The day they moved was bright and cloudless.
Wen Ya’s home was even brighter than he had imagined.
The moment he pushed open the door, sunlight poured in. The living room was spacious, and beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows lay a wash of pale gray daylight. Light beige cushions were spread across the sofa, and a simple porcelain vase sat on the coffee table.
Everything was clean and warm.
The place was so bright that he didn’t know how to act.
Compared with somewhere this open and well-lit, Shen Sixing preferred hiding in the shadows.
Dark places made him feel safe.
Wen Ya, on the other hand, was his complete opposite.
Shen Sixing stood in the middle of the living room while Shen Yi naturally ran over to the sofa, picked up a picture book from the coffee table, and began flipping through it.
“Mommy! Is this for me?”
Wen Ya poked her head out of the kitchen, a large spoon in her hand. She smiled. “Of course. I ordered lots of things online, and they’re all yours!”
Shen Yi immediately began leafing through the picture book.
Shen Sixing stood in the overly bright room for a while before slowly sitting down at the other end of the sofa, leaving a person’s worth of space between himself and Shen Yi.
He turned his head slightly. From this angle, he could see Wen Ya’s back in the kitchen.
She was chopping something, the cleaver landing on the cutting board in a steady, rhythmic tap-tap-tap.
It was an ordinary sound.
The sort of sound that came from every household preparing dinner on an ordinary evening.
It was so commonplace, yet to him, it felt impossibly distant.
Shen Sixing lowered his eyes and spread his hands over his knees.
He sat there in a daze for a long time.
He didn’t know how to fit into a life like this.
After finishing the picture book, Shen Yi crawled over and sat beside him, resting her head against his arm.
Her soft hair brushed against his sleeve, carrying the faint, clean scent of laundry detergent.
Two birds chirped outside the window.
Shen Sixing sat in that expanse of pale light.
For the first time, he faintly touched a memory of what home might be.
…
Shen Sigui was eleven years old, seven years younger than Shen Sixing.
As far back as he could remember, his brother would often sit on the study-room carpet, tapping away at a laptop and typing things Shen Sigui couldn’t understand.
When he was seven, Shen Sigui would lie beside him and watch the green characters race across the screen, always feeling that his brother looked just like a hacker from a movie.
“Shen Sixing, if you’re doing something illegal, will the police arrest you?” he asked.
Shen Sixing lowered his eyes to glance at him, then expressionlessly flicked him on the forehead. “Kids shouldn’t watch so many American movies.”
Shen Sigui covered his forehead and giggled.
He thought his brother was unbelievably cool.
That was until he turned eight, and Shen Sixing was thrown out of the house.
With his protective older brother gone, their parents finally had time to pay attention to him.
After being lectured and emotionally manipulated by both parents countless times, Shen Sigui, once a sunny and cheerful boy, completely descended into darkness.
He was going to become cold and aloof, someone who would never smile again.
Unfortunately, putting that plan into practice proved difficult.
The next morning, when he saw his favorite food on the breakfast table, he still couldn’t stop himself from grinning. He quickly covered his mouth with his hand, then forced his face into a solemn expression.
For the sake of becoming a cold and aloof person, Shen Sigui practiced his expression in front of the mirror for two whole weeks, adjusting it until he felt he was beginning to look more and more like his brother.
Bored. Listless. Completely uninterested in everything.
After his brother was thrown out of the house, Shen Sigui had the butler investigate. Apparently, Shen Sixing was living in a rented room in the old part of the city, paying only eight hundred yuan a month. Even the water heater was broken.
He secretly transferred some money to Shen Sixing.
After all, his New Year’s money was enough to buy an entire street’s worth of water heaters.
That day, his secretary reported that Shen Sixing had moved out of his gloomy little nest.
“He moved?” Shen Sigui stared at the secretary, doing his best to imitate his brother’s casual, indifferent gaze.
But it was exhausting. His eyelids kept drooping, and he felt as though he might roll his eyes back and suffer a cramp at any moment.
The secretary stood respectfully across from the coffee table. “Yes, young master. He moved yesterday afternoon. His new address is Jinhua Garden, Building Nine, eighth floor, in the city center.”
Shen Sigui shifted and propped his chin on his hand, resting his elbow on the sofa’s armrest.
His cheek was slightly squashed beneath his palm.
The pose made him look less cold and aloof, and more like a cat trapped in confusion.
“What’s he planning to do? Young men are always full of romantic notions. Is he dating someone?”
“Apparently so. I looked into it. The other party is a very attractive woman, and she has a child with her.”
Shen Sigui had imagined countless possible paths his brother’s life might have taken while living on his own.
In most of those fantasies, Shen Sixing ended up in prison in some spectacular fashion.
He never expected Shen Sixing not to go to prison, but instead to start living with a woman.
“Don’t tell Mom and Dad about this.” Shen Sigui thought for a moment, pressed his lips together, then turned to the secretary with a sweet smile that revealed a tiny dimple. “I’ll handle it.”
If their parents found out, they would definitely crush his brother’s fledgling romance and tear the two lovebirds apart.
His old-fashioned father went without saying.
His mother was just as domineering.
The last time she commented on a girl in his class, she had said lightly, “She doesn’t look suitable for being around you. You’ll be led astray.”
The very next day, the girl transferred schools.
Shen Sigui hadn’t even had a chance to react.
He had actually liked her.
Now that it was his own brother’s turn, he really didn’t want Shen Sixing’s new life to be crushed by the words “not suitable.”
“Have the car prepared.” Shen Sigui rubbed his hands together, brimming with mischief. “I’m going to go see him.”
He wanted to find out what kind of house-playing game Shen Sixing was getting up to.
…
After moving into their new home, the two teenage newlyweds—thrown together halfway through life—awkwardly began preparing for the string of problems that lay ahead.
The most urgent was the question of school.
Wen Ya had been busy all morning.
The night before, she had made a list. An A4 sheet covered in densely packed writing.
Everything from buying a child-sized desk to comparing the teaching staff at every elementary school within three kilometers was included.
When Shen Sixing saw the list, he was silent for a long time. In the end, all he managed to say was, “Miss, do you… not have to work?”
“I took the day off.”
Wen Ya didn’t even look up as she crouched on the floor, helping Shen Yi organize her schoolbag.
The bag was new, bought just yesterday. It was pale blue and printed with a round, chubby penguin.
Shen Yi sat on the sofa, tugging at her brand-new school uniform.
The uniform was dark blue, with a shirt collar fastened by a dark red tie. She pulled at it twice, decided it was too tight, and loosened it herself.
She wore shorts on the bottom, which were much more convenient than a skirt.
“Xiao Yi, you have to study hard once you start school.” Wen Ya straightened up and braced both hands on her knees. As soon as one thought occurred to her, she voiced it. “And remember, don’t let anyone bully you.”
“No one’s going to bully me.” Shen Yi tugged at her tie, and her little leather shoes tapped lightly against the floor twice.
She hated school.
Leaning against the balcony doorframe, Shen Sixing watched the older and younger girl face off.
He thought that whenever Wen Ya and Shen Yi were together, the entire scene—even their conversation—seemed to have a soft, fuzzy texture.
Wen Ya continued, speaking to herself, “In TV dramas, school bullying is a fairly serious and widespread problem.”
“Xiao Yi, there’s something I want you to remember,” her mother said. “You must never forget it.”
Shen Yi sat up straight. “What is it, Mom?”
Wen Ya clenched her fist solemnly. “Although we’re kindhearted, we must also have an edge!”
Shen Sixing and Shen Yi: “……”
