The gardens on both sides were planted with beautiful ornamental greenery. The water of the fountain in the middle shimmered with reflections of light.
Shen Yuhuai looked out the window. The car had just driven into the Chen family’s villa. The conversation between the other two people in the car was still continuing. The topic of discussion wasn’t common schoolwork but a theoretical system outside the scope of his study. Recently, Shen Xuelan had started to study system management theory with a tutor. Whether at home or outside, she was often talking about this with other people.
In addition to Shen Xuelan, there was a boy around her age in the car.
He sat up straight, and his mouth pursed slightly as he listened to Shen Xuelan speak. He spoke from time to time.
Shen Yuhuai looked away and saw the scenery outside the car window.
It was the villa of the Chen family.
The Chen family had a good relationship with the Shen family. Shen Yuhuai had also come to the Chen family’s villa in the past, but most of the time, he came with his parents. There weren’t many times when he came here. It was only a few times during the New Year’s holidays or family gatherings. Now the Shen family’s business had encountered problems, and there was less communication with those good uncles.
The last time Shen Yuhuai came to the Chen family was early last year.
However, Shen Xuelan had a very good relationship with Chen Shiming. When he went to this sister’s school with the driver after close, he often saw the two of them come out together.
Soon, the car stopped. The driver opened the window to alert the people in the back seat.
Chen Shiming stopped arguing with Shen Xuelan. “I have information about this system in my study. I will bring it to you later.”
Shen Xuelan nodded slightly. He looked at Shen Yuhuai beside her as she got out of the car. “Yuhuai, get out of the car.”
The villa had been heavily guarded recently. After the car entered, the housekeeper of the Chen family, Uncle Zhang, explained a few words to the driver. Then he followed Chen Shiming and the Shen siblings back to the villa.
In the living room, Zhang Yazhi was on the phone with Mother Shen. There was a problem with the Shen family, and the Shen siblings would come to the Chen family to stay for a while.
“It’s okay. The two of you can rest assured. The children will stay with us first until you finish your work.” Zhang Yazhi’s face was gentle. “What is the trouble? Xuelan and Yuhuai are sensible.”
Next to her, there was a little boy in a school uniform. He was holding a storybook and reading it.
The little boy raised his head. “Mom, Brother hasn’t come back yet?”
“It should be soon.” Zhang Yazhi looked at the time and continued to talk to the person on the phone.
The little boy pouted as he looked out the French window. From a distance, he saw a car turning into the garden from a distance.
He put down the storybook and walked out quickly. “The car is back.”
“The children seem to be back, so I will leave it at that.”
Zhang Yazhi hung up the phone and saw Uncle Zhang leading the children in. “Qizhao, don’t run so quickly.”
The little boy slowed down when he heard this. It seemed he hadn’t expected so many people to come in. He ran to Chen Shiming’s side, hugged his brother’s thigh, and looked at the others from the side, calling out clearly, “Sister Xuelan.”
“Qizhao.” Shen Xuelan smiled. “Have you finished school?”
Chen Qizhao’s gaze shifted to the side. He stopped on the boy, who was half a head shorter than Shen Xuelan, and replied, “School is over.”
Chen Shiming rubbed his brother’s head. “Mom, we still have some homework to do. We will go to the study first.”
“Okay. Old Zhang, you go with them.”
Zhang Yazhi added, “Xiao Zhao, come over here. Your brother is going to the study.”
Chen Qizhao let go. He watched Uncle Zhang take people away and said to Zhang Yazhi, “I also have to do my homework.”
Zhang Yazhi knew the personality of her youngest son and carefully instructed, “Then you aren’t allowed to make any trouble next to your brothers and sister, okay?”
Something happened to the Shen family, and the Shen siblings will stay in the Chen family for a while after school. There was a room specially prepared for the Shen siblings in the villa. The housekeeper led them to the room prepared in advance and ordered the maid to prepare refreshments.
Shen Xuelan said, “Yuhuai, I am going to the study next door to study with Chen Shiming. If something happens, call me.”
Shen Yuhuai had already opened the schoolbag. He heard this and nodded. “I will do the questions.”
Soon, Shen Xuelan and Chen Shiming went to the study next door. Only Shen Yuhuai was left in the quiet room.
The preparations in the study were very sufficient. Shen Yuhuai actually had no big requirements about where to study. A quiet environment was just right for him.
