Shen Jiaren covered her ears, ignoring her brother's furious shouts. Only after Xiao Changyan had calmed down did she look seriously at her brother. The black-framed glasses had long been tossed aside, revealing a face as delicate and fresh as spring blossoms.
At school, she always kept long bangs and wore black-framed glasses, concealing most of her appearance—partly to avoid trouble.
"Alright, alright! Brother, Mom and Dad are different from us. We have Mom and Dad to protect us, but they've never had anyone to protect them. Marrying into a wealthy family is the best way they could think of to protect themselves. Aunt Zhuge is a good person—Dad likes her, Mom likes her too. Even if she marries Dad, we'll still be a family~"
Hearing this, Xiao Changyan's expression grew somewhat distant. They had parents, but their parents had nothing except them.
"Brother, do you remember why we agreed to apply to different high schools?"
In Jinghai City, a school district property typically allowed one enrollment slot per household. Both elementary and middle school required a school district property to attend a designated school. However, when advancing from middle school to high school, students could apply to other high schools based on their academic performance.
The two of them had skipped grades twice in elementary school and jumped from seventh grade to ninth grade in middle school—all because of one incident.
To this day, that incident remained a little secret between the siblings.
"…I remember." Recalling the matter, Xiao Changyan clenched his fists. Even after all these years, he couldn't suppress his anger.
Shen Jiaren noticed her brother's barely contained rage. She handed him the graded test papers she was holding, gently pried open his clenched fists, and spoke softly.
"Dad is a man, so handsome, yet he still gets bullied and looked down on at work. It's always others who covet Dad's looks, but they turn around and blame him instead. In places we can't see, Mom and Dad must have suffered a lot of grievances."
"Brother, Aunt Zhuge is good. She seems strong—she can protect Dad from being wronged again."
This was also why Shen Jiaren was willing to accept her parents' separation.
Beauty was one of the world's most formidable weapons, but beauty alone made one the easiest target for bullying. People admired physical beauty yet disparaged it to prove their own purity and detachment from worldly concerns.
When Aunt Zhuge saw her and her brother, she didn't hide her astonishment at their looks. Her eyes were filled with appreciation and fondness for beauty, which was why Shen Jiaren actually liked Zhuge Rui.
Xiao Changyan wasn't incapable of accepting his parents' divorce, nor was he unable to accept Xiao Guanyun marrying Zhuge Rui. He was just too afraid of Dad being bullied by outsiders—because he had seen it happen, he feared it.
It happened when Xiao Changyan and Shen Jiaren were in their first year of high school. They were only twelve at the time. One evening after school, they came home to find Mom applying medicine to Dad's wounds. Dad's forehead had been broken and was bleeding—he looked pitiful, clearly having been bullied.
At the time, the two were very worried. When they asked, their parents only explained that Dad had accidentally bumped his head during a work accident.
However, in reality, the very next day after Xiao Changyan and Shen Jiaren arrived at school, they were deliberately lured out by another student for a "warning." It turned out that Xiao Guanyun’s job at the time was delivering cakes—specifically, the trendy "Black Knight" cakes.
Each cake cost three to five thousand yuan and was delivered to the employer’s home by a handsome, tall man over 1.8 meters driving a sports car. Xiao Guanyun, with his exceptional looks and physique, broke the age barrier and successfully landed the job. But while delivering a cake, he was beaten up by the employer’s husband.
The student’s father assumed that someone as handsome as Xiao Guanyun delivering cakes must have had ulterior motives toward his wife, which led to the attack. Although compensation was eventually paid and the misunderstanding was cleared up, the student still recognized Xiao Guanyun from a photo as the father of his classmates.
The siblings were warned, and rumors even spread at school claiming their father was a homewrecker who seduced wealthy older women. Although Xiao Changyan and Shen Jiaren later perfectly resolved the situation, they came to realize that excessive beauty could also be a curse.
