For so many years, this was the first time I saw my dad cry.

I will never forget the look in my dad's eyes at that moment. The reluctance and resolution in my dad's eyes dripped on the ground along with the tears, making me want to cry with him.

"Dad! What's wrong?" I wanted to take my dad's hand, but he grabbed my wrist and turned his back to me. My dad's back blocked my view, and I couldn't see what he was doing, but I felt a pain in my finger.

I tried desperately to pull my hand away, but my dad held my hand tightly. When I pulled my hand back, I saw blood oozing from my finger—my dad had pricked my finger and squeezed the blood out?

Before I could figure out what was going on, my dad quickly said, "Pack your things and go back to school immediately. No, don't go back to school. Find a hotel to stay in by yourself, any one will do. Don't tell anyone where you're staying."

I was stunned by my dad. Why did he want me to stay in a hotel for no reason?

Before I could ask him, he continued: "Before you go to the hotel, find a place to take a shower and burn all your clothes. Don't keep them. Buy a new set of clothes, inside and out, and put them on after you shower. Before you change into the new clothes, put this cloth bag in your pocket."

I didn't know what was in the cloth bag my dad gave me. It smelled like mothballs, but it wasn't quite the same.

As soon as I took the cloth bag, my dad dumped everything out of my schoolbag, and while putting things back in, he told me:

"After you check into the hotel, don't open the windows or the door. Just wait for me to come and find you."

"If I come over at nine in the morning, follow me."

"If you hear any movement in the middle of the night, don't open the door."

"If there's any movement in the middle of the night, stay in the room and don't go out. Wait until noon before you go out and find someone according to the address I wrote in the notebook. That person is your uncle. After you see him, he will arrange your future."

"On the way to your uncle's house, don't be afraid of anything. If someone grabs you, no matter who it is, use the knife I gave you to stab him hard. Stab him and run."

"Remember, don't run into shadowy places. If someone is standing in the shadows talking to you, don't pay attention to him. Just avoid people like that."

"Do you understand everything?"

I was stunned at the time: "Dad, what are you talking about? I don't understand. And what do you mean by looking for me in the middle of the night!"

My dad held back his tears, touched my head, and looked at me for a long time, then pushed me out without explanation: "Remember my words, go quickly. When you meet your uncle, he will slowly tell you what's going on. Be sure to listen."

After my dad pushed me out the door, he locked the door and refused to open it for me no matter what.

I shouted outside for a long time, and my dad just replied, "Listen to me, or don't call me Dad."

I had no choice but to do as my dad said, and went to the town overnight and found a hotel near the station to stay in.

After I checked into the hotel, I felt uneasy. I always had a bad feeling in my heart!

My dad told me to take a shower and change all my clothes, but when I arrived in town, it was already past nine o'clock in the evening. At that time, the town was not very developed, and there was no night market. Where could I buy clothes?

I wandered around the streets of the town, and there was no place to buy clothes except for funeral shops.

I really had no choice but to take a shower first and stuff the bag my dad gave me into my clothes.

I had completed half of what my dad had told me to do. I didn't know when my dad would come. It was a lie to say that I wasn't afraid of being alone in the hotel. But what I thought about more was my dad.

The more I thought about it, the more uneasy I became. I always felt that something I couldn't recognize was approaching me silently.

But what could I do? The only thing I could do was wait in the hotel for the outcome after dawn.

I stayed in the hotel all night, and didn't wait for my dad to come until noon the next day.

Since my dad didn't come, I had no choice but to go to my uncle as he had instructed.

I had already bought the ticket, but I was stopped by the security guard at the station. I don't know when an extra security check procedure was added to the station. The security guard found the knife my dad gave me for self-defense in my bag and said they wanted to confiscate it.

I was anxious at the time. My dad had only told me a few things in total. I didn't buy the clothes, and if the knife was gone, how would I get out of the town?

I went up to try to snatch the knife back, but was taken to the security department of the station by the security guard.

The security guard was going to call the police, but the station leader said: "There's no need to call the police for a child. Just educate him and let the school or his parents come to pick him up."

I sat in the security department until almost dark when a security guard came in and called me, "Hey kid, come out! Your dad is here to pick you up."

I was stunned. How did my dad know I was caught by the security guard?