C City was still the same as it’s always been. Shu Ning walked out from the airport and several bodyguards came up to greet him, then invited him over to his family car, then the three cars left for the ancestral home.
Everything was same old at home, Shu Cheng was over at the company so Shu Ning went to see his grandfather’s tablet, offered some incense, bowed, and watched silently for a long moment before leaving.
The master bedroom on the second floor was all drab and black, but for Shu Ning it felt very comfortable. He hurried the bodyguards over to put his suitcase down at the door before he took them in one by one, then closed the door. Nobody knew what was contained within the suitcases, each of them were bought secretly by Shu Ning for their birthday, it had to be mentioned that Shu Ning really did rack his brains this time to try to add some freshness to their birthday.
The more he wanted to do well, the less good ideas he could think of, and if he followed what people did on the internet it didn’t feel fresh. It would look too deliberate if he did too much, so he wanted to make it seem ambiguous but it felt like he was being a bit shameless. This really bothered Shu Ning so much that he felt really uncomfortable, his face was red and his heart was beating fast, he hoped that his big brother could enjoy it. Shu Ning took a breath and began to decorate the place with a bright glint in his eyes.
Shu Heng was right in C City, secretly handling some maters. Shu Cheng was already quite well so there wouldn’t be any problems for him to at least sit in his chair at the office. When the evening came, Shu Cheng felt his heart tighten up slightly, this was the first time he returned home with unfinished work in the office. Since Shu Heng would look over it anyway, why did he have to make life so hard for himself? Shu Cheng got over it and wanted to slowly hand the reins over to Shu Heng. He’s a filial boy so he wouldn’t refuse, while Shu Ning was still young, Shu Cheng had already planned everything.
Shu Ning was the one who ordered their dinner meal from the kitchen, there were a plethora of dishes and they were all visibly attractive as well as delicious smelling.
When Shu Cheng entered, Shu Ning’s eyebrows rose in surprise, his dad’s complexion wasn’t too good so out of much worry he came up to take his dad’s hand. Shu Ning spoke in worry:”Dad, did you really catch a cold?”
Mysteriously, he took out several packs of medicine and shook them, Shu Cheng joked to him:”Have a look yourself, they’re all packed from morning to night, everything’s written clearly on the bags.”
Shu Ning snorted in laughter, and confirmed that they were cold medicine:”I’ll believe you this time, let’s go wash our hands and eat, I came home early so I asked the kitchen to prepare more of your favourite foods, dad.”
“Oh, what do we have tonight?”
“You’ll know when you look at it,”Shu Ning teased, curling his lips into a smile secretly having fun with a bright glaze in his eyes.
Shu Cheng lowered his head to observe Shu Ning’s energetic appearance, and thought about his age:”Have you made your ID card yet? You should get that done soon, if it’s not convenient for you I can handle it.”
“In C City?”asked Shu Ning casually.
Shu Cheng raised his hand to touch Shu Ning’s little head, watching him with a gentle gaze:”Naturally,”Where else? A little village?
During their meal the two were speaking happily and neither of them spoke about Qin Yu Zhuo and Shu Yao wasn’t in sight either. Shu Ning was ecstatic and his mood had been on a constant high. After their meal, the two went for a jog together, talking about their lives and dreams. Turns out Shu Cheng wanted to become an astronaut when he was younger, but the family business was pushed down on him like a mountain so he had to work hard, pouring out a lifetime’s worth of blood, sweat, and tears.
Shu Ning’s dad hinted to him during their conversation but he just pretended he didn’t understand, and shrugged:”Brother’s very outstanding so things will go smooth and steady if you pass the baton to him, so dad, you shouldn’t worry so much.”
Shu Cheng raised an eyebrow, he understood his intentions so he just laughed and patted Shu Ning’s back:”I heard the two of you are going to celebrate your birthdays together, dad will be staying out for a day so the two of you can have as much fun as you want, as long as you don’t set the house on fire.”
“Dad!”Shu Ning’s mouth twitched and his eyes were widened into large circles.
Shu Cheng mysteriously pulled out another two red packets, where did that come from? Shu Ning stared blankly and couldn’t figure it out, what is dad trying to do?
“Happy birthday,”Shu Cheng was very generous and his smile never left his face, he lifted his hand to touch his son’s face and no matter how much he touched he couldn’t get bored of it, it was so soft and supple.
