Xiu Yan: “That’s even worse, okay?!”
A direct hit?
That was even scarier than terrorists.
The two of them stared at each other in despair.
It wasn’t just Xiu Yan whose state of mind had collapsed. Wen Ya was also on the verge of breaking down. After all, she had always been too embarrassed to mention either her own occupation or her husband’s.
Aside from being afraid of frightening people, the more important reason was that the village had always held to the belief that all professions were inferior except studying. Everyone here admired academic qualifications, diplomas, and respectable jobs.
A killer, no matter how you looked at it, sounded like a profession for someone without an education or a degree.
“I’m not a terrorist, miss.”
Shen Sixing also denied Xiu Yan’s accusation. A broad smile gradually spread across his face as he calmly explained, “Terrorists have political demands. What we do is purely commercial.”
They had no political affiliations whatsoever.
One of Mr. Zhou’s assistants took half a step back at those words.
Shen Xun said calmly, “Don’t reach for your phone. Calling the police won’t help. We have no criminal records, and we’re not wanted fugitives. If you call 110, you’ll only be accused of making a false report.”
In reality, the only wanted fugitive in the family at present was Shen Ruxu.
The warrant for Shen Sixing from years ago had already been forcibly withdrawn.
The assistant froze in place.
Mr. Zhou asked, “How did you know he was going to reach for his phone?”
“The shoulder muscles move first, followed by the elbow shifting backward and the wrist turning outward. It’s the standard motion for reaching into an inner pocket.” Shen Xun raised his eyes, his tone utterly flat. “Also, your wife moved her right foot half a step back and shifted her weight forward. She appears to be thinking about running.”
Xiu Yan: “…”
She really had been thinking about running.
This child’s observational skills were truly astonishing.
“I believe you now. You really are all killers,” Mr. Zhou said. He had remained calm from beginning to end. “So if I had a commercial competitor I wanted dealt with, could you legally help me take care of him?”
“Does it have to be legal?” Shen Yi thought for a moment before replying. “For that kind of job, as long as the other party is still alive, it should count as legal, right?”
Shen Xun nodded. “From a legal standpoint, there’s indeed no problem.”
Mr. Zhou asked, “What about morally…?”
The two little killers exchanged a glance and answered in unison, “Even less of a problem! We’re not exactly paragons of virtue.”
Mr. Zhou: “…”
Wen Ya screamed, “Shut up! Wait a minute!!!”
She had only wanted to bring her two children to visit an old friend. Somehow, the situation had turned into a live business negotiation for her children to take on a job. Wen Ya felt her mental state cracking.
Shen Yi covered her mouth and whispered, “I think Mom’s about to cry.”
Shen Xun agreed. “The probability is seventy-three percent.”
“I don’t want to hear that.” Shen Yi got a headache every time she heard his emotionless tone. “Can’t you say something useful?”
Shen Xun said, “The useful thing is—we should leave.”
He glanced at Wen Ya’s clenched fists and slightly hunched shoulders. She looked as though she might explode at any moment.
The two of them had better run while they still could.
The moment Shen Xun finished speaking, he slipped away with extreme vigilance.
Shen Yi was just about to follow when Mr. Zhou’s voice rang out again, unhurried as ever. “Mr. Shen, I have one more question.”
Shen Sixing paused. He smiled politely, the curve of his lips adjusted to absolute perfection. “What question?”
Mr. Zhou asked, “If you have the time, could you come sit at my place sometime?”
After a pause, he added, “Don’t worry. I won’t call the police.”
Of course, he didn’t think a family that sounded this vicious and dangerous would be afraid of the police.
Shen Sixing waved lazily and said, “Sure.”
Xiu Yan was also filled with heartfelt anguish on behalf of her best friend. “Wen Ya, you said you were going out into the world back then, and you ended up marrying an assassin?”
Wen Ya: “A killer.”
Xiu Yan: “What’s the difference?!”
Wen Ya: “…”
She wanted to explain, but every explanation seemed pale and powerless in the face of Xiu Yan’s expression, which looked as though she was about to cry.
Wen Ya had completely given up. With a heavy heart, she put an arm around Xiu Yan’s shoulder and whispered in her ear, “I’ll explain everything to you later.”
After saying goodbye to her friend, she steeled herself and decided that, from now on, she absolutely would not bring Shen Sixing along when visiting anyone.
She gathered herself and turned around to look at the children lounging around inside the house.
“Sweethearts, I’m heading out. Who wants to come with me?”
Other than Shen Yi, the other three shook their heads in unison.
Shen Ruxu was sprawled across the sofa, one leg resting on the armrest and his head propped against the edge of a cushion. He held his phone up in front of him, its screen casting a glow into his pale eyes. Raising his voice, he said:
“I want to go.”
Wen Ya glanced at him.
Seeing that he at least looked presentable, she reluctantly nodded.
The courtyard of that household was tidier than the others.
The stone steps at the entrance had been swept spotless. Several potted plants stood in the yard, their leaves polished until they gleamed. Against the dull gray winter light, their green looked especially vivid.
