This was the first time Shen Wenta had brought an unfamiliar little girl to a banquet.
Some with darker imaginations even speculated whether she might be his daughter.
But that guess was too far-fetched.
He was only fourteen; how could he possibly have a daughter that old?
Therefore, the only possibility was that she was a relative.
An ordinary relative wouldn't be kept by his side like this, so then...
She must be his sister, right?
The Shen family members were all very mysterious. Apart from Shen Wenta himself, the identities of the others were well hidden. They guessed she must be his sister.
A particularly well-dressed young gentleman pondered for a few seconds in his heart before decisively walking straight towards her.
"Hello, little miss."
"My name is Xing Yu."
The familiar name pierced deep into her memory like a needle.
Shen Yi tightened her grip on the porcelain plate in her hand and didn't make a sound.
"Is Shen Wenta your brother?"
Seeing her remain silent, Xing Yu pressed on.
Shen Yi finally responded this time: "Want to know?"
The girl was eating a dessert. Now, she put on an innocent smile: "Then you should lower your head, okay? I'll tell you quietly."
The little girl's features were like those of a mixed-race doll. A slight upturn of her lips was especially sweet.
Caught off guard for a moment, he obediently lowered his head as told.
Shen Yi used all her strength to firmly smash the dessert in her hand right into his face.
Simultaneously, memories from her past life flashed back incessantly in her mind.
It was Shen Yi's birthday.
Xing Yu had deliberately, with a laugh, smeared the entire cake into her hair.
Shen Yi was left in utter disarray.
He even laughed innocently, calling it 'just a joke for the birthday girl'.
From that day on, Shen Yi never wanted to celebrate her birthday again.
If he hadn't shown up, Shen Yi might have almost forgotten all those rotten things from her past life.
But since he delivered himself to her doorstep, of course she wouldn't miss this opportunity, decisively smearing all the dessert onto his face.
Xing Yu froze completely.
He hadn't even processed what had happened.
Because Shen Yi's force was so great, even his nostrils were clogged with cake sponge. The young man gasped for breath through his mouth in a wretched state, only to get a mouthful of sickly-sweet cream.
This immediately triggered a violent fit of choking and coughing.
Shen Yi nimbly jumped away and turned to flee.
Oh, hitting and running is so thrilling.
Her steps were swift, but before she could run far, a hand reached out from behind, halting the girl's escape.
Shen Wenta had, of course, noticed that she had gotten into trouble just moments after leaving his side.
But he didn't care.
Shen Wenta parted the crowd, grabbed the bow on the back of Shen Yi's dress, and said coldly, "Who said you could eat the things here?"
Shen Yi was a bit confused. "Can't I?"
"Of course not."
Shen Wenta took two quick breaths. His expression had been listless before, but now he was thoroughly energized by anger at her. "The food here is just for display. Basically, no one touches it. Do you understand?"
"I don't understand," Shen Yi said, completely unapologetic.
Pei Wanyan's mouth twitched slightly. Watching him rush frantically to the buffet area just to catch his snack-stealing sister felt rather unbelievable.
And the two of them were actually quarreling so vividly right there, as if no one else was around??
They really were biological siblings.
Just treating everyone else like dirt like that.
Shen Yi continued, "I've never been to this kind of banquet before. I only know that if something is edible, you can put it in your stomach."
In the past, at the orphanage, she often didn't have enough to eat.
In her mind, there was no such thing as something you couldn't eat.
Shen Wenta obviously remembered this point as well. A pang of discomfort hit him unexpectedly, and his voice softened. "I'll take you somewhere else to eat later."
"Don't touch the things here."
"They're not safe."
Alright.
Shen Yi responded better to softness than harshness. Her voice also softened.
During the siblings' quarrel, Xing Yu finally managed to wipe the cream from his eyes with a napkin.
He stepped forward. His remaining shred of reason kept him from losing his temper on the spot. Instead, suppressing his anger, he spat out a stiff sentence: "An apology, if you please, miss."
Shen Yi let out a silent 'wow' in her heart.
He actually has manners?
Unlikely.