He stayed in the Chen family for a long time and also ate there in the evening. It wasn’t until 9 or 10 o’clock at night that the Shen family sent someone to pick them up. This continued for a while. Chen Shiming and Shen Xuelan were in the same school. Shen Yuhuai took the Chen family’s car every day after class. He came to the Chen family’s villa with his sister and then quietly studied in the room alone.
It had been around a week since they started coming to the Chen house.
That afternoon, he had been answering questions for a while when he suddenly saw a small head popping through a crack in the door.
Shen Xuelan hadn’t closed the door tightly when she left, and there was a gap remaining.
That small head outside the door looked in little by little.
Shen Yuhuai noticed the other person’s movements, but he didn’t speak and continued to answer the questions.
Soon, the little boy outside took a few steps in and quietly pushed open the door.
Shen Yuhuai was halfway through a calculation problem. He saw the little head getting closer and closer before finally stopping beside him.
The person was so close. Shen Yuhuai couldn’t pretend not to see it. He turned his head and met a pair of big round eyes that became brighter. The owner of the fluffy head was holding an arithmetic book and wore a black and red school uniform. He stood at the desk that was a bit high for him and blinked.
Shen Yuhuai looked at him.
He was also looking at Shen Yuhuai.
Shen Yuhuai knew him. It was Chen Shiming’s little brother called Chen Qizhao.
He usually followed Chen Shiming to the study. This was the first time Chen Qizhao came to him.
During the time when neither of them took the initiative to eat, the child couldn’t hold back any longer and asked, “He closed the door, and I can’t get in. Can I do my homework next to you?”
Shen Yuhuai didn’t refuse.
The child got permission. He put the homework on the chair and pulled the chair away by himself. Then he sat down very skillfully and opened the questions book. The desk in the room was on the high side for Chen Qizhao. Once he sat on the chair, his legs could only dangle. His hands were lying on the table as he did his homework in a decent manner.
Shen Yuhuai withdrew his gaze and continued to do his arithmetic problems.
He originally thought the child would be very noisy. However, Chen Qizhao was very quiet and just did his homework beside him.
It wasn’t until there were footsteps in the distance that Chen Qizhao jumped down from his chair and ran to the door in slippers.
After a while, he saw nothing else outside the door and walked back in a disappointed manner.
He went back and forth several times. Shen Yuhuai’s ears occasionally heard the sound of slippers.
He glanced over. The appearance was like a small dinosaur.
“Brother, how long will they be?”
Shen Yuhuai had just finished answering a paper. Once he heard this, he paused for a moment and turned his head to meet Chen Qizhao’s gaze before realizing that he was the one ‘Brother’ was referring to. “Do you want to find them?”
“I want to play with Brother,” Chen Qizhao said. “When will they finish their homework?”
He originally wanted to go to Chen Shiming’s study, but he had gone there too many times during this time. There were other tutors there, and every time he passed, he encountered them giving lectures. Chen Qizhao couldn’t understand it and couldn’t sit still. Then when he passed today, the door was closed.
Chen Shiming stopped playing with him.
Shen Yuhuai didn’t know either, so he had to say, “It should be soon.”
“Oh.” Chen Qizhao lowered his head. “Then I’ll wait.”
Shen Yuhuai continued to answer the questions.
Chen Qizhao’s attention wasn’t on his homework. He kept staring at the brother next to him who was doing homework. He hadn’t learned the contents of this paper. It looked complicated, but this brother answered the questions very quickly. He wrote a lot with a few swipes of his pen.
Shen Yuhuai didn’t speak, and Chen Qizhao didn’t make any other sounds.
After waiting nearly an hour, Chen Shiming and Shen Xuelan came out of the study. They went downstairs to eat.
From that day on, when Shen Yuhuai was studying in the room, Chen Qizhao occasionally came in with his books. Sometimes, he brought a storybook, and other times he brought an arithmetic book… He could play tricks and bring things every day. Shen Yuhuai usually didn’t talk much, and all his attention was on the questions. It didn’t make much of a difference to him if there was one more person or one less person around him.
It was just that except for the first few quiet times, the person around him started to make some small movements.
Shen Yuhuai occasionally shifted his attention to the side and saw the fluffy head moving.
Chen Qizhao was usually answering difficult questions when he was quiet. For the times when he wasn’t quiet, he was usually reading a storybook. If he made a little noise, he always turned his head to look at Shen Yuhuai, as if to determine whether he attracted Shen Yuhuai’s attention and caused him to look over.
One time, a pen fell to the ground. Another time, it was an eraser or the sound of turning the pages of a book that was louder than Shen Yuhuai flipping the paper.
