Qin Shao stood at the door of the twins' bedroom for a while. Compared with his calmness before, his expression now seemed to show a deep thought. Suddenly he had two children. Previously, Mr. Qin never put much concern about this matter. It was only two little children. If he had to raise them, then just raise. It wasn't like he couldn't feed two additional mouths. Fortunately, the children that suddenly appeared weren't boring.
But when he finally had the confirmation that they were his biological children, Mr. Qin's mood seemed to change again. The change was so subtle, he was unable to tell clearly what it was. He wasn't used to this feeling, but it seemed to overfill his heart with a strange, almost suffocating, emotion.
"Sir?"
"Sir?"
Uncle Fu called a few times before Qin Shao returned to his mind.
"Sir, are you going to see the children?" Uncle Fu asked. When he went upstairs, the old housekeeper saw Mr. Qin standing dazedly in front of his children's bedroom.
"No." Although Qin Shao himself thought that he wanted to see the children, but he still didn't know what kind of words should he said to them.
"Let them sleep," A strange emotion suddenly surged inside Mr. Qin's heart. This emotion didn't seem to be right, but even after some time, he still didn't find what was not right, so he had to ignore it.
Qin Shao: "Bring a pot of tea to the study."
Uncle Fu: "Are you going to work late, Sir?"
Qin Shao: "Mm."
——
Su Bei initially thought that Qin Shao didn't come home last night, but when she entered the dining room early in the morning, she saw Qin Shao, ready for work.
Su Bei was shocked: "Dad, did you come back last night?"
"Mm." He answered.
The atmosphere between the father and the daughter seemed to be halted for a while.
"Then, have you eaten breakfast, Dad? Would you like to eat with us?" Su Bei asked politely. Her tone was a little cautious.
"No need." Qin Shao was ready to go out.
Su Bei: "Are you going to the company?"
Qin Shao: "Mm."
Su Bei considering for a while and stopped Qin Shao: "Dad, wait a bit." She ran into the kitchen and quickly ran out again with a lunch box in her hands.
"This is breakfast for you, Dad. Eat it on the road." Su Bei didn't know whether the typical 'overbearing president' ever needed to eat and sleep. The novel didn't seem to mention if Qin Shao usually eats at the company. Originally, Su Bei did not prepare his portion. This one was for her and Su Xiaobao.
The little girl's sweet smile reflected on Qin Shao's pupil, making him unable to say a single word of rejection.
"Okay." Qin Shao took the lunch box from Su Bei's hand and felt the remaining temperature from her palm.
The smile on Su Bei's face deepened a little: "See you later, Dad."
Qin Shao: "Yes."
When he passed the living room, a not so friendly gaze caught Mr. Qin's attention. His eyes met Su Xiaobao, who was sitting on the sofa. Father and son stared at each other for a while. Mr. Qin's eyes flickered briefly before he withdrew his gaze and turned to leave.
"Su Xiaobao, hurry and eat your breakfast!" Su Bei's voice came from the dining room.
Su Xiaobao snorted and walked into the dining room.
"What's wrong with you?" She asked suspiciously. Su Xiaobao's mood was like he has just taken a fight with somebody.
"I don't want you to be like that." He said gloomily.
"Eh? Like what?"
"Deliberately pleasing him." Su Xiaobao threw each word slowly. Naturally, no need to ask who was the 'him' he mentioned.
The boy's sudden remark made Su Bei stunned. She hoped that Qin Shao could accept her and Su Xiaobao's existence. After all, until a long time in the future, they still had to rely on this 'Patron Daddy' to provide for them until they grew up.
No, now the word 'patron' should be removed.
"He is our dad." Su Bei looked at Su Xiaobao seriously.
Her words only made Su Xiaobao frowned even more. Even when they still lived in the countryside, Su Bei never deliberately tried to please anyone. She should live happily and free to do whatever she wanted. He didn't want her to please others for his sake, even if that person was their blood-related father.
——
Qin Shao arrived at the company.
"Good morning, Mr. Qin." Seeing Mr. Qin holding a pink lunch box, Chen De was surprised. As a good assistant, he tried to take the lunch box to bring it for Mr. Qin. As a result, Mr. Qin quickly avoided his hand. Moreover, the boss's eyes seemed to look at himself with disgust.
Chen De: ...
His hands properly washed, ah.
Did that lunch box was given by Xiaobei? Seeing Mr. Qin's reaction, it almost certainly be true.
This realization made Chen De's eyes brightened: If that was true, Sir should have been getting along well with the two children.
With a broad smile, Chen De followed behind Mr. Qin and began to report today's schedule and plan.
~
In the afternoon, Chen De took the time to talk to Mr. Qin about the arrangement for Su Bei and Su Xiaobao's household registration process and finally to tell him about that distressing video.
