ALCSRB Chapter 9

When Shen Jili returned from his morning workout, Jiang Mingyi had just rinsed the bitter taste out of his mouth.

He lay sprawled on the sofa, looking completely lifeless.

“Baby, why are you copying your brother and…”

Before the words ‘waking up early’ could come out, Jiang Mingyi shot him a vicious glare, which startled Shen Jili.

He tugged on his wife’s cheongsam. “Scary…”

Su Wanxin slapped his hand away.
“Stop messing around.”

“I wasn’t asking for anything,” Shen Jili said as he reached out for the glass of water she was holding.
“Thanks, honey.”

Su Wanxin dodged his hand. “It’s for Xiao yi.”

She gave a quick glance at her quiet younger son and briefly recounted the breakfast drama to Shen Jili.

Upon hearing it, Shen Jili immediately voiced his discontent: “A-Yan’s not doing his job as the older brother.”

Hearing that, Jiang Mingyi immediately threw him a ‘you’re absolutely right’ look.
Dad, you said it!

But Shen Jili didn’t notice his gaze and continued on: “A-Yan should’ve peeled the egg and fed it to Xiao Yi himself. Then Xiao Yi wouldn’t have choked.”

Jiang Mingyi: ———
He turned his head and let out a heavy “hmph” through his nose.

Su Wanxin placed the water on the coffee table. Jiang Mingyi grabbed it and gulped it down before heading upstairs in his slippers with a pout.

Shen Jili stared after him, confused.
“Why does our younger son seem upset?”

Su Wanxin gave him a look that said “you’ve got no clue, do you?”

“If you’ve got nothing nice to say, don’t say anything. Go wash up and eat breakfast.”

Shen Jili wanted to argue—he was pretty sure he was very good at talking.
So why did his wife always dislike it?

Back in his room, Jiang Mingyi flopped onto the bed, pulled out his phone, and sent a WeChat message to Pei Shiqing.

[Jiang Mingyi]:
How can anyone drink coffee—something this bitter and nasty—first thing in the morning?

[Pei Shiqing]:
Babe… it’s not even 7 a.m. yet. [faint.jpg]

[Jiang Mingyi]:
So what?

[Pei Shiqing]:
I’ve never seen you up this early before.
Babe… are you still you? [suspicious.jpg]

Jiang Mingyi immediately sent a handsome selfie of himself.

[Pie Shiqing]: Wow~ You’re so handsome it woke me up! [intrigued.jpg]

Jiang Mingyi felt a lot better, but still repeated his original question.

[Pie Shiqing]:
Yeah, I’ve seen my big brother drink it all the time.

[Pie Shiqing]:
You don’t know how crazy my big bro gets when he’s working—he stays up all night and still gets up early the next morning.
To a workaholic, coffee is basically water.

[Pie Shiqing]:
One time I secretly tried his coffee… it was like a full-on assault on human taste buds. [gagging.jpg]

Jiang Mingyi totally understood. Even though he’d already drunk a ton of water, that bitter taste still lingered in his mouth.

Jiang Mingyi:
So Shen Xingyan is definitely not a normal person.
No normal person would willingly enjoy something so disgustingly bitter.
He gave himself a mental thumbs-up for arriving at such a solid conclusion.

[Pie Shiqing]:
I think your big bro and my big bro are both total freaks. [scared kid.jpg]

Just then, the very man who had just been labeled a “non-human” and a “weirdo,” Shen Xingyan, came over and knocked on the door.

Jiang Mingyi turned his head to see him leaning against the doorframe—tall, long-legged, and handsome enough to make people jealous.

“You still mad?”
Shen Xingyan had just spoken when the door was suddenly about to slam in his face. He quickly raised a hand to stop it.

Jiang Mingyi pointedly stared at that hand, silently telling him to let go.

Shen Xingyan sighed.
“Alright, this morning was my fault. Next time, I’ll personally peel the egg and feed it to you. That way you won’t choke again.”

Jiang Mingyi’s head shot up the moment he heard that familiar line and glared at him.
“I’m never eating eggs again!”

Shen Xingyan furrowed his brows.
“Don’t let one bad experience ruin everything. Eggs are nutritious, and they’re good for your brain.”

Jiang Mingyi felt a bit attacked by that statement. He puffed up his cheeks in protest, and his pouty little face made Shen Xingyan want to poke it with his finger.

Shen Xingyan resisted the urge and withdrew the hand that had been holding the door.

“I said I’m not eating them, and I mean it.”
Jiang Mingyi lifted his chin, making a show of determination.

This kid and his temper…
Shen Xingyan sighed internally. “Okay, okay, then no eggs.”

The overly gentle, coaxing tone made Jiang Mingyi even more annoyed.
“I’m serious! Eggs don’t even taste good.”

“…,” Shen Xingyan paused,
“But I thought you were really enjoying them this morning.”

“That’s because…” He almost blurted out that it was because he looked like he was enjoying them, so he wanted to try too.
Jiang Mingyi quickly bit his lip and changed his response. “That’s because I woke up early today and was hungry.”

He felt that was a very reasonable excuse and instinctively puffed out his small, thin chest.

Shen Xingyan’s gaze lingered on his chest for a second or two before looking away.
“Then you can sleep in tomorrow.”

Jiang Mingyi thought to himself: As long as I’m not sleeping in the same room as you, I’ll wake up naturally just fine.

He had already lost a precious sleep-in today—what a huge loss.
And thanks to that cup of coffee, now he was wide awake.

