SFBF CH110.1

“Babies, are you two alright?!”

Stepping forward alongside Gu Huaiyu, with each of them scooping up one of the cubs, Shen Qing anxiously checked them over.

Whenever the parents in Gu Duo’s class gathered, they would often complain about how kids this age loved stirring up trouble and getting into fights, giving the adults massive headaches, blah, blah, blah.

Shen Qing had heard plenty of such stories, but he had never taken part in those discussions. Mainly, it was because his own cubs were far too sensible; they never caused trouble, let alone got into brawls. This was the first time in the months since Shen Qing had transmigrated that he had to handle a brawl involving the cubs.

He already knew a bit of the cause and effect, and he certainly wouldn’t think it was his cubs’ fault. Holding them up now, Shen Qing only checked them over with a flurry of nervousness.

He first met Ao-zai’s large, round eyes and saw that this little cub was doing fine. First and foremost, his face hadn’t been bruised or scratched.

That chubby little face was still round, pale, tender, and adorable. Looking at his quirky, clever expression, he didn’t seem like someone who had come out on the losing end at all.

Well, his hair was a bit disheveled—his little watermelon bowl cut had been parted straight down the middle, exposing the issue of his rather prominent forehead…

Raising a hand to smooth the cub’s hair back in place, Shen Qing then turned to look at Gu Duo in Gu Huaiyu’s arms.

He had assumed Gu Duo would feel embarrassed or guilty seeing them, because in Duo Duo’s mind, he never allowed himself to cause trouble for his fathers.

In reality, however, Gu Duo, perched on his Big Dad’s arm, wore a rare dazed expression, staring blankly up at him.

…It wasn’t the first time he had seen his Big Dad stand up and walk.

Yet it was the first time he had ever been held like this by his Big Dad.

Lifted to such a height for the first time, everyone opposite him seemed shorter from his vantage point.

This felt novel and disorienting to Gu Duo. On one hand, he felt instinctively happy; on the other, he worried about his Big Dad’s health…

“Duo Duo, are you hurt?” Rather than wondering why Gu Duo was daydreaming, Shen Qing was more concerned about whether he had taken any hits.

It wasn’t as if Shen Qing didn’t know how the cubs used to be bullied back at the Gu family mansion.

Hearing his voice, Gu Duo instantly snapped out of it, shook his head, and said, “I’m fine.”

“It wasn’t Ao-zai and me who started it,” Gu Duo added.

If this had happened at the Gu family mansion, Gu Duo wouldn’t have bothered to explain at all. He knew explaining made no difference—no one would believe him anyway, so he would rather stay silent.

In front of Little Dad, however, Gu Duo didn’t feel that way in the slightest.

Even though Little Dad seemed playful and often made the cubs wonder if he was just another kid himself, Little Dad would always listen to them.

Over this period, Gu Duo had developed deep trust in his fathers. Still, there was a touch of embarrassment; after all, he truly had caused trouble for his dads…

“I know. As long as you’re both fine, that’s all that matters.”

As he spoke, Little Dad reached out, his large palm covering Gu Duo’s head and ruffling it as usual. His palm was warm, as if saying: Leave the rest to me.

Gu Duo fell silent, his senses filled with the woody scent lingering around Big Dad and the fruity fragrance on Little Dad’s sleeves.

Seeing how well-behaved Gu Duo was, Shen Qing ruffled the cub’s head enthusiastically.

Though the action didn’t last very long.

…Little Ao-zai had grown heavier lately. Holding him felt substantial, yet he was still just a tiny, chubby bundle. Shen Qing was always worried he couldn’t support him with just one arm.

Fortunately, having been carried around so much by Tian Yi and the staff, this cub was a seasoned pro. The moment he sat on an adult’s arm, his chubby little hands would automatically wrap around their neck. By putting in a bit of effort himself, he could hang around Little Dad’s neck perfectly without demanding much strength from him, being utterly good-natured the entire time.

Even so, Shen Qing was still afraid he might slip, so after giving the older cub a good head rub, he immediately switched back to holding the younger cub with both hands.

Right then, Gu Huaiyu also raised a hand to fix Duo Duo’s hair, which had been fairly neat until Shen Qing ruffled it into a mess.

Shen Qing: …He stared in shock as the big shot held the older cub steadily with a single arm.

?

He somehow felt… the big shot’s posture holding Duo Duo was even sturdier than his own?

…Wait, could his own arm strength really be that lacking??

Back when promoting that historical idol drama, Shen Qing had hit the gym relentlessly, working on arm exercises with a primary focus on strength. With his new shoot approaching soon, he hadn’t slacked on working out, slimming down, or posture training either.

