Staring bleary-eyed, Shen Yu looked left and right. When he saw even his mother, Lin Yujing, covering her mouth and laughing at him, he bristled.
"I'm not talking to any of you anymore." Believing he had delivered a fierce threat, Shen Yu, the "third-generation heir to stupidity," turned away in a huff and found his two younger brothers sitting obediently, unlike everyone else laughing so happily.
He scooted laboriously over to Cheng Jun. Seeing Cheng Jin beside him eyeing him sidelong, Shen Yu "cleverly" moved past Cheng Jun and plopped down between the two of them.
Satisfied that he had treated them equally, the haughty Shen Yu planted his hands on his hips and smugly watched his second older brother, who was still roaring with laughter.
[I really am a master of fairness, treating both younger brothers equally.]
Cheng Jin's expression instantly turned cold. He silently took back his earlier thought: this newly acquired older brother was not only not stupid, but was doing everything he could to separate him from his brother.
"Little Yu is an older brother now! And he's already going to his younger brothers to complain." Lin Yujing took a small sip of tea, watching the three children's antics with amusement.
There was the clueless Shen Yu, Cheng Jin with his head full of schemes, and Cheng Jun gently watching the show.
Three children made quite a show, but the clueless one was all smiles while Cheng Jin was thoroughly annoyed.
"They really are my younger brothers, hehe!" With confirmation from his mother once again, Shen Yu looked excitedly at Cheng Jun, his big, round eyes full of hints.
Cheng Jun had called him Little Yu earlier, and as the older brother, he had felt just a tiny bit hurt!
Watching the childish Shen Yu, the brothers who had shared hardship and happiness pressed their lips together. The usually unruffled Cheng Jun's cheeks flushed slightly; he did not know how to handle the enthusiastic Little Yu.
Receiving his brother's pleading look, Cheng Jin, who doted on his older brother, took up the duty without hesitation and immediately turned to meet Shen Yu's expectant gaze.
With Cheng Jin's personality, he always maximized his gains, and disguising himself was what he did best!
But looking at Shen Yu's fluttering big eyes, full of anticipation without a trace of malice or mockery, as though he simply wanted to hear that form of address, Cheng Jin just could not get the words out.
Shen Changgeng did not want to force the two children to address him that way. Seeing this, he played along and teased Shen Yu. "Let's register them first and let the little fellow enjoy being an older brother."
"Hehehe!" Hearing that he was about to become the older brother on the household register, Shen Yu grew even happier. He did not forget to sneak glances at the two brothers with his big eyes, bolstering his authority as their older brother.
To the brothers, who had spent years living in fear, Shen Yu's supposedly covert scrutiny was like a brightly shining light bulb. Yet he himself noticed nothing and still thought he was being very discreet.
"There's also Little Jun's schooling." Shen Changgeng's tone softened as he brought this up. Of course he knew why Cheng Jun had been unable to continue school. "Would you like to repeat a grade, or gradually catch up at home?"
At the mention of studying, a flicker of emotion finally appeared on Cheng Jun's face. Back then, precisely because he could not both earn money and attend school, he had been forced to drop out to protect his younger brother.
"I can catch up. I don't need to repeat a grade." Cheng Jun looked at his younger brother beside him. Worried that Cheng Jin would be bullied somewhere he could not see, he gritted his teeth and decided to stay with his brother.
"Of course you can." Naturally, Shen Changgeng went along with the child's wishes, and he did not forget to reassure him. "There's no rush. You'll be recuperating at home for a while anyway. It's fine to go a little later after school starts."
Cheng Jun's bone fracture was severe, and it would take at least three months before the splint could be removed. Shen Changgeng did not want his son's first public appearance to be like this.
Although the Shen Family was enough to intimidate others, gossip could not be stopped, and children's malicious behavior was even harder to guard against.
The Shen Family's lawyer had already followed up on Cheng Yong's case. Unfortunately, the investigation showed that Liu Meng truly had found the children by accident, which did not constitute child trafficking. The only suspicious point was the location where the children had appeared.
