SFBF CH7

Shen Qing was tall and slender, with a long, elegant neck and an aura that was clear and distinctive. Even standing downstairs, he didn’t seem shorter in the slightest. His smile was gentle, devoid of humility, exuding the air of the master of the house.

“Auntie?” Hearing Shen Qing’s self-address, Gu Huaixiang, who was upstairs, looked down and clearly saw the person below. Her eyebrows shot up, and she placed her hands on her hips.

—This person sent by the Shen family for a marriage alliance, merely a collateral relative and not even a young master of the Shen family, how dare he call himself her child’s aunt?

And what was that tone he was using? He was actually lecturing her child!

Meanwhile, under everyone’s gaze, Shen Qing had gracefully ascended the stairs and was now standing on the same level as Gu Huaixiang.

His appearance went without saying, but his figure was also nearly perfect and upright. Although he was wearing ordinary home clothes, he still looked decent, with a transcendent temperament.

Gu Huaixiang looked at this young man, who was even taller than her husband. Seeing his calm and magnanimous smile, she couldn’t help but recall two or three months ago when this person named Shen Qing came to their Gu family home, looking completely timid and shrinking.

Unexpectedly, meeting him again a few months later, that timid and shrinking demeanor had completely faded away.

…How is this possible?

Living beside that cold-blooded and heartless guy Gu Huaiyu, how could he possibly develop courage?

An ordinary person wouldn’t even dare to breathe loudly!

After thinking for a moment, Gu Huaixiang recovered from her initial shock. She thought of her sixth brother’s condition and guessed that this person was taking advantage of her sixth brother’s long-term illness and inability to control him to be so indulgent and arrogant.

But no matter what, she was the Third Miss of the Gu family. Even Gu Huaiyu had to call her sister, let alone this “sister-in-law” who was only here for a marriage alliance and clearly had no status.

Gu Huaixiang pinched her fingernail, which had been “injured” while pulling the toy just now, and frowned at Shen Qing, saying, “What did you mean by that just now? Are you saying Gu Ming is snatching his brother’s things? We are clearly not that kind of children!”

Shen Qing didn’t panic or retreat: “Oh, didn’t he snatch it? Why did I hear Gu Ming say that what he set his eyes on is his?… Then I’m sorry, maybe I heard wrong.”

Since coming upstairs, Shen Qing had maintained a smile.

Now he still smiled innocently: “I thought so too, how could Third Sister’s child be so uneducated. Impossible, right.”

Gu Huaixiang: “…”

Others: “…”

Gu Ao had stopped his fake crying by now, big teardrops still hanging on his chubby cheeks, but the little kid only cared about staring blankly at this man who suddenly appeared, suddenly feeling a bit face-blind—Is this really the man who always hits and scolds them?

No matter how he looked at it, this man seemed to be defending his toy…

But that’s impossible, right?

The three-and-a-half-year-old Little Gu Ao hadn’t grown into his features yet. With a round and tender face, his big eyes kept blinking, looking left and right, revealing a confused expression.

Beside him, Gu Duo raised his eyes in shock.

Gu Duo sized up Shen Qing… This person hadn’t left his room for three days, supposedly recuperating from a head injury. Based on past experience, he must be holding back some bad move, preparing to deal with him and his brother.

Therefore, Gu Duo had been on tenterhooks these past two days. If it weren’t for Third Aunt’s family visiting today, and Gu Ming and Gu Jie coming to their room to snatch toys, he and Gu Ao wouldn’t have left their room.

But this person was now actually standing on his and Aozai’s side?

At first, Gu Duo would rather fight back and forth with Gu Ming than make a big fuss because he was afraid of attracting this person.

When he was at the Gu family home, he had seen this person’s fawning face towards his uncles and aunts. Gu Duo thought with disgust that if this man were called to intervene, he would definitely hand over his and his brother’s toys immediately.

With a flattering face, offering them with both hands.

Maybe he would even turn around and make him and his brother apologize.

But now…

He actually…

Looking at the back of the man blocking in front of him and Aozai, Gu Duo felt for the first time that this person was actually quite tall…

His back was also quite straight.

“You!…”

Gu Huaixiang really wanted to shout at Shen Qing: Who is your Third Sister? Are you worthy?

Who doesn’t know that your relationship with Gu Huaiyu is just like that!

But the person in front of her was the marriage partner personally approved by the old master. No matter how bad, he was still married to Gu Huaiyu properly. She had to take this into account, so she held back and didn’t curse.

Gu Huaixiang suppressed her anger and said, “Mingming likes this toy, but he won’t snatch it from his brother. I want to buy it from you. How about this…”

Gu Huaixiang didn’t really care about this toy, nor did she have to get it for Gu Ming.

Whether to have it or not was just a fleeting thought for her.

