Xia Rou returned to the room, sat on the edge of the bed and was in a daze for a while.
She was reborn only three days ago. When I opened my eyes, I thought I was dreaming. In my dream, I went back to the time when I lived with my mother in the duplex apartment. When she moved back later, she redecorated it once, and it was not the same as before.
She wandered around the apartment as if she was sleepwalking, looking at those familiar and long-forgotten details. When I went down the stairs and saw Cheng Wan's portrait in the living room, I was still wondering why I dreamed of the time when my mother had just passed away. Could it be that this was not a dream, because she also died, so Lihun came here
Later, the doorbell woke her up, and Lao Zhou accompanied the lawyer over to ask her to sign.
In addition to this apartment under Cheng Wan's name, there are also two bottom-end merchants who are renting out, earning a lot of money. Only relying on rent, she can live a much more comfortable life than many ordinary people.
These, of course, were all given to her by Cao Xiong.
Cao Xiong said he would take care of her, so he really took good care of her.
And these, after Cheng Wan's death, were all inherited by Xia Rou.
Xia Rou was in a daze, mechanically followed the lawyer's instructions, and signed several documents, feeling more and more strange.
The details are so informative!
Real dreams should be vague, jumpy, and incoherent. But this dream! Even the house numbers of all properties are clearly stated in the contract.
Xia Rou has always been a person with a not very bright mind. Because she has never been worried about the two bottom shops, she only knows the approximate location, but she can't always remember the specific house number. She looked at the clear house address in the contract, held her pen, and finally looked up.
"Uncle Zhou... I, am I dreaming?" She asked uncertainly.
The young girl who had just lost her only relative, with a pale face, asked such a strange question abruptly. Looking at it, Lao Zhou felt a little pity for her.
Lao Zhou is Cao Xiong's driver. For someone like Cao Xiong, wherever he goes, the driver and the guards will follow him closely, whether it is business or... private. So Lao Zhou has known Xia Rou for a long time. It can even be said that she watched Xia Rou grow up.
He sighed, comforted her and said, "Don't worry, the chief is still here. I won't leave you alone."
The lawyer is also one of his own, so he didn't shy away from it, and said directly: "I wanted to tell you later, but the chief arranged for you to live in his house so that he can take care of you in the future. So, you don't have to worry."
Xia Rou held the pen and stared blankly at him.
From the point of view of the two men, it was because the girl had suffered too much in the past two days and couldn't digest the news just now. They coaxed her to sign all the papers, relieved.
Before Lao Zhou left, he repeatedly told her: "You have a good rest, and I will come over tomorrow to help you pack your things together. Let's pack up your belongings first, and the rest... just deal with it slowly later."
After Lao Zhou left, Xia Rou stood at the door and stared at the door for a while, then turned around and went to the kitchen. She took out a fruit knife, stared at the white palm of her left hand, and slowly... stroked it down!
pain!
Only after a small cut was made, bright red blood oozes out, and the sharp pain is extremely clear.
The fruit knife fell to the floor with a clatter, and Xia Rou stared at her palm to confirm that she was not dreaming.
is rebirth.
Xia Rou fell back on the soft bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.
Why, a stupid person like her... can get the favor of the heavens, and have a chance to do it all over again
She thought for a long time, but couldn't think of an answer. I just feel a headache.
Sighing, he got up, and found out the coins he bought on the way to Cao's house. Today is Cheng Wan's first seven, she should burn some money for her.
On the way, it was Old Zhou who said, "Today is your mother's first seven days, right?" She just remembered this, so she asked Lao Zhou to stop halfway, got out of the car and bought some paper money for incense sticks.
She couldn't remember whether Lao Zhou had said this sentence on the way in her last life, but she remembered that at that time, she was so shocked by her mother's death that she didn't know that she would burn paper for her mother in the first seven days.
She rummaged through it, only to realize that she didn't buy a lighter. After thinking about it, he knocked on Aunt Fang's door.
Aunt Fang found out why she came, took a look at her, took her to the kitchen, and found her an igniter. I went to find her a washbasin elsewhere.
"Burn it in a basin, it's easy to clean up." She said.
She took her to find a corner in the courtyard, broke a branch, and taught her to draw a circle: "The circle must be closed, so that the burned things will fall into the hands of my family."
In fact, Xia Rou knew all this, but she really felt Aunt Fang's kindness, so she said "thank you" sincerely.
Under the dim light of the courtyard, the thin girl knelt on the ground and burned paper for her deceased mother... The picture looked bleak.
Aunt Fang didn't leave, sighed, and knelt down to help her cook together.
Xia Rou glanced at her in the night, and found that her face looked soft, not as serious and indifferent as she remembered Wan/mother.
She lowered her eyelids, watching the dancing orange flames, thinking, why? Why did Aunt Fang treat her so differently
Is it because she is different? Because she has no resentment, no self-pity, and no thorns all over her body, it is completely different for others to treat her.
"You have been living with your mother all this time, is it because your father died?" Aunt Fang was burning papers, while having different conversations.
