It's the students' fault if they are too popular.

These six hours were probably torture for Jiang Wu. The car was very noisy, with the shrill cries of children, the greasy smell of instant noodles everywhere, and occasionally the smell of smelly feet. She wanted to use her cell phone, but the signal was not good. Once she entered the tunnel, everything was disconnected, and she could only sit there and stare blankly.

"Mom, I downloaded a movie, do you want to watch it?"

The nursery rhyme acted as a little cotton-padded jacket and smiled attentively.

"Let him go." said Empress Dowager Jiang.

The movie she played was The Devil Wears Prada, starring the gorgeous Anne Hathaway.

A cart passed by them. The attendant was a young man. He stopped in the middle and promoted his product with his hands and feet:

"This e-cigarette is healthy and harmless, and helps people quit smoking..."

A child said loudly:

"Mom, buy one for Dad so he can quit smoking!"

The woman was a little embarrassed, so she pulled the child back and whispered:

“These are all lies.”

But the child didn't believe it and shouted that he wanted to buy one for his father. The flight attendant seized the opportunity and continued to attack. Finally, the woman had no choice but to pay the money and buy peace of mind for the child.

"Kids are troublesome."

The nursery rhyme goes.

Jiang Wu glanced at her daughter and wanted to say, "Didn't you used to be a child?" But when she thought about it carefully, she realized that this child didn't cause her any trouble when she was a child.

When I grew up, I suddenly gave myself such a "surprise" - I brought a female student home.

The movie was playing when suddenly a box popped up in the notification bar. It was the female student that my daughter brought home.

[Ruanruan]: The meal I made myself [Picture]

Tong Yao awkwardly crossed out the message. Jiang Wu said nothing, but just hummed softly.

After getting off the train, they dragged their luggage out of the station. The local climate was much cooler than the furnace-like provincial capital, and they could see the green mountains in the mist in the distance. As if the scene had brought back some emotions, Jiang Wu sighed softly and said:

"Do you still remember your great uncle? When you were a child, he said that you would be successful in the future and gave you a big red envelope."

But after such a long time, those images have been diluted by time and Tong Yao can't even remember the faces of these distant relatives:

"Can not remember."

"Yeah, you were too young then."

Jiang Wu was not surprised. She put away her sadness and stopped a car. The traffic in the small city was not congested. When the car drove into the community, Tong Yao looked at the buildings outside the window. Her childhood memories seemed to be awakened. Even the uncle who was deeply buried in her memory had a vague outline.

"Stop here." Jiang Wu said to the driver.

Tong Yao got off the bus. There was an obituary posted on the bulletin board of the community. She could vaguely hear the funeral music not far away. She followed Jiang Wu and finally saw the mourning hall covered with cloth in the yard between two buildings.

When those people saw them, they immediately came forward to greet them. Jiang Wu saw the portrait in the middle and wanted to cry, but she held it back and talked with relatives and friends. The conversation between the elders gradually turned to the younger generation:

"This is Yaoyao, she's getting prettier and prettier..."

“Are you a teacher now?”

"You haven't made any friends yet, I..."

She was not good at dealing with these relatives who she didn't know how to address, so she sat aside and poured herself a glass of water. The mourning hall was filled with tables and chairs, as if a banquet had just been held, and a group of men and women gathered together to play cards, as if this was not a funeral but a wedding.

There is no disrespect involved, it's just the custom.

Only direct blood relatives can feel this deep sorrow.

She looked around and saw a heavy coffin in front of her amidst the wreaths and flowers. On the mat in front of the coffin, a small white figure was kneeling there, as if it had taken root. It was clearly in the most conspicuous position, but it seemed to have become a corner, quiet and lonely.

It was a little girl wearing mourning clothes, about five or six years old, with a half-ponytail and a fair face.

Tong Yao suddenly felt compassion, walked gently to the little girl, knelt beside her, and said in a coaxing tone:

"What's your name?"

The girl was startled, turned her head, blinked her red and swollen eyes, and whispered in a childish voice:

"...Xu Dongyang, the Dong of winter, the Yang of sun."

Tong Yao smiled and said:

"My name is Tong Yao, I'm yours..."

She was suddenly startled, turned back, and called softly:

"Mom, what should she call me?"

Jiang Wu, who was talking to her relatives, looked over and said:

"Dongyang is your great-uncle's great-granddaughter, so I should call you..." As she spoke, she frowned. They were so many generations apart, and they were cousins, so she didn't know how to address them:

"You are older than me, so just call me aunt."

Tong Yao turned around and said with a smile:

"Call me Auntie."

"Auntie."

Xu Dongyang's voice is soft, with the elongated tone unique to children, and very light, like the meow of a kitten.

"How old are you this year?"

"Five years old."

"Are you in kindergarten?"

Xu Dongyang lowered his head, as if he was asked something embarrassing:

"……No."

Tong Yao realized that she seemed to have asked the wrong question and might have hurt the child unintentionally. Feeling guilty, she tried to change the subject:

“Have you learned pinyin?”

The little girl nodded gently: "I taught myself."

As she spoke, she stretched out a finger and gestured on the mat under her legs. Following the faint traces, Tong Yao actually recognized that the girl had written the pinyin of her own name.

Tongyao.

"That's great." She praised with a smile.

