Wei Qian didn't tell anyone about this. On the weekend, he rode his broken "28" bike, which made all the noise except the bell, to a small bookstore outside the high school that sold second-hand books. He bought two stacks of textbooks for the first and second year of high school at a low price. Then he bought some simple luggage for himself and went to the factory to resign and settle his bills.

At 4:30 in the morning on Monday, Wei Qian quietly got up while the whole family was still asleep - Old Lady Song had been cooking eggs since about 3 o'clock, and then she had been simmering them over low heat to make them taste better. She took this opportunity to take a nap and didn't get up to turn off the fire until almost 5 o'clock.

Wei Qian did not intend to alarm his family, so he picked up 150 yuan in change and took it away like a thief. The rest of the money had already been exchanged for whole bills, which he gently placed on the table and weighed down with a teacup.

He left a simple note stating the approximate time of his return, but was vague about where he was going or what he was going to do.

Unexpectedly, after he finished doing all this and turned around, he found that Wei Zhiyuan had woken up at some point.

The little weasel sat up noiselessly and looked at him with its big eyes.

Wei Zhiyuan opened his mouth to speak, but Wei Qian quickly covered his mouth. The boy looked up at him in confusion. Wei Qian sat down on the bedside, pushed him down, pulled a thin blanket over him, and whispered, "Don't make noise. Grandma just cooked eggs. Let her lie down for a while. You should also be quiet. Why are you getting up so early?"

Wei Zhiyuan glanced at his luggage and lowered his voice: "Then where are you going?"

Wei Qian said vaguely: "Oh, I'm going out to do something."

Wei Zhiyuan asked inquiringly: "What are you going to do?"

Wei Qian lowered his eyelids and glanced at him: "You are too nosy."

Wei Zhiyuan suddenly turned over and got up, hugged his waist, and clung to him: "I want to go too!"

The kid had grown in weight and was quite overwhelming. Wei Qian frowned and pushed him off him: "Behave yourself. How old are you? What are you doing?"

Wei Qian felt a little bit puzzled. This child was usually very obedient and not very annoying. Why did he suddenly become so troublesome?

In fact, Wei Zhiyuan himself didn't know why. Usually, whenever his elder brother frowned, he would immediately stand at attention and dare not say a word. But on this day, he just felt very nervous.

Wei Zhiyuan was not woken up by Wei Qian. He woke up from a nightmare. As soon as he opened his eyes, he forgot what he dreamed about. However, his heart was beating unsteadily, up and down, as if he was about to step on empty air. He never felt at ease.

It was an instinctive feeling that told him he must follow.

"Why bring you along? To fatten you up and eat you?" Wei Qian pushed him impatiently, "Stop making trouble for me, Wei Zhiyuan, are you still going to listen to me?"

Wei Zhiyuan had been tamed for a long time. When he heard the breeder's instructions, he sat up straight and nodded reflexively.

"Be obedient and lie down and go to sleep." Wei Qian patted Wei Zhiyuan on the back lightly.

After saying that, he bent down, picked up his package, and walked out.

After taking two steps, he stopped and turned back.

Wei Qian knew that his future was uncertain, and his life or death was uncertain. Although he could not say that he was sad about the separation, he felt a little reluctant. He lowered his voice and coaxed Wei Zhiyuan: "When you go back to school, I will come back and buy you some delicious food, okay?"

Wei Zhiyuan was unmoved by the soft and hard words. He turned over like a loach and threw himself on the bed, hugged Wei Qian's thighs, and announced, "Don't treat me like a silly girl like Xiaobao. I'm going!"

Wei Qian just wanted to kick him away.

Wei Zhiyuan read his expression and knew that his patience was running out and he was about to lose his temper, so he immediately added cleverly: "If you don't take me with you, I will shout and wake them all up!"

He even learned how to use intimidation and inducement. He saw that Wei Qian chose to leave at this time because he was afraid of disturbing the two women, one old and one young, and causing them to nag.

Unfortunately, when it comes to being hard and soft, Wei Zhiyuan is still Wei Qian's apprentice, so how can the eldest brother be so easy to control?

Wei Qian bent down and easily pried the child's hands apart. He sneered and said word by word, "You can shout or not."

Wei Zhiyuan: “…”

Wei Qian raised his eyebrows, glanced at him, threw his luggage behind him, and left.

Wei Zhiyuan lay on the bed in a daze for a moment, then the kid made a prompt decision, hastily put on his clothes, rushed to the bathroom, spent a minute washing himself clean, and ran out in slippers without even putting on socks.

There were no buses in the early morning. Fortunately, Wei Qian and his family lived not far from the train station, so Wei Qian decided to walk there.

Unexpectedly, just as he walked out of the alley, he heard a chaotic sound of footsteps behind him. Wei Qian looked back and was so angry that his anger almost burst out of his nose. He glared at Wei Zhiyuan, who had a tuft of hair sticking up on his head, and said, "Why did you follow me out here? Go back!"

Wei Zhiyuan was like a puppy who had done something bad and was discovered by his owner. He stood there motionless, with his head down, his hands behind his back, staring at the tips of his shoes, trying to pretend that he was a non-existent thing.

Wei Qian snorted and continued walking forward.

...Then the sound of footsteps sounded again behind me.

As soon as Wei Qian turned around, Wei Zhiyuan stopped with an innocent expression. He walked forward and the child followed him, always keeping a distance of more than 20 meters from him.

Wei Qian pretended to turn around and grab him, but Wei Zhiyuan saw the opportunity quickly and turned around and ran away.

He ran faster than a rabbit, looking back as he ran to see if his elder brother had caught up with him.

