My younger brothers are so fierce!!! I'm clearly the eldest brother!

When Jiang Guanqing returned to his home in Jingbei City with his younger brothers, it was already afternoon. The old housekeeper, Uncle Zhang, was waiting at the door. Seeing Jiang Guanqing's tired appearance and his eyes filled with tears, he hurriedly stepped forward and took Jiang Ting, who was sleeping in Jiang Guanqing's arms.

Jiang Jianshan got out of the back seat and took Jiang Ning and Jiang Huai's hands.

Jiang Guanqing escorted his younger brothers back to their rooms, and after watching them wash up and eat, he pushed open the door to his father Jiang Jizhong's study by himself.

A faint scent of cedar lingered in the study, Jiang Jizhong's favorite incense. Jiang Guanqing stood in front of the desk for a while before finally sitting down in the large black leather chair.

The chair was rather wide, and Jiang Guanqing looked even thinner as he sat in it.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, there was a knock on the office door. It was Jiang Jizhong's most trusted private legal advisor, surnamed Chen, who was in his early forties.

Attorney Chen stood at the door of the study, looking at the young man who used to sit in Jiang Jizhong's seat, his eyes welling up with tears.

Life is unpredictable. More than two years ago, President Jiang and his wife discussed share matters with him in this study. They said that their eldest son, Jiang Guanqing, liked botany but not business, and they wanted to give Jiang Guanqing more security.

"Attorney Chen, please have a seat."

Jiang Guanqing stood up and pointed to the chair opposite him.

Attorney Chen pulled out a chair, sat down, took out several documents from his briefcase, and pushed them over.

"Young Master, these are the original wills of President Jiang and his wife, as well as the equity structure document of Yuehua Group."

Attorney Chen paused for a moment, then said, "President Jiang and his wife jointly hold 60% of Yuehua's shares. According to the will, you will inherit 35%, becoming the largest shareholder. The other five sons will each inherit their legally mandated 5% share."

Jiang Guanqing didn't understand these things. He had just done some intensive study on the relevant knowledge before Attorney Chen arrived, and now he could only read the documents word by word.

"Attorney Chen, my brothers are all minors, and the inheritance of the shares..."

Attorney Chen nodded. "Until the five young masters come of age, their shareholder rights must be exercised by their guardians or trust institutions."

Attorney Chen hesitated for a moment, "You yourself are currently under the age of eighteen, and from a legal perspective, you and your brothers currently lack a legal guardian. Before the court appoints a guardian or establishes a trust, the voting rights of the underage shareholders will be temporarily managed by the company's board of directors, but the right to the profits still belongs to the young masters."

Jiang Guanqing gently stroked the corner of the document page. "In other words, I can only use 35% of what I currently possess."

Attorney Chen carefully chose his words, "Theoretically yes, but you are still Yuehua's largest shareholder. The biggest problem now is that you are under eighteen, and the company has restrictions on the appointment of directors and senior executives. You cannot directly serve as chairman or CEO."

Jiang Guanqing tightened his grip on the pen. "I saw a 'Special Clause for Succession' in the company's articles of association. If the first-in-line heir is underage, a 'Temporary Executive Director' may be appointed to act as the chairman and CEO if approved by more than two-thirds of the voting rights held by the shareholders present at the shareholders' meeting."

A hint of surprise flashed in Attorney Chen's eyes. He hadn't expected Jiang Guanqing to know this. "Yes, but it will be difficult to get the shareholders' approval."

Jiang Guanqing nodded. "I understand. Please help me prepare all the documents needed for tomorrow's shareholders' meeting, as well as my brothers' shares... The voting rights will be temporarily held by the board of directors, and I will not touch them. However, any resolutions involving the disposal of my brothers' equity proceeds must be approved in writing by me."

Attorney Chen paused for a moment, then said, "Okay, I'll draft a statement."

The two talked for over an hour. Jiang Guanqing, imitating his father, straightened his back and, looking at his prepared notes, asked Attorney Chen questions one by one, from the company's articles of association to the shareholder register, and then to the financial statements...

After seeing Attorney Chen off, Jiang Guanqing's straight back suddenly relaxed. He leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and kept rubbing a scratch on the cap of his fountain pen. This pen was a birthday gift Jiang Guanqing gave to Jiang Jizhong when he was fourteen. The scratch was from when he tripped and fell before giving it to him.

The jarring call notification rang out in the quiet study. Jiang Guanqing reached for his phone, but paused when he saw the caller's name on the screen.

Professor Lin was his mentor in botany.

"Guanqing?"

Jiang Guanqing raised his arm and placed it in front of his eyes, his voice very soft, "Teacher Lin, I'm sorry, I won't participate in this assessment."

There was silence on the other end of the phone for a while.

"...What?!"

Teacher Lin's voice suddenly rose, filled with anxiety, "Not participating? Guanqing, you've been preparing for this project for two whole years. Aren't your parents always your biggest supporters? They even told me last time that they wanted to invite a botany expert to personally teach you."

Not hearing Jiang Guanqing's reply, Teacher Lin's voice softened, tinged with worry, "Guanqing, tell me the truth, have you encountered any difficulties? If you have any problems, I can help..."

Jiang Guanqing lowered his arm, his eyes reddening. "Teacher, my parents have passed away."

The sound of papers falling came from the other end of the phone. "Guanqing, where are you now? Your teacher is coming to find you..."

Jiang Guanqing took a deep breath. "No need, teacher, I'm fine."

Teacher Lin's voice choked with emotion, "Guanqing, you..."

"Teacher," Jiang Guanqing pursed his lips, "thank you for your guidance over the past two years. I really enjoy botany, but there are more important things I need to do now."

Jiang Guanqing lowered his voice, "I'm sorry, teacher, I've let you down."

"How could I let you down? There's no need to apologize. You can ask your teacher any questions you may have about botany in the future."

"Okay, thank you, teacher."

Jiang Guanqing hung up the phone, turned on his computer, and by the time he realized what was happening, he had already opened his email. The form that Teacher Lin had sent was lying quietly in his inbox.

Jiang Guanqing stared at the form for several minutes before finally clicking the delete key.

"Deleted. This email has been permanently deleted."

Jiang Huai stared intently at the words "permanently deleted" on the screen, his pupils suddenly contracting as a blurry memory suddenly became clear.

During that time, one evening he went to call his older brother for dinner. When he opened the study door, he saw his older brother tidying up the bookshelf, taking out one thick hardcover book after another and neatly stacking them into storage boxes, placing them at the bottom of the bookshelf.

The space on the bookshelf that was thus left empty was filled by the eldest brother with rows of brand-new books.

"Brother, the books in the box are prettier than the new books. The new books are full of words, while the books in the box have illustrations of flowers and plants. Why did you put these books in the box?"

What did my older brother say back then? He said he had finished reading all those books, so he needed to put them away.

He actually believed it and replaced all his botany books with books on finance and business management. It turned out that back then, his older brother, who loved botany, had already sealed his dreams along with those books away in a dark box.

"So that's how it is..." Jiang Huai punched himself hard in the chest, curled up and cried bitterly.