Chapter 3
He threw his things on the bed, turned down the air conditioner temperature, and urged Chenmian to take a shower.
By the time Shenmian finished showering, applying lotion, and getting into bed, Shenci had already been asleep for a while.
But the person beside him kept making rustling noises, sometimes turning up the temperature, sometimes kicking off the blanket, and sometimes even pulling up Shen Ci's blanket. Shen Ci was woken up by the noise, turned around, grabbed Shen Mian's arm and hugged him tightly, not letting him move.
"I can't sleep." A soft, murmuring voice drifted over, "The thought of Lin Langli being right next door annoys me."
Shen Ci was too lazy to respond and tried to end the conversation by replying with silence.
Ke Chenmian, oblivious to her own thoughts, poked his face with her hand and mumbled something: "Do you think he did it on purpose? The house has four floors, and the two of us on one floor is already cramped enough. Why doesn't he go and live on the same floor as my older brother? He insists on living next to me. He must be trying to get revenge on me."
"Don't overthink it, it was arranged by Mom and Dad." Shen Ci opened his eyes, unable to bear it any longer. By the moonlight coming in from the window, he saw Shen Mian blinking her round eyes, which looked like they were filled with spring water. They were swaying back and forth, clearly indicating that she was harboring bad intentions.
"Besides, what's wrong with him reporting you? You deserve it. You were used as a pawn and you still won't admit your mistake. What's the use of being stubborn?"
When this matter was mentioned, Chenmian's eyes flickered, but she said defiantly, "Even if I apologize to him, he definitely won't forgive me. You know, I'm not as smart as you guys. I might have already suffered a loss without even realizing it."
Shen Ci was driven crazy by his pestering and didn't want to be the judge, so she intended to use passive-aggressive tactics to keep Shen Mian quiet.
But Chenmian was determined to say a lot of bad things about Lin Langli, such as, "He was working at the restaurant at the time, but his attitude was so bad. What's wrong with complaining? He's so petty." "Actually, I didn't know they would cause trouble for Lin Langli because of me. If Lin Langli had found me and told me earlier, I would definitely have stopped them. But he went directly to the counselor to complain, which caused me to be warned by the counselor. He's so mean."
After a while, she tried to appease herself: "I noticed his shoes were all counterfeit, so I offered to buy him the real thing, but instead of being grateful, he felt I was humiliating him. Look how bad he is and how good I am..."
"And look at his attitude towards Mom, so cold, like she owes him money. He's rude to me, but he's rude to you all too."
As she talked, even Chenmian seemed a little happy, her lips curling up in a pleased smile, her eyes bright and clear, looking completely harmless.
But Shen Ci knew Shen Mian's nature; he was adept at distorting the truth, exaggerating even the best to an extreme, and turning a bad situation into a minor one.
He could never stand seeing Chenmian like this, and couldn't help but scold him: "Stop making things up about others. We all know right from wrong, so don't try anything funny."
Having her thoughts discovered, Chen Mian snorted, pulled her hand out of Chen Ci's arms, and then deliberately pulled off Chen Ci's blanket.
"..." Shen Ci was at a loss. He wanted to reach for the blankets, but the little ingrate next to him would rather not cover himself than leave all the blankets off the bed.
Chenmian huffed angrily, "I'm going to freeze you to death!"
So what if he freezes to death? He's not the only one who's frozen to death. Shen Ci was too lazy to bother with Shen Mian anymore.
He realized that the little ingrate slept for so long in the afternoon, but couldn't sleep at night and bothered others; he was still as selfish as ever.
But after a while, Chenmian secretly picked up the blanket and covered Chenci with it, then pressed her body close to him and shook his hand.
"What's wrong now?" Shen Ci asked, exhausted.
"I'm hungry," Chenmian said softly. "I haven't had dinner, and my stomach is growling. Could you go find me something to eat?"
Shen Ci almost laughed out of anger: "Serves you right, go by yourself."
"I wouldn't dare." Chenmian moved closer to him, gently rubbing his arm. "What if I run into Lin Langli and he tries to ambush me? He'll definitely bully me. You're my brother, can't you help me out?"
His sweet, coquettish tone was nothing like a boy's. Shen Ci couldn't understand how a boy who grew up in the same environment could be so naturally affectionate and love to act cute.
But this trick always worked. Shen Ci closed his eyes and let himself sleep for a while before resigning himself to getting up.
