Seeing Fang Ji’s rapid change of heart, the system was overjoyed. “Wow, Host, this work target of yours is so easy to conquer! Does this mean you can clock off early this time?”

Lin Chen sneered. “Clock off? Naive. This is just the easiest first step of the game.”

The system was shocked. “Host, you spent more than half a year straightening out Qi Xiuyi, and then you clocked off and entered the observation period, right? This time, look, Fang Ji isn’t looking for other brothers and sisters anymore, and he’s not generating new complaints. The key task Fang Yecheng entrusted to you has been resolved, hasn’t it?”

Lin Chen let out a soft scoff, his hand quickly grading homework. “Qi Xiuyi’s problem stemmed from the third father’s doting, but the core of the problem still lay with himself. Once straightened out, given his age, no amount of doting would make him go astray again.”

“But what about Fang Ji? If I were to close my eyes and ‘die suddenly’ right now, do you think his behavior of seeking love externally wouldn’t relapse? Wouldn’t it become even more severe?”

The system was momentarily speechless. It thought for a long time and finally remembered something the Host had said during a conversation a few months ago.

The system suddenly became excited. “Wait, I remember, Host! You told me that the root of Fang Ji’s problem is a lack of love, that his parents and siblings can’t meet his emotional needs. So, your next step should be to teach his parents how to care for him, right?”

Lin Chen asked, “Your database hasn’t rusted yet?”

The system chuckled sheepishly.

Lin Chen said calmly, “Sixth Dad, Sixth Mom, Sixth Bro, and Sixth Sis are, without a doubt, pure-bred career brains. The pleasure and satisfaction brought by career success can completely fill their spiritual world. Therefore, they don’t have, and may not even understand, the desire for a family’s care and companionship.”

“Trying to teach them how to care for Fang Ji through ordinary methods is like teaching a physical education student to compose poetry and write eight-legged essays—it’s like playing a zither to a cow.”

“If I teach them like that, they might be able to show concern for a while during my tenure. But once I leave, it won’t be long before they revert to their old ways.”

The system was speechless for a moment, then muttered under its breath, “No wonder you have to charge them double the price. After fixing the young one, you have to fix the old ones. For not charging them five times thirty million, Host, you truly are a living saint!”

The system asked curiously, “So what are you planning to do, Host? They are your clients, after all. You can’t possibly lay a hand on your clients, can you?”

Lin Chen was displeased. “What do you mean ‘lay a hand’? Don’t be so vulgar!”

Lin Chen said flatly, “Pure-bred career brains like them may not understand emotional desires, but they can certainly understand needs. Once the risks and rewards corresponding to those needs become clear, they will naturally gravitate towards the choice with the least loss.”

Lin Chen: “So—”

After finishing the homework, Lin Chen pulled the little Dingdang, who was hugging his knees and contemplating life behind him, to his side. He revealed a smile to the system in his mind: “First, we need to make them see the need.”

After deleting all his paid-for brothers and sisters, Fang Ji stared at the GreenChat windows of his parents, brother, and sister—who wouldn’t contact him unless he contacted them—and fell into a deep silence and emo state.

Many times, he would wonder if he even had a place in his family’s hearts.

Were they really too busy with work to have time for him, or did they simply not care whether he existed in the family or not?

To say they didn’t care, his parents and siblings would regularly transfer him money. One sum from each, so he received four allowances every month.

If he ran out of money quickly in any given month and wanted more, he just had to say the word, and they would immediately transfer him a larger sum, never treating him unfairly.

But to say they cared about him at all?

…They didn’t celebrate the Spring Festival.

They didn’t celebrate birthdays.

Any ordinary familial affection that ordinary families could have was as rare as a luxury item in their home.

Many times, Fang Ji even suspected whether his parents and siblings even remembered which university he was attending or what year he was in.

The illusion of a “very loving family,” built up over three months of being fulfilled by his new real brother, was shattered in an instant.

As Fang Ji quietly waited for his brother to finish his work, he couldn’t help but fall into a deep sense of self-doubt and sadness.

Why hadn’t his parents and siblings noticed that their chat windows had been empty for so long?

Or had they noticed, but they just didn’t care?

Did they actually not care whether he remembered them in his heart and went to talk to them every day?

Did they actually not like him?

“Xiao Ji?”

A gentle and puzzled voice sounded in front of him. Fang Ji abruptly looked up to see Fang Chengyu just putting his pen back in its holder. He turned around, and with a light smile, pulled him to his side. “What’s wrong? Who made my little brother unhappy?”

After getting familiar and close with his brother during this period, Fang Ji liked to talk to him about everything, big or small.

His brother was older, more experienced, gentler, and more patient than him. He could always comfort his emotions at the right time and even offer him many different perspectives.