"No..." Xia Rou's face was reflected by the flames, she didn't look so pale anymore, and she became more popular. "My father and my mother divorced, married someone else and left."
Aunt Fang was silent for a while before asking: "Is there still contact?"
Xia Rou shook her head: "No more. I was only seven years old when he left, and I haven't seen him since then."
Aunt Fang sighed, stopped talking, and silently added paper to the fire.
When the paper money was about to be burned, she suddenly said, "Don't be afraid, the chief will take care of you when he says so. The chief always says what he says. Back then... he said he would never marry again, and he really didn't marry again."
She said, shaking her head.
She was slightly displeased with Xia Rou's identity, and it was indeed because she was the mistress' child. She had been favored by Mrs. Cao, so she would naturally have some slight resistance to Xia Rou and Cheng Wan. But when she thought about it now, when Cheng Wan followed Cao Xiong, Mrs. Cao had passed away for seven or eight years. Although Cheng Wan has no status, she is not a third party who meddles in other people's marriages.
Looking at Xia Rou's quiet and weak appearance, her slight resistance dissipated, and she couldn't help but feel pity for this child who has no parents.
When he raised his eyes, he couldn't help being slightly startled.
The child's dark eyes pierced through the orange firelight and the deformed airflow, looking at her steadily.
Those eyes were too deep for her age.
Just thinking about it in my heart, I heard Xia Rou say, "Well, I know."
Xia Rou is well aware of the Cao family man's promises.
The two of them stopped talking, and when the paper money was burned out and the open flame was gone, Aunt Fang unscrewed a bottle of mineral water and extinguished the sparks in the basin.
"Don't move, it's too hot. Clean up after it cools down." She said, trying to stand up, but shook her body.
Xia Rou helped her up.
She thumped her waist and sighed: "I'm old, my waist is gone. Alas, in the blink of an eye, it's been so many years..."
"You go back first." Xia Rou said, "I can clean it up myself, I know where to pour it..."
Aunt Fang looked in the basin and made sure there were no more sparks, so she said, "Well, don't burn it." She beat her waist and went back first.
Xia Rou sat on the ground, beat her numb legs, and waited for the washbasin to cool down.
Subconsciously raised his head and glanced at the main building. In front of a window on the third floor stood a figure, a little orange red, appearing and disappearing from time to time.
It's Big Brother, let's smoke by the window, she thought.
Because that room is Cao Yang's bedroom, right above her bedroom.
He stood by the window, as if he had been looking at her, and he didn't know if it was. The light in the courtyard is soft and dim, and you can only see a vague figure. Can you tell it's her
She narrowed her eyes and looked at him for a while, but no matter how she looked at it, it was just a black silhouette, then she looked away.
The courtyard was not much different from what she remembered, except that the trees in her memory were thicker and taller. In summer, the crown of the tree is opened, like a big green umbrella. The sun shone down, and she sat on the wooden chair under the canopy to read a book, which was more comfortable than blowing on the air conditioner in the house.
Thinking about it now, in those years when she was a student, she actually didn't have to worry about anything, and she could live a carefree life.
She is always troubled by her own identity.
"Mistress' Daughter", like a mantra, and like a big net, tightly bound her...
Cao Yang was smoking a cigarette by the window and saw Xia Rou coming out to burn paper. He just remembered that today is Cheng Wan's first seven days.
Sensible boy, he thought. Also know to burn paper. Other children as old as her probably encountered such a situation, and without the advice of their elders, they probably didn't know what to do at all.
Aunt Fang went back, and the child sat under the tree in a daze, not knowing what he was thinking. He kept looking at her until she seemed to have had enough of being in a daze, rubbed her legs, stood up, and left with the fire basin.
He just finished smoking a cigarette, turned around and snuffed it out in the ashtray.
Later, he caught a glimpse of the light of a car light passing by outside the window, and went downstairs. In the living room on the first floor, no lights were turned on, only a little orange fire was on or off.
Cao Xiong came back first.
"Dad." He walked over.
His voice seemed to tear apart the darkness, bringing Cao Xiong back to reality from his memories.
"Not asleep yet?" he said.
"It's still early." Cao Yang said. He opened a table next to the sofa.
Although soft, the sudden light made Cao Xiong narrow his eyes slightly.
"Is she here?" he asked.
Knowing that he was asking about Xia Rou, Cao Yang replied, "It's coming in the evening, and I'll have dinner with you."
"Are you ok?"
"It looks okay. I cried once, so I'm probably still sad. It's enough to coax her. She even burned paper for Aunt Cheng at night." He thought for a while, and added, "Quite sensible, quiet."
Cao Xiong didn't speak any more, smoking quietly.
After a while, he seemed to be tired and put out the cigarette.
"I leave it to you." He said, "Take care of her. Treat her as if you had an extra sister."
His wife died early, and the eldest son became self-reliant early on. Not only was he able to take good care of himself, but he also took good care of his younger brothers. Therefore, he assured Xia Rou to him.
She is Cheng Wan's child and Cheng Wan's last concern. He has a heart for her.
But the child didn't get close to him, and always avoided him.
He can't help it either.