Chapter 12

Shen Sichen sat on the sofa, casually crossing his legs.  “There’s nothing like that.”

“How can there be nothing like that?” Shen Boyu sat down beside him.  “I may not be in charge anymore, but I’m not completely oblivious.”

“If you’re going to date, then date properly.  Don’t spread any rumors.”

Shen Sichen’s eyes looked ahead, but they were empty.  He didn’t know what he was thinking.  He casually replied, “Got it.”

After a while, he saw the people coming down the stairs and asked in surprise, “Why are you here?”

“Chengyu arrived earlier than you.” Shen Boyu added angrily beside him.

“Second Brother, you’re here.” Shen Chutang walked downstairs.  Shi Chengyu followed behind her.

“Slow down.”

“Grandpa, Second Brother.”

When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Shi Chengyu naturally greeted them.  “I’m not busy lately, so I came with Tangtang to see Grandpa.”

He sounded so natural.

Shen Sichen glanced at him, smiling and asking, “Not busy?” He didn’t expose him.  He asked again, “Is the Zhou family matter still unresolved?”

Shi Chengyu didn’t answer.  He patted Shen Chutang’s shoulder.  “Go play outside first.  There are still some pastries in the dining room that Shulang brought this morning.”

“Okay.”  She probably knew they were going to talk about business.  After agreeing, Shen Chutang ran to the dining room.

Shi Chengyu took the tea that Shen Sichen handed him and took a sip.  “Whether it’s resolved depends on them.”

Shen Sichen saw that it wasn’t really up to them, but rather Shi Chengyu’s mood.  He really didn’t expect that after a few years, Shi Chengyu was really as petty as Jiang Younian said.

He nodded slightly.  He probably understood why Shi Chengyu’s attitude was so bad.  That was the first time he had formally introduced Tangtang to people, and she had been humiliated.  Behind Shen Chutang was not only Shi Chengyu, but also the Shen family.

Shi Chengyu’s attitude represented the entire Shi family’s attitude.  The two families had always been close.  If they had brushed it off, people would inevitably talk about it.

It really wasn’t a big deal, but the occasion was unfortunate.  Just consider it bad luck for the Zhou family.

Now, the Zhou family wanted to apologize.  Shi Chengyu had spoken a word at Lanjiang Court, and people couldn’t get in.  Shen Chutang didn’t even know that people were waiting for her to go out and apologize to her.  She had come to Wuhua Mountain for the past two days, and the Zhou family people were nowhere to be found.

The Zhou family matter wasn’t over yet, and now there was another one with the Lin family.  It was quite interesting.

Shen Boyu listened in a daze.  “What Zhou family?  What unresolved?”

“What?  Your people didn’t tell you?” Shen Sichen teased.  “The other day, Chengyu took Tangtang out to dinner, and a Zhou family kid was rude and upset Tangtang.”

“No, Tangtang probably didn’t even care.  It was Chengyu who was upset.” Shi Chengyu was unusually petty this time.  Shen Sichen smiled and took a sip of tea.

Now, he wouldn’t even talk about it in front of Tangtang, afraid that she might remember.

“How could you let Tangtang be wronged!” Shen Boyu said angrily.  “Who has ever wronged our Tangtang?”

Shen Boyu didn’t hide his anger.  Later, when he found out the whole story, he remembered Shen Er’s ambiguous smile today.

“It’s my fault for not being a good grandpa.  I’ll be more careful next time.” Shi Chengyu apologized with a gentle attitude.

Shen Sichen smiled even brighter.  Suddenly, Shen Boyu hit him on the arm with his fan.  “Tangtang has only been wronged by you!  She’s suffered so much in the two years she’s been with you!”

“Chengyu is more attentive than you.”

“Yes, yes, Chengyu is attentive.  You should make Chengyu your grandson.  I’m going upstairs to take a nap.” Shen Sichen ran upstairs as he spoke.

“Grandpa, I’m going to keep Tangtang company.”

“Okay, go play.  Don’t let her play in the water again.”

“Okay.”

Shi Chengyu nodded with a smile.  He watched Shen Boyu leave before going outside to find Shen Chutang.

The little girl, who had been eating pastries just now, was now swinging on the swing in the garden.  The swing swayed slowly.  Shi Chengyu quietly dismissed the servants who were standing guard nearby and gently pushed the swing rope.

The swing, which had been swaying gently, suddenly rose a bit.  Shen Chutang turned her head.  “Brother Chengyu!”

Shi Chengyu gently swung the rope.  “Hold on tight.”

The temperature on the mountain wasn’t high, and the sun wasn’t scorching hot.  The cicadas chirped, sometimes high-pitched, sometimes low.  On this leisurely weekend morning, everything was beautiful.

Shen Chutang was right when she said at Yaxuan that she wasn’t picky about food.  She wasn’t picky about the taste or the dishes.  She just didn’t eat things she didn’t like.  Her taste buds were also fickle.  She liked different things for a short time.  Maybe she wanted sweet and salty food today, and tomorrow she would want spicy food.

Lunch was made by the three men.  Shen Chutang played chess with her grandpa in the tea room.

The three of them were all good cooks.  They had learned since they were young.  Shen Sichen’s culinary skills had improved significantly during his years studying abroad.

After lunch, Shen Chutang went to take a nap.  When she was home, everyone else followed her schedule, even Shen Sichen, who had just taken a nap in the morning, went back to sleep for an afternoon nap.

Shi Chengyu was afraid she would sleep too much and wouldn’t be able to sleep at night.  He woke her up at 3 PM.  When it wasn’t so hot, Shen Chutang excitedly led everyone to the back mountain to pick apricots.

She walked ahead, wearing a white sun hat, which made her face look even smaller.  She was glowing white in the sun.  She had a small bucket on her arm and led the way.

The apricot tree in the back mountain was wild and not very tall.  Shi Chengyu and the others could reach the fruit with their hands.  Shen Chutang wasn’t short for her age, but she was much shorter than the others, who were all over six feet tall.  Shen Sichen rubbed her head and laughed.

Shen Chutang angrily hit him with a stick.  “I’m still growing!”

“Yes, yes, you’re still growing.” Shen Sichen didn’t dodge.  He continued to laugh.  “Hopefully, you can grow to six feet tall.  Don’t waste our family’s genes.”

“Humph!” Shen Chutang threw the stick away.  “I’m going to tell Big Brother!”

Shen Sichen picked an apricot and threw it into her bucket.  “Then you have a long wait.  Big Brother went out on an inspection.  He won’t be back for at least ten days or half a month.  Hopefully, you’ll still remember by then.”

Shi Chengyu wiped the sweat off her forehead, smiling faintly.  “Good girl, I’ll remember for you.  If not, we’ll tell Grandpa when we get back.”

“Hey, Chengyu, why are you helping her!” Shen Sichen leaned against the tree and threw apricots at him.

Shen Sujing chimed in, “Brother Chengyu isn’t helping Tangtang.  Is he helping you?”

Shen Sichen didn’t want to be hit by Grandpa’s fan again.  Grandpa hit people with that fan like it was a weapon.

On the way back, Shen Chutang was tired.  He carried her for half the way.  She rubbed his hair and pinched his face.  Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore and handed her to Shi Chengyu.

If Shen Chutang hadn’t been born in their own hospital with layers of protection, he would have suspected that she was someone else’s sister.  Why was she hitting and messing around on his back, but so well-behaved on Shi Chengyu’s back?  She even knew to wipe his sweat.

It wasn’t fair. It was so unfair.