In the capital.
Shen Zizhen was sleeping inside his study. There was a mountain of paper as a blanket on top of his body. His business has been running smoothly, and nothing was going wrong. But when he said smoothly, it meant that he was so busy that he was drowning in paperwork. Who told him to become a merchant? Who was the one who told him that becoming a merchant was all sunshine and roses?
Why didn't they tell him the thorns and magma flowing beneath this path?
Now for the sake of managing his business, he couldn't even sleep! How annoying!
Shen Zizhen was annoyed as he mumbled in his sleep, wiping his drool on a paper that might have been an important document. His back was hurting because of his weird sleeping posture. Still, Shen Zizhen didn't want to open his eyes because if he did, he would have to face reality, and he didn't want to meet such a harsh reality at all.
Let him close his eyes and forget that he has so much work.
This was the sight Shen Zeyu saw when he stepped inside his father's study. The young boy frowned and clicked his tongue... Really, his father was getting lazier and lazier. Ever since his mother gave birth to his younger brother, his father has taken a let just sail through life like a dandelion approach. He didn't put his heart into the business anymore. Shen Zeyu knew that his father wanted his mother to give birth to a daughter, but it wasn't his mother's fault that the child born was a boy.
And honestly, so what if he was a boy? He was an innocent child too! How will his brother feel when he realizes that his birth was celebrated with a long face and the desire to give up on everything?
Really, his father was bizarre. Everyone wanted a son, but his father was upset because he had given birth to three sons.
"Father," Shen Zeyu stepped inside his father's study and picked up the documents that fell on the floor. His brows furrowing, even more, all of these were important and confidential documents. What was his father thinking? If these documents went missing, they would suffer a significant loss. He collected the papers and then carefully placed them on the table before knocking on his father's table. "Father, wake up."
Shen Zizhen was awake, he couldn't sleep in a chair in such an awkward position, but he didn't open his eyes. For whatever this debt collector had come for, he didn't want to listen, just let him mope in silence. Why? Why can't he give birth to a daughter? He just wanted only one daughter and nothing more!
He tried three times, three freaking times, yet he couldn't get a daughter. How can he be so unlucky?
He couldn't get a daughter, and the only girl in the family wasn't willing to talk to him. What was he supposed to do? Will he die without hearing a girl sweetly calling him papa or uncle? Maybe he will. His wife was getting old and could no longer give birth without any problems now. He couldn't try for a daughter anymore.
Even the Gods were against him!
Shen Zeyu had known his father long enough and knew that he was only pretending. He did the same thing when his second brother was born. Because his father's lucky number was seven, he always tried for a daughter every seven years. Shen Zeyu, who was seven years old when his second brother was born, remembered very well what happened back then. He pinched the space between his brows and sighed. "There is nothing you can do about it. Do you want to make my mother feel bad for giving birth to a son again?"
"She feels worse than me, haven't you seen she was making clothes for a daughter, and now it's another son. Your third brother is still wearing that pink skirt with golden butterflies. You can see it for yourself." Without lifting his head, Shen Zizhen refuted his eldest son.
Yes, you read that right! Second Aunt Shen wanted a daughter even more than Shen Zizhen. She liked cute things and always wanted to have a daughter play dress-up, but now she was stuck with three sons and could only fulfill her desires by dressing her sons in girl's clothes.
Shen Zeyu, who suddenly remembered his dark history "...." can't refute this.
"But you still can't act like this! My brothers and I are still counting on you, Father," said Shen Zeyu, trying to attempt to instill some fighting spirit in his father. "If you don't work, then what will my brothers and I do? You are our hero!"
Shen Zizhen finally lifted his head and looked at his son before opening his mouth. "Zeyu, repeat the same thing, but this time make your voice a bit shrill and coy. Yes, change your clothes too. If possible, try to make yourself look cute."
Shen Zeyu "....." I refuse!
Shen Zizhen, rejected once again, dejectedly fell back on his table. "I just *sniff* I just want you to call me papa sweetly. What's wrong with it? Ne, Zeyu, why don't you fulfill papa's wish?"
I will papa, your mom! No, wait, she was his grandmother! He can't do that.
Shen Zeyu threaded his hand in his hair and cursed. "Jeez! Stop, will you! If you want someone to call your papa so much, then go and ask sister Wan Wan to do that for you!"
At this point, Shen Zizhen couldn't hold any longer and lunged at his son. Hugging his son around the waist, he fake sobbed. "That's the thing, Yuyu! Your sister Wan Wan doesn't want your father! She cries whenever I go near her! She calls me a bad guy and child trafficker, say do I look like one?"
Shen Zeyu had once witnessed his father trying to play with Su Wan with a maniacal shy grin on his face with rattles and sweets in his hands. "Yes, you do and get up; eldest uncle has sent you a letter."
"Just leave it there. I don't want to read it now. He must have sent this letter to mock me for my inability to give birth to a daughter."
"The messenger said it was about sister Wan Wan," said Shen Zeyu.
Then the father and son looked at each other for two seconds before -
Shen Zizhen ruthlessly snatched the letter and threw his son in a corner.
Shen Zeyu the abandoned child "....." f*ck this life! See if I dress up again for you!