"What if they weren’t biological siblings?" Yu Zhi sneered ambiguously, her almond-shaped eyes darkened to a frightening degree.
She had studied the email for a long time.
No matter how she looked at it, something felt off.
It could be said that from the day Shi Wei and Shi Yin were born, they had already been part of Shi Beiming’s plan.
"Impossible." Ruan Yuan faltered for a moment, then composed herself and analyzed calmly, "Since Shi Beiming has meddled in so many things secretly, Shi Wei must have suspected him."
"Wait for me." Yu Zhi turned and left the room.
Shortly afterward, she returned carrying an elderly man, clearly unconscious, in his sixties, into the house.
She placed him on the round chair, and under Ruan Yuan’s stunned and baffled gaze, reached out and snapped her fingers near his ear.
Suddenly, the man opened his eyes.
But his cloudy, muddied gaze was devoid of any emotion, even carrying a hint of lifelessness.
"Little Zhi, you can hypnotize?" Ruan Yuan leaned closer to him, waved her hand in front of his face, but when he didn’t even blink, she couldn’t hide her shock.
Yu Zhi nodded seriously, her expression unchanging.
She quietly lowered her gaze, her smooth, fair fingertips grazing the surface of the watch dial in what seemed like an almost rewarding touch.
Controlling someone’s thoughts was one of 099’s specialties.
However, she rarely used this skill.
"Is Shi Wei related by blood?" Yu Zhi raised her gaze again, her demeanor now completely changed, exuding an unmistakable sense of pressure.
The old man’s hollow eyes stared ahead: "No."
"Clack—"
A subtle noise came from the roof.
Yu Zhi’s brows arched slightly, her lips curling into an intrigued smile as she spoke softly toward the source of the sound, "Not cold out there?"
Ruan Yuan’s expression shifted abruptly, her face clouded with fury as she stormed out determinedly, ready to deal with the eavesdropper.
When she reached the corner of the wall and saw two familiar figures jumping down from the rooftop, her emotions grew exceedingly complicated.
"Shi Yin, you were following me?" Ruan Yuan bypassed Shi Wei and went straight to Shi Yin, smiling faintly as she tugged his ear.
"Ruan Ruan, I was wrong..." Realizing his guilt, Shi Yin anxiously grabbed the woman’s hand.
The calmness forged through years of hardship had vanished entirely.
Now, his eyes and heart were entirely focused on the woman before him.
Terrified she would be angered.
Ruan Yuan rolled her eyes at him, "I’ll deal with you when we get back."
Though she appeared furious, she still didn’t let go of Shi Yin’s hand and led him away from the frigidly cold area.
The main bedroom suddenly grew lively.
Yu Zhi looked unsurprised at the man clutching her tightly. Her hand, hidden beside her, pinched his waist: "Big liar."
Weren’t you supposed to be asleep?
Shi Wei coughed awkwardly, and then pressed his cool lips onto Yu Zhi’s cheek: "Wife, you’re the best."
Yu Zhi’s eyelashes trembled subtly. She reached out her hand to touch the man’s wind-chilled fingers, muttering in aggravation, "Coming out without dressing warmer, as usual."
"With my wife holding me, I won’t feel cold," Seeing that this young woman had no intention of getting upset, Shi Wei’s eyes gleamed with fragmented light.
He glanced smugly at Shi Yin across the room, signaling for him to watch closely at how understanding his wife was.
Shi Yin: "..."
What childish nonsense.
"You two, stop showing off!" Ruan Yuan clicked her tongue, nodding her chin toward the elderly man’s position: "If you’ve got things to ask, get on with it before he wakes up. It’ll be complicated then."
Shi Wei’s eyes flickered.
Holding the young woman in his lap, he gazed steadily at the old Shi Family housekeeper: "I’ve done two paternity tests before. There can’t be any mistake."
Though unclear why the housekeeper had said what he did.
Shi Wei still preferred to believe the scientific results.
Yu Zhi furrowed her brows, her gaze briefly stopping on Shi Yin before adopting a cold tone, "Is Shi Yin related by blood?"
The old housekeeper: "No."
"Whose children are Shi Yin and Shi Wei?"
"Shi Shulan."
"No, I’m not Aunt Shi’s child." Shi Yin’s brows furrowed as tightly as if they were going to crush a fly.
He recounted his background briefly in a few words, repeatedly emphasizing: "Aunt Shi is brother’s mother, not mine."
As for his own mother, she was nothing more than a mistress who abandoned him in an orphanage, subjecting him to four years of torment.
Ruan Yuan, noticing the sadness in Shi Yin’s eyes, leaned against him affectionately, attempting to warm him with her own body heat.
"You’re a year younger than Shi Wei, right?"
The sudden question from the young girl startled Shi Yin, who answered instinctively, "Right."
Yu Zhi glanced at Shi Wei reflexively, their gazes locking for a fleeting moment, silently confirming a shared suspicion in each other’s eyes.
She sighed internally, "Shi Wei, do you remember the question I asked you when I first met Shi Yin?"
Back then, she had assumed they were biological brothers.
Later, upon learning they were half-brothers, something about the situation still felt inexplicably off.
"Yes, you asked us who was the older brother." Shi Wei had a hard-to-describe feeling deep inside.
His gaze swept over to Shi Beiming, who had fallen into a deep sleep nearby. His eyes carried the venomous sharpness of an ice blade, seemingly wishing to pierce him entirely.
"Little Zhi, what are you talking about?" Ruan Yuan was increasingly puzzled by their conversation and couldn’t make sense of their expressions.
Yu Zhi: "He’s Shi Wei’s biological younger brother."
"??" Shi Yin was completely stunned by this revelation.
His heartbeat, loud and booming like a drum, echoed uncontrollably, nearly shattering his eardrums. ᴛhis chapter is ᴜpdated by novelFirｅ.net
His clenched fists trembled, his mind tormented by the earlier statement he’d made: ’When Aunt Shi gave birth to her second child, she died of hemorrhaging.’
That child... was him?
But why? Why would he end up in an orphanage? Why become the son of Shi Beiming’s friend? Why have a mother who was a mistress?
Questions churned in Shi Yin’s mind, but more than anything else, what he cared about most was: "Brother, am I really your biological younger brother?"
His voice choked, his reddened eyes brimming with emotion.
"There’s an eighty percent chance." Looking at Shi Yin again, Shi Wei found his perspective had shifted.
His tone held reassurance mixed with awkward tenderness: "We’ll know for certain after a paternity test tomorrow morning."
"Alright..." Shi Yin couldn’t help but feel hopeful.
Among all his years in the Shi Family, the happiest moments were undoubtedly the ones spent with Shi Wei.
If they were truly brothers, nothing could be better.
He swiped his phone to check the time at the top of the screen, then urgently walked toward the housekeeper: "Who is our father?"
The housekeeper remained silent, staring blankly at a fixed point, as though oblivious to the question.
For a moment, tension hung in the air.
Ruan Yuan shook her head and chuckled: "Yinyin, he doesn’t have consciousness right now. You need to say a name."