"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 self is really good-looking." She thought.

Ning Qing only sings when she is rare, although many people come to look for her, all of them want to see Ning Qing play the piano and show her singing voice, but Ning Qing only sings when she comes alone. But at this time, Yu Yao couldn't enter the room. Yu Yao was also troubled, so she thought about taking a sneak peek at the situation inside. But that was her favorite Ning Qing, and she shook her head, feeling that it was immoral to do so.

Today it was that person again, Yu Yao left the house early, squatted at the door, and waited for Ning Qing to sing.

But Ning Qing didn't sing.

"Could it be that something happened?" Yu Yao thought like this, "Just take a look and it should be fine." So she licked her fingers and stabbed the papier-mâché window. Inside the house, Ning Qing's notebooks were scattered all over the place, and the man hugged Ning Qing, and the two were entangled. The man slowly untied Ning Qing's clothes, his hands roamed back and forth on Ning Qing's body, and everywhere he went, Ning Qing's body responded positively.

Yu Yao has never seen such a Ning Qing, the Ning Qing in her heart is flawless, perfect, and light...... But the one in front of her, she felt unfamiliar, although it was still that bland, but it was different from usual.

As the man's hand went downstream, Ning Qing's chest rose and fell violently, and his cheeks were also stained with an inexplicable flush. The man gently picked up Ning Qing, kissed Ning Qing again and again, and then put it on his lap and kissed each other. As the man's waist swayed, Ning Qing began to tremble slightly, but there was a happy smile on his face. Yu Yao could only hear the two of them breathing in a delicate and forgiving manner......

Yu Yao finished reading it from beginning to end, she didn't make a sound, and just waited for the man to leave before asking Ning Qing. When she entered the house again, Ning Qing had already dressed herself, returned to her usual appearance, arranged her hair, and said nothing. Yu Yao cleaned up the house, there was still some liquid in the place where she had just acted, she glanced at Ning Qing, Ning Qing just blushed slightly, and turned her head away.

"Why didn't Miss Ning Qing sing today?"

"I don't have to sing anymore." Ning Qing smiled and said, "He's going to ransom me out." ”

Yu Yao's heart trembled, and she turned around and hugged Ning Qing, "Are you going to leave too?" Out? Not coming back? ”

Ning Qing was taken aback, not wanting Yu Yao to react so much. "If it goes well, that is, in the past few years, I can't be with you for a long time......"

"You don't want me anymore?" That Yuyao had some crying in her throat at the moment. "Even if it's a lie to me, say you'll be with me."

Ning Qing didn't hold back for a while, tears flowed out of her eyes, "I will accompany you, I will accompany you......"

That night, Yu Yao still didn't ask the man what he did with her in the house, she slept with Ning Qing for the first time, Ning Qing hugged her, hugged her very tightly, but Yu Yao still couldn't feel at ease, and stayed awake all night. Stay up, and the sky will be bright.

Later, the man came several times, and every time Yu Yao was outside, he could always hear Ning Qing acting with him, and over time, he was not so shocked. But what puzzled her was that Ning Qing's calligraphy, poems, and paintings were all gone.

"You gave it to him? Why? ”

Ning Qing touched her head, the sunshine that day was so good, with the window open, a room full of yellow warblers chirping. Ning Qing smiled so happily, like a painting.

"Because, that's my most important and favorite person, so I want to give him all my good things."

Yu Yao knows that the most important person and the favorite person are the same person.

Ning Qing said that the man would ransom her out, Yu Yao was willing to accompany her and wait, the person Ning Qing liked must be the best. As long as it is Ning Qing, he deserves the best. That's what she thought.

Perhaps, Yu Yao and Ning Qing illuminate each other in the days when they can no longer see the light.

"You bastard from two bags of rice!" It was Yu Yao's familiar words, and she expected which side of the face would fall on the next slap and which part of the abdomen the foot would kick. Originally, she followed Ning Qing, and she didn't want to cause trouble. She likes Ning Qing, she likes it very much, and because of this, others can't say anything about her Ning Qing. But there are always ill-intentioned eyes maliciously speculating about her perfect Ning Qing.

"Oh, I'm a bitch and set up a torii for myself, what kind of show is not selling my body! What kind of family is declining, I really think I'm the eldest lady? Isn't it great to hook up with men! Also, what kind of bastard are you to ride on my head? Yu Yao remembered this girl, the girl who robbed her room and slapped herself when she was eight years old. Since the morning, this shrew has been scolding, just because her favorite guests have run to Ning Qing's house, she feels that she has been greatly insulted, it must be Ning Qing who made a fox trick to hook people's souls, at first it was just two sentences, and then more and more angry, the more outrageous she said, vicious swearing, foul language, Yu Yao couldn't listen to a word, endured it for a long time, and finally picked up a stool and smashed it into the shrew's face, but she was thin and weak, and she didn't hit it, but she was stopped.

The result was naturally a severe beating, even though Ning Qing wanted to protect her, but Ren Shi, who was in charge, refused to put down the board no matter how much Ning Qing begged. Yu Yao was beaten twenty boards, and there was no good meat from her calf to her shoulder, so she fainted directly after getting off the stool. Ning Qing carried her back to her room, and stayed at the head of the bed for two days and two nights before Yu Yao opened her eyes, and Ning Qing's eyes were already swollen into walnuts.

"I'm out of the way, I don't want to trouble you, I just can't see them talking about you." Yu Yao wanted to help Ning Qing wipe her tears, but her arm hurt so much that she couldn't lift it. "I don't hurt at all, I still want to learn to write tomorrow, you must teach me."

