For two whole days, Wei Zhiyuan refused to say a word to his enemy Song Xiaobao. As long as Wei Qian was at home, the boy would follow him in and out every day.

Every time Wei Qian turned around, he would trip behind him. Wei Qian was really annoyed by him, but he also knew why Wei Zhiyuan was so awkward, so he didn't want to get angry with him.

So Wei Qian tried to smooth things over in a rare nonchalant manner: "Play together and don't fight."

This time an imperial decree came down, and Wei Zhiyuan had no choice but to thank the Lord for his grace and re-establish diplomatic relations with Song Xiaobao with full of resentment.

When it comes to competing for Wei Zhiyuan's favor, Song Xiaobao really can't catch up even if she flatters him - there's nothing she can do, she is just naturally a bit stupid in this aspect.

For example, when Wei Qian pushed the door open, he could see the little boy sweeping the floor and wiping the table by himself, while Xiaobao, with eyes on his face that looked like they were for breathing, sat on the sofa and watched TV. She had just come back, and Wei Qian didn't want to quarrel with his sister, so he just said a few words to her indifferently. But in sharp contrast, he rewarded Wei Zhiyuan with an extra ten yuan for pocket money.

The next day, the jealous Song Xiaobao got up early in the morning and started cleaning the house. He finished the job before noon. Wei Zhiyuan watched coldly and almost wanted to sneer. Sure enough - when Wei Qian came back in the evening, he didn't notice that the house had become cleaner at all.

Another example is when Wei Qian took a shower at night and looked around for his dirty socks to wash, he found Wei Zhiyuan hanging clean socks on the clothesline. That day, Wei Zhiyuan wagged his head and enjoyed his elder brother's somewhat embarrassed pat on the head and praise.

Song Xiaobao was jealous and envious, so she tried to imitate him. The next day, she stretched out her little claws to the underwear that her elder brother had changed, but Wei Qian snatched it away with a red face, and...she got a roar from her elder brother as if his tail had been stepped on: "What are you doing?"

This shows how unfair the world is—Wei Zhiyuan and Song Xiaobao actually belong to the same species!

As soon as Old Mrs. Song discovered that Xiaobao was missing, she knew that she had gone back to the "little hooligan".

Not far from the shantytown where Wei Qian and his family live, there is a privately run dormitory, separated by gender, that is specifically for migrant workers. It costs one yuan per person per day - if Xiaobao sleeps with her grandmother, then the two of them only have to pay the price for one person.

Old Mrs. Song originally planned to save some money and rent a small bungalow with Xiaobao. If that didn't work out, she would take Xiaobao back to her hometown.

Unexpectedly, Xiaobao ran away as soon as the concept of "returning to hometown" was put forward. She was reluctant to leave the home where she had lived for nearly ten years.

Since she returned home, Old Lady Song would sneak around Wei Qian's house every day so that she could take a peek at Xiaobao when Wei Qian was out.

The end of the year is approaching and winter is raging. Unfortunately, a young girl in the female workers' dormitory is infected with infectious tuberculosis. Everyone has to move away in a hurry, while feeling suspiciously whether they have symptoms of coughing and low fever.

Old Mrs. Song also moved out, carrying her luggage roll.

She was walking in this overly bustling city and saw a homeless man who was almost frozen to death under a bridge. She stopped for a while and found that no one had paid any attention to the man and he was almost frozen to death. It was not until the afternoon that a middle-aged couple who happened to pass by stopped their car to check and then called the police.

A police car arrived quickly and took the man away. From what passers-by said, Old Lady Song knew that if this man survived, he might be sent to a homeless shelter or deported back to his hometown.

Place of origin...

Old Mrs. Song looked up at the vast and gloomy sky in this northern city and thought to herself: The New Year is almost here, why don’t I go back to my hometown?

However, is it still the New Year for an old woman to spend it alone?

Old Mrs. Song lowered her head, wiped her frozen snot, and made up her mind not to give up this old face.

And Song Xiaobao finally lived up to everyone's expectations and turned his elbow outward again.

