Often, changes also come suddenly and unpredictably.

For example, the young master of the Ming family who ran away from home.

In the past half minute, Mr. Ming’s seal had nearly been airdropped by a drone, landing on the young master’s head.

…Luckily, Ming Weiting had hung up the video call fast enough.

When Luo Chi finished his private chat with his mother and returned to his room, he happened to see his new friend taking the SIM card out of his phone, preparing to chop it up with a small knife and throw it away.

Seeing Ming Weiting sitting at the desk, Luo Chi was taken aback and quickly walked over. “What’s wrong?”

Ming Weiting shook his head and put down the small knife. He saw the faint traces of blood on Huo Miao’s fingers, frowned slightly, made a gesture, and reached out to pull Huo Miao’s right hand over.

Luo Chi also had a SIM card clutched in his hand, already broken into pieces. He had probably been careless while doing it, and the slightly sharp edge had made a small cut on the side of his finger.

“It’s nothing,” Luo Chi hadn’t even noticed it himself. He looked down. “It’ll be fine in a few days.”

Ming Weiting gave him a suggestion, “Next time you need to destroy a SIM card, you can use a knife to cut it.”

Luo Chi felt that this kind of thing probably wouldn’t happen many times, but he still humbly learned from the experience and nodded. “Is it easy to use?”

“I don’t know,” Ming Weiting took his jacket, pulled out a rather small emergency kit from his pocket, opened it, and helped him treat the wound. “I’m still weighing the options.”

In the past few minutes, Ming Weiting had already weighed the feasibility of immediately disappearing, inviting Huo Miao onto the ship to leave, immediately going to find his mother at the address, or immediately going home for a heated thirty-minute discussion with his father with the lights on.

All these options had a chance of success, but they also all came with many concerns. A ship at sea was too conspicuous a target. Even if he disappeared directly, he could still be caught, and it might implicate Huo Miao as well. Going home immediately would likely be walking into a trap. He would probably be hooded with a black, opaque cloth bag and carried off to his father’s ship to become the new Mr. Ming.

…Going directly to his mother to talk about this, his father might become a sandbag.

After some conscientious consideration, the young Ming master did not make a decision right away. He just hung up the video call in time before his father could determine his location from the surrounding landmarks, and then quickly removed the SIM card.

…

Luo Chi threw away the SIM card he had broken, rested his arms on the table, and obediently let Ming Weiting apply medicine to his wound.

Sensing that the other seemed a bit distracted, Luo Chi reached out with his other hand and tried to wave it gently a couple of times.

Ming Weiting came back to his senses. “Sorry.”

He adjusted the light, cleaned Huo Miao’s wound, opened an alcohol wipe, and quickly disinfected it.

Ming Weiting’s movements were neat and skilled, clearly showing he did this often. He applied just the right amount of force. The stinging pain from the alcohol on the wound lasted only a moment, and after the iodine was applied, it strangely felt like nothing.

Luo Chi was a little curious and raised his hand to touch it gently, but Ming Weiting promptly grabbed his left hand. “Don’t touch it. It will hurt again if you touch it.”

A wound like this, made by a sharp edge, if treated promptly, the skin on both sides would heal together on its own. As long as it remained in this state, the wound wasn’t torn open a second time, and care was taken not to get it wet, there would be no sensation until it was fully healed.

It was the first time Luo Chi knew that even treating wounds had its own experience. He nodded, listening seriously as he spoke, then couldn’t help but add in a small voice, “It didn’t hurt much to begin with.”

For small wounds like this that didn’t bleed much, Luo Chi usually didn’t treat them at all, just leaving them to heal on their own.

Ming Weiting nodded, then found a band-aid and put it on for him.

Luo Chi had some objections to the band-aid. “This doesn’t look tough at all.”

Ming Weiting finished applying the band-aid and raised his eyes. “Tough?”

“It means the bravest and strongest person,” Luo Chi explained. He had also heard this from Sister Zhao Lan during the three years he was abducted. He thought for a moment and shared with Ming Weiting, “My sister said that only tough guys have scars.”

When he spoke of this, it was after that failed escape attempt. Luo Chi had been beaten so badly he couldn’t move, and Zhao Lan had also sustained many injuries. The two of them lay on a hard wooden bed, covered by a single cotton blanket, looking at the stars through the leaky roof.

Zhao Lan told Huo Miao that scars were a man’s badge of honor, that only tough guys were covered in wounds, and that tough guys were the bravest and strongest people.

…

Because of this, the seven- or eight-year-old Luo Chi was once a little melancholic.

Of course, Luo Chi had no interest in getting hurt—barring any accidents, no one would like to bleed or get hurt, and certainly not the pain. But in the years Luo Chi was growing up, getting injured was so commonplace that, according to Sister Zhao Lan, he could have been a tough guy long ago.

But as it happened, he was the type who healed quickly even after getting hurt. Unless the injury was too severe, he would rarely even have a scar. A small cut on his finger like this would probably have healed on its own in no time if Ming Weiting hadn’t treated it promptly.

“So,” Ming Weiting looked at the scar on his palm, “when those people saw your wound had healed, they thought you hadn’t been in pain before, and that those injuries were no big deal.”

Luo Chi had never thought about these things before. He was taken aback and looked up.

Ming Weiting glanced at the discarded SIM card.

After saying goodbye to Luo Chi last time and going back, Ming Weiting had asked Uncle Lu to investigate some things. He roughly knew what Luo Chi and Madam Ren had talked about, and also knew why Luo Chi had to break this SIM card and discard it forever.

Luo Chi was stunned for a few seconds, then lowered his gaze. He carefully studied the band-aid on his hand and gently touched it. “Yeah.”

