Of course, Ren Shuangmei was more than happy to take the little boy to find his mother.

Hearing Huo Miao run downstairs to explain the situation, Ren Shuangmei agreed on the spot. She efficiently packed luggage for three and stuffed a travel guide to the grasslands into Ming Weiting’s hands.

The friend staying over shared a room with Huo Miao as usual. The two of them washed up, lay in bed chatting, and before they knew it, the moon had already journeyed past its halfway mark.

Luo Chi loved listening to Ming Weiting’s stories, loved hearing about the vast world, about different places and people. Luo Chi himself had never traveled to so many places, but he couldn’t help but feel increasingly expectant. He hugged the pillow in his arms, his eyes shining as he listened. “That’s so great. When I grow up, I want to travel everywhere too.”

“When you want to travel, just call me, and we’ll go together,” Ming Weiting said. “I will always be traveling. When you want to travel too, I can keep you company.”

Luo Chi had wanted to ask for a long time. He turned over, resting his head on his arm. “Just keep traveling, never stopping?”

Ming Weiting nodded. At least, that’s what his father had told him.

People of the sea had known for generations. A ship in the sea will only rust if it doesn’t move.

The Ming family had always lived at sea. No one who lived at sea could stay in the same place forever—of course, they would stop for a short while, docking at a port or a pier, but eventually, they had to leave.

Ming Weiting had seen many ships that had stopped forever.

Living at sea, learning to swim and dive was almost like learning to walk for people on land. It was a necessary survival skill. People who didn’t dare to go into the water could never stay on a ship.

When Ming Weiting was a few years old, he was thrown off the ship by his father to learn to swim. He learned to dive with Uncle Lu and had seen many long-corroded, rust-covered shipwrecks at the bottom of the sea. Those shipwrecks had always remained where they sank. Until one day, perhaps they would be salvaged and excavated, dismantled and resold, or perhaps they would remain in that place forever, becoming a part of the seabed.

Luo Chi had only seen shipwrecks in movies. Listening to Ming Weiting’s description, he couldn’t help but frown. “Isn’t that scary?”

“It is,” Ming Weiting recalled. “The first time I saw a shipwreck, I was so scared I couldn’t sleep for several nights. I still have nightmares about it now.”

Luo Chi couldn’t imagine him as someone who would have nightmares. He turned his head in surprise. “Really?”

Ming Weiting nodded. “Really.”

Luo Chi turned back, resting his head on his arm, his eyes shining as he stared at him. “Nightmares.”

Ming Weiting nodded. He watched Luo Chi make a very serious scary gesture, couldn’t help but smile, and gently ruffled Huo Miao’s head.

“Everyone has nightmares,” Ming Weiting told him in a low voice. “Every time my father has a nightmare, he goes to knock on Uncle Lu’s door, drags him out to go fishing, and only goes back to sleep after catching ten fish.”

As the chief steward of the Ming family, Ming Lu had grown up with the current Mr. Ming. The two of them were more like friends and brothers.

Mr. Ming’s nightmares were unpredictable. If it happened during the day when he was catching up on sleep due to jet lag, it was fine. But once the number of nightmares in the middle of the night increased, the chief steward, who was dragged out by the banging on his door, would be severely sleep-deprived and often wouldn’t be able to catch a single fish.

Luo Chi had always thought that people stopped having nightmares so often when they grew up. He listened with extra concentration, urging Ming Weiting to continue. “And then?”

“Then Uncle Lu found a washbasin,” Ming Weiting said.

Luo Chi was taken aback. “What for?”

“To hold fish,” Ming Weiting described the process to him. “The door is left ajar, and the basin is placed on the crack of the door.”

The chief steward had always been capable, best at identifying and solving problems. Since Mr. Ming had nightmares and needed ten fish to be cured, it was better to appropriately omit the fishing part.

Every night, the chief steward would fill a basin with exactly ten live fish and place it on the crack of the ajar door.

If the door wasn’t knocked open that day, the next morning, he would send the fish to the kitchen to be cooked. If the door was knocked open, he would ask Mr. Ming to take the ten fish he wanted and go back to sleep.

…This silent battle had actually lasted for quite some time.

Mr. Ming didn’t believe in this at first. But he clearly underestimated his old friend’s execution and patience. After two weeks, he still found himself catching the basin of fish that fell on him when he knocked on the door.

After a month of an all-fish diet, Mr. Ming was finally cured of his nightmare problem.

Luo Chi had never met the “Uncle Lu” Ming Weiting spoke of, but he was already filled with respect. He hugged his pillow and asked, “Won’t they get angry over this?”

Ming Weiting shook his head. “Uncle Lu is also family. As family, you don’t get angry over things like this.”

Luo Chi was taken aback by this sentence. He had never known that family members could do such things, but seeing Ming Weiting’s certain expression, he felt that what the other said must have a point.

“By the way,” Ming Weiting suddenly asked, “My invitation, are you willing to accept it?”

The invitation he spoke of was, of course, about inviting Luo Chi onto the ship and joining the Ming family.

While Luo Chi was washing up, Ming Weiting had taken the opportunity to catch up on a small part of “The Godfather” and “The Bund.” He actually wanted to take the time to explain some of the subtle differences in detail.

But for now, those were not important… besides, strictly speaking, apart from the Ming family’s style in many matters being somewhat more restrained due to the historical context, trying to resolve problems with less extreme means, the remaining differences were actually not that many.

