Splat-
"Whoa!" Seeing Shen Yu bounce away like a ball, Shen Xingshuo instinctively raised his arm and picked his little brother up like a piglet.
"Second Brother, I want to see the little brother from yesterday!" Shen Yu flailed his arms, trying to stand up without thinking things through.
"How do you know he's a little brother?" Hearing Shen Yu's confident declaration, Shen Xingshuo couldn't help voicing his confusion.
What exactly did the prophecy cover? He hadn't even guessed how many kids there were, yet he could tell who was older and who was younger?
"He's this small!" Shen Yu puffed out his cheeks and stretched out his arms, solemnly demonstrating. "I'm this big, so I must be the older brother!"
"Hmph, hmph." Hearing his little brother's completely irrelevant answer, Shen Xingshuo snorted twice, realizing that they weren't talking about the same kind of little brother.
This big, he said! He could pick up those three scrawny little brats with one hand!
"If you want to go, then go." Watching his two younger brothers fool around, Shen Xubai shook his car keys to remind them. "Shall we?"
"Let's go, let's go, let's go!" Shen Yu hadn't expected his eldest brother to be so agreeable. He was just about to stand on one foot when Shen Xingshuo grabbed him by the collar.
Thinking that the biological child might be suffering, Shen Yu couldn't spare any thought for resisting. He could only silently tuck in his neck and climb into the car, looking aggrieved.
Having scouted the route yesterday, they reached the alley without trouble.
[I heard the lasting damage was severe and even affected the biological child's mental state. Even when his living conditions improved later, it didn't help.]
[The kid was sometimes gentle and sometimes furious; one moment he was making money to invest in an orphanage, and the next he was driving someone into bankruptcy.]
Shen Yu's muttering made Shen Xubai tighten his grip on the steering wheel. Shen Xingshuo gritted his teeth, unable to believe that his biological younger brother would end up like that.
"I remember it was right here yesterday..." Shen Yu pressed his forehead against the car window and stared eagerly outside.
"This way." Shen Xubai parked and headed deeper into the alley without the slightest hesitation, not forgetting to make arrangements for Shen Yu and his injured leg.
"Xingshuo, stay here and look after Little Yu."
"I want to go too!" Shen Yu slapped the window at those words, his eyes filled with anxiety, worried that something unexpected might happen to the biological child.
Looking at Shen Yu's stubborn expression, Shen Xubai agreed without much thought.
Whatever happened, having Shen Yu and his unknown ability nearby would at least provide another layer of assurance.
As the three brothers passed through the unbearably foul-smelling alley, their expressions were grave. Although Shen Xubai's investigation had revealed the Cheng Family's terrible living conditions, it hadn't been as shocking as seeing them in person.
Shen Yu followed behind without a word. The few simple words in the book overlapped with reality, and for a moment, his eyes couldn't help reddening.
Cheng Jun and Cheng Jin would have to endure six more years of this life, then enter society carrying other people's strange looks and the brutal beatings they had suffered.
His hurried steps were tinged with panic. Shen Yu followed aimlessly until he heard a man's roaring up ahead, interspersed with the banging of a stool being smashed down.
"Hand it over! Or I'll beat you to death, you little bastard!"
The man with tangled hair staggered, but the stool in his hands struck Cheng Jun accurately. The boy let out a muffled groan and fell beside the table.
Apparently still unsatisfied, the man grabbed a stick and swung it up. Just as he was about to bring it down, a bottle flew through the air at Cheng Yong, followed immediately by a stool.
"You sons of bitches! Every last one of you is getting out of hand!"
Struck in the head, with shards of the liquor bottle cutting his cheek, Cheng Yong turned and glared viciously at Cheng Jin.
Cheng Jin's face was expressionless, but his eyes held unfathomable hatred, which he concealed well when he turned toward Cheng Jun.
"Brother, I'll take you to get your wounds treated." Discovering that Cheng Jun couldn't move his leg, Cheng Jin's eyes burned with hatred.
