Wan Qiu looked out the window. The white snow piled on the roadside had become a little dirty.

In the city where the Chinese New Year is still in progress, beautiful and festive red decorations can be seen everywhere.

Wan Qiu saw himself in the car window. He was wearing a red scarf and a soft white down jacket, looking like a snowman he had made.

Wan Qiu took a selfie of himself and sent it to Chu Zhang.

This was Wan Qiu's first visit to the welfare home, which stood in a relatively empty suburb.

Wan Qiu felt that this place was very similar to the school he attended before, with short buildings all around.

In a small area, in a small yard surrounded by a fence, there are slides, seesaws, and carousels...

The snow in the entire yard was cleared clean, and many trees were planted along the wall, bare without leaves.

It is not very luxurious. Even the house is ordinary, square and without any decoration. You can see through it at a glance.

At the door, there was a slightly fat woman waiting, her face slightly red in the cold air of the winter morning.

The car stopped at the door of the welfare home, and the woman's eyes were fixed on the car window.

Chu Yigui got out of the car first, and Wan Qiu followed behind him.

Chu Yigui stood in front of Wan Qiu, who turned his head and looked at the street in the distance.

The road was straight and quiet, with almost no one on it, leading straight to the gray sky in the distance.

Wan Qiu stepped forward and instinctively held Chu Yigui's hand, but Chu Yigui didn't seem to move forward.

Wan Qiu withdrew his gaze and then noticed the woman with a gentle smile who was waiting at the door.

"Dean, good morning. This is my brother Chu Wanqiu. You can just call him Wanqiu." Chu Yigui put his arm around Wanqiu's back.

Wan Qiu looked up at Chu Yigui.

Although he had returned to his former home, Chu Yigui still did not show any happiness on his face.

Even the smile now is still not real.

"Welcome, Wanqiu, welcome, Xiaochu, we have also received the things you sent. The children are very happy. They thought you would not come and said they could not say thank you to you."

The dean's voice was very gentle, like soft bread just out of the oven.

But Wan Qiu was shy, so he unconsciously moved closer to Chu Yigui, secretly observing the woman in front of him.

This plump woman was a total stranger to him, and Chu Yigui didn't tell him a single word that he could trust her.

Wan Qiu could hear Chu Yigui and the director chatting and laughing. They seemed to be talking about some trivial things about the welfare home.

Talking about how the children cleaned the snow together, how the children were taken care of by many people in the society in the past two days, and how the children had a rich meal during the Chinese New Year...

Wan Qiu's attention was on the snowman not far away.

These snowmen are not sculpted into round shapes, but are pressed very firmly, and the decorations on them are also strange.

Made of the soil from the ground and the molded decorations, the whole snowman looks like he is wearing a dirty piece of clothing.

Wan Qiu noticed out of the corner of his eye that someone was looking outside from a window not far away.

Wan Qiu met the child's eyes, his hands pressed against the glass, his entire face in complete contact with the glass, distorting his facial features, his breath splashed on the glass, creating a small piece of mist.

It's a very strange behavior.

Before Wan Qiu could take a closer look, he was taken into the house.

The door was closed and the warmth in the room enveloped them. Wan Qiu unzipped his red scarf, not knowing where to put it.

"Wan Qiu, Xiao Chu, give me your luggage. I'll put it in the dormitory for you. It's in the old place. Wan Qiu's bed has also been made."

The dean smiled and took the luggage from the two people's hands, and the driver who followed immediately went to help.

"You guys go inside, they're having breakfast right now."

Chu Yigui took off Wan Qiu and his scarf and hat, put them in a cabinet nearby, locked it with a key, and took out the key.

Wan Qiu watched Chu Yigui put the key into his shirt pocket, a place that was not easily touched.

"Brother, don't leave my side." Chu Yigui stretched out his hand towards Wan Qiu, palm facing up, "Do you understand?"

Wan Qiu was at a loss and placed his hand in Chu Yigui's palm.

But for some reason, he vaguely felt that his brother today seemed to be more assertive than usual.

Wan Qiu was led by Chu Yigui and walked towards somewhere.

From a distance, Wanqiu heard a very chaotic and noisy sound, mixed with the voices of some caregivers asking for quietness.

The chaotic sound lines of different pitches became more obvious as they got closer.

This is... a spacious restaurant.

There were many children of different sizes sitting there, and in front of them was a half-eaten breakfast.

When Wan Qiu stepped in here, his eyes slowly widened.

The air was filled with the smell of food and noise, and among them, Wan Qiu saw quite a few...unhealthy children.

Some were sitting in wheelchairs, while others were concentrating on eating.

Some of the more active ones suddenly turned around and looked towards the door.

"elder brother!!"

Suddenly, the children burst into surprised noises. After the first child stood up, the relatively stable order was suddenly broken.