Madam Ren was interested in their family’s situation. Ming Weiting recalled the new definition of a broom and could completely understand, not feeling any sense of incongruity.

But in these two conversations, he discovered that Huo Miao’s personality was actually more calm and quiet. He might not necessarily like the risky and uncertain life of the Ming family.

Ming Weiting looked at Luo Chi, clenched his fist slightly, and waited for an answer.

Luo Chi had already discussed it with his mother. He didn’t know why Ming Weiting would suddenly ask about this. He paused, then nodded.

“Then we are also family.”

Ming Weiting was obviously relieved. He lowered his head and told him, “We can also get along like this.”

Luo Chi’s eyes widened. “Really?”

“Really,” Ming Weiting said, ruffling his head. “Our relationship is better than Uncle Lu’s and my father’s.”

Perhaps because he was currently in a contest with his father, Young Master Ming’s promise was made with a strange sense of ambition. He even taught Huo Miao to extend his hand, and the two of them lightly bumped fists.

Huo Miao was also inspired by his fighting spirit. He clenched his fist and nodded forcefully. “No problem.”

Ming Weiting looked at him, a smile appearing in his eyes. He pressed down on Huo Miao’s head again and ruffled it seriously. This was the first time he had made a friend, the first time he had invited someone onto his ship, and also the first time he knew that making a friend was such a good feeling.

Ming Weiting was about to speak when Huo Miao quickly gestured to him. Luo Chi’s reaction was very practiced. He quickly stuffed the pillow into his arms, pulled the quilt over, and quickly covered both of them.

There were footsteps coming from the doorway.

Ming Weiting, not knowing what was happening, was made somewhat alert by him. He subconsciously wanted to protect Luo Chi by putting him behind him, but was firmly held down by Huo Miao. Huo Miao pulled him to hide under the quilt and calmly made a “shh” gesture.

A few seconds later, the door was gently opened a crack.

Someone helped them turn off the light. Looking out from the gap in the quilt, the view was instantly filled with only the soft moonlight.

Ming Weiting was taken aback.

Luo Chi was very experienced. He still held him down and winked at him.

Ren Shuangmei turned off the light and placed the casual clothes she had prepared for the two of them at the door. The silver-white moonlight enveloped the room. The two little boys inside were lying together, hugging their pillows and sleeping soundly.

…She just didn’t know why, in this weather, they weren’t hot, and still had to cover their heads with the quilt.

Ren Shuangmei raised an eyebrow lightly, suppressed a smile without showing it, and reached out to close the door properly.

The door was gently closed, blocking out the light from the hallway. The footsteps were exceptionally light and soft as they quietly walked away, and everything became quiet again.

Only then did Luo Chi breathe a sigh of relief. He quickly threw off the quilt and explained to Ming Weiting in a small voice, “We have a long trip tomorrow. We should get a good sleep today.”

Ming Weiting didn’t know much about these things. He helped tidy the quilt. “Can’t we rest on the way?”

After asking this, he remembered that this time they weren’t traveling by water. It only took three hours by plane. He nodded again. “That makes sense.”

“It’s too late,” Ming Weiting looked at the wall clock. “I shouldn’t have kept you up chatting.”

Luo Chi was a little embarrassed. “I wanted to chat.”

He ruffled his hair and admitted honestly, “Because we’re going on a trip, I’m too nervous to sleep.”

If you didn’t count those wandering and displaced experiences, this was the first time Luo Chi was going on a long trip. Although he considered himself to be at an age where he should be quite calm and mature, able to help his mother a lot… but some little tough guys, when they thought about going out to play with their mom and good friend tomorrow, were still too excited to sleep.

Luo Chi hugged his pillow back, made a pact with Ming Weiting that whoever didn’t sleep was a puppy, lay down neatly, and closed his eyes to calm his mind.

…Still couldn’t sleep.

Luo Chi lay there for ten minutes, decided to admit he was a puppy, and gently poked Ming Weiting. “Are you asleep?”

There was no answer. The sound of breathing beside him was even and steady.

Luo Chi listened for a while and sighed softly.

When he thought about how Ming Weiting had been traveling all over the world since he was fifteen, he thought it was incredibly cool. “When I grow up, I want to be that cool too.”

“But I still don’t know how to ride a horse,” Luo Chi muttered to himself. “When we get there, I don’t know if I’ll be able to ride as well as Auntie and Mom.”

He couldn’t help but think about many other things. For example, whether you could run around everywhere on the grasslands, whether you could lie down and roll around, whether it was very different from a lawn. For example, what kinds of animals were on the grasslands, whether there were flowers that bloomed in the grass. Whether the scenery was as beautiful as in the paintings, what delicious things there were… The more he thought about it, the more excited he became, and the more excited he became, the more awake he was.

He didn’t know when, or how many places he would have to go, before he could be as calm as Ming Weiting, able to fall asleep immediately even if he was leaving the next day.

Luo Chi tossed and turned for a long time, and was finally dragged by sleepiness bit by bit into a dream of grasslands and home.

…Another ten minutes passed.

Ming Weiting opened his eyes and sat up.

Luo Chi was too exhausted. The dream he was having was too good. He only opened his eyes when he sensed movement. Seeing that it was him beside him, his eyelids closed again.

Ming Weiting gently stroked Huo Miao’s head. He sat on the edge of the bed and waited until Huo Miao was sound asleep again before moving his own pillow.

The calm Young Master Ming lifted the pillow, took out his pocket-sized flashlight, and, holding the “Travel Guide,” went quietly to the terrace.