NOVEL WEB
Chapter 10
Shen Yue lay in bed thinking for a full two minutes but still could not figure out what exactly had gone wrong in her life to land her on a reality show.
So she gave up thinking and started playing by herself.
At 9am, several people carrying equipment were let into the Shen house after going through a series of checks. The butler led them to Shen Yue's room and pointed out her bedroom.
Shen Yue was neatly dressed...lying in bed asleep while the suitcase next to her was open but empty.
The crew was not too surprised seeing this. After all, they had filmed many reality shows and the more unruly and disobedient the cast members behaved, the more dramatic moments they could create for the show.
Now, they had to wake her up first.
"Miss Shen Yue?"
Shen Yue was already wearing comfortable athletic clothes with an adorable hat with little ears on her head.
But her proper attire did not equate to proper manners. She curled up into a ball, oblivious to the commotion brought in by the crew.
The show "On the Road to Rome" was broadcasted live with post-production editing. After Shen Yue's livestream channel was opened, curious viewers already clicked in to watch.
[Wow, this girl is still sleeping while the family next door is busily packing up.]
[You say she's sleeping, but she's already dressed. If you say she's awake, she's ignoring all this noise.]
[The parents don't even try to get her up. It's already 9am!]
[Pay attention everyone. This is a princess' bedroom. Watch what you say. She's not some celebrity you can bash around.]
Shen Yue was still unaware that the audience already disliked her attitude and felt she was being pretentious and not taking the show seriously.
There was nothing she could do. Who could resist continuing a dream where you get to enjoy crab and egg fried pancakes with the prison boss lady? If the dream wasn't finished, it would be fine, but since it was still going, she didn't want to wake up yet.
Shen Yichen was "busy" but kept the livestream open to see Shen Yue curled up in the teddy bear pajamas he left her in, dead asleep despite the show crew calling her name several times.
The sporadic barrage of comments in the livestream were all criticizing Shen Yue for being ill-mannered, courting fame, and not taking the show seriously.
Shen Yichen ignored the comments and called the butler directly, "Where are mom and dad?" He had specifically instructed his mother to check on Shen Yue again at 8:30am to see if she had started packing.
"Master and Madam left at 8:17am."
Shen Yichen: ...
Unexpected yet reasonable.
From the day he told those two that he would take over Shen Yue's upbringing, he should have expected this outcome.
"That's great Yichen, we can rest easy with Yueyue's education in your hands. You're our most outstanding child."
Gaining the authority to discipline Shen Yue took no effort whatsoever.
After all, it wasn't the first time his parents had done this.
His parents were impeccable in their character, careers, and conduct, but as parents, they were extremely unreliable.
Oh well.
"Go wake Shen Yue up," Shen Yichen told the butler.
So when the crew was at a loss, the butler walked to Shen Yue's door and called out loudly, "Young miss, the scallion pancakes with extra chili and egg are ready."
Shen Yue's eyes shot wide open.
Too much crab bun can get cloying. Real breakfast still had to be scallion pancakes.
She sat up in bed and looked around at the extra people and cameras in her room, realizing filming had already started.
Although her mind was still a little muddled, she automatically switched to her reclusive young miss mode when she heard the butler.
"Young miss, your eldest brother says if you don't get up and finish packing soon, you'll have to go hungry," the butler added.
That one sentence jolted Shen Yue completely awake.
She didn't want to go hungry.
So the crew watched as Shen Yue, though still silent, leapt out of bed and hastily rummaged through her closet, tossing clothes into her suitcase.
Two sets of loose shirts and pants, two pairs of socks, then Shen Yue grabbed her pillow from her bed and shoved it into the suitcase as well before closing it up. Done.
Shen Yue dragged her suitcase over to the crew, looking at them as if saying, I'm ready, let's go.
Leaving the crew and sparse audience stunned.
This wasn't quite the pampered rich miss they imagined.