Many children gathered in front of Chu Yigui excitedly.

“Brother, brother!”

When these children saw Chu Yigui, they showed surprise, and many of them, with their hands still stained with the oil from breakfast, grabbed Chu Yigui's clothes.

"Everyone, go back to your seats and eat. Your brother also wants to eat. He will play later. Come back soon." The caregiver tried hard to lead the restless children back to their seats.

"Go back, everyone. You can play later and have a good breakfast." Chu Yigui raised his voice, intentionally using a louder voice to suppress the children's noise.

This was the first time Wan Qiu heard Chu Yigui raise his voice.

Chu Yigui, who is always calm and speaks quietly, seems to be different here.

Wan Qiu was taken to a seat aside by Chu Yigui. The nurse prepared breakfast for them and talked to them with a smile.

"It's Wan Qiu, Xiao Chu's brother?" The nurse smiled at Wan Qiu and said, "Welcome."

Wan Qiu also said: "Hello."

"Brother." Chu Yigui placed a bottle of milk in front of Wan Qiu, "Drink this too."

Wan Qiu nodded and looked up to see that all the children had milk in front of them.

Breakfast time was very noisy, and Wan Qiu saw that the nurse was trying hard to maintain order.

Wan Qiu liked the taste of any food, and vaguely felt that the taste of breakfast was very light and relatively cold.

Wan Qiu looked up at the children who were also eating with great relish. Some of the younger ones would grab the food with their hands and put it directly into their mouths.

The nurses would take the initiative to feed some children who could not eat by themselves. Wan Qiu looked at the deformed child curled up in a wheelchair.

It's not just here, you can see children who are obviously different from normal people everywhere. Normal children are a minority, and there are more girls than boys.

"They are just sick." Chu Yigui was going to put away the empty plate in front of Wan Qiu, but after thinking about it, he decided to let Wan Qiu do it himself. "Children in orphanages are mostly abandoned because of illness, deformity, or gender."

Wan Qiu followed behind Chu Yigui, and he did whatever Chu Yigui did.

Chu Yigui seemed to be very used to this place. When Chu Yigui helped the nurse feed some children who could not eat on their own, Wan Qiu stood by.

He saw twisted limbs, crooked eyes, and dark pupils without any light.

"Are you scared, brother?" When the nurse was leading some capable children to clean the restaurant, Chu Yigui pulled Wan Qiu out.

Chu Yigui lowered his eyes and looked at Wan Qiu.

"Why?" Wan Qiu asked, what are you afraid of?

"Because they are different." Chu Yigui said.

The children here will be discriminated against as soon as they leave the orphanage.

Some children may even end up spending a short life in an institution - their illness does not allow them to grow up.

"Different?" Wan Qiu raised his head blankly and looked at Chu Yigui.

Chu Yigui stared at Wan Qiu, finally reached out and hugged him, and stopped talking.

Chu Yigui did not see any disgust or fear in Wan Qiu's eyes.

But what worried him was that he couldn't understand Wan Qiu's eyes at this moment.

To be...farther away.

It's like being frozen in another world, incomprehensible.

Wan Qiu knew what the welfare home was.

But when I actually came here and saw some children.

In the vagueness of Wan Qiu, it seemed as if I saw myself.

It seemed as if I saw his twisted limbs, his unsupported body, and his back that could not be straightened.

Wan Qiu unconsciously stretched out his arms and opened them in Chu Yigui's arms.

What he touched was the air and the vast world.

Wan Qiu closed his arms and hugged Chu Yigui.

The warm body temperature of his younger brother, who was taller than him, was constantly transmitted to him, with a faint fragrance.

Wan Qiu didn't know what to do and could only follow Chu Yigui.

But fortunately, most of the time it is the caregivers who play games with these children, even though everyone is not very cooperative most of the time.

There was a lonely child sitting in a corner, playing with building blocks by himself.

Wan Qiu also saw the child who was sticking to the glass and looking out the window, unaware of everything around him.

Wan Qiu turned his head to look at Chu Yigui, and Chu Yigui's smile was brighter than usual.

These children seemed to like Chu Yigui very much and approached him affectionately. Many of them also wanted Chu Yigui to hug them.

Wan Qiu could see that Chu Yigui was always smiling, but as he watched, he gradually felt suffocated.

Not knowing why he had such an idea, Wan Qiu unconsciously grabbed the collar of his clothes, as if he could breathe comfortably this way.

Suddenly a hand reached out and grabbed Wan Qiu's bracelet.

Wan Qiu was stunned. His hand had been grabbed by the child, who seemed to want to take off the bracelet on his hand.

Does he want it?

Wan Qiu, who had not yet learned how to say no, felt a little embarrassed. The bracelet was a very important thing and her mother asked her to carry it with her.

