In the space, eating, drinking, sleeping, and relieving oneself, he would come out periodically to listen to the station announcements. The time in space was still one to twelve.

Of course, he couldn’t be idle; he had to start planting from radishes to cabbage. One plot of land could plant three seeds, harvesting three plants. The system only gave him three seeds to start his business. He planted seeds in the first plot of land, leaving the other two idle until the crops matured. Once they matured, he could sell them, exchange for System Coins, and use them to buy seeds, saving little by little without eating.

From K City in Yunan Province to the capital N City of Ganxi Province, it’s about eight hundred to nine hundred kilometers. In the future, driving on the highway would take about eight to nine hours, but taking a green train, due to frequent stops, would take eleven hours. He boarded at six in the afternoon and could arrive in N City by five or six in the morning the next day.

He had already planned to settle in N City. His parents were in J City, which was more than 130 kilometers away, very close. He was still young and temporarily didn’t plan to find them, but he would do something like sending the photocopies of those documents to them, letting them pursue Du Juan’s family’s responsibility, returning that sick son. Later, if the media got involved, he would return to the Liang Family at the appropriate time.

Because he was staying in space, Liang Quan didn’t find these ten plus hours difficult. Before dawn, when the station was nearing, he came out from the toilet, standing in the hallway nearby waiting. Of course, in such a situation, he had to ensure there was no one around. When there was no one, he dared to come out.

At six thirty in the morning, he followed the crowd off the train, gazing at this unfamiliar city with bewilderment.

He was now too young to buy pots and pans, and people would want to call his parents. If a child had too much money, adults would always be suspicious.

So the only thing he could do was go to the vegetable market to sell vegetables.

Kids selling vegetables was not uncommon; many followed adults. However, he needed to be cautious about safety, as human traffickers in the 1990s were not to be underestimated.

Thus, Liang Quan squatted in a busy vegetable market, relying on the time difference and frugality. Every day, he would sell the harvest from one plot of land to buy seeds, and the harvest from the other two plots he took out daily to sell at the market gate.

Every morning, from six to seven o’clock, he could sell all the fresh vegetables because his vegetables were good. Though priced higher, most felt sympathy for the child, seeing him wear tattered clothes and guessing at his poor family conditions, so the sales weren’t slow.

In the late 1990s, wealthy people were not scarce. Anyone who ate his vegetables would become a repeat customer. The produce from space wasn’t something ordinary people could eat.

He was no fool either, adjusting prices based on the seeds’ grade. For example, radishes and cabbages were cheap during the potato period, but tomatoes, cucumbers, and eggplants began to be expensive.

After selling vegetables in the morning, he would buy steamed buns and dumplings sometimes, occasionally treating himself with marinated eggs or meat. In the 1990s, food additives were minimal, making eating out much safer than in later years.

After breakfast, he carried a broken bag, scavenging the street. He hadn’t done this work before and felt embarrassed initially, but found it wasn’t embarrassing after getting used to it. Although there were fewer beverage bottles in those days, the recycling price was high, especially for Jialibao, cola cans, worth ten cents each. Apart from these, there were cartons and books. Daily, he ran around the street with a bag, placing what he couldn’t carry into space in a deserted area.

When the space had no water, he would go to public restrooms to get some. Drinking water was scraped from the watering can, while water for living was from the restroom, stolen.

Lacking means to boil water, whenever free, he collected firewood in parks or suburbs. The pot for hot water was a scavenged basin, enough to boil some hot water. The bath basin was a bought plastic tub for twenty yuan, usable for both bathing and laundry.

He could scavenge, but one shouldn’t be too dirty. Every night, he went to the park restroom for water, sometimes entering space from the restroom. He was grateful this wasn’t a time rampant with cameras.

Generally, he scavenged for a day. Parks were his frequent places, staying over at night. Early the next day, he would sort out the previous day’s loot at the recycling station entrance. Seeing him as a kid, they would not cheat him. On good days, he could sell for ten yuan a day, even on very bad days, two or three yuan were enough for food.

Tired at night, he quietly boiled some water, had a bath, then lay in bed. Yes, he had moved the Wei Family’s bed into the space, making it convenient for his sleep, including daily bedding and clothes.

After living like this for a week, he found an existing photocopy shop, photocopied all the information taken from the Wei Family’s safe, bought letter paper and stamps, wrote a brief exposition on the truth inferred by future media reporters and the possibility presented by the evidence, placed it into a package, paid a five-yuan postage fee, dropped it at the post office, believing in two or three days, it could arrive in front of the Liang couple.

What Liang Quan didn’t know was that his departure had thrown Du Juan’s family into chaos. But they were concerned about their safe rather than him, who disappeared into thin air. Only after reporting to the police did they remember this abnormal kid; during neighborhood visits, more shocking discoveries were made. When the Du Juan couple knew their secrets were exposed, they were dumbfounded, verbally claiming it was slander, but their hearts were in a panic.

They had hidden and been nervous for so many years, but still got discovered. Even the missing safe contained fatal evidence.

How did that dead kid find out, and why was he shouting it to the world?

The couple panicked. Their first thought was to move, yet ID Card replacement required a month. That month, they dared not return home, taking their crazy daughter to hide while seemingly forgetting the matter of a missing son.

A month later, upon obtaining a replacement ID Card, they immediately listed the house for sale, rushing to rent another place, thinking even if exposed, it could buy them buffer time.

Of course, Wei Dong’s disappearance also troubled them. The words he yelled when leaving impacted them, knowing it wasn’t something a child could typically say, suspecting someone was watching them. And the child perhaps was taken by this person.

They promptly reported to the police, but didn’t mobilize their people to search. They often went to the police station but mainly inquired about the safe, mentioning the child’s case in passing, far from showing genuine concern.

After they left, the police would discuss whether what the kid said that day was true.

The child was missing, yet they didn’t seem anxious?

They had seen too many such cases where the mother wandered disoriented and the father daily inquired at the station.

With no comparison, there’s no harm. This family seemingly never cared about this missing child. Could it really be a kidnapped one?

Once the seed of doubt was planted, some curious police began investigating the family’s background.

Meanwhile, in J City, the post office called Song Ge’s work unit, notifying her of a package. After work, Song Ge went directly to the post office, curious about who sent the parcel. She opened it there, and after reading its contents, she was utterly stunned, staggeringly returning to the post office to call her husband with the package still in hand...