Looking back, friends visited the Xia family's old house for the first time:

"By the way, Xia Lei's birthday on the 28th, please go to her house!" "Who else?" "Feifei, it's probably just the four of us." "I don't want to go." "Why?" "It's not much better, weird." Is Chen Li going to distance herself from everything related to school so soon?

Shi Jiaojiao anxiously persuaded: "Go, she especially wants me to bring a letter to you, if you don't go, how can I tell her?" "Really?" "Well, across the street shouting for me not to forget." "Haha, Xia Lei is quite funny." "Go ahead! Go ahead! "Don't be happy, you can't be empty-handed, you must prepare gifts!"

Xia Lei led the two into the old mansion with blue bricks and tiles, and heard someone call herself in a dialect elsewhere, "You two go around casually first, you can play anywhere, haha, I'll go for a while." "Hey, where do you put it?" Chen Liyang raised the box in her hand, and Xia Lei said, "Give it to me." With that, he left with the gifts of the two of them.

If Xia Lei hadn't taken the two of them in from the intersection at the school gate, Chen Li and Shi Jiaojiao would probably never have known that there was such a magnificent three-entrance courtyard hidden behind the crowded and outdated street.

The two heard the voices of many people talking and laughing from the depths of the courtyard, "You said it's just the four of us, no matter how many of her family members there are, there can't be such a lively sound, right?" Chen Li asked Shi Jiaojiao about her guilt, and Shi Jiaojiao knew that she was at a loss, and deliberately looked at her innocently.

Just as they were about to get along, a wealthy grandmother in her fifties appeared in front of them with a smile, "Is it a good friend of Lei Lei Middle School?" The two looked at each other and nodded. I'll take you there, Lei Lei's friends are in the pavilion! The two of them followed after that.

"Oh my God, there's a pond in her yard!" Chen Li exclaimed in Shi Jiaojiao's ear. "It's over there, it's all kids like you, playing happily." The old grandmother said that she was about to leave, Shi Jiaojiao thanked her and asked, "Are you Xia Lei's grandmother?" ”

The old grandmother waved her hand again and again and said, "My grandmother has passed away a long time ago, and I am their domestic helper." After finishing speaking, she left neatly, Chen Li looked at the seven or eight young men and girls sitting or standing, talking or laughing in the pavilion, and said to Shi Jiaojiao beside her: "When I came, the cars stuffed in the alley were probably these people's families. ”

"I knew that her family was rich, but I didn't expect it to be like this." Shi Jiaojiao muttered to herself, and Chen Li nodded with her old god, "People are also outsiders, and it seems that whether they are doing well or not has nothing to do with whether they are non-locals." As he spoke, he didn't forget to look around curiously.

And her unintentional words were like a slap in the face of Shi Jiaojiao, since she became self-conscious, everyone, including herself, felt that being displaced and uprooted was the biggest reason for their predicament, and Shi Jiaojiao even kept taking care of herself and wearing a coat called "pitiful" to protect herself.

Seeing Shi Jiaojiao standing still, her face was red and white for a while, Chen Li realized that there was a different "outsider" around her, she quickly pushed Shi Jiaojiao and said, "Ah, you know that I have no intention, and I don't mean you." Shi Jiaojiao came back to her senses and rolled her eyes, "I'm just careful, hey, I'm injured." Chen Li laughed and wanted to knock her on the head.

Shi Jiaojiao grabbed Chen Lifei's arm and tilted her head towards the pavilion, "Hey, I don't know anyone, and it seems that I can't play together, so it's better to go and tell Xia Lei to go back." Chen Li glanced at the group of peers who were "not of my race" again, nodded, and returned hand in hand with Shi Jiaojiao. （2017/1/10）

Walk around the small pond with rockeries and walk on the cobblestone path, with crape myrtle branches stretching out to the curb, so you can get lost in your eyes. There were some adults talking in the living room in front, Chen Li looked at Shi Jiaojiao, and whispered: "I invited a lot of people, but it's just a seventeenth birthday, it's amazing." Shi Jiaojiao nodded. In fact, both of them are a little ridiculous, friends who have always made good friends, and suddenly they seem to be people from two worlds, and it is indeed a little difficult to accept such a big gap.