However, at this moment, Chu Yigui reached out and patted the back of the child who was holding Wan Qiu's bracelet.

There was a loud snap, so forceful that the child was stunned.

Chu Yigui's smile disappeared, and he said seriously, as if he was really angry: "You can't steal other people's things."

The child whose hands were slapped had red eyes and was obviously about to cry.

But he didn't cry.

With red eyes, she reached out her hand to wipe her eyes, trying to hold back the tears that were about to fall.

After a moment of patience, he turned to Wan Qiu and said, "I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Wan Qiu blinked and responded in surprise.

After getting Wan Qiu's forgiveness, the child looked at Chu Yigui tentatively.

Chu Yigui smiled again, and a smile immediately appeared on the child's face.

Wan Qiu watched quietly. Even though everyone was fighting, grabbing toys, or even getting excited enough to hit each other, as long as the caregiver put on a stern face, it seemed that most of the children knew when to stop.

Chaos was Wan Qiu’s only feeling.

The order in the chaos is imprinted in the behavior of these children like a conditioned reflex.

"If you do something bad, you must let them know that you are unhappy." Chu Yigui knew that Wan Qiu was still unable to accurately distinguish between good and bad, so this sentence was just to explain his behavior to Wan Qiu.

He let Wan Qiu stay by his side all the time in order to take care of Wan Qiu and prevent the child who did not know how to keep his distance from hurting Wan Qiu.

Wan Qiu stood up, and Chu Yigui immediately asked, "Brother?"

"I want to go to the bathroom." Wan Qiu said.

Chu Yigui immediately said, "I'll come too."

Wan Qiu noticed that Chu Yigui stood up, and the children around him immediately cast their eyes over to him.

It was as if a pet that had been being caressed had suddenly stopped being caressed, feeling confused and reluctant.

"I know where it is." When Wan Qiu came in, he saw the huge sign for the restroom, "Can I go by myself?"

Chu Yigui stared at Wan Qiu and finally nodded: "Then brother must come back immediately."

Wan Qiu left, and the girl who had been clinging to Chu Yigui looked up and asked, "Is that brother your brother's brother?"

"Yeah." Chu Yigui responded.

The girl tilted her head: "So small."

"Yeah." Chu Yigui did not deny it.

The girl sat on the ground and said to Chu Yigui: "Will my brother take care of that brother?"

Chu Yigui thought for a moment and said, "My brother takes care of me more."

The girl's eyes widened immediately: "Is that brother so powerful?"

"Yeah." Chu Yigui responded.

"It's so small?"

"Um."

The girl propped her hands on the blue and white children's foam board on the ground, blinked her eyes and said, "That's great! If I were adopted, I would also want a good brother."

Chu Yigui's eyes flickered slightly, and he reached out and patted the girl's head.

Wan Qiu is familiar with this place.

When coming out of the bathroom, Wan Qiu passed by the care department for orphans and the disabled, where the caregivers were doing corrective exercises on some children.

The nurse is very gentle.

Wan Qiu kept watching as the nurse communicated with the child gently and encouraged him.

An orphanage is for abandoned children.

Same as him.

Many of the children here are like him.

Turns out he wasn't the only one.

Was he abandoned because of his deformity?

Wan Qiu turned around and looked at the window behind him. There was a vast white world outside.

Why didn’t his parents in his previous life abandon him to an orphanage?

Was he killed on purpose?

Wan Qiu interacted with other children and didn't feel any awkwardness.

Wan Qiu vaguely recalled everything the nurse did, and it made him feel that he was very much like Jiang Chengfeng.

Sometimes Wan Qiu would suddenly wonder, if he hadn't died, but was in an orphanage...

Will I receive the same gentle care as these children?

Wan Qiu and Chu Yigui were arranged to live in the staff dormitory, where beds were specially made for them. Before going to bed, they went to the children's dormitory and told them stories.

The children who were assigned to different dormitories were very unhappy, but fortunately they would stay here for a long time and everyone would have the opportunity to hear Chu Yigui's bedtime story.

Wan Qiu looked at all the children lying obediently in bed. The sound of Chu Yigui reading was like the gurgling of water in the middle of the night, quietly soothing every child to sleep.

Wan Qiu looked at Chu Yigui's profile and kept looking at him.

By the time Chu Yigui closed the book, the children had fallen asleep.

The nurse who was on night watch tonight smiled at them. Wan Qiu and Chu Yigui left on tiptoe and closed the door quietly.

The corridor was illuminated by the dim night lights. Wan Qiu followed Chu Yigui and turned his head to look out the window.

Maybe it's because this place is too remote and there are only a few buildings to be seen.

The space was completely dark all around, with only a large lamp hanging on the high railing, illuminating the cleanly swept ground.

"Brother, how was your day today?" Chu Yigui turned around and asked Wan Qiu.

