Even the happy what-if timeline extra where the main couple meets and saves each other earlier directly writes the brothers out of existence (they probably left with their mother considering he did buy ice cream cones for them) even though the change in circumstances would have drastically changed their upbringing. The older brother was weak and fulfilling what was expected of him. The second brother... I think his obsession with being a good brother and his intense overprotection of his 'youngest brother' stem from his childhood trauma of losing his brother in the first place. They both did bad things, but they more than paid for it. I can't judge the protagonist for how he treated them, but I would have liked to see them get some kind of conclusion in the extras after they atoned. I think the author was trying to spread a message that certain things are not forgivable and choosing to no longer think about certain people to focus on happier things is OK. However, it goes beyond simply leaving separate lives. Even strangers would show more concern than the protagonist when they hear about

I will not speak up for the parents at all. They were the adults yet put vanity over their parental responsibilities. Their feelings for the adopted son are not even that deep yet they were willing to go so far against their own child. They deserve their karma.

The adopted child's finale is done the best. The way the protagonist laughs at his final attempt to bond over being orphans was perfect. "Do you know what a cold pond in winter feels like?" Their inferiority in the family was similar (at least in the first timeline), but Shen Xingran will never understand that Lu Ran's experience was different from him. Lu Ran and the Shen family were victims of the adopted child's malice. Xingran was a victim too: a child without his own name who adopted the real child's identity due to the ulterior motives of one of the adults. However, he was never Lu Ran's victim and the original plan regarding his adoption was dropped not long after he entered the family. He was sincerely treated as their son and second brother doted on him with no boundaries. The only one who did not treat him 'well' was the oldest brother, but even he did not do anything to exclude him. The worst thing eldest brother did to the adopted child was dare to remember that he had a real brother and wanted to treat them the same. He lived a very good life treated well by his family. The only one to truly harm him was himself. Why would he test his mother by setting her up to believe he was an illegitimate child? Just to give himself an excuse to leave the family? She didn't even harm him when under that false pretense. How dare she embarrass her favorite son (him) by trying to acknowledge the real son as biological? She had a hint of wanting to replace him simply because he set her up to believe his father (and perhaps him) were deceiving her. He constantly drove a wedge between her and the real child and forced her to do cruel things to comfort him, yet also judged her for her cruelty. "You would even do that to your biological son, so what am I?" He was a scared kid acting out, but personally destroyed things before he could lose them in other ways. His problem is not that he is an orphan. He always knew he was adopted and saw that he was treated better than the older two sons. However, he had always held reservations and doubts about those who cared for him. You do not do what he did to people you love just because they might (platonically) come to love other people too. That leaves one thing clear: he never dared to love his new family. He flattered them and sought one-sided affection from them without committing to them as his family in return. He thinks he did in his POV, but his feelings of belonging are very shallow and clearly stop at the level of possessiveness. They and their things were 'his' and another kid was encroaching on his things. That is NOT love.

When MC visited the Gu family to find out about his grandfather, the previous head of the Gu family (MC grandfather friend) said that MC grandfather became more and more confused when he got old which made him not want to step down from his CEO position, it was said that he didn't like his son, then he try took his first grandson which ended up as him dissapointed either.

But in the end MC grandfather wasn't wrong, because in reality MC father really wasn't a competent person, while his competent first grandson was too much influenced by his father's manipulation already because he was taught by his grandfather when he was a little older, while his second grandson was have no abilities for become successor at all.

There is one detail in the story that shows that the son of the previous leader of the Gu family was also incompetent (had average abilities) but the previous leader of Gu family was not a harsh and not overly demanding dictator, so their family's condition was still stable, and while previous leader of Gu become retired he gave the position to his son under his supervising, and he also raised his grandson as a more competent to become the new successor.

And there is also a scene where MC father says that he actually has no problem with his father scolding him for being s*upid (which is exactly like the previous leadef of Gu family who also scolded his son for being s*upid) what makes him sad and devastated is when his father says this, it really shows that he really thinks he is s*upid in a real sense (you guys understand what I mean right???)

So yeah... MC father is a crazy bastard and there's nothing to be excused from this, it just that doesn't mean he became like that from the roots like Shen Xingran.

In fact at the beginning of the story it was said that when she married, she gave up everything and merged her property with the shen family... so the remaining identity she had was only to be "Wife and Mother in a rich house hold..." Not to mention that MC himself said several times that his mother seemed to have a psychological disorder.

So yeah, this is actually was one of the reasons why I say the potential of this story is completely wasted... If only the author could dig deeper into her characters, her character will probably become more alive and relatable to readers.

The scene where MC mother looks at their family photo, remembers her child, and then at the same time thinks that her only remaining identity as a "good mother" is gone is really crazy.

MC's first brother is really a good child, he also loves animals and soft things, but from the start he was under crazy pressure from his grandfather, then he was also manipulated like crazy by his father... honestly I can't hate him because his life is just too sad.

Honestly, the scene where he is finally free from everything that binds him is truly one of the most relieving things in the entire story.

And the final scene where he was stabbed by a knife actually quite annoyed me, not to mention the author left it hanging without clarity.

Personally, I feel like he's still safe, but reading how he surrendered when he was stabbed and seeing him just give up because he was too tired also made me doubt it.

Meanwhile, the second brother is the opposite of his first brother, he is like a child who is not considered to exist, and always considered to be looked down.

And if at least the first brother still has some clarity about his situation, MC second brother is just declared missing, with any hint.

Honestly it really frustrates me about what is actually happening to him.

I hate the trope where one of the leads is disabled and they’re magically cured. Like disabled people somehow can’t have a happy ending so the disability needs to be “fixed”.

at first I believe his substitute have some kind of golden finger to make all his family member lean more toward him instead of our MC, but turned out it's just each family member selfishness at work