The brothers exchanged glances.
As the oldest brother present, Shen Jinyan cleared his throat and said,
"Seventh Sister, you start school tomorrow, don't you? Go study in your study, and I'll reward you with a sports car later. Pick whichever one you like!"
"No!" Shen Banxia refused without a second thought.
Seriously, her remaining lifespan was tied to money now. If her second brother gave her a car, how many years would that cost her?
"You don't like sports cars? Then what do you like?"
"I'd like Liang Xin to be my second sister-in-law!" Shen Banxia answered without hesitation.
Shen Jinyan froze, his mouth forming an O from sheer shock. A moment later, he recovered and protested vehemently,
"Seventh Sister, have you lost your mind? Liang Xin and me? Forget this lifetime—it wouldn't happen in the next lifetime, or the one after that!"
He wanted to give Seventh Sister a present, and she wanted to take his life!
"Not at all. I think Seventh Sister's suggestion is great!" Shen Shenxing fanned the flames, gleefully enjoying the drama.
"I think Liang Xin is great too!" Shen Ruogu chimed in.
"Jinyan, are you dating Liang Xin? When did that start? How come I didn't know?" Shen Zhishan asked, pleasantly surprised.
"Oh, get lost! Like hell I'd date that tomboy!" Shen Jinyan waved them off, practically beside himself with anger.
"Liang Xin isn't a tomboy! She's pretty, has a great figure, and brings her husband good fortune!" Shen Banxia argued.
"She could bring anyone good fortune except me! If she didn't screw me over, I'd thank eighteen generations of her ancestors.
"If you don't like sports cars, tell me when you think of something you do like. Just don't try to get me killed!"
"Jinyan, Liang Xin really is wonderful-" Shen Banxia persisted in recommending her.
"Come on, I'll tutor you!" Shen Jinyan cut Seventh Sister off.
"No!"
All he knows is how to chase girls. What does he know about tutoring?
"Who says I-" Shen Jinyan protested, dumbfounded.
"Your second brother is unreliable. Let your third brother tutor you instead!" With that, Shen Shenxing stood, grabbed Shen Banxia by the back of her collar, and hauled her over to the elevator.
"Third Brother, I haven't even started school yet! I don't need tutoring!" Shen Banxia protested, flailing both hands in the air.
"Then study ahead!"
"I've already finished all the high school coursework-"
"Then get a head start on advanced mathematics and calculus." Shen Shenxing hauled Seventh Sister into the elevator without allowing any argument.
"Who says I'm unreliable?" Shen Jinyan finally snapped out of his daze and protested indignantly. Then he turned to his two younger brothers for confirmation. "Tell me, isn't your second brother the most reliable person there is?"
Shen Ruogu and Shen Zhishan either looked away or lowered their heads. Neither could tell such a blatant lie.
Their reactions nearly made Shen Jinyan choke with anger.
Not long afterward, Shen Shenxing assigned Seventh Sister some work and went to join his brothers.
Under the pretext of playing games, the brothers gathered in Shen Jinyan's room to discuss their next move.
Now that they all knew their father's true colors, they couldn't just sit around waiting to die. Nor could they sit back like Seventh Sister and eagerly enjoy the drama as others fought.
They had to protect not only themselves, but also their mother and their family.
"Do our eldest brother and sixth brother know?" Shen Zhishan asked.
"The two of us only found out by accident yesterday when we went to Grandma's with Mom. Third Brother found out because of his car accident, while Fifth Brother found out through the poisoning and the phone tapping."
"Our eldest brother has been safe so far, so he probably hasn't had a chance to find out.
"But we need to find an opportunity to tell him as soon as possible. Otherwise, I'm afraid he'll be in danger.
"As for our sixth brother, he should be fine for the time being. After all, Mingyue is closest to him," Shen Shenxing analyzed.
"I think Shenxing has a point!"
