...What a confident tone.
What gave him the right to be so certain?
Shen Xun was very displeased.
"She won't go with you."
Shen Xun stepped forward, pulling Shen Yi behind him to block his third brother's line of sight.
"That's right, I'm not going with you," Shen Yi went along with it, pressing close to Shen Xun's side and complaining to him. "We were right in the middle of a performance. You ruined a perfectly good atmosphere."
Unsurprisingly rejected, Shen Wenta didn't say much. He leaned back on the sofa, crossing one leg over the other.
He had been sickly since childhood, but today his spirits seemed especially low. "So what boring stage play were you two rehearsing just now?"
As soon as he returned, he saw the two of them moving in tandem.
It looked as if in the next second they would hold hands and wander the ends of the earth, making their home wherever they roamed.
Disgusting.
"It's a scene from a movie. How was our acting?" Shen Yi perked up at the mention of this. "Brother, do you think I have a talent for acting? If I wasn't an assassin, how about I pursue my dreams in the entertainment circle?"
"How about you back me to become a star in the future?"
The more she spoke, the more excited she got, even leaning forward a bit.
Shen Wenta slowly looked her up and down, from a strand of her hair to the tips of her toes, his eyes as if weighing whether a commodity was worth the investment.
The young man's lips pursed slightly, his tone hesitant:
"You?"
"Yes," Shen Yi stood up straight, "Me."
Shen Wenta stared at her without a word.
Soon, he chuckled twice.
Shen Yi heard severe mockery in his laugh.
She had originally just been joking around, but Shen Wenta's attitude made Shen Yi seriously unhappy.
She decisively questioned:
"What are you laughing at?"
"Is my acting bad? I think if I could debut, I definitely wouldn't be worse than the Best Actor and Best Actress."
"Ah," he feigned surprise, "Then it's truly their loss that the Oscars didn't invite you."
So sarcastic, every word was saying the opposite of what he meant.
"What!?" Refusing to be outdone, she suddenly widened her eyes, covered her mouth with both hands, and put on an exaggerated expression of pleasant surprise, raising her voice a pitch. "Brother! Are you saying you're going to help me attend the Oscars?"
Shen Wenta: "..."
The air was quiet for two seconds.
"Little Yi, if you want to debut," Shen Xun blinked, immersed in the topic of his sister suddenly wanting to chase her dreams in showbiz: "I will help you..."
Shen Yi beat him to the punch: "With offline fan support?"
She thought Shen Xun was going to say things like holding up light signs, pulling up banners, and helping her vote in fan groups—things normal idol fans would do.
Shen Xun raised his eyes to look at her.
"Help you eliminate your competitors."
That way, Shen Yi would definitely be able to smoothly debut in the center position.
"Alright," Shen Yi reached out and covered his mouth, "Stop talking and keep quiet, okay?"
This topic ended here.
Shen Yi waved the boat ticket... oh wait, invitation, in her hand.
"What exactly is this invitation inviting you to do?"
"The Visconti family, an old Italian family. They were nobles in Milan during the Renaissance, and later transitioned into arms dealing and private banking."
"They kept a low profile for a long time in the mid-twentieth century, but resurfaced over the last twenty years. They want to enter the Asian market."
Shen Wenta had been dealing with those damn foreigners lately, tossing and turning for many days without a good rest.
He slumped on the sofa, his face very pale, with a bit of blue under his eyelashes. He was visibly lethargic. "Asia is not their territory. These people need a local partner who can shut up the other family members on their council."
"So this banquet isn't just a banquet, right?" Shen Yi got a headache just listening to it.
She really didn't know how these heirs dealt with such complicated power dynamics and interpersonal relationships.
"No, a banquet is just a banquet," Shen Wenta said. "At least for you guys it is."
Shen Yi raised an eyebrow. "Then they want to talk to you next?"
"With me?" The corners of Shen Wenta's lips curled up slightly, his tone somewhere between self-deprecating and arrogant. "They want to talk to Grandfather, but Grandfather won't see them, so it has to be me."
The last few words were a helpless sigh.
Shen Yi looked at his listless side profile and suddenly felt that this usually aloof brother looked a bit like a cat that had been rubbed ragged by work.
Its fur was all flattened, without even the energy to bristle.
Shen Yi pondered, "Is that kind of place fun?"
Shen Wenta: "It's fun."
As if afraid she would refuse, he added, "There are a lot of entertainment venues."
That cruise ship had three hundred guest rooms, three banquet halls, a theater, and a casino.
As the venue for this banquet, the invitation list covered half the underground world: arms dealers, information brokers, representatives of major factions, and even members of old European families.
"It's just that the guests this time are a mixed bag, you don't need to pay attention to them."
Shen Yi was still conflicted. "But I hate socializing, and I don't understand a single word of the work matters you guys talk about."
"You don't have to listen to them talk," he said. "The organizers this time... the Visconti family's relationship with us isn't too distant. You don't need to socialize, you don't need to entertain."
When Shen Wenta said this, his body subconsciously leaned forward. He uncrossed his legs and stared at her with a bit of expectation:
"Do you want to go?"
"No."
Shen Yi answered cleanly and crisply.
Beside them, Shen Xun, who hadn't made a sound this whole time, curled his lips in an almost imperceptible smile.
As they chatted, Shen Yi and Shen Xun had both slumped onto the table, their lazy postures identical.
With their chins resting on their arms, their postures were crooked, lacking even a hint of proper sitting etiquette.
"Flowers, champagne, food, clothes—you aren't interested in any of these."
Shen Wenta had just said so much, only because he saw her holding that invitation letter and thought Shen Yi was interested in this kind of thing. He hadn't expected that the answer he got after inviting her would still be a rejection.
"You really are hard to please. I'll never understand what it is you actually like."
As Shen Wenta spoke, he turned his head and glanced at her, carrying an inexplicable hint of accusation.
Soon, he remembered something else and got up to fetch a dark blue velvet box.
Every time Shen Wenta came back from outside, he would bring her a gift.
This time was no exception.
When opened, a rich European style hit her face.
It was a necklace inlaid with a pigeon-blood ruby. The chain featured a vintage twisted-rope design, and every joint was exquisitely crafted to the point of being exacting.
Frankly speaking, even to someone not interested in jewelry, the item's value was obvious.
Shen Yi looked at the necklace, then remembered how he had just been lying listlessly on the sofa, his face so pale, looking as if he hadn't slept well for days.
...Even in this state, he actually still had the mind to prepare a gift.
Shen Yi met his gaze, the corners of her lips curling up uncontrollably. She decided to praise him, "It's really beautiful."
She looked up, holding the velvet box with both hands.
"Your taste is really good, Brother."
The young girl's expression was focused and pure. Being stared at so directly by her gave one the feeling of being wholeheartedly worshipped.
Shen Wenta froze for a couple of seconds before breaking into an obvious smile, an uncontrollable joy welling up from the depths of his eyes.
"I will have a lot more to give you in the future."
"Really?" Shen Yi's voice was incredibly sweet.
So sweet, in fact, that even she felt like it was giving her a toothache. "Thank you, I really love it. You are such a good brother."
He was surprisingly easy to coax.
With just a few simple words, the corners of Shen Wenta's lips turned up so high they simply could not be brought down.
His posture shifted from a tense, slight forward lean to a completely relaxed recline.
"When I get back from the banquet this time," he told her, almost as if fishing for praise, "I will bring you even more gifts."
Shen Xun stared in sheer bewilderment at his third brother, who looked as though he had completely lost his mind.
They say that when a man falls in love, his IQ essentially drops to the negatives.
By that logic, the exact same must apply to a man utterly obsessed with his little sister, right?