Chen Mian felt satisfied, watching Chen Ci's figure disappear through the door before he felt a little more at ease. But not long after, he started to overthink again.
Will Shen Ci take the opportunity to secretly talk to Lin Langli? Oh no, they are twin brothers. People online say that twins are telepathic. Will Shen Ci turn against Lin Langli and help him?
While Chenmian was restless in her room, Chenci went downstairs. As soon as she reached the kitchen door, she saw a light on the sofa in the living room. Upon closer inspection, she realized that her older brother was there looking at the computer.
"Big brother, are you still awake?" Shen Ci asked in a low voice.
The eldest brother looked up at the kitchen: "Find something to eat for Chenmian?"
"Yes, he said he was hungry." Shen Ci opened the refrigerator door, found the small cake that Chen Mian had left over from this morning, and put a bottle of milk into a small saucepan to heat it up. "He's so afraid of Lin Langli now. He was pretending to be pitiful and crying there last night. Didn't he think about how he was going to get by later?"
The eldest brother rubbed his temples: "Mom and Dad know what they're doing, but Langli just came back, so we can't favor Chenmian too much. Don't spoil him too much either. The family definitely won't pamper him like before, so he needs to get used to it in advance."
Shen Ci paused for a moment, then remained silent. He knew his elder brother was right, but looking at Shen Mian's pitiful state, he couldn't bring himself to ignore her.
Back in the room with the food, Chen Mian immediately came over. Chen Ci tossed him the cake and milk, saying impatiently, "Eat up, then go to sleep. If you keep making a fuss, I really won't take care of you anymore."
Chenmian slowly sipped her milk, then complained of foot pain after a while, saying it must have gotten infected from getting wet in the shower.
Shen Ci's eyes were cold: "You never take your own body seriously. If no one really cares about you, who cares whether you eat or get hurt?"
Why did we suddenly bring this up? Chenmian was speechless, but still unconvinced, he threw the rest of the cake on the bedside table, smearing cream all over it, and complained, "I didn't mean to make it inflamed, why are you yelling at me!"
"Get out." Shen Ci seemed to have swallowed a gunpowder. He threw off the covers, got out of bed, and pointed to the door. "If you keep making noise here, you're not staying in my room tonight. Get out."
Shen Mian never expected Shen Ci to send him away. He stared blankly at Shen Ci, tears welling up in his eyes: "You actually want me to leave?"
"Stop your melodramatic act! You cry eight hundred times a day!" Shen Ci raised her voice a few decibels. "All you do is cry and make a scene, cause trouble and fawn over others. Can't you be a little more mature? Lin Langli is back, that's a fact, and no matter how much you act up, it won't change that. If you really don't want to be outdone by others, reflect on yourself instead of arguing with me like this!"
"I didn't even mention Lin Langli! You've gone too far!"
Chenmian trembled all over from what he said. He bit his lip, held back his tears, grabbed his pillow, and walked towards the door.
When he reached the door, he glanced back at Shen Ci. Seeing that Shen Ci had no intention of stopping him, he felt even more aggrieved. He slammed the door shut and ran out.
But after leaving the room, Shenmian regretted it. He didn't want to go back to his own room. He had even taken the blankets to Shenci's room, not to mention that his room was so messy.
But he didn't want to go to his older brother's room. He wasn't very familiar with his older brother, and besides, his older brother had spoken up for Lin Langli that afternoon, which disappointed him.
Just as he was wondering where to go, a voice suddenly rang out from ahead, chilling: "Slumber."
Chenmian froze, slowly raising his head to see Lin Langli looking at him through the open door. He didn't turn on the light, and the area behind him was gloomy and dark, quite frightening.
Lin Langli's gaze made Shen Mian even more uneasy. He dared not answer and wanted to turn back to enter Shen Ci's room, but Shen Ci had locked the door.
Lin Langli easily grabbed his collar, preventing him from leaving. Being grabbed like a chick, Chenmian cursed Lin Langli inwardly as a bastard.
Those twin brothers are both bastards! Bastards!
Lin Langli: "Did Shen Ci kick you out?"
Shen Mian thought to himself, "I'm doomed." Lin Langli had indeed entered his room, and only went back after finding no one there. How come he was about to argue with Shen Ci, and now look what happened? He'd been caught lying in wait.
But he still stubbornly insisted, "No way! I'm just going back to my room to sleep, what's it to you!"
