Shen Zhaoran had no choice but to pull Xia Zeyu aside and ask in a low voice, “Didn’t Uncle and Auntie tell you?”
Xia Zeyu looked completely bewildered. “Tell me what?”
Shen Zhaoran felt speechless.
After Shen Zhaoran spent a long time explaining it to him, shock after shock washed over Xia Zeyu’s face. “My mom has been messaging me nonstop these past two days, sending one sixty-second voice note after another. I thought she was nagging and scolding me again, so I only listened to the very last one, which was just her telling me to come home for dinner.”
Finally coming to his senses, he added, “No wonder she looked so familiar! Isn’t this just Big Cousin 2.0? Why on earth would Aunt give birth to the exact same kid twice?”
Shen Zhaoran felt speechless.
Xie Cangyue felt speechless.
Shen Zhaoran said, “You had better go look at your flowers. Auntie is definitely going to beat you to death tonight.”
Xia Zeyu was left speechless.
Disregarding his fate entirely, Shen Zhaoran turned around and asked Xie Cangyue how she managed to find her way here.
“Shen Junhuai came here with us, but I ran into Xia Shengxuan halfway, so I came over on my own.”
“I see.”
“Wait,” Xia Zeyu suddenly poked his head in. “Aren’t you surprised to see my brother?”
Xie Cangyue replied, “Not surprised. He even greeted me.”
Xia Zeyu was stunned.
“So, it really wasn’t you who pulled the strings?”
The same second-floor terrace, the same people, the same topic.
Shen Junhuai was left somewhat speechless. Had he really become so unhinged in Xia Shengxuan’s eyes?
Faced with his gaze, Xia Shengxuan gave a light cough. “If you ever go crazy, there’s no telling what you might do.”
When he first received the news, his very first reaction was to suspect that Shen Junhuai’s condition had become terminal and that he had found a double to impersonate someone just to get Shen Zhaoran out of the Shen family.
Xia Shengxuan asked, “What do Uncle and Auntie mean to do?”
Shen Junhuai replied, “Let’s just consider her Zhaozhao’s twin sister.”
Xia Shengxuan asked with disbelief, “You don’t have any objections?”
Shen Junhuai answered, “What objections could I possibly have?”
He gazed toward the greenhouse not far away, letting out a self-deprecating laugh. It wasn’t just a matter of whether Shen Junhuai and Shen Zhaoran shared a blood relation or not.
“Don’t tell me that even with things at this point, you’re still going to hold back. Even if you can endure it now, what about when Zhaozhao starts dating in the future? What about when she gets married? Will you endure that too? Can you still force a smile when her children start calling you Uncle?”
Seeing Shen Junhuai’s expression grow increasingly darker, Xia Shengxuan shut his mouth.
When he first found out about this matter, he had broken out in a cold sweat of sheer terror, afraid that his brother was truly planning to walk down a path of no return.
Now that he knew the two of them were not actually blood-related, the most insurmountable barrier had disappeared. What remained was nothing more than that mental hurdle in their hearts and the judgment of worldly gossip.
However, if Shen Junhuai truly had that mental hurdle in his heart, he wouldn’t have fallen for Shen Zhaoran in the first place. When it came right down to it, he was still afraid that the other person might harbor that hurdle, especially Shen Zhaoran herself.
Watching the group walk out from the greenhouse, Xia Shengxuan spoke up again, “I always feel like Zhaozhao’s feelings for you are rather unique. If you were to tell her that you like her so much you need to see a doctor, she’d probably accept the fact that you like her in a single second and then drag you off to register your marriage.”
If anyone held the most optimistic attitude toward this whole affair, it was undoubtedly Xia Shengxuan, because Shen Junhuai himself wouldn’t even dare to dream that far.
Shen Junhuai said, “I honestly don’t know whether you’re the one who’s sick or if I am.”
Earlier, his psychologist had told him that if his condition worsened, he might start experiencing hallucinations in the later stages.
Right now, he hadn’t developed any hallucinations, but Xia Shengxuan certainly seemed to have.
