The System had been given a lot of vacation time recently.

But these vacations were all spent in the little black room. To it, the little black room was no different from a prison!

So much so that when the Host finally let it out of the little black room and asked it to help with makeup and changing faces, the System felt so wronged that it was unwilling. It huddled in the Host’s brain, not wanting to pay attention to the Host at all!

The Host didn’t seem to care about its emotions and asked nonchalantly, “By the way, AC9999, do you have an actual image?”

The System didn’t really want to answer.

But it felt it should show its unhappiness to the Host, so it mumbled listlessly, “Why do you ask that, Host?”

The Host said, “There are too few things at home, I plan to get some decorations. If you have an image, I’ll find a chance to ask A-Shao to draw a portrait for you and hang it at home. How about that?”

The System was pleasantly surprised: “A portrait? A portrait for the System?! Oh my god, no human or System has ever painted a portrait for me before! But, but what if the System doesn’t have an image yet?”

The Host said gently, “Oh, it’s okay. You can take your time to think about it; there’s no rush. By the way, we’re almost home, remember to change my face.”

The System was immersed in the happiness of soon having a portrait: “Okay Host, the System will change your face right away! …Hehe, what should the System’s image look like? Hmm, handsome, and as good-looking as the Host…”

…

“Buzz buzz—”

“Your phone? Is it Siheng again?”

“…Yes.”

Wen family, master bedroom.

Wen Yifeng and Wen Qingcai were silent for several seconds in mutual understanding. Finally, under Wen Qingcai’s nudge, Wen Yifeng reluctantly picked up the phone, unlocked it, and opened the chat window.

Wen Siheng had sent them feedback photos of their son again.

Today, besides photos, there was also a short video attached. In the video, when their son looked towards the camera owner, there was always a faint smile on his face, and his behavior was much more natural than when he was in front of them.

He would take the initiative to talk to the camera owner.

He would take the initiative to get things from the refrigerator to give to the camera owner.

He would also show smiles and intimacy in front of the camera owner that he had never shown in front of them.

Wen Qingcai: …

At first, she didn’t feel it when looking at the feedback photos.

But ever since the interview incident, her brain felt like it had been kicked open. She began to uncontrollably notice these details she had never noticed before.

She began to compare the difference between her son’s attitude towards Wen Siheng and his attitude towards them.

She began to compare the difference between how other people’s sons treated their parents and how their own son treated them.

The more she compared, the more obvious the difference became.

The more obvious it became, the worse her mood got.

Wen Qingcai sometimes recalled what her son looked like when he was young.

Especially before preschool, when her son was the cutest.

But after her son grew up, as various quantifiable realistic factors increased, their requirements involuntarily moved closer to the standards within their circle. Needless to say about what happened afterwards; it slowly evolved into what it was now.

She originally thought that as a child grew up, the fading of cuteness and fun was normal.

But after Wen Siheng came home, she realized that those points about her son that she had liked very much hadn’t faded; he just no longer showed them in front of them.

Besides this, another thing made them feel equally bad: when they tried to resume contact with their son, he began to avoid them.

They sent Wen Shaozhuo countless gifts and, setting aside their status as parents, took the initiative to send Shaozhuo many messages.

But the result?

The answer they got was only a simple emoji sent by Shaozhuo after a gap of thirty or forty hours!

Wen Yifeng stared at the feedback photo on the phone screen for a long time, then suddenly looked away stiffly and sighed irritably: “Wen Siheng… he indeed has some methods. I don’t know how he coaxed Shaozhuo so well.”

…Making them, the biological parents, inferior in their son’s heart to even this fake brother who hadn’t been home for a year!

“If this gets out…”

Wen Qingcai wanted to say “embarrassing,” but her throat felt blocked by something.

She suddenly dazedly recalled that when Shaozhuo was young, there seemed to be a period of time when he particularly liked to cling to her side.

At that time, the way Shaozhuo looked at her was just like how he looked at the camera owner now—his eyes had light in them.

But…

When did this light extinguish for her?

Wen Qingcai fell silent.

