Editor: Atlas Studios
Fan Zijin and Qi Haoran liked hanging out together all the ti ever since they knew how to crawl.
Even if their wet nurses tried to separate them, Fan Zijin would point outwards and order them by making "aah" noises. anwhile, Qi Haoran kept his head low and crawled out.
Thus, Xia Tong had no choice but to raise the two children in the sa room.
Perhaps it was because they now had a little friend for company, but the two children no longer needed to be coaxed at alti. They even fought to eat it and slept obediently. As long as they postured to carry one of the two away, the two children imdiately beca obedient.
Because Qi Haoran was two months younger than Fan Zijin and had suffered abuse when he was younger, he was kind of small in size when he was first brought to the Fan Residence. Xia Tong initially thought that this child would not be able to survive, but he had a good foundation and ate and slept well. After being sent to the Fan Residence for less than four months, he surpassed Fan Zijin. Now, he was fair and chubby, looking even sturdier than Fan Zijin, who was two months older than him.
The two little buddies had endless topics to talk about every day. When Fan Zijin doted on his younger brother, he was willing to share his toys with him. If Qi Haoran refused, Fan Zijin would stuff the toys in Qi Haoran’s arms and lecture him with a straight face.
Seeing Qi Haoran listening in a daze, Xia Tong didn’t know if he understood. In any case, she didn’t.
Fan Zijin was only eight months old and didn’t know how to speak yet. However, he was very talkative and made "aah" noises at Qi Haoran every day, seemingly engaging him in a conversation.
At this mont, Qi Haoran could barely sit properly and still had to lean against the blanket behind him. Thus, he could not crawl nimbly like his cousin. Naturally, he could not choose the toys he liked and had to take whatever Fan Zijin forced on him.
However, this kid had a bad temper. When he saw sothing he didn’t like, he’d reach out and throw it away.
Fan Zijin thought that Qi Haoran was playing with him by doing so. When the latter threw the toy aside, he happily crawled over to pick it up. If he threw it aside again, he’d crawl over to pick it up once more, having great fun doing so.
Xia Tong was speechless. It was like watching her nephew teasing a dog, and her son was the puppy that was still wagging its tail after being teased.
At first, Qi Haoran was still annoyed that his brother had forcefully stuffed sothing he didn’t fancy into his hands. After throwing it away a few tis, he felt that this ga was quite fun and beca addicted to it. Every ti he threw sothing out and saw his brother crawling over to pick it up, he would imdiately laugh out loud.
Seeing that they were having fun, Xia Tong stopped interfering.
However, Fan Zijin’s situation of being the decision-maker between the two of them only lasted for less than two months. This was because Qi Haoran had learned how to crawl.
This kid’s motor skills were much better than Fan Zijin’s. As soon as he could sit properly, he imdiately moved his butt and crawled two steps forward. Perhaps it was because he had an older brother who often crawled around as a reference, but after one night, he imdiately learned to crawl on both hands and legs. After three days, he could crawl behind his older brother.
In less than a month, Qi Haoran could nimbly press on Fan Zijin and laugh out loud while doing so.
Xia Tong picked up her nephew helplessly and hugged her tearful son. "You’re too stupid. Why are you being bullied by your younger brother?"
Perhaps because Qi Haoran’s martial strength was too strong that Fan Zijin could not catch up, Fan Zijin had been seeking another form of developnt since he was a baby—Intelligence!
His intelligence grew at an explosive pace. Once, this kid was pinned down by his younger brother and had his little stead bun snatched away from him. Since then, he had learned his lesson and started to counterattack using his intelligence. Every ti Qi Haoran snatched his food, he could always get it back.
As they grew older and more polarized, the leader between the two started to erge.
Ever since the two children learned how to walk and talk, Fan Zijin had started to beco the leader of the two-person team, with Qi Haoran following behind him obediently every ti.