But today, Fang Ji was uncharacteristically hesitant.

The reason was simple: his parents and siblings were also his brother’s parents and younger siblings.

When he told his brother about other things, he could be sure that his brother would be on his side.

But what if it was about their parents and siblings?

Would his brother… also think that he had too much free time, thought too much, was too childish, too annoying?

However, this hesitation only lasted for a moment.

When he cautiously looked up and met his brother’s eyes, his brother’s consistently patient and gentle gaze instantly injected him with infinite courage to speak.

Fang Ji finally opened his mouth.

“Brother, let me tell you something…”

Fang Ji huddled next to Fang Chengyu and, in a small voice, poured out everything about his years of being alone at home, never having family to celebrate New Year’s, holidays, or birthdays with him.

His voice was very low. “Brother, you don’t know how happy I was when I found out that I had another brother, and that this brother wasn’t working in the family business.”

“This year’s New Year’s Eve and Spring Festival were the first complete holidays I’ve spent with family in so many years. Before… three years ago, Dad did come home on the second day of the New Year, but he just came back for a meal and then went out to discuss business with his partners in the capital.”

Fang Ji softly counted the handful of times his parents and siblings had come home, year by year, clearly, all countable on one hand.

When he finally got to the events of the recent months, his expression grew sad.

He asked his brother with a sense of grievance, “Brother, are they usually like this with you too, not contacting you? Are they really busy with work, or… or do they just not want to talk to me? It’s been three months already. Have they… have they not thought of me even once?”

Fang Ji rarely spoke so bluntly about his family’s problems to others, not even to his best friend, Li Yunhui.

After all, if something like this got out…

How much would it affect his parents’ and siblings’ reputation in their circle?

Until today.

He had finally waited for someone he could safely tell all his thoughts to.

Fang Chengyu listened gently to every word Fang Ji said.

When he spoke of being left at home, spending festivals and birthdays alone for years, his brow furrowed and never relaxed.

When Fang Ji spoke of his situation over the past three months, Fang Chengyu rarely showed a hint of displeasure.

Fang Chengyu was very angry. “It’s been like this for over ten years? How can this be! I always thought they were just too busy this year and couldn’t come home, but if what you’re saying is true… do they… do they have no concept of family at all? A family without togetherness, without mutual care, can that still be called a family?”

Fang Ji’s eyes widened abruptly. He gripped Fang Chengyu’s sleeve tightly, his words stuttering with excitement. “Right… right! Brother, you-you think so too, right?!”

Fang Ji had finally found someone in his family who could understand his thoughts.

For a moment, excitement and sadness mingled on his face. He was half-happy, half-sad. “That’s great, brother. Boohoo, I’m finally not alone at home anymore! …But brother, what do you think I should do? Why do they never think of me? Do they not love Xiao Ji? Do they not care about Xiao Ji at all? Are they…”

Fang Chengyu gently stroked Fang Ji’s head and said calmly, “Don’t worry, Xiao Ji, I’ve thought of a good idea…”

…

[No. 6 Family Work Group]

Six: [@All Members, please compile all text and phone correspondence with Fang Ji within the last three months, list them in an Excel sheet, and send the anonymized and encrypted file to the work email hengyuf@ before 22:00 on the 16th of this month.]

After a full day of work, Fang Yecheng finally had five minutes to rest.

He played the latest policy news for the relevant industry in his newest target country on his phone while doing some simple stretching exercises by the bed.

Suddenly, his phone vibrated. A new message popped up in the Sixty Million Work Group, which had been quiet for a long time.

He casually opened it to take a look.

Hmm? Correspondence with Xiao Ji?

Fang Yecheng’s stretching suddenly paused.

He lowered his head in thought, digging with great difficulty through his mind, which was filled with various work problems. He finally unearthed a small thought that had vaguely occurred to him a few days ago—

Recently, his GreenChat had been a bit quiet?

Seeing the message now, he remembered.

Oh, so it was Xiao Ji who had been a bit quiet recently.

This memory wasn’t very clear, so much so that he had to stop stretching, search for “Fang Ji” in GreenChat, and click on it to see. Only then did he discover that Xiao Ji’s last message to him was from three months ago!

The last message from three months ago was a video from some app that he had no interest in, which Xiao Ji had shared with him.

Of course, he wouldn’t have clicked on it to watch.

Just at this moment, a message from the Fang family’s (real) eldest brother popped up on GreenChat, followed by several more in a row.

[Dad, Xiao Ji hasn’t come to chat with me at all in the last three months!]

[Has there been any news from Uncle Li’s side? What’s been happening with Xiao Ji recently? That Sixty-Million-Dollar big brother hasn’t done anything bad to Xiao Ji, right?]