After arriving home, Longzi and Ah Ling immediately planned to bathe Yu Qiuyan and Yu Qiuyou, and after taking a bath, they could go to eat. However, when Yu Qiuyu jumped up and down and stripped naked and ran into the bathhouse, Yu Qiuyu was left behind by Imagawa Kaede.

"Mom, what's wrong? Can I help you? Yu Qiuyan looked back at his mother who was holding his sleeve, and his eyes flickered.

"The person who should ask this question is my mother," Imagawa Kaede frowned, squatted down, and looked into Yu Qiuyan's eyes, "Yan'er, is there anything wrong with you?" ”

"Mom, I—" Yu Qiuyan's lips opened and closed, and then quickly tightened. Eventually, he spit out the phrase: "I'm fine." ”

"Silly boy, you're only 4 years old." Kaede Imagawa sighed, a wry smile on the corner of his mouth, "Tell Mom, did you have fun with your brother today?" ”

"Happy." Yu Qiuyan nodded quickly.

Imagawa Kaede shook his head slightly, gently stroked Yu Qiuyan's little cheek with his right hand, and asked in a low voice again, "Tell me the truth with my mother." Didn't Dad educate you from a young age to be a good child with credit and not lying? ”

"Did you have fun today?"

Yu Qiu was stunned for a moment, a touch of loneliness flashed in his eyes, and he quietly lowered his head and buried his face in the shadows.

"You don't want to be chosen as a monster just because you only have one hand." Imagawa Kaede sighed, looked at the wronged child in front of him, and said in a low voice: "It must be very uncomfortable to be caught back and forth like other children and younger brothers." ”

Yu Qiuyan's little hands twisted the placket of his clothes uneasily, as if he was a little cramped because his heart was seen through.

"Silly boy, what are you thinking in your heart, my mother knows it, you can't hide it from me." Imagawa Kaede slowly opened his hands, hugged Yuqiu Yan into her arms, and said in a low voice: "Yan'er, tell Mom." Why did you agree to be a monster and still play with them when you were obviously unhappy at the time? ”

Yu Qiu swallowed her saliva, and there were tears in her eyes. After hesitating for a moment, he said softly, "Because... Because the kids seem to want me to be a monster, and when I become a monster, they will be happy. ”

"And... And," Yu Qiuyan paused and added in a low voice: "Ayou, he seems to be having a lot of fun, I'm afraid that if I don't play, I'll ruin his fun." ”

Imagawa Kaede was stunned, and his eyes turned red all of a sudden.

This child may be born weak and sickly, and because he is missing a hand, he has been very sensitive since he was a child. Obviously he should be an innocent and immaculate age, but he already has a lot of worries and thoughts in his heart.

Kaede Imagawa thought for a moment, then suddenly smiled. She raised her body slightly, stared into Yu Qiuyan's eyes, and asked the sentence.

"Yan'er, do you know the autumn leaves?"

·

"Momiji?" Yuqiu was stunned for a moment, and raised his head blankly, "Isn't that the family crest of our Yuqiu family." Dad always carries the red leaf shawl embroidered by his mother on his shoulders, and Mom always carries the red leaf pendant given by Dad. ”

"Well, that's right." Kaede Imagawa nodded, and asked softly again, "Then do you think there is anything about the red leaves that are different from other leaves?" ”

"Different?" Yu Qiuyan thought for a moment and replied in a low voice: "It should be autumn... The leaves of the other trees are all yellowed and falling, and only the red leaves will turn red, and they will also fall the latest. ”

"Hmm." Imagawa Kaede nodded again and smiled, "Autumn has arrived, and the leaves have no nutrients, so there is no way to continue to stay in the trees." Everyone was very sad and painful, so they all turned yellow and withered, causing passers-by to grieve a lot. ”

"Only the autumn leaves are different." Kaede Imagawa said as he looked out the window - that was the direction to the east. Her eyes seemed to be staring at something beautiful and heartbreaking. "She used her blood as nourishment, and she still stood proudly on the branches. Hide everything in a beautiful red, and what is shown in front of others is always the beautiful and moving red, not the pain. She didn't want pedestrians to mourn because of his yellowness, she didn't want the trees to be lonely because of the leaves, and she didn't want Autumn to blame herself for her killing. He always thinks about others, lives for the feelings of others, and bears all the pain by himself. ”

"She wants everyone to feel that she will never need comfort, that she will always be so beautiful, even when she is drifting, helpless and swaying in the wind, she is still strong and beautiful with red."

Yu Qiuyan silently listened to her mother's chatter for a long time, and the emotions in her heart kept rolling. At this moment, when he looked at the red leaf pendant around his mother's neck and the red leaf family crest behind the samurai of the Yuqiu family, his mood was completely different.