Normally people would give only one, why did Shu Cheng give him two? Could the other one be for his brother? Shu Ning was already used to receiving Shu Heng’s red packets, so he showed him a sweet smile:”Thanks dad.”
At night, Shu Ning continued to busy about in the room mysteriously. Shu Heng who originally planned to rush back kept himself from going after finding out, he planned to stay the night outside. That little one was definitely planning a surprised, the antsy feeling in his heart made it hard for him to even sleep, so since his stepfather was resting, Shu Heng decided to just go over to the company to settle some work, then when he was tired he could just sleep in the chairman’s nap room.
The next morning, a fresh strawberry cake was prepared in the kitchen. After seeing it, Shu Ning was very pleased with it, and the maids brought some roses over to the doorway on the third floor. Shu Ning went in personally to decorate the place and busied about for an entire day, why is his big brother still not back? Shu Ning took his phone out to see, then put it back down, taking it back up to look at it a short moment later, his heart couldn’t be at peace!
Shu Heng should actually have returned quite early but he suddenly received news about Qin Yu Zhuo so he had to settle that first.
This woman was an ambitious wolf, she still hadn’t given up, secretly going to the airport and whatnot to try her luck. When it first started, she wanted to go to the capital directly but Shu Heng had to send someone to warn her before she gave up. Shu Yao was the most important, thinking about how young the child was, Qin Yu Zhuo was held hostage by it, she was so sad that she couldn’t sleep well at night, she wanted to look for Shu Cheng but she had no way to do that. Shu Heng was too vicious, using her own son against her, he wasn’t human at all.
Actually, Shu CHeng had gotten sick during this period of time, that was why he never left the house, but right now he was heading to the office everyday so it was natural that Qin Yu Zhuo wouldn’t have a chance to bump into him, after all she had been his personal assistant for over ten years, her network was wide and her knowledge of the ins and outs of the company was also considerable.
Shu Heng narrowed his eyes and reached the company, while Qin Yu Zhuo was already in the chairman’s office. Shu Cheng’s face was dark, listening to her tall tales. Shu Heng wouldn’t make things hard for Shu Yao, because Shu Yao had been sent out by Shu Cheng elsewhere to live on his own, there was no reason why, he just wanted to separate him from his mother.
If she could use Shu Ning as her own tool to harm Shu Heng, then she could use an even younger child against his two brothers, it was important for him to take some preventive measures. Shu Cheng had already planned ahead so naturally he was quite bothered about it. Just like right now, Qin Yu Zhuo was crying and he had a clear analysis of the pros and cons, they were endless, one after another, all complaining about Shu Heng.
“Yu Zhuo, do you love me or the company?”
“What are you talking about? Do you still not understand me?”
“I don’t, you keep on telling me about how Shu Heng was harming the others in the company, so if you really didn’t care why would you complain so much about this? It’s enough, I thought you came because you were finally regretting it and wanted to patch things up with me, heh, I was wrong, I was just too naive,”Shu Cheng ordered the two bodyguards to make their move, one holding her mouth, and the other dragging her by the legs, quietly dealing with her.
Shu Heng entered:”Dad, are you okay?”
“Make her give up, I’ll leave it to you to handle personally.”
With a shrink of his pupils, it seems his stepfather really loves that woman too much:”Yes.”
A car entered secretly from the back gates of the ancestral home, and the group went over to the ancestral hall. Qin Yu Zhuo’s hands were tied up and her mouth was sealed, staring blankly at the direction Shu Heng was pointing to, it was the family tree. This was still the first time Qin Yu Zhuo had come to this place, the ancestral hall represents the sacred identity of their family so only the main house could enter.
Um……Something seems wrong, hold on, where was Shu Heng’s name?
Shu Heng’s face was expressionless as he looked down at her:”I’m not dad’s son so I have no rights to continue the Shu family, everything in this household belongs to Shu Ning when he grows up, even Shu Yao had a part of the shares, but I don’t, you should understand what I’m trying to say don’t you.”
What? That’s impossible, what a joke. How come Shu Cheng never told me? Why? If he told me, I definitely wouldn’t have made things hard for Shu Heng, I would even treat him well, being a good mother to him! As long as I can throw out Shu Heng’s identity at the opportune moment, everything would’ve gone fine, the family business can only be inherited by the bloodline and this was the rule, nobody can change that, and nobody ever could.
