Shen Sihing was actually left speechless for a moment.
"To think you'd miss your daddy this much, I'm so sad." He sighed hypocritically, barely fulfilling his fatherly duties as he took the two children by the hand and personally escorted them into the kindergarten.
On their first day of school, unlike Shen Yi's excitement, Shen Xun wore a gloomy expression, looking as if everyone owed him eight million bucks.
Shen Yi looked around, noticing the children wearing identical, exquisite uniforms being dropped off by nannies or chauffeurs.
Since she and Shen Xun were new students, they hadn't received their standard uniforms yet, making their outfits look slightly out of place.
Tilting her head slightly, she acutely sensed her brother's stiff discomfort. Faced with the subtle, appraising gazes around them, Shen Yi decisively grasped Shen Xun's hand that hung by his side.
Faced with this sudden hand-holding, Shen Xun, unaccustomed to such physical contact, instinctively tried to shake her off.
Shen Yi held on tight, refusing to let go. "Let's walk together, brother."
"..."
The girl's hand was warm. Because she held on so tightly, the heat transferred clearly to him. In the end, Shen Xun lowered his eyelashes and, without struggling, tightened his grip on her small hand as well.
The arrival of the two transfer students was like two small pebbles tossed into a tranquil pond, creating ripples of excitement. The other children all gathered around them in curiosity.
They started chattering all at once, discussing the pair.
"Are you two brother and sister? Why don't you look alike?"
"How old are you?"
"Can we play house together?"
"..."
The various voices drilled into his ears, causing Shen Xun to clench his fingers tighter and tighter until they almost dug into the back of Shen Yi's hand.
It was too noisy.
Those illogical questions were so annoyingly loud that they made him want to kill someone.
Shen Yi felt the pinch and turned to look at him. Just as she was about to say something, Shen Xun irritably bit his lower lip, let go of her hand, and walked over to sit in the farthest corner of the activity room without a word.
That posture of complete refusal to fit in successfully turned him into the weirdo ignored by the majority of the children on his very first day of school.
Shen Yi, on the other hand, was the exact opposite.
She seemed to possess an innate talent for mingling with people.
In no time at all, she had familiarized herself with all the children in the class.
"Shen Yi, what does your family do?" a boy in the school uniform asked curiously.
This question wasn't out of place at Yili. Almost all the children who attended school here would ask each other about this topic.
"My dad raises pigs."
Shen Yi answered truthfully.
"I get it." The little boy instantly understood. In his limited social awareness, families that could get into Yili were either incredibly rich or highly prestigious. "So your family runs a pig farming company! My dad says agricultural technology makes a lot of money right now."
"No," Shen Yi felt the need to clarify. "My dad works for someone else."
Looking around at the children who could attend an elite school like Yili, practically all of them came from exceptionally privileged backgrounds.
Shen Yi guessed that Shen Sihing must have spent a great deal of effort and money.
Her old father always had dark circles under his eyes, looking like he never got enough sleep. Raising pigs must be very hard work.
Clear confusion appeared on the boy's face.
The circles he had been exposed to since childhood were full of wealthy people; he had absolutely no concept of an ordinary family background like Shen Yi's.
Fortunately, family background was just a minor topic of conversation, and the children quickly glossed over it.
...
When the school's lunch break arrived, Shen Yi's popularity was on full display.
Many kids were eagerly offering her snacks.
Before long, Shen Yi's hands were piled high with various foreign brands of chocolates and snacks.
She pattered over, quickly making her way to her brother sitting in the corner. She unwrapped the most exquisitely packaged piece of chocolate and offered it to his tightly pursed lips.
"Brother, do you want some chocolate?"
Shen Xun turned his head away and coldly spat out a single word of refusal:
"No."
"Why?" Seeing his lack of interest, Shen Yi felt she couldn't let her unwrapping go to waste, so she decisively popped it into her own mouth. She happily cupped her cheeks. "Chocolate is so delicious."
"I hate sweets." Shen Xun frowned. He wasn't like their second brother, that dead pig, who loved eating sweets.
Looking at her giddy, joyful expression, the boy coolly told her, "The dopamine secreted from sugar will temporarily interfere with the functioning of the prefrontal cortex."
"And right now, you look just like a..."
He paused for two seconds, finding the exact descriptive words:
"...lab rat plunged into euphoria by carbohydrates."
Shen Yi: "?"