Except in this upcoming role, he played a frail, starving scholar—the requirement was to be thin, thin, thin, without noticeable muscle. Thus, salted fish that he was, Shen Qing had simply dropped arm training altogether, focusing his workout routines more on his waist and stretching his legs…

Still, he had only stopped for less than a month, whereas he had never seen Gu Huaiyu work out at all.

Could the difference really be this stark?…

Shen Qing looked up in shock, locking eyes right on cue with Gu Huaiyu.

Shen Qing: …Your arm strength??

Gu Huaiyu gave him a deep look. At this moment, silence spoke louder than words, as if the big shot were saying: Mm-hmm.

Shen Qing: “…”

Somehow, he recalled the scene in the reception room moments ago, when Gu Huaiyu had lifted him directly by the waist and set him down onto the storage shelf.

He had been too worked up back then to notice… Thinking about it now, President Gu’s arm strength really was terrifying!

…Was it because sitting in a wheelchair every day inadvertently trained his arms?

…

Across from them, watching the family of four unite, showing mutual care and affection, followed by the two adults gazing deeply at each other before exchanging knowing looks, the crowd: “…”

After a moment of silence, Gu Ming switching to a different pitch of wailing effectively broke the spell, snapping everyone’s attention—including Shen Qing and Gu Huaiyu’s—back to the present dispute.

Shen Qing looked across, his expression turning stern. Clearly, it was now time for the parents to demand an explanation for the children’s fight.

In the past, if Gu Ming had been made to cry, Gu Huaixiang would have been heartbroken and relentlessly demanded that the other party take responsibility, perhaps even making them pay a steep price—though that was uncertain, since Gu Ming had never actually been beaten before.

Now, however, Gu Ming had been genuinely battered! She could even see footprints on her son’s clothes!

“Who hit him? Who hit our Mingming?”

Even though she knew full well who it was, Gu Huaixiang asked deliberately.

Times were different now. Looking at the family of four standing together, Gu Huaixiang’s mind raced. First, she knew clearly that the people across from her weren’t ones she could bully with power as she used to; second, she was pondering how to turn this incident into maximum profit for herself.

While she was still scheming, a child from the other side stepped forward voluntarily and said, “I’m the one who kicked him.”

The person stepping forward was Qian Jing.

Shen Qing recognized the boy, but hadn’t expected him to be here, so a flicker of surprise crossed his face.

On the other side, realizing it wasn’t Gu Duo or Gu Ao who had hit Gu Ming, Gu Huaixiang—who had just been hoping to leverage this for blackmail—felt a sudden surge of disappointment.

“You…” She narrowed her eyes, looking Qian Jing up and down, her face clearly showing her disappointment.

At a time like this, she hadn’t even thought about settling the score for Gu Ming.

Then, everyone saw Gu Duo, still held in Gu Huaiyu’s arms, speak up: “Qian Jing kicked Gu Ming to protect me.”

Being held by his Big Dad, Gu Duo was initially a little uncomfortable, worried about tiring him out. Once he noticed that his Big Dad held him very steadily without breaking a sweat, Gu Duo relaxed slightly.

Seeing Big Dad look at Qian Jing, Gu Duo hurried to explain, “Gu Ming was just about to smash me with that thing.”

As he spoke, he pointed at the toy gun Gu Ming had abandoned on the floor.

Following Gu Duo’s gesture, the adults looked down at the children’s toy.

Although it was a toy incapable of firing bullets, the pistol was made of solid metal. If it truly struck someone on the head, it would undoubtedly crack their skull.

“Gu Ming, is that toy yours?” Gu Huaiyu asked Gu Ming directly, his voice chilled and commanding: “Were you going to hit Gu Duo with it?”

“…”

Gu Ming, who had been wailing in front of his mother—though having cried for so long, tears had stopped flowing—abruptly choked on his cries the moment he heard his Youngest Uncle call his name.

At home, Gu Ming feared neither heaven nor earth; he feared his mother a bit, but he was terrified of his Youngest Uncle. Gu Ming couldn’t explain why, but he had an innate fear of him. Hearing his Youngest Uncle address him in such a frigid, stern voice, Gu Ming fell completely silent.

He looked to his mother for help.

Gu Huaixiang hadn’t anticipated that Gu Huaiyu would be so close with Gu Duo, a mere child… Even now, he and Shen Qing were each holding one, refusing to let go…

In fact, the very fact that Gu Huaiyu could hold Gu Duo in his arms had shocked her!

She didn’t know that someone as cold and detached as Gu Huaiyu could actually like children. Back when Gu Huaiyu took the two kids away, he hadn’t even shown up in person… though his health might have been poor back then.