The person who opened the door was a young woman. She was gentle and graceful, with delicate features and an especially pure, sweet-looking face. Her brows and eyes curved pleasantly, her nose was small and dainty, and when she smiled, two shallow dimples appeared in her cheeks.
“Sister Xiaoya, you’re back.” Her eyes lit up, and she welcomed them warmly. “Are these two your children from outside, Sister Xiaoya?”
“This little girl is adorable. She must be home from school for the New Year, right? How did you do on your exams?”
There was a trace of unconcealed pride in Wen Ya’s voice. “Full marks. She got full marks.”
Zaozao was instantly delighted and enthusiastically handed Shen Yi a red envelope.
Then she asked how old Shen Ruxu was and whether he was still in school or had already started working.
This time, Wen Ya didn’t give Shen Ruxu a chance to answer. She hurriedly cut in, “Ha-ha, he’s already working.”
“Let’s not talk about him. What about your child? He’ll be starting elementary school soon, right?”
“Yes.” At the mention of her son, the woman smiled as well. She lifted a hand to tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear, then pointed to a little boy beside her. “This is my son. His name is Xiao Che. Xiao Che, come say hello to your big brother, big sister, and auntie.”
The boy named Xiao Che sat at a low table in the courtyard, his head lowered. He didn’t even lift his eyelids.
The boy ignored everyone. His tiny fingers flew across the keyboard of a laptop, while densely packed lines of code streamed across the screen.
Shen Yi and Shen Ruxu exchanged a glance.
Then, without any prompting, they moved closer and stood on either side of the little boy, leaning over to stare at the screen as though they were collectively observing some unknown species.
“Hey,” Shen Yi asked, pointing at the colorful characters on the screen because she didn’t understand. “What is he doing?”
Shen Ruxu studied it for two seconds, his eyes sweeping back and forth over the familiar structures of the code. A faintly amused smile appeared on his face. “Code… Is he really only five?”
The central window on the screen was a command-line interface. White text raced across a black background.
Shen Ruxu leaned closer and identified the lines one by one.
He recognized the IP range of the target address at a glance. It belonged to a server cluster in Asia operated by a multinational corporation.
“So, what is he doing?” Shen Yi asked quietly.
Shen Ruxu replied, “He’s infiltrating the backend of a payment system. It seems he’s looking for someone.”
“Looking for someone?”
“Mm-hmm. For example, if you want to find someone, you need their identity information, purchase history, and real-time location.” Shen Ruxu’s amber eyes widened. He recognized the logo of that payment system. It had hundreds of millions of users worldwide, and its security was no joke. Ordinary hackers couldn’t break into it, yet the progress bar on the screen had already reached sixty-two percent.
While Shen Ruxu was speaking, the little boy never once looked up.
Zaozao and Wen Ya had also noticed the commotion.
Zaozao hurried over and pressed down the boy’s laptop. “Xiao Che, didn’t Mommy tell you not to play around on the computer? Now go say hello to your brother and sister. How can you be so rude?”
The boy still wore an expression of utter indifference.
Shen Ruxu was intrigued. “Hey, Auntie, your son seems to be a—”
Before he could finish the word “hacker,” Wen Ya thumped him hard on the forehead.
He immediately crouched down, clutching his forehead, and muttered, “...You hit me again.”
Wen Ya shot him a glare, then quickly pulled her friend away. The two women went off to another area to exchange greetings.
Only after both mothers had left did Shen Yi ask, “Hey, kid... are you a hacker?”
“Does your mother know what you’re doing?”
The boy raised his head. His eyes were dark and gleaming, and he looked far too calm for a child his age. Deep in his pupils was a steadiness completely at odds with his years.
“Mommy doesn’t know.”
Shen Ruxu asked, “Then what are you looking for?”
“I’m looking for my dad.”
Shen Yi asked, “Why?”
Xiao Che replied, “To ask him why he abandoned his wife.”
Shen Yi: “...”
Wasn’t this straight out of one of those dramas about a genius hacker kid searching for his CEO father?
Her mind raced through all the television shows Wen Ya had watched in the past: the woman who went abroad while pregnant, the child who displayed astonishing talent from a young age, and the reunion years later.
Every familiar plot point surfaced from the depths of her memory, lining up perfectly with the scene before her.
“This kid seems pretty professional.” Shen Yi nudged Shen Ruxu with her elbow, bumping him in the side of the waist. Then, suddenly curious, she asked, “How do you compare to him?”
Shen Ruxu thought back to what he had been doing at the age of five.
Rolling around in the mud.
He obediently lowered his head and said earnestly, “I’m useless, Xiao Yi.”
Shen Yi sighed and patted him on the shoulder. “It’s okay. So am I.”
Compared with Shen Ruxu, she understood absolutely nothing about the code either.
The siblings crouched down in unison and lowered their heads, looking like two quails drenched by the rain, utterly crushed by a child.
