"Grandpa," she stood two steps away, "golf clubs aren't meant for domestic violence, right?"
Elder Shen sneered, "Now it can be used for domestic violence. You little brat, why are you running?"
Shen Yi hopped several meters away, "Should I just stand still and let you hit me instead of running?"
"Halt."
"No."
"I told you to halt!"
"If I stop just because you tell me to, wouldn't I lose face?" Shen Yi muttered, dodging his attack in a few quick moves.
Elder Shen was quite vigorous for his age, chasing her across half the green with the golf club raised.
In the end, it was the coach and the caddie who stopped him together.
Shen Yi hid behind a caddie, poking half her head out, and whispered, "Grandpa, I was wrong."
"I really don't want to play this. Can we change to another class? How about music appreciation? To be honest, I'm quite talented in music too."
Elder Shen narrowed his eyes. "You? Music talent?"
Shen Yi nodded hastily.
The afternoon music appreciation class was originally supposed to be taught by a professional teacher.
But Elder Shen didn't believe she had any musical talent. Instead of having the teacher come over, he decided to test her himself.
He put on a vinyl record, a Chopin Nocturne.
The living room was filled with the faint scent of sandalwood. Outside the French windows was a neatly trimmed courtyard. Sunlight streamed in through the shoji paper sliding doors. Everything was peaceful and quiet.
Listening to it, Shen Yi couldn't help but feel sleepy, her head nodding off bit by bit.
Elder Shen calmly turned up the volume.
Shen Yi jolted awake.
"What did you hear?" Elder Shen asked.
"Uh..." Shen Yi's brain worked rapidly. "It helps you sleep?"
Well, she fell asleep listening to it anyway.
"...Ignorant. How can you be so ignorant?" He didn't even have the energy to feel disappointed anymore, only helpless. "This piece by Chopin has a heavy improvisational element. The melody has a surge beneath its restraint, and the emotional progression is very rich. Listen to this part again..."
He walked to the record player and placed the needle back at the beginning of that melody.
This time.
History repeated itself.
Shen Yi almost fell asleep again.
"..."
This kind of mutually torturous routine with the terrifying old grandpa at home lasted for about four days.
Finally, on the fifth day, Shen Yi completely exploded.
She slapped the Go piece in her hand onto the board and leaned back:
"I want to go to school."
Chinese-style education won.
Shen Yi had fallen.
She couldn't stay at home any longer.
Elder Shen was baffled by her sudden words and said lightly, "What kind of crazy fit are you throwing now?"
Shen Yi: "I'm not crazy."
She bit her lip, weighing her words. "Grandpa, you're the one who keeps destroying my enthusiasm."
And he had scheduled a full load of classes for her.
"During class, you keep calling me stupid," Shen Yi tried to accuse him.
Hearing this, Elder Shen bent down to pick up a fallen black piece. "Actually, you aren't that dull."
Shen Yi waited for him to continue.
"Little Yi," Elder Shen focused on separating the black and white pieces on the board, speaking earnestly, "You aren't the only piece of uncarvable deadwood in our family."
"Your brothers are the same."
Elder Shen actually never knew how to raise children; no child fared well in his hands.
First there was Shen Sixing, then Shen Zhizhao, and then Shen Wenta.
But he obviously still had a mysterious confidence in his oppressive style of education.
To this day, Elder Shen felt that the reason these children had become so outstanding was inextricably linked to his oppressive upbringing.
Shen Yi shook her head. "I've decided. I'm going to class tomorrow."
"You can keep those lessons to practice on your own. Goodbye."
She stomped up the stairs.
She could still hear Elder Shen's voice from downstairs, muffled through the floorboards: "There's a fencing class tomorrow morning."
Shen Yi didn't hesitate: "Not going!"
"I specially hired an Olympic champion to teach you."
"I wouldn't go even if the Emperor of Heaven himself came to teach me!"
"..." Little brat.
After skipping school for a week, Shen Yi carried her backpack alone and once again set foot on the road back to school.
During the extra days she stayed at home, Shen Xun followed her around like a tail, asking if she wanted to eat this one moment and play with that the next, annoying her so much she wanted to kick him out the door.
Fortunately, Shen Sigui finally called Shen Xun away.
Before leaving, Shen Xun tugged at her sleeve, looking reluctant. "Are you sure you don't need me to come with you?"
Shen Yi gave him a gentle push and shooed him away.
Entering the classroom, she threw her backpack onto the desk and plopped down. Before she could even catch her breath, she heard muttering from the front row.
The four members of the protagonist group were huddled together, their heads almost touching, like four sparrows gathered around a feeding trough.
She didn't intend to listen.
Really.
But the voice of the sparrow named Lu Mingyuan was simply too clear.
"Why does the foreign government trust you so much?"
Lu Mingyuan's voice was kept very low, but Shen Yi had had sharp ears since she was little.
She heard him ask sharply, "Aren't you just an ordinary student?"
Song Yi shook her head. "I don't know."
Those important figures in black suits who spoke flawlessly looked at her as if she were some creature worth studying.
There was a kind of... expectation in their eyes that sent chills down her spine.
When one of the middle-aged men met with her, he patted her shoulder firmly and told her, "You only have one mission when you return to the country: help us achieve our goal. You are a very lucky little girl; everything will make way for you. What do you think?"
Song Yi found those words very strange at the time.
What did it mean that everything would make way for her?
But Song Yi really wanted to return home so badly that she could only nod eagerly and agree, "I will act together with you."
She thought.
Anyway, she only needed to tag along with them.
It wasn't some grand mission.
"They told me I just need to move with them when the time comes..." Song Yi whispered. "They said they would protect me, but I'm still a little scared being alone."
Qin Zexu, bursting with a sense of justice, said, "How about we act together with you, Xiaoyi? Everyone has a responsibility to fight crime and eliminate evil."
Lu Mingyuan cast a cold glance over and sneered, "What use are you, a mere student?"
Qin Zexu: "Hey, how am I useless? I know a bit of martial arts too. Plus, with Xiaoyi going with those people alone, we can at least give her some moral support."
Xu Meng had been distracted the whole time, but upon hearing this, she pulled herself together and nodded along.
"Yes, Xiaoyi, you must be careful. If needed, we can help too."
Song Yi broke into a small smile. "Thank you guys."
She blinked playfully, harboring a little desire to show off, ready to tell her companions a secret she had learned from Heguang...
