Wei Qian remained motionless as he... accidentally dropped the fishing rod into the water.
He stared at the shallow end of the fishing rod floating on the water's surface for a while, the only sound in his ears being the fine, whispering rain.
After a while, Wei Qian expressionlessly squatted down, rolled up his trousers, and stepped into the water to retrieve the fishing rod.
Wei Zhiyuan had been watching him strangely the whole time, and Wei Qian caught sight of him with a strange calmness in his eyes.
The two of them remained silent, like actors in a silent play.
Wei Qian reeled in the fishing line and hooks, clutching the sharp fish float as if unconsciously scribbling on the soft mud by the shore. With each stroke, he silently counted, seemingly trying to forcibly calm and smooth out his wildly jumping veins.
In the end, a turtle was left on the muddy ground, with an unusually large shell, looking listless and burdened.
Wei Qian felt like there was a razor-sharp blade in his chest, capable of slicing through anything in his way, but at this moment, the advancing blade had nowhere to rest, and he heard a "pu-chi" sound, feeling a hole being pierced in his lungs.
Finally, Wei Qian sat down slowly, took out a few pieces of paper, and slowly wiped the water droplets from the end of the fishing rod. After a while, he deliberately softened his voice a bit, in order to sound reasonable as he spoke, "You're intentionally trying to annoy me, aren't you?"
Wei Zhiyuan remained silent.
Wei Qian: "I want to hear what you're thinking."
Wei Zhiyuan stared at him with that strange look for a while before whispering, "There's someone I've liked for years, I haven't dared to let him know, or let anyone else know, every day... it's etched into my bones—I know what you're going to say, bro, your tone is just like my high school principal's, you want to say that even the most deeply felt emotions can change over time, right?"
Wei Qian's words were interrupted by him, so he could only remain silent with a bitter expression.
Wei Zhiyuan took a deep breath and gave a strange smile, "But a person is always made up of the past, have you ever let anyone truly reside uniquely in your heart? Try it, and you'll see, if you hold him in your heart for a month, that month belongs to him, hold him for a year, the whole year belongs to him, even if things change later on, so what? He has already become a part of me."
Wei Qian pondered carefully for a moment, feeling his heart filled with trivialities, a chaotic mess like a livestock market, where could he possibly fit something as significant as a person?
He could only ruin the mood by emphasizing, "Your parts are made up of cells and tissues, it has nothing to do with another carbon-based organism, don't use such nonsensical metaphors to dodge my question—now, are you done?"
Wei Zhiyuan looked at him helplessly and nodded.
Wei Qian couldn't help but turn his head away from Wei Zhiyuan's gaze. He didn't know if Wei Zhiyuan spoke to others in the same way, but whenever Wei Zhiyuan spoke to him, he always liked to stare directly into his eyes. This prolonged, unobstructed eye contact made even the softest gaze seem intimidating, giving one a feeling as if there was no escape.
Wei Qian took out a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and exhaled a puff of white smoke as if sighing. It seemed like his temper had been worn down by time and lengthy struggles. Only traces of pent-up anger could be heard in his words, "So let me tell you what I think. I can't understand, I can't accept it. Even if you say it beautifully, my attitude remains the same. Wei Zhiyuan, my advice to you is to go out and ask around. Nine out of ten parents won't accept it, and the remaining one is probably not even biological..."
He said this without thinking, only realizing what he had blurted out after the words fell. Wei Qian was immediately taken aback and felt a bit embarrassed, rubbing his nose awkwardly... That also didn't sound like a biological relationship.
After a while, the two suddenly burst into laughter together, and the tension that had been present moments ago dissipated instantly.
Wei Zhiyuan: "Ge, are you just frustrated?"
Wei Qian: "You bet. Let me tell you, if it were Xiao Bao, I would have slapped you silly a long time ago. What time or no time, one smack and you'd be an amnesiac youth, a year, a month? You wouldn't even remember a second."
With that, Wei Qian slowly restrained his smile, "You've known her better than anyone since childhood, and now that you're grown up, I won't use the same methods on you as I did on her. I don't know if you remember, but I also went through a rough patch when I was young, looking back now, part of it was inevitable, and some... probably out of resentment. It was your third brother and... and Ma Zi Ge who brought me back then, can I bring you back now?"