"Treat his wounds? I'll have you tending his grave! You little bastard!" Ignoring his bleeding forehead, Cheng Yong dragged the stool toward the brothers again, only to be knocked flat by another stool that came out of nowhere.
"I've never seen anyone this vile in my life!" After making sure Shen Yu was standing steadily, Shen Xingshuo swung the stool at Cheng Yong without hesitation, hitting at least as hard as Cheng Jin had.
Shen Xubai hurried forward and picked up Cheng Jun. After a cursory examination, he told Cheng Jin, "We need to go to the hospital immediately."
With no time to spare, Cheng Jin didn't stop to investigate. He followed Shen Xubai outside, and when he encountered Shen Yu hopping along on one foot, he reached out to steady him without thinking.
"Th... thank you." Shen Yu was a little dazed. His already less-than-clever brain had become even more muddled.
One biological child, two biological children?
"Xingshuo, handle things here." Shen Xubai placed Cheng Jun in the back seat, then looked back at Shen Yu and Cheng Jin standing in a row and decisively left Shen Xingshuo behind. "Dad will send people over shortly."
"All right, got it." Watching Cheng Yong get up while cursing, Shen Xingshuo gave a sinister smile.
Just because he usually liked joking around and grinning foolishly with Shen Yu didn't mean he was actually stupid. If he didn't make this scum of society suffer, his surname wasn't Shen!
Since Cheng Jin was looking after his brother, Shen Yu quietly sat in the front passenger seat and stole glances at the twins, inwardly struggling over how to speak.
[So they're twin kids. They look so alike.]
[The older kid's leg looks really painful. I wonder if there'll be any lasting damage? I remember...]
Thinking of how young President Cheng in the story refused to see people, and of his temperament that alternated between gentleness and bloodthirstiness, Shen Yu pictured an insecure, melancholy boy.
He had finally found a family, only to be persecuted by outsiders and even subjected to slander and vicious abuse.
Shen Yu looked at Cheng Jun's pale face, then at Cheng Jin's helpless eyes, and was overwhelmed with heartache.
[My poor kids, how could anyone treat them like this! I'm going to call Second Brother and tell him to beat that man to death.]
The more Shen Yu thought about it, the angrier he became, almost choking on his own saliva. Still, he huffed angrily as he searched his pockets. Only after patting himself down all over did he remember that his old secondhand phone was in another world.
Seeing Shen Yu freeze, Shen Xubai opened his mouth but said nothing. Mentioning the phone now would give him away.
However, Shen Xubai glanced at the rearview mirror out of the corner of his eye, and seeing the brothers' shocked expressions strengthened his suspicions.
"Brother, does it still hurt?" Hearing the inner voice for the second time, Cheng Jin quickly calmed down, not forgetting to give his brother a meaningful look.
"I'm fine." Cheng Jun reached out to soothe his younger brother and, after meeting Cheng Jin's eyes, slowly calmed down too.
"Are you Little Jin's friends?" Cheng Jun looked at Shen Yu. After all, the two were around the same age and looked like classmates.
"Um... more or less." Shen Yu answered hesitantly, feeling even guiltier under Cheng Jun's scrutinizing gaze.
Seeing his little brother's head nearly burrow beneath the car, Shen Xubai helplessly hauled the little ostrich back up with one hand.
"It's a little complicated. The priority is getting your leg examined. We'll explain everything together then."
At that, Cheng Jun fell silent. He shared his younger brother Cheng Jin's thinking: things had already come to this, so there wasn't much that could make them worse.
Recalling the sight of his younger brother throwing a liquor bottle at Cheng Yong, Cheng Jun tightened his grip on Cheng Jin's hand, his voice full of worry and reassurance. "Little Jin, don't be afraid. Your big brother is always here."
"I'm not afraid." Cheng Jin held his older brother, whose thin shoulders hid his eyes filled with viciousness.
Afraid?
If he ever managed to turn his life around, he would make Cheng Yong wish he were dead.