He Jingyuan felt like there was a little kitten in his chest, scratching around restlessly.

He calmly adjusted his breathing and asked cautiously and tentatively, "What is worthy of it?"

"You're worthy of raising a little kitty like me." Yunyun's tone was filled with a hint of feline pride. "I wouldn't let anyone else raise me."

He Jingyuan: ...

He Jingyuan: "Stupid cat."

"Why do you say I'm stupid?" Yunyun immediately turned her head away, her face full of dissatisfaction. "I told you, our little cat is very smart."

He Jingyuan: "You are a stupid cat."

A certain cat is indeed terribly stupid in some complex areas related to humans, and it is hard to tell whether it has gotten the point or not.

On the other hand, it is incredibly powerful.

At least he does a great job managing cats.

After this group of kittens had eaten and drunk their fill, they directed the sheriff to bring a new group of kittens over to eat and drink. They understood the rules better than some humans.

Seeing Fang Die's attitude towards Yunyun, He Jingyuan almost knelt down.

At noon, seeing that it was almost time, He Jingyuan took Yunyun to say goodbye to her.

Fang Die was busy ordering milk tea for the other members. Without even looking up, she responded repeatedly, "Remember to ask the senior to leave half a day for me. I'll treat him to dinner!"

Yunyun found a secluded corner and put away her cat ears and tail.

After being in contact with human society for quite some time, the kitten should not make any more jokes like the first time he had dinner with Fang Die and Lin Qian.

But He Jingyuan still habitually reminded: "Don't touch anything when you eat later, and don't say anything weird, remember?"

It seems that I did inadvertently cause trouble to the sea crucian carp a few times before...

The kitten nodded seriously: "Yeah, I remember."

The two went back home first.

He Jingyuan took out three beautifully wrapped gift bags from the cabinet.

They waited in the living room for a while, and He Jingyuan's cell phone rang.

He picked up the phone and answered briefly, then said to Yunyun, "Uncle is here, let's go downstairs."

Yunyun followed him downstairs in a daze, and sure enough, her uncle's car was parked downstairs.

He was smoking with his brows furrowed, as if something big had happened.

When Yunyun saw him like this, she hid behind He Jingyuan timidly.

It was not until He Jingyuan called out "Hello, uncle" that Yunyun also followed suit stiffly.

My uncle quickly put out the cigarette, fanned it with his hands to dispel the smell, and put on a somewhat forced smile.

He Jingyuan immediately handed over a heavy gift bag: "Yunyun heard that you were coming to our house for dinner, so she came to ask me what you like. She spent a long time choosing this tea set. It's a little token of my appreciation."

Yunyun:?

The kitten's eyes widened instantly: "I..."

He Jingyuan squeezed his palm calmly.

Yunyun had no choice but to swallow her doubts.

When did I buy...

My uncle was taken aback by this unexpected gift and quickly refused: "I'm just here for dinner, why are you being so polite?"

“It should be.”

He Jingyuan was very persistent. He opened the back door and pulled Yunyun in.

A certain kitten remembered He Jingyuan's teachings and kept its back straight, its hands placed neatly on its knees, and its eyes fixed straight ahead, like a newly unearthed cat figurine.

It was obvious that the uncle was hiding something in his heart. He didn't say a word and drove the two of them home in silence.

When he arrived at his uncle's house, He Jingyuan did the same thing and handed the other two bags to his aunt and He Qingqian who came to greet him.

She continued to say the same thing: "This is a little gift that Yunyun picked for you."

He Qingqian was a girl who looked a bit bookish. She opened the bag curiously, and inside was the out-of-print doll that she had been longing for for a long time.

"Ah!" He Qingqian exclaimed in surprise: "Thank you..."

Looking at Yunyun's overly beautiful face, He Qingqian was instantly stuck. After holding it in for a long time, he finally uttered: "Sister-in-law..."

Aunt patted her on the back expressionlessly.

Junyun: ^OO^?

What...what do you mean?

Sitting down on the sofa in the living room, Yunyun moved closer to He Jingyuan and lowered her voice: "He Jingyuan, why does she call me sister?"

I'm obviously a little male!

He Jingyuan: "...go back and check it online yourself."

The illiterate cat only knows the meaning of "sister" in its vocabulary.

The kitten said "Oh" obediently, its curiosity was temporarily suppressed, and it straightened its back again and continued to play the role of a polite kitten.

The uncle took out the tea set "given by Yunyun" to make tea. Amidst the thick aroma of tea, the atmosphere was still tense.

He handed Yunyun a thick red envelope and said, "Don't be shy. Just treat it as your own home when you come here. Take the red envelope."

