With a parent-teacher meeting scheduled for Monday, Wen Ya had rushed to the mall over the weekend and hurriedly bought a dozen outfits. She spent half the day holding them up against herself and her daughter, checking the fit and style.
Wen Ya's aesthetic sense for children was still stuck on the simple logic that kids should look like kids.
She enthusiastically picked up one dress after another, holding them up against her daughter.
An abundance of bows, cartoon patterns, fluffy skirts, and highly saturated macaron colors...
It was as if she wanted to dress her up as a colorful cake.
"What do you two think?"
The two little ones, Shen Yi and Shen Xun, didn't have much of an eye for fashion. No matter what Wen Ya chose, they would drawl out a "Looks good," clapping obediently like little sea lions.
The scene was exceptionally harmonious for a moment.
Until—
"So tacky."
The teenager, sporting a slightly messy head of curly hair, was slouched bonelessly in the living room's single sofa. When Wen Ya enthusiastically asked how the dresses were, he blurted out without thinking:
"Ugly."
"Elaborately tacky."
"Hard on the eyes."
"..."
Every time Wen Ya held up a dress, the evaluation she received was either ugly or tacky.
Although Shen Wenta didn't like dressing up himself, he enjoyed styling others. Most of Pei Wanyan's accessories in the past had been picked out by him.
And Wen Ya's girlish styling choices were truly exceptionally hideous in his eyes.
Wen Ya said, "What are you talking about, you brat?"
She slammed a hand down hard on his head.
Shen Wenta's perfectly fine little curls were pressed completely flat. He looked like a black cat that had puffed up only to be forcibly smoothed down, his bangs hanging limply over his forehead.
Shen Yi, sitting on the floor, flipped open a fashion magazine:
"Actually, I like this kind too!"
She pointed at a small diamond-studded crown in the magazine.
Shen Wenta rubbed his head, took a glance, and muttered,
"Is this Qing Dynasty aesthetics?"
Shen Yi knew nothing good would come out of his mouth. She covered his lips, "Don't speak anymore."
"It's the truth." Shen Wenta straightened his back slightly, his gaze shifting back and forth between his mother and sister. "Mom, actually, I've been meaning to say... when it comes to dressing up kids, you can totally leave it to me."
He really quite enjoyed styling people.
Wen Ya: "..."
Right then, the doorbell rang.
Wen Ya casually pressed down her son's newly fluffed-up curls again before getting up to open the door.
Shen Sixing, rubbing his bloodshot eyes, appeared at the entrance.
"Darling, you're finally back." Pleasantly surprised, Wen Ya subconsciously reached out to give him a hug.
"Don't."
Shen Sixing raised a hand. "Reeking of blood as I am, how could I dare embrace you, who smells so sweet?"
Wen Ya narrowed her eyes. "Where did you read this edgy, melodramatic quote from?"
Shen Sixing blinked. "Don't you think it's very melancholy?"
Meeting his wife's flat stare, he could only shrug helplessly and stop goofing off:
"Just joking. I'm afraid Xiao Yi will smell it again, and then I'll have to make up some excuse to fool her later."
Shen Yi's sense of smell was too sharp, which meant that as soon as he got home now, he had to use all sorts of body washes and perfumes. He ended up smelling like he'd been marinated in them.
Wen Ya rolled her eyes. Standing at the entryway, she asked in a low voice, "When are your accomplices planning to wash their hands of it and turn over a new leaf?"
"They aren't planning to drag you back in, are they?"
"Not for now, though they still frequently report their itineraries to me," Shen Sixing recalled the news he had recently been forced to hear. "It seems they've been discussing which elite school to attack lately?"
As he said this, the man's tone carried a hint of hesitation.
After all, it felt like it had been eight hundred years since he last contacted that group of outlaws.
If those former colleagues wanted to pierce a hole in the sky, it had nothing to do with him.
Ever since becoming a father, Shen Sixing had completely turned into a corporate slave, maintaining a habit of one kill per month.
Whenever he ran out of money, he would just go kill someone and come back.
The couple whispered in the entryway about whatever topic, while Shen Wenta watched Shen Yi, who was still sitting on the rug flipping back and forth through the magazine. Biting the corner of his mouth, he tentatively took a couple of steps and abruptly squatted beside her:
"Hey." His voice wasn't loud.
Shen Yi looked at him.
The teenager's tone was somewhat unnatural, as if he were making some kind of first attempt. "Do you like diamonds?"
"I have a lot in my collection room."
Kids this age might not like jewelry, but they would probably be interested in shiny, pretty things.
Shen Wenta used to like hoarding various colored diamonds that had no practical use.
He wondered if Shen Yi shared this hobby.
"Diamonds? They don't seem very useful." Shen Yi thought for two seconds and said, "I don't need them."
"Not everything has to be useful," Shen Wenta narrowed his eyes. "Like the things I like—even if they're useless, I still want to have them."
"Overthinking things isn't what a kid should be doing."
He leaned closer: "You just need to answer whether you like them and whether you want them."
Shen Wenta usually had a sharp tongue, but that was purely when he wanted to provoke Shen Yi. When it came to having a proper chat, he was actually quite good with words.
