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nt to talk with you about.”

At that, Rong Zhouzhong, who was yawning in boredom listening to the school matters, and Li Jiuzheng, who was absorbed in eating, looked at Shi Jin with a knowing expression in their eyes.
Sure enough—Shi Jin would not invite them to meet because of such a small thing like “his admission notice arriving”.

Shi Weichong and Xiang Aoting froze for a moment.
Remembering how the birthday party broke up, they frowned and eyed Shi Jin with caution, wanting to speak but hesitating to do so.

“This isn’t about what happened at the last dinner,” Shi Jin interrupted them, correctly reading their expressions.
He pulled out a tablet from his backpack and made a video call to Fei Yujing, continuing, “I want to talk about something else, something related to all of us.”

His brothers were puzzled—something related to all of them? Could it be the Ruixing Corporation?

It took Fei Yujing a while to answer the call.
He looked tired, apparently having just finished a day’s work.
At the sight of the people sitting at the table on the other side of the video, his eyebrows knitted.
{Are you calling me specially just to watch you eat?}

“You can watch us eat if you want to, but before that, I have something to say.
I called you so that you can listen as well,” Shi Jin answered, propping the tablet up.
He glanced around; with all eyes focused on him, he spoke, emphasizing each word as they left his mouth: “At the end of June, I went to M Province and met with Xu Chuan.”

Shi Weichong and Fei Yujing’s expressions immediately turned serious.
Frowning, Xiang Aoting asked, “Why would you go to see him, Xiao Jin?”

“I’ll explain later.
First, listen to this recording.” Shi Jin took out his phone and played the audio file he’d prepared in advance.

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【But Shi Xingrui was more rational than I thought.
Instead of rushing to find the woman, he investigated her first.
When he was ready, he ‘met her by chance’ and made her a deal: he wanted to have a child with her, and that child had to be a son.】

Xu Chuan’s voice filled the room.
The word “deal” was so jarring that everyone’s expression changed.
Xiang Aoting sprang to his feet unconsciously.

The woman Xu Chuan mentioned should obviously refer to the mother of one of them—but which one? Who… was the product of this deal?

Shi Jin paused the recording and glanced at Li Jiuzheng, who had a blank expression on his face.
“What happened between our father and your mother wasn’t a deal—she was simply deceived by him.”

“I, I don’t…” Li Jiuzheng’s rigid body slowly relaxed.
The corners of his mouth moved, then he abruptly lowered his head, raising his hands to hide his face.
He didn’t want his current expression to be seen.

Hearing Shi Jin indirectly confirm their guess about the “deal”, the other brothers’ faces became even more ugly.

Fei Yuijing’s voice came from the tablet’s speakers, asking about the key point: {Who is the woman Xu Chuan mentioned?}

Shi Jin looked towards the screen.
“It’s your mother, but she’s not the only one who agreed to this deal.”

He was pretty much straightforwardly telling the others that except for Li Jiuzheng, everyone was a child “bought” by Shi Xingrui.
This was directly negating their biggest reason for hating Shi Jin in the past—if Shi Xingrui hadn’t thought of them as sons in the first place and their mothers went into things with their eyes wide open, how could he “abandon” them? The truth was that they had never been in any position to resent Shi Jin.

To explain in a more direct and brutal way: how to treat the bought “goods” was the buyer’s freedom, the “goods” did not have the right to express an opinion.

The room was deathly quiet.
Finally, Rong Zhouzhong, who had apparently digested this revelation the fastest, said, “So what about this ‘deal’, Shi Jin? That old bastard is dead, and though it wasn’t easy, we’re finally able to sit at one table as friends.
If you want to settle accounts with us or want us to apologize, we will.
The past is the past, why bother digging up old drama? It’s nothing more than trouble.”

Shi Jin didn’t reply, just played the next file.

【I want to know who really ordered you to hire Werewolf.
Don’t tell me it was Xu Tianhua, I don’t believe it.】

【Not Xu Tianhua.】

The recording was very short and came to an end in only a few seconds, but everyone fell quiet again.

“That’s why I went to talk to Xu Chuan—I suspected that it wasn’t Xu Tianhua who wanted to harm me,” Shi Jin said, putting down his phone, then glanced around at his brothers.
“And he confirmed it, it wasn’t Xu Tianhua.
So, it’s not that I wanted to dig up the past but that I had to; I needed to find the real culprit in order to protect my life.”

This immediately drew Xiang Aoting’s attention.
“If it’s not Xu Tianhua, then who?” he asked, eyebrows knitted.
“Ruixing’s other shareholders? Father’s old enemies?”

