After getting kicked out of our house, my brother carried three-year-old me while collecting protection money on the streets. He stepped on Julian Vance's hand, threatening, "If you don't have the money, leave the hand!" Just as I was about to cheer him on, my vision blurred. [The villain is so pitiful. Kicked out of the Vance family the moment they found out he wasn't their biological son. And now he runs into these awful siblings!] [No wonder he turns dark later and chops up everyone who hurt him to feed the fishes! Only the heroine ever showed him warmth.] [The villain's real dad is a ruthless boss in both the underworld and legitimate business! Once they reunite, the first thing he does is use these siblings as bait for sharks!] Shark bait? I shivered, scrambled down from my brother's arms, and said, "Brother, you don't have money, so I'll buy you a lollipop!" 1 My brother, Caleb, rolled up his sleeves, revealing a temporary tattoo he bought from a street vendor yesterday. A green dragon was sprawled across his thin arm. "Sunny, is it crooked?" Caleb twisted his arm, frowning so hard he could have crushed a fly. I stood on my tiptoes, scrutinizing the wobbly dragon. Honestly, the quality was terrible. The dragon's eyes were smudged together, making it look like a malnourished eel. "Perfect! Super scary!" I gave him a thumbs up, lying through my teeth. Caleb grinned, showing his sharp canines. He just turned twenty-two, yet he had to shoulder the burden of raising both of us. Three days ago, my dad found a new wife who was already pregnant. She claimed she was carrying twin boys. However, she said my zodiac sign clashed with them. Hearing this, my dad kicked me out without a second thought. Caleb punched our dad, packed a few clothes, picked me up, and left. Our stepmother, Helen, seized the opportunity to cut off our allowance, wanting to teach us a lesson. She even went to Caleb's university and suspended his enrollment. She sent people to harass us constantly; whenever Caleb found a part-time job, she'd ruin it. "Today's target is Julian Vance from A University." He squatted down to my level. "I heard his family owns a listed company and is super rich. And..." He lowered his voice mysteriously. "He looks really easy to bully." I nodded, though my heart drummed nervously. Caleb was much older than me, but he had never bullied anyone. Even stray dogs barked at him. Collecting protection money seemed like a terrible idea. We camped outside the gate of A University until sunset, when a tall figure finally emerged. Julian Vance looked even better than in photos. Pale skin, high nose bridge, gold-rimmed glasses—the picture of a refined young master. "Follow him." Caleb took my hand, trailing quietly. Julian turned into a secluded alley. Just as we were about to follow, he disappeared. Sounds of punches and muffled groans echoed from the alley. "Damn, someone beat us to it!" Caleb stamped his foot in frustration. Hiding around the corner, we saw four or five thugs surrounding Julian, kicking and punching him. Julian curled up on the ground, his glasses shattered, but he didn't make a sound. "Tough guy, huh?" The leader, a blonde thug, grabbed Julian's hair. "Heard you're the Vance family heir? What, did you go bankrupt? Can't even pay protection fees?" Blood trickled from Julian's mouth, but he suddenly smiled. "Vance family? That's not my family." Enraged, the blonde thug kicked him in the stomach again. I covered my eyes, too scared to watch, until the sounds of the beating faded away. "Sunny, wait here." Caleb straightened his collar and swaggered into the alley. Hiding behind the wall, I watched Caleb kick the broken glasses aside and look down at Julian. "Hey, time to pay up." Caleb deepened his voice deliberately. "Those guys were my underlings. They didn't get enough." Julian slowly looked up. Blood from his forehead dripped into his eyes, making his gaze look particularly dark. He said nothing, just stared coldly at Caleb. "No money?" Caleb stepped on Julian's hand. "If you don't have the money, leave the hand!" Just as I was about to rush out and cheer for my brother, my vision blurred, and a stream of text floated by with an audio narration. 