Chapter 18: She Is Not Your Own Sister

“You, you scoundrel!”

Shen Zhixing was infuriated by Shen Zhiyu’s words.

“Mom treated you so well before! If you weren’t so unruly, Mom and Dad wouldn’t have sent you to the countryside!”

Hearing these accusations from his so-called elder brother, Shen Zhiyu chuckled coldly and said, “Is it really because I’m unruly, or because they didn’t want Shen Zhihuai to be sent to the countryside? Even now, you’re still pretending to be innocent?”

“Is that amusing to you?”

Shen Zhiyu was too lazy to continue playing along with Shen Zhixing.

“Lying to others is one thing, but when you lie so much that you start believing it yourself—that’s just ridiculous!”

She raised her hand and pointed toward the gate of the communal courtyard. “If I were you, I’d leave immediately. Don’t wait until I tear off the last shred of your cover—that would be a real embarrassment!”

As a forsaken daughter—and not even the original Shen Zhiyu—she had no reason to humble herself.

If the Shen family kept pestering her like this, she wouldn’t mind going back to the compound to expose all their dirty secrets.

They had deliberately raised their daughter to be rebellious, then turned around and blamed her for being unruly.

It was utterly absurd.

In Shen Zhiyu’s memory, when the original Shen Zhiyu was obedient and sensible, they would say, “Our precious child doesn’t need to be so mature; as long as she’s happy.”

But whenever the original got into trouble, they would say, “It’s nothing, nothing at all, just a small matter.”

If it weren’t deliberate, Shen Zhiyu wouldn’t believe that they had raised their daughter to be broken.

“Shrew! Unreasonable!”

“Shen Zhiyu, after all those years in the countryside, you haven’t learned anything but picked up the manners of a rural shrew. You’re not worthy to be a Shen family daughter!”

“Yes, I’m not worthy!”

Shen Zhiyu laughed mockingly. “That’s why I didn’t come back to the Shen family!”

“I even wrote you a letter—oh right, it was only sent out today, so you might not get it for a few days!”

“Sorry to have you, Young Master Shen, make a wasted trip. My apologies!”

She spoke with biting sarcasm.

Shen Zhixing’s face flushed white and red in turns. How had he never realized before that his sister was so sharp-tongued? In his memory, she was always obedient and sensible, a child they never had to worry about. But when had that gentle, soft sister disappeared?

He thought and thought but couldn’t recall.

Shen Zhiyu ignored Shen Zhixing, brushing him aside.

They say a good dog doesn’t block the road, but Shen Zhixing was clearly no good dog.

Shen Zhiyu went straight back inside, paying no mind to him.

Once inside, she closed the door, indifferent even if Shen Zhixing occasionally came after her or tried to return.

---

After that scene, it was clear the Shen family would despise her deeply and never associate with her again.

...

Shen Zhixing left the communal courtyard in frustration and returned to the Shen family mansion.

At home, he saw the family happily preparing a meal together.

“Zhixing, why are you standing there? Come on, dinner’s ready!”

Sun Meilin, Shen Zhixing’s wife, called out when she saw him standing motionless by the door.

Shen Ao was already seated at the table, while Li Tunan was directing the other two daughters-in-law, Ding Minlan and Su Weihong, to bring the dishes to the table.

Second brother Shen Zhiqiu and third brother Shen Zhiyao were arranging bowls and chopsticks. As for fourth brother Shen Zhihuai, he never came home for lunch, always eating at the company cafeteria with his girlfriend.

Silently, Shen Zhixing took his seat and suddenly asked, “Dad, Mom, since when did we stop setting a place at the table for our little sister?”

The atmosphere around the table immediately stiffened.

Everyone’s eyes turned to the last empty seat—the one reserved for Shen Zhihuai. If he didn’t come, the chair remained untouched.

But there was definitely such a seat.

Sun Meilin gently tugged at her husband’s sleeve, signaling him to stop speaking.

In this family, Shen Zhiyu was like a taboo. Especially after her departure, any mention of her lowered the mood deeply.

In truth, did Shen Zhiyu really have to be sent to the countryside?

The answer was clearly no.

Neither Shen Ao nor Li Tunan truly cared about this daughter. If they did, either of them could have stepped back to let Shen Zhiyu keep her post.

But they didn’t.

The original’s many resentments toward the family were not without reason.

If two children had to send one to the countryside, normally it would be the son—after all, girls were more vulnerable there.

But the Shen family was different.

Using the excuse that the daughter was unruly and needed education, they signed the original up.

“Why bring up your little sister now?”

Shen Ao didn’t get angry but asked calmly.

“She’s returned to the city.”

“She’s already employed at the cotton mill but never intended to come back.”

“I went to find her. She scolded me. At the time, I thought she was just a shrew who hadn’t learned anything good from the countryside but had instead picked up the countryside shrew’s ways!”

“But now I realize, it’s not that she changed. It’s that this family no longer has a place for her.”

---

The room once belonging to Shen Zhiyu was repurposed by Li Tunan after Shen Zhiyu was sent away—it became Shen Zhihuai’s room.

Even if Shen Zhiyu returned, there was no room for her at home.

She was grown up; she couldn’t sleep in her parents’ room. Would she sleep in the living room?

Then there was the seat at the dinner table.

It seemed that from the day Shen Zhiyu was sent away, her seat was removed.

When the three brothers married and started their own families, no one notified Shen Zhiyu, nor did they send anything to their sister on their happy occasions.

“Dad, Mom, why?”

As the eldest son, Shen Zhixing had the right to ask.

Shen Zhiqiu and Shen Zhiyao ate silently, chewing quietly, afraid to draw attention.

Shen Ao remained calm.

After a long hesitation, Li Tunan finally spoke.

“Why?”

“Because she is not your real sister!”

“What?”

“How can that be?”

Hearing Li Tunan’s words, Shen Zhixing, Shen Zhiqiu, and Shen Zhiyao all lost their composure.

“I’m blood type A, and your father is also blood type A, but Shen Zhiyu is blood type B. How can two A’s produce a B?”

“But Mom, you look so much like her!”

“Isn’t there some mistake?”

Shen Zhixing refused to believe it.

His sister looked so much like their mother in her youth—not exactly a perfect match, but at least six or seven points of resemblance. How could she not be their biological daughter?

When Shen Zhixing finished speaking, Li Tunan threw down her chopsticks and shouted angrily, “Are you saying your mother here committed adultery?”

“Ah...?!”

Shen Zhixing was stunned. He hadn’t expected that.

“Tunan, look at you, still so hot-tempered at your age. Can’t you speak calmly?”

Shen Ao put down his chopsticks and patted Li Tunan’s back, trying to soothe her.