[I take back what I said about her attention seeking. This girl really is just casual...]
[True, the stuff she packed is too casual.]
[You guys actually fell for it. Her real luggage must have been taken over already. How could a rich miss need to pack herself?]
Only the butler remained composed, the corner of his professional smile didn't twitch at all.
On Shen Yue's behalf, he told the crew, "You can leave now, have a smooth journey."
Shen Yue took the lead dragging her suitcase out. One camera followed her while the other remained on the butler.
The crew asked, "Excuse me, can Shen Yue not speak?"
The butler smiled politely. "The young miss was traumatized by an accident recently and has lost her voice temporarily."
The crew understood. This could also be used as a dramatic point.
At 2pm, under the crew's lead, Shen Yue successfully converged with the main group.
Before even going in, she saw that charismatic man who could easily attract everyone's attention - her second brother, Shen Shuangyi.
Unlike other celebrities who often dyed their hair different colors to match various looks, Shen Shuangyi's hair had always been black since his debut. He had never changed it.
If his hair color ever changed one day, it must be a wig.
People had asked him why he insisted on keeping his hair black.
They assumed Shen Shuangyi would say something like black hair is the badge of our race and he didn't want to casually alter it, like a certain celebrity had said. But Shen Shuang just raised a brow and indifferently said, "Only this way can I remain lofty and unapproachable."
Shen Shuangyi's fans still frequently shared that video clip of his response. Shen Yue had the misfortune of coming across one of those shares yesterday while browsing her phone.
Shen Yue knew he hadn't told the real reason in the video. He didn't dye his hair because he didn't dare to.
Father Shen had said black hair was the most noble color. No need for those gaudy, colorful chicken feathers. Change it and he'd beat him once for each time he saw it.
Shen Shuangyi had been beaten many times over this. Now it was a conditioned reflex - he absolutely didn't dare touch his hair.
Aside from that, based on her memories, Shen Shuangyi had always been...thoroughly indifferent towards her existence.
Whether she was a fake or real young miss, they shared no connection.
As expected of an entertainment world dream chaser.
This made things easier for Shen Yue too. His thorough indifference meant he wouldn't watch over her like big brother. She could find a place to laze around again.
Shen Yue dragged her suitcase over to Shen Shuangyi's side without a word.
Shen Shuangyi gave her a look, also silent. He didn't even bother with pretense.
But as Shen Yue stopped next to Shen Shuangyi, the barrage of comments exploded.
Unlike Shen Yue the pure amateur, Shen Shuangyi was a top tier celeb. The viewer count of his livestream never dropped below 2 million.
Now seeing Shen Yue appear and their attitude towards each other, his fans erupted.
[What's with this brat's attitude towards our brother? I want to rush in and teach her a lesson!]
[She should be brother's sister standing next to him right? Why does it seem like they don't get along well?]
[Confident reply, remove the 'seem', their relationship clearly isn't good.]
[Poor brother having to deal with a troublemaking child on the show. I'm already feeling heartache for him.]
Among the overwhelming heartache for brother, a couple comments stood out for being atypical. They weren't heartbroken for brother or sister, they were laughing hard.
[I'm dead, the casual little sister turns out to be Shen Shuangyi's sister. Have to say, their personalities really match.]
[Can't blame the sister right, some of you may not have noticed, she's been traumatized and lost her voice.]
But this comment was quickly flushed away by the barrage of brotherly heartache, failing to cause any ripples.
Shen Yue could not see the barrage comments as her phone had already been confiscated when she came over to meet up earlier. All she had left was the program team's phone that was only for contact purposes.
"Hello, are you Shen Ge's sister? I'm Zou Xuezheng, you can call me Sister Zou."
Shen Yue looked at the woman squatting down in front of her to meet her eye level with an innocent and harmless look on her face. Yet in an instant, Shen Yue smelled something off about her perfect facade.
