Chapter 25

I don't know how old I was then, when I didn't even have a name. The older sister always called me "little brother," and back then, I was really, really happy.

I am Little Brother, not the youngest among all my siblings, but the one who grew the slowest. When I played with a group of kids in the sandbox, the adults always thought I was being bullied.

And indeed, I was always being bullied.

All the kids liked the older sister, and she especially liked taking care of the frail me. So I was always bullied, but I never told on anyone, not since the day Steel Egg stuffed my pants into the toilet.

Minor arguments or bullying didn't take up much space in my not-so-good memories.

What filled my memories more were the blue skies, the screaming and laughing kids, and a faded paper kite. Please forgive me for using "tail" to describe it, but at that time, the shallow-minded kids, seeing the long tail of the paper kite, compared it to fish with tails.

Later, some kind-hearted people organized a trip to the zoo for the kids. That's when I learned that besides the fish on the dining table, many other animals also had tails.

The swings, the sandbox, and the crooked-neck trees were the entire world of the kids.

We would kick a volleyball around barefoot, then scatter in all directions when Grandma shouted at us, and finally gather in the older sister's room to listen to her read the fairy tale book that had been read countless times.

The older sister wasn't very young, but she wasn't very old either. There were kids older than her, but none were as sensible. So the older sister could protect us and apologize to Grandma, and she could help Grandma with the chores in the courtyard.

Every night, the older sister would be the last to sleep, humming "The Little Girl Picking Mushrooms..." to lull us to sleep.

The courtyard had no money. In that special period, even though Grandma's family background was good, it couldn't withstand the constant changes in the situation. Grandma's youngest son knelt in front of her room all night, and the next day, he bought a train ticket to Shenzhen.

Oh, I forgot to mention, the older sister was Grandma's youngest son's niece, a blood relative not recorded in the family genealogy.

After Grandma's youngest son left, the courtyard's finances became worse. Fortunately, Grandma knew many people and managed to keep things going. The year the food coupons were abolished, the kids competed to help Grandma and the others exchange the accumulated coupons.

The older sister helped move the food while carrying a thermos, bustling around everyone. I still remember her pouring water into a green-black enamel bowl, her face flushed and sweating, not drinking it herself, but handing it to me. The cold well water refreshed my throat.

The older sister's lips, however, were blistered and took several days to heal.

Days passed, and the courtyard was tight on money, only able to afford meat and candy during holidays. But I really, really wanted to keep living like this.

That part of my life, which left a deep impression on me, has been long past. I forgot the hate, the pain, and the longing. My lips curved, as if there had never been any shadows.

"Little Brother, here, I don't like it. Be good, okay?"

That was the last thing the older sister said to me.

In the afternoon, the cicadas chirped tirelessly in the trees, making people feel both annoyed and anxious.

Five men with half-meter-long knives burst into the orphanage, which was known for its charity in the small city. Oh, I remember now, I was just an orphan.

They came from the south, reportedly cheated out of all their money by foreign merchants, unable to even afford train tickets home. In a moment of desperation, they started to take revenge on society.

So many years have passed, and I've always wanted to ask them, why did they choose here, why did they choose... my home!

When they stormed into the orphanage, the kids were playing hide-and-seek. I was small and flexible, so I squeezed into a large blue-and-white porcelain vase that Grandma had brought from home.

The older sister was in charge of finding people and found me first.

"Little Brother, here." The older sister didn't pull me out but handed me the lollipop that Grandma had given each child that morning.

"Little Brother, here, I don't like it." The older sister raised a finger to signal me to stay quiet, and when she smiled, she showed a mischievous tooth. Oh, I remember, the older sister was losing her baby teeth, which is why she didn't eat it.

Then the older sister went to find others, and she never came back.

The thugs started slashing and killing as soon as they entered the orphanage. The nuns could have run, but to protect the kids, they were all caught by the thugs.

The police arrived very quickly, much faster than in the movies. But by then, the thugs had already killed all the adults. If Grandma hadn't been at home, she might have been a victim too.

The thugs panicked and tried to resist, grabbing kids from the courtyard to use as hostages to threaten the police.

I vaguely remember the older sister frantically leading Steel Egg, Five Cents, and Cabbage into Grandma's room, hiding them one by one, and just as she was about to hide under the bed, the thugs appeared.

I was very scared, very angry, my teeth chattering, but my limbs were stiff and cold!

Many times, I've thought that if I had had the courage to rush out then, maybe dying would have been worth it.

The older sister struggled as she was dragged out, her hands gripping the door frame. Her eyes didn't look at anyone, just stared at me.