After waiting for Wei Zhiyuan's answer for a moment but receiving none, Wei Qian said, "I'm begging you, okay? Xiaoyuan, life passes by in the blink of an eye, it's already so difficult to live well, why do you insist on making yourself uncomfortable?"
Wei Zhiyuan remained silent, suddenly feeling an inexplicable sadness welling up in his heart.
He would rather have his eldest brother, who didn't know the truth, jump up and slap him, or simply give him an order like two years ago to cut Xiao Bao's hair, commanding him to find a girlfriend tomorrow without question.
...than to see him speak like a real grown man, with an indescribable helplessness, tearing his heart out to say such things.
Wei Qian flicked the rainwater off his fingertips, "Xiaoyuan, is it because I didn't set a good example? Is it because I've always..."
Wei Zhiyuan interrupted him, "Ge, please stop."
Wei Qian gazed blankly into the misty surface of the pond, "I'm sorry.."
He had overlooked many things about his family, to the point where he didn't even know what kind of bizarre and colorful youth Wei Zhiyuan had gone through...
Yet he had already tried his best.
At that moment, Wei Zhiyuan almost wanted to rush forward and embrace him, wanting to pour out all the pent-up longing in his heart.
However, when the words were on the tip of his tongue, he barely restrained himself. The overwhelming burden of his feelings was pulled back by the fine strands of rationality, and in the end, not a hint was revealed.
It wasn't the right time, his heartstrings tightened along with the veins on the back of his hand told him so.
Later, the rain stopped, and Wei Qian and the others walked towards the parking area with their fish basket and a few pounds of crucian carp.
The clear sky poured out a large amount of lingering sunlight, casting Wei Qian's shadow long on the ground. Wei Zhiyuan kept his head down, walking hesitantly, following the elongated and twisted shadow.
With each step, he silently repeated in his heart, "I like you, it's you that I like."
He had been murmuring like this all the way.
As Wei Qian threw the fishing gear into the trunk, he suddenly remembered something. He turned around abruptly and asked Wei Zhiyuan, catching him off guard, "Who is the person you like? What do they do?"
Wei Zhiyuan hadn't expected him to ask like this all of a sudden. For a moment, he almost blurted out the words he had been repeating in his heart. He bit his tongue fiercely, his face pale, almost tongue-tied, unable to find the words.
He looked as if he were frantically defending someone.
Seeing him like this, Wei Qian's heart sank. He hadn't realized that his younger brother was actually such a devoted soul.
A wave of inexplicable resentment suddenly hit him. Wei Qian thought, is that person really that great? Is it worth you making excuses and defending them in front of me like this?
He suddenly couldn't help but reminisce about the old times when they were poor and destitute. At least when they depended on each other, there was no vague, ubiquitous "outsider" among them. They were all obedient and naive, always in need of their big brother.
It was only at this moment that Wei Qian realized that someday, these little rascals would finally grow up. When they grew their wings, they would each fly away on their own.
He slowly drove the car out of the wilderness, where the green wheat swayed like waves in the wind, and he felt a heavy and endless loneliness.
Since then, Wei Qian and Wei Zhiyuan unconsciously avoided this topic. They maintained a surface calmness, but internally, they seemed to be at a standstill, unable to convince each other.
And so, they awkwardly continued like this for nearly half a year.
One day, Wei Qian was in his own office, hastily swallowing a piece of bread with half a cup of tea as breakfast, preparing for a full day of work, when San Pang suddenly entered, "Qian'er, Director Zhang is here."
Wei Qian didn't react for a moment, "Which Director Zhang?"
"The one who...," San Pang gestured, "the nominal shareholder we worked with on the first project, always talking about launching space shuttles to the heavens, even more verbose than me—Boss Bear asked us to come over, hurry up."
Director Zhang was a person of noble and aloof demeanor. At first, he was extremely difficult to approach, always considering showing off as his top priority in life. However, after getting to know him a bit, one could discover his otherworldly, detached nature.
He was a fanatical supporter of his own ideas. Every time the word "idea" was mentioned, he would get so excited that it felt like he had nails sticking into his butt.
At this moment, Director Zhang was enthusiastically giving his personal speech in Boss Bear's office. His grandiloquence left no room for anyone else to interject, bearing some resemblance to Boss Bear's style—thanks to Boss Bear being trained by his extravagant wife, he didn't show the slightest sign of impatience.