Shen Yuhuai was almost immune to these voices, and all these small movements were indifferent.
Until one day, an arithmetic book was pushed over from the side and stopped in front of Shen Yuhuai.
“What’s wrong?” Shen Yuhuai asked.
Chen Qizhao pinched the pen and frowned. “I can’t answer this question. Can you teach me?”
The arithmetic book looked brand new, and it was as if a page was turned at random. The pages that were turned were all bank, and not a single question was done.
Shen Yuhuai paused for a while. “Which question can’t you do?”
Chen Qizhao stretched out his hand. He pointed out several questions and said softly, “This one, this and this.”
This topic was particularly simple for Shen Yuhuai. He knew the answer and knowledge points to the questions at a glance. The difficulty of the questions of lower years wasn’t high. These types of questions could be regarded as introductory questions. Shen Yuhuai had also seen Chen Qizhao doing these types of questions yesterday, and they were much more difficult than these few questions.
It was impossible that Chen Qizhao couldn’t answer these questions.
Shen Yuhuai confirmed, “These questions?’
Chen Qizhao’s eyes rolled around, and he looked at the questions. “I can’t do them. Can Brother do them?”
Shen Yuhuai tore a page from the draft paper next to him. He placed it between the two of them and said, “Yes.”
As he wrote, he explained the most basic things. “Can you understand when I say it like this?”
Chen Qizhao nodded as if he understood. Shen Yuhuai pushed the arithmetic book back. “The rest of the questions are the same. You can think about it this way.”
Chen Qizhao took the arithmetic book and filled in the answers to the few questions he just asked Shen Yuhuai.
Soon, he pushed the arithmetic book back over. “I still have a few questions I can’t answer.”
Shen Yuhuai had just finished answering a question. He looked at the page that hadn’t been turned. “Where?”
Chen Qizhao pointed a few times to the arithmetic book. “I don’t know any of these.”
Shen Yuhuai was silent for a moment. Then he could only continue saying, “I will explain it to you.”
After one back and forth, there were always two times and then three.
Chen Qizhao asked a question, and Shen Yuhuai taught him.
By the time Chen Qizhao finished his homework, Shen Yuhuai still had three questions left to finish his paper. He turned his head slightly and saw Chen Qizhao, who had finished his homework, leaving the room in his slippers. The surroundings were quiet again.
Shen Yuhuai was still a bit unaccustomed to the lack of a voice asking questions. But he quickly concentrated and answered the remaining three questions.
He finished answering the questions. Then he saw that the child who went out had come back at some point. He stood next to Shen Yuhuai and looked at him with clear eyes. “Brother, open your hand.”
Shen Yuhuai didn’t quite understand, but he still opened his hand.
A small fist was placed in his palm, and a soft and warm touch pressed lightly against it.
Soon, Chen Qizhao opened his fingers, and several candies fell onto Shen Yuhuai’s palm.
Shen Yuhuai was stunned for a moment. Then he looked up and saw the child’s smile. The little tiger teeth that were exposed were particularly cute.
Chen Qizhao didn’t suppress his voice like when he was asking a question. His voice was clear and clean. “Thank you, Brother.”
This was the first time Shen Yuhuai met a child who would give him candy. He didn’t talk much, so in the past, the children of the Shen family didn’t follow him around. They preferred Shen Xuelan. He held the candy tightly and said, “Thank you for the candy.”
Chen Qizhao blinked. “Then if I have any questions I don’t understand in the future, can I ask you?”
Shen Yuhuai paused for a moment and suddenly felt that the candy in his hand was a bit heavy.
“…Yes.”
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Although it’s a bit creepy of me since they’re just kids now, my head started singing that phrase ‘so this is love’ 🤭🤭.
Thank you for the chapter.
Eeek, no need to make it creepy! Remember how long it took them to get together at the beginning? This is just friendship! Friendship between brocon whose brother no time for him anymore and a reserved kid who doesn’t really know how to get along with others.
Little Qizhao just wanna play with his gege 🥺
Awww, Chen Qizhao had a period when he was clingy too! Ngl, unless you’ve been a younger sibling, you can’t understand the devastating disappointment of being ignored by your older sibling(s).
“Shen Xuelan said, “Yuhuai, I am going to the study next door to study with Chen Shiming. If something happens, call me.” Girl, I don’t believe you! I don’t believe that two teenagers can stay alone in a room for hours and not start some s**t. And considering how quiet you two were, you were probably doing something less noisy 🤭 *continues to be a delusional Shiming x Xuelan shipper*