This Xing Yu was rotten to the core in her past life.
The only reason he could be this polite was purely out of fear of Shen Wenta.
Shen Yi loved seeing him like this, clearly about to explode with rage but having to maintain his composure. She looked up, tugging at the hem of her dress in front of her, using a tone of spoiled innocence: "Why should I apologize?"
Xing Yu: "Don't you think you were very rude?"
Why should she apologize?
He was practically about to explode from anger at this brat.
Shen Yi carried her bratty persona to the end, speaking loudly: "I won't apologize."
The little girl tugged at Shen Wenta's sleeve, her voice sugary, "Brother, look at him!"
Shen Wenta, who hadn't intervened until now, admitted he was genuinely amused at this moment.
"She doesn't want to apologize," Shen Wenta said airily. "That's too bad. Tough luck, Young Master Xing."
Shen Yi hugged him tightly. "He attacked my cake with his face first."
Shen Wenta actually seemed willing to play along with her, his eyes curving slightly. "Then what do you want to do about it?"
"Make him apologize to my cake!" Shen Yi said immediately.
Xing Yu was already trembling all over with rage.
How vile!!
How could there be such a vile pair of siblings in the world?
Tag-teaming like that, what did they take him for?
"So merciful," Shen Wenta said with feigned admiration. He looked at Xing Yu, his pure black eyes filled with thick malice, and urged softly, "Hurry up and apologize, Young Master Xing. You wouldn't want to be asked to leave, would you?"
Xing Yu nearly ground his teeth to dust under Shen Wenta's urging.
He stared fixedly at the ground, bowed to a lump of cake corpse, and apologized.
Only after completing this could he leave.
As for what would happen if he didn't apologize?
He probably really would be 'asked to leave' the next second.
Putting everything else aside, at a banquet hosted by the Hejing Group's board of directors, the Shen family absolutely called the shots.
If he were truly "asked" to leave, Xing Yu absolutely could not afford that humiliation.
Having achieved her great revenge, Shen Yi was genuinely extra happy this time, showering Shen Wenta with praise. "So cool, brother, brother."
The few times she had called him 'brother' were all with an agenda. Shen Wenta pinched her cheek, signaling for her to go play somewhere else.
As she left, he still couldn't help but warn her: "Don't go eating random things again."
Shen Yi hummed and hawed dismissively and ran off, disappearing again.
This time, Shen Wenta didn't pay attention to her movements anymore. Instead, he found a place to sit down, unconsciously biting his lip, letting out a soft, suppressed sigh.
He had a feeling that if things continued like this...
It wasn't good.
It seemed like she was occupying too much of his attention.
It was even starting to develop somewhat in the direction of a "grandfather watching his grandchild" mentality.
He actually found himself unable to stop himself from reminding her what to watch out for...
Shen Yi had just finished playing her trick on Xing Yu, and the commotion wasn't small, but no one else dared to offend her. In everyone's eyes, she was already associated with negative terms like "the spoiled young miss" and "bratty child."
As a result, even though she was running around wildly, no one dared to provoke her, all carefully avoiding her path.
Shen Yi dashed around like a cannonball, trying to see if there were any suspicious people and where in this banquet would be easiest for a gunman to hide.
If they were just ordinary gunmen, not professional assassins skilled in stealth and covert kills,
they would likely only be among the waitstaff...
Only those with invitations, the important guests who received the summons, could enter. The bodyguards brought by those VIPs were all kept in the outer area.
Only the waitstaff could move about freely inside.
The gunmen could only be found among these servers.
Shen Yi observed while walking past each server, deliberately brushing against everyone in a clumsy, haphazard manner to make contact.
Just as she was checking them one by one, not watching where she was going, she walked straight into a man's leg.
Shen Yi covered her nose.
That hurt!!
Damn it!!
She must be having a truly unlucky day today.
Annoyed, Shen Yi looked up to see who had bumped into her.
Then, the moment her eyes met the man's indifferent gaze,
the young girl tightly covered most of her face with both hands, her whole body going numb.
She couldn't curse this one out. This one was her real, biological father.
