At first, when he heard that he was going to the countryside to attend the funeral of a relative he had never heard of, Ryo Sakurai refused. He joined the school's basketball club, because the school is not considered a strong basketball school, and in order to go further in the upcoming national competition, he wants to go to the street basketball court every weekend to practice hard, and he does not want to waste time.

But the staff in the village and town called and said that there were very few relatives in that family, and they had been looking for information for a long time, and only contacted four or five families, and the son and daughter-in-law of the old man and wife surnamed Sakurai died early because of the accident, leaving only one granddaughter, who was already lonely, and if there were too few people at the funeral, the other party would be too pitiful.

And counting the relationship, although their family has almost no contact with the old couple, compared to others, they are already the closest relatives. The family's granddaughter is not yet an adult, and after the grandmother died, the grandfather was too old and needed to be taken care of by the welfare home, so naturally he could no longer take care of her, so they were looking for a new guardian for the girl.

This situation made Sakurai's parents hesitate a little, because the other party obviously thought that their family was the most suitable to be the guardian of the girl, but ...... Who would accept that there is suddenly an outsider in their family who has nothing to do with it?

But the direct refusal seemed a bit too cold, and in the end, the Sakurai couple decided to go to the funeral first and then decide on the guardianship.

So that Friday, as soon as Ryoshi Sakurai got out of school, the family had already packed up his things and drove to the countryside with him.

Ryo Sakurai's father was taken away from the countryside by his parents when he was very young, and he never returned for many years. Therefore, although that place is his hometown, it is also very unfamiliar.

As they drove all the way, they slowly saw that fields began to appear on both sides of the road, but some of them were deserted.

Sakurai only thinks that it is sparsely populated, but this is not something difficult to understand - the country's aging population is already very strict, some areas of primary schools are deserted because there are no students, and young people like to migrate to the big cities, and the end result is that the countryside is only left with nostalgia, or elderly people who cannot adapt to city life. These elderly people will eventually die slowly and slowly over time.

"I heard that the granddaughter of that family is about the same age as Ah Liang......" When she was in the car, Sakurai's mother hesitated to mention this matter, "Thinking about it, she is also quite pitiful......"

"Yes," Sakurai's father, who was driving, sighed softly, "but the kids are so old...... Even if you take it to live at home, it's not very convenient. And...... It's hard enough to raise your own children, where can you afford to raise other people's children. ”

Of course, no one will be very happy that their family is about to be stuffed into a stranger for no reason, but the other party's background is so pitiful that they can't refuse it with reason, and have to be so careful to object.

"The staff who called said that the child was a very well-behaved and very good girl," so finally Sakurai's mother came to a conclusion and ended the topic...... It's a pity. ”

There was silence in the car again. Sakurai Liang felt that his parents should be thinking about how to refuse to become the guardian of the girl named "Sakurai Chan" after attending the funeral, so that she would not be hurt more in this situation, and they could protect the peace of their small family.

Sakurai Liang is not qualified to speak for this kind of family event, so he has been sitting quietly in the back seat, staring at the scenery that keeps flying backwards outside the car window.

He had never met Sakurai Chan, but just thinking about that situation, he felt miserable and pitiful. And before they met, they already knew that they couldn't help her, which made Sakurai Liang, who is still just a teenager, feel a little guilty.

What will happen to that girl in the end......?

No matter how you think about it, it's going to be hard, right......?

But there was nothing they could do. Soon, the boy's mind drifted to basketball again.

Thinking about such a thing, it wasn't until his car stopped that Sakurai Ryo, who was out of the gods, came back to his senses. He looked at the scenery outside the window, and it didn't seem like he had arrived at his destination, but there were two figures standing on the side of the road, as if waiting for them.

A stocky middle-aged man in a black suit waved at them with a smile, and looked at Sakurai's mother with a polite smile in confusion and rolled down the window.

"Hello?" She asked tentatively, "What's the matter?" ”

"Ah, hello," the stocky man hurriedly introduced himself, "I'm a staff member of this village, and I'm Yamamoto who spoke to you on the phone before. Because Sakurai's house is a bit remote, we are afraid that you will not find your way, so we guess that you are almost there, so we will come to pick you up. ”

He said "we", and the three members of the Sakurai family naturally looked behind him - looking at the figure, the one standing behind him, most of his appearance, should be a girl.

She was wearing a black kimono, long black hair, lowered eyebrows, and a gentle posture. She followed the man quietly until he stepped out of the way and revealed her.

"This child is the granddaughter of the Sakurai family." Yamamoto turned his head to look at her, his face showing a little pity, "She's a very good child, so we've been worried about her all the time." ”

His words obviously had a certain sense of moral pressure on the Sakurai couple, and he specially stayed here and took her with him, probably hoping to make a good impression on them, so that they would be willing to adopt her.

The smiles on Sakurai's faces became a little awkward, but this embarrassment turned into surprise and pity when the other took a few steps forward and showed their faces.

I saw that the girl's face was extremely beautiful, and she stood there, her eyebrows lowered, and she did not speak, like a pearl, shining.

Just by doing so, Mr. and Mrs. Sakurai almost immediately understood Yamamoto's worries and efforts.

He tried his best to praise the child for being smart, sensible, well-behaved and obedient, hoping that a peaceful and peaceful family could accept her. After all, who doesn't want such a child to have a happy smile, and who doesn't want her to be able to avoid being hurt a little? She seems to have been born a princess, to be pampered and cherished, and never to face any pain.