Staring at Shen Xingyan, a forgotten thought suddenly flashed through his mind.
“School starts tomorrow.”

And damn it—final exams too.
School wasn’t scary, exams were the real nightmare!

When Shen Xingyan came downstairs, Su Wanxin looked a bit confused.

“I thought you said you were taking Xiao Yi out to have some fun? Why are you coming down alone?”

“He said finals start tomorrow, so he wants to stay home and study,”
Shen Xingyan replied.

Su Wanxin let out a soft “Aiya!”
“This kid, really… How could he not tell us in advance that finals were coming?”

As she spoke, she quickly told Aunt Wang to prepare some nourishing soup so her youngest son could replenish his energy while studying later.

Shen Xingyan walked over to the dining table.
“Dad, I’ll go to the office with you in a bit.”

Shen Jili had just finished the last bite of his breakfast and was wiping his mouth with a napkin.
“Today I realized… I’m just a backup.”

Shen Xingyan: “…”

Shen Jili sighed heavily.
“The older son gets rejected by the younger son, and only then does he think of his poor old father. What a pitiful life I lead.”

As soon as he said that, he watched his eldest son turn and walk away.

“Hey, where are you going?”

Without even turning his head, Shen Xingyan replied, “I’ll go to the office by myself. Saves me from listening to some old man nag.”

“……” Shen Jili pointed at himself and turned to ask his wife, who just walked out of the kitchen,
“Am I really that old?”

Su Wanxin, having overheard the father-son exchange, was speechless.
You really know how to latch onto the wrong key point…

As a model student, Jiang Mingyi stared at his textbook for a long time, but barely remembered a single thing.
Frustrated, he flopped onto the bed and pulled out his phone.

Jiang Mingyi:
I’m thinking of giving up on tomorrow’s exam.

Jiang Mingyi:
You feel the same, huh? Truly, you’re my best bro.

I wish I could feel that way.

Jiang Mingyi opened the photo and recognized the person as Shiqing’s older brother, sitting in what looked like a study.

Shiqing:
The demon king is supervising my study session.

Shiqing:
He said if I fail the finals, I’ll have to intern at his company.

Shiqing:
I don’t want to spend the entire summer staring at the demon king’s terrifying face. [save me.jpg]

Jiang Mingyi:
… [good luck.jpg]

Putting his phone down, Jiang Mingyi suddenly felt grateful he didn’t have that kind of problem.

Seeing him come downstairs with a cheerful face, Su Wanxin immediately had Aunt Wang bring over the nourishing soup.

“If you’re tired from studying, take a break and eat something.”

Jiang Mingyi sat next to Su Wanxin and said sweetly,
“Mom, you’re too good to me.”

Su Wanxin gently patted his head.
“You’re mommy’s treasure—if I’m not good to you, who would I be good to? Once you’re done with finals, we’ll all go on a family vacation. Just in time, your brother will be back too. The four of us together will be even more fun.”

At first, Jiang Mingyi was excited to hear about the trip, but the second half of the sentence completely killed his mood.

“Shen—” Jiang Mingyi paused, “Is… my brother staying for long?”

“Didn’t he tell you?”
Su Wanxin looked surprised. “He’s not leaving this time—he’s back for good.”

That’s when Jiang Mingyi found out that Shen Xingyan had returned to take on the position of CEO of the Shen Group, in preparation to eventually take over the entire company.

What a thunderbolt from a clear sky!

Even the nourishing soup Aunt Wang had painstakingly prepared now tasted bland to him.

Jiang Mingyi had no heart to continue studying. He was worried Su Wanxin would make them share a room again tonight to “strengthen their brotherly bond.”

Then he heard Su Wanxin say, “It’s perfect timing since you need to study for finals. If there’s anything you don’t understand, you can ask your brother. He got full marks in every subject back in the day.”

Her voice was full of pride.

Even though her younger son’s grades were only average, that wasn’t a problem at all.
With her eldest son looking after him, her younger one could live a carefree life.

Jiang Mingyi sluggishly went back to his room and stared at the textbooks spread across the bed.

“These aren’t that hard.”

If Shen Xingyan could do it, so could he.

He rolled up his sleeves, ready to give it his all.

Jiang Mingyi gave himself a little pep talk and started studying hard.

By the time Shen Xingyan and Shen Jili returned, it was just about dinner time.

Jiang Mingyi only picked at his food before heading upstairs.

Shen Xingyan gave Su Wanxin a questioning look.

Su Wanru said, “Xiao Yi said he wants to get full marks on his finals.”

Shen Jili beamed with pride.
“As expected of my son!”

Shen Xingyan nodded and asked Aunt Wang to warm up a glass of milk later.

After dinner, Shen Xingyan personally brought the milk upstairs.

The door wasn’t closed, so he immediately saw the teenager lying on the bed, deeply focused on his book.

He knocked twice and entered. “I brought you some milk. Drink it after you’re done studying so you can sleep well.”

Jiang Mingyi was still immersed in his textbooks. The difficult content had completely consumed his attention.

His brain sluggishly registered the last part of the sentence.

Sleep? Who’s sleeping with who?
He dumbly looked up.

Shen Xingyan leaned down slightly and flicked his forehead.
“Studied yourself silly, huh?”

The slightly nasal tone of his voice sounded strangely seductive, making Jiang Mingyi instinctively cover his ears.

“…Did you really go silly?”
Shen Xingyan held back a laugh.

Snapping back to his senses, Jiang Mingyi retorted angrily, “You’re the silly one! Your whole family is silly!”