I transmigrated into the villain's white moonlight, but the protagonist is my brother.

Li Ping beat the child, and then Xue Yaoyao ran back to her room and cried.

Li Ping didn't try to comfort her; instead, she went over and closed the door, and the crying immediately subsided.

Out of sight out of mind.

However, a faint awkwardness lingered at the dinner table. After Xue Yaoyao's outburst, it was impossible not to feel awkward.

Li Ping and Xue Guohua exchanged glances frequently, neither daring to look in Shen Yan's direction.

It's true, since Xiao Yan returned to the Gu family these past few years, he has rarely come to visit them. They've only met two or three times in the last three years.

We finally managed to meet on an auspicious day this year, but then this strange thing happened.

And to make matters worse, Xiao Yan brought a relative with her today. Wouldn't that be embarrassing for Xiao Yan in front of outsiders?

Li Ping was starting to regret calling Shen Yan back this year. She thought it would have been better not to see him at all, given how heartbroken Shen Yan would be to hear this.

Xue Guohua spoke first, "Xiao Yan, don't worry about it. Yao Yao is too young and doesn't understand things. Don't take it to heart. As long as you still want to acknowledge us, we will always be your parents."

After saying that, he looked at Xie Yan and gave a somewhat embarrassed smile, "Miss Xie Yan, I'm so sorry, it's her first time visiting, and she's really been quite inconsiderate..."

Xie Yan quickly shook her head, "No, no."

Although the child was indeed noisy and annoying, fortunately the parents seemed to be normal people, not the kind of parents who would indulge their unruly child. The child had already been disciplined, so Xie Yan naturally felt embarrassed to say anything more.

Besides, Shen Yan, the person involved, hasn't said anything, so it's not her place to criticize him.

However, Xie Yan couldn't shake off the frustration in her heart, and she felt suffocated.

How has Shen Yan really been living all these years?

Shen Yan, on the other hand, acted as if nothing had happened, continuing to eat quietly and obediently with his head down.

Xie Yan felt aggrieved after seeing this.

The last meal was tasteless and no one enjoyed it.

Not long after finishing the meal, Shen Yan said goodbye.

The couple were both shocked.

Li Ping immediately disagreed, "Where are you going on such a big holiday? I've already prepared a room for you. You can stay at home for the next few days. All the hotels outside are probably booked up by now!"

In recent years, Shen Yan has returned home. His old room has been converted into Yao Yao's music room by placing a piano in it.

But before Shen Yan returned, Li Ping and Xue Guohua moved the piano to Xue Yaoyao's bedroom. So Xue Yaoyao's room is now very cramped. After putting in the bed, wardrobe, and piano, there is no room left. It is crowded and narrow, and she is very unhappy.

But Xiao Yan needs a place to stay when she comes back. You can't expect her to travel all that way and then stay in a hotel.

Adoptive parents are still parents; how can real parents treat their children like this?

"Miss Xie Yan, there's also a small bed in the study, if you don't mind..."

The couple were genuinely enthusiastic and really wanted to keep each other.

However, Shen Yan seemed determined to leave.

He made an excuse, saying that he had to participate in a competition later, and the school would be holding a unified training session during the National Day holiday. He had to go back tonight to prepare, and time was very tight, so he really couldn't stay any longer.

This excuse seems impeccable; after all, he is still a student, and nothing is more important than his studies.

Li Ping had no choice but to ask Xue Guohua to pack some of the food she had made, put it in a bag for Shen Yan to take, and then watched Shen Yan and Xie Yan leave with their suitcases.

She felt particularly bad.

After all, they raised their child from eight to fifteen years old. The child was obedient and ambitious, and they never had to worry about him or her in his studies or life.

Especially after they had their own child, they might occasionally be unable to take care of Shen Yan, but the child never complained and continued to take good care of himself.

You can easily develop feelings for a cat or dog after raising it for a year or two, let alone a well-behaved child that you've raised for seven years.

Xue Guohua stood by the window, watching the two people pulling suitcases walk away downstairs, and sighed with some annoyance.

"Sigh, I feel so uncomfortable. What happened today? Tell me."

"How dare you say that? It's all your fault for spoiling me!"

Li Ping glared at him, furious. "I told you we couldn't spoil Yao Yao like that all the time! I have to discipline my child, and you're always playing the good guy! You're supposed to be a director, and you've raised your own daughter like this while you're trying to manage the students?!"

Xue Guohua clicked his tongue, a little anxious, "Why are you dragging me into this again? Isn't it because you're too strict? Yao Yao is still young, you need to talk to her properly, you can't keep hitting the child."

This daughter was hard-won. They tried IVF but failed, and after giving up, they miraculously conceived. Their daughter is adorable and knows how to be charming, and Xue Guohua simply couldn't resist her.

Despite his stern and fierce demeanor towards his students, he is an infinitely tolerant father to his own daughter and has never been harsh with her.

