A few days had passed since Shen Yelan's punishment. After Shen Chengwei's stay at the hospital, Shen Chengwei had completely lost the energy to deal with her. In the end, he simply told Butler Wang to unlock Shen Yelan's room and stop bothering him with small matters.
After that, nothing much happened. Instead, the atmosphere in the house had become increasingly tense.
Ever since the vase incident, Shen Chengwei's dislike toward Shen Yelan had become obvious to everyone in the house. Every time he saw her, he would criticize something. From her manners to the way she spoke, even the way she sat in her wheelchair became a problem for him.
And Feng Xin and Shen Wanwan were naturally more than happy to quietly add fuel to the fire from the side.
By now, even Shen Yucheng had realized that Shen Yelan was not favored in this family, though he could not understand why. In his opinion, Shen Yelan was much easier to get along with than everyone else in the house.
He would occasionally sneak into her room just to steal snacks from the hidden stash inside her closet. Other times, he would shamelessly stay there watching the ridiculous web dramas she liked. At first he thought those dramas were stupid. Then somehow, he got addicted too.
Of course, there were some times when Shen Yelan would become annoyed by his nonstop talking and would directly kick him out of the room. But Shen Yucheng would still return the next day as if nothing had happened.
Slowly, the two siblings became strangely close.
Just like that, days went by and only two days remained until the school placement exam..
.
At noon, the Shen family gathered around the dining table for lunch.
Shen Yelan sat quietly eating a bowl of plain noodles while Shen Wanwan, being the sweet little sister she was, was offering to help her study for the placement exam.
"…don't worry too much about the placement exam…"
Shen Yelan twirled her plain noodles slowly around her chopsticks and brought them to her mouth, chewing without looking up. The faint, almost negligible taste of the poison was still present in her food. If it were someone else, they wouldn't even notice it.
"…been one of the top students in my grade. Although I'm busy preparing for the science competition lately, I can still make some time to help you study." Shen Wanwan said it like she was making a huge sacrifice for her.
"The competition is a really big deal. Every school sends their best students to compete. The top three winners get to compete against other countries too. Right now, all the schools are getting their students ready. Later, they'll hold their own internal competition to decide who gets sent."
Shen Yucheng could not help but lowered his head into his rice bowl and roll his eyes.
Here we go again.
But sometimes, her peacock behavior really annoyed him. Especially because he himself was terrible at studying. Because of this, he was often punished by his father.
There was once a time when his father confiscated all his gadgets and stopped giving him pocket money for an entire month because his grades dropped again. He had even hired a private tutor for him. It was only after Feng Xin talked him down that Shen Chengwei softened a little. But that whole experience left a dark mark on his heart. Especially that tutor.
The mere thought of that man still sent chills down Shen Yucheng's spine. He quickly stuffed more rice into his mouth to stop himself from remembering those painful days.
There was even one time Shen Chengwei had stopped giving him pocket money and taken away all his gadgets for a month. He had even hired a home tutor for him. It was only after Feng Xin's persuasion that Shen Chengwei softened his heart. But time had left a dark shadow in his heart, especially that tutor. The very thought of him sent a shiver down his spine and he immediately focused his attention on something else to distract himself.
Feng Xin smiled proudly from across the table. "My daughter really is the best, isn't she?" She turned to look at Shen Yelan with that fake, sweet expression she always wore. "You don't need to feel shy or embarrassed, Yelan. If there's anything you don't understand, just ask Wanwan for help. She's incredibly smart. The last time I went to her parent-teacher conference, all the teachers praised her non-stop."
Feng Xin laughed softly as if she was thinking of that time. "The other parents looked so jealous."
"Mom…" Shen Wanwan lowered her head shyly. "It's not that amazing. The other students work hard too."
Standing at a corner, Sun Lili nearly rolled her eyes. The mother and daughter had been putting on this performance for nearly ten minutes already. She glanced over at Shen Yelan, who wasn't even looking at them.
Sun Lili shook her head to herself. How stupid do you have to be to not realize she's not interested?
Shen Chengwei, on the other hand, listened to them carefully. Although he had heard this a million times before, it still made him happy to hear that his daughter was a genius. His eyes softened while looking at Shen Wanwan.
This was the daughter he was proud of.
Then his gaze shifted toward Shen Yelan. His expression immediately became colder.
What a waste.
At this moment, he completely forgot that Shen Yelan was his own flesh and blood, and the girl he'd just been glowing with pride over shared not a single drop of it with him.
"Oh-" Shen Wanwan suddenly brightened as if she'd just thought of something. "I almost forgot to mention. Dexing also participates in the science competition, sister. Who knows? Maybe we'll become rivals someday."
Shen Yelan's chopsticks paused She lifted her gaze from her bowl slowly, and a small, mischievous smile curled at the corner of her lips. "Aren't we already rivals?"
The smile on Shen Wanwan's face froze. Even Feng Xin went stiff for a second. Her eyes flickered with something like alarm before she quickly hid it.
Sun Lili lowered her head immediately to hide her laughter.
Only Shen Chengwei frowned without understanding why the atmosphere suddenly became strange.
Then Shen Yelan chuckled. "Relax. I'm just joking, Wanwan. You're my little sister. You'd never do anything to hurt me... right?"
Shen Wanwan forced out a laugh. "Right. Of course. Why would I ever hurt you? I was just talking about a friendly competition."
Shen Yelan gave her a sweet smile. The deep set of dimples made her look even more beautiful than she already was. That smile looked bright and harmless. But for some reason, Shen Wanwan suddenly felt uncomfortable under her gaze.
Not unable to continue the topic, Feng Xin and Shen Wanwan began to talk about something else.