"Huh?"
Snatching someone else's custody?
And who is Brother Xiao Heng?
Shu Yu looked at him expectantly. "Daddy, can you?"
The four-year-old girl's voice still had a hint of babyish lisp, making it hard to refuse her request.
Song Xuyan's old father's heart nearly melted at the sound.
But...
Song Xuyan pulled back a bit of his rationality.
Song Xuyan: "Probably not? There's no blood relation, so it'd be hard to take custody. Does this Brother Xiao Heng you mentioned have a mom and dad?"
Shu Yu puffed out her cheeks in anger. "He has a wicked stepmom and a wicked stepdad."
Shu Yu didn't understand what "blood relation" meant, but she was a little angry.
The kind of angry you feel when you see really bad people kicking stray cats and dogs on the street.
A fierce little glint appeared on Shu Yu's pretty face.
"I saw his mom pinch him."
"I sympathize with him," Song Xuyan said. "But it should be very difficult."
Shu Yu pursed her lips, a little sad. Even Daddy couldn't do anything?
Song Xuyan: "Little Treasure, give the phone to Mommy. Daddy needs to talk to Mommy."
When Song Wenzhao came home, he saw his little sister hugging her bunny plushie, lips pressed together, not saying a word.
Song Wenzhao: "Little Treasure."
Hearing Song Wenzhao's voice, Shu Yu pattered over to him.
She touched Song Wenzhao's dry hair, making sure he hadn't gotten soaked in the rain.
Relieved, Shu Yu said, "Brother is not a wet puppy."
Song Wenzhao handed the umbrella to the auntie. "Hmm? If Brother's not a wet puppy, then who is?"
Shu Yu led Song Wenzhao to the window and pointed in the direction of Si Yiheng's house. "The new brother who lives over there is a wet puppy."
Song Wenzhao: "...Oh."
Was he the old brother now?
Song Wenzhao's mood was complicated.
He looked at Shu Yu, wanting to say something but holding back. He really wanted to ask Shu Yu if she could not find a new brother.
Upstairs, Ji Fei was talking to Song Xuyan about Si Yiheng. Song Xuyan didn't really want to deal with Si Yiheng's situation.
He wasn't a very compassionate person. At best, if he saw a stray dog on the street, he could restrain himself from kicking it a couple of times.
But he couldn't bear his daughter's pitiful, pleading eyes.
Ji Fei was trimming flowers. "This is hard to interfere with. Old Master Si is decisive and tough, and the old lady's health isn't good. They have no mind to care for this grandson."
"I also heard that a while back, Xiaoheng's father angered the old lady so badly she was hospitalized."
Song Xuyan: "If it were me, I'd be furious too. If Song Zhaozhao ever did something that despicable in the future, I'd cut ties with Song Zhaozhao."
Song Wenzhao, who had just carried Shu Yu upstairs and heard his own father's words: "..."
Face stiff, Song Wenzhao said, "Mom, you should just find me a new dad."
"I'm not too keen on this old dad anymore."
Shu Yu clapped her hands too. "Mommy, get a new daddy!"
Song Xuyan: "..."
Song Xuyan said in a sulky tone, "Little Treasure, do you not want your new brother anymore?"
Song Wenzhao looked at Shu Yu, eyes full of hope.
Seeing Song Dabao's look, Shu Yu's eyes darted away. She pursed her lips and stayed silent.
Song Wenzhao: "..."
What a vicious dad. Just to keep his own position from being threatened by a new dad, he was bribing Little Treasure with a new brother.
Song Wenzhao kept a straight face and carried Shu Yu away.
"Little Treasure, don't listen to Dad. Come keep Brother company while he does his homework."
Shu Yu wrapped her arms around Song Wenzhao's neck. "Okay~"
After the two of them left, Ji Fei gave Song Xuyan a reproachful look. "You'd promise anything just to save your own skin."
"You don't actually think you can fight for custody of a stranger, do you?"
Song Xuyan: "I can't fight for custody, but I can get rid of that couple."
"Once they're gone, I'll just become the child's godfather."
"Old Master Si is still busy watching over the Old Lady, so it's perfectly normal for godparents to raise the kid, right?"
Song Xuyan: "Anyway, wife, just get ready to be a mom."
Ji Fei: "..."
Ji Fei was speechless. "You and Little Treasure are always up to nonsense together."
Song Xuyan laughed and replied to Ji Fei, "But my lady is the one who indulges me and Little Treasure."
He knew his wife was the kindest-hearted person in the world.
Ji Fei talked with Song Xuyan for a while longer, asking him if he was doing well alone in a foreign land.