But now she is lonely and helpless, and her life is lost.

With such a life experience and such a look, if she is coveted by some people with bad intentions, it will be a disaster waiting for her.

"This is the granddaughter of that old man's family, Sakurai Chan." Yamamoto enthusiastically introduced, "This is Mr. and Mrs. Sakurai. Chan. ”

Sakurai Chan's eyelashes trembled slightly, she raised her eyes and glanced at them in a foggy manner, and quickly lowered her eyes, and called softly in a low voice: "...... Uncle Sakurai, Aunt Sakurai. ”

"Ah, hello, hello!" Sakurai and his wife were stunned for a moment, and then hurriedly beckoned, "Achan, is it?" Come on, get in the car! ”

Fortunately, there are only two people in Ah Chan and Mr. Yamamoto, sitting in the back seat, plus Sakurai Liang, the three of them just happened to be full.

They got into the car, Mr. Yamamoto pointed out the direction from time to time in the back seat, and Ah Chan sat quietly.

She lowered her eyelashes, obviously she didn't have any intention of communicating with others, and even her eyes seemed to be full of fog.

A beautiful girl can always make people extra soft-hearted, and make people pay extra attention, Mrs. Sakurai saw in the rearview mirror that Ah Chan seemed to be immersed in sadness, unable to extricate herself, and couldn't help but want to try to pull her out of that silence.

She showed a gentle smile and decided to start with the routine, breaking the silence and saying, "Speaking of which, is Ah Chan a pair of countries this year?" Mr. Yamamoto told me that you are as old as my son this year. Speaking of which, which school is Ah Chan in? ”

Ah Chan raised her eyes to look at her, and replied softly and politely: "I am studying in Diguang to study Guoyi." ”

"Huh! Diguang! Lady Sakurai was a little exaggeratedly surprised, then turned her head to look at her son. She felt that her peers might be more likely to have some common topics, so she tried to turn the conversation around and said, "I heard Ah Liang say that Diguang is a strong basketball school, maybe in the national competition, Ah Liang can compete with Diguang?" ”

It's just that as soon as she turned her head, she found that her child was sitting next to Ah Chan, leaning against the window and lowering her head, looking very nervous. The ears that peeked out from between the soft strands of hair looked like they were already red and dripping blood.

Mrs. Sakurai: "......"

It wasn't until he heard his mother's voice that Sakurai came back to his senses. He blushed and glanced at the girl sitting beside him, and lowered his head in a panic, "Huh? Eh......! Ah, I'm sorry, I'm sorry...... Yes, that's right! ”

Ah Chan gently tilted her head at him and asked, "Liangjun also plays basketball?" ”

Seeing that her son could not be counted on, Mrs. Sakurai had no choice but to continue to smile and say, "Yes. Don't look at him like this, in fact, Ah Liang is very good at basketball. ”

Ah Chan reacted a little, it seemed that she was a little interested in talking, she looked at Sakurai Liang and blinked, and asked in a tone of expectation, "Is Liangjun very powerful?" ”

As soon as Sakurai Ryoshi came into contact with her sight, the young man's face turned red again, he subconsciously looked away, and replied with some stumbling: "That...... Belch...... I ......"

Mrs. Sakurai couldn't bear to twitch the corners of her mouth, so she could only ask kindly, "So, which club does Ah Chan belong to?" ”

"I'm also a basketball club." The calm look on Ah Chan's face finally softened a little, "I'm the manager." ”

Hearing her say this, Mrs. Sakurai suddenly looked at her son with a smile as if she had found some breakthrough, "Then, Ah Chan and Ah Liang can talk more about basketball, right?" ”

But having said that, the village is not big after all, and not long after Ah Chan just cooperated with the "um", the car had already stopped at the door of Sakurai's house.

In addition to Sakurai's car, several cars have been parked nearby, which is a rare majority in this remote place that has always been rarely entered, but if it is for a funeral, then the number is a little bleak.

Thinking about it this way, looking at the girl who was walking in front of her, thin and leading them into the house, the soft-hearted Mrs. Sakurai had already cast a "why don't we think about it again" at her husband, and when she received his wife's gaze, Mr. Sakurai also looked quite embarrassed.

But from beginning to end, Sakurai Chan didn't show half of her desire, this kind of understanding attitude that doesn't seem to want them to be burdened, but it makes people feel even more distressed.

The funeral was scheduled for the next day, so the families who came to attend were arranged to stay overnight in a nearby house. The Sakurai family seems to be the best foster family in Yamamoto's opinion, so they didn't arrive at the earliest, but lived in the house where Ah Chan was.

Because she had to take care of the guests, Ah Chan seemed a little busy, and Mrs. Sakurai seemed to be overwhelmed by her busy work alone, so she rushed her son over to help.

At that time, Ah Chan was preparing beds for the guests who were going to stay overnight tonight.

She knelt in front of the cupboard, and when she took out the bedding in the cabinet layer by layer, she looked quite struggling, Sakurai Liang subconsciously walked a few quick steps, rushed to her side, and bent down to take the bedding from her hand.

"Ah, Liangjun."

Feeling a light hand, Ah Chan was slightly stunned, then raised her head and smiled at him, although the smile was purely out of politeness, Sakurai Liang still blushed, "...... I, I'm here to help you. ”