"What does this have to do with me?" Lin Langli sneered, his eyes suddenly turning sharp. "My bed is covered in water, what does that have to do with me? Chenmian, did you do this?"
His heart skipped a beat, and he avoided Lin Langli's eyes, saying, "I don't know what you're talking about. Who knows if you spilled it by accident? It has nothing to do with me."
"It has nothing to do with you?" Lin Langli stepped forward, grabbed Chen Mian's arm with such force that Chen Mian hissed in pain. "Chen Mian, can't you be a little smarter?"
Chenmian didn't know how to argue anymore, so he could only use his other hand to push Lin Langli's chest, but he couldn't move him. Instead, Lin Langli grabbed his wrist and dragged him towards the room.
Chenmian struggled desperately, but his strength was no match for Lin Langli's, and he could only be dragged into the room by Lin Langli.
With a "bang," the door was slammed shut by Lin Langli, and the lights came on. Chen Mian immediately saw a wet puddle on the bed, the blankets and sheets were soaked, and it looked like a large map.
Lin Langli pushed Chenmian to stand by the bed as punishment, his eyes piercing her: "I want to see how you try to explain yourself."
Looking at the mess on the bed, Chenmian felt a deeper panic. He knew he couldn't escape it, but he still didn't want to show weakness, so he could only bite his lip and stand aside.
"Not going to talk?" Lin Langli reached out and pinched Shenmian's chin, forcing her to meet his gaze. "Shenmian, where did your imposing manner go last night? Weren't you crying pitifully then? Why aren't you crying now?"
He would have been better off not saying it, because the mention of "sleeplessness" made him feel extremely humiliated. His chin was being pinched painfully, and tears finally welled up in his eyes.
Looking at the ruthlessness in Lin Langli's eyes, he felt genuine fear in his heart.
"It's...it was me who splashed it." Chenmian's voice was choked with sobs, tears falling onto Lin Langli's hand. "I'm sorry, I was wrong, please don't pinch me anymore, it hurts..."
Tears fell like pearls onto Lin Langli's hand. Lin Langli quickly withdrew his hand, as if he had been burned by the tears, or as if he was disgusted by Chenmian's crying.
In short, seeing Chenmian sobbing with her head down, Lin Langli showed no sympathy whatsoever: "Get out of here, I'll settle things with you later."
Chen Mian wiped her face with the back of her hand and walked towards the door with her head down. Just as she was about to reach the door, it was suddenly pushed open, and Chen Ci stood in the doorway, looking at everything in the room expressionlessly.
Seeing Shen Ci was like seeing a savior. Chen Mian immediately rushed over and hugged Shen Ci's arm to complain, "Shen Ci, he bullied me! He pinched my chin and forced me to apologize!"
Shen Ci didn't speak, only gave Lin Langli a cold look, then pulled Shen Mian and turned to leave. Lin Langli watched their retreating figures, gave a mocking smile, and said nothing more.
Back in Shen Ci's room, Shen Ci shook off Shen Mian's hand and said in a harsh tone, "Are you satisfied now? You had to provoke him and get bullied to the point of crying. Aren't you ashamed?"
Chen Mian staggered as he shook her off. Looking at Chen Ci's face, she felt even more aggrieved: "He's so mean. Look at my chin, it's definitely red. You don't even care about me."
"Concerned about you?" Shen Ci said coldly. "If I didn't care about you, would I have followed you out? Shen Mian, can't you use your brain? You know Lin Langli dislikes you, yet you still insist on provoking him. Are you out of your mind?"
Shen Mian had been scolded by Shen Ci several times today and had been unhappy for a long time, but now only Shen Ci would help him, so he dared not argue with Shen Ci anymore.
Looking at Shen Mian's reluctant expression, Shen Ci said again, "Go apologize to him tomorrow. Do you think I can't tell? Did you pour water on his bed?"
Chenmian's eyes were moist. She looked up at him; his face was pale and pink, but his eyes were still misty, like a peony flower, captivating and enchanting.
"I have already apologized."
Seeing his appearance, Shen Ci's anger gradually subsided.
She whined in a low voice, "My feet hurt, my arms hurt, and my chin hurts too."
Shen Ci calmed down, feeling strangely soothed. He knew Shen Mian was just playing the victim, but Shen Mian had long understood his temper. Sometimes when they argued, Shen Mian would coax him a few words, and for some reason, he would stop being angry.
He hated Chenmian for playing the victim and mocking others for being brainless, but he fell for Chenmian's act.
A note from the author:
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