As soon as Director Zhang saw Wei Qian and San Pang, he quickly stood up, ignoring Wei Qian's outstretched hand, and gave him a hug like a fake foreigner. The cologne on his collar unexpectedly invaded Wei Qian's nose, hitting him like a punch and waking him up. Wei Qian hastily stepped back, turning his head to sneeze, "Sorry, Zhang, I've been a bit under the weather these past few days."
Director Zhang smiled indulgently, then ignored San Pang's attempt to reciprocate the hug and instead grabbed his chubby arms, shaking them up and down, "Tan, my man!"
San Pang's facial expression was a bit paralyzed, feeling some subtle form of discrimination.
Director Zhang had come all the way to seek cooperation on a new project. It was said to be a seaside resort villa project in City C. Before Boss Bear could even pull out the feasibility report, Director Zhang had already boasted about it.
Wei Qian couldn't help but interrupt him, raising a question, "Sorry, Zhang, I have to interrupt. I heard that the whole area had a collapse a few years ago. Do you really think it's still worth investing there?"
"A great question," Director Zhang slapped the armrest of his chair, "I admire Wei's straightforwardness the most. But do you know what's irreplaceable for wealthy people nowadays? It's health and the environment! The scarce sea views and negative oxygen ions are our selling points. I also plan to develop some leisure projects using nearby economic forests. By adopting a similar model to health tourism, I've calculated the annual return rate, which can exceed 200%. Do you believe it?"
Boss Bear remained silent with his head bowed, while Wei Qian and San Pang exchanged a glance, seeing the same message in each other's expressions: the idiot forgot to take his medicine again this morning.
The last time they were impressed by Director Zhang's connections and collaborated with him, strictly speaking, that cooperation was very pleasant. Director Zhang's attention was still mainly focused on the commercial street, and he didn't make too many fusses about the style of the surrounding residences.
But even so, the concept of "this person is unreliable" had already deeply rooted itself in Wei Qian and San Pang's minds.
This person came from a good background, with abundant capital, which allowed him to indulge in his idealistic tendencies.
His emotional intelligence was extremely low, and he was extremely insensitive to people's moods, but that didn't matter much. What was most fatal was that he was conducting tangible business with the imagination of writing novels and the romance of drawing comics.
Since past partners had already come knocking, even if it was purely for the sake of giving face, Boss Bear had to accompany Director Zhang on this trip.
The next day, just in time for the National Day holiday, they boarded the plane to City C without any concept of taking a break.
At the moment before the plane took off, Wei Qian's heart suddenly skipped a beat. He didn't think much of it at the time because people are never too comfortable during the weightless moments of takeoff and landing.
Once again, he ignored his uncanny premonition.
At that moment, Wei Zhiyuan was at school, and Xiao Bao was struggling with her homework, making faces as she tried to understand it.
Mother Ma zi came to his house for a visit, currently entwining a skein of yarn with the help of Grandma Song—she hoped to knit a pair of wool gloves for everyone before winter arrived.
Mother Ma Zi's burned hands weren't very nimble; she couldn't easily grasp the needles, and her movements were sluggish. While others knitted with a few sticks swiftly darting up and down in their hands, she could only painstakingly weave one stitch at a time. Occasionally, the yarn she leaned on would slip off, or she would inadvertently create a small hole by missing a stitch.
Xiao Bao casually chimed in, "I plan to apply for the art major in the college entrance exam. Lulu said it should be possible, and that way, I can have lower requirements for my academic courses."
Grandma Song bluntly remarked, "Lower requirements? And you think you'll pass? At the very least, they'll need to be significantly lower."
"Don't always pour cold water on me!" Xiao Bao protested. After a moment, she weakly added, "It's indeed significantly lower... Oh, Auntie, your lips are so chapped, shall I pour you a glass of water?"
Grandma Song quickly stopped her, "Don't bother, I'll do it myself. You just focus on your studies, you don't need to worry about household chores."
With that, she hung the yarn she was holding on the back of the chair, then slowly got up, her movements somewhat sluggish, and gave Mother Ma a smile.
Suddenly, Grandma Song rubbed her temples and muttered softly, "I feel dizzy all of a sudden."
