The room fell silent for a moment.
A slip of paper dangled from Shen Yi's mouth as she looked up at him. The paper drifted to the carpet as her lips parted: "...What?"
"What nonsense are you talking about?"
"Ha ha ha ha," Shen Ruxu was the first to burst out laughing, leaning all the way back as the cards in his hand scattered across the floor, tears nearly streaming from his eyes.
Shen Zhizhao gave Shen Wenta a lukewarm glance, his eyes assessing someone who had suddenly gone mad.
"What's going on in that head of yours?"
"Three?"
"At the same time?"
"Falling in love?"
Falling in love with three people?
With every word Shen Zhizhao spoke, his voice climbed slightly higher in volume.
What utter nonsense—how could he even come up with something like that?
Shen Wenta let out a fake laugh. "A reasonable deduction, isn't it?"
Shen Yi raised a hand in denial. "That's not reasonable at all."
One of Shen Wenta's more neurotic traits was that once he got trapped in his own logical train of thought, he had no interest in listening to anyone else.
Even when he wasn't in the right, he could still be aggressive, carrying himself like he was second only to God.
He completely ignored the looks of disbelief sweeping across the room. Shen Wenta stepped into the room, his gaze sweeping over all four people from a lofty height.
First.
Shen Wenta turned to Shen Zhizhao. "And you, Eldest Brother?"
"He's the gentlest with you. Every time he sees you, his mood shifts from cloudy to clear, with this sort of faint, easygoing indulgence." He paused, then added, "Is that the type you like?"
Shen Yi grabbed a playing card and hurled it at him. The card grazed past Shen Wenta's ear and landed by the doorframe.
"Get out."
Shen Wenta dodged slightly without changing his expression, then turned to Shen Ruxu. "So, it's Second Brother?"
Shen Ruxu narrowed his eyes and flashed him a smile so bright it was almost ridiculous, his brows curved—neither denying nor confirming.
That expression made Shen Wenta's frown deepen.
Shen Yi rolled her eyes. "No."
"Then could it be Shen Xun?!"
He went through everyone he could possibly suspect, like he was conducting an interrogation.
Shen Yi said, "...You're insane."
Shen Wenta's expression was dark and unreadable, the corner of his mouth twisted into a smirk that was half-mocking. The words that came out carried a light trace of sarcasm: "The four of you are ganging up on me."
"And you're not including me."
He muttered to himself.
"I've been curious for a long time—what's the reason?"
"What secret do you all share? This is the only thing I can think of. Unless you're secretly dating each other. And if so, who?"
"Is it Shen Xun?" To be honest, among the two older brothers, Shen Wenta's first suspect was actually this younger brother.
Shen Xun was the only one who seemed outside the loop.
Falling in love?
The young man frowned, processing this term slowly.
He understood perfectly well. So-called love was just a physiological impulse driven by dopamine and phenylethylamine, suppressing rational thought in the prefrontal cortex and causing people to lose objective judgment.
Based on this conclusion—
Shen Yi absolutely could not fall in love with anyone.
Love turns people into fools.
It also makes people less intelligent.
Shen Xun glared at him indignantly. "No! She can't fall in love."
She's already not that smart.
Can't fall in love—it'll make her an idiot.
This humanoid robot of a little brother wore his emotions all over his face.
With such a strong reaction, it probably wasn't him.
"Not you?" He pressed on stubbornly. "So is it Shen Zhizhao?"
Shen Zhizhao found that spending these few days with his younger siblings had brought him more moments of speechlessness than he'd experienced in an entire year.
"Shen Wenta, are you trying to tear this family apart?"
Shen Wenta ignored Eldest Brother's words. Instead, he glared coldly at Shen Ruxu, incredulous. "Or could it be this Wild Boar?!"
His words were purely fueled by anger.
Shen Wenta didn't believe anyone would have a thing for a boar.
Or fall for an AI.
And Shen Xun was nowhere near as thoughtful as an AI.
"..."
Shen Yi watched him ramble on, dragging every one of his brothers—both older and younger—into his suspicions. His erratic behavior sealed it for her: he was definitely losing it.
"You really want to know the secret we four share?"
"Yes," Shen Wenta replied, his gaze warily scanning all four faces, back and forth. "What exactly are you all planning?"
He didn't believe they'd gathered together for days just to mess around and goof off.
That would be childish.
And none of them were kids anymore.
"You want to know our secret, and you want to join?" Shen Zhizhao's tone carried a fresh sort of mischievous amusement.
"What else?" Shen Wenta pursed his lips, a sarcastic edge creeping in. "You've been leaving me out all along."
"Fine, fine," Shen Yi said. "If you're so eager to be part of it, we'll bring you in."
Just moments ago, they'd been discussing the finer points of how to dress up as girls.
Truth be told, with all of them gathered, hardly any serious business got done—it was mostly just indulging in a ton of mischief.
Shen Ruxu had no objections to dressing up as a female companion or putting on a skirt. Shen Xun, however, did have objections.
But after protesting for two seconds, he was ruthlessly outvoted by his two older brothers and one younger sister.
He who sees reason is wise.
Shen Xun had no choice but to reluctantly agree.
Shen Yi had just pulled out a bunch of skirts from the closet—styles that didn't require a perfect figure—and was still figuring out how to get Shen Xun to try one on.
And right at that moment.
In barged Shen Wenta, acting all strung out.
And he accused the four of them of ganging up on him.
Ganging up on him for what?
Their older brother and younger brother changing into women's clothes, and not including him?
Even Shen Yi couldn't help but laugh.
The way Shen Wenta was carrying on, it was like he couldn't wait to jump in on their costume change activity.
So, Shen Yi decided to twist his meaning to her advantage.
Her face lit up as she eagerly grabbed a little skirt from her hands and shoved it toward him, eyes sparkling.
"Third Brother, I never thought you'd be so desperate to join our cross-dressing activity!"
