Three years later.
"...Really? Huang Yu, you are so kind! Thank you, thank you! Don't worry, I won't embarrass you! Well, that's over, I'll go to the company to find you at nine o'clock tomorrow morning!"
After talking on the phone, Xu Xiaoai finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Mommy?"
A beautiful little girl with a small cherry ball hair cut is sitting on the floor covered with foam cushions with two fat white legs crossed, playing with some building blocks.
The little girl was a little dissatisfied that Mommy wasn't paying attention to herself, and after calling out Mommy in dissatisfaction, she pouted.
Xu Xiaoai immediately put down the phone, squatted beside the little girl, and started playing with the little girl.
After a while, Xu Xiaoai said to the little girl, "Mengmeng, will Mommy take you to the kindergarten in the afternoon? Starting tomorrow, Mommy will go to work, and you will play in the kindergarten during the day. I'll pick you up, okay?"
"… not good!"
The little girl replied seriously.
Seeing the serious look of the little guy, Xu Xiaoai couldn't help but laugh.
"But if Mommy doesn't go to work, she won't make any money, and we won't have a house to live in, and no milk to drink..." Xu Xiaoai stopped at this point.
It seems not good to instill the importance of money into children at such a young age
So she put it another way.
"Look, Mengmeng, Xiaopang next door, Mingming upstairs, Fangfang and Xiaohu from the building next door... They are all in kindergarten! If Mengmeng also goes to kindergarten, you can play with them all day... Kindergarten My teacher can tell stories to the children and play games with everyone... ”
Mengmeng tilted her chubby head and thought for a while, feeling a little moved.
"But, but... If Mengmeng goes to kindergarten, no one will wipe Mengmeng's butt during uh-huh, and... Mengmeng can't hug Mommy when she sleeps."
Xu Xiaoai smiled.
"Wipe your ass... you can learn, you have to do your own things! Although Mengmeng can't sleep with Mommy when she sleeps in the afternoon, we can still be together at night... Mengmeng takes the little cloth bear How about going to kindergarten together? In this way, Mengmeng can accompany Little Bear when she sleeps in the afternoon, and hug Mommy when she sleeps at night?"
Mengmeng nodded obediently.
Mommy is right!
But the little girl still felt something was wrong.
Mengmeng lowered her head, pouted and continued to play with building blocks.
Xu Xiaoai sighed.
Seeing that it was almost time, she turned and went to the kitchen.
In the past few years, she and Mengmeng have been living together, eating... and basically relying on Mengmeng.
Mengmeng's stomach is not good, the little guy can't digest the slightly hard rice and biscuits, and will always vomit in the end; so Xu Xiaoai can only cook the rice porridge that is rotten, or boil it soft noodles or something.
Lunch is noodles.
After eating noodles with Mengmeng, the two took a nap, Xu Xiaoai took Mengmeng's hand and went to the kindergarten at the gate of the community.
After paying the fee and making an agreement with the teacher to send Mengmeng to school tomorrow morning, Xu Xiaoai was going to take Mengmeng to the market to buy some food and then go back, but Xu Xiaohui called and said he would be there soon.
One big and one small simply played and waited at the gate of the community.
Thinking that it was rare for his younger brother to come over, Xu Xiaoai decided not to buy groceries and went out to eat.
Sure enough, Xu Xiaohui came over panting, with a huge cardboard box on his shoulders.
When Mengmeng saw the pattern of the toy battery car printed on the cardboard box carried by her uncle, she suddenly became happy.
Xu Xiaohui was here too.
He simply opened the cardboard box at the gate of the community. After the toy car was assembled, he plugged in the battery, put Xiao Mengmeng in the car, and let the little girl drive by herself.
The children around came over to touch Mengmeng's car enviously.
And Xu Xiaoai and his brother were sitting on the listening flower base at the gate of the community, watching the little guy play.
Seeing Mengmeng's happy appearance, Xu Xiaoai was happy, but she felt sorry for the money, so she complained to her younger brother, "You bought her random things again... It's not me, this thing is good-looking, but it will break after playing with it." …Here, last time you bought her building blocks, you lost half of them after only playing for three or five days, then you bought another set, and lost half again... Well, it’s just right to change two sets into one.”
Xu Xiaohui scratched his head, "Didn't I promise Mengmeng already! I keep my word and keep my word."
Xu Xiaoai couldn't help laughing.
"How about the internship?"
Xu Xiaohui hesitated for a while.
"Sister, this time, I just want to discuss this matter with you..."
As he spoke, Xu Xiaohui's voice became lower and lower, "I, I want to study in graduate school."
"Study in graduate school?"
Xu Xiaoai's eyes were shining.
"This is a good thing!"
Xu Xiaoai quickly understood the meaning behind his brother's words, "Then... how much will it cost?"
Xu Xiaohui's face was flushed.
"... If you pass the exam, including tuition fees and living expenses, it is estimated that it will cost about 50,000 to 60,000 yuan..."
Xu Xiaoai glanced at his younger brother.
He said 50,000 to 60,000, the gap must be more than 70,000 to 80,000, or even more.
But Xu Xiaoai has no money either.
In order to raise Mengmeng these years, she couldn't even find a job properly, so she could only do odd jobs nearby.
After thinking about it, Xu Xiaoai said, "Did you say when you have to pay? I found a job, and when I start working seriously, I can earn money."
"It's still early, we still have to see if I can pass the exam..."
As he said that, Xu Xiaohui was a little surprised, "Sister, have you found a job?"
Xu Xiaoai pursed her lips and smiled, "It's a trust and wealth management company. Huang Yu introduced it. I went to see it the day before yesterday. Their company is quite formal... I heard from Huang Yu that if the performance is good, there will be a commission. It's just cute I have also reached the age where I can go to kindergarten, and I also want to make a fortune, maybe my performance is very good... "
Xu Xiaohui felt sincerely happy for her sister.
After the siblings chatted for a while, Xu Xiaohui asked again, "Sister, has Second Sister contacted you recently? Is there something wrong with her? Why isn't she on WeChat? Even if I do occasionally, I'll talk to her... She I didn't reply for a long time."
Speaking of Xue Qing, the smile on Xu Xiaoai's face became even wider, and her eyes became extremely gentle.
"She's in a relationship with an Australian who's a year older than her. I've seen pictures of that boy, he's tall and handsome."
Xu Xiaohui was taken aback for a moment, then smiled, "Really? That's great! She's finally..."
Xu Xiaoai glanced at him lightly.
Xu Xiaohui knew that he had made a slip of the tongue and lowered his head.