“Is that so?”

Xu Jiahua, you might not know this, but although we’re only eight years old, I’ve considered you a friend for five years. I only hope you can think of me as your friend for even just one day.

“Of course! From now on, we’ll be good friends forever! Come on! Let’s toast!!” He raised the glass bottle in front of me. “Long live friendship!!”

“Yes! Long live friendship!”

I imitated the adults and gently clinked my bottle against his, then stole a glance at him.

Although everyone said Coca-Cola was delicious… but this thing was so dark and black—could it really taste good?

In my memory, only medicine soup was this color.

Xu Jiahua was much braver than me. He picked up the bottle and took a big gulp of that black water. The next second, his eyes went wide, and he covered his mouth with his hand.

Seeing him like this, I was a bit confused. “Wh-what’s wrong? Xu Jiahua… does it taste good?”

But he kept his hand over his mouth, gesturing excitedly with his eyes for me to take a sip.

I knew Xu Jiahua wouldn’t play a trick on me, so I picked up the cola and took a sip just like he did.

The black water with its sweet aroma entered my mouth, and the next second, even my eyes went wide!

Good heavens!!

This cola was bouncing and jumping in my mouth, fizzing and sizzling, as if it were alive! It was pricking my mouth!

I was so startled I almost spat it out and quickly covered my mouth with my hand. Cola was expensive.

“Burp~~~”

A moment later, we both let out loud burps at the same time. After looking at each other, we burst into giggles again.

“Wow!!” Xu Jiahua laughed. “So this is cola!! How interesting!”

“It tastes so good!” I also laughed.

“Let me try it again!”

“But… but Xu Jiahua.” I interrupted him. “If you buy me cola, then you won’t have money to eat dinner.”

“What does that matter?!” Xu Jiahua said with a carefree laugh. “Before I became your desk mate, I didn’t eat dinner every night anyway! Besides, this cola wasn’t me treating you—it was you treating me!”

After that brief moment of happiness, we had nothing more to say and sat dumbly on the bridge pier drinking our cola.

Although the cola tasted good, the bottle was so small that we were practically drinking it drop by drop.

The sky was about to darken, and the moon had climbed out.

But today’s sky was really quite funny—the sky was half-dark, and the moon was right opposite the sun.

It seemed the moon had company today too.

“Xu Jiahua… do you know about ‘heroes’?” I asked.

“Heroes? Like Yue Fei?” He asked unclearly while sucking on the bottle with his mouth.

“Not heroes like Yue Fei…” I shook my head. “It’s like… a ‘hero’ born in a city, where everyone in that city worships him and hopes he can lead them forward, but the ‘hero’ doesn’t know what he should do. Have you ever heard of such a situation?”

“That sounds so strange?” Xu Jiahua thought for a while. “Although I don’t really understand this ‘hero’ you’re talking about, if you think about it carefully, it’s actually pretty much like a ‘big brother,’ right?”

“Big brother…?” I was stunned. Although I wanted to refuse, honestly speaking, that seemed to be exactly what it meant.

I was the “big brother,” and my subordinates were a group of “little brothers” following me.

“If I were to be this big brother… oh no.” Xu Jiahua chuckled. “I mean, if I were to be this hero, first I’d have to make sure all the little brothers had full stomachs! Even if I starved to death myself, it wouldn’t matter!”

“Full stomachs…?” I suddenly realized that what Xu Jiahua said made a lot of sense. Every ten-day period, all my family members spent their time in hunger.

Although the “Fragrance Bearers” in the family could produce a certain amount of food, there were simply too many people, and no one could eat their fill.

Next time I returned, I would definitely make sure everyone had enough to eat.

“And then what?” I asked again.

“Then it’s ‘unity’!” Xu Jiahua laughed. “Have you ever bought pirated DVDs? Many movies are like this!”

“I haven’t seen them, but you can tell me about them.” I said.

“In short, it’s about loving his little… uh… I mean ‘subjects,’ I think that’s what they’re called?” Xu Jiahua scratched his head. “I think that’s how it’s written in fairy tales…”

“Subjects?”

“That’s right!” Xu Jiahua took another small sip of cola and said with a nod. “Doesn’t this hero sound like a ‘prince’ from a fairy tale?”

“But I don’t know what a ‘prince’ is either…” I said.

“What’s there not to know!!” Xu Jiahua stood up. “Princes are easy to recognize! They all wear crowns, hold swords, and have capes behind them. In many stories, the prince is the hero, and the hero is the prince!”

While gesturing, Xu Jiahua raised the cola bottle in his hand high into the air. “It must be like this! They raise their swords high and shout ‘I’m here to protect everyone! I am the hero!'”

Watching the cola bottle in his hand reflect the dazzling light of the setting sun, I seemed to understand what “hero” meant.

“Huh…?” I was stunned. “Is that it?”

“It must be!”

That day, Xu Jiahua and I talked for a long time. I seemed to understand for the first time what the word “friend” meant. He taught me many things.

It was just a pity that time couldn’t stop. As night gradually deepened, we had to part ways. This parting would once again be for ten days.

I looked up—indeed, the sun would ultimately disappear.

Even though it had met with the moon, it would ultimately disappear.

Now in the sky, only a moon as lonely as me remained.

The sun had places the sun needed to go; it wouldn’t stay in the pitch-black night forever.

Through the long night ahead, only the moon would walk alone in loneliness.

I had ultimately arrived at the “prison” that belonged to me.

I’d heard adults say that when they went to work, it was like being in prison—after serving a period of time, they could rest for two days.

So I had already grown up long ago.

I sat in my room while Siwei Jiejie read a book beside me.

I felt that Siwei Jiejie might be the most knowledgeable person I’d ever met. In her free time, she was either reading books or reading newspapers. Many of the characters I recognized now were taught to me by her.

She told me she was just an ordinary university student. Did university students really know so much?

Watching her serious expression, I couldn’t help but ask, “Jiejie, after reading so many books, is there any book that says where you can find a ‘crown’ and a ‘sword’?”

“A crown and a sword…?” Siwei Jiejie was startled. “That sounds like a little prince. What do you want those things for?”

“I… I…” I was a bit too embarrassed to say it, because I wanted to become this prince.

Siwei Jiejie seemed to see through what was in my heart and asked, “Yingxiong Didi, have you heard the story of ‘The Happy Prince’?”

“The Happy Prince?”