After a long silence, she suddenly asked Wen Yifeng: “Did you find the painting mentioned by that teacher?”

Wen Yifeng was stunned, shook his head and said: “No. No impression at all. At that time we must have…”

He paused and said vaguely: “Disposed of it before we had time to look.”

As early as when they realized Shaozhuo didn’t want to see them, they started trying to contact Shaozhuo’s past teachers and doctors, trying to get more information from them to regain Shaozhuo’s trust.

They did get information.

It was just that it wasn’t at all what they initially wanted to obtain.

Wen Yifeng said irritably: “Say, this junior high homeroom teacher, why didn’t she tell us earlier that the painting Shaozhuo secretly drew in class back then was intended for us?”

Wen Qingcai wasn’t unreasonable in this regard. She interrupted her husband: “What does it have to do with this homeroom teacher? She didn’t even know that teacher told us about this matter.”

Perhaps because enough time had passed, when Wen Qingcai recalled this incident, she rarely didn’t view it through any filter.

Wen Qingcai: “Even if she told us, would we not have…”

Would they not have lost their temper at Wen Shaozhuo, torn up the painting without even looking at it?

Wen Qingcai didn’t know.

She was horrified to find that she now found it somewhat difficult to understand her own thoughts back then.

Just then, Wen Siheng’s message notification suddenly popped up on the locked phone screen again.

Wen Siheng: [I have reviewed the birthday celebration plan from both of you. regarding the choice of birthday gift for A-Shao, I suggest you reconsider. A-Shao doesn’t need expensive gifts; what he needs is your sincerity and heart.]

Wen Yifeng was stunned, pulled back to reality by this message: “Sincerity? Heart? Is the painting set personally made by a master from Country D that we specially prepared for Shaozhuo not sincere enough?”

Wen Qingcai understood Wen Siheng’s meaning: “Siheng probably means he wants us to prepare something with our own hands.”

She was silent for a moment and said: “Just like the painting Shaozhuo drew for us?”

…

Wen Shaozhuo finally returned home.

During this busy period of studies, he always left his brother alone while running around outside with his teacher. Although his brother definitely understood his busyness, he still felt very guilty.

So, when the teacher asked him if he had plans for the winter vacation and if he could go out to study with him, Wen Shaozhuo thought about it over and over, mustered the greatest courage of his life, and declined the teacher’s invitation.

Wen Shaozhuo said guiltily: “I’m sorry, Teacher. I’ve let my brother live alone for a long time. I can’t leave him alone even during the winter vacation.”

Teacher Gong was very understanding. Hearing him say this, he waved his hand and said crisply: “Family is important. Go back and enjoy your winter vacation. If you have any questions about painting, contact me online anytime.”

Wen Shaozhuo was extremely grateful.

He felt that besides Brother A-Heng, Teacher Gong was the second nicest person to him in the world!

So he returned home like this.

When his brother went to work at the strawberry hotpot restaurant, he would go to the store, accompanying his brother while preparing for exams.

The final exams or big assignments for various subjects were actually not much of a challenge for him.

Therefore, in the gaps of preparation, Wen Shaozhuo secretly took a large part of his time to prepare a birthday gift for Brother A-Heng.

He and Brother A-Heng were twins with the same birthday.

He, who had never liked celebrating birthdays before, felt for the first time that this day had some special meaning.

However, preparing a gift…

Wen Shaozhuo subconsciously felt like backing out.

He never knew how to prepare a gift that others would like.

From childhood to adulthood, he seemed never to have succeeded.

So much so that when he first had the idea to prepare a gift for his brother, his first thought was: How about… searching online for what gifts to give for birthdays, and directly using the manuscript fees saved during this period to buy one for his brother?

Thinking this, he did exactly that.

However, after investing three days, he just couldn’t find a gift in the online answers that at least satisfied himself first!

…How about following the original idea and drawing a gift for his brother?

No, no, his painting skills still needed improvement. What if his brother thought sending a painting was too perfunctory?

But he didn’t seem to see any better gifts…

Amidst various entanglements and internal friction, his and Brother A-Heng’s birthday quietly arrived.