When Fan Zijin wanted to eat so snacks, he’d lead Qi Haoran to the area outside the kitchen. Qi Haoran would then climb in through the window to steal snacks. After Fan Zijin was beaten up by Fan Zixiao, he’d look for Qi Haoran in the garden to find worms and stuffed them into Fan Zixiao’s clothes...
Fan Zijin would co up with ideas to tease his half-brothers and his father’s concubines, while Qi Haoran would implent it. Just like that, the originally quiet and gloomy Fan Residence beca as lively as a market.
However, Fan Siwen rarely interfered in the matters of the inner estate. Unless Xia Tong bullied his concubine’s sons, he rarely interfered, let alone the teasing of two or three-year-old children.
He didn’t take it to heart. Xia Tong would just casually lecture the two children and didn’t punish them severely. Hence, the two little friends grew up in such an environnt.
The real reason why Fan Zijin and Fan Zixiao beca sworn enemies and caused him to bear a grudge against his father was an incident that happened when he was five years old.
Fan Siwen was biased towards his concubine’s eldest son, and felt that Xia Tong would treat his son badly. Therefore, he suppressed Xia Tong and Fan Zijin at ho.
Although Fan Zijin was still a child, he was very sensitive. It was obvious that his father doted on his eldest brother and did not like him. However, children tended to adore and idolize their father.
When Fan Zijin was very young, in order to gain his father’s favor, he even pulled Qi Haoran along to be Fan Zixiao’s underling, currying favor with him in hopes of being liked by his father.
However, Fan Zixiao was older than Fan Zijin. At that ti, he was four or five years old and was at his most domineering and mischievous. Hence, he did not have much patience for this younger brother and cousin who were still staggering along. In addition, his mother had repeatedly reminded him not to play with his second brother, lest his first wife fra him when sothing happened.
In addition, Fan Zijin and Qi Haoran ate and used better things than him. How could a four or five-year-old child be convinced by that?
Although Fan Zijin did not have his father’s love, he was the son that Xia Tong had painstakingly given birth to. Naturally, he was raised in a pampered manner. Hence, his food and clothes were much more exquisite than the concubine’s son, Fan Zixiao.
At that ti, Fan Zijin was only a year old and was still swaying when he walked. He only subconsciously wanted to play with his older brother in hopes of being liked by his father. Hence, when he was pushed to the ground by Fan Zixiao, he was still a little stunned. He did not understand why his brother would suddenly hit him while they were playing.
He was stunned, but Qi Haoran was not. Just as Fan Zixiao pushed Fan Zijin down, he rushed forward like a cannonball and pushed Fan Zixiao down. Then, he pressed down on him and grabbed his face.
Terrified, Fan Zixiao burst into tears.
The servant girls and nannies were also startled and hurriedly went forward to separate the three children. Ever since that incident, the three children had been hostile to each other. Fan Zijin and Qi Haoran bullied Fan Zixiao from ti to ti, and Fan Zixiao would retaliate against the two of them from ti to ti.
However, these were all trivial fights involving pushing, snatching toys, stuffing a worm into the other party’s clothes, sprinkling sand into food... you know, things like that.
Seeing this, Fan Siwen thought that they were just playing together like brothers would. Thinking that they were having fun, he simply let them be. Xia Tong also felt that it was nothing more than a minor quarrel between children and didn’t interfere.
Hence, when Fan Zijin was five years old, things went off track.
At that ti, Fan Zixiao was already eight years old and had started learning for two years. He had his own little friends outside and was now aware of the difference between the legitimate child and a concubine’s child. Coupled with his mother’s indoctrination, his father’s favoritism made him increasingly hostile to Fan Zijin.
However, Fan Zijin still thought of this as rely children fighting and retaliating, and did not associate these conflicts with interests.
That day, Fan Zijin and Qi Haoran broke away from the group of servants behind them and ran to the lotus pond.
The two boys had just learned from their manservant that they could fish using earthworms as bait. After digging up earthworms from the garden, they squatted by the lotus pond, trying to use the earthworms to lure the fish up.
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