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

Page 123

"So...how is he doing now?"

"Very good." Tong Yao said, "Now that he's famous, he must be good."

"Oh."

Xu Dongyang said softly, the light above her head sparkling in her dark eyes.

Tong Yao looked around the room. Behind her was a desk with 26 English letters, multiplication tables, and a few books printed on it. She opened a book and found that some words were marked with pinyin. She asked curiously:

"Are these books yours?"

"Well...but I don't know a lot of words. I need to look them up in the dictionary."

Tong Yao looked into the drawer and, sure enough, there was a small Chinese dictionary.

"Dongyang is amazing. He can use a dictionary at such a young age." She couldn't help but praise him.

In her impression, dictionaries are taught only by elementary school teachers.

"Not bad..." Xu Dongyang's face turned even redder.

"Do you want your aunt to read to you?" She waved the book in her hand and smiled.

The child's expression clearly showed that he was thinking.

"Then I'll read it," she raised the corners of her lips and read out the title of the book, "'Bronze Sunflower', this one."

Chapter 125: Come with me

"Sunflowers are very lonely, the kind of loneliness that a bird feels when it owns the vast sky but cannot see any other birds. This bird is flying under the vast sky..."

The soft voice made the story gentle as well, as if there was a soothing power in it that penetrated deeply into the heart and made the young girl gradually fall asleep.

Yeah, fell asleep.

Tong Yao closed the book, rested her chin on the bed, and looked at the girl's peaceful sleeping face. She was not a child, but an angel. Dong Yang's face did not have the red color that children have. Her bangs were a little wisp, and her hair was a little curled. At first glance, she looked like an exquisite doll, but Tong Yao thought of it again. Many people say that beautiful children tend to grow ugly in the future... Oh, how could that be?

It will definitely get better and better looking as it grows longer.

She got up quietly, without making any sound, turned off the lights, and used her mobile phone to illuminate. She was not sleepy yet, so she went downstairs for a walk. The mourning hall in the yard was brightly lit.

There were tables and chairs everywhere, with tea and snacks on the tables, and a few cigarette butts on the ground, with the flames flickering. She found a bright place to sit down, and the boy who was sitting next to her was playing with his cell phone, the latest Apple computer. She was bored, so she just watched from the side. The game seemed to be about war, and the boy lowered his head and led a group of villains to attack other people's base camp.

Knowing that someone was coming, the boy was obviously nervous, but he still focused on playing the game, and didn't breathe a sigh of relief until he defeated his opponent. He turned his head and found that it was a beautiful sister, and then... he became even more nervous.

"Um, hello, sister."

"Hello," Tong Yao pointed at the screen with interest, "What game is that?"

"Clash of Clans," the boy scratched his ear. Boys of this age get excited when talking about games.

Tong Yao laughed: "You are Haoming, right? You will be in the third grade soon, right?"

If she remembered correctly, this was the son of Dongyang's second uncle, who was studying in junior high school in another city and seemed to have a good living condition.

"Hmm..." Xu Haoming scratched his head embarrassedly.

"I heard from your father that you have good grades." She knows how to speak to make children feel accomplished and happy.

"Well," Xu Haoming said proudly, "I ranked seventh in the final exam." Then, the boy handed over his phone flatteringly, "Sister, do you want to play this? It's fun. I can take you and give you support."

"What sister? This is your aunt." Uncle Dongyang appeared out of nowhere and patted his son's head. "You play with your phone all day long. That's how you ruined your eyes."

There was no blame in his words, after all, his son had good grades.

"Ah?" Xu Haoming opened his mouth wide, "Aunt...Aunt..."

Tong Yao responded, pursed her lips and smiled, thinking that Dong Yang's "Auntie" sounded better, like marshmallow, soft and sticky.

She looked at Xu Haoming's happy family and thought, this is a happy child.

Happiness is mostly the same.