Just as Xiao Changyan had been instructed by his father since kindergarten to smile at adults—a habit that, over time, cultivated his aloof demeanor as a form of protection for his son—Shen Jiaren, too, had grown accustomed to wearing black-framed glasses. At school, aside from her uniform, she never wore any other pretty clothes, reserving her beauty only for moments at home with her parents and brother.
Knowing their parents had endured hardships to earn money, the two later devised a plan for high school, determined to secure all scholarships over the three years to help pay off the mortgage.
"But we’ll grow up soon, and we can protect Mom and Dad," Xiao Changyan added.
"Big brother will protect you too."
The fifteen-year-old’s mind was actually a mess. He didn’t know what to do; his usually sharp mind felt somewhat helpless at this moment.
"Then thank you, big brother~" Shen Jiaren smiled, her eyes curving like crescent moons as she held her brother’s hand.
"I think the same way as you. Mom and Dad want to protect us too—just like how Dad wants to marry into a wealthy family to give us better conditions, and how Mom wants to split the money Aunt Zhuge gave her, giving us one million each and keeping nothing for herself. She wants to protect us too."
"Brother, we should support Mom and Dad and trust them unconditionally. Even if Dad ends up divorcing Aunt Zhuge, the villa Aunt Zhuge gave Mom will still be there, plus the extra two million. Isn’t that better than our current situation?"
Worst-case scenario, they could sell the villa, and their parents could live comfortably for the rest of their lives. She and her brother would work hard to support them!
His little sister always had a way with reasoning. Xiao Changyan opened his mouth but felt he couldn’t argue with Shen Jiaren. In the end, he could only lower his head to look at his test paper, only to find it covered in red crosses—so many wrong answers.
He couldn’t help but glance at the paper he had graded for his sister, which was filled with checkmarks, every answer correct.
Shen Jiaren watched her brother’s stunned expression as he stared at the paper, then smiled and tapped the cross-covered sheet with her red pen.
"Worry clouds the mind~ Brother, this is the first time you’ve made so many mistakes~"
Xiao Changyan's ears flushed red, feeling that his sister wasn't just talking about the test paper but rather about their parents' divorce and remarriage. Indeed, their parents had already made their choice; as children, they only needed to offer their support.
Having come to terms with this, Xiao Changyan carefully reviewed the incorrect questions, took out a ballpoint pen to make corrections, and only relaxed after filling in the right answers.
"Yes, worry clouds judgment."
The two tacitly avoided mentioning their parents again, each picking up a new math test paper and lowering their heads to continue working. The study was once again filled only with the sound of pens scratching across paper.
Both possessed exceptional talent in academics. After finishing the questions, they exchanged papers to grade each other's work, and before they knew it, an hour had passed.
It was now 9:30 PM. Since tomorrow was Saturday and there was no school, the two stood up after grading each other's papers and headed to the door, planning to return to their respective rooms to wash up.
The study door wasn't locked. As soon as they opened it, they immediately saw a guilty-looking man and woman standing there like siblings, their expressions of guilt identical. Each held a plate in their hands.
"Jiaren, finished your test paper? Mom prepared a fruit platter and warm milk for you. Come and have some."
Shen Zhaoyue beckoned to her daughter ingratiatingly, nudging her husband Xiao Guanyun beside her with her elbow.
"Changyan, Dad also prepared warm milk and a fruit platter for you. Come and have some. Eating and resting after a bath will help you grow taller~"
Xiao Changyan and Shen Jiaren looked at the colorful fruit salad and warm milk on the plates, no longer angry with their parents.
"Mhm."
As soon as they saw their son and daughter nod, Xiao Guanyun and Shen Zhaoyue grew incredibly excited. Each pulled one of them to sit on the sofa, not even waiting for them to speak before sitting beside them and immediately spearing fruit from the plates with forks.
"Ah~"
The two were already accustomed to their parents' attentiveness. Relaxing into the soft sofa, they opened their mouths to receive the fruit their parents fed them.
"Close your eyes and rest for a bit. Mom is opening the warm eye masks. Later, your eyes need a break too."