Shen Yi immediately answered honestly: "I like them. I want them."
Even though they were useless, anyone would be happy to receive beautiful diamonds.
"That's more like it." He finally seemed a bit satisfied. "I'll go get them for you."
He had actually prepared them a long time ago; he just hadn't known how to give them to her.
Shen Wenta's subconscious way of treating someone well was to give them gifts.
Regardless of whether the other person needed it or not, he just liked giving.
When Shen Xun was little, he frequently received piles of useless collectibles from his third brother.
They had all been tossed into some unknown bottom-of-the-box corner by him.
Or perhaps they had been lost long ago during a move.
Just like that, Shen Yi inexplicably acquired a box of beautiful diamonds. She took out a pink diamond and held it in front of her eyes, examining it over and over.
The girl's eyes lit up. "So pretty."
Shen Yi even counted how many diamonds were in the box and how many different colors there were.
Shen Wenta thought the way she earnestly counted the diamonds was very interesting and quite cute.
As he watched her...
He suddenly realized that Shen Yi didn't seem to have any particularly obvious hobbies.
Aside from being somewhat enthusiastic about eating, her daily routine occasionally involved building blocks and watching cartoons.
The family's living conditions were actually quite good in a child's eyes.
Yet she never actively asked for anything.
This kind of personality wasn't very good.
Shen Wenta wanted to bend her overly upright worldview a little. "If there's anything you want from now on, just tell me."
She looked up and met Shen Wenta's pure black pupils. Stripped of their usual mockery, they looked very peaceful and soft.
"You really don't seem to have any special hobbies, Xiao Yi."
Shen Wenta decided to have a serious chat with her.
He wasn't the only one who had noticed; the rest of the family had long realized where her quirkiness lay.
She was too sensible, to the point where she seemed to have no desires at all.
He didn't like this.
"Hobbies? Are they important?" Shen Yi hugged the gem box in her hands and blinked:
"I'm very satisfied with my life right now. Just being alive is already good enough."
Shen Wenta: "..."
That sounded even worse.
What the hell had that damn orphanage done to his little sister?
He subconsciously assumed she had been bullied terribly at the orphanage, which was why she harbored such an overly modest mindset.
"Is that really what you think, Little Yi?"
Every single word of the siblings' conversation had been overheard by the couple.
Shen Sixing took off his coat and stepped forward, taking a rare moment to seriously consider his daughter's psychological state. "Why would you think that way?"
Just being alive is good enough? That phrase sounded completely wrong.
Shen Yi hadn't expected that something she said in passing would unknowingly draw the attention of the entire family.
Shrinking her neck back a little, she casually made up an excuse: "Because the mortality rate around here seems a bit high, so I feel like just being able to survive is already pretty good."
A very unpretentious thought.
It had a touch of childish cuteness to it.
"That makes sense," Shen Sixing said, though he didn't buy a word of her nonsense.
Pretending to be fooled, he smiled and scooped up Shen Yi from the floor. "But since Little Yi is so worried about safety, how about Dad gives you your seven-year-old birthday present a little early?"
"Just to give you a little more sense of security."
As she was picked up, Shen Yi once again caught the lingering scent of gunpowder on him.
Skillfully ignoring the pungent smell, she tilted her head in curiosity. "What present?"
Shen Sixing carried her straight into the bedroom. After closing the door, he opened a drawer.
Inside lay a genuine, modified, scaled-down handgun.
Next to it were two rows of gleaming brass bullets.
It was originally intended as a gift for Shen Xun.
But Shen Sixing suddenly felt that Shen Yi seemed to need it more.
Shen Yi's voice was very soft:
"Is this..."
"A gun." Shen Sixing casually beat her to the punch. He looked calmly into the girl's eyes. "Little Yi, you have always been a somewhat sensitive child who chronically lacks a sense of security."
"But you are also a smart child."
"You can guess what Dad does for a living, right?"
Shen Yi didn't deny it. Held in her father's arms, she subconsciously hugged him back, suppressed her unease, and replied with an "Mm."
Yes.
She had guessed it long ago.
From Wen Ya's physical skills, the scent of gunpowder Shen Sixing frequently carried, and various other unreasonable details.
They were all enough to form an exceptionally simple deduction.
But why?
Why was her father suddenly playing a game of confessions with her?
"See?" Shen Sixing yanked open the bedroom door he had just casually shut, only to find her two older brothers and mother all pressed against the door, eavesdropping. "I told you our Little Yi is a smart kid."
It was just that she never wanted to expose it.
She hadn't expected Shen Sixing to suddenly out himself.
Shen Yi's mind was still a bit dazed.
"So, Little Yi, will you leave us? Will you want to find different parents?" Shen Sixing's usually languid expression vanished, replaced by an unprecedented seriousness.
He still remembered the very first things she had said to him: 'You look very ordinary' and 'We are the same.'
Her reason for choosing people was that they were ordinary.
Then...
What about now?
Would she leave?
Shen Yi looked around and noticed that her mother seemed very nervous too, hands tightly wrung together. Shen Wenta was biting the corner of his mouth, pretending not to care.