But now that she was provoked by Shen Qing, she had to get the toy.

She looked Shen Qing up and down. Thinking that he used to be just a servant of the Shen family and probably hadn’t seen much of the world, she offered a price: “Twenty thousand. Twenty thousand for one robot, what do you think?”

Shen Qing: “…”

You want to bribe me with twenty thousand to sell my child’s beloved toy… Holy crap, what kind of toy starts at this price??

This is indeed a wealthy family novel!

Shen Qing choked, and then both his eyes uncontrollably lit up.

…Obviously, the original owner wasn’t the only one who hadn’t seen much of the world.

“…” Gu Duo slightly relaxed his grip on his brother, but hugged his toy tightly again.

…Sure enough.

This person wouldn’t stand on their side; everything was just negotiation.

A few days ago, this person snatched a jade pendant from Gu Duo… Thinking of this person’s greed for money, the light in Gu Duo’s eyes dimmed again.

However, Shen Qing acted tough this time and didn’t disappoint the two children.

Shen Qing was shocked, but only by the price. It didn’t delay him from continuing to smile: “It’s not about money. Duoduo said it was a gift from their Little Uncle. The meaning is different.”

He stood downstairs without making a sound just now because he actually wanted to see how Third Sister-in-law would handle this matter.

At first, hearing her scold her son, Shen Qing thought she was a reasonable person who wouldn’t come to someone else’s house to snatch another child’s toy.

Unexpectedly…

Such a shameless person expected him to stand on her side??

Even though it was twenty thousand, Shen Qing expressed that while he wouldn’t be willing to spend twenty thousand on a toy, he wouldn’t fall for her sugar-coated bullets either!

What kind of person is this, ptui!

Guessing that Ms. Gu probably wouldn’t understand the affection between an uncle and nephew, Shen Qing couldn’t be bothered to entangle with her and try to influence her, so he said again: “And I said just now, if Gu Ming really needs something… really, really needs it, Auntie can buy it for you. You just can’t snatch someone else’s.”

“…”

Gu Huaixiang felt that she and her child were insulted.

She was no longer polite: “What could my Mingming possibly lack?! Does he need you to buy it for him?!”

She genuinely looked down on the person in front of her. When he said he would buy things for her son, she felt Shen Qing was trying to make himself look good, so she couldn’t suppress her anger for a moment.

But the Shen Qing opposite her was obviously much deeper than her, which Gu Huaixiang hadn’t expected.

Shen Qing wasn’t attacked at all; instead, he smiled even more magnanimously: “Don’t need it? It’s better if you don’t need it. Duoduo, Aozai, why are you still standing there? Hurry up and move the toys back to your room!”

Seeing Shen Qing lift his slender chin, pointing towards the cubs’ bedroom, Gu Duo and Gu Ao didn’t understand what happened, but they knew good from bad. This time they cooperated very well, hugging their robots and preparing to leave directly.

Gu Ming on the side saw them taking the robots away and quit, suddenly crying and making a fuss: “No, no, I want this one! Dad! Dad! I want this one! This is the limited edition one! You promised to buy it for me when we went abroad but you didn’t! Why can they have it, wah—”

Shen Qing listened from the side: Oh ho, there’s actually such a hidden plot? Promised to buy but didn’t buy…

Thinking of Gu Huaixiang’s sudden appearance and Gu Huaiyu’s assets, Shen Qing couldn’t help but start suspecting, has his “Third Sister-in-law” run out of money??

Clearly noticing the meaningful look in Shen Qing’s eyes, Gu Huaixiang logically took it as disdain.

The main reason she came this time, nominally to visit her seriously ill brother, was actually to borrow money from Gu Huaiyu.

Although the Gu family was a big family, it had long shown a trend of decline, and the returns on several projects Gu Huaixiang invested in herself were not good.

Only Gu Huaiyu, with his unique vision, kept increasing his wealth, becoming richer and richer.

Look at this mansion.

Every time she came here, Gu Huaixiang was red with envy.

But there were already many conflicts between the Gu siblings, and that incident happened two years ago…

Gu Huaiyu was physically disabled and moved out to live alone, making their relationship even more distant.

This time she came over, as expected, Gu Huaiyu didn’t lend her money.

Thinking of her family’s worsening financial situation and the gradual estrangement and ridicule of friends around her, Gu Huaixiang was in a bad mood. She immediately shouted at Gu Ming: “What nonsense are you talking about!! Who promised to buy it for you? When did you learn to lie? Shut up!”

After speaking, she shouted at her husband again: “How do you manage the child? You can’t even do this little thing well in a day! Make him shut up!”

But Gu Ming was spoiled. Although he was afraid of his mother, he wasn’t afraid of his father. And at his young age, he didn’t know that his father, who married into the family, was always more than a head shorter in front of his mother.