2 [The villain is so pitiful. Kicked out of the Vance family the moment they found out he wasn't their biological son. And now he runs into these awful siblings!] [No wonder he turns dark later and chops up everyone who hurt him to feed the fishes! Only the heroine ever showed him warmth.] [The villain's real dad is a ruthless boss in both the underworld and legitimate business! Once they reunite, the first thing he does is use these siblings as bait for sharks!] Shark bait? I shuddered, an image of a fishhook piercing my cheek flashing in my mind. "Brother!" I scrambled over and hugged Caleb's leg. "Wait!" Caleb froze. "Sunny?" I pulled the last lollipop from my pocket and held it out to Julian. "Big Brother, do you have no money? I'll treat you to some candy!" Julian's gaze shifted from cold to confused. He looked at me, then at Caleb, and finally at the strawberry lollipop. "Sunny, what are you doing?" Caleb whispered. I winked at him frantically, standing on my toes to whisper in his ear, "Brother, I hear police sirens." The text said the heroine would pass by in five minutes and call the police for Julian. Startled, Caleb pulled his sleeve down and retracted his foot. Julian slowly sat up, wiping the blood from his face with his sleeve, but didn't take the candy. "Are you together?" His voice was hoarse but surprisingly pleasant. "No!" I shook my head vigorously. "We were just passing by! My brother... he saw you were hurt and came to help!" Caleb stared at me wide-eyed, as if asking, Are you crazy? Julian let out a cold laugh, using the wall to stand up. He was half a head taller than Caleb. Even covered in injuries, he couldn't hide his innate nobility. "Help me?" He pointed to the footprint on his wrist. "Like this?" I thought fast. "My brother is practically blind! Yeah! He steps on me all the time at home!" Caleb: ???? Julian's gaze shifted between us, finally settling on the lollipop in my hand. Unexpectedly, he reached out and took it. "Thanks," he said softly. Caleb didn't understand why I lied, but he picked me up and stepped back. "Since you're okay... uh... we're leaving now. Sunny, let's go home." As we turned to leave, I saw a jade pendant revealed by Julian's open collar. It glowed with a warm green light, carved with intricate lotus patterns. Text floated by again: [Didn't these siblings steal the jade pendant the villain's grandmother left him? Why did the plot change?] [Only the grandmother insisted on keeping him after finding out he wasn't biological. Sadly, she died of a stroke two days ago.] [The heroine, Bella, saw everything from the alley entrance and secretly called the police! They'll be here in a minute!] [Just wait, in five days, the big boss will find him and spoil him rotten. But! The boss gets gunned down protecting the villain in a gang fight. The villain is always torn between redemption and darkness.] I trembled, nearly falling from Caleb's arms. Steal the pendant? Wouldn't that make Julian hate us to the bone? Thank god we didn't! And the police were almost here! "Brother!" I tugged urgently at Caleb. "We have to help this Big Brother catch the bad guys!" Caleb looked confused. "What bad guys? They ran away ages ago!" Before he finished, hurried footsteps approached from the alley entrance. Three officers rushed in. The leading policewoman shouted, "Nobody move!" 3 A girl in a white dress timidly followed the police, pointing at Caleb. "That's him. I saw him collecting protection money just now..." Is this the heroine, Bella? I stared at her wide-eyed. In the scrolling text, she was the only one who gave Julian warmth. "Officer, it's a misunderstanding!" Caleb quickly put me down and raised his hands. "We were just passing by!" The blood on Julian's mouth had dried. He looked at Bella with a complicated expression. "Student, are you okay?" The policewoman asked Julian with concern. "Someone reported you were being extorted." Bella added softly, "I saw him step on this student's hand, saying if he didn't pay, he'd have to leave the hand..." I wiggled anxiously in Caleb's arms! Oh no, if Caleb gets arrested, he can't take the civil service exam! "That's not true!" I scrambled down, rushed to Julian, and tugged his shirt. "Big Brother, tell the police officer my brother was helping you!" Everyone looked at Julian. He looked down at me, his dark eyes bottomless. My palms sweated with nerves, afraid he'd say something against Caleb. After a few seconds of silence, Julian spoke. "They were indeed helping me." Bella's eyes widened in shock. "But I clearly saw..." "The guys who beat me ran away. These two were just passing by," Julian said calmly. The policewoman was skeptical. "Then why did this young lady report you were being extorted?" Julian pushed up his broken glasses. "She saw wrong." Bella's face flushed red. "I... I clearly saw..." "Let's go to the station for a statement," the policewoman interrupted. "This student needs medical attention for his wounds." So, we were all taken to the