Abandoned Little Sister

Chapter 1 The Summer Plan

My sister was five years younger than me. Since the day she was born, she had been beautiful and clever, doted on by everyone.

Her only flaw was being too "smart." She never took adult lectures seriously and would even deliberately do the opposite of what she was told.

She was still little and couldn't cause real trouble, so my parents never had the heart to discipline or correct her.

That small indulgence was exactly what gave me my chance.

In the summer after I graduated from elementary school in 2002, I finally carried out the plan I had been preparing for a long time.

At six in the evening, I went as usual to pick her up from piano class. We passed by the south city train station.

The weather was scorching hot. I deliberately didn't hold an umbrella for her, then asked:

"Weiyi, do you want a drink?"

Her eyes lit up. She nodded frantically. "I want iced cola!"

"Then stay right here. Don't wander off. I'll be back soon." I left her at the cooling spot outside the train station square. After a few steps I turned back again to stress, "Don't run around, got it?"

I heard her answer before I felt relieved and walked into the nearby small shop.

I opened the freezer door familiarly and chatted with the owner.

"Nanfang, picking up your sister from her hobby class again?" he asked.

"Yes, Uncle Song. She's clamoring for something cold, so I'm buying her a bottle."

"Why didn't she come in with you?" Uncle Song stood up and casually took a bottle of yogurt from the shelf. "Take one for yourself too. My treat."

He was a kind-hearted man. He brushed aside my refusal and specially reminded me, "Hurry back. There have been a lot of Child Kidnappers around lately. It's not very safe."

Of course I knew.

What he said was exactly what I was thinking.

I thanked him, pretended to be worried, and ran out while calling "Weiyi."

In those short twenty or thirty meters, my mind flashed through two possible outcomes:

One, she was still there. That would prove her luck was really good. If heaven protected her, I would stop and never do anything like this again.

Two, she was gone. I had already warned her not to wander. She didn't listen—it was her own fault. Uncle Song was my witness that I hadn't done it on purpose. Mom and Dad couldn't blame me.

I thought I was careful and thorough.

But it was a clumsy trick from a child—extremely risky.

Yet somehow, the trick worked on my naughty little sister.

When I reached the cooling spot, she was nowhere to be found.

The drink in my hand fell to the ground with a clatter, steam rising from the hot pavement.

I searched frantically in circles, then finally grabbed a passing stranger and cried helplessly:

"Auntie, please help me find my sister. She's missing!"