The whole room fell completely silent.
Yin Kairui’s face darkened inch by inch. “WHAT… DID… YOU… SAY?!”
“Did Brother touch something dirty just now? You smell all stinky now,” Shan Shan replied, completely unaware of the trouble she had gotten herself into, her expression innocent and wide-eyed. “Brother should go wash up right away, okay?”
“Is that so? Heh… heh heh!” Yin Kairui ground his teeth together. “You think I smell bad, do you?!”
He strode toward her with heavy steps, and only then did Shan Shan sense the danger looming over her. She scrambled backward in panic. “Brother! If you wash up, you won’t smell stinky anymore, I promise!”
A wicked grin spread across Yin Kairui’s face. “We’ll rub the smell all over you first… then I’ll go wash up.”
Shan Shan turned and ran as fast as her short little legs could carry her. “Auntie! Auntie! Help me!!”
Seeing the sight before her the little girl running for her life and the tall man chasing after her, somehow unable to catch up despite his long legs Wen Yiting rubbed her temples wearily. “Kairui, go take a shower right now. It’s getting late, and it’s time for bed.”
Yin Kairui was so furious he was practically steaming. “I am not letting this little troublemaker stay here tonight! She is absolutely not sleeping in the same bed as me!”
Shan Shan immediately voiced her objection. “I want to sleep with Brother!”
“Anyone who thinks I smell bad has no right to sleep next to me!” Yin Kairui shot back, refusing to back down.
Watching the pair bicker like children no older than five or six years old combined, Wen Yiting’s eyebrow twitched slightly. She picked Shan Shan up into her arms. “Alright, alright. Just go take your shower. And by the way… did someone come visit us just now?”
“That lunatic Zhuang Qinqin showed up,” Yin Kairui replied, his face cold and expressionless.
Shan Shan tilted her head to the side in thought.
Zhuang Qinqin…
That name sounded so familiar. Had she heard it somewhere before?
Whether it was because of what Shan Shan had said or not, even though Yin Kairui himself couldn’t detect any strange scent on his body, he scrubbed himself thoroughly three times from head to toe before finally stepping out of the bathroom.
After washing up, he had calmed down somewhat. Even though he still felt the urge to turn around and walk away the moment he saw Shan Shan sitting in the room, he held himself back and stayed where he was.
Shan Shan was already tucked up in bed, but she was feeling very nervous and uneasy.
A little while earlier, Auntie Wen had quietly told her that Brother hated nothing more than being dirty, and he also hated it when people said he was dirty or smelly.
Determined not to let Brother send her away, clever little Shan Shan had decided to pretend she was fast asleep. She lay her small body perfectly straight and closed her eyes tightly.
But her eyelashes kept fluttering rapidly, and her eyes were darting back and forth beneath her eyelids she was practically broadcasting that she was faking it.
Suddenly, a mischievous idea popped into Yin Kairui’s head. He let out a long, heavy sigh. “Sister Wen… do you really think I smelled that bad earlier? Am I a dirty person?”
Wen Yiting stared at him, completely confused. What on earth is he up to now?
Yin Kairui winked at her and nodded subtly toward Shan Shan, putting on a voice full of grief and hurt. “This little girl was clinging to me every minute of every day before, but now she acts like I’m the most disgusting thing in the world. Is she just making excuses to get away from me?”
“I think it’s not that she thinks I smell bad… it’s that she doesn’t like me as a person at all. Sister Wen, why don’t you just take her away with you? It’s perfect timing too she sleeps like a log and won’t even notice if we move her. Then I can just lie here all alone and cry myself to sleep under the covers all night long.”
As he spoke, he drew in a sharp breath and let out a trembling sob for added effect.
He had deliberately turned his back to Shan Shan and sat down at the foot of the bed. So when Shan Shan opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was his hunched back, and for some reason, he looked completely heartbroken and defeated.
Earlier… it looks like what I said about him smelling bad really hurt Brother’s feelings, Shan Shan realized.
And instead of comforting him, I just pretended to be asleep and tried to trick him. That was really wrong of me.
Shan Shan’s little face crumpled up with guilt and regret.
Back in the old days, whenever any of her older brothers or sisters did something wrong, they would always admit their mistakes and apologize sincerely. She needed to learn to do the same thing.
She sat up, climbed out of bed, and walked unsteadily across the soft mattress toward Yin Kairui.
Sensing movement behind him, Yin Kairui who had only been acting sad and hurt immediately slipped completely into character. His face fell into a look of genuine sorrow and despair. When he felt someone sit down beside him, he glanced briefly at Shan Shan, then sighed again and let his whole body slump as if he was too sad to even hold himself up straight.
Shan Shan felt even more guilty now. She carefully and gently tugged at the sleeve of his shirt. “Brother… I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have said you smelled bad or disliked you. Next time… next time if you get dirty or stinky again, I’ll stay right beside you and help you wash up, okay? I promise I will.”