I saw the older sister's lips through the cheap glaze of the vase.

"Be good, okay!"

When the police rescued me from the vase, I seemed like a dead person.

Perhaps, from that moment on, I was a dead person.

After a long, long time, the massacre by the thugs had been forgotten. Now, even carrying a palm-sized dagger on the street would get you lectured by the city management.

I forgot the older sister's name, was it Xiao Lan? Or Xiao Cao? I never went to pay my respects to her.

One day, a friend who was a detective flipped through the yellowed files in the archive and mentioned the incident to me. That's when I remembered the origin of my name.

The older sister's name was Qiu Lan, taken from the "Li Sao" with the line "Wearing Jiang Li and fragrant orchids, I wear Qiu Lan as a pendant." So I am called Chu Ci.

...

"Again, how long has it been since I had a dream." Chu Ci woke up with morning dew on his eyelashes. The forest at this time of year was deep and dewy, and if you didn't keep warm, you could easily catch a cold.

It was still dim, and Chu Ci was woken by the cold. He had given the tent to Cheng Rui to sleep in and hadn't set up another one, instead, he had tied a sleeping bag to a tree as he had done the day before.

Chu Ci's eyes were vacant as he leaned against the tree, lost in thought for a while, then whispered, "I will live well."

It might rain, the night was so cold, and the dew was heavy. To be safe, after getting some breakfast from the tree, Chu Ci took some cold medicine.

"Uncle, what's wrong?" Cheng Rui asked, a bit worried when she saw Chu Ci taking medicine.

"I'm fine." Chu Ci felt a warmth in his heart, his face showing a hint of hesitation. His arm raised and then dropped, finally showing a look of relief as he patted Cheng Rui's head, "Good girl, eat quickly. After breakfast, we need to continue on our journey."

"Okay!" Cheng Rui nodded obediently, taking small bites of the steamed custard bun, with instant soy milk on the side, all food Chu Ci had stored in the insect space.

Indeed... she's nothing like her!

Chu Ci sighed in relief. The older sister back then was very strong-willed, always giving orders to the kids, never the other way around.

If so, it must have been a coincidence, right? Yes, that's it, nostalgia, after all, we were around the same age, just over ten.

"What! You're only eight years old!" Chu Ci was stunned, watching the little girl hop around the natural forest like a fawn, finding it hard to accept.

Was it his judgment that was off, or did kids in this world develop differently? She was already over 1.4 meters tall at eight years old?

But when Cheng Rui mentioned that her mother was a ballet dancer, Chu Ci understood. It must be genetic.

Cheng Rui, at eight years old, didn't know much, but she vaguely described the world to Chu Ci, a world with a history different from what he knew.

First, in terms of technology, Cheng Rui clearly told Chu Ci that her family used a wireless energy transmission system, similar to the famous "Tesla coil" in the real world. However, the Tesla coil, proposed during World War II, had never been perfected, let alone used in civilian life. Based on the technology transfer from military to civilian use, this world was about 20 years ahead in energy technology.

Next was medicine. Chu Ci specifically asked Cheng Rui about several terminal illnesses in clinical trials in the real world, and found that these diseases, which were still in the breakthrough phase, were already treatable in this world. This indicated that the medical level was about 10 years ahead.

Chu Ci asked many more questions to understand the technological level of this world, then remembered what the man in the military uniform had said on the plane.

"Do you know what an enhancer is?"

Cheng Rui said she didn't know. Chu Ci was slightly disappointed but not surprised. From the man's words, he could guess that the enhancer was rare and not widely known.

But the unknown effects of the enhancer made Chu Ci feel uneasy.

"Uncle, where are we going?" After running for a while, Cheng Rui started to feel tired, looking up at Chu Ci with a sweaty face.

"Hmm, Uncle needs to find a friend. You stay with me, okay?" Chu Ci's top priority was to meet up with 007. With Bond's wisdom and experience, plus his mobile arsenal, they could almost take over the entire island.

"Uncle..." Cheng Rui hesitated.

"What's wrong?"

"Xiao Rui misses her father. He's here too." Cheng Rui spoke softly, and if you didn't listen carefully, you might miss it.

"Your father!" Chu Ci was slightly taken aback.

"My father is a soldier. He must be looking for me." Cheng Rui had great admiration for her father and always believed he was still alive.

A soldier? That's good. Chu Ci felt a bit relieved. If it was a soldier, communication should be easier, especially since he had saved Cheng Rui, making him a benefactor of the family.