Chapter 48 Birthday Banquet

Chapter 48: Birthday Banquet

Two weeks later, all companies had resumed normal operations, and the trial for Shen Siwen's rape case began.

Due to the sensitive nature of the case, the trial was held behind closed doors. Several people came from Yunhai to walk Gao Mengying to the courthouse entrance.

After the miscarriage, she felt a lot lighter. Song Xianghan had arranged a team of professional nutritionists to help her recover, and she was doing well.

Sunlight poured down, falling on her thin back.

Honestly, both Shen Shiyan and Song Xianghan wanted to hire lawyers to represent her in court, but Gao Mengying insisted on going herself. For over twenty years, she had endured endless hardships—from losing both parents, to her only relative falling gravely ill, to the family being buried in debt, and then being raped.

Gao Mengying felt like she'd never been lucky, but she'd known for a long time that what happened, happened. Running from it for a while didn't mean she didn't have to face it. This couldn't be her lifelong nightmare. If she got through it, cut away the rotten flesh herself, new flesh would grow, and she would no longer be afraid.

The gavel wasn't loud, but it echoed through the closed, stuffy courtroom.

After leaving the courthouse, Gao Mengying used her pretty hands to block the glaring sun and smiled bright.

It was finally over. The court sentenced Shen Siwen to 25 years in prison.

Whether he'd make it out after 25 years was a whole other story.

Shen Ci started going to the skate park again. On the rides there and back, he'd video call Shen Sicheng, who had already flown abroad, from the back seat. Both of their faces on the screen were all pixelated, but they still insisted on chatting with that robotic voice.

The call was so laggy the audio came through in bits and pieces. By the time Shen Sicheng finished a sentence, the call was still stuck on the previous one. Shen Ci answered with random words, totally mismatched and super noisy.

It wasn't until the car stopped that Shen Shiyan got out, opened the back door, and hung up himself, finally bringing peace.

Shen Wenzhou's health had been pretty stable lately, and he was resting at home. Shen Shiyan took Shen Ci to say hi.

After Shen Sicheng left, Shen Ci got bored and watched some TV shows, but he dropped most of them after a few episodes. The only one he finished was a cheesy show about a modern person going back in time to lead an ancient dynasty in fixing bad habits and rebuilding the kingdom. Shen Ci loved it because it didn't take any brainpower—simple plot, simple dialogue, simple costumes and sets.

Because of this show, Shen Ci totally didn't get the whole 'paying respects' thing.

Besides, he didn't like Shen Wenzhou anyway. He still remembered the first time they met, when Shen Wenzhou took all his clothes off.

For a few nights, he dreamed Shen Wenzhou died. He'd wake up in the middle of the night super happy, only to realize it was a dream, then toss and turn annoyed before finally falling back asleep.

Luckily, he only saw Shen Wenzhou about once or twice a week.

After the Lunar New Year, he went back to school with a fully done winter homework booklet and became a sixth grader.

Even though he was still a kid, Shen Ci thought he was awesome. During the flag-raising ceremony, listening to the principal's boring speech, he thought about how he had to score high on finals—ideally 499.

But the midterms soon poured cold water on that. Shen Shiyan looked at the report card with 432 points and thought the down-in-the-dumps Shen Ci was funny.

"Isn't this a pretty good score?" Shen Shiyan pointed at the number that seemed like it was near the bottom.

Shen Ci barely lifted his eyes, pulled out his phone, and showed Shen Shiyan a message from Song Qiuchi—a smug cat face emoji.

Shen Shiyan asked, "What?"

Shen Ci turned off his phone, his voice bitter and resentful: "She got 490."

Shen Shiyan pressed his lips together to hold back a laugh but managed to pull out a comforting line from his usual pile of sharp remarks.

"She's been in school four years longer than you."

Shen Ci's face lit up, his gloom gone. He pulled out his phone and started an emoji war with Song Qiuchi.

Shen Shiyan let out a quiet chuckle. It was nearing April, and the evergreens at the Shen residence showed little change, but outside was different. The roadside bushes were sprouting little yellow buds. The spring wind, still carrying remnants of winter's chill, rustled the branches, and soon those buds would turn into green leaves.

He went back to his room, grabbed a light white jacket, and handed it to Shen Ci. "Put this on. We're going out to eat."

Shen Ci told Song Qiuchi to pause the war, turned off his phone, and slipped on the jacket as he followed Shen Shiyan out. "Where are we eating, Daddy?"

"Yuncheng Restaurant." Shen Shiyan instinctively held his hand out a little to the side, and soon Shen Ci, now dressed, took it. "Shen Yao's birthday."

Shen Wenzhou usually didn't like eating out, but after the New Year, he'd handed over most family stuff to Shen Shiyan and Shen Siyu, basically retiring. For once, he didn't refuse Liang Ning's request and agreed to go out.

The birthday banquet was set up in the restaurant's main hall. By the time Shen Shiyan arrived, he realized the venue had been booked out.

After greeting everyone and taking their seats, Shen Shiyan glanced at Li Yun, who was sitting next to Shen Siyu. Since Shen Siwen's case was settled, Li Yun, effectively a widow, had an awkward position in the Shen family. Yet her complexion looked better than before.

Shen Yao had grown up in the Liang family, and a large group of them had come, sitting at the same table as the Shen family.

Shen Ci saw such a big table for the first time and reached out to secretly touch its edge.

Neither set of elders took the main seat, leaving it for the birthday girl, Shen Yao. She was tall and slender, wearing a champagne-pink fluffy long dress with no complicated embellishments, making her look elegant and refined.

Shen Ci's gaze wasn't on Shen Yao, though. He was staring at the cocoa pinecones that Shen Shiyan had brought back from a business trip last time.

Before the meal, there were some blessing ceremonies. After they finished, a three-tiered blue-and-white cake was wheeled in by the staff.

Shen Ci blinked, his eyes shifting to the large fondant bow on top of the cake.

Shen Yao made the first cut, and her younger brother, Shen Rong, took over the knife to distribute slices to everyone.

The adults at the table kept praising Shen Rong for being so thoughtful as he ran around the table with cake plates.

Shen Ci curled his lip.

The cake soon reached Shen Ci. The slice Shen Rong cut was noticeably bigger than everyone else's. If Shen Rong hadn't been walking toward him, Shen Ci would have thought it wasn't meant for him.

Still surprised by Shen Rong's unusual behavior, the boy approaching suddenly stumbled dramatically, as if tripped, and the large piece of cake flew straight at Shen Ci.

Shen Shiyan shielded Shen Ci with his arm, but it was too close and too fast—most of the cream splattered across Shen Ci's cheek, with a bit sticking to Shen Shiyan's sleeve.

No wonder, no wonder he cut it so big.

Shen Ci's cream-covered eyelashes fluttered. Reacting faster than Shen Rong, in the chaos, he quickly grabbed Shen Rong with one hand, pulling the stumbling boy down to kneel by his leg. With his other hand, he scooped up the remaining cake caught by his own leg and, hidden from the adults under the table, smeared it all over Shen Rong's face, rubbing it in hard.

"Shen Rong, big brother! Are you okay?" He hadn't forgotten to put on an act for the adults.

Shen Shiyan, who'd seen it all, twitched the corner of his mouth.