Shen Lin hadn’t seen his little brother in days. Once he was holding him, he refused to let go, pressing their cheeks together affectionately. While playing with his second brother, the little one didn’t forget to greet his father.
He raised his little hand, squinted his eyes, and called out, “Papa.”
Shen Minyan came over, patted his head, and asked as well, “Did Youyou miss Papa?”
Su Youli, the master of evening things out, answered very loudly, “Yes!”
Mi Huan, holding his brother’s hand, watched the family reunion from the sidelines. Shen Minyan’s name was renowned in Beicheng and throughout the country. He looked almost exactly as Mi Huan had seen him in the news. He wore a perfectly tailored bespoke suit, had a deep, profound demeanor, sharp, deep-set features, and an unmistakable aura of authority.
Only when facing his youngest son did his expression soften slightly. Unlike what the news said, the Shen family wasn’t rife with internal discord, with the two young masters fighting to the death over family assets. Mi Huan didn’t let his inner thoughts show. He politely greeted them and was about to leave with his brother.
Shen Lin, holding his little brother, walked over casually and called Mi Huan “gege.” Mi Huan was a bit surprised. He didn’t feel worthy of being called “gege” by the second young master of the Shen family.
“Mi Huan gege, thank you and Lele for taking care of Youyou on the show.”
After he said this, both Shen Yan and Mi Huan looked puzzled.
Shen Minyan said in a deep voice, “One of the production team’s cameras is live-streaming the entire time. Didn’t you know?”
Both Shen Yan and Mi Huan had forgotten about the live-streaming, thinking it would only be for the pilot episode. Although the production team was live-streaming, the cameras were fixed and zoomed out, so the view wasn’t very clear. The only reason Shen Lin knew so many details was because Tang Dou told him every day.
After saying goodbye to the Mi brothers, Shen Lin carried the little one into the car. Shen Minyan and Shen Yan followed close behind, while Tang Dou directed the bodyguards to load the luggage. The family soon arrived home. The little one had been gone for a while. As soon as he got out of the car, Su Yuanzi wagged his tail and licked him.
Su Youli had missed Yuanzi, too. He grabbed the leash and took him out to the garden. As soon as the little one left, Tang Dou followed. The remaining three men watched the little one running freely in the garden, and the smiles they had maintained the whole way instantly fell.
“Brother, what’s the deal with that Cen Yuankai?”
Before signing the contracts, the guests’ identities were confidential. Shen Yan hadn’t expected there to be such a bratty child among them. Shen Lin walked beside his brother, then suddenly smiled and patted his shoulder. “Did that kid’s illness scare him? What did you say to him?”
Shen Minyan also looked over. Thinking back on his own childish behavior, Shen Yan felt a bit embarrassed. On this kind of reality show, every move was exposed to the camera. Although Shen Yan had no experience with variety shows, he was very familiar with the tactics of online gossip accounts. It was difficult for adults to intervene in conflicts between children. If he had directly scolded Cen Yuankai, the online trolls would have definitely accused him of bullying the younger and smaller child, and Youyou might even have been caught in the crossfire.
After hearing him out, Shen Lin said directly, “If it were me, I would have beaten that kid up first. He dared to steal my brother’s stuff? I’d beat him within an inch of his life.”
Shen Yan shook his head, ruffled Shen Lin’s hair, and said slowly, “Youyou came to me right after and was just pouting, not saying anything. The production team told me that Cen Yuankai first snatched Youyou’s camera, then stomped on his little grasshopper.”
Beside him, Shen Lin was so angry he felt dizzy, wishing he could grab that brat and give him a good beating.
Shen Minyan said coolly, “I’ve already had Zhang Shun cancel the company’s cooperation with the Cen family, and we’re also pressing them for the funds they previously fell short on.”
The two brothers were dumbfounded. The penalty for Shen Corporation unilaterally canceling the cooperation was only a few million, but the Cen family’s losses would be far more than a few million. Generally, Chairman Shen didn’t bother with debts under 500 million; whether he pressed for payment depended entirely on his mood. The Cen family would probably end up selling everything they owned and still not have enough to compensate.
Under the admiring and astonished gazes of his two sons, Chairman Shen raised his thick eyebrows and strode up the steps with his long legs. Anyone who dared to offend his precious son Shen Minyan should be prepared to go bankrupt.
“Brother…” Shen Lin looked at his older brother.
His dad was really terrifying. Why did he give off that “the weather turns cold, the Wangs go bankrupt” domineering CEO vibe?
Shen Yan touched the tip of his nose and said, “Compared to Dad, my trick of telling Cen Yuankai that there are bugs on the cocklebur seeds seems so childish.”
Shen Lin looked at his brother in disbelief. His brother had always been a model student with good character and grades, a good kid who never lied—yet he used such a childish method to scare a child. With cameras around, Shen Yan couldn’t lose his temper on screen, but that didn’t mean he would swallow his anger.
Taking advantage of Cen Zheping going to ask the doctor, he quietly told Cen Yuankai that the bugs on the cocklebur seeds would punish all disobedient children, eat all their flesh, and leave only their bones. Children are naturally afraid of bugs. Cen Yuankai almost immediately felt that his medicated back was itching and hurting.
Thinking that bugs were already burrowing into his body, sucking his blood and eating his flesh, he couldn’t help but panic and could only scratch hard. Psychological torment is much more interesting than physical torment. Shen Yan smiled a little wickedly, his naturally beautiful peach-blossom eyes curving, sending a chill down Shen Lin’s neck.
Don’t mess with his brother, no matter who else you mess with. Oh, no—you also can’t mess with his dad. That’s also wrong. The person you absolutely cannot mess with is Youyou.
—
After the first episode of “Little Feet Big Adventure” aired, unsurprisingly, almost the entire internet was cursing out Cen Yuankai.*
When the pilot episode was released, Su Youli had already become the “internet son” of many netizens. Seeing their “internet son” being bullied, everyone couldn’t sit still. When the first episode aired, and the little guy held his brother’s hand and got into the car, and Cen Yuankai suddenly appeared to snatch Youyou’s gray long-eared rabbit, the barrage went completely out of control…
[Aaaaaah, I’m going crazy, what was the production team thinking? Why invite a brat like that on the show?????]
[Oh my god, is this Cen Zheping’s son? How can he have no manners at all?]
[?? He just straight-up grabs someone else’s stuff? Am I seeing things?]
[Seriously, “his rabbit”? Does Cen Yuankai think everything he lays eyes on belongs to him?].
In no time, the online abuse was relentless, and all the good reputation Cen Zheping had built up over the years was destroyed. His agency had to urgently buy bots to try and salvage the situation. But “Little Feet Big Adventure” was a network-and-TV simulcast show, and the production team was no small outfit. Between Shen Yan’s team and his fans alone, they could drown out the bots.
—
The Cen residence.
Cen Zheping sat in the living room with a tablet on his lap. Under his social media posts, the comments were densely packed with insults.
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