"Little guy," Ning Qing cried more and more fiercely, "You don't care about me in the future." ”

"How can that work!" Yu Yao almost jumped up when she heard this, and with such a force, the wound was almost torn open, and Yu Yao, who was in pain, gasped. "I don't care about Miss Ning Qing, who cares! I'm relying on you anyway, like a dog skin plaster. If you really don't want me to take care of it, I won't be able to get out of bed. ”

Ning Qing burst out laughing, and Yu Yao let go of her hanging heart when she saw it. After all, Yu Yao is still young, she doesn't know anything else, but at this moment she knows that when Ning Qing laughs, Yu Yao is happy, and if Ning Qing doesn't smile, Yu Yao is sad. After all, Yu Yao was used to being beaten, although her body was thin and weak, she recovered very quickly, and she was alive again in half a month. She never thought that she would be separated from Ning Qing.

She never thought that the moment of separation from Ning Qing would come so early.

When she was twelve years old, she left Ning Qing.

Qinglou's mother wanted to buy a new girl to come in, and suddenly saw Yu Yao, who was brought back by herself with two bags of rice. It is indeed grown, not like the yellow-haired boy when he was a child, but now, he has a slender body, a clean face, and Ning Qing has always been trained by him, and he is very smart.

On this day, Yu Yao was stopped by the steward, thinking that she had done something wrong, but who knew that she had made a room for her alone, Yu Yao was overjoyed, and she was taken to a new room to take a shower and change into new clothes, and someone groomed her. She thought that it was probably Qinglou's mother who finally remembered how well she was treated when she was a child. She lay on the bed early, happily unable to sleep, thinking that she must tell Ning Qing the next day, and let Ning Qing make a painting for herself, which will be hung on the west side of the room, with an inscription! She also thought about having a lot of new clothes, and she wanted to wear them one by one for Ning Qing to see...... Just as she thought about it, the door of her room was pushed open, and a fat body walked straight to the bed, pressing down on top of her. It was a raw extremely greasy fat man, his saliva was still there, he half-took off his coat and hat, and he was about to grab Yu Yao's leg and rub it against his lower body with a lewd smile. Thanks to Yu Yao's flexible body and short body, when she saw the fat man making a move, she hurriedly dodged, and finally escaped from the fat man's armpit, she ran very fast. I couldn't hear the fat man behind me.

Yu Yao slipped into Ning Qing's room, Ning Qing was wondering where Yu Yao had run so late, and she didn't want Yu Yao to come back, so she threw herself into her arms and cried so badly.

There was a faint commotion outside, Ning Qing looked at Yu Yao's situation, and had already guessed seven or eight points in her heart, so she comforted Yu Yao to sleep.

That night, Ning Qing found Qinglou's mother.

"She's only twelve years old, and she's still a child!"

"Kid? The girl I bought a few days ago, the youngest is only ten years old, she is twelve years old today, and you tell me that she is a child? Jiang Ningqing, I warn you, I eat and drink well to serve you, I want you to get me more oil and water, what about you? Who is it going to show you with a shelf? You've been here for the past two years, how many years have you been eating youth rice like this? Do you really think you can be popular for a lifetime? ”

Ning Qing sneered, "Don't bother, I naturally have a way out." ”

"A way out?" The mother suddenly burst out laughing, "Where do you have any way out?" Oh, you mean the boy who came to ransom you out? ”

"You!" Ning Qing suddenly clenched his fists.

"Jiang Ningqing, Jiang Ningqing, everyone says that you are a talented woman, in my opinion, you are as stupid as a pig! Ransom you out? He just can't make up so much ransom for the rest of his life? Oh yes, did you give that boy all your calligraphy and paintings? The mother then began to dig out a dozen tickets in the box and threw them in front of Ning Qing, "You can see clearly, but this son, he, he took your calligraphy and paintings and exchanged a lot of tickets with Boss Zhang and Boss Wang on North Street and East Street, you see, this is the prince who honored me and introduced him to such a cash cow!" ”

Ning Qing trembled angrily, her teeth chattered, but she couldn't scold a word.

"That prince bought a mansion in his hometown a few days ago and married several daughters-in-law. You also wrote to me, bothering me to thank Miss Ning Qing, hey, the letter is still here! Hahahaha......"

…………

Ning Qing didn't listen to the next words, only remembered that she stumbled back to the room, and Yu Yao was sitting at the head of the bed, curled up into a ball, with tears on her face.

"Where have you been......" Yuyao asked, "I'm scared if you're not there......"

Ning Qing didn't answer, packing her luggage, Yu Yao noticed Ning Qing's strangeness, "Ning Qing, Ning Qing ......"

Ning Qing hastily packed a package, and with a jade bracelet in his hand, he stuffed it into Yu Yao's arms.

"Ning Qing, you are ......"

Ning Qing still didn't answer, opened the window and looked around to see that there was no one, so he pulled out his bedding and clothes, tying them one by one. Fortunately, it is not too high from the ground, so there should be no problem going down the "rope".

"There are night watchmen at night, you remember, when you go down, run to the east, there is a small hole under the corner, it used to be a place where the girls here pass things to people, you are small, you should get out. I'm here to help you watch, no matter what I do, don't look back, just run, run out and be free. ”

"What about you......" Before Yu Yao could react, Ning Qing had already asked her to hold the rope and jump out of the window.

"Run!"

This was the last sentence that Ning Qing left her.