Shen Xingshuo's fringe was slightly tousled, his handsome face right up against the camera. His cocky expression, rather than making him look superior, gave him an extra touch of childish absurdity.
[Hahaha, the mental state of today's college students.]
[If one person hates me, that's his problem; if a whole bunch of people hate me, they're in cahoots. /doge]
[Another unhinged quote from Mr. Cocky.]
[I have to say, I absolutely love Shen Xingshuo's mental state! Gouge your eyes out if you don't like him. He hasn't done anything to you, so why does shit come pouring out whenever you open your mouths?]
[Hahaha, how did our cocky guy end up saying something so cringey and ridiculous? Shen Xingshuo, what happened to your image?]
His tone was clearly irritable, yet the audience's response was surprisingly positive. Even the haters couldn't get a word in, left baffled by the standards of today's internet users.
Their favorite streamer had pointed at them and told them to gouge their eyes out, yet his fans were happily cheering him on. What was this? Had life driven them all crazy and unleashed their masochistic tendencies?
The haters Yang Yi had hired didn't even get a chance to speak, and their accounts went down one after another. Even attempts to restore them through the backend proved ineffective.
Sensing the hand of a platform bigwig, the haters who had taken money to do something underhanded grew frightened, torn over whether to switch accounts and keep attacking.
Yang Yi's expression was complicated, his face turning red and then white.
If he had thought Shen Xingyi's unfriendliness earlier was down to his personality, now it seemed Shen Xingshuo must have discovered something, which was why he had shown his displeasure outright.
Watching their newly formed team threaten to fall apart, with the usually sociable Qiao Luo preoccupied, Mo Zeyao a man of few words, and their new teammate too afraid to interject, Shen Xingshuo curled his lip in boredom.
"Let's make a group chat. I've got something on today, so I'm leaving first."
Shen Xingshuo couldn't be bothered to sit there staring at them. Wasn't playing with his own little brother more fun? As if he had nothing better to do than listen to this lot's insincere chatter.
Qiao Luo saw a message on his phone, gave an apologetic smile, and left right after him. Before Yang Yi could speak, Mo Zeyao said he needed to hurry up and eat, then come back for extra practice.
Their dispersal without the slightest sentiment made Yang Yi, who had enthusiastically put the team together, look like a clown. But in front of the cameras, he had no choice but to put on an appropriate smile.
Shen Xingshuo checked the shared location with his head lowered and eagerly hurried toward the little restaurant Shen Yu had found.
"Oh, you've already started ordering." Abandoning his cold, outrageously cocky on-camera demeanor, Shen Xingshuo wore a positively undignified grin as he pulled out a chair and started teasing his little brother, who was frowning over the menu.
"Can't help it. Our big brother increased my allowance." Shen Yu raised his head from the menu and smugly swayed it from side to side.
Shen Xingshuo clutched his chest in sorrow. This was openly stabbing him in the heart-after all, half of it had been deducted from his allowance.
"Shouldn't you be having a fat-loss meal?" After happily ordering himself an all-meat selection, Shen Yu kindly pointed at the shredded lettuce, his chubby face wearing an innocent smile. "Will one plate fill you up?"
"What do you think?" Shen Xingshuo stared through gritted teeth at the little brat playing innocent, took the menu, and began marking off his choices, still grumbling away. "Your brother's making his debut, not coming out of a coffin!"
There was no need to reach enlightenment in a single leap and give up food altogether.
"I haven't reached the point where I can't eat or drink yet. How very kind of you to worry!"
Shen Yu tenderly rubbed his head where it had been knocked and huffed, his lips twisting. "I was worried about you, and this is how you treat me. Debt plus one."
Shen Xingshuo watched dumbfounded as Shen Yu took a little notebook from his pocket. He even carried a short gel pen with him, seemingly prepared to keep accounts anytime, anywhere.
"What's this? My book of life and death?" Shen Xingshuo craned his neck for a look and instantly found it too much to bear.
Walked past the sofa and ignored me. Angry. Minus one.
Laughed at me for being a little pauper. Super angry. Minus two.
Held me upside down with my head toward the ground. Explosively angry. Minus five.