Looking at her deadpan brother, she immediately forced a chocolate ball into his mouth.
Just eat it!
Shen Xun couldn't dodge in time. The silky, sickly sweet texture melted in his mouth, making him frown uncontrollably.
Shen Yi immediately reached out to smooth his furrowed brow. "Why do you look so bitter and resentful, brother? Give me a smile."
At her young age, she couldn't understand why he was always so gloomy.
Throughout the noon break, Shen Xun's strangers keep away, acquaintances get lost expression successfully scared off a crowd of people.
"Their breathing is too loud," he said. The rising and falling sounds of their breathing annoyed him to no end.
Shen Yi: "..."
Even breathing could bother him?
A normal person wouldn't even be able to come up with something like that if they were purposely trying to pick a fight.
Met with his sister's complicated gaze, Shen Xun calmly continued to point out, "Why did you accept their things? They are just using things to bribe you."
Shen Yi didn't care. "It's fine as long as there's something to eat. I've never tasted these things before."
In the orphanage, she wasn't entitled to snacks. In the Song family, she was ignored for long periods, so she never dared to ask for snacks either.
It was so nice to be a kid again in this lifetime.
She wore an expression of total contentment.
Shen Xun had never seen anyone so easily satisfied.
...
During nap time, the siblings' small beds were placed next to each other. Shen Yi had barely been lying in her bed for a moment before she let out a yawn, feeling a bit sleepy.
Turning her head, she realized that Shen Xun had his eyes wide open the entire time.
He lay quietly on the bed, motionless as if he were dead.
Shen Yi rubbed her eyes. Noticing the sleeping children around them, she lowered her voice and showed concern for his psychological well-being: "Brother, do you miss Mom?"
Shen Yi could understand the homesickness a child felt on their first day of kindergarten. No matter how precocious Shen Xun was, he was still just a little kid after all.
"No."
He stared at the ceiling. "It's boring."
Everything here was far too tedious.
If it weren't for Shen Yi, he wouldn't even need to attend classes at such an idiotic kindergarten.
Every minute and every second spent here was unbearable to him.
Shen Yi thought of a solution. "Then how about you sleep with me? That way, the two of us can secretly chat together, and it won't be so boring."
With her?
Shen Xun looked at this sister of his, his lips pressed tightly together.
He had never been close to anyone.
Aside from his infancy when he couldn't remember anything, ever since he formed memories, his mother had basically never hugged him again, and his father was much more concerned with his third brother, who was frailer and more prone to illness.
Shen Xun had always been alone at home.
Interactions with others were few and far between.
Therefore, suddenly faced with Shen Yi's enthusiastic invitation, he was clearly a bit curious and found it novel, yet what came out of his mouth was:
"That is so gross."
"..."
Faced with Shen Yi's sudden silence, Shen Xun felt a rare twinge of panic. He opened his mouth but could not find the words.
Fortunately, Shen Yi was not angry. She let out an exaggerated gasp. "Brother, how can lips that are ninety-eight degrees spit out such freezing words?"
Realizing she was not actually mad, Shen Xun let out an unprecedented, quiet sigh of relief.
Completely unfazed by his rejection, Shen Yi hopped out of bed and swiftly slipped under his little blanket.
"Since you think whispering secrets is gross, we can just sleep quietly for our afternoon nap."
She pulled the blanket up, happily talking to herself.
She did not mind in the slightest that Shen Xun gave no response.
Shen Xun, however, was still lost in thought.
Growing up in his environment—with a highly sensitive and emotional mother, an irresponsibly cold father, and older brothers who each had their own brand of neuroticism—made it impossible for him to understand why Shen Yi was so full of warmth and emotion.
If anything, she was the one who seemed to be suffering from some unknown trauma, displaying sensitive stress responses.
Yet, none of that dampened her enthusiastic affection toward him.
It was just too strange.
Shen Yi had absolutely no idea what was going on inside her fourth brother's genius head. She buried her face in the blanket and, within minutes, was fast asleep.
Shen Xun blinked, then shifted his body to face his sleeping sister.
The blanket had slipped down, and the little girl seemed a bit cold, instinctively tucking her head further down.
In silence, Shen Xun pulled the blanket back up, making sure it covered them both.
Listening to the rhythmic sound of her breathing, he closed his eyes. For once, he was able to temporarily let go of his chaotic thoughts and drift off to sleep early.
The two little ones fell into a deep, quiet sleep, facing each other.