Still, even if Gu Huaiyu could accept children, why would he like Gu Duo and Gu Ao, two such difficult kids? She had assumed he brought them back merely to throw them some food!

If it came down to kids, her Gu Ming was clearly much cuter… If Gu Huaiyu wanted to treat any kid well, he should prefer her Gu Ming and Gu Jie!

Gu Duo and Gu Ao were merely the sons of that illegitimate daughter who had eloped. When their mother was alive, was the Sixth Brother even close to her?

Gu Huaixiang realized she couldn’t even remember, having never paid attention.

Gu Huaixiang looked down at Gu Ming again.

…By now, Gu Ming was trembling under Gu Huaiyu’s gaze.

Facing his Youngest Uncle’s stare, Gu Ming hid directly behind Gu Huaixiang and burst into tears with a loud “Wah!”

Yet he merely wailed incessantly without uttering a single coherent word, which felt utterly grating.

Gu Huaixiang, who had always hated people hiding behind her: “…”

Just then, Ao-zai in Shen Qing’s arms spoke up: “It was Brother Ming who tried to hit Gege with that gun. Ao-zai saw it, and Jiejie saw it too.”

Ao-zai enunciated clearly. Both in logic and demeanor, Gu Ao seemed far superior to Gu Ming, who was older than him.

Gu Huaixiang, who had just thought her son was cuter: “…”

She was about to explode with rage at this useless coward who only knew how to hide behind his mother and cry!

The “Jiejie” in Ao-zai’s words was Song Yuke.

She had just warned Gu Duo to watch out, so naturally she had witnessed Gu Ming’s sneak attack.

Song Yuke stepped forward voluntarily to testify: “It’s true.”

She walked over to Ao-zai, pointed at Gu Ming, and said, “He charged over just now looking like he wanted to bash Gu Duo to death. I have a cousin who’s only three or four this year, and he’s just as wicked. A while back, he hit our family’s maid with a similar toy and cracked her head open. This guy looks like he has way more strength than my cousin!”

After saying that, Song Yuke couldn’t resist squeezing Ao-zai’s short, chubby legs dangling outside his dad’s embrace, thinking to herself: This little brother is so cute, too cute!

They were both three or four years old, so why was her cousin utterly unlikable and obnoxious, while Ao-zai was so adorable, delicate, and clever?! …

This was the perfect little brother!

Song Yuke actually really wanted to touch Ao-zai’s chubby, fair little cheeks again. But Ao-zai wouldn’t let her. She had touched them once, and Ao-zai had rubbed his own face with a displeased pout for ages, refusing to let anyone touch it again.

She could only settle for the next best thing and touch his little arms and legs… They were so soft and well-behaved, and most importantly, he was such a delight! He could help his brother fight, understand what was going on, explain things clearly, and didn’t bully others!

Of course, Gu Duo was cute too. To the eight-year-old Song Yuke, Gu Duo was also a good little brother. It was just that the good brother wasn’t as adorably derpy as the tiniest brother—Gu Duo was aloof and wouldn’t let her touch him at all.

So ever since meeting the Gu brothers tonight, Song Yuke was envying Gu Duo for the hundredth time… She truly wished she had a brother like this!

Having his chubby leg squeezed by the older sister, Ao-zai: “Da?”

Shen Qing looked down at the little girl beside him. Earlier, President Gu had mentioned that the cubs were playing with Elder Song’s granddaughter, so the moment Ao-zai mentioned “Jiejie,” Shen Qing had guessed her identity.

Seeing that Elder Song’s granddaughter had a great personality and looked at Ao-zai with pure adoration, and seeing that his cub got along well with her, Shen Qing simply set Ao-zai down to let him play with the girl.

The moment his feet touched the ground, Ao-zai fell straight into the girl’s embrace.

Song Yuke squatted down, hugged Ao-zai, and stroked his round little shoulders, unable to put him down. In her eyes, Ao-zai was an exquisite boy version of a Barbie doll—an obedient, smart one at that!

Ao-zai: “…”

Although Ao-zai didn’t dislike the older sister, he felt she was really strange…

Being enveloped by her once more, Ao-zai looked back at Little Dad with a blank, stunned expression, seemingly asking his dad: Is this Jiejie really okay?

…Ao-zai’s skin is about to get rubbed off!

With Song Yuke stepping forward to testify, Gu Huaixiang didn’t dare offend her without knowing whose child she was, but she still rolled her eyes and said, “Gu Ming is only five years old. What could he possibly understand? He just saw people fighting and joined in the excitement!”