Walking through the atrium, through the stone path leading to the antechamber, and through a short corridor, they arrived at the place where Xia Lei led them in, where they might find her. The two couldn't help but speed up their pace, bent on getting out of this panicked mansion.

Who knew that before he arrived in the front hall, he bumped into the oncoming Xia Lei and the sixth child. "Jiaojiao, why don't you two call me first, and then come over together? also asked Xia Lei to pick up two trips. "The sixth may have just run, and his cheeks are flushed. When Shi Jiaojiao and Chen Li heard it, it was so reasonable that they couldn't help but complain about themselves in their hearts, so they had to smirk twice.

Xia Lei was still holding the gifts of the two of them in her hands, and asked with a glare, "You two won't tell me that you want to go back, right?" Chen Li scratched her head and confessed: "Uh, it's boring, my grandmother asked me to go back early, don't make trouble for others." Shi Jiaojiao stuck out her tongue, and a huge embarrassment came to her face, making her involuntarily cover her eyes: Lili, you are a little more honest......

"Hahahaha......" Xia Lei laughed without warning, "You two, you know that if I don't watch for a while, you two will retreat." After speaking, she smiled, and looked at the three of them looking at each other, Xia Lei smiled, and asked Chen Li to help get a gift, while saying: "Don't be restrained, my birthday is for you to participate, I don't have many good friends here, just the three of you." ”

Saying that, Xia Lei took a step forward, actually bowed to everyone, and said with a smile, "Because of you, I'm very happy to be here." ”

If they are so emotional, the girls are a little caught off guard, and they all laugh shyly, not knowing how to deal with it. It was still Chen Li who was generous and took the lead in taking a step forward, "We are so honored to say this." Walk! Go and meet your noble friends. Shi Jiaojiao also put aside the idea of going back, glanced at the sixth child, and said to Xia Lei: "We are also very happy to have you as a good friend." ”

Everyone nodded tacitly, and hugged Xia Lei to go deeper into the house. For the curiosity of her friends, Xia Lei made a long story short, her ancestors had been a Beijing official, and this big man was very concerned about his hometown, and he still returned to his hometown in his later years. Then, after a few rounds, the family moved back here.

Shi Jiaojiao suddenly showed a sudden expression of realization, and said: "Hey, do you remember that our school profile said that our school was originally a private school of a prestigious family, and it has slowly developed into what it is now, wouldn't it be your family?" The other three were stunned, and Xia Lei said suspiciously: "You are wrong, who has nothing to do to read the school profile." Chen Li raised her fingers and said, "She is a big fool, as long as she has words, she can read any book!" ”

Speaking of the history of the ownership of this house, Chen Li was so shocked that her mouth could put a duck egg, "You mean that this row of houses used to be your family's?" "My ancestor is the big official! Then it was so big. As she spoke, they were led by Xia Lei to a room in the deepest part of the courtyard.

Unlike the antique outside, the room was very modernly furnished, and there was a computer that was rare at the time. "This is my room. In fact, by my father's generation, the family was already very small, but there were still three uncles and two aunts. Xia Lei said, placing the gift on a white round table.

"It seems a little small for you to live here as a family!" Chen Li was a little worried at this time. Xia Lei smiled and immediately denied it: "Several uncles and aunts are in other places, and they are developing very well, only my family has moved back." It's not crowded at all, and at night, seriously, it's a little scary! The girl shrugged her shoulders and pointed in the direction of the small pond and whispered, "I'm always worried that there are water ghosts living in it." Hearing her say this about her home, everyone couldn't help but laugh.