Wan Qiu didn't know how to answer this question.

"The welfare home itself is just a place like this." Chu Yigui didn't seem surprised by Wan Qiu's silence. He turned his head and looked out the window. "It's a place where people are abandoned and taken away."

Wan Qiu remembers that the children here would call the dean "Mom".

It was like they were brothers and sisters.

When young children are together, the sensible ones take care of the less sensible ones and learn to help each other.

"It's a very good place." Wan Qiu said.

However, Chu Yigui's eyes flickered slightly, and his gaze shifted from the lonely light to Wan Qiu.

Wan Qiu smiled when he saw Chu Yigui.

However, Wan Qiu could not understand such a smile.

Not happy or unhappy.

It felt strange, as if I had left the warm corridor, wearing thin clothes, and standing under the lonely and cold light.

"Brother?" Chu Yigui asked, "After seeing all this today, do you also think this is a good place?"

The warm and cold words were like tiny needles piercing into the flesh, causing pain but unable to find any scars.

Wan Qiu didn't know why he felt this way.

They were standing together under the light, but Chu Yigui was in the shadow.

Wan Qiu walked forward, but Chu Yigui did not retreat.

The distance between the two people was getting closer, and Wan Qiu grabbed Chu Yigui's clothes.

"Because even if I'm abandoned, there's still a place I can go." Wan Qiu looked up, very seriously, from the bottom of his heart, "There's a warm place, with bedding and a bed, delicious food, a clean room, companions, and a mother..."

Countless things that could only be found here emerged in Wan Qiu's mind.

"There are people who will come to visit them, new clothes, toys..."

There are so many things that are extremely precious to Wanqiu.

"It's great that my brother is here." Wan Qiu hugged Chu Yigui, "My brother is here, and he is alive and well."

Warm body temperature, strong body, gentle smile, these are things you can only have after surviving.

"It's really good that my brother can wait for mom and dad here."

Only in this way can Wan Qiu see his outstanding brother.

Only then can I hug my younger brother so intimately, hold hands with my younger brother, study with my younger brother, and get along with my younger brother.

Chu Yigui lowered his head and looked at the top of Wan Qiu's head.

His elder brother has been suffering from long-term malnutrition and has not been able to develop properly.

As thin as a snowflake, it can melt easily.

"Yes, you are right." Chu Yigui chuckled.

There was no compulsion in that laughter, nor was there anything hidden.

While most people were worrying about what they didn't have, Wan Qiu was thinking about what they did have.

Chu Yigui pinched Wan Qiu's hair. It was very soft and delicate, and a subtle touch came from his fingers.

"Brother, do you hate me?" Chu Yigui's voice seemed to be ringing in a farther place.

Chu Yigui was wondering, could Wan Qiu hear his voice?

"I love my brother."

Wan Qiu didn't know why Chu Yigui said hate.

But he truly loved his brother.

Chu Yigui's expression finally changed.

Chu Yigui didn’t know whether Wan Qiu still didn’t understand.

Does he know that he has robbed his life?

Does he know that because of his abandonment, he has everything he has now?

Does Wan Qiu know that his suffering has made Chu Yigui successful in the welfare home?

Chu Yigui couldn't say these words.

Wan Qiu's existence is like wrapping absurdities and lies in sweet sugar coating, layer by layer.

As if this could bury the bitter taste forever.

Chu Yigui sometimes wondered why he survived.

Why don't you just die without knowing it when you are abandoned?

Is there anything he must do to survive?

He stood in the dark world and became a shadow.

But when being hugged by Wan Qiu, Chu Yigui suddenly saw a thin line of flickering light.

It passed through the dark world, passed by him, and extended towards an unknown direction.

He couldn't tell where the line led.

But in this dark world without any direction, he had no choice.

I could only follow this single piece of light that was crushed into a thin line and move forward slowly.

Wan Qiu lay on the bed in the dormitory, but couldn't close his eyes.

It was not dark here. The moonlight coming in from the window illuminated the room so that most things could be vaguely recognized.

It was the first time that Wan Qiu couldn't sleep.

Those deformed and sick children like him were abandoned here.

If he didn't return to his parents after being abandoned by Ning Qiaozhen and Ning Hai, would he be in an orphanage now?

Is there somewhere he can go no matter what?

My brother said that there are many people here who provide financial support to help orphans in need.

This is a gathering place for goodwill.

There is so much goodwill.

This world must be a world of happiness.

Wan Qiu stretched his hands out from under the quilt and raised them high. He seemed to have gotten used to the feeling of grasping freedom without realizing it.

Wan Qiu wanted to tell the other self deep in his memory.

I want him to know that no matter what happens, they can live well.

Wan Qiu clasped his hands together and placed them at his heart.

I hope that the other self in my memory, who is different from him, can also understand the same feelings as him.