This woman is suspicious, like a big bad wolf dressed up as a beauty, Shen Yue thought. She chose not to respond and silently moved to the other side of Shen Shuangyi to distance herself from the shady beauty.
Shen Shuangyi noticed Shen Yue's action but had no intention of interfering. He came on this show to take care of business, not to babysit.
Promising elder brother to lend a hand if Shen Yue ran into trouble was his bottom line. Anything else was not his concern.
Seeing that Shen Yue ignored her and deliberately changed direction to avoid her, the smile on Zou Xuezheng's face did not change one bit.
She naturally stood up and continued to speak gently to Shen Yue's side, "I'm sorry if I startled you by speaking too abruptly."
Yet Shen Yue still did not respond.
After waiting briefly, Zou Xuezheng turned to speak to Shen Shuangyi, "Teacher Shen, your younger sister doesn't seem used to this. I'll stop bothering her."
Zou Xuezheng intended to leave just like that. It would demonstrate her manner perfectly while leaving a good impression on the audience.
Just then, Shen Shuangyi glanced sideways and stated plainly, "No manners."
There was no scolding tone, as if he was just commenting on the weather today.
Zou Xuezheng was stunned for a moment before realizing Shen Shuangyi must be referring to Shen Yue.
She did not defend Shen Yue and simply bowed slightly before leaving.
As for Shen Yue who was scolded, she thought getting scolded by Second Brother wouldn't make her lose meals. Just take the scolding, maybe if she got scolded more she could go straight home without recording the show.
Shen Yue was not worried at all about performing poorly on the show and getting scolded. In the end, she was destined for prison. These were just fleeting clouds.
Looking at the clouds in the distance, she lamented, ever since becoming a self-secluding person and abandoning manners, she felt so much more relaxed.
It was a flawless and elegant handling of the situation. In just a short while, Zou Xuezheng's livestream chat was filled with fans complimenting her high emotional intelligence.
[This sister is great, she seems to have very high EQ.]
[I don't rule out her having ulterior motives, but she really handled it well, like a true lady of a wealthy family.]
[Compared to other rich ladies, this is on another level.]
Shen Yue was the last guest to arrive. Once she got there, the program team officially started.
"Dear guests, thank you all for coming. Over the next seven days we'll be spending time together. This show is about persevering no matter what, so in the coming days, everything you need will have to be earned through hard work.
To make our time together more harmonious, let's have each guest introduce themselves. Teacher Shen, would you like to start?"
Shen Shuangyi nodded and took the microphone, "I'm Shen Shuangyi."
Just five words, no extra introduction, I am Shen Shuangyi instead of My name is Shen Shuangyi, fully demonstrating Shen Shuangyi's arrogance.
But even so, his fans were going crazy with comments like "Ahhh domineering rich boy, I'm dead!"
It's as if everything Shen Shuangyi does smells like roses.
After he finished, he casually passed the microphone to Shen Yue.
Shen Yue took the microphone without any hesitation and handed it to the stranger next to her.
Jiang Shiwen received the microphone looking a bit confused, but quickly reacted and energetically introduced himself, "Hello brothers, sisters, younger brothers and sisters! I'm Jiang Shiwen, the only child in my family. I like extreme sports and thrilling games. I hope we can all have fun together in the next few days!"
The microphone was passed around, with everyone giving normal introductions.
When it circled back to Shen Yue, the one handing her the microphone was Zou Xuezheng who had spoken to her earlier. She smiled gently but there was a hint of concern in her eyes, "Little sister, you forgot to introduce yourself earlier."
Shen Yue looked at the microphone in front of her but had no intention of speaking yet. So she looked to Shen Shuangyi instead.
She was certain that every word her big brother said had meaning. Since he specifically instructed her, there must be other arrangements.
It wasn't that she didn't want to speak, but that she couldn't.
Sure enough, when the microphone was extended again, Shen Shuangyi naturally took it and gave another curt introduction, "She's called Shen Yue."
That was it.