Xiao Bao, without lifting her head, said, "You might have low blood pressure. Just eat a bit more, and you'll be fine."
Grandma Song replied, "I eat way more than that bit of cat food you consume."
Xiao Bao's lips drooped, "My dance teacher doesn't let me eat. She always complains that I'm fat, but I..."
Her words were abruptly cut off by a loud crash as Grandma Song, somehow tripped by the chair leg, fell solidly to the ground. This agile old lady, who usually moved with ease, couldn't get back up again.
*
Wei Zhiyuan was alone in a classroom at that moment. Recently, he had applied to the school to establish a small club called "Network Security and Programming Research." Just starting out, he had recruited a few members and it hadn't yet grown to a substantial size. He was in the midst of debugging, intending to use his previous work as an example, when he received a call from Xiao Bao.
Before he could even utter a "hello," Xiao Bao's tearful voice abruptly burst through the phone. Wei Zhiyuan carefully listened twice before understanding the sentence amidst her sobs: "Why is Big Brother's phone turned off?"
Furrowing his brow, Wei Zhiyuan said, "He shouldn't have landed yet. What's wrong? Don't cry."
Xiao Bao struggled to control her sobs, intermittently and laboriously explaining the situation.
Wei Zhiyuan stood up halfway through her explanation and began gathering his things. "Don't touch her. Have you called for an ambulance? Not yet? Hurry, call them. Stay calm, why are you crying? There's several thousand yuan in cash in the cabinet under the living room. Remember to take it with you when the ambulance arrives, got it? I'm heading over right away..."
Grandma Song was quickly taken to the hospital. By the time Wei Zhiyuan arrived, she had already been wheeled into the operating room.
Xiao Bao, her eyes as wide as rabbits', looked up at Wei Zhiyuan blankly.
Wei Zhiyuan tried calling Wei Qian's phone, it was on but nobody answered.
Wei Zhiyuan let out a sigh. "Tell me, what exactly happened?"
Xiao Bao, finding her backbone, explained the situation from start to finish.
Wei Zhiyuan listened silently, sensing that Grandma Song's condition wasn't a minor issue this time. It seemed this time there wouldn't be a narrow escape.
He stood up and patted Xiao Bao's head. "Alright, I got it. It's okay, don't be afraid. You stay here, I'll go out and get some more money."
Xiao Bao watched him leave with tears in her eyes, feeling more and more like an older brother to her.
Wei Qian had already arrived in City C and found a hotel to stay in. He headed straight to the project site, leaving his phone behind at the hotel, missing several calls from Wei Zhiyuan.
Zhang Zong and Old Bear walked ahead, Zhang Zong boasting about plans for building a golf course here and a hot spring sanatorium there, and whether to introduce cancer therapy from Japan or South Korea, making extravagant plans left and right.
As they reached a high point and looked down, they saw vast stretches of economic forests halfway up the mountainside, sparsely populated, with hardly any houses in sight except for a few farmers working the land further down.
San Pang and Wei Qian lagged behind, and Wei Qian muttered softly, "I think all of this is unnecessary."
San Pang sighed, "Forget it, at least it's like a vacation, and we can buy some fresh fruit to take back. Why is Zhang Ge's penchant for grandiose ideas even more severe than last time we saw him?"
Wei Qian smiled briefly, about to reply, when Old Bear ahead suddenly turned his head slightly, revealing a subtle expression on his profile.
Wei Qian's expression froze suddenly. After years of collaboration through wind and rain, he could already tell what Old Bear was thinking from his expression—what's the deal here? Can't Old Bear see that this project is dubious?
Was he implying that this time, he was leading everyone into a pit?
However, Old Bear remained composed, even though his demeanor and expression had already given him away to those familiar with him. He didn't give a definitive answer to Zhang Zong, only saying he needed to study it further.
As Wei Qian anxiously pondered what was going on in Old Bear's mind, he noticed his phone lying on the hotel bed with a dozen missed calls.
Grandma Song had suffered a sudden stroke. After a lengthy surgery, she was wheeled out and directly transferred to the intensive care unit, her condition critical.
The money Wei Zhiyuan had just fetched came in handy.
Wei Qian immediately booked a night flight back and rushed to the hospital, only managing to hastily instruct San Pang with a single sentence: "Make sure to hold Old Bear back, don't let him get led astray."