"Xiaobei and Xiaobao's situation at their former school wasn't too good. I have a video here that I think you need to watch, Sir." Under Mr. Qin's gaze, Chen De handed his phone over.
This was the video of Su Bei's school bullying incident. It started with several girl's mocking voices and insults: "Su Bei, you are a bitch", "Every day only know how to seduce men, so dirty," "Come and smile at the camera, let everyone see how lowly you are"...
Hearing these insults, Mr. Qin's face quickly turned dark.
After a while, the camera finally turned to the bullied girl. At first glance, Qin Shao recognized the girl in the video as Su Bei. She was so thin and pitiful, like the first time he saw her.
A group of girls surrounded Su Bei. They reached out and forcefully tear off her clothes, and some of them even used utility knives. They also tugged on Su Bei's hair, threatening her face with knives, slapping her. The whole bullying process lasted for a long time.
After hitting her for a while, the girls kicked Su Bei to the ground, stomped their feet on her and even tried to smash some parts of her body. One girl took a bucket of dirty water, splashed it on Su Bei, and eloquently said: "Your body so dirty, we kindly help you to wash it." Her words attracted a burst of laughter from the other girls.
......
From beginning to end, the Su Bei in the video just hugged herself tightly, curling up on the ground and biting her lips without saying a word. There was stubbornness in her eyes, but fear and helplessness were even more prominent.
The entire video lasted 11 minutes and 28 seconds. Qin Shao silently watched from the beginning to the end. He uttered not a single word, but his face was horrible.
Chen De knew, although Mr. Qin was silent now, the current him was the scariest.
Qin Shao held the mobile phone so tightly that his knuckles were white with exertion. Chen De seemed to hear the sound of the joints exerting force.
Could it be Mr. Qin was going to crushed his phone?
Right after he had this thought, Chen De heard a loud 'Bang–' and thus, the new mobile phone which he had just bought last month was smashed into pieces. Chen De glanced at the broken parts on the floor, flinched a bit, and stood stiffly, afraid to even make a single movement.
Chen De subconsciously lowered his eyes and held his breath, didn't dare to utter a single word: The current Mr. Qin was so frightening.
In the past, he had also seen his boss angry, but it was the first time he saw Mr. Qin being this furious. However, it was understandable. That was his own child. Although Mr. Qin still hasn't fully adapted to the twins' existence, he nevertheless admitted their relationship after all. Which parents wouldn't be angry when they saw their children being bullied?
"Who did it?"
After a while, Chen De heard Qin Shao asked. Boiling anger seethed from his cold voice.
"They are the problem students in that school..." Chen De answered. After a pause, he said: "The school has dealt with this matter. Their parents were called into the school to pay monetary compensation, and the students were also punished.
However, the school also temporarily suspended Su Bei. But seeing Mr. Qin's current state, Chen De had to hold this information for the time being.
"This is how they deal with it?" Mr. Qin's low voice seemed to be squeezed from his clenched teeth.
Chen De immediately went pale. Schools in the county-level town weren't like the schools in the big cities. They never really understood the graveness of campus violence and bullying incidents. Moreover, at that time, Su Bei and Su Xiaobao were all alone without any adults to protect them...
Did the siblings decide to find Mr. Qin because of this? Chen De suddenly felt distressed. He remembered when he went to pick them up from the police box at the train station: the two children were so thin and dirty.
"Go and check all the students involved, their parents, and teachers in charge of this matter."
"Yes, Sir." Chen De replied with a solemn face. Mr. Qin had made his stance, and it seemed that he wouldn't let this incident went just like that.
After Chen De left, Qin Shao sat in the office for a long time.
——
That night, Qin Shao still came back very late.
Thinking that Mr. Qin the villain was probably even busier than the male lead, having to frequently work overtime, Su Bei didn't particularly care.
However, today Su Bei wasn't going to go to bed early. Now that she had her own computer, she no longer had to go to Qin Shao to borrow one.
After the piano teacher left, Su Bei continued practicing piano for a while. After that, she went back to her bedroom, turned on the computer, and opened the webpage of the 'Red Hacker Challenge.'
Last time, she had passed the initial challenge, so Su Bei directly logged into the homepage. After quickly browsed the information that she didn't manage to properly read last time, Su Bei clicked the link to the registration page.
[Nickname]: She had no idea, just typed a letter 'Q' into the box.
[Age]: 14
[Gender]: Male, Female, Other.
......
After filling in the necessary information, Su Bei clicked on the next step.
'Identity Verification'?! Looking at the words, Su Bei froze and hurriedly moved the cursor to see a row of instructions: 'To ensure the authenticity of the participants' identity and the security of this competition, the organizer will verify the personal information of the participants....'
Su Bei:...
They had a valid reason, but the problem now was that she has no household registration, how could she even fill the ID number?