The old man looked at me deeply, as if he wanted to find a flaw in my face, but he didn't see any clue for a long time.

"Really?"

"Of course."

The old man took another puff of cigarette, and after exhaling a smoke faintly, he said lightly: "In the first half of this year, I will try to settle the matter between you and Feifei, and I will be able to be sure, and let your mother take care of the children for you at home in the future, and it will not be a big problem for me to go to work and earn some living expenses for them."

Looking at the old man's gray hair, the unspeakable emotion in my heart became stronger and stronger, I was silent for a while, trying to persuade him: "You are so old, don't do sanitation, how tired you are to get up at three o'clock in the morning shift!" It's better to ......."

The old man interrupted me rudely, "You little baby knows a fart, you haven't started a family yet!" Can I do it if I don't do it?"

It was as if something was blocking my throat, and I couldn't speak.

After this conversation ended, when I returned to the room, Lin Feifei was lying on the bed playing a game, dangling her two white feet, and I was so impetuous.

Thinking of my father's instructions to me, I felt the need to start a "sleeper meeting" with Lin Feifei.

From the kitchen to the bedroom, it was actually a short road, and the cold wind swished into the clothes, like thousands of cold needles piercing the skin, making me shiver involuntarily.

Lin Feifei saw that I kept rubbing my hands, put down my phone, and said thoughtfully, "It's so cold outside! Give me your hand, and I'll cover you."

"Good!"

With her words, I suddenly blatantly put my hand into her clothes.

Well...... One hand really couldn't be buckled.

Lin Feifei's pretty face was flat, and she raised her hand and patted my hand gently, and suddenly my heart felt like it was scratched by a cat.

"Uncle came to you for something, didn't you?"

I was stunned, "How do you know? What did you just hear?"

Lin Feifei's smile was a little cunning, "Uncle is looking for you alone, he must have something to say, and it has something to do with the two of us."

I was worried about how to take the initiative to open the topic, but now Lin Feifei took the initiative to provoke it, which saved me a lot of trouble.

I hesitated for a moment, licked my lips, and felt a little upset in my heart, "My dad just asked me, how much is the bride price from your family?"

After saying that, my heart was full of apprehension, like a drummer beating wildly.

To be honest, marriage can sometimes hollow out a family, an ordinary family like my family, when they bought a house in the county town and paid a down payment, they have already paid the bottom of the sky, and if there is a sky-high bride price, the family that is not rich will be even worse.

Lin Feifei didn't seem to think about this question, she was stunned for a moment, and said with a wry smile: "This shouldn't be my mouth! Isn't that a deal? It should depend on how much your family has to pay, right?"

I smiled wryly, "Isn't the bride price particularly high now! My dad can't be sure, so let me ask you and see what your family means."

Lin Feifei smiled, "You tell your uncle not to think about it, I think your family will give as much as you want!" How can I ask for it! I think this money is a respect, a courtesy! After all, even if we get married, I have to bring this money back."

I was a little surprised, "Bring it back?"

"That's right! Isn't this money equivalent to the start-up capital of our small family in the future? Didn't you tell me? The small family should be put first."

At this moment, I was inexplicably moved in my heart, and she had a sentence that struck my heart, the meaning of the bride price should be the blessing of the elders, not the pressure.

Lin Feifei said this, which undoubtedly reassured me, and her empathy made me happy.

From Chinese New Year's Eve to the second year of junior high school, Lin Feifei has been accompanying me to visit relatives, and I am in a trance, as if she has become a member of our family.

We have a lot of relatives, but there are only two or three families I want to visit, I am afraid that Lin Feifei will be bored, so on the evening of the second day of junior high school, I will take her to the night market.

There are also night markets in big cities, but they always feel a little less than in their hometowns.

Night in town

Walking into the night market, the colorful neon lights add a bit of romantic atmosphere to the night market, and the stalls are next to each other, filled with all kinds of delicacies.

The night market is bustling with pedestrians, I haven't been to a night market for a long time, I didn't feel much about visiting a night market before, but now I like the fireworks more and more.

Lin Feifei hadn't been to the night market for a long time, and she wanted to eat everything when she saw it, her hands were full of fried skewers and spicy tang, and she said with a smile: "I've been at your house for a few days, how do I feel that I'm fat."

I touched her smooth face and smiled, "It's called Happy Fat. You used to be so skinny, you had to grow some flesh."

Lin Feifei pouted, "Don't, if you get fat, you shouldn't want me."

I have a sweet heart in my heart, I feel happy when I am with the person I like, I feel happy in everything, and when I am with someone I don't like, even eating shark fin is torture.

Lin Feifei ate as she walked, and said indistinctly, "My dear, did you tell your uncle what we said last night?"

"No, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing, I just feel like he's very happy today, I thought that after you told him, he took off his mental baggage!"

I sighed and said, "Don't you think I'm similar to my dad? One moment depressed, the next happy like a child."

"That is, don't you think that each of us has the shadow of our parents? Our relationship with our parents is like looking in a mirror."

I nodded, looked at her, and smiled, "But I didn't think you resembled your mother!"

Lin Feifei's shoulders were slightly relaxed, showing a trace of weakness, and under the dim light, her expression gradually became a little blurred.

"Actually, it's just what you see, but every time I see my mom and I can't say a few words, the two start arguing, and every time I get angry, it feels like my mom is standing behind me."

I understand this feeling, the ideological seal of the original family seems to be engraved in our DNA, and we unconsciously live like our parents.

The reason why I have been drifting outside and reluctant to come back is actually inseparable from the trauma since childhood, although now that I am a little more mature and can understand the difficulties of my parents, but the sense of alienation that I have developed since childhood has made us people of two worlds, this time I went home to live under the same roof, but I feel that my heart is very far away.

Maybe it was because of the same experience that brought our two wounded hearts together, and I hugged her tightly, "Actually, I used to be the same as you, but now that I'm slowly learning to let go, we should reconcile with ourselves first."

After so many beatings, I finally understood that in fact, the original family is just a background for us, a background of life, not a reins that bind us.

Lin Feifei put her head on my shoulder, and her tone was slightly sentimental, "So I have always been reluctant to go home, every time I go home, I can't help but think of my mother and those pictures from before."