A young boy from the 1970s, separated from his family, fled famine and led his younger brother into

"Sister! Sister! Come quick!"

The next morning, Su Nianci was still asleep when she was woken up by a burst of excited shouts.

She opened her sleepy eyes and saw Gu Wangbei, wearing a small nightgown and barefoot, rushing in like a little firecracker.

He climbed onto Su Nianci's ridiculously large princess bed, buried his head in her arms, and proudly held up a small package wrapped in red cloth.

"Sister! Look! This is the empire I've built for you!"

The little guy's voice was sweet and childlike, yet full of immense pride and pride.

Su Nianci was amused by him, and her sleepiness vanished instantly.

"Oh? Is that so? Then I'd like to see what kind of empire our Wangbei family has conquered."

She sat up and took the small package.

Upon opening it, I found it filled with a dazzling array of items, all of which were children's "treasures".

There were a few crystal-clear glass marbles, a small handful of colorful picture cards with some paint chipped off, a simple slingshot made of bent wire, and... a few pieces of fruit candy neatly wrapped in paper.

In the 1970s, these things were all the wealth a child could have.

"Are these... all yours?" Su Nianci picked up the glass marbles, looked at them in the morning light, and asked with a smile.

"It's not mine! It's theirs!" Gu Wangbei puffed out his little chest and announced with a proud look on his face.

"them?"

"Yeah! It's those unruly brats in the compound!" Gu Wangbei waved his little fist, puffing out his cheeks angrily. "They used to bully me all the time! They called me an unwanted wild child! And they stole my candy!"

Su Nianci's heart clenched suddenly.

She never imagined that her younger brother would be bullied like this in such a prestigious family as the Gu family.

That's true. The kids in the compound are all shrewd and know exactly how to treat people differently based on their status.

Gu Wangbei's parents are often away from home and ignore him, which naturally makes some children think he is easy to bully.

"And then what happened?" Su Nianci asked calmly.

"And then?" Gu Wangbei's eyes lit up instantly, his face full of smugness!

"Later I told them! I have the most amazing older sister in the world! My sister was the top student in the province! She can even build greenhouses! She can grow chives even in winter!"

"They didn't believe me at first! They even laughed at me for bragging!"

"Then I...I got into a fight with them!" The little guy lowered his voice a bit as he said this, and secretly glanced at Su Nianci's face.

Su Nianci suppressed a laugh and put on a stern face: "You fought? Did you win?"

"Of course I won!" Gu Wangbei immediately regained his spirits. "Although I couldn't beat them, I'm fast! I led them all to Grandpa's bodyguards! Then Uncle Wang and the others arrested all those kids and made them stand at attention!"

"From then on, they never dared to bully me again! They all acknowledged me as their leader!"

"These things are the 'protection money' they gave me! I'm giving them all to my sister now!"

The little guy looked at Su Nianci expectantly with a "I'm so generous, right? Praise me!" expression.

Su Nianci couldn't hold back any longer and burst out laughing.

She reached out and affectionately ruffled her brother's soft hair.

"Our Wangbei family is really amazing."

"However, you're not allowed to fight anymore, understand? A gentleman uses words, not fists."

"What is a gentleman?" Gu Wangbei asked curiously.

"A gentleman is... like you, good-looking, smart, and knows how to protect his sister," Su Nianci said in a serious tone, spouting nonsense.

Upon hearing this, Gu Wangbei blushed and buried her head in Su Nianci's arms, feeling somewhat embarrassed.

"Sister... I will protect you from now on," he said sullenly.

"Okay." Su Nianci hugged him tightly, her heart feeling soft and warm.

She knew that her younger brother was trying his best to grow up in his own way, trying hard to become her support.

It feels so good to be relied upon and needed.

After the siblings snuggled together in bed for a while, Gu Wangbei pulled Su Nianci aside and insisted on showing her his "secret base".

His room was smaller than Su Nianci's princess room, but it was decorated like a small military fortress.

Maps and models of various airplanes and tanks hang on the walls, and the bookshelves are filled with military magazines such as "Tanks and Armored Vehicles" and "Aviation Knowledge".

"Look, sister! This is the telescope Grandpa gave me! It's real! It can see very, very far away!"

"And this! This is a Transformer my dad brought back from abroad! It's so much fun!"

Gu Wangbei acted like a little tour guide, enthusiastically introducing each of his treasures to Su Nianci.

Su Nianci listened patiently, looking at his little face flushed with excitement, but a pang of sadness rose in her heart.

She could tell that although her younger brother lacked nothing materially, he was very lonely.

These cold toys were his only companions.

She walked to the desk and picked up an open picture book.

There is a picture painted on it.

In the painting, a little girl with pigtails is holding the hand of a little boy who is a little shorter than her. They are standing in a golden wheat field and are laughing very happily.

The brushstrokes in the painting are very immature, but they are full of emotion.

"This is...us?" Su Nianci asked softly.

"Yes!" Gu Wangbei ran to her side, pointed to the little figures in the painting, and said earnestly, "This is my older sister, and this is me."

"Look, sister, I even drew little braids for you!"

Su Nianci looked at the two little figures snuggling together, and her eyes welled up with tears.

She knew that what her younger brother longed for most was not these expensive toys, but the time they spent together in that small cowshed in Northeast China, relying on each other for survival.

She put down the picture book, squatted down, and hugged her younger brother tightly in her arms.

"Look north, I will never leave you again."

"We'll be together forever."

"Mmm!" Gu Wangbei nodded heavily, resting his little head on his sister's shoulder, a relieved and satisfied smile on his face.

Just then, as if remembering something, he suddenly raised his head, looked at Su Nianci with expectant eyes, and asked softly:

"Sister, when...when will our parents come to Beijing to pick us up?"

"I heard from my grandfather that they went to a very, very far place to carry out a very important mission."

"When will this mission end?"

Su Nianci's heart felt as if it were being gripped tightly by an invisible hand, the pain making it almost impossible for her to breathe.

Looking into her brother's clear, expectant eyes, she was momentarily at a loss for words.

How could she tell him that their parents were no longer in this world?

How could she bear to shatter the only, and last, hope in his heart with her own hands?

Su Nianci took a deep breath and forced back the tears that were about to spill from her eyes.

She raised her hand and gently stroked her younger brother's cheek, speaking in an incredibly tender yet ethereal voice:

"Yes."

"When we grow up, Wangbei, and are taller than my sister and more capable than Grandpa..."

"They will be back."

This is a lie.

A gentle yet cruel lie.

But at this moment, she could only use this lie to weave a dream for her brother that would allow him to continue waiting.