Although it was actually hard to fully recall the feeling back then, Luo Chi thought that when he first came home, he probably was sad about this. The wounds Mrs. Luo left on him, for some reason, hurt more than the ones left by the people who had almost beaten him to death.

…But now it was completely different.

No matter what that family did or said to him anymore, he no longer had any special feelings.

Luo Chi had kept the SIM card only because he didn’t want to provoke that family further, to prevent the head of the Luo family from doing something even more out of shame and anger, and causing more trouble for his mother.

But even this matter, after his mother had made it completely clear to him, no longer needed to be insisted upon.

After talking with his mother, Luo Chi stood by the window in the hallway for a while by himself.

He was indeed a bit distracted when he broke the SIM card, but it wasn’t because he was reluctant—it was because Luo Chi suddenly realized that the super-large suitcase that had just been packed was for him to go out and have fun.

Ming Weiting understood his meaning and nodded. “Your mother is reluctant to let you go, but she still wants you to go out and have fun happily.”

Luo Chi’s ears grew warm. He pursed his lips and nodded forcefully again.

This was actually the part that Luo Chi had wanted to explain clearly to those two Ren family elders, but because he hadn’t been able to fully organize his thoughts, his performance had been lacking.

…Although it was still him temporarily leaving home, the nature of it was completely different.

If he had accepted those study abroad applications and gone abroad on his own accord, it would have seemed like it was to make things easier for his mother, but in the end, it would have just been to find peace of mind for himself.

If he just left, he wouldn’t have to worry about these things anymore. In reality, he would have just been an irresponsible person who shirked his duties, leaving that whole mess for his mother.

Mom would definitely be very sad about this.

“But it’s different now,” Luo Chi said. “Even if I go out to play, I can continue to paint and write songs. Mom said these can all help…” He said halfway, looked at Ming Weiting’s actions, and was a little surprised. “What’s wrong?”

Ming Weiting had seen the pen he had given him, picked it up, filled it with some ink, opened his personal notebook, and was now taking shorthand notes. He shook his head and quickly wrote a line of words. “You spoke very well. I’m writing it down.”

Luo Chi’s eyes lit up, and he punched his palm. “Right!”

Because of this, Luo Chi had actually been regretting it for ten minutes. His thoughts were actually very clear, but because he was really not good at communicating with people, his impromptu performance was always limited, and he could only fully sort out what he wanted to say afterward.

Now that he had finally figured out what to say, there was nowhere to say it. No matter when, this kind of thing was as melancholic as a wound healing too quickly without leaving a scar, preventing him from being a tough guy.

“Not necessarily,” Ming Weiting held his hand and drew a few lines on his band-aid.

Luo Chi followed his gaze curiously. “What is it?”

“It’s an anchor,” Ming Weiting said. “Your band-aid has an anchor on it, so you are a tough guy.”

His tone was so calm and certain that for a moment, Luo Chi actually believed him a little. “Really?”

Ming Weiting nodded. “An anchor is the most important thing on a ship.”

“A ship can lose any part, and its function can be compensated for by other components,” he said. “Except for the anchor.”

An anchor is the key to whether a ship can dock and be fixed. If there is no anchor, the ship can only drift with the water forever, wandering at sea forever.

Luo Chi’s eyes widened as he listened. He thought for a long time and then whispered his interpretation, “That sounds a bit like home.”

Ming Weiting finished writing the last few words, closed his pen, looked at him, and nodded.

“When I was your age, I was just living under my father’s protection. I had never experienced any of the things you have,” Ming Weiting said.

“You’re still so young,” the fifteen-and-a-half-year-old young Ming master reached out and calmly patted the thirteen-year-old Huo Miao. “And you can protect your home, so you are a tough guy.”

Luo Chi turned bright red all over, the heat spreading down into his collar. “…I’m going to take a shower.”

He jumped up from his chair, nodded a dozen times in response to Ming Weiting’s reminder “don’t get it wet,” and quickly left the room while agreeing.

Ming Weiting watched him leave, then turned back to his notebook. He put the SIM card he hadn’t had time to destroy back in, and just as he turned it back on, he received a call from his father.

“Father,” Ming Weiting said. “I plan to run away from home.”

Mr. Ming, who had finally gotten through, was taken aback. “…What?”

Ming Weiting flipped his notebook back a page.

His father wanted to give him the Mr. Ming seal. It seemed to be so that he could, as he wished, never leave the ship, but in the end, it was just to go find his mother.

“You just up and leave, no longer having to worry about these things. In reality, you’re just being an irresponsible person who shirks his duties, leaving this mess to me.”

“Because of this,” Ming Weiting read from beginning to end, “I am very sad.”

“Wait a minute,” Mr. Ming couldn’t help himself. “Where did you go? A language class?”

Ming Weiting shook his head. “I met a tough guy.”

Mr. Ming: “Huh?”

“He’s better than me, braver than me, he can do anything. I admire him very much,” Ming Weiting said. “He is my idol.”

“I have decided to go on an adventure with him, to make the four seas our home.”

Ming Weiting said, “Father, if you need to find me, you can go to the northeast trade winds belt.”

“Why?” Mr. Ming asked. “Because you’re going to a place with high temperature and humidity? Are you going to the rainforest?”

Ming Weiting hadn’t thought about these things yet. He had just checked the atmospheric circulation map and judged the most likely direction. “Because I’ve learned a lot of new knowledge.”

“There’s a new method of communication. I believe its stability is higher, and it can replace messages in a bottle.”

“Father,” Ming Weiting said. “Let’s use Kongming lanterns to communicate from now on.”