"Second Brother."
"What is it?" Wen Zhiyu looked at Wen Zhijia, who seemed older than himself, and raised his eyebrows almost imperceptibly.
"Are you leaving again?"
"Yes, I have things to attend to elsewhere."
"Second Brother," Wen Zhijia's tone grew heavier, "Mom is dead, can't you stay a few more days?"
"What's the point of staying?" Wen Zhiyu chuckled lightly. "I won't even visit our father in prison, let alone stay here a few more days."
"You, Second Brother, what's wrong with you?" Wen Zhijia couldn't understand. How did his once kind Second Brother become so unyielding and devoid of emotion towards them?
Clearly, his Second Brother wasn't like this before.
"How did I become this way?" The smile on Wen Zhiyu's lips deepened. "Perhaps it was when I learned my father was an executioner, yet I couldn't find a shred of evidence."
He used to revere and love his parents, and dote on his younger brothers to the point of recklessness.
But why, oh why, did he go back that day? Why did he discover that the father he admired had sacrificed his own son for wealth and status?
Later, seeing his fourth brother lying in the hospital bed, bleeding profusely and with his life hanging in the balance, he panicked. He didn't know what to do.
He listened to the doctor deliver one critical condition notice after another, collapsing heavily to the ground.
When he woke up again, a voice sounded in his ear.
The voice told him he had to leave this place. If he didn't, his fourth brother would have no place to be buried.
At first, he didn't believe it, until his fourth brother fell into a coma and his wounds reopened repeatedly.
Only then was he forced to believe.
Coupled with his own cowardice and the lack of evidence,
He chose to flee this place in disgrace.
God knows how much he wanted to stay by his fourth brother's side during that time.
But he knew he couldn't.
As long as he was near his fourth brother, his fourth brother would be in endless danger.
He even wondered if he was the unlucky one, that his very existence harmed his fourth brother.
Until three years ago, he met an old man in a torrential downpour.
The old man was drenched, his bright, piercing eyes fixed on him.
Driven by an unknown impulse, he brought the man back to his apartment.
"Young man, you are a good person," the old man said, holding a cup of hot tea, smiling at him.
"I can't say I'm good, it was just an impulse."
The old man chuckled lightly. "You can't suppress your fourth brother's destiny."
His drinking motion froze. "I don't know what you mean."
"Those who understand, will understand. If you pretend not to, this old man can't help."
Wen Zhiyu knew very well that he never believed in ghosts or gods, but when he met those eyes, the restlessness in his heart was inexplicably smoothed.
"What exactly do you want to say?"
"This old man wants to say that your fourth brother has a solitary, ominous destiny. He will harm everyone around him."
"Old man, I saved you not for you to spout nonsense here."
As if unfazed by Wen Zhiyu's anger, the old man smiled, took a sip of hot tea, and said, "You're all grown up, why can't you discern good words from bad?"
Wen Zhiyu sneered. "You call that good words."
"Of course, they are good words, because this time your good brother will have a good ending, and perhaps that little one of yours will also find happiness."
"You're talking about my elder brother's child?"
The old man nodded.
"What do I need to do?"
The old man put down his cup. "It's simple, stay as far away from your brother as possible. In two years, your brother will naturally turn misfortune into fortune."
"Two more years?"
The old man spread his hands, blinking innocently. "There's no other way, that person won't be able to come for another two years."
"Can't it be sooner?" Wen Zhiyu asked.
"You're not afraid, and your disposition is good. If this old man could take disciples, I would have taken you as mine."
"Will that person harm Fourth Brother and An An?"
"They are coming to pull those two out of the abyss."
How could he speak of them like that? It was so rude.
Wen Zhiyu finally relaxed. "Thank you."
For some reason, when he met those eyes, a voice in his heart told him to trust him.
"You're welcome, consider it good karma for treating me to tea."
Though this deed wasn't his own.
"Second Brother."
"Second Brother."
Wen Zhiyu snapped back to attention. "Is something wrong?"
Wen Zhijia sighed helplessly. "I was asking you something just now, and you just stood there like an idiot. If I couldn't wake you, I was going to call a doctor."
"It's nothing, I just remembered some things."
"So, what were you saying about not finding evidence?" Wen Zhijia felt a bad premonition.
"It's exactly what you're thinking." Wen Zhiyu chuckled lightly. "Father, for the sake of wealth and status, pushed out his eldest son and fourth son."
"How could that be? Impossible," Wen Zhijia shook his head. "Father loved Fourth Brother so much, how could he push him out?"
A hint of endless mockery flickered in Wen Zhiyu's eyes. "Father loves himself the most, and wealth and status."
Speaking of which, he wondered if his father, in prison, would feel any regret when he thought of his eldest and fourth sons.
Wen Zhijia fell silent.
Wen Zhiyu was not annoyed. He stepped forward and patted Wen Zhijia's shoulder. "Alright, take good care of your son. I think Wen Wenlan is a good young man. He'll be responsible for your later years. Stop this fuss. We four brothers have no destiny together."
With that, Wen Zhiyu walked past Wen Zhijia and left directly.
This place really made one feel stifled, unable to breathe.
"Zhiyan."
"Second Brother."
"Are you guys going back?"
Wen Zhiyan nodded. "Yes, we'll go see it again when we go into the tomb later."
Wen Zhiyu nodded in agreement. "I might not be going during that time."
"Second Brother, where have you been all this time?"
"Good kid, you're even keeping track of your Second Brother now?"
"Second Brother, you know I didn't mean it like that."
"It's fine, I've been traveling around with an old man during this time. You know, that old man is witty and knowledgeable, I've learned a lot from him."
"So, you're saying that you came to City A incidentally?"
Wen Zhiyu rubbed his chin and said very seriously, "More or less. You know me, I don't have deep feelings for them."
He had repaid most of his debts to them. Coming here was merely out of humanitarianism.
In the words of that old man, his worldly ties might only be left with his fourth brother's family.