He Jingyuan secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Yunyun didn't quite understand the meaning of receiving a red envelope. She took it with both hands and said hesitantly, "Thank you, uncle."

Then he handed the red envelope to He Jingyuan very naturally.

"Put it in your pocket." He Jingyuan also said to his uncle, "Thank you, uncle."

Yunyun stuffed the red envelope into her pocket again and patted it.

Seeing the shy and unworldly boy, the uncle gave up the idea of asking him about his family background indirectly.

He poured tea for them and changed the subject to something more lighthearted: "Does your little fat orange dog have lunch today? Why don't you bring him over to play with us?"

I brought it here and it's sitting right in front of me.

Yunyun rarely commented on the phrase "little fat orange".

He Jingyuan picked up the teacup and took a sip, then lied calmly, "I left cat food at home. He's timid, so I'm afraid he'll be stressed if I bring him out."

"Oh oh." The uncle chuckled twice and made small talk: "Qingqian was talking about it a few days ago. She wanted to go to your place to see the cat. Didn't she also want to get one a few years ago? But then she went abroad to study, so it wasn't convenient and she didn't get one."

He seemed to remember something: "By the way, didn't you also have your eyes on the cat at the school gate? Qingqian thought about it every day, but then you suddenly said you couldn't keep it anymore, which made her very disappointed..."

"Cough cough." He Jingyuan choked and coughed violently, trying to interrupt his uncle.

But it was too late.

The little kitten sitting upright next to him suddenly lost its composure and turned its head away gloomily.

"Oh, scumbag."

After saying that, he quickly turned his head back, straightening his back even straighter than before, trying to maintain his very polite cat-like attitude today.

Drink tea and keep your back straight.

Walk to the restaurant with your back straight.

Sitting at the dinner table, his back was so straight that it seemed as if it could be used as a ruler.

The kitten was completely immersed in his role until the table was filled with delicious food, and his cat character collapsed instantly.

The atmosphere at the table was strange, and everyone was silent.

He Jingyuan kept picking up food for Yunyun. He accepted everything and ate quickly and attentively, with his cheeks bulging.

He Qingqian next to her also devoured the food in no time, as if she had never eaten good food abroad.

When He Qingqian was finally full, he put down his chopsticks and sighed with satisfaction, but Yunyun was still working hard.

My aunt lowered her eyes and said nothing.

My uncle drank water absentmindedly, with a lingering worry between his brows.

He Qingqian hesitated for a long time before finally breaking the silence: "Brother, are you really going to sue my uncle and aunt?"

He Jingyuan: "Yeah."

Yunyun's chewing movements slowed down noticeably as she secretly listened to the conversation between the two.

"I...I definitely support you." He Qingqian's tone was a bit complicated. "When I was abroad, I met my uncle and aunt several times, and I also met your brother."

She paused, as if choosing her words: "He...actually, he looks even thinner than in the photo, and his complexion is terrible..."

He Qingqian's voice became softer as he spoke: "It seems that the situation is not good. Time may not be much."

Yunyun didn't dare to eat anymore.

The boy blinked a little confusedly.

Is the sea crucian carp’s brother going to die?

There was no expression on He Jingyuan's face.

He no longer has any impression of this younger brother.

Ever since I can remember, my younger brother has been like a fragile treasure, strictly isolated from his world by my parents.

Whenever he wanted to send a toy over, his mother would sternly scold him and tell him to leave, as if she was guarding against a thief, fearing that his approach would bring something unclean or dangerous.

To the point that... he is not quite sure what disease his brother has.

"And..." He Qingqian's voice was a little difficult to speak, "He's been spoiled a little..."

"When the pain flared up, she'd get really violent and insisted on getting a painkiller. I'm not a medical student, so I'm not entirely sure, but it was something like morphine or pethidine. My uncle and aunt wouldn't let me. She was a teenager, so she'd just throw a tantrum and roll around on the floor."

Everyone present looked gloomy.

This kind of medicine is used too much, it is no longer considered a treatment...

Yunyun ate a piece of meat with lingering fear and chewed it hard.

Fortunately, I didn’t take the sea crucian carp away at that time.

He Qingqian looked at He Jingyuan's still calm face and mustered up her courage: "Just in case... you will be the only one around uncle and aunt in the future, and if we really have to go to court..."

The unspoken words are extremely clear.

When his younger brother passes away and his parents grow old, they may eventually have to rely on He Jingyuan, their neglected eldest son.

Rather than tearing each other apart and wasting all our energy fighting for it now, it would be better to be patient for now and wait for them to die and inherit it "naturally"...

