A Silent Black-and-White Spy Thriller

The moment Song Xiaonan entered the room, she began to cry, her tears pouring out like a floodgate had burst, impossible to stop.

Her best friend handed her tissues while comforting her. "It's just a man. Is this really necessary?"

"You never had him to begin with, so it's not like you've lost anything now!"

Song Xiaonan paused. "Mm-hmm? Huh?"

"Why?"

"Now that you've said that, I want to cry even more. But I really am angry. He even dared to shove you! If it were me, I'd have slapped him right back!"

Her friend shook her head. "Sigh, you really missed your chance there!"

"Why do I feel even worse after hearing that? Hahaha, all right, hurry up and stop crying. If your brother comes upstairs later, he'll laugh at you again."

That hit Song Xiaonan right in the heart. She immediately stopped crying, wiped her face, and grumbled indignantly, "Yeah! Is that any way for him to be a brother?"

"He saw his little sister getting bullied and acted like nothing happened. He didn't even mean to help, and he said he wanted to teach me a lesson."

"I think that lesson was pretty good. At least it'll keep you from becoming a love-struck fool."

"Gu Qiqi?"

Song Xiaonan turned and glared at her. "Whose side are you even on?"

"Heh, of course I'm on your side. But your brother wasn't wrong either."

Gu Qiqi chuckled. Song Xiaonan's newly made friend had no fewer juicy secrets than her brother did.

But when it came down to it, getting to know Gu Qiqi was also inextricably linked to her brother—the Gossip King.

If he hadn't exposed the Gu Family's incestuous scandal, Gu Qiqi's aunt would not have kicked out her live-in husband and adopted daughter, nor would she have gotten close to her biological daughter so quickly, let alone sent her overseas to study and prepare her to return home and inherit the family business.

And Song Xiaonan would never have met Gu Qiqi at school and become fast friends with her.

They had spent entire nights plotting how to bring down the Gossip King after returning to the country.

At that thought, Song Xiaonan suddenly narrowed her eyes.

"Don't tell me you're planning to switch sides because my brother's exposé helped your family?"

Gu Qiqi popped a piece of gum into her mouth and chewed as she laughed. "Do I look like someone with no loyalty?"

"I was just—" Before she could finish, there was a knock on the bedroom door Song Jia had moved into.

"Xiaonan, come out. Mom already chased him away."

Qin Shuyuan's voice came from outside. "Your brother finally came home after so long. How can you keep hiding in your room?"

"Who did you chase away?"

Song Xiaonan seized on the first half of that sentence. It would be a lie to say she did not care about her first love. Every thought of him made her heart ache and her temper flare. "Who else could it be? Lu Chen. With him around, you'll always be second choice."

Qin Shuyuan sighed.

"Sigh, all right, all right. You don't even have to say it. I already know what word you mean."

Song Xiaonan's eyes shifted as she grabbed Gu Qiqi's hand. "Come on, I'll take you downstairs to eat."

The b-word got censored again. The group gathered in the living room once more, staring at one another with wide eyes, but no one said a word.

The atmosphere left the cameraman holding the camera utterly baffled.

The livestream viewers seemed unable to figure out what was going on. "What even is this?"

"They're communicating silently. Are they putting on a mime show?"

"If Qiao Jian and the others didn't look like they had entire dramas in their eyes, I'd think they were sleeping with their eyes open."

"This is so bizarre. Why am I so engrossed even though there's clearly no plot? It feels like I've grasped the essence of a silent black-and-white spy thriller!"

Song Yichuan first glanced at Song Xiaonan, his inner monologue continuing to ramble. I helped that stupid little sister get even. I don't expect her to thank me. As long as she gets her head on straight, that's better than anything.

Actually, I should've kicked him again just now, thoroughly displaying my vicious nature. Then I could've added, "I just love that look on your face when you can't stand me but can't do anything about me."

He glanced at Gu Qiqi again. Tch, this is the person she brought back to help. She looks unfriendly. Let me take a look. Oh, so she's the Gu Family's real daughter. Her father cheated, and the adopted daughter was planning to introduce male models to her biological mother. My respects, my respects. She's got that female-lead vibe. My silly little sister can hang out with her. If Dad ever cheats in the future, she can help scout someone out.

Father Song broke into a sweat. "Uh... no, that won't do."

Mother Song felt gratified. "As expected of Mom's good son. What did she come back to the country for this time?"

It can't just be to deal with me, right? A female lead whose IQ is clearly a tier above my little sister's wouldn't waste her time on something like this.

Song Xiaonan fumed. "How exactly is she a tier above me?"

Holy shit, this family drama just keeps getting more intense. A mere adopted daughter actually had her adoptive father and adoptive brother wrapped around her finger. She got pregnant without even knowing whose child it was. No wonder Mother Gu sent Gu Qiqi abroad to study finance. Turns out her son was completely useless. This father-son pair is something else. Have they never seen a woman before? They believed everything she said, even that drunken one-night-stand nonsense. Please, you can't even get it up when you're drunk, okay?

The funniest part is that the baby in the adopted daughter's belly doesn't belong to either of them, yet they were fighting to be the sucker dad!

"Yeah, why am I hiccuping now?"

"I ate too much meat and haven't digested it. Sigh, I should get up and walk around a little."

"Heh, why isn't Gu Qiqi leaving yet?"

"Does she want to stay the night or something?"

When Gu Qiqi heard that, her eyes lit up like lightbulbs.

"Whose is it?"

"Whose is it?"

"Keep going!"

"Look, look!"

"Chuanbao stood up! Look, look!"

"Everyone's looking over there!"

"Look, look!"

"What kind of heavenly beloved-group mime show is this?"

"I seriously love it so much!"

Finally, beneath everyone's burning, eager gazes, Song Yichuan's inner voice slowly came again. Let me see who the child's biological father really is.

Holy crap, no novel would even dare write this. It's actually the adopted daughter's biological older brother! When they started dating, neither of them knew. Only after she was acknowledged by her real family did it hit them like a bolt from the blue!

Sadly, it was already too late. A terrible mistake had been made.

This child absolutely can't be kept. If it's born, it'll be a freak—no wonder the adopted daughter hated the Gu Family and insisted on taking revenge on them—

While everyone was still lamenting, Gu Qiqi stood up in pain. "Uncle, Auntie, Xiaonan, and President Yan, there's an emergency at home. I'll be leaving first."

The Gu Family's real daughter spoke at lightning speed. Before her words had even faded, she was already at the door.

The moment she got into her private car, Gu Qiqi typed out a message on her phone. "Thank your brother for me. I owe him one."

Song Xiaonan rolled her eyes. "What's there to thank him for? It's not like he deliberately helped you hit send."

She looked up at Song Yichuan, who was leaning lazily against the refrigerator and reaching out to take the yogurt Yan Jinyu handed him, then muttered inwardly, At least you have a conscience. You even knew to help me get even.