"A song of caged birds, I don't know Yuyao. As you know, the city of Li twenty-seven years ago ......"

Twenty-seven years ago, in late spring, there was no rain and drought.

The countrymen depend on the weather for food, and if there is no rain, there is no life. Yu Yao's birth did not bring much joy to her biological parents, there are many people in the family, but the rice tank has already bottomed out, and the arrival of the newborn at this time did not dissipate the haze on the faces of the family, but added to the suffering.

Yu Yao sold it to the Qinglou in Licheng for two bags of rice, and she lay quietly in her swaddling clothes, but she didn't cry, but just watched her father take the rice bag and kowtow happily and then leave—of course, it was too long ago, and she didn't remember it for a long time.

The women of the Qinglou are always lonely, even if they show people with smiling faces day and night, but there will always be a place in their hearts that is difficult to fill, they will never experience the joy of motherhood, even if there is, the mother of the Qinglou will send someone to serve a bowl of safflower, mercilessly let the unborn fetus die in the womb.

The arrival of Yu Yao seems to fill a corner of their hearts, and of course, for some, it may also be the guilt of those children who died before they were born. At least for the moment, more or less, these poor women will have the illusion of happiness, and the ephemeral, like an epiphany, is the illusion of beauty.

What a baby lacks in swaddling clothes is not warm arms, but **. Even if these women deceive themselves, when the babies are hungry and crying, they can only look at each other, but there is nothing they can do. Yuyao is not breastfed and drinks rice cereal, so she is not as strong as other full-term children, with thin arms and legs, and is a whole circle smaller than her peers.

However, it can be regarded as surviving well.

As he grew older, he could talk and walk, as if he had opened a box, and this little guy jumped up and down, causing trouble here and there, but relying on his young age, he was just sending a few candied fruits to play elsewhere. So the little guy got amnesty, knowing that he would not be scolded no matter what, and the girl in the green building only cared about love, and even some of the frequent customers were familiar with the little guy, and they would bring some children's things to coax from time to time. This time is probably Yu Yao's happiest moment.

When Yu Yao was six or seven years old, the girls who had brought her since she was a child were scattered, and she also asked the steward, and the steward muttered in his mouth, this one was ransomed, and the other was going to be an aunt...... She naturally doesn't know what it means to be in charge, but although she has gone a lot, the new girls who have come in one after another, the youngest is actually four years older than Yu Yao, Yu Yao is the most afraid of loneliness, and she is full of joy when she learns about it.

The last girl who grew up with Yuyao is also leaving. It was a bright afternoon, Yu Yao was lying on the ground playing with ants, only to see the girl say goodbye to the steward, and from time to time to look at herself, tears could not stop flowing. Yu Yao knew that this girl was probably "ransomed" or "going to be an aunt". She sat up with a twist and turn, ran to the girl, and hugged her.

"Are you leaving?"

"I'm leaving" The girl squatted down, hugged Yu Yao, wiped her tears, and squeezed out a smile that was more ugly than crying.

"Aren't you coming back?"

"Well, I'm not coming back." The girl touched Yu Yao's head, saw the steward yawning, pulled Yu Yao and whispered, "If you have the opportunity, you have to find a way to get out." ”

"Why?" Since she was a child, this is the first time someone has told Yu Yao like this, her round eyes widened, and she was puzzled, "The girls are very good to me, I'm very happy here, why do you want to go?" ”

"The happiness here is all fake," the girl pointed to the threshold under her feet, "and she is really happy when she walks out of here." ”

Yu Yao still didn't understand, but the girl was already leaving, and she didn't look back at Yu Yao again, but Yu Yao thought about it, probably if she looked at it again, the girl would cry again.

"It's only the children who cry."

Yu Yao thought like this, and suddenly sighed, the ant just now! So I hurriedly ran to the ground just now and looked at it carefully. "Luckily, it's still there." She let out a long sigh of relief and forgot all about the conversation.

