Now it was Shen Jingcheng's turn to frown and ponder.
Wen Yan: "It's really shocking, right? It's okay, you can digest it slowly. When I first came here, it also took me a long time... well, maybe several minutes, or maybe several hours to fully accept it."
Shen Jingcheng: "..." This guy is even worried about me.
Even if this world were a novel, it would still be the vibrant world of these people, not just emotionless words.
Wen Yan: "Alright, I think you're a very receptive person, after all, you've already confirmed the existence of parallel worlds. So..."
Wen Yan suddenly frowned: "What are you planning to do next? Treat me as a living sample for research? Seriously, you don't actually have that idea, do you?"
At first, Wen Yan regarded the man in front of her as family, but now, after seeing the information about Pit 46, she began to realize that the man in front of her was an expert in researching parallel worlds.
In times of peace and prosperity, most experts are extremely formidable figures, which made Wen Yan somewhat apprehensive.
"Hehe, Third Brother, we're family after all. If I open the door now, what if a bunch of people with guns and ammunition are waiting for me outside? That would be too hurtful."
"Is that what you think of me?" Shen Jingcheng was slightly surprised. "If I really wanted to do that, I would have had plenty of opportunities in the past two years. Why would I have waited until today?"
“Yes,” Wen Yan said, puzzled, “Why did you choose to tell me today? Is it some kind of special day? Is it your birthday, or did you just get promoted today?”
"..." Shen Jingcheng laughed, "Your thinking is really unconventional. I'm neither celebrating my birthday nor getting a promotion today. The reason I chose this time is twofold: first, there's been new progress in the research on Pit 46; and second, something happened while you were away from home."
"What's up?"
“This is the third thing I want to talk to you about.” Shen Jingcheng smiled. “Relax, I assure you no one will arrest you. Actually, this information is not allowed to be disclosed to unrelated personnel. Strictly speaking, showing you this today has already violated the law.”
"Huh? Then why did you bring me to your office? Couldn't we go somewhere else? Going home would have been fine too."
“There is no safer place than here. Here, I can guarantee with 100% certainty that our entire conversation will be known only to the two of us.”
"Is the most dangerous place the safest place, right?"
"You could say that." As he spoke, Shen Jingcheng took the documents about Pit 46 from Wen Yan's hands.
He then put all the documents, along with the file folder, into the shredder.
Wen Yan was now convinced that he wouldn't harm her. She then asked, "What's the third thing you want to tell me? What happened at home while I was away?"
After crushing the documents, Shen Jingcheng sat back down opposite Wen Yan.
"Our parents are pretty open-minded, right?"
"right."
"Earlier this year, or maybe at the end of last year, I don't remember the exact time. I talked to my mom about it."
"What are we discussing? Is it related to me?"
"Yes. You are our family's adopted daughter, and you have no blood relation with anyone in the Shen family."
"Yes, that's the truth."
"So, even if you end up with any of our Shen brothers, Mom and Dad won't object. They will still love you like their own daughter."
Wen Yan: "…………Why are you discussing these things?"
"Now that things have come to this, there's no need for us to hide anything from each other anymore, right? Do you agree with that?"
"agree."
"Then I'll continue. Eldest brother, second brother, and even fourth brother, they all like you. You should know that, right? I think that night, the night the eldest and second brothers both got injured on the face, something must have happened between the three of you, right?"
"...Although I don't know how you found out, since you already know, I won't hide it from you anymore. Yes, my eldest and second brothers have been honest with me about some of their feelings, but I feel that we are siblings. As for your fourth brother, he has never said anything to me."
"Then ignore him. So you already made things clear with your older brothers that very night, right?"
"No, I don't think so. We should have clarified things on the second day. I don't want our relationship to change; I still want to get along like before."
"So what about them? Did they agree? Did they reach an agreement with you?"
"Yes. Later I could clearly feel that my older brother and I were growing distant. I felt it was a pity, but I didn't dare to contact him more often. I felt that he might be avoiding me. Whenever I went back, he was either on a business trip or working overtime. But it wasn't like this before."
“It might not be entirely because he’s avoiding you,” Shen Jingcheng said. “One night, Dad suddenly fainted, and the doctor diagnosed him with a cardiovascular disease. These kinds of diseases can’t be completely prevented, and there’s always the possibility of a recurrence. It was around that time that Dad began to realize he was getting old.”
"Wait a minute," Wen Yan interrupted Shen Jingcheng, "When did this happen? How come I didn't know? Were you hiding this from me?"
“Don’t misunderstand,” Shen Jingcheng explained, “This was Mom and Dad’s idea. My older brother, Jingchuan, Yulong, and I, who were home at the time, all knew. Since you and my second brother weren’t home, Mom and Dad didn’t specifically tell us.”
After explaining, Shen Jingcheng continued, "After that, Dad felt a sense of crisis. He gave my eldest brother an order to get married and have children as soon as possible."
"Then," Wen Yan suddenly felt a strange, inexplicable feeling welling up inside her, "is all the pressure on my eldest brother alone? Just because he's the eldest son, or because he usually listens to our parents the most?"
"Both are true, but there's another main reason." Shen Jingcheng paused and said, "My eldest brother is the one who will inherit most of the Shen family's assets in the future, without a doubt. Of the four of us brothers, only he chose to manage the family business; he can't be without a successor. If he didn't like you, perhaps he would have listened to his parents' arrangements, but I can clearly sense that he's very resistant to marriage now, because the person he's marrying isn't someone he truly wants to spend his life with. For the past year or so, it's less about him avoiding you and more about him avoiding marriage."
Wen Yan hadn't thought much of what had happened before, but from this moment on, her mood began to feel heavy.
"Is this my fault?"
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