Xia Shengxuan chuckled. “Who knows? Maybe I’m sicker than you are.”
In the evening, the whole family gathered around the dining table, with Xie Cangyue seated right between Shen Zhaoran and Xia Zeyu.
Although Xia Zeyu was two years older than Shen Zhaoran, he had never possessed much of a presence as an older brother. Now that Xie Cangyue had arrived, it made him look even more like the younger sibling, yet he still carried the determination of being a good older brother, chattering endlessly to Xie Cangyue.
Xie Cangyue felt not the slightest bit of discomfort and grew accustomed to it within just half a day, right until Xia Zeyu asked if she had any allergies, prompting her to reply, “Why is everyone asking me this question?”
When the kitchen was prepping ingredients in the afternoon, Lin Qiushuang had also asked her the exact same thing.
Xia Zeyu explained, “That’s because Zhaozhao is allergic to seafood, allergic to peanuts, and used to be allergic to mangoes too, though she’s built up an immunity to them now through eating them.”
Turning her head, Xie Cangyue saw Shen Junhuai wearing gloves and shelling shrimp for Shen Zhaoran with an expression that clearly said that he questioned reality.
Xia Zeyu continued, “It’s true. She’s allergic to shellfish and oysters. The first time she drank seafood soup when she was little, her face swelled up like a steamed bun.”
“Cousin’s face was scared completely pale back then. He even secretly shed tears while carrying Zhaozhao to the hospital on his back.” Xia Zeyu clicked his tongue and shook his head. “In all the years I’ve grown up, that was the first time I ever saw him cry. But Zhaozhao’s allergic reactions are much milder now; if she accidentally eats something, taking a pill clears it right up.”
Xie Cangyue suspected that the part about him secretly shedding tears might have been exaggerated, but Shen Junhuai had probably cried for real.
Just as she was getting deeply invested in the gossip, a bowl of soup was pushed in front of her.
Opening those big eyes of hers, Shen Zhaoran looked at her and said, “This soup is really good. Have a taste, I noticed you barely ate anything tonight.”
Xie Cangyue glanced past her at Shen Junhuai. The dedicated brother had finished shelling the shrimp and had already moved on to picking out fish bones.
Xie Cangyue began putting food onto Shen Zhaoran’s plate as well. “You eat too.”
Shen Zhaoran replied, “Thank you.”
Halfway through the meal, Shen Zhaoran noticed that the dishes in front of her not only weren’t decreasing, but kept piling up continuously.
Shen Zhaoran thought to herself that something felt a bit wrong.
Since the elders still wanted to drink tea and chat after dinner, Shen Zhaoran was worried Xie Cangyue would be bored, so she took her to Xia Zeyu’s game room. She introduced the gaming equipment one by one and asked which one she wanted to try.
Xie Cangyue had never played any of them, so she told Shen Zhaoran to pick.
Shen Zhaoran chose a beginner-friendly setup and helped her put it on. “Let’s start with the easiest one to pick up. We have a matching set of these at home too, so once you move in, we can play together.”
Noticing that she sounded completely serious, Xie Cangyue asked, “Do you want me to move in and live with you guys?”
Shen Zhaoran answered honestly, “Actually, I don’t really know for sure, but I think you’re great, and we could live together. Besides, if you move in, Mom and Dad will be thrilled.”
“By then you can live right next door to me, or I can give you the third floor and I’ll go upstairs to live with my brother.”
“That really won’t be necessary.”
As Shen Zhaoran carefully helped her adjust the equipment, before she even had a chance to say she had no plans to move in, she heard Shen Zhaoran continue, “But you mustn’t fight with my brother, okay?” Seemingly thinking of something else, she added, “Physical fights are even worse.”
In the past, when she saw topics online like adversarial-lane siblings, she used to wonder how such things could even exist. But ever since Xie Cangyue appeared, she felt it might not be entirely impossible after all.
Xie Cangyue was left speechless.
Just what kind of bizarre scenarios was her imagination running wild with?