"I hit the child because you spoiled him! He's my own child, don't I love him? But look, Xiao Yan brought his suitcase today, he must have been planning to stay! He was driven away by Yao Yao!"

Li Ping's voice rose higher and higher with anger, and Xue Guohua remained silent with a sullen face. After a while, Li Ping shouted.

"Xue Yaoyao! Get out here right now!"

A stern voice boomed in the living room, startling Xue Yaoyao, who was crying on her bed in the bedroom. She cried even harder.

After being called a few times, she dared not hide anymore. She slowly came out and then hid behind Xue Guohua again, pitifully grabbing his sleeve and looking up at him with teary eyes.

"dad……"

Calling you "Dad" won't work today! Get your ass over here!

Li Ping really needs to give this girl a good talking-to today.

She couldn't understand why Xue Yaoyao disliked her outstanding older brother so much, given that Xiao Yan was so handsome and academically excellent.

After a few strokes of the ruler, Xue Yaoyao cried until her face turned red.

Xue Guohua felt sorry for her and was about to come out to persuade her, but Li Ping yelled at him, "If you dare to come over today, I'll beat you up too!"

The man paused, glanced helplessly at his little girl who had cried until her voice was hoarse, felt heartbroken, sighed, hardened his heart, and went back inside.

Seeing that her savior was gone, Xue Yaoyao was completely heartbroken and could barely speak, sobbing uncontrollably.

"Brother... hiccup...brother...older brother...hiccup...is a demon...a monster..."

Speaking of this, Xue Yaoyao cried even harder, her face covered in tears and snot, and her eyes were swollen from crying.

But Li Ping got even angrier after hearing that.

"Nonsense! Try that on me again!"

My brother is a monster.

This wasn't the first time Li Ping had heard Xue Yaoyao say this.

It started a few years ago, when Yao Yao was still in kindergarten. Li Ping and Xue Guohua were busy with work, so Shen Yan took time out of his busy schedule to help take care of the child.

Suddenly one day, Yao Yao developed a high fever and kept talking nonsense in her dreams. After waking up, she muttered incoherently, saying that there was blood in her brother's room.

Yao Yao clearly remembered that there was a lot of blood on the floor, but when she woke up and looked at the room again, the floor was clean and there was nothing unusual.

Her brother was still standing there unharmed, his face fair and beautiful, as gentle as ever, smiling at her.

But those eyes were dark and cold, staring at her silently, which terrified her and made her burst into tears.

Xue Yaoyao thought her brother was a man-eating monster who must be hiding at home and secretly eating people, otherwise how could he be so scary?

But no matter what she said, her parents didn't believe her, saying she was delirious from the fever and talking nonsense.

No one believed that the excellent older brother was a monster.

Children forget things easily. After Shen Yan left home for several years, Yao Yao gradually forgot about the incident, and her fear gradually turned into resistance. Until she saw him again today, her resistance erupted.

She hates her brother!! She doesn't want her monster brother to come back to this house!! Why don't Mom and Dad believe her?!

Xue Yaoyao was still crying, while Li Ping gritted her teeth and continued to lecture her.

After disciplining the child and calming myself down, an hour had already passed.

Yao Yao ran crying to find her father. Li Ping took a deep breath, feeling her mind was in complete chaos.

Sigh, this National Day holiday was really...

------

It's like some kind of curse, destined to make people feel disgusted on National Day.

Just as Xie Yan left the Xue family residential area, before she could even offer Shen Yan a few words of comfort, she received a call from Wei Xinqiong.

Xie Yan was stunned for a moment before she finally remembered this person from some obscure corner of her memory.

This is Mrs. Xie, her current nominal mother. Xie Yan hasn't been back to the Xie family for a long time and hasn't been in contact with them much, so their relationship is probably just so-so.

As soon as the call connected, Wei Xinqiong started asking Xie Yan how she was doing, urging her to come home for dinner, saying it had been so long since they'd seen each other and she hadn't even come home to visit her during the holiday.

Their tone was gentle yet reproachful; anyone who didn't know better would really think they were a loving mother and filial son.

But Xie Yan knew perfectly well that Wei Xinqiong and Wen Yutong, mother and daughter, were in cahoots and only had ideas on how to trick her.

She now lives at the Gu family's house all day and doesn't go back home anymore. She also stops taking on acting roles to earn money for her family. Wei Xinqiong is getting anxious because the tool she raised with such difficulty is never coming home.

Xie Yan was already in a bad mood, so she gave a perfunctory reply and hung up the phone without caring whether the other party would be angry.

She and Shen Yan, carrying their suitcases, stood by the roadside hailing a taxi; the atmosphere was somewhat silent.

Shen Yan hadn't said much since he left the house. Although he didn't show it, Xie Yan could tell that he was in a bad mood.

