The trail ended there. Shen Xubai went over Cheng Yong's jumbled words, his doubts deepening.
He just happened to have been sent away during the birth, and the child just happened to have been found by Ms. Liu Meng?
Why had a child from Shen Family Hospital been smuggled out? If it was revenge, why hadn't they killed him? What was the person behind it after?
With no useful information forthcoming, and Cheng Jin wilting after venting his feelings, no one wanted to linger. They ignored Cheng Yong's frantic shouts and left.
Even if Cheng Yong was merely a front put up as a shield, the harm he had done to Cheng Jun and Cheng Jin was real. He would certainly face legal punishment.
Shen Changgeng looked at the scrawny little boy beside him. Compared with the lively Shen Yu, Cheng Jin carried a sense of repression, helplessness, and even despair.
"Be good, Little Jin. You and your brother still have a better future ahead." Picking up Cheng Jin's slightly trembling body, Shen Changgeng spoke in a voice that sounded especially reassuring in the empty corridor.
"We have to look ahead. You still have your brothers, and there will still be seas of stars and dazzling light ahead of you. Don't be afraid. Dad will always be behind you."
The ride home remained silent. Cheng Jin leaned his head against the car window, the shadows of his eyelashes falling across his face. He looked quiet and lovely.
After watching his dad leave, the restless Shen Yu fidgeted. He was just about to exercise his authority as an older brother and "take care of" the shy Cheng Jun when Shen Xingshuo interrupted him with a solemn cough.
Cheng Jun cast a discreet, grateful glance at Shen Xingshuo. Clearly, Shen Xiaoyu was far too talkative for him to handle at present.
Looking at the two patients sitting in a row, Shen Xingshuo smugly cleared his throat. Before speaking, he made sure to give Shen Yu a meaningful glance, then laid out his grand musical plans.
From signing with a company to debuting in a group, right down to how he would take the world by storm and stand on the highest awards podium, Shen Yu listened with all hope drained from him, dragging his lame left leg as he tried to crawl out.
Having escaped the wolf's den only to enter the tiger's lair, Cheng Jun had clearly lost the courage to struggle. These two brothers were each more exhausting than the other: one tormented his soul, while the other ravaged his mind.
"What are you two doing? Aren't your big brother's plans clear enough? Don't they offer your souls any inspiration?" Still eager for more, Shen Xingshuo licked his lips and roughly restrained both younger brothers with his hands.
"Big Brother, save me!" Catching sight of Shen Xubai entering out of the corner of his eye, Shen Yu went into full drama mode and immediately whined his complaint. "Second Brother is terrifying!"
Cheng Jun's eyes were filled with the helplessness of someone who had been thoroughly tormented. At those words, he instinctively shifted closer to Shen Yu, clearly showing some reliance on him.
"Second, rein it in." Shen Changgeng had just been regretting that Cheng Jin wouldn't let him carry him out of the car, only to come home and see Second Shen acting so irresponsibly. "Is this any way to be an older brother?"
"What's wrong with having an older brother like me?" Shen Xingshuo crossed his legs and bobbed his head smugly. "Aren't they each happier than the other?"
The happy Shen Yu and Cheng Jun: they dared to be angry, but not to speak...
Seeing that Cheng Jin's mood had visibly improved after the outing, Shen Yu couldn't wait to find out what had happened. Unfortunately, no one said anything, leaving him to rub a thigh anxiously.
"Little... Yu?"
Cheng Jun's gentle voice beside him held hesitation, and, on closer listening, a trace of helpless amusement.
"What is it, little brother?" Shen Yu turned around in delight, not expecting his usually silent younger brother to speak first.
"The leg you're squeezing... is mine." Cheng Jun quietly put Shen Yu's hand back where it belonged, pretending to casually avoid a certain boy's sparkling eyes.
My little brother spoke to me first!
My little brother even took my hand himself!
I really am my little brother's favorite man in this family!
That triple burst of delight made Cheng Jun stiffen. Cheng Jin, standing beside the sofa, promptly plopped down next to Cheng Jun and shot Shen Yu a displeased glance.