The days are indeed passing day by day, and at first there was really no trouble, but gradually, Yu Yao was not so happy.

Yu Yao is eight years old, but this birthday is very special, not that she got any novel gifts and ate an extraordinarily sumptuous meal, but on the contrary, she didn't get anything on this birthday. Yu Yao knocked on her little brain, and couldn't think of a reason until the steward threw her a broom and a rag.

It was also on this day that Yu Yao's original small room was vacant, it was a new girl in the Qinglou who needed a place to live, and her mother felt that Yu Yao was standing on the ground and didn't work, so she cleaned up Yu Yao's house and gave the girl a foothold.

Yu Yao had suffered such a grievance before she wanted to protest, but she was slapped by the new girl.

"It's just two bags of rice in exchange for wild seeds." The girl left such a sentence, and asked the steward to throw Yu Yao into the stove house, that is, Yu Yao's residence in the future, there was no brocade bedding, no curtains with tassels, and no gentle maids to hold her and call her little one......

Thinking about it this way, she hasn't had a name for so long. In the past, the girls called her the little one, but now, everyone is feeding, hey, mongrels and the like, and even calling her "two bags of rice". The more Yu Yao thought about it, the more cold she felt, obviously it was the age of a child, and others lived without heart and lungs, but she felt extremely uncomfortable for the first time. There was still some straw in the house, and Yuyao lay on the straw like this, sobbing quietly while celebrating her eighth birthday.

Since then, there has been a rough girl in the Qinglou, thin and small, looking malnourished, and the name is particularly chic, called "two bags of rice".

Every day, before dawn, all she needs to do is to wipe the threshold, clean up the tables and chairs, clean the table, pour the urinal, and then go to fetch water and clothes, and choose vegetables to cook rice. If a girl's clothes are torn, they have to be mended, of course, if the girl thinks the sewing is not good, it is common to give a beating. Spring and autumn can still stay up, in summer, the stove house is really hot, and there are many flies and insects, sleeping on the ground horizontally and vertically being bitten by insects, sleeping on the straw is also bitten by insects. If you are unlucky, you will be beaten by the steward, and the wound will not heal, and you will recruit those bloodthirsty beasts to run around the house. Winter is even more difficult, the already thin clothes, mention to add some clothes, the steward only prevaricates, what food and clothing expenses are large, there is no extra money for the next person to make clothes. But if you are unwilling and continue to beg, you will be beaten again. Even with the thick straw pressed, I couldn't help but shiver on the day of the first snow. As a result, I had chilblains all over my hands, feet, and ears, which recurred year after year, and the pain was unbearable.

A few days ago, she knew how to say two words, but later, she didn't dare.

thought that the days would pass hastily, but God still gave her some hope.

Qinglou's mother spent a lot of money to invite a famous girl, I heard that this girl's family fell into a concubine, but only sell art not body, and because of the full stomach, quite understand the rhythm of the piano, know the music theory, for a while, the pursuit of admirers is innumerable, the threshold of the Qinglou has been broken several, everyone is eager to talk to this girl about the pain of lovesickness.

Just because there was not enough manpower, the person in charge pointed out Yu Yao to the girl to call alone. At first, Yu Yao was still a little apprehensive, thinking about the girl who occupied her room and slapped her before, she thought that all Ji and prostitutes were like the girl who beat her. Until she met Ning Qing.

This year, Yuyao was ten years old.

Ning Qing, Ning and Tranquility. As the name suggests, the face is bland, but there is a smile between the eyebrows. Yu Yao was really shocked, not afraid, but just amazed, why there is such a beautiful beauty in the world! It was too dazzling, so Yu Yao didn't dare to raise her head.

"What's your name, little one?" Ning Qing saw Yu Yao trembling, so she pulled her over and sat down beside her. "Don't be afraid, keep your head up."

I don't know if Ning Qing's voice was too soft or something invisible, Yu Yao was obedient, so she was able to see the peerless beauty in front of her carefully.