"What happens when I get a perfect score? You make me disappear?" The more Shen Xingshuo read, the more he wanted to laugh. Seeing his brother's eyes go round, he sheepishly drew back and pretended he hadn't seen anything.
"Once you get a perfect score, you're finished." Shen Yu hadn't expected his second brother to be so fearless, but he really hadn't thought of a good punishment, so he could only glare at Second Shen in feigned anger.
"My bad, my bad. Let's eat. I'm hungry." Seeing that he had almost taken his teasing too far, Shen Xingshuo quickly waved for the food to be served, and the two of them tucked in enthusiastically.
Compared with the healthy, balanced meals at home, the little restaurant's food had a distinctly smokier flavor, but Shen Yu ate with relish written all over his face, absolutely loving the taste of food stir-fried in an iron wok.
Shen Xingshuo hadn't intended to restrain himself anyway. Seeing his little brother eat with such relish, he refused to fall behind and shoveled down his rice too. Before long, he had emptied two bowls.
With his small appetite, Shen Yu could only stare as his second brother smugly raised a third bowl of rice. He was so annoyed that the grain of rice at the corner of his mouth bobbed along with his cheeks.
"Sweetheart, you'll need more practice before you can compete with your second brother!" Although he could barely manage the third bowl, Shen Xingshuo staked his dignity as the older brother on it and forced down the last mouthful.
Shen Yu pouted in disappointment and had to admit he couldn't eat as much, but his little mouth refused to let it go. "Second Brother, are you eating so much because you don't have any money?"
Stabbed in the heart once again, Shen Xingshuo choked on the rice he hadn't yet swallowed, rolling his eyes in distress.
Shen Yu once again shouldered the burden of the family, running to the counter to buy a drink and finally saving his second brother, who had nearly died at the table.
"Little Yu's really grown capable." Having recovered, Shen Xingshuo didn't forget to comfort the still-shaken Shen Yu. "Your wallet nearly got fatter again."
Shen Yu tilted his head in confusion, his eyes full of questions.
"Because you almost got my death compensation." Shen Xingshuo went into full drama mode, his voice ringing with conviction.
"Second Young Master Shen suddenly dies at the dining table-was it the restaurant's lack of conscience, or the food's revenge?"
"Hahahaha." Thoroughly amused by his second brother, Shen Yu bared his teeth in a grin, biting his milk straw flat.
"But Second Brother, I saw some really bad comments about you online." Wrinkling his nose, Shen Yu reminded Shen Xingshuo, hoping his arrogant second brother would rein himself in a little.
"Mm-hmm, what can I do about it? Did you help explain things for me, Little Yu?" Shen Xingshuo loved teasing his brother most of all. At this, he propped his face in his hand and looked at Shen Yu with a slightly wounded expression.
"I did. I said..." Halfway through, Shen Yu caught Second Shen's intrigued gaze out of the corner of his eye and became too angry even to drink his milk.
"Like hell I defended you!"
"Oh, you're here too?"
Just as Shen Yu was angrily slapping the table, Yang Yi came in with Zhao Kuang and Fei Yi. Seemingly finding the smell of the food too strong, he still hadn't lowered the hand fanning his nose.
"Do you know each other?" Yang Yi wasn't embarrassed when nobody responded, his gaze drifting every so often to the angry Shen Yu.
He suspected this boy had quite a background, and now he was actually eating with Shen Xingshuo. Then Shen Xingshuo...
"No." Shen Xingshuo knew what this guy was thinking without even turning around. He couldn't even be bothered to roll his eyes, leaning back lazily instead.
Hearing Shen Xingshuo's categorical denial, the already fuming Shen Yu angrily planted his hands on his hips, swinging his short legs as though he wished he could kick Shen Xingshuo in the face.
What an awful brother. He had helped out of the goodness of his heart, only for his brother to fish for information and laugh at him!
"I see." Looking at the annoyed Shen Yu and the outrageously cocky Shen Xingshuo, Yang Yi couldn't suppress the upward curve of his lips.
No wonder-the two didn't look alike. Running into him here must mean even heaven was helping him.
Shen Xingshuo naturally hadn't missed Yang Yi's secretly delighted expression. Sickened, he was about to get up and leave.