Shen Sigui’s mouth fell open wide enough to fit an egg.
Most of what he knew about his parents had been pieced together from scattered fragments.
He had never known that the two of them harbored such a deep-seated class conflict when it came to matters of taste.
As for the stream of nonsense Shen Yi had just spouted, he hadn’t taken it seriously. He had merely treated it as entertainment.
He simply didn’t believe that his old-fashioned father would ever do anything that rebellious.
That was, until Shen Shu angrily pulled a gun from the drawer. After that, everything gradually started to feel wrong.
“They really got divorced?” Shen Sigui nearly jumped out of his chair. He braced both hands against the edge of the table. “When? What year and month, exactly?”
Shen Yi said, “About two years from now.”
Shen Sigui immediately flashed a victory sign, holding up two fingers in a V. He looked as though he might break into a tap dance on the spot.
“That’s fantastic! I’ll be free in two years!”
Shen Yi was delighted too and cheered for him. “Long live freedom!”
Very soon, Shen Shu’s voice squeezed out from between his clenched teeth, dark and ominous, like winter wind leaking through a crack in the window.
“You two are happy that we’re getting divorced?”
Shen Yi and Shen Sigui shook their heads in perfect unison.
“No!!”
Their voices were loud, and their expressions sincere.
Qin Ruolan leaned back against her chair, her voice rising in surprise. “Divorce? I’ve never actually considered it.”
“So I really get divorced in the future?” Her voice softened, carrying a hint of wistful allure.
Shen Yi rubbed her ears. She felt that this grandmother’s voice came with a certain lethal charm.
It sounded so nice.
She covered her ears. “Yes, Grandma.”
The form of address made Qin Ruolan shudder and rub her arms. She asked casually, “Where are you from?”
“The future.”
“How old are you in the future?”
“Fifteen.”
“Ah.” Qin Ruolan’s tone remained flat, but one eyebrow lifted. “A little kid. I was wondering—an ordinary eight-year-old wouldn’t be so calm while analyzing the marital status of the adults around her.”
She ran her fingers over the ends of Shen Yi’s hair. It was fluffy as a spring, bouncing back after she pressed it down. The texture was quite pleasant.
“You know so much about him, but you don’t seem to know much about me.”
“We don’t meet in the future?”
Shen Yi shook her head. “No. I’ve never seen you in person.”
“That’s a shame.” Qin Ruolan smiled, the corners of her eyes curving upward, though the dark undertone in them remained. “I rather like polite children. You’re much better than certain people.”
She cast a sidelong glance at Shen Sigui, her bargain-bin son, who was currently lost in the blissful dream of his parents divorcing in two years. The corners of his mouth were practically stretching to his ears.
Unable to bear it any longer, Shen Shu interrupted in a deep voice. “You actually believe her?”
“What else?” Qin Ruolan calmly looked back at him. Her pure-black eyes were like two bottomless wells. “Unless you can explain why she knows so many details, and why, compared with me, more of your past misdeeds seem to have been dug up. How credible do you think this little girl is?”
Shen Shu…
He actually believed her too.
He just didn’t want to admit it.
Admitting it meant Qin Ruolan would definitely settle accounts with him afterward.
He could only stubbornly refuse to acknowledge the truth, barely maintaining the harmony of the family as it currently stood—and minimizing the risk of domestic violence.
Qin Ruolan moved from her original seat to Shen Yi’s side. Tilting her head slightly, she asked in a slow, lilting voice, “So what did I do after the divorce?”
Shen Yi thought for a moment. “According to Mom, you seemed to settle abroad.”
“I have a good relationship with your mother?” Qin Ruolan sounded somewhat surprised. “Whenever you mention me, it’s either because of something Shen Shu said or something your mother said.”
“I don’t know the details.” Shen Yi shrugged. “But I heard that the two of you used to join a few different religions whenever you had nothing better to do, then collect eggs and cheap appliances every month to pass the time.”
“…”
“Wait, did our family become poor in the future?” Shen Sigui complained. “You actually had two ladies going out to collect that junk?”
For once, Shen Shu completely agreed with his son.
Upon hearing this, Qin Ruolan slowly broke into a smile, her expression tinged with surprise. “Eggs? Religious groups give those out?”
She rubbed her chin, looking thoughtful. “I’ve taken a few jobs assassinating religious leaders before. Most of them were overseas. Those people were all so strange and superstitious—I never knew they gave out things like that too.”
As she spoke, the woman turned to look at Shen Yi, the corners of her eyes curving even more deeply.
“I remember that not long ago, when we were in the car, you said I looked like your third brother. Shouldn’t it be the other way around? Shouldn’t we say that your third brother looks like me?”
“You do look alike.” Shen Yi nodded repeatedly. Then she covered her face and whispered, “My third brother has a personality like yours too.”
Qin Ruolan looked at her expectantly. “Like me? Elegant and magnanimous?”
“Like you in that you both enjoy making sarcastic remarks.”
“…”
Shen Shu cut in with a frown. “Your parents went on to have three children? That makes four, including you?”
Shen Yi corrected him. “Five!”
Shen Sigui started applauding again, clapping so enthusiastically that the sound echoed through the room. His eyes were filled with admiration.
Shen Yi counted on her fingers. “At first, my dad was a super-dad, while Mom worked to support the family.”
Qin Ruolan frowned. She simply couldn’t imagine it. Her son, who tripped over his own left foot with his right and had such terrible luck that stepping in dog poop whenever he went out was practically part of his daily routine, had somehow found a woman willing to have children with him—and not just one, but four.
Shen Sixing’s terrible genes didn’t exactly seem capable of producing four lively, healthy offspring.
Could it be that the woman’s genes were simply stronger?
What kind of formidable woman would she have to be?
Qin Ruolan suddenly found herself wanting to meet her.
Shen Sigui had completely lost the ability to sit still. He sprawled across the tabletop and leaned over, his black hair sticking up in every direction.
The young boy’s eyes curved into two crescent moons, overflowing with anticipation.
“Shen Yi, Shen Yi, what about me? What about me? Is my future bright? Am I destined for greatness?”
Shen Yi stroked her chin. Her gaze lingered on his face for three seconds, and her expression grew inscrutable.
“…You’ll achieve great things in your career,” she said. “Your future is full of promise.”
Shen Sigui let out an “Awooo!” and nearly toppled out of his chair.
“I knew it! I knew I wasn’t meant to be ordinary!”
His fingers trembled with excitement. In his mind, scenes of himself carrying out missions with dashing flair had already begun to play.
Dressed in black from head to toe, slipping through the night, scaling walls and leaping across rooftops, never missing a shot. His codename: Night Hunter. At the mere mention of his name, people in the underworld would lower their voices by three levels.
Shen Yi said, “You’ll become a very successful businessman.”
“And a perfectly respectable mushroom.”
At his age, Shen Sigui was still a chūnibyō-stricken child. In the future, however, he would already be an adult in a suit, speaking in a calm and measured manner.
Compared with the future version of him, the present-day Shen Sigui looked much easier to tease. Shen Yi seized the opportunity to butter him up, leaning closer.
“So, in the future timeline, the New Year will be here in a few months. When you do your year-end evaluations, could you go easy on me, Boss?”
The girl clasped her hands together and stared straight at him with her big, pleading eyes.
Shen Sigui faltered when he met her adorable gaze. “Boss? Me?”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Me? The boss?” He was utterly stunned, repeatedly confirming this piece of future information. “I’m the boss? Th-then what about Shen Sixing? Could it be that my brother is dead?!”