I'd only been gone for half a day, and my brother's favorite person had already changed? No, I wouldn't allow it!
Not only did Shen Yu fail to register Cheng Jin's bitter, hostile gaze, he instead assumed his younger brother was jealous and immediately offered him a beaming smile.
Cheng Jin silently turned his head away, then inwardly scorned himself for being too softhearted. At a time like this, he should have glared right back.
Shen Yu already had two older brothers. Why did he have to fight him for this one!
Shen Yu craned his head and stared for a while. Even after Shen Xubai tugged his head straight, he couldn't help asking, "My little brothers are our family's children, right?"
"Of course." Taking advantage of the chatterbox Shen Xiaoyu's question, Shen Changgeng tentatively asked the brothers, "Cheng Yong's sentence should be handed down in a few days. Do you plan to change your surname?"
Cheng Jin, withdrawn because his brother was being stolen, didn't want to speak. Cheng Jun, inexplicably being fought over, nodded gently. "Yes."
They would take it as a farewell to the past. They, too, were about to enter a new life.
The family sat together in harmony. As Shen Yu excitedly celebrated changing the plot and finding the real young masters, he belatedly realized something was wrong.
Little Jun and Little Jin are back, so what about me?
I'm the fake one! My mom, my dad, my older brothers, my younger brothers-hasn't anyone thought of that?
What do I do, what do I do? This is so awkward. Do I have to put on an act now and say, "Ah, so I'm the fake one?"
Are we acting out a Qiong Yao melodrama? Do I have to cry to suit the occasion, too?
Everyone else: oh no, they had forgotten about that.
Shen Xubai's hand holding his tea stiffened. His gaze shifted from his conflicted little brother to his dad, who had advocated "not telling him yet."
Shen Changgeng awkwardly looked around. He had been in such a hurry to find the children that he hadn't expected his youngest son's brain to suddenly start working.
Shen Changgeng: why did the silly child suddenly catch on at a time like this?
Shen Xubai: his little brother wasn't stupid (protective).
Cheng Jun's and Cheng Jin's expressions changed slightly as well. Cheng Jin, in particular, with his conspiracy theories, hadn't expected his newly acquired older brother to have only just realized this.
No, I have to settle this when it needs settling! If my little brothers ask Mom someday why the triplets don't look alike, there'll be no way to explain it.
"Mom." Shen Yu's large eyes darted around, his gaze making a circuit of his older brothers and his dad before finally landing on Lin Yujing.
"Are you hungry, Little Yu? Would you like Mom to cut you some fruit?" Singled out by her youngest son, Lin Yujing changed the subject, while still making sure to shoot a threatening look at Shen Changgeng, who was staying out of it.
"I'm not hungry, Mom!" Shen Yu's eyes brimmed with touched tears. He hadn't expected his mom to still be concerned about his stomach at a time like this.
"Mom, let me tell you, my little brothers are your biological children. I'm not!"
"Mom knows." Forced to face the truth she had long known, and receiving no help, Lin Yujing helplessly admitted it.
"You know... what do you mean, you know?" Shen Yu looked at his mom in disbelief, then turned to the rest of his family, who remained silent like quails. "You all knew?"
"Because you're different, Little Yu." Afraid his wife would assassinate him that night, Shen Changgeng hurriedly stroked his son's head, fearing the little dimwit would be hurt. "When we brought you home back then, we could tell this baby was extraordinary."
In fact, Shen Yu had been abandoned at the entrance to an orphanage because of his poor health. Having lost her children, Lin Yujing couldn't bear it, and so she had adopted the little boy.
"How was I extraordinary?" The stricken Shen Yu's hope rekindled, and he looked expectantly at his father, who sounded so certain.
"Going back three generations in the Shen Family and the Lin Family, not one had such a silly personality." Shen Changgeng rubbed Shen Yu's cheeks. Only thinking of his own situation once everything was settled-a child this clueless was a rare sight.
Shen Yu: why did it feel like he was being insulted, yet it also made so much sense?