Xu Dongyang was too embarrassed to look at her. For the first time, the child, who had been immersed in sadness, had a different expression on his face.

-

-

After an afternoon, Tong Yao had gotten to know all the relatives here. They were not close to each other, and when they were with them, they were flattering in their words, which she did not like.

But she also figured out the context here. The old uncle sent off the young and the old. His son died of high blood pressure at the age of 60, leaving behind three grandchildren, all of whom have started their own families. Xu Dongyang's father is the third of them.

But he was also unfortunate. He died in a car accident at the age of 27. His wife ran away and has been missing ever since. Xu Dongyang, who was just a few months old, was thrown into the home of his maternal uncle and raised until he was five years old.

Tong Yao didn't know why she was asking these questions.

Maybe he was worried about the girl's future fate.

She asked Jiang Wu what would happen to Xu Dongyang in the future, and Jiang Wu said that he would be raised by her two uncles.

At night, Jiang Wu asked Tong Yao to go back to the hotel. Tong Yao looked at the small figure in the mourning hall, hesitated, and said:

"I'll just stay here."

Jiang Wu didn't continue to persuade her.

She walked forward slowly. She had bought some snacks outside in the afternoon. I think children would like them. So, she took out one, squatted down, and shook it in front of the girl:

"Would you like something to eat?"

Xu Dongyang raised his head and called out obediently:

"Auntie."

I didn't expect that she could become an aunt before she was even 20 years old.

Tong Yao continued to smile: "Come, eat."

The locally produced rice candy is very sweet and crispy, but the downside is that it makes you fat.

"Thank you, auntie." The child took it carefully, put it in his mouth, chewed it slowly, very politely.

"Are you going to keep watch?" Tong Yao asked, "Go back to sleep later, otherwise it will be bad for your health. Keeping watch is the job of adults."

Xu Dongyang's eyes dimmed, and at that moment, she seemed to be about to cry:

"I...I want to stay with my great-grandfather."

Tong Yao quickly hugged her and coaxed her:

"Good boy, you are so sensible."

She thought, how could anyone not feel sorry for a child like this?

There was a commotion behind me. Two men came with three children and said:

"Kowtow to your great grandfather."

One pair is twins, about seven or eight years old, very lively. The other is a teenager, wearing in-ear headphones, looking cool.

"Come, let's make room." Tong Yao gently helped the child up and sat aside. Xu Dongyang's legs were a little weak, so he lay in her arms and sat obediently on the chair.

The new children didn't show much emotion on their faces, and Tong Yao could understand that. After all, as far as she knew, they lived out of town and probably had never met her great-uncle. No matter how close the blood relationship was, it couldn't overcome the fact that they had never met before.

"Do you want to watch cartoons?" She took the opportunity to coax Xu Dongyang, "You can watch them on your aunt's phone."

Xu Dongyang shook her head first, then pursed her lips. Perhaps she felt that her aunt was very kind, so she tried to make a request:

"……May I?"

"Of course." Tong Yao smiled, "What are you looking at? Auntie will help you find it."

Xu Dongyang thought about it and said that he wanted to watch "Chinese Boy Hong Zhanhui", which was broadcast on the children's channel a few days ago.

Tong Yao was at a loss for words, so she searched online and actually found it.

This is a story about a poor boy who has to shoulder the burden of the family at a young age. His mother ran away from home, his father was seriously ill, and he had to support a sister he adopted.

Many people don’t know how hard life is for some people.

But Xu Dongyang knew.

This cartoon is tear-jerking in itself, and it resonates with the girl's life experience. After watching a few episodes, Tong Yao found that the child was secretly wiping away tears without saying a word, which made people feel very distressed. She took out a piece of paper, helped Xu Dongyang wipe away his tears, and said:

"Go home and get some sleep, okay?"

My great uncle's house is on the second floor next door.

Xu Dongyang was very sleepy, but still didn't want to leave. Tong Yao continued to persuade him, "You'll stay with Grandpa Zeng tomorrow," and "You'll have a lot of things to do tomorrow, so you should have a good rest today." Only then did the girl finally agree to go upstairs and sleep.

She could barely hold the five-year-old child, but Xu Dongyang said with a red face that she wanted to walk by herself, so Tong Yao put her down, walked into the dark corridor, stomped her feet hard, and the sensor light came on.

The stairwell was cluttered with junk and a little crowded.

The door was open, and an elder was sleeping on the sofa in the living room. Tong Yao made a "hush" gesture and walked into the room with the girl. The uncle's house was not small, more than 120 square meters, and Xu Dongyang's room was inside, simple but not shabby.

The girl lay on the bed, and Tong Yao covered her with a blanket. Seeing that she seemed to be hesitant to speak, Tong Yao guessed that the child might want her to accompany him, so she asked:

"Do you want your aunt to accompany you?"

The girl opened her eyes wide and asked timidly:

"……May I?"

There it is again.

Tong Yao smiled: "Of course."

She moved a chair and asked whether to turn off the lights, but Xu Dongyang shook his head desperately.

Afraid of the dark.

She stuffed the quilt under the child. Xu Dongyang looked at her and suddenly asked:

"Aunt, is Hong Zhanhui real?"

Tong Yao pondered and said, "I remember it should be true."