"What about Banxia? Don't we need to tell her?" The moment Shen Zhishan finished speaking, all the other brothers turned to look at him.
Shen Zhishan looked embarrassed and scratched his head sheepishly.
"I forgot. Seventh Sister can foresee the future."
"But why isn't she scared at all? She acts like none of this has anything to do with her. Does she know Dad won't hurt her?"
"My guess is that Banxia already knows how our family and each of us will end up, but she can't interfere or change anything. All she can do is watch the drama.
"She just didn't expect us to be able to hear her thoughts, so she complains freely in her head.
"Through Seventh Sister's thoughts, we indirectly learn about certain things and can take precautions ahead of time, changing the outcome without realizing it."
"Even though Seventh Sister hasn't helped us directly, she has helped us indirectly."
"But we can't let her know we can hear her thoughts. Otherwise, she definitely won't dare complain in her head around us anymore.
"We can't let anyone else know either, especially Dad or Mingyue.
"In short, none of us can tell anyone. If Dad finds out, he'll definitely go after Banxia first.
"Then Seventh Sister will be in danger," Shen Shenxing warned solemnly.
"Third Brother is right. We can't tell anyone about this. We have to protect Seventh Sister!" Shen Jinyan nodded in agreement.
Shen Shenxing glanced at his second brother. It was rare for him to agree with anything he said.
"But we can't rely entirely on Banxia and wait until we hear her thoughts before taking action.
"Now that we know Dad's true colors and what he's after, we need to act.
"We have to take the offensive instead of passively avoiding danger.
"If even with all of us brothers working together, we can't deal with the Xu Family and still have to rely on Seventh Sister,"
"then we have no right to call ourselves members of the Shen Family. We don't deserve to live," Shen Ruo said, his gaze icy.
"Our fourth brother is right!
"Since Dad doesn't consider us his sons and wants to wipe us out for the inheritance,
"we don't need to hold back out of consideration for family ties or our relationship as father and sons."
"Mom probably won't let us get involved because she's afraid we'll be branded as men who killed their own father!
"No matter what, he's still our father.
"But we can't just do nothing and wait for Mom to protect us.
"If we did, she'd have given birth to us for nothing!"
"Why do we have to kill him? Wouldn't a fate worse than death be better?" Shen Ruogu asked with a faint smile.
Seeing his fourth brother's sinister smile, Shen Zhishan couldn't help shivering.
Who said his fourth brother couldn't act?
Wasn't that smile more demonic than a demon's?
The four brothers quickly reached an agreement. Just as they were about to discuss their strategy, a knock came at the door.
Shen Jinyan went to open it warily, then broke into a smile when he saw Seventh Sister standing outside.
"Seventh Sister, didn't Shenxing tell you to do your homework? What are you doing here?"
"I finished. I came to find Shenxing so he could mark it!" Shen Banxia replied.
"Finished?" Shen Shenxing strode over, thinking he had misheard.
He had given Seventh Sister an assignment that might take more than two hours to finish.
He took the paper and scanned it. She really had finished it.
Yet it had been less than half an hour since he left Seventh Sister's study.
"I'm done. There was a mistake in one of the questions, so I spent ages working it out. Otherwise, I could've finished even sooner," Shen Banxia complained.
She poked her head in to look at her other two brothers and asked in puzzlement,
"What are you all doing holed up in here?"
"Playing games. Want to join us?" Shen Jinyan said, struck by inspiration.
Ten minutes later, he regretted it.
Why had no one told him that Seventh Sister played games like a complete idiot?
She couldn't tell friend from foe and killed anyone she saw!
Asking only made it worse.
Seventh Sister's reasoning was that the people nearby were easier to kill, and she didn't even have to go looking for them!
Hearing that explanation, the brothers broke out in a cold sweat-
This was a game about killing enemies, not just killing people!
They ought to be grateful it was only a game. With Seventh Sister's strategy, they would all have been stabbed to death long ago!
Before you continue