So relying on his father being beside him, not only did he not shut up, but he cried and complained even more: “You promised, you promised! You said the limited edition robots were gone, but why are they in Gu Duo and Gu Ao’s room! Why! They have them, one for each of them, only I don’t have one! I don’t care, I want it! I want it!”

Saying that, he was about to go snatch it again.

Fortunately, his movements were noticed by Gu Duo in advance.

Although Gu Duo was thin, Gu Ming was ultimately smaller. Gu Duo successfully blocked him.

Gu Ming began to cry and fuss even louder.

Startled, Shen Qing: “…”

Uh, this is probably a typical spoiled brat.

Gu Ming’s sister, Gu Jie, was obviously also unconvinced. Although she didn’t like this kind of boy’s toy, it didn’t stop her from performing: “Mom, why did Little Uncle buy it for them but not for us? Are we not Little Uncle’s relatives? Is it because Gu Duo and Gu Ao, the two brothers, don’t have a da…”

She wanted to say “don’t have a mom and dad” to vent her anger.

But before she could say the words, she was interrupted.

Shen Qing shouted sternly: “Shut up!”

In the original novel, this little girl named Gu Jie always had both IQ and looks. Unfortunately, born into the villainous Gu family, she was raised with a twisted mind and similarly became cannon fodder that was destroyed when she grew up.

But she was truly smart.

The kind that often killed people invisibly.

Earlier, Shen Qing hadn’t noticed her, but now realizing what the little girl was going to say, he immediately remembered that the first step in the psychological distortion of the two cubs, Gu Duo and Gu Ao, in the original novel was because they didn’t have a father—

From the time their mother died and they were taken back to the Gu family to live, before they were adopted by Gu Huaiyu, they had been constantly teased and ridiculed by other cousins about this…

How could Shen Qing allow Gu Jie to continue provoking them like this? He immediately said to the little girl: “Who says they don’t have a dad? …You are still young and don’t understand. Actually, your Little Uncle is Duoduo and Aozai’s father.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Gu Huaixiang and the others immediately looked at him in surprise.

But Shen Qing was bent on protecting the cubs’ mental health and couldn’t care about anything else.

He directly announced: “That’s right, Gu Duo and Gu Ao are actually Gu Huaiyu’s children! They are the children of me and Gu Huaiyu!”

—Anyway, later, to ensure that the two cubs could successfully inherit the estate without being snatched by the Gu family, Gu Huaiyu specially adopted them before he died, completely registering them under his name. Later, the two cubs also called Gu Huaiyu dad.

Since they called Gu Huaiyu dad, then he was their other dad.

This relationship seemed to have no problem.

But after he finished emphasizing this, seeing the expressions of the Gu couple opposite him looking at him, Shen Qing was also confused.

…Uh.

He didn’t say anything shocking, right? Why were Third Miss Gu’s eyes staring at him as if her eyeballs were about to fall out?

…

Gu Huaixiang remembered her younger sister eloping with someone and coming back with two children of unknown origin.

At that time, after all, she had been expelled from the family, and after returning to Huacheng, she didn’t return to live in the Gu family mansion. Gu Huaixiang had never paid attention to her fourth sister and her children.

She only knew that after her fourth sister died, Gu Huaiyu, who had always been cold-blooded and emotionally detached and not close to anyone in the family, actually dragged his sick body to pick up these two children from the mansion personally and raised them with great effort…

Earlier, their siblings had discussed this matter, feeling that Old Six’s operation itself was very abnormal and puzzling.

And if these two were really Old Six’s illegitimate children, fostered with Fourth Sister before…

Suddenly for a moment, Gu Huaixiang’s cognition in all aspects was shaken. She subconsciously glanced at Shen Qing’s belly.

Shen Qing noticed her gaze and deliberately put his hands on his waist, sticking out his belly again, thinking, What are you looking at? We are a happy family of four!

This action of his looked very much like sticking out a pregnant belly to outsiders.

Falling into the eyes of Gu Huaixiang and her husband, Gu Huaixiang looked at his belly in disbelief: “…They were born by you and Old Six? You, you and Old Six…”

Gu Huaixiang’s husband was also shaken.

He first looked at Gu Duo and Gu Ao, then immediately looked at Shen Qing’s belly: “You and Huaiyu, did you know each other… long ago?”

Shen Qing: “…?”

Huh? No, what kind of wild imagination is this…

And beside him, the three-and-a-half-year-old Aozai didn’t know how he understood the adults’ words. He suddenly stared with big round eyes and asked in a milky voice:

“Brother, could it be that we were born by him and Little Uncle?”

Shen Qing: “…”

__

Author’s Note:

Gu Ao: Aozai is confused!

Shen Qing: …Don’t mention you, your dad is also confused.

Hey, is my innocence still there?