Watching her daughter chew the fruit, Shen Zhaoyue quickly opened the warm eye masks, placing one each on her daughter and son. After all, studying for long periods while looking at test papers strained their eyes, so she always prepared warm eye masks for her children.
Xiao Changyan and Shen Jiaren sank into the sofa, indulging in their parents' attentive care. Even the warm milk was brought to their lips with straws—truly the epitome of doting, almost treating them like little emperors and empresses.
Taking advantage of the fact that their children couldn't see them, Shen Zhaoyue shot a smug glance at Xiao Guanyun, mouthing the words:
'Changyan and Jiaren are the most sensible. They definitely won't make things difficult for you. The fact that they're willing to eat now means they agree with your decision.'
Xiao Guanyun fed a piece of watermelon into his son's mouth and mouthed back:
'Actually, I'm heartbroken too. If I marry Zhuge Rui, who will feed my dear son fruit? Who will put warm eye masks on my precious daughter…'
He set aside thoughts of marriage, instead lamenting how his children would be cared for after he left.
Shen Zhaoyue rolled her eyes at him and popped a cherry into her daughter's mouth.
"I'm not married, I'll take care of them. You just need to provide the money. Changyan and Jiaren aren't adults yet, so as their father, you should cover living expenses, right? How about 100,000 a month? Is that too much? Would Sister Zhuge agree?"
She was happily envisioning their future life, while Xiao Guanyun nodded seriously.
"Right, I'll give you 100,000 a month for living expenses then. You don’t need to go out to work either—just focus on taking care of the kids during their college entrance exams. Otherwise, I really wouldn’t feel at ease."
Shen Zhaoyue didn’t object to Xiao Guanyun’s suggestion. Her eyes lit up as she replied.
"No problem! But you have to pay more!!"
Xiao Guanyun calmly nodded in agreement. After feeding the two children fruit and milk, he sent them back to their rooms to bathe and rest.
This school district apartment had four bedrooms and one living room, with the living room being the smallest. Two of the rooms had bathrooms, which were assigned to the children. Xiao Guanyun and Shen Zhaoyue’s rooms didn’t have bathrooms, so they had to use their children’s rooms to bathe.
After seeing the children off, the two of them, having already freshened up, applied face masks and lay on the bed, separated by what seemed like an invisible barrier.
After a while, they suddenly spoke at the same time.
"Xiao Guanyun, are you really sure you can’t take me and the kids with you as part of your dowry to the Zhuge family?"
"Shen Zhaoyue, once I’ve established myself in the wealthy family, I’ll definitely make sure you and the kids live a good life!"
Hearing each other’s words, they immediately retorted.
"Can you stop focusing on Zhuge Rui?"
"You sound like a scumbag gold digger!"
Xiao Guanyun turned his head angrily, his face mask still on, gritting his teeth.
"Who am I doing all this for? Isn’t it for you and the kids? How does that make me a scumbag? I’m so handsome and have such a great body—should I just let someone marry me and sleep with me for free??"
Shen Zhaoyue also turned her head, her flattering expression visible even through the face mask.
"Of course, brother is doing it for the family! Now that one of us has finally achieved the dream of marrying into a wealthy family, don’t forget us when you’re rich~"
Xiao Guanyun snorted twice, then turned his head back, afraid his face mask might fall off, ignoring Shen Zhaoyue’s "sarcastic remarks."
Over at the Xiao household, everything seemed calm, but in Zhuge Rui’s villa, she had also told her son and daughter about her plans to remarry…
It’s worth mentioning that Zhuge Rui’s children were also twins. Her daughter was named Zhuge Hui, and her son was Zhuge Ming. Both were fifteen years old this year.
Upon hearing that Zhuge Rui was going to marry a stranger who had suddenly appeared, the two immediately erupted.
"No way! I don’t agree to you remarrying!! Mom! You must have been tricked by some man outside!!"
"Mom! Why are you getting married at your age? I know Dad divorcing you was a blow, but you shouldn’t do this! How embarrassing would it be if people found out!"
Author’s Note:
See you tomorrow! There are red envelopes in the comments~ Love you all!