nearby police station. Caleb was sweating bullets, whispering to me, "Sunny, why did Julian help us?" I shook my head, but secretly wondered... was it because of the lollipop? While giving statements, I noticed Julian kept rubbing the jade pendant. "Family's here." The duty officer opened the interrogation room door. A woman in a Chanel suit stormed in on high heels and slapped Julian without a word. Slap! The crisp sound echoed in the station. Julian's face turned to the side, hair falling to cover his eyes. "Julian! You've already been kicked out of the Vance family, and you still dare use our name to cause trouble outside?" The woman's voice was piercingly sharp, her nail almost poking Julian's nose. Curled in Caleb's arms, I saw Julian's Adam's apple bob, but he said nothing. The text scrolled frantically before my eyes: [WTF this adoptive mom is cruel!] [It was the hospital's mistake, not Julian's fault!] [The way Julian's eyes are red but holding back tears is heartbreaking!] Then, a well-dressed boy walked in slowly, supporting the trembling woman. "Mom, don't get angry, it's bad for your health." He turned to Julian, a faint smile on his lips. "Bro, strange isn't it? You never got extorted growing up, but the moment you leave home, this happens? Unless..." The woman realized something. "You hired people to act this out?" The boy, named Adrian Vance, shrugged. "Maybe it's a coincidence. But Bro is smart, he knows how to garner sympathy." 4 I felt Caleb's arm muscles tense up. He whispered in my ear, "What's wrong with this family? Their kid got bullied..." Julian finally looked up, a bright red handprint on his left cheek. The look he gave his adoptive mother made my heart tremble. "Mrs. Vance," he said softly. "I didn't use the family name. The police... found out." Mrs. Vance scoffed, pulling a stack of cash from her Hermes bag and throwing it on the table. "Officer, here's the compensation. If he causes trouble again, treat him like a hooligan. Don't call us." Bills scattered on the floor, one landing near Julian's shoe. He stared at the bill and suddenly gave a tiny smile. The text exploded again, loud enough that I covered my ears: [Ahhh that smile is torture!] [Does the mom know she just crushed his last bit of dignity?!] [In the original story, Julian put her in a mental asylum later!] "Mom!" Adrian suddenly pointed at the jade pendant on Julian's neck. "Isn't that our family heirloom? Why is he still wearing it?" Mrs. Vance's face changed instantly. She reached out to grab the red string. "Hand it over! That belongs to the real son!" Julian stepped back sharply, his back hitting a metal cabinet with a loud bang. For the first time, he looked panicked, protecting the pendant with both hands. "Grandma left this to me!" "Your grandma?" Mrs. Vance shrieked. "That's Adrian's biological grandma! If you hadn't taken my son's place, this jade would have been his!" "Mrs. Vance." A deep male voice interrupted her. The older officer taking notes stood up, frowning at the farce. "This is a police station." Mrs. Vance restrained herself but kept glaring at the pendant. Adrian whispered something in her ear. She huffed, "Julian, don't think this is over." As they left, Adrian glanced back at Julian. That look chilled me to the bone. It was the same look Helen gave me when she accused me of hitting her pregnant belly. The room fell terrifyingly silent. Julian slowly slid down to sit on the floor, fingers trembling. It was dark when we finished. Streetlights stretched Julian's shadow long as he walked alone into the night, looking incredibly lonely. Caleb held me on the steps and scoffed. "I'm a real son kicked out, he's a fake son kicked out. Is there no justice in the world?" I hugged Caleb's neck, eyes fixed on Julian's retreating figure. He looked... so pitiful. Today was a bust. Caleb spent two hours helping clean a bun shop just to trade labor for five buns. Returning to our neighborhood, we smelled acrid smoke. Looking up, thick smoke poured from a window on the fifth floor of Building 3. "Fire!" Caleb exclaimed. Text exploded in my ears and eyes: [Adrian, the male lead, is so petty! He tipped off the thugs!] [Julian's apartment was set on fire! The thugs are waiting for him in the alley!] [The male lead acts noble but plays dirty. No wonder the villain tortures him later!] "Sunny, stay in the security booth! I'm going to help put out the fire! Don't run off!" Caleb put me down, stuffed the buns in my arms, and rushed off. As soon as he was gone, I turned and ran toward the back gate.
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