"Do you know?" Imagawa Kaede was silent for a long time, and then suddenly spoke, but it was a different topic: "What happened when you were born." ”

"Because Yan'er was born with a missing hand and his health is not good, some people propose to establish You'er as the eldest son to become the next governor of the Yuqiu family." Imagawa Kaede stared at Yu Qiuyu and saw that the latter's eyes flickered suddenly, and his body began to tremble slightly.

"Because in their eyes, the eldest son should be a strong and healthy person in order to become the heir of the family."

"That lord may be right. Mr. Takenaka often taught me that the eldest son must take on the responsibility of the family. Be brave, wise, responsible, and courageous. Yu Qiuyan said in a low voice, and her voice couldn't stop trembling: "Yan'er was born without a right hand, she is frail and sickly, and she is stupid. Whether it's literacy, calligraphy, etiquette, martial arts, or arithmetic taught by my father, I can't compare to Ayou. Maybe Ayou is really more suitable than me..."

"But Mom doesn't think so." Imagawa Kaede said in a deep voice, interrupting Yu Qiuyu's words, causing the latter to raise his head in surprise.

"Whoever you are, you will live in someone else's world." Kaede Imagawa sighed, slowly raised his hands, untied the red leaf pendant around his neck, held it in his hand, and looked at it for a long time.

"Some women live in a world where there is no Ming Media marrying her husband. In order to make him happy and happy, she silently endured her pain. Even though I can only see her a few times a year, I always have a smile on my face every time I greet my husband. She never complained about the injustice of love, never complained about the indifference of men, and never made any requests. ”

"Some teenagers live in a world where their status is much higher than that of their sweethearts. In order to make her happy and happy, he silently endured his pain. In order to climb to the status of being able to marry the daughter, he did not hesitate to die and risk his life to fight, but he always said to his sweetheart that it was okay and rejected his sweetheart's care and commitment. ”

Yu Qiuyan listened to the irrelevant stories told by her mother, but there were bursts of inexplicable sadness in her heart.

"There is a child who also lives in someone else's world." As Imagawa Kaede spoke, his words changed sharply, and he also turned his attention to Yu Qiuyan, "What do others think should be the eldest son of the family, he worked hard in order to live up to the expectations of others." Others wanted him to play the monster, and he played it in order to make everyone happy. The younger brother wants to continue playing the game, even if he is so tired that he is unbearable, he still continues to play in order not to spoil his younger brother's interest. ”

When Imagawa Kaede said this, he suddenly smiled and said softly, "Aren't they just like autumn leaves?" ”

·

"Momiji can cry and hurt."

·

"How sad would it be if a person's life was just like a red leaf, living for others, joys, sorrows, and sorrows because of others, and always living under a red smile? This is not the life that a person should have! ”

Imagawa Kaede grabbed the chain of the pendant, shook his wrist, and watched the autumn leaf pendant fall straight down until it was pulled by the chain lock, and shook twice in the air. Through the crystal clear red crystal, Imagawa Kaede saw countless scenes in a trance. This pendant, which has gone through hundreds of years of ups and downs in time and space, reflects the love between her father-in-law and mother-in-law, whom she has never met; reflects the solemn promise of the young man; reflects the tears of boys and girls under the heavy rain; In the snow hut, two red leaves accompany each other for a long time in the harsh winter.

In the troubled times of the Warring States Period, how many sons and daughters of the martial arts family are destined to live in other people's worlds for the rest of their lives and become other people's red leaves.

How lucky I am to meet another autumn leaf that gives me the opportunity to live for myself as a woman.

"Children, don't be someone else's red leaves, don't hide your pain for others, change your life, and live for yourself." Imagawa Kaede looked at Yuqiu's ignorant eyes, and said firmly, word by word: "This is the creed of my mother's life, and I hope you can live independently." ”

With that, she gently tied the pendant around Yu Qiuyan's neck and dropped a kiss on his forehead.

"Martyr, I know this may be difficult for you to understand right now." Kaede Imagawa stood up and gently rubbed his hair twice, watching him look at himself blankly with wide eyes. "But when you grow up, you'll understand. Whenever you see this pendant, you have to think of one thing. ”

"Don't be someone else's autumn leaves, live for yourself."

·

Yu Qiuyan nodded as if he didn't understand, and Imagawa Kaede only smiled with relief.

At this moment, there was a burst of cheerful singing from the other side of the bathhouse. I saw Yu Qiuyou dragging on the floor and wearing ordinary clothes, so he hurriedly ran towards Yu Qiuyu and Imagawa Kaede. The dragon who followed behind, holding two or three clothes that Yu Qiuyou hadn't put on in his arms, followed at a trott.

"Brother! Brother! Yu Qiuyou excitedly ran in front of Yu Qiuyou, "Let's go to them tomorrow afternoon to play monsters and catch people!" ”

Yuqiu was stunned for a moment, and her little heart was a mess.

Finally, he looked at his brother's expectant smile and nodded silently.