Their birthday happened to fall in the middle of the exam week.

Fortunately, no exams were scheduled for that day. He squeezed out time, and a whole day was freed up.

“Brother A-Heng, happy birthday!”

“Brother A-Shao, happy birthday!”

On the morning of their birthday, the first thing he and Brother A-Heng did upon meeting was to exchange gifts.

Until he went to sleep last night, Wen Shaozhuo had been anxious about “whether his brother would dislike his gift.”

He presented the gift with apprehension.

Brother A-Heng took the gift, extremely shocked: “Thank you for the gift, A-Shao. I’m very happy! Oh my god, when exactly did A-Shao draw me? I didn’t even know. And did A-Shao secretly beautify me? Am I this… this… uh… like an angel?”

Wen Shaozhuo thought to himself, This is clearly what my brother looks like in my heart.

Wen Shaozhuo asked his brother in a small voice: “Brother, do you like this gift?”

His brother laughed loudly and hugged him: “Like it, of course I like it! This is A-Shao’s best sincerity.”

…His brother would never lie to him.

Wen Shaozhuo’s unease finally settled. He lowered his head somewhat shyly and smiled along.

After laughing, he remembered to open the gift his brother gave him—the birthday gift his brother gave him was a photo album.

A…

Wen Shaozhuo stared blankly at the person in the photo album: “Brother, is this… you or me?”

His brother laughed until he fell over: “How can A-Shao not even recognize this? Look, the person in this photo is holding a paintbrush. How could it be me?”

Wen Shaozhuo hurriedly explained: “No, brother, I remember I should have looked very thin back then, like a bamboo pole. Classmates used to laugh at me like that, saying I wasn’t good-looking at all. And how could I have such, such… Brother, look at the person in this photo smiling! He looks so normal! But I, I…”

Brother A-Heng raised his eyebrows and refuted him: “What thin or not thin, normal or not normal? We are twins, looking exactly the same. Whatever I look like, A-Shao looks like that too. Look closely, this sunny and cute person in the photo is you!”

Wen Shaozhuo’s ears exploded with redness. He hurriedly covered his brother’s mouth: “…Brother, your wording!”

But his brother was grinning and dodged his hand in an instant. They played around, and for a while, the entire villa was filled with a cheerful atmosphere.

…Birthday.

So, a birthday felt like this.

Wen Shaozhuo didn’t forget what he wanted to take his brother to do today. They each stored their gifts and went out together. Wen Shaozhuo took his brother to the commercial district.

He had saved quite a bit of manuscript fees during this time.

Using these fees, he earnestly picked out a whole set of new clothes for his brother.

This was a goal he had set many months ago.

His brother grew up in an orphanage. Until the day he came home, he wore very ordinary, very simple clothes.

So he always thought, if he could save some money, he must pick out a good set of new clothes for his brother.

Lin Chen looked seriously at Wen Siheng in the mirror. He raised his chin, tilted his head, and examined these indeed extremely fitting clothes.

He asked the System: “Guess how much this outfit costs? Not allowed to hack into the cashier’s computer to look.”

The System’s movements paused, and it said aggrievedly to the Host: “Host, you know the System’s knowledge of human society is limited!”

Lin Chen said indifferently: “Starting at five figures. Which means A-Shao’s price per manuscript has risen to eight hundred yuan during this time, otherwise where would he get the confidence to buy me clothes at this price point.”

Lin Chen turned left and right in front of the mirror, sighing to the System in his heart: “Earning ten yuan, nine yuan ends up in my pocket. This really makes me a little embarrassed to speak.”

The System said righteously: “What’s wrong with that? Host, if you work one more minute, you deserve one more minute of money! Besides, you didn’t price him according to the original price point. You’ve been very merciful, Host!”

Lin Chen felt the System made a lot of sense and said sincerely: “Hmm, makes a lot of sense.”

So, after the clothes shopping session ended, “Wen Siheng” politely pulled back and refused for a while before being “forced” to accept the ten-thousand-yuan clothing set. Using the excuse of going to the restroom, he temporarily left Wen Shaozhuo’s line of sight.