The Sound of Strings - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

My parents’ marriage was a business alliance. There was no love in it, only profit.

After divorcing my mother, my father brought home the son of the woman he’d never gotten over.

“Lu Yan, take good care of him.”

I looked at the boy who seemed undernourished.

His thin, small figure hid behind my father. His large, pitch-black eyes stared at me with a hint of curiosity and appraisal.

My father named me Lu Yan, yet he changed that boy’s name to Lu Chen.

Why did I have to be the one marked as unwanted, while he got to be a star?

He wasn’t even my father’s child.

And yet, so effortlessly, he could obtain the fatherly love I could never earn no matter how hard I tried.

I clenched my fists and put on an obedient smile.

“All right, Father.”

Lu Chen transferred to my elementary school.

For the first time, my father came to school-for Lu Chen.

Delighted, I wanted to go greet him, but Lu Chen beat me to it, throwing himself into my father’s arms.

“Daddy, you’re here for the parent-teacher conference!”

I had invited my father to parent-teacher conferences before.

But he always said he was busy.

Even though I came first every single time, the only one who ever showed up was his assistant.

Why?

In that moment, I was consumed by jealousy.

Was it just because Lu Chen looked like the woman my father could never forget?

I clenched my fists, suppressing the urge to step forward and demand an answer, then turned and left.

After my friends heard about it, they all felt wronged on my behalf.

They helped me come up with ideas to mess with that younger brother who wasn’t even related to me by blood.

I gave them a gentle smile.

“No need. He’s my little brother. I’ll take good care of him.”

They all said I was kind.

I wasn’t.

Simple torment would be letting Lu Chen off too easily.

The best form of revenge

was to let him have everything first, then destroy it with my own hands.

For example, I could spoil him rotten with an older brother’s love.

Spoil him into someone lawless and unbearable.

And once he couldn’t live without me, I would throw him away.

I would let him destroy himself.

Only then would he truly feel despair.

My father was very busy.

He often came home only once a month.

As Lu Chen’s older brother in name, it was only natural that I take care of him.

Coaxing a child was far too easy.

Toys, companionship, gentle words.

I played the role of his understanding older brother, bit by bit melting away the unease and wariness in his eyes.

What truly brought us closer was when he was cornered by older students.

At the moment he was most desperate, I appeared.

I chased those older students away.

Lu Chen was terrified. He threw himself into my arms, trembling.

I gently wiped away his tears.

“Don’t be scared. Big Brother is here.”

The way he looked at me was full of gratitude and dependence.

He didn’t know

that those students were my friends.

I guided them into helping me get revenge, then showed up again and again to save him.

I had people spread the news that Lu Chen was a child who could not be brought into the light.

As a result, his classmates isolated him.

Then I stood beside him, righteous and dignified.

When Lu Chen had no one to rely on, I held him tightly.

“Big Brother will always be here.”

As if.

The moment he couldn’t leave me would be the moment I threw him away.

By the first semester of eighth grade, I had already finished the entire ninth-grade curriculum.

My teacher suggested I skip a grade, but I refused.

“Thank you for your kindness, but I can’t stop worrying about my little brother, Lu Chen. His background is a little complicated, and he often gets bullied by our classmates…”

The teacher looked at me with a loving gaze.

“You really are a good older brother.”

Almost everyone said that.

Including my father.

Whenever my father came home, he would chat with Lu Chen.

He would patiently listen to him talk, pat his head, and praise him.

Even if everything Lu Chen said was childish.

My father would still smile gently.

That was a smile he had never once shown me.

Beside them, I nearly ground my molars to pieces.

“Father, my teacher suggested I skip a grade, but I stayed. I want to take better care of my little brother.”

For the first time, my father truly looked at me and said indifferently,

“Mm. Well done.”

The first time he praised me, and it was still because of Lu Chen.

I hid away all my dark emotions and forced out a big smile.

“It’s what I should do as his older brother.”

The teacher sighed again, pulling me back from my memories.

“If only Lu Chen were half as outstanding as you.”

I smiled silently in my heart.

Lu Chen wouldn’t be.

I would only spoil him into ruin.

After starting middle school, Lu Chen seemed clearly unable to adapt to the school’s pace.

His grades were terrible, and his personality turned gloomy.

Only in front of me would he smile.

Every time he handed me his report card, I would stroke his head.

“It’s okay. Your happiness matters most. If you can’t keep studying, then don’t. Big Brother will support you from now on.”

Lu Chen hugged me even tighter.

Like a drowning man clutching the only straw he could find.

But he didn’t know I was harming him.

Sometimes, too much doting only drowned a child.

That night, Lu Chen knocked on my door as usual.

“Big Brother, I’m scared of the dark.”