“It’s alright… I know no one really cares about me. Everyone only ever worries about whether I’m clean or if I smell bad… that’s all that matters to anyone,” Yin Kairui said, his eyes turning red with tears. He turned his face away so she wouldn’t see how much he was “hurting,” making himself look even more pitiful and sad.
Shan Shan tried her best to explain herself. “I don’t dislike you, Brother! I really don’t! I’ll always be by your side, I promise! Please don’t be sad anymore, okay? It was all my fault. You can shout at me or get angry with me as much as you want… just don’t be upset all by yourself, please.”
Seeing Yin Kairui sniffle slightly, clearly still heartbroken, Shan Shan didn’t know what else she could do to make things better. Then suddenly, her eyes lit up with a brilliant idea. She scrambled forward and threw herself across his legs. “Brother… you can hit me if you want to! Hit me a few times, and then you won’t be angry anymore, right?”
What Shan Shan was actually thinking of was how things used to be when they were all together in the past. They were all spirits and monsters, each with their own strong personalities and tempers. It was only natural that they would have arguments and disagreements from time to time. But whenever they fought or got upset with each other, they would settle things with a friendly fight, and afterward, everything would be back to normal and they would be happy again. At most, the person who had done something wrong would agree not to fight back during the first three moves, and that was the end of it.
But Yin Kairui and Wen Yiting had no way of knowing what she was talking about. When they heard her words, their minds immediately went back to what they knew of Zhou Shan Shan’s past and how she had been treated by her uncle and aunt.
Is this the kind of life she’s always lived? they wondered in horror. Whenever those two adults got angry or upset, they would just hit her until they felt better? Has she grown up thinking that the only way to make someone stop being angry is to let them hit you?
“Brother?” Shan Shan tilted her head back and looked up at him, her eyes bright and earnest. “Why aren’t you hitting me yet? Is it not working?”
The little girl leaned forward so far trying to look up at him that she completely forgot she was sitting right at the edge of the bed. She was just about to tumble off when Yin Kairui reacted instantly and caught her in his arms. As she steadied herself, she looked up at him again and beamed with the brightest, most beautiful smile he had ever seen.
“You little idiot…”
For some reason, Yin Kairui felt a warm, burning sensation rising in his eyes, as if tears were about to spill over. He patted her gently on her small bottom, speaking in a gruff, fierce tone. “Go to sleep right now! If you don’t go to sleep and stay in bed properly, I really will send you to sleep in the next room tonight!”
“Is Brother not angry anymore then?” Shan Shan asked, tilting her head again, her expression serious and sincere. “If you’re still angry, you can hit me a couple more times… I don’t mind at all.”
Yin Kairui’s heart ached with a deep, soft sadness. This little girl in his arms was just like a timid stray kitten, doing everything she could to be good and please the person who was taking care of her, too afraid of being abandoned to ever ask for anything for herself.
“I’m not angry anymore,” Yin Kairui said, the words slipping out of his mouth before he even had time to think about them.
Shan Shan’s eyes lit up with pure joy. She jumped up happily and threw her arms around his neck. “I knew it! I knew Brother could never be really angry with me! Brother is the best person in the whole world!”
Yin Kairui, who was now suffering from serious PTSD related to this exact action, instantly froze up. He braced himself to be squeezed nearly to death again but this time, there was no crushing pressure at all.
Instead, the soft, smooth skin of her little cheek rubbed gently and affectionately against his neck, a gesture full of complete trust and love. Yin Kairui, who had almost never experienced such warm, close affection from anyone in his life, went completely rigid and still.
Shan Shan didn’t notice his reaction at all. After nuzzling against him happily, she let out a big yawn and her eyelids began to droop. “Brother… I’m sleepy now…”
“Then go to sleep!” Yin Kairui said, his voice sounding unusually stiff and awkward.
But Shan Shan didn’t mind his tone one bit. She stood up and walked unsteadily back toward the bed. “Goodnight, Brother~”
Even though she looked as if she might lose her balance and fall over at any second, much to Yin Kairui’s relief and anxiety, she walked all the way back safely, climbed back into bed all by herself, and pulled the covers up. She closed her eyes, and within three seconds, her breathing had become slow and steady she was already fast asleep.
Seeing this, Wen Yiting spoke to Yin Kairui in a soft voice. “If you need anything during the night, just call me or give me a ring, okay?”
“I understand,” Yin Kairui said. He looked down at the little girl sleeping peacefully, and on a sudden impulse, he asked, “By the way… did you put a diaper on her before she went to sleep?”
Wen Yiting fell silent.
She looked at him with a completely blank, expressionless face. “No, I didn’t. So you better stay alert during the night. If she calls you and you don’t wake up… she’ll just pee all over your bed.”
Yin Kairui: “?!?!?!?!”
NO!!!
He regretted everything!!!
He should never have agreed to let her stay here in the first place!!!