Xie Yan had just thought about giving up and not going with Shen Yan, since she had other things to do and it was a bit inconvenient to stay with Shen Yan.

However, Shen Yan's face seemed a little pale.

During the holiday, there were many tourists, and taxis were full. The ride-hailing app showed that there were still more than a dozen people ahead of them in the queue. Their driver did not expect them to come out so quickly, and now that they were turning around to rush here, there was a bit of traffic.

When you're down on your luck, nothing goes right; it's a truly awful day.

The two found a bench and sat down.

The sky had darkened at some point, and it seemed like it was about to rain; the wind picked up.

Shen Yan sat on the bench with his head down. His slightly long bangs were blown by the wind and covered his eyes. His sharp chin looked pale, and he seemed to be shrouded in a sense of fragility.

"I'm sorry, senior, I..."

Even now, he's still thinking about apologizing.

"It's nothing, it's nothing, I'm fine! But you, are you planning to go to the hotel, or go back to Yunchuan?" Xie Yan frowned, very worried about his current mood.

The frail and thin boy paused for a moment, then shook his head. "I have a small house in the new district here. I'd like to stay there for a few days. Senior, would you like to come? It's just that the house might be a bit old."

He looked up at Xie Yan, a forced smile still on his face.

Xie Yan waved her hands repeatedly, "Never mind, don't bother."

She's been very busy these past few days. She's planning to go find the landlord of the house Yang Huiyun used to rent in the county town to ask if the landlord has seen Yang Huiyun since then. It would be really inconvenient to live under the same roof as Shen Yan.

She was afraid that if Shen Yan discovered something, it would be impossible to explain.

Seeing her wave her hand, Shen Yan said "Oh," turned his head away, and stopped talking.

He stared blankly at the flowerbed in the distance, as if lost in thought, or perhaps pondering something.

Just then, the sound of children's laughter came from the air. Xie Yan looked over and saw a young couple leading their toddler past them.

They weren't a handsome couple, just ordinary people, but their faces were filled with happiness and contentment, especially the way the young couple looked at their child—it was like a sweet, unyielding love.

The love in the parents' eyes was almost tangible.

Isn't life really just about living through a few fleeting moments?

As if she had thought of something, Xie Yan looked at Shen Yan again, only to find that his gaze was also fixed on this happy little family.

That look in her eyes... how should I put it?

Like a starving beggar who can only look at the exquisite cakes through the glass window when passing by a high-end luxury shopping mall.

eager.

They're pitiful too.

"Senior, sometimes I'm actually quite envious of my brother."

A cool, clear voice drifted gently on the wind, light and airy.

"It's not because of his power and status, but simply because he has many people who care about him."

“He never had to feel uneasy about losing anything, because it was something he was born with and could never lose.”

"Compared to him, I am nothing."

"You've probably heard it too. There's been a rumor going around the school lately that, on the surface, I'm the newly adopted son of the Gu family, but in reality, I'm just an illegitimate child who can't be brought into the open."

"People like me deserve to be despised and scorned."

Shen Yan calmly and lightly uttered words of self-loathing, his face devoid of any emotion.

Xie Yan became increasingly alarmed as she listened.

What's going on? What's going on? Did Shen Yan really think this way all along?

She originally thought that she had changed Shen Yan's tragic storyline and that he should become a happy person. Including the time they spent together, she mostly thought that Shen Yan was very sunny and outstanding. But she never knew that he had such deep thoughts in his heart.

...But then again, considering the unpleasant experience at her adoptive parents' house, Xie Yan felt it wasn't entirely incomprehensible.

But more importantly, why did Shen Yan suddenly reveal his true feelings at this moment, telling her that he was an illegitimate child?

How should she react now? Shock? Realization? Disdain? Or comfort?

At this moment, Xie Yan realized with a chill that she was really not suited for acting.

She stood frozen in place, staring blankly at the exceptionally aloof and lonely young man before her, unable to utter a word.

The boy gently stroked the scar on his left wrist through his sleeve, then suddenly smiled brightly.

His voice was barely audible, seemingly tinged with a hint of self-mockery.

"...Maybe this is my fate. Being alone is fine too."

Oh my god, I can't stand it.

I simply can't stand it.

Xie Yan felt a pang of sadness in her heart, and she immediately thought of Shen Yan's lonely end in prison in the original story.

He had no home on either side; he only had himself and was always alone.

What's more, today is a holiday, and Shen Yan will be spending it all alone again.

"...Shen Yan."

Xie Yan looked at him, trying to make her expression appear natural. "Um, I've been thinking, I think I'll stay at your place for the night and make further plans tomorrow, is that alright?"

Shen Yan wasn't feeling well today, which was worrying. Xie Yan thought she should at least spend some time with him today, and they could take care of things tomorrow.

Upon hearing this, Shen Yan looked over, tilted his head slightly, and still had a gentle smile in his eyes.

"Okay."