That day was the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month, the Little New Year. When Wei Qian was carrying the newly bought sugar-coated melons and meat for making dumplings home, he saw a mess outside his house and a silent war was going on inside.

Song Xiaobao was greedy. She couldn't let go of her elder brother who raised her since she was a child, nor could she let go of her grandmother who was related to her by blood. So when her grandmother came to her house wiping her tears, she still let her in...even though everything that had happened before was enough for her to understand the tension between her grandmother and her elder brother.

The eldest brother hasn't come back yet, so Wei Zhiyuan, who has been silent like a transparent person, quits.

Ever since Xiaobao acknowledged this second brother and stopped provoking her, Wei Zhiyuan has always been nice to her and has almost never quarreled with her. It seems that just a name can make a child understand humility and care - the cold war of the past two days does not count, as Song Xiaobao admitted that she was in the wrong.

So Xiaobao didn't expect Wei Zhiyuan to react so strongly. He was like a vicious dog whose territory had been invaded, staring menacingly at Old Lady Song and Xiaobao at the door.

If they showed any sign of crossing the line, he would pounce on them and fight to the death.

Old Mrs. Song has always disliked Wei Qian, but she has no opinion on Wei Zhiyuan - Wei Zhiyuan is just a child, he is pretty and his personality is not annoying. At first glance, he is more likable than the noisy Xiaobao.

Old Lady Song first stood at the door and tried to reason with him, but unfortunately Wei Zhiyuan refused to listen. The fierce and even resentful look coming from such a big boy was particularly terrifying.

Old Mrs. Song gave up trying to resolve the issue peacefully with him, took a step toward the door, and put her luggage in.

Wei Zhiyuan grabbed the old lady's bag and threw it out without mercy. He still felt it was not enough, so he turned around and started throwing Song Xiaobao's schoolbag and the things Song Xiaobao had placed on the table. He then turned around and ran to the bedroom and threw out all the pillows and quilts on Xiaobao's bed.

If only Song Xiaobao didn’t exist, if only both of them didn’t exist—Wei Zhiyuan was so angry that this was the only thing left in his mind.

Song Xiaobao tried to push him, but Wei Zhiyuan pushed him back and made him squat.

"Traitor!" He pointed at Song Xiaobao's nose, hypocritically not expressing his own demands, and first gave her a high-sounding crime to cover up his heart instinctively, "You are a big traitor!"

Song Xiaobao tried to defend himself at first: "I am not a traitor, that is my grandmother."

Wei Zhiyuan: "Bah! She is a shameless old witch!"

When Song Xiaobao heard this, he couldn't stand it anymore. He jumped up and said, "You scolded my grandma! What right do you have to scold my grandma? This is my home! My brother! My grandma! You are not my family! Get out!"

Wei Zhiyuan was stunned for two seconds and was suddenly speechless.

He calmed down from his intense anger and realized that there was nothing wrong with what Song Xiaobao said.

Wei Zhiyuan had almost forgotten that this was indeed not his home, Wei Qian was indeed not his biological brother, and he was indeed not qualified to decide who was allowed in and who was not.

The boy's aggressive attitude suddenly disappeared, and he stood there speechless. His face turned red in an instant, and it was hard to tell whether he was angry or ashamed.

In the blink of an eye, his young self-esteem was shattered.

Song Xiaobao regretted what she said immediately, but her clumsy nature in dealing with human relationships prevailed again. Even though she regretted it, she didn't know what to do, so she had to stand there with a stubborn and willful expression.

The two children were silent for a minute at the same time, and then Wei Zhiyuan walked past her without saying a word and turned to walk out.

Song Xiaobao finally sensed something was wrong and called him softly, "Second Brother."

Wei Zhiyuan didn't even stop.

He walked out empty-handed, with a desolate determination that was almost desperate.

Wei Zhiyuan gritted his teeth and thought: I can just leave, it’s nothing, at most I can go to the trash can and fight with the stray dogs for food, anyway, I’m definitely stronger than before, he’s grown up three years, he feels like a man, let alone the stray dogs, even the malicious adults he met that day, he can beat them with a steel pipe…

Then, he bumped headfirst into someone's arms, feeling the wind whistling and the water cold.