Beside her, Gu Huaiyao, who had been drinking earlier and looked like he had frozen up, finally “rebooted.” Calling Gu Hao over, he demanded, “Who beat you up like this? Did they have a death wish?!”

Hearing this, Gu Huaixiang: “…”

She rolled her eyes again, sorely tempted to say it was Gu Duo, but with Gu Duo’s father standing right there, what could you possibly do to him?!

Sometimes she felt Gu Huaiyao had no brain at all!

At this moment, Gu Duo, whom Gu Huaiyu had set back on the ground, spoke up: “They started it. If you need proof, there and there—both have surveillance cameras.”

As he spoke, Xiao Hangying nearby stared at him intently, even forgetting that she was still holding Xiao Miao’s hand.

“What surveillance? What proof?”

Gu Huaiyao looked at the bruises on Gu Hao’s face. After all, it was the first time his eldest nephew had been beaten up, so the dandy Gu Huaiyao felt he should settle the score on Gu Hao’s behalf. He blurted out, “Gu Duo, you little brat, you’ve grown bold now, haven’t you? Daring to beat up your own older brother!”

In Gu Huaiyao’s memory, Gu Duo was still that timid child who had humbly begged him to find him a school. Back then, Gu Huaiyao was indulging in a life of debauchery and had never spared a second glance for Gu Duo and Gu Ao. He only knew that the two couldn’t stay at his eldest brother’s place, so their father shoved them onto him.

Gu Huaiyao was a confirmed bachelor who hadn’t partied enough. Besides, he was well into adulthood; if he wanted kids, couldn’t he have his own? He simply couldn’t be bothered to raise children! When his father suddenly dumped two kids on him… if the living expenses for raising them hadn’t come from the main residence, allowing him to pocket a neat sum of pocket money from them each month, he wouldn’t have looked after them for a single day!

In truth, Gu Huaiyao had no patience for Gu Hao either; if Gu Hao weren’t the eldest grandson of the direct line, he wouldn’t bother with him either. Now, seeing Gu Hao—so robustly built—swollen and bruised, he actually found it a bit funny.

Having drunk some wine earlier after negotiations with Gu Huaiyu fell through, he couldn’t help himself and actually chuckled, pinching Gu Hao’s swollen cheek: “Come to think of it, Gu Hao, you’re pretty pathetic yourself.”

Gu Hao: “…”

And here I thought you were genuinely standing up for me.

…His mother had long told him that his second uncle was a drunkard, a gambler, and the number-one unreliable person, so Gu Hao couldn’t be bothered with him either.

Opposite them, not at all surprised to hear his third aunt and second uncle spouting biased, crooked nonsense, Gu Duo’s face showed a mocking sneer.

The adults in the Gu mansion never looked at evidence; they only listened to one side of the story and believed whatever they wanted to believe. This wasn’t his first time experiencing it.

Yet this time, Gu Duo felt no anger or helplessness whatsoever, because his Little Dad had already spoken up:

“A five-year-old child might not know better, but while the child doesn’t understand, don’t the parents understand either?”

“What do you mean by ‘joining in the excitement’? When a child this young uses a weapon to hit someone and the parent neither stops nor disciplines him, how is that any different from condoning it?! To show zero concern over him violently injuring others—it’s clear this parent has neither manners nor morals.”

Gu Huaixiang: “You—”

“You what, ‘you’?” Shen Qing cut her off flatly. “Or is Ms. Gu taking pride in shame, thinking it’s totally fine for your child to use tools to hit people?”

Before Shen Qing’s words faded, people in the gathered crowd murmured in agreement:

“Yeah, five years old isn’t that young… Is this a child of the Gu family? What terrible upbringing…”

“Ahem, the third young lady of the Gu family is notoriously overbearing.”

“But the kids over there… aren’t they President Gu’s sons? Wouldn’t that make them her nephews too?”

“Isn’t President Gu splitting from the Gu family? Besides, I heard those two kids are actually the fourth young lady’s. They were abused in the Gu household before, and President Gu only adopted them because he couldn’t bear to watch it…”

The onlookers gossiped cautiously, not daring to speak too loudly. Then, in the open space, Shen Qing spoke again: “Pull up the surveillance footage.”

His clear voice was impossible to ignore, and against the relatively quiet surroundings, his words immediately drew everyone’s attention once more.

Yet… who was Teacher Shen talking to?

Just as a question mark popped up in everyone’s minds, a deep voice answered.

That voice simply said, “Alright.”

It was Gu Huaiyu.

Everyone turned their heads in unison to see Gu Huaiyu pull a phone from his trouser pocket, dial a number, issue a few brief, low instructions, and hang up.

The crowd: …?

???

Wait, what was President Gu holding in his hand?