Just as Wei Zhiyuan swiftly turned the corner of a small alley, he looked back and found that his elder brother was no longer chasing him. Wei Zhiyuan tentatively took two steps back and poked his head around the corner, but his elder brother was gone!

The eldest brother must have taken another road while he was running forward and left him behind.

Wei Qian was rather cautious and never mentioned where he was going, so Wei Zhiyuan didn't know either.

The boy frowned, and using the limited clues, he pondered carefully, remembering Wei Qian's words "I'll be back when you start school" - it seemed that his elder brother would be gone for more than a month, and that place must be very far away, so he went to either the train station or the long-distance bus station.

It was not even five o'clock yet, and the sky was still dark. Xiaoyuan also knew that the first long-distance bus usually departed at around six in the morning. Based on his rich experience of wandering, Wei Zhiyuan judged that the most likely place his elder brother was going was the train station.

He decided to try his luck and ran towards the train station.

It was many years later that railway stations were built in an increasingly fashionable style and were managed more strictly. At that time, there was basically no one manning the entrance to the railway station, and tickets were certainly not issued on a real-name basis. So every night, some migrant workers who could not find jobs within a short period of time would sleep on the floor in the railway station to save accommodation costs.

There are all kinds of people in there.

Wei Zhiyuan mingled with the crowd of people spending the night there and found a small corner to hide in. He stared at the direction of the station entrance, not daring to blink. On the way, he ran with the energy of a sprint at a sports meet, and his chest ached. However, his hard work finally paid off - after he had been squatting for five minutes, he saw Wei Qian enter the station.

The moment he saw his elder brother, Wei Zhiyuan wanted to jump up and pounce on him, but he held back.

Wei Zhiyuan thought to himself that if he was discovered by his elder brother now, he would definitely be sent back immediately or thrown away again. He was unwilling to fail at the last moment, so he followed Wei Qian quietly along the dimly lit wall.

There is only one train to Guangdong a day, so even at 5:30 in the morning, the waiting hall is crowded with people.

Wei Zhiyuan is not afraid of crowds. The more people there are, the easier it is for him to get on the bus. He has experience in this matter.

He saw his elder brother find a corner to sit down, take out an old book from his bag, and read it quietly in the noisy waiting hall.

Wei Zhiyuan kept an eye on him while looking for a suitable opportunity - an opportunity to get on board.

Finally, he found a couple from another place who were carrying large and small bags of luggage. It was unknown how many children they had given birth to, almost enough to form a football team. They ignored the family planning policy and gave birth like an assembly line.

Children, big and small, were running around all over the floor. The man sat stiffly on the side, nervously checking the ticket in his hand over and over again.

When checking tickets to enter the station, Wei Zhiyuan secretly followed the couple and mingled among a group of children.

There were too many people checking tickets, and the conductor had no time to count them. He just grabbed a dozen tickets in the men's hands with a pair of tongs and let them all pass.

Wei Zhiyuan got onto the platform safely, then quietly left the group of children, followed Wei Qian, and walked to the carriage where Wei Qian was.

A large number of people getting on the bus were crowded at the door. No one was queuing and everyone was pushing and shoving each other. The conductor standing at the door was helpless and could only shout at the top of his voice, "Stop pushing" while frantically taking the tickets from the passengers to check.

Just as the conductor looked down at the ticket, Wei Zhiyuan, a professional fare evader, had already jumped into the carriage like a loach. He first stood on tiptoe to take a look to make sure that the eldest brother was really in this carriage, and then contentedly retreated into the small compartment with a washbasin for a while. Mission accomplished.

The train was seriously overcrowded. The aisles and even the toilets were packed with people. Except for the small cart selling "peanuts, melon seeds and eight-treasure porridge" which had been carrying special skills since ancient times, not even a fly could fly through. More than 30 hours in the hard seat carriage was really not something that people with average physical fitness could endure.

Because there were too many standing tickets, many people had to squeeze into the toilet, so the two toilets at the end of the carriage were artificially divided into men's and women's - when men went to the toilet, they went to the one crowded with men, and when women went to the one crowded with women.

Once inside, not only would he have to take off his pants to be seen by others, but he would also have no chance of getting out without great effort.

A long-distance traveler felt sorry for Wei Zhiyuan, a lonely little boy, so he gave him a foldable and convenient stool. Wei Zhiyuan huddled beside the washbasin, leaned against the dirty wall, sat down on the stool, and began to doze off.

It was bearable at first, but after a long time, he began to feel hungry and cold.

Wei Zhiyuan had started to grow taller and had been particularly hungry recently. From morning till night, he had not had a drop of water and felt like he was almost as thin as a piece of paper due to hunger. He had to close his eyes and try to sleep as an escape.

He felt as if he had just slept for a short while when he was roughly awakened by someone.

When Xiao Yuan opened his eyes, he was startled - he saw his elder brother who was furious.

Wei Qian finally fought his way out of the toilet and traveled through thousands of mountains and rivers, intending to wash his face at the washbasin opposite. However, when he lowered his head, he saw the familiar little bastard. Wei Qian was stunned for half a minute and thought he had seen it wrong.

After washing his face with cold water and waking up, Wei Qian bent down and took a closer look - oh my god, it was really that little bastard Wei Zhiyuan!

He used a little trick to get rid of the child. He thought the little guy would go back on his own, but he didn't expect that he was so resourceful. Not only did he find the train station, he also got on the train!

Wei Qian looked at Wei Zhiyuan, who had a dark circle under his eyes, and thought that this kid was terrible and might become a spirit.