He Jingyuan put down his chopsticks, and the atmosphere at the dinner table was so heavy that it seemed as if water could be wrung out of it.

Yunyun also put down her chopsticks and suddenly said loudly, "He Jingyuan, I... I'm not feeling well. I want to go out for some fresh air."

He Jingyuan's attention was instantly drawn away. He nervously held Xiaomao's hand and asked, "Where do you feel uncomfortable? Stomachache? Or dizziness?"

Aunt sighed: "The air in the garden is good, Jingyuan, take him out for a walk first."

He Jingyuan didn't care about anything else and quickly pulled Yunyun up.

As soon as they left the depressing restaurant, the "discomfort" on Yunyun's face disappeared without a trace.

He Jingyuan followed closely behind him: "Are you feeling unwell somewhere..."

Yunyun looked at him seriously: "He Jingyuan, are you...are you very sad?"

He Jingyuan was stunned.

Sad? Not really.

But I feel so upset.

It feels terrible to be repeatedly weighed by your loved ones and even treated as a backup option.

Seeing that he was silent, Yunyun took a step forward, raised her head slightly, and said awkwardly: "If you are sad, let's not have this meal. Let's go home now."

"I...I'll give you my tail to play with."

He Jingyuan felt relieved, and the feeling of stagnation strangely dissipated a lot.

"I'm not sad." He Jingyuan's voice softened. "As long as you're here, I won't be sad at all."

The kitten carefully discerned the emotions in his eyes, as if trying to confirm the truth of his words.

After a moment, he nodded: "Well, don't worry about them, I will try my best to accompany you, after all, you are my adopted child."

Although it was a bit inappropriate, He Jingyuan still wanted to correct him: "Am I just someone you support?"

Now it was Yunyun's turn to be stunned.

He sighed and looked towards the restaurant: "They don't have any bad intentions, they just want me to think it over carefully."

Yunyun didn't ask him directly what to do: "If thinking about it makes you feel bored, then just don't think about it for now. Let's go back after dinner."

He Jingyuan didn't say anything, he had almost made up his mind.

From the moment they take sides, their choice has been made.

He didn't want to be swayed by that thin blood relationship and the "inheritance" that might be obtained in the future.

I don't want to bear the support responsibility imposed on him.

only……

There was a rare hint of irritability between He Jingyuan's brows.

He Qingqian usually wouldn't suddenly come over to advise him to think it over carefully. His uncle and aunt's attitude today was particularly ambiguous, as if they had something to say to him.

The kitten thought he had tried hard to coax his human, and the two of them walked back slowly along the garden path, holding hands.

He Jingyuan received news from his lawyer.

[Lawyer]: Mr. He, I encountered some difficulties in retrieving the defendant's identity. When can we meet and discuss it in detail?

Just as He Jingyuan was about to answer, a suppressed yet extremely intense quarrel came through the crack in the door.

"I told you a long time ago! Don't always think about being a peacemaker! Don't always think about getting Jing Yuan to reconcile with those two people, but you refused to listen! You insisted on saving the He family's reputation. Now what? Tell me how this ends?!"

The three of them were still sitting in the restaurant. My aunt's voice was trembling with anger, and she picked up the bowl and threw it to the ground.

He Qingqian tried to persuade him helplessly with tears in her eyes: "Dad, Mom, please stop arguing!"

"How could I have known they would do such a thing!" My uncle's voice also rose. "How do you want me to talk to him now? This kind of thing...this kind of thing, how do you want me to explain to Jing Yuan? Huh?!"

"You have to tell me! Now! Immediately!" Aunt scolded, "This is your He family's business. You should be the one to step forward. Someone has to be the bad guy. If you don't tell me, let Qingqian tell me! Or I will tell you! We can't delay any longer!"

Her voice was shrill with excitement. "Go tell him now, tell him clearly that his parents and his brother, when he was only six years old! When his mother was only six years old! They secretly immigrated and ran away to a foreign country without telling any relatives or friends!"

"They no longer care about that bullshit kinship! They don't care about you, their biological brother! And they don't care about their other son who stayed in the country!"

"Did you hear that?! They left him like garbage!"

The last sentence was like a thunderbolt falling from the sky, striking He Jingyuan hard.

He stood stiffly outside the door, almost collapsing.

Six years old.

migrant.

Hiding it from everyone.

But he was not brought along.

The long-standing confusion finally found the cruelest answer.

When the water in the two bowls was not evenly distributed, they chose to pour out the quietest one.

And he was the cup of worthless water that was spilled.

Someone suddenly covered his ears tightly.

Yunyun looked very sad: "You are not allowed to listen."

"He Jingyuan, forget it now."