The man put his arm around his back, and the familiar smell of cheap cigarettes wafted through him, causing Wei Zhiyuan's mood to change in an instant that he himself could hardly understand - in the blink of an eye, he went from a courageous man to a little boy full of grievances.

Wei Zhiyuan buried his face in Wei Qian's arms, holding on to him tightly, standing there motionless, not letting his brother go in, and refusing to look up. He tried hard not to cry, and his hands wrinkled Wei Qian's coat into layer upon layer of wrinkles.

When Wei Qian looked up, he saw the messy luggage and bedding in the corridor, Old Lady Song whose expression turned from embarrassed to defensive... and Xiaobao who was looking at him timidly.

Wei Qian took a deep breath and wanted to slap the old man to death, but Xiaobao...his precious girl had finally come back.

He is very cautious.

Wei Qian understood that if he wanted to keep Xiaobao, he would probably have to give in to this skinny, worthless old woman... Even though the lump in his heart was as big as a fist, he wished it would burst through his chest and scream out.

He boasted that he would never bow to anyone even if he was as lowly as mud... until his sister used tearful eyes to force him to compromise for the first time in his life.

After a long stalemate, Wei Qian finally reached out and gently pushed Wei Zhiyuan's shoulder. The child was reluctant to move, so Wei Qian used a little strength, pried his chin, and lifted Wei Zhiyuan's head.

The boy sighed, picked out the largest candy melon from the paper bag, and stuffed it into Wei Zhiyuan's mouth.

Wei Zhiyuan licked it in a daze and found it was sweet. He liked sweet things, but not the kind of sweetness that came from candy melons, so he pushed it aside with his tongue, leaving a bulge on his cheek. He used his teeth to separate the candy melon from his tongue and waited for it to melt slowly.

Then, Wei Qian stuffed the plastic bag and paper bag in his hand into his arms, then put his hands under his armpits, picked him up like a kitten, and carried him into the house.

"Help me wash the vegetables. We'll have dumplings tonight." Wei Qian said, deliberately ignoring the fact that there were two other people in the room. He asked Wei Zhiyuan in an almost gentle manner, "Is the sugar melon delicious?"

Wei Zhiyuan hesitated for a moment and nodded. After a while, the little boy secretly took the candy melon that was separated from his teeth back into his mouth, licked it, and felt that it was not so bad.

Wei Qian ignored Old Lady Song, did not stop Xiaobao from letting her in, and did not help Xiaobao pick up things.

...However, when Old Lady Song walked into the kitchen hesitantly and observed his reaction for a moment, and tentatively started to chop the stuffing and roll the dough, he also didn't say anything.

Wei Zhiyuan was upset, Song Xiaobao was worried, and the remaining adult and a teenager who was almost an adult reached a strange tacit understanding - they both maintained superficial peace without any agreement, and no one lost or won.

In the end, Old Lady Song failed to snatch her precious granddaughter away from the filthy hooligan, and Wei Qian had no choice but to tolerate such a disgusting old man moving into his already small home.

Even though they saw each other every time they looked up or down, they completely ignored each other and ignored each other.

That night, Song Xiaobao hesitantly apologized to Wei Zhiyuan. Wei Zhiyuan glanced at Wei Qian's expression and reluctantly said that he would not bother with her.

The matter has passed, Xiaobao is still the younger sister, and Xiaoyuan is still the older brother. In the days that followed, they would occasionally get together to review the answers to their winter vacation homework.

In the past, they all did their homework together in Song Xiaobao's small room, where there was a desk and a simple small bookshelf. But since that day, Wei Zhiyuan never entered the room again.

He took out all his textbooks and exercise books, used two pieces of cardboard to pad a small table with legs of different lengths that was not often used in the living room, and settled there from then on.

Wei Qian knew what was going on, so he just let him do what he wanted.

Later, when Xiaobao was a little older and no longer so heartless, and started to have some small calculations, she tried several times to get Xiaoyuan in under various pretexts, but unfortunately Wei Zhiyuan didn't buy it at all. Until they moved away from this historic shantytown, Wei Zhiyuan never set foot in the hut again.