She asked when Song Xuyan would come back.
She asked if he missed them.
Song Xuyan whined and grumbled for a long time, calling Ji Fei "wife" and "big sister" over and over, saying he didn't want to work at all, that his heart was always thinking of them.
He also said Little Treasure had scared him, that lately he kept wondering if Ji Fei didn't love him anymore.
Finally, he made Ji Fei promise that when those so-called admirers back home came buzzing around her, she would think of him first.
Even if new nuisances showed up, she could only look at him.
Ji Fei simply had no way to deal with Song Xuyan. "There are no admirers, they're all just friends now."
Song Xuyan: "How despicable, approaching you under the guise of friendship."
"Sister, they don't even have the decency to hide it anymore."
Ji Fei: "..."
Ji Fei really wanted to say that Song Xuyan was the most shameless one of all.
But she always had to soothe this poor fool who was worn out from work. "But still, I like you the most."
Song Xuyan: "!!!"
Song Xuyan: "Sister, I miss you so much."
"Once I close this deal, I'll come back to see you two."
In less than a month.
Si Yiheng's father offended someone powerful and highly placed. Si Yiheng's father begged the Old Lady for help.
Which made her condition worsen again.
Old Master Si gave Si Yiheng's father a severe beating, then sent him off to engineering construction work in Africa.
Ye Manzhen, seeing that Si Yiheng's father truly had fallen out of favor with Old Master Si,
divorced Si Yiheng's father and returned to the Ye family. Neither of them wanted Si Yiheng.
Old Master Si assigned the steward and servants to take care of Si Yiheng's daily needs.
Fortunately, Si Yiheng proved himself to be somewhat capable.
Over that month, Si Yiheng had the steward take him to visit the Old Lady.
And he made the Old Lady grow even fonder of her grandson.
When Song Xuyan reported the progress to Ji Fei, his tone wasn't so relaxed. "This kid is full of tricks. Give him the slightest chance, and he'll find a way to climb up."
"I'm a little afraid we might be letting a wolf into the house."
His precious daughter was too innocent and kind. He didn't want her to be deceived.
Shu Yu was lying nearby listening to her parents talk. "It's a puppy, not a wolf!"
Ji Fei tousled her daughter's fluffy head. "It's a person, not a dog."
Ji Fei: "What hasn't happened yet, you don't need to predict."
"There's no point in judging someone as bad before the fact."
Ji Fei didn't think there was anything wrong with using whatever you could use.
Ji Fei: "Okay, stop worrying. You promised your daughter something, so you need to keep your word."
"You should trust that we have the ability to give Baby Yu what she wants, and also the ability to keep Baby Yu from being hurt."
"Besides, Little Treasure is my daughter. She knows right from wrong. She won't let a wolf in the door."
Shu Yu couldn't understand a great many of the words.
All she knew was that Mommy was saying, she wanted it, she got it.
Shu Yu: "Daddy, listen to Mommy, okay?"
Song Xuyan: "..."
Was he supposed to listen to Mommy, or to Shu Yu?
Song Xuyan finally relented: "Fine, then. If we're raising him, we're raising him."
Ji Fei went to visit Si Yiheng's grandmother, and took the opportunity to mention that Shu Yu really liked Si Yiheng, and hoped they might let Si Yiheng become Shu Yu's older brother.
The two families would acknowledge a nominal kinship.
Si Yiheng stood in the corner, watching Ji Fei with his lips pressed together.
He seemed to understand where this month's changes and this month's opportunity had come from.
Shu Yu had asked his parents for him — as her brother.
Shu Yu really had given him a hand.
Si Yiheng's grandmother's health was deteriorating day by day. The old woman looked at her silent grandson and her busy husband.
Grandmother: "Good, good. Thank you for taking care of Xiaoheng."
With a new father and mother who had strong backgrounds behind them, at least Xiaoheng could grow up properly.
When she was gone, her husband would also have more energy to care for Xiaoheng.
Ji Fei walked out of the hospital with Si Yiheng. Si Yiheng: "Thank you, Aunt Ji. I'll take good care of Baby Yu from now on."
Aunt Ji, Uncle Song, and Baby Yu — all of them were his benefactors.
Ji Fei: "No need to thank me."
"Xiaoheng, just get along with Baby Yu normally. No need to talk about who takes care of whom."
"Or rather, you should take care of each other."
"Brothers and sisters always look out for one another."
The Ji family had always raised their children this way, which was why the atmosphere in their household had always been warm.
Now that Ji Fei had children of her own, she was raising them the same way her parents had raised her.
Si Yiheng nodded firmly.