Ahh ha ha……So I’ve actually lost to Shu Cheng’s secret?
Qin Yu Zhuo was Shu Ning’s mother and the woman loved sincerely by Shu Cheng, Shu Heng wouldn’t make things hard for her. He looked towards the woman who was out of sorts with a gloomy gaze:”Now that you know stepfather’s secret, you can never appear in front of us any more.”
What? Qin Yu Zhuo came back to her senses, what was Shu Heng trying to do? Is he trying to commit murder? No, I’m still young and I’ve still got my little lucky star Yao Yao, I can’t die, Shu Cheng loves me so he won’t bear to harm me, sob sob sob sob. Qin Yu Zhuo couldn’t say anything, she was so anxious that her eyes were red and tears were flowing out, Shu Heng is trying to commit murder~ He’s trying to commit murder~ Help~
If not because his stepfather wanted Qin Yu Zhuo to give up, Shu Heng wouldn’t even want to talk to her. WIth a raise of his hand, Qin Yu Zhuo was hauled off as she cried.
On the island, the birds were singing and the flowers were in bloom. It was only March, but the flowers were all blooming beautifully. This wasn’t his stepfather’s idea, it was Shu Heng’s, he was very cruel. If he painted her as a prisoner and made her suffer her sins, she would have to take care of her life here, preventing his stepfather from getting sad and even getting sick. As for Shu Ning, even more so he would not want to see Qin Yu Zhuo, Shu Heng was very sure of it.
The Lincoln took a detour and drove into the ancestral home from the main entrance. Shu Ning received the news of Shu Heng’s return and he was excited, standing in wait of him in the hall. He felt so giddy that he couldn’t sit still nor could he stand proper, and even his face was blushed red.
Shu Heng entered and Shu Ning came forward to help him with his coat and his bags, he already had the look of a little wife:”Brother, are you tired?”
“I’m alright, what about you?”
“I’m great, can’t be better. Wash your hands first and we can eat, today we’ve got……”Shu Ning circled his arms around Shu Heng’s and showed him a very dazzling smile, mentioning all the dishes to him one by one, they were all arranged by him and he was there himself to watch over everything, naturally he couldn’t remember it wrongly;”Brother, let’s have something to drink?”A drink to give him courage, that gift was way too important and he needed to have courage for it.
“Sure.”
Shu Heng washed his hands and his face, and as soon as he raised his head, Shu Ning had already passed the towel to his face. His little brother……Was very virtuous today. Shu Heng’s eyes were gentle as he lowered his head to kiss Shu Ning on his little face. Oh my, the sun hasn’t even gone down yet. Shu Ning retreated back a little, he knew that nobody saw but he was extremely embarrassed and didn’t know how where to put his hands or feet.
Shu Heng’s mouth was raised into a smile and he took Shu Ning’s little hand, walking together over to the dining table, the servants knew what was up so they all excused themselves. The two sat right next to each other and picked up their chopsticks to pass each other food at the same time. A burst of laughter leaked from Shu Ning’s mouth and he secretly stole a glance at his big brother’s expression, then lowered his head to eat. His heart was beating like a pair of drums, no matter what he did, he couldn’t calm down.
His big brother’s idle hand landed on Shu Ning’s thighs, and this cause his entire body to stiffen up for a few seconds:”Brother~”
“Eat your rice!”
That big hand on his leg was touching here and there, making its way to the inner area, then returned back to the outside, giving it a pinch and a rub every so often. Shu Ning’s heart was blossoming and a tiny quiver flowed through his entire body. He deliberately grabbed his big brother’s hand in a teasing way, not allowing it to escape:”You shouldn’t eat so much, we still haven’t blown our candles yet!”
“Alright, anything you say,”Shu Heng gave Shu Ning a little tap between the brows and ate to about eighty percent full. He looked forward to the events tonight very much, so naturally he would do anything Shu Ning said, it didn’t show on his face but Shu Heng’s heart was filled with excitement. When they went upstairs, Shu Heng suddenly picked Shu Ning up from behind and carried him in a princess carry:”One step a kiss!”
Notes:
The tablet of an ancestor is a plaque with their name that is placed on the ancestral table and we offer incense to them everyday to pay our respects. During the funeral, their soul is invited to the plaque so that we can keep them by our sides on our praying table. Please take this information with a grain of salt because I’m not a model taoist lol