AFTER his uncle followed his grandfather to the study, Shen Ji Yun was left with his grandmother. At first they were surrounded by other madams of the family, but after a while, they all left.


    Probably because they''re not ufortable with him around. Or, it''s probably more urate to say that they''re notfortable mocking him with his grandmother by his side. So, in the end, he and his grandmother were left alone. Which he very much preferred, to be honest.


    "What have you been up totely, Xiao Yun?" his grandmother asked with a smile.


    "There''s really nothing much," Shen Ji Yun said. "Ah, I''m preparing something with my friends," he added as an afterthought, referring to the training he''s doing with the rest of team Yunyue.


    Hearing her grandson talked about his friends, Wu Meixiu felt relieved. With everything that had happened to this child, she was always worried that Xiao Yun would never try to open his heart to other people.


    She had only heard that he seemed to be friends with the eldest young master of the Bai family, as well as the youngdy from the Su family. But even so, she still worried about this grandson of hers. Probably because he had never heard the other mentioned his friends whenever she asked him about them. So, she thought that this friendship might just be on the surface and her grandson didn''t really consider them as friends.


    But seeing the expression on Xiao Yun''s face when he mentioned his friends just now, it''s clearly not the case. It seemed that the reason the other did not mention his friends in front of her must be because he''s still notfortable around her. That he was keeping her at a safe distance, neither close nor far. Just enough not to be treated as a stranger.


    This thought somehow made Wu Meixiu sad. Although Xiao Yun was closer to her inparison to his other paternal rtives, excluding Ah Mu, it really didn''t mean much considering how the other members of the Shen family treated him.


    Well, it was her fault. She should have tried harder to make Xiao Yun feel more wee in the family. But sadly, no matter what she said, she couldn''t change the stubborn attitude of her husband. He was too set on his old ways, too resistant to change.


    As she was thinking that, she seemed to hear her husband roar.


    "Shen Yi Mu, you bastard,e back here!"


    Wu Meixiu thought that it was just her auditory hallucination. But when she noticed that almost everyone in the living room stopped what they''re doing and looked in the direction of the study, she knew that they heard the same thing as her.


    She also turned her head in the study''s direction, just in time to see her youngest son striding out of the room.


    Shen Ji Yun stood up after seeing his uncle, feeling that something must have happened. Once the other passed by to where he and his grandmother were, his uncle gave his grandmother an apologetic nce before telling Shen Ji Yun that they should go.


    He didn''t ask much and just followed his uncle.


    When they were about to get inside his uncle''s parked car, a voice stopped them from behind.


    "Shen Yi Mu, stop this instant!"


    Shen Ji Yun nced back and saw his elder uncle. The other was looking at his uncle with zing eyes, obviously very angry.


    "Are you really going to be like this?" his elder uncle asked with narrowed eyes.


    His uncle only scoffed at the question. "What, do you really expect me to just stand there, say ''yes'', and obediently meet that woman?"


    Shen Ji Yun became even more confused when he heard that. But he decided that it was not his ce to interfere in this conversation and just quietly got inside the car to at least give the two brothers some form of privacy.


    Shen Yi Wu gritted his teeth. "You could have said ''no'' without telling Dad about your... orientation, as you put it."


    "Hah! Do you honestly think that would be enough? If you didn''t want me to reveal my ''dirty'' secret to our father, then you should have stopped him in the first ce. For all I know, you instigated him to do this."


    Shen Yi Mu saw his brother''s expression darkened after he said that. But he really didn''t care.


    "Is that how you think of me?" the other asked in a cold tone.


    "It doesn''t matter what I think. What happened has already happened anyway," he said with a shrug, as if he couldn''t care less. "If you have nothing more to say, I''m leaving."


    When he was about to turn around, his brother suddenly shouted.


    "Dad is only thinking of what''s good for you!"


    That made Shen Yi Mu stop and the anger that he managed to calm down erupted once again. He sharply turned his head towards his brother.


    "What''s good for me? Are you seriously hearing yourself right now? I''m not a teenager. Heck, I''m not even in my 20s. I will be turning 40 in a few years and you really think I don''t know what''s good for me?"


    He took a deep breath to calm himself when he saw his brother not responding.


    "Let''s just stop here." He turned around and opened the door to the driver''s seat. But before getting inside, he nced once more at his brother and said, "And oh, my threat earlier in the study is still very much valid."


    After saying that, he finally got inside the car and started the ignition. And the car left the Shen family vi''s driveway.


    There was silence inside the car. After a few minutes of that, Shen Ji Yun finally couldn''t hold back his curiosity and asked;


    "Uncle, what happened?"


    Because something obviously did happen. If not, his uncle wouldn''t walk out of the house like that and even argue with the elder uncle. Since he went inside the car in a timely manner, he didn''t really hear their conversation.


    "Oh that. Well, I came out of the closet," his uncle said nonchntly. "It''s surprisingly much easier than I thought."