Rong Zhouzhong’s expression changed a little.
He let out a cold snort and said, “Fourth, with you being this daft, does the military really think it’s a good idea to send you on missions? The little bastard invited us out for dinner and specifically told us about this—isn’t it clear who he really suspects? Shi Jin, let me repeat myself: while neither my mother nor I are good people, and I can believe she agreed to give birth to a child in exchange for resources, why would we do such a self-destructive thing as try to harm you? You can find me to settle accounts for other things, but you can’t doubt that I’ve ever wanted to kill you.
If you dare to make an unjust accusation against me, I’ll post all of your ugliest photos on my Weibo and announce you’re debuting! You and that Lian Jun will be annoyed to death!”

Worthy of the name of “Demon King Rong Zhouzhong”, this was truly a terrible threat.

Shi Jin just looked at him in silence, almost unable to keep his serious expression from cracking.

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“It’s not me either,” Li Jiuzheng joined in, giving Shi Jin a sideways glance.
Perhaps because his mood hadn’t stabilized yet, his eyes were strangely gentle.
“My mother is dead so she won’t harm you, and I’m not going to do anything stupid.
And you look like my mother, I love you—”

The hairs on Shi Jin’s neck stood on end.
He grabbed his chair and moved to the side, interjecting with a wan smile, “Let-let’s leave it at that, we’re blood brothers…”

“—r eyes,” Li Jiuzheng finished the sentence, smiling beatifically.

Shi Jin: “……”

Though your smile is very beautiful, the way you speak is terrifying, you know?

“…Actually, I think your eyes look better,” Shi Jin replied, quickly turning around to avoid Li Jiuzheng’s gaze.
He felt that choosing to sit next to him was a huge mistake.
He glanced around the table and didn’t mince his words: “In fact, Xu Chuan has told me who really wanted to harm me, but considering that he’s lied before, I’m not going to just believe what he says.
Since he might just want to provoke our relationship, I specifically called you all out to talk with you.”

Xiang Aoting frowned as he looked at Shi Weichong, whose expression couldn’t be seen because his head was lowered, and asked, “What are you planning to do, Xiao Jin?”

“I’m going to give you all a chance to know the whole truth,” Shi Jin said, looking around at his brothers again.
He pointed at his phone.
“The recordings I played to you were just excerpts—I have the full version, and can send it to you if you want to hear it all.
In addition, besides recording, I have the results of investigations into our father and family.
I can send them to you as well, but you’d better be prepared—the information won’t be pleasant.
Also, I am taking a risk by telling you this.
Once you’ve read through everything, I hope you can tell me what position you have chosen.
If you say nothing, I will default to the brotherly relationship between us being terminated, and I’ll see you later on the other side of the playing field.”

His words were to the point and left them no leeway.
Everyone’s expressions turned solemn.
All the people present here were smart and naturally understood what was going on: Shi Jin was forcing them to take sides.
At the same time, he was also giving the person who was really connected with the mastermind a chance to choose their position.

“Of course, you can also decide not to know the truth and sit this out—that’s your right, and I won’t treat you as guilty just because you’re related to the culprit.
Having said this, I also won’t recognize a person who stays around the murderer as my brother, and from that point on, we’ll simply be strangers that have nothing to do with each other,” Shi Jin explained his stance, then raised three fingers.
“Three days.
I will give you three days to think about whether you want to know the truth.
If you choose to know, I’ll send you the data and give you another three days to let me know what position you’ve chosen after reading it.
I’ll decide my next move after that.”

Three choices: to receive the information and choose Shi Jin’s side; to receive the information and choose to oppose Shi Jin; not to receive the information and not choose a side, but become strangers with Shi Jin.

Shi Jin put everything on the table, and put the initiative to decide what everyone’s future relationship with him would be in their hands.
It was both extremely magnanimous and extremely cruel.

For those who believed in themselves and their mothers, the choice wasn’t difficult—after all, they wouldn’t be involved and could just sit back and watch the show.
However, for the one related to the person behind the scenes, it was extremely difficult.

To receive the information and face a dilemma, or not receive it and stand aside burying his head in the sand, waiting for the outcome of a conflict which may end in both sides losing.

Fei Yujing was the first to break the silence.
{Shi Jin, send me all the information you have.}

“Me too,” Rong Zhouzhong followed.
Frowning, he added crankily, “You really are nothing but trouble.”

“Send it to me as well,” Li Jiuzheng said.

Xiang Aoting hesitated, glanced at Shi Weichong, and hesitated again.
Finally, he stated he’d contact Shi Jin in private later.

Shi Weichong didn’t say anything.
His head was lowered and his hands were hidden in his pockets; it was impossible to tell what he was thinking.

Shi Jin acknowledged everyone’s words, then said, “I will send you everything when I get back to the club.
Let’s finish dinner first, the food is getting cold.”

Who’d still have an appetite after that? everyone thought, surprisingly unanimous.
Actually, they had all guessed who Shi Jin really wanted to force to take a stand today—his attitude last time they got together was obvious enough.