Wenta leaned against the rooftop railing, turning sideways with a smiling face. "When you were five, in kindergarten, there was a teacher you really liked, right? You felt she was like a mother."
"You didn't allow anyone else to get close to her."
"So you tricked her favorite student into leaving and locked them in an empty room."
"Later, that child was so frightened they developed claustrophobia."
"The teacher also lost her job due to negligence, and you, idiot, actually dared to invite her to our house to be your personal tutor."
"She said you were completely abnormal, psychologically twisted, and suggested that Mom take you to the hospital to see if you had an antisocial personality."
With every word, Shen Xun's lips pressed tighter together until they turned pale.
"You don't want Shen Yi to be afraid of you, so you want me to play the bad guy, right?"
Shen Xun subconsciously clenched his fists.
He was spot on.
That was exactly why he hated his psycho third brother the most.
"I won't help you," Shen Wenta said. "A mature younger brother should learn to solve his own problems. That's what Mom taught us, isn't it?"
Shen Xun decisively said no more.
He turned and left.
The girl beside him had a slight flicker in her eyes. "The relationship between you brothers is really strange."
"Would your sister really be afraid of your brother?" She didn't quite believe it. The people of the Shen family... seemed to have very few normal ones among them.
"I was just messing with him," Shen Wenta said. "Those two are glued to each other every day. It's so disgusting."
The girl smiled. "You're jealous, aren't you?"
Shen Wenta let out a laugh. "How could I possibly be jealous of Shen Yi?"
The girl chuckled softly as well. "I never said who you were jealous of. Are you in such a hurry to out yourself?"
...
Those insults and threats in the school were completely useless against Shen Yi.
Someone immediately stepped onto her desk maliciously, throwing his weight around.
This was right after class had ended.
Shen Xun had gone out to do who knows what, and Shen Yi looked speechlessly at this little boy who was acting crazy, practically dancing on her desk.
At school, she had always adhered to the principle of enduring whatever she could to avoid bringing trouble to her family.
But human patience had its limits.
Without any warning, Shen Yi flipped the desk over.
With a loud bang.
The boy fell off the desk.
He was completely dazed by the fall.
Shen Yi's expression was cold.
Please.
She wasn't some spineless doormat who would tolerate these bratty kids jumping around in front of her every day.
After doing all this, Shen Yi turned to leave, but two girls immediately blocked her way.
"You push someone and still think you can leave! You're dead meat."
"Stop right there!"
"Apologize to Li Ning!"
Several people pulled and tugged at her, trying to hold her back. Shen Yi was pushed back and forth. Just as she finally broke free from their grasp, the boy who had just fallen grabbed a book and hurled it fiercely at her.
Shen Yi couldn't dodge in time. It hit her forehead, scraping the skin and drawing blood.
She reached out to touch it, looking at the blood on her fingertips.
Her thoughts inevitably drifted for a moment, and she felt that the situation was a bit bad.
How was she supposed to explain this to Mom?
Mom had an almost neurotic protectiveness over their safety.
She couldn't help but feel that if Mom found out, something terrible would happen.
Chen Jiaojiao witnessed all of this bullying and only felt that Shen Yi was incredibly pitiful.
At least she had her family background to fall back on, but Shen Yi had nothing.
"You guys are going too far! He was clearly the one who provoked Shen Yi first," Chen Jiaojiao couldn't help but yell out a threat. "I'm going to tell my dad! This is bullying."
"Go ahead! There are so many of us, do you think we're afraid of your dad?"
"You're in on it with her, aren't you? Do you really think that just because we bullied her, we wouldn't dare to bully you too?"
Chen Jiaojiao's eyes turned red with anger.
They turned a blind eye to the blood on Shen Yi's forehead and still had the mind to attack Chen Jiaojiao.
The group made a huge commotion in the classroom.
Outside, students were also gathering at the door to watch the drama.
When Shen Xun slowly walked back to the classroom after getting water, he noticed the commotion at the door.
He lowered his head indifferently.
Earlier, when he went to find Shen Wenta, Shen Xun hadn't forgotten to grab a cup so he could fetch some water on his way back.
Mom had said that his sister didn't like drinking water, so he had to keep an eye on her and make her drink more.
When Chen Jiaojiao's shrill voice rang out from the classroom again, accompanied by the mocking voices of the group...
Shen Xun frowned and nimbly squeezed his way through the crowd at the door.
Then, he saw several boys laughing uproariously.
Chen Jiaojiao was crying.
And Shen Yi—
The girl still had a bit of blood on her hand. She wasn't crying; she just stood there blankly, as if she had been scared silly.
In reality, Shen Yi was just zoning out, wondering how to explain her wound to her family.
She really didn't want to cause trouble for her family.
"You guys..." The boy, still holding the water he had just fetched for his sister, stared at everyone in the classroom with those cold, lifeless eyes.
His gaze sweeping inch by inch over the traces of blood on Shen Yi's forehead, Shen Xun murmured in a disbelieving whisper, "...just what have I done?"
