Secretly in Love for Years

Some things Second Brother said clearly didn't mean that, but once you cut out what came before and after, they sounded completely different.

Second Brother quickly realized what was happening and pulled out the USB drive, but the people present questioned whether he was feeling guilty. At the same time, Liu Lei stepped forward and said he could testify for Hu Xue.

Liu Lei said that Hu Xue wasn't the only one Second Brother had victimized—he was another. Second Brother told them to produce actual evidence if they could.

But Second Brother didn't know that Liu Lei had shown Hu Xue all the drafts from this project, so the drafts on both sides really were similar.

The press conference was ruined, and so was Second Brother's career as a designer. Every social media platform was filled with people calling him a plagiarist.

Shen Can sighed. Did you think that was enough? It wasn't. Just as things were about to blow over, Liu Lei released a whole pile of chat records.

He had edited them. The messages he released were full of Second Brother ordering him around, paired with his own complaints. Everyone thought Second Brother was cold-bloodedly exploiting others.

After Second Brother's talent was denied, his character was smeared too. Later, he didn't dare look at social media at all, nor did he dare go outside.

He didn't even dare face his family, because it wasn't just you who had been ruined—the Shen Household's reputation had been ruined too. People questioned how the Shen Household could have raised a son like that.

Shen Chi, who was in the entertainment industry, suffered the worst backlash. People asked why he had a brother like that, or said that someone with a brother like that couldn't possibly be any good either.

Of course, Second Brother wasn't completely defeated. When they released the drafts, he found a way to obtain two of them. He went to testing agencies, hoping they could determine the exact time the handwriting had been written.

When one agency couldn't do it, he went to another. One of the drafts couldn't be tested because the time gap between yours was too great. But the other showed a difference of more than a week.

Second Brother remembered that he sometimes took his drafts home to work on them and felt fortunate. He picked up his car keys and happily headed out, thinking that as long as he cleared up the plagiarism accusation first, then cleared up the claims that he had exploited others, everything would be fine.

But how could the plot let Second Brother clear his name? So he got into a car accident and died on the spot. What were you thinking when you were dying, Second Brother?

God knew how tightly the Shen family had to clench their hands to suppress their emotions. The Shen family had always been close, and the brothers were not far apart in age.

Shen Yu was only three years older than Shen Ze. Shen Ze and Shen Chi were only a year apart, while Shen Chi and Shen Yao were two years apart. They had grown up together and were extremely close. How could they remain calm after hearing what had happened to Shen Ze?

They did not know that someone else was struggling just as hard to hold back. Lu Shao clenched his teeth so tightly that he barely stopped himself from cursing aloud. Damn it, this Liu Lei actually dared bully his person. He would make sure Liu Lei regretted it.

Don't worry, Second Brother. Can Can will definitely handle this press conference properly. I won't let anyone sabotage it, and anyone who wants to ruin your reputation can forget about it.

Hu Xue, right? When the time comes, I'll buy laxatives and put them in her cup. Let's see how she gets onstage. That day, I'll stay by Second Brother's side the whole time and never give Liu Lei a chance to switch the USB drive.

Shen Ze smiled when he heard Shen Can's thoughts. To be honest, when he learned that Liu Lei would actually frame him, he felt both angry and hurt.

He did not understand why Liu Lei would do this. Had he wronged him somehow? Why did Liu Lei want to harm him like this?

Liu Lei was a junior from the same department whom he had met when he returned to school. His family circumstances were average and his abilities ordinary, but he seemed fairly dependable.

So when Liu Lei asked whether he could work at his company, Shen Ze said yes, but that he could probably only start as an assistant. After all, Liu Lei's skill level definitely was not enough for a designer position at their company.

He had started this company during his freshman year, and after all these years, it had grown to a considerable scale. Their designers therefore needed to possess a certain level of ability.

Was Liu Lei dissatisfied with the assistant position? If he claimed Shen Ze had victimized him, then why had he agreed in the first place? Forget it. With family members who cared about him like this, why should he dwell on someone like Liu Lei?

In the Original Plot, Mom was first harmed and lost her reputation among the wealthy ladies. Then Second Brother was set up and framed, even losing his life. From then on, the Shen Household suffered one misfortune after another. The atmosphere at home became unbearably heavy, and no one in the family was ever happy again.

If Second Brother hadn't met with an accident, Mom wouldn't have become even more depressed like she did in the Original Plot. Dad wouldn't have gotten sick from anger either. They wouldn't have been persuaded to go out and relax, only to encounter a plane crash.

Shen Yu clenched his fists even tighter, only releasing them when his palms began to hurt. Fortunately, none of it had happened yet. Fortunately, they had Shen Can.

Lu Shao was also grateful that he could hear Shen Can's thoughts and change Shen Ze's fate. As long as nothing happened to Shen Ze, then his parents definitely would not come to harm either.

Second Brother must have had regrets as he was dying, right? His name still hadn't been cleared, and during that final period, he barely got to spend time with his family or the person he liked.

The person he liked? Damn it, who did Shen Ze like? He had known Shen Ze for so long—how had he not known Shen Ze had someone he liked? Lu Shao became unsettled, even involuntarily angry and unhappy.

Shen Father and Shen Mother were also puzzled. Did this child have someone he liked? Why had he never mentioned it? They had never seen him treat anyone differently, either.

Shen Ze did not stop Shen Can from continuing her thoughts. After learning that he had died unexpectedly in the Original Plot, he imagined what it would be like when he was dying. He would have regrets, wouldn't he?

Who would have thought Second Brother liked Lu Shao? I doubt anyone in the family noticed. Second Brother's feelings could be summed up in one sentence: I've secretly loved my straight-guy brother for years.

Who did his second brother like? Lu Shao? Shen Yao was confused. Weren't they good brothers? Just like him and his comrades in the military.

Liked him? Who liked him? Shen Ze? He must have misheard. How could Shen Ze possibly like him? Or perhaps Shen Can had gotten it wrong.

Second Brother had actually liked Lu Shao for a long time. Even Second Brother himself probably couldn't say when those feelings began.

But once he fell for him, he fell for him. From sixteen to twenty-six, he had spent ten years by Lu Shao's side as his good brother.

When Second Brother first realized he liked Lu Shao, he probably had not never imagined a future together. But the more time they spent together, the more impossible it seemed.

So he never dared say that he liked him. After all, Second Brother thought Lu Shao was straight. He thought Lu Shao could never like a man, so he could only remain by Lu Shao's side as a good brother.

He carefully hid those feelings deep in his heart all this time. Lu Shao never noticed even the slightest thing wrong, did he?

The person he liked was right in front of him every day. Sometimes, because they were close, they even had physical contact. Yet there was no possibility between them at all. Second Brother must have endured so much, suffered so much.

Yes, it had been too hard, too exhausting. So he had to tell Lu Shao. He had to tell him that he liked him.

Even if Lu Shao avoided him from then on and never associated with him again, he still had to say it.

If he did not say it, he would be trapped in these feelings forever. Only by speaking up and receiving an answer could he finally bring it to an end.

His family was not in a stable situation. Rather than spending time thinking about a relationship that had no possibility, he might as well help his family more.