She stayed downstairs for a while, and the little figure popped out of her mind again. It was getting later and later, and some people couldn't stand it anymore and went upstairs to rest. Tong Yao saw the wife of the eldest son of the Xu family leading her twins upstairs. The two boys who were lively during the day were now listless and sleepy.

If Dongyang wakes up and finds that he is not there, will he be scared? Probably not, after all, he has been sleeping alone since he was a child.

But now I have nothing to do, I might as well go and look after the child.

She stood up and walked towards the corridor. As soon as she entered the room, she found that the light was on in Dongyang's room and a woman was whispering something.

"Xingxing, can you two squeeze in here tonight? Dongyang, I'm sorry to wake you up. They have no place to sleep. Can they sleep here? This bed is so big..."

Tong Yao entered the room and saw Xu Dongyang sitting on the bed in a daze. She nodded slightly. This bed was the bed that the old lady had slept on before she died. The twins were only seven years old, so three children could sleep on it. This was reasonable, but... for a little girl, it lacked some respect and understanding.

Xu Dongyang moved to the edge without saying a word. She was actually not very willing to let a boy sleep in her bed, but a child without a father or a mother had no capital to be willful or cry. Perhaps... she would still live in her aunt's house in the future, so she didn't dare to say a word of rebuttal.

"Qinghua..." Qinghua was a woman's name. Tong Yao took great effort to remember it and called out. She looked at Dongyang huddled in the corner and felt upset. "Xingxing is already in elementary school. It's not suitable for him to sleep with his sister anymore."

"It doesn't matter if she's so young." Qinghua disagreed, "Build up the relationship now so that you can protect your sister in the future."

Tong Yao sighed. Seven years old is not young anymore. Nowadays, all primary school children have watched TV dramas and know how to hold hands and kiss when they are in love. Even brothers and sisters need to be close to each other. What makes her even more upset for Dong Yang is that his private space is violated.

"I'm afraid it will disturb Dongyang's sleep. She didn't get much rest today..."

"It's okay. My two little bastards sleep soundly and don't kick the quilt." Qinghua covered his son with a quilt and sighed, "I can't let the children sleep on the floor."

Tong Yao wanted to continue, but Dong Yang jumped out of bed, took her hand and shook it:

"Auntie, I want to go to the bathroom."

Even in summer, Tong Yao was afraid that the girl would feel cold, so she quickly took a coat and put it on Dong Yang, saying:

"Okay, Auntie will go with you."

Xu Dongyang raised his head and held his aunt's hand tightly.

She had never thought that her aunt would speak for her, nor that anyone would consider her. This feeling was rarely experienced, but... she was very satisfied.

She often plays with the kids in the neighborhood. When they get into trouble, their parents will come to support them, just like my aunt just now. Those kids just hide behind their parents, and then everything is solved.

"It's so dark," Tong Yao walked to the bathroom and turned on the light from her phone, "Is this the light?"

It was a hanging string, an old-fashioned light bulb. It should have lit up when pulled, but when Tong Yao pulled it, it was still pitch black.

"The light is broken." Dong Yang said.

So she was most afraid of going to the toilet at night, because the ghosts in those stories all hid in the darkness.

"Oh, it's okay, my aunt has a cell phone." Tong Yao said, but couldn't help frowning.

An old man and a child live in this house. Is there no one to fix the light when it breaks?

Tong Yao stood outside. After a while, a trembling voice of "Auntie" came from the bathroom. She hurriedly answered "What's wrong?" Dong Yang stammered again:

"nothing……"

Tong Yao understood, it turned out that she was just trying to confirm whether she was there.

Cute children are also cute when they are scared.

After coming out, Tong Yao shone with light and said:

"Do you want to stay in a hotel with your aunt? It's very close."

Anyway, Empress Dowager Jiang has already booked a room.

Dong Yang showed a hesitant look on her face, but in the end, the girl shook her head and said:

"I want to go and keep my great-grandfather company."