When they learned that Cheng Yong had been sentenced to three years for organizing gambling and abusing children, the Shen Family had just finished updating the household register.
Shen Yu gazed at the two newly added pages in the household register with sparkling eyes, his gaze darting back and forth between Shen Jun and Shen Jin.
"Now that Little Jun and Little Jin are home, should we hold a banquet? Let everyone else meet our family's young masters too."
Shen Xingshuo offered a serious suggestion for once. Previously, because Shen Yu was adopted, as well as being in poor health and withdrawn, he had never appeared before outsiders.
Now that their two biological younger brothers had been found, they had to let others recognize their faces, or another bunch of assholes would pull that bullying crap at school.
Shen Xingshuo had clearly encountered this sort of situation before, but he always solved problems with his fists.
Bullying? He beat them until even their parents could not recognize them!
Competing over whose father was more powerful? Not just anyone could compare with the Shen Family!
Although Shen Xingshuo's parents were always being summoned to school, he had certainly never suffered in silence. Especially when Shen Changgeng learned the reason, he practically wanted to demonstrate bullying in front of the other parents.
Looking at the kids beside him, each more frail than the next, Shen Xingshuo felt genuinely worried. They looked so easy to bully.
Unfortunately, no one understood Second Shen's sorrow. Shen Jun gave Shen Yu a worried glance. Seeing that the boy showed no reaction, he still gently shook his head in refusal.
"I don't like crowds. Keeping things ordinary is fine." Having finally escaped that mire, Shen Jun only wanted to live a good life, with books to study and his younger brother beside him.
Shen Jin followed his older brother in everything. Hearing this, he nodded along without asking why.
"If you don't want one, we won't hold one." Shen Xubai rolled up his sleeves, his lean arms covered with a thin layer of muscle, looking thoroughly reassuring. "Don't be afraid when something happens. Come to Mom, Dad, or me anytime."
The Shen Family had not hidden from the children the reason the brothers had gone missing back then. First, they were worried about misunderstandings arising along the way; second, they wanted to make the children more vigilant.
Clearly, Shen Jun and Shen Jin had taken it well.
Shen Yu tilted his head, listening to his eldest brother's guidance while diligently bobbing his head. Catching sight of Shen Jin lowering his head out of the corner of his eye, he immediately held it up for him enthusiastically, looking exactly like a little eunuch throwing his weight around under someone else's authority.
Shen Xubai was in the middle of his enthusiastic explanation when he suddenly met the eyes of Shen Jin, whose head had been forcibly lifted. Both brothers fell silent at the same time. Shen Xubai suddenly ran out of words, unsure what he should say.
"Then... let's get the rooms ready first." With a headache, he skipped over the subject. Having focused only on how well-behaved and obedient his two younger brothers were, Shen Xubai had nearly forgotten there were also two attention-seekers at home.
"Aren't we staying here?" Hearing about getting rooms ready, Shen Jun could not help looking up in confusion.
"Yeah, yeah!" Shen Yu, ever ready to follow the crowd, tilted his head and chimed in.
"Your rooms at home have always been kept ready. We'll tidy them up again over the next couple of days." Shen Xubai signaled for his second brother to cover Shen Yu's mouth, then explained to the two brothers unhurriedly.
"Uncle Liu and Aunt Chen live on the first floor. Little Yu was injured a while ago, so we prepared a temporary room here."
"You and Little Yu will stay on the first floor for now. Once your injuries heal, you'll go back to your rooms on the second floor. You'll be on the same floor as Mom and Dad."
"Mm... that's good, then." Shen Yu was the first to breathe a sigh of relief at the explanation, muttering quietly, "I thought I was the only one living downstairs."
Uncle Liu, who happened to be passing by with fruit: ...
"What I meant was... I thought no one lived downstairs!" Shen Yu waved his arms as he tried to talk his way out of it.
Everyone stared: ...
"No, no, what I meant..." Shen Yu shook his head frantically, not knowing why his explanations only made things worse.
"Have some fruit, big brother."
Shen Jin's mood visibly improved. With Shen Yu this unintelligent, he posed absolutely no threat of stealing his older brother.