In her memory, Ning Qing didn't like red and purple gaudy clothes, and always wore light-colored skirts. Emerald new lotus, cyan fine bamboo, light pink ...... Yu Yao remembered the patterns on each of her dresses. The day they first met, it was a light blue porcelain vase. Ning Qing's wrist is extremely thin, and sometimes Yu Yao is worried about whether she will crush her hand with two jade bracelets on her wrist like this. She looked at Ning Qing, looking at her facial features alone is not a standard beauty's characteristics, but together they are indescribably charming. Especially the eyebrows, Ning Qing's eyebrows are slender, but they don't look mean, they always feel gentle, and they want to be close to her. And Ning Qing himself carried a faint fragrance, obviously an extremely cold appearance, but he couldn't help but get closer.

Xu was staring at it for too long, Yu Yao hurriedly came back to her senses and fell to her knees.

"Slave, there is no name, the girls are called slave three bags of rice."

When Ning Qing heard this, she let out a soft "ah", then pulled up Yu Yao and patted her little brain. "Don't pay much attention to their nonsense, you followed me after that, although there is nothing special, but it must be better to suffer less than before."

That Yuyao only said polite words, and only wanted to thank her, but she was gently hugged by Ning Qing, and in a panic, she wanted to break free, but Ning Qing touched her head: "Don't be afraid, I'm different from them, now that you follow me, I will never leave you." ”

"However, the slave family is dirty......"

"It's not dirty", obviously I haven't seen my biological mother, but at this time, Yuyao clearly felt that it was in her mother's arms, and somehow, tears flowed out. "Silly boy, don't cry, anyway, I just wanted to give you a name, but after thinking about it, it's better to wait until you meet the most important person and ask him to give you a name."

This is the care that Yu Yao has not had in two years, she finally cried in Ning Qing's arms, she cried ugly, whimpering, like a wounded little beast. She suddenly thought of the girls who had left crying that year. It doesn't matter whether they are happy or sad, at this moment, Yu Yao only feels that she is crying very embarrassed like them.

Sure enough, in the following days, Ning Qing only replaced her as a "little guy".

Ning Qing really didn't lie to her, although she didn't have her own room, but at least, she could sleep under Ning Qing's bed, with ice cubes in summer and warm carbon in winter. You don't have to get up so early to wipe the very high door, the dirty threshold. She can even eat with Ning Qing when no one is around, with her own thick clothes and sturdy shoes. The person in charge will no longer beat her for no reason, even the girls who bullied her before can't call her, now she only needs to walk behind Ning Qing, she is very happy. "Ning Qing will protect me, and the days will not be any worse", ten-year-old Yu Yao thought simply.

Ning Qing needs to receive guests every day, but Ning Qing doesn't mind Yu Yao staying in the room. Yu Yao didn't read a book, she only knew that Ning Qing's door was opened, and the poems and songs of the five dynasties of the Sui and Tang dynasties also walked in. She likes to watch Ning Qing and those scholars discuss Li Taibai's poems, from the purple smoke of the sunshine incense burner to the silkworm bush and the fish, how blank is the founding of the country. I also like to listen to them talk about Su Shi's words, today is a thousand miles of Chanjuan, and tomorrow it is Dajiangdong to go to the waves, which is very interesting.

Ning Qing's handwriting is extremely good-looking, Yu Yao is illiterate, but just looking at the paper, she also thinks it is a treasure. Those wealthy businessmen really wanted to ask for Ning Qing's Mobao with a lot of money, but Ning Qing just smiled and never gave it. Yu Yao also felt troubled, she listened to the tens of thousands of numbers said by those rich people, and felt that it was an incomparably huge amount, "Why didn't Miss Ning Qing sell it to them?" She asked as she was learning the characters. Keep writing. Ning Qing just smiled and threw her such a sentence. Yu Yao nodded obediently, looked at what she had written, and then looked at what Ning Qing had written.

"Well, Ning Qing's words are really good-looking."

It would be nice if I could be with Ning Qing all the time.