And Shen Xun was staring fixedly at her as well.
Everyone was waiting for her answer.
"No." Was she the heroine of some runaway novel? Why would she flee this perfectly good home for no reason?
That simple word caused the tense atmosphere to instantly relax, and the heavy stone in Shen Sixing's heart finally dropped. The man's expression became visibly relieved, and his tone turned light and brisk:
"Then Papa's little classroom is now in session. First of all, a child with no sense of security must learn to cultivate it themselves."
He had never considered himself a competent, good father.
After all, once his sons became intellectually aware, they no longer needed looking after.
But raising a daughter required a lot more thought and effort.
The family successfully gathered back in the living room.
Shen Sixing toyed with the gun in his hand, raised it, and aimed at a cup on the coffee table with great interest. "Want to see what this gun can do, Little Yi?"
Shen Yi's expression was a bit strange.
It wasn't exactly fear, but rather a mix of nervousness and eagerness to try.
After all...
It seemed that in both of her lifetimes combined, she had never touched a gun. The girl said honestly, "I don't know how. Could you demonstrate it first, Dad?"
Wen Ya was long accustomed to his dangerous habit of playing with guns.
The only thing she cared about was: "—Do you really have to fire a gun inside our apartment?! Are you trying to turn our walls into a honeycomb??"
As soon as the words fell.
A shot had already been fired.
With a bang, the glass cup shattered nearby.
The bullet embedded itself into the wall, leaving a clear bullet hole.
Watching Shen Sixing casually blow up the glass with a single shot, Shen Yi's eyes lit up.
She had to admit...
It was so cool.
Shen Sixing engaged the safety on the gun and said casually, "A few people dying every day in this world won't affect the global landscape. Only those at the top are fit to dominate everything."
"Many wealthy people submit to various assassin organizations, paying a considerable fee to ensure they aren't assassinated."
"Therefore, the most terrifying wealth-accumulating entities are actually many unknown underground factions."
"So, since you feel so insecure—" He dragged out his words, smiling warmly, "Come be an assassin with Dad. As long as we take out the others first, no one will ever be able to threaten our safety."
Shen Sixing truly disapproved of his daughter's modest mindset that merely surviving was enough.
Girls should be a bit more willful.
Even if she wanted to commit murder and arson, it wouldn't matter; he would clean up the mess for her.
Previously, Shen Yi had always comforted herself with the thought that her whole family were just ordinary people, and that being well-behaved and staying out of trouble was the right thing to do.
Even if her third brother came from a wealthy background, it had nothing to do with them.
If Shen Yi was allowed to keep harboring these thoughts of knowing her place and staying in line, it would only cause her personality to become increasingly introverted and repressed.
Therefore.
Shen Sixing made the decisive choice to out himself, aiming to first break down her preconceived notions.
"Think about it seriously, baby? It's fine if you don't want to be an assassin. You can do whatever you want in the future, just don't be so overly sensible. Anyway, no matter how big the trouble is, it can be smoothed over."
If the trouble couldn't be smoothed over, at worst, they could just smooth over the person causing the trouble.
Shen Yi bizarrely understood his point perfectly.
Shen Sixing gently pinched her cheek, took the hand of his worried wife, and left, leaving the living room to the three siblings.
...Haha.
Shen Yi felt that her day had been truly thrilling.
First, her corporate-slave father suddenly outed himself.
Then, the very first gift she received from her father turned out to be a gun.
Once their parents had both entered their room, the atmosphere froze briefly. Shen Yi sat silently in the middle of the sofa, lost in thought.
The three of them squeezed together earnestly, heads huddled close, and launched into a serious discussion.
Shen Wenta: "I've been curious for a long time about what your expression would be when you found out what Mom and Dad do for a living."
"But it's a bit disappointing." He lightly spun the small handgun. "Did you already suspect it?"
"Yes." Shen Yi covered her eyes. "I only had a few suspicions before, but I'd never actually seen it. After all, the way Dad looks..."
Is really hard to describe in a few words.
Shen Sixing had this gloomy, exhausted vibe, as if he hadn't had a full night's sleep in eight hundred years. He was the type of guy with such a mild temper that if someone cut in front of him in line at the supermarket, he would simply let them.
This was a far cry from the assassins she saw on TV, who would kill anyone that rubbed them the wrong way.
"Are you scared?" Shen Xun turned his head, his dark eyes staring at her with an unusually docile feeling.
Shen Yi pinched his face. "No, I told you I don't care."
"Really?" Shen Xun said, "We always thought you would cry."
"Why?"
"Because any normal girl would be scared..."
But Shen Yi wasn't. She just calmly accepted reality and even sat there discussing it with them.
"Then I guess I'm really not that normal either." Shen Yi suddenly leaned in close to him and said with a grin, "Right now, I just think Mom and Dad are both so cool."
Having her suspicions confirmed actually made her feel incredibly relieved.
Shen Yi decided to open up and have a heart-to-heart with them. She realized that her family seemed to have a bit of a misunderstanding about her.
"To me, it doesn't matter what my family does."
"Even if they're completely evil, it doesn't matter."
"As long as we're family, that's all that counts."