So good.

Tong Yao touched her head and said softly:

"Okay, Auntie will accompany you."

They were afraid of disturbing others, so they walked very quietly. As soon as they stepped out of the house, they heard two men talking in the stairwell.

The house is on the second floor, and they are between the second and third floors.

"... I'll send Dongyang to your home to raise him. I'll give you some money every month, okay?"

"Brother, Haoming is in the third year of junior high school now. You know how much pressure I'm under. I also took out a loan to buy a school district house, which cost more than one million yuan. I don't have any savings at all. How can I support her? How much can you give me with your salary?"

"Raising one is raising one, raising two is also raising two. My family has two, so your family can share one, isn't that just right?"

"How can it be the same if they are not my biological children?! I have to treat her when she is sick, and find a school for her when she reaches the age. What if she doesn't study well and becomes a drag on Haoming in the future? Brother, I really can't take care of her anymore!"

"What should we do? Qinghua doesn't agree either. Do you want to see Dongyang live in an orphanage? Wouldn't others point fingers at us and scold us?"

Their voices woke up the lights in the corridor, and Tong Yao saw Dong Yang's pale face in the light. She felt her heart aching, and she could not imagine such sadness. The only person in the world who was kind to her was gone. What should a child do?

After the funeral is over and the old house is sold by the adults to divide the money, where will the child be?

She coughed lightly, and the men upstairs noticed someone was there and kept silent. Tong Yao pulled Dong Yang downstairs, and when they arrived at the mourning hall, she found that the girl was crying hard.

"Winter Sun..."

She hugged the girl and comforted her softly.

"Aunt, I miss my great grandfather..." The girl burst into tears. She suddenly understood a word she had learned from adults: a burden.

Tong Yao stroked Dong Yang's hair and sighed softly.

An idea that even she thought was bold slowly took shape in her mind.

The funeral procession arrived early the next morning.

The sound of suonas resounded through the sky, and firecrackers exploded with smoke everywhere. The elders said that female relatives could not see the deceased off, and could only kneel on the side of the road and watch the coffin go away.

Tong Yao stood in the crowd, and when the car drove away, she immediately went forward to pull Dong Yang up and brushed the dust off her knees. Dong Yang was also willing to lean on her, and his attachment and dependence were beyond words.

Perhaps because they saw Tong Yao taking care of Dong Yang, the other adults ignored her and only remembered their own children. The car behind them came, Tong Yao asked the children to get on the car, Dong Yang looked ahead in confusion and asked:

"Where?"

"Go to the funeral home." said the nursery rhyme.

After Dongyang knew about it, he became quiet again.

Jiang Wu glanced at the girl leaning in her daughter's arms, thoughtfully.

The car stopped at the destination. The air in the funeral home was a little chilly. Dongyang waited blankly until the adults came out to discuss and everything was ready. She felt her aunt touch her head and say to her:

"Go see Grandpa Zeng for the last time."

The last sight before cremation.

In the transparent coffin, the made-up body looked normal, just as it had been when it was alive. Everyone watched silently. Dong Yang suddenly rushed over and cried bitterly, and no one could pull him away. The two brothers of the Xu family were also very sad and lowered their heads to wipe away their tears.

Tong Yao carried the girl, who was almost fainting from crying, back to the car.

Joy, anger, sorrow, life, old age, sickness and death, that's life.

She thought for a moment and said:

"Dongyang, auntie is calling, you wait in the car, okay?"

The girl nodded with a sob. Tong Yao sighed, walked out of the car and dialed the phone.

"Teacher Tong?"

"Ruanruan..." She was a little uneasy and guilty, "I want to discuss something with you."

Background and family relationships are easy to explain.

After listening to this, Ruan Qian asked softly:

"Does Teacher Tong want to support her?"

"……Um."

"It's Teacher Tong's freedom," the little girl said with a smile, "Why are you asking me?"