The summer vacation after the high school entrance examination is the happiest time in memory.

The June and July sun steamed the air hot, and the plants on the roadside wilted in frustration in the heat.

On the main road, there are a few ice vendors and few pedestrians hurrying by.

In this case, only the hoarse chirping of cicadas and the branches sticking out of the iron fence full of orange-red pomegranate flowers are very lively. Lu Yinong likes this kind of excitement that has nothing to do with people.

She has nothing to do, so she asks her friends to press the road on the deserted street every day, walks through the sparsely populated but green streets of the walled city, and chats about the endless leisure days in the south and the north.

It wasn't until the scores of the high school entrance examination were out and on the eve of filling in the volunteers that Lu Yinong's heartless and carefree life suddenly came to an end.

Her aunt, Lu Qing, is getting married.

The swaggering black car was parked under the old tube building of the steel mill dormitory, and the footsteps of neighbors and the whispering of voices rang out from time to time, and the atmosphere inside the house was calm to a little weird.

Only the ice cream bag that Lu Yinong was holding tightly in his hand was making a rustling sound.

Lu Yinong was eating a saltwater popsicle while pretending to be careless and secretly looking at the stranger in front of him.

The grandparents sat on the bamboo chairs and drank the tea in their hands silently.

Lu Qing lowered his head and sat aside, his short hair hanging down to his ears like willow silk, and his ears were as tender as green onions, slightly red.

Twenty-five-year-old Lu Qing is naturally young and beautiful, and the strange man sitting next to her is much older than that.

Although he was wearing a decent suit and well-maintained, the momentum of not being angry and arrogant for a long time still made Lu Yinong a little timid.

I heard that this new uncle is eight years older than my father, and nearly twenty years older than my aunt.

A few months ago, Lu Qing graduated from graduate school and just entered the branch of a well-known national enterprise in Yuancheng for an internship, and it didn't take long for the boss of the head office to come to inspect.

From temporary secretary to wife, it only took her a month.

Lu Qing's identity changed suddenly, and for a while, he didn't know how much bitterness and jealousy he had aroused, and many people were full of jokes in their conversations: "Before I turned positive at work, I turned into a regular and became a broad lady first." What a skill! ”

These words, Lu Qing can be discarded, grandparents have traditional thoughts, they are discussed as a topic every day, and they are so aggrieved that they seem to be their own daughters hooking up with each other, doing embarrassing ugly things, and they can't raise their heads in front of their relatives.

On the day when the new uncle officially came to the door, he deservedly didn't see any good faces.

The atmosphere in the room was dull for a long time, like a pot of unboiled water, suffocating and waiting for the catharsis of the first foot in the door.

In the end, it was my aunt who opened her mouth first, and Lu Qing said: "I want to take Yinong with me and go to Beicheng." ”

She suddenly interrupted her parents' entanglement about this marriage, and Lu Yinong on the side didn't expect to talk about herself, and she was shocked, if she hadn't eaten a popsicle, she almost bit her tongue.

Grandpa was still stunned: "You have obtained a license to get married, I can't control where you go!" But Inon is your niece, what does it look like when you get married with your brother's children?! ”

Lu Qing had obviously thought about it deeply, and she stated indifferently: "You don't know what Yu Pei looks like, you have to make a big fuss when you go home for three meals or twice, and you have to throw your face when you see a chicken leg on the dinner table on weekdays." It used to be okay to live separately, but now she has a big belly. When the child is born, you go to serve, and you don't see anyone who looks up and sees it, what should I do? ”

Grandma is not confident: "What the hell is your brother's family affair......"

Lu Qing sneered: "Family matter? Is he a housekeeper? Is he home? Yi Nong, you raise it, does it have anything to do with him? Run by his stepmother every day, has he spoken? ”

Uncle couldn't help but cough lightly twice to interrupt her intense emotions: "It's good to come back and talk about it, why are you so angry?" ”

My aunt calmed down and said categorically: "For the sake of your intentions, don't stop it." Pei Ming has already found the best international private school in Beicheng and will enroll directly in September. Follow me, Yinong can receive a good education and live a good life, and you two elders can rest assured. ”

On the day Lu Yinong left with his aunt, the best friend in the factory's family yard came to say goodbye, watching the little girls crying and sending each other off, but it diluted the sadness of some adults.

Lu Qing saw them crying sadly, and then looked up at his parents and brother who were standing silently under the shade of the tree, his lips moved, he wanted to say something, but in the end he didn't say anything.

She reached out and touched Lu Yinong's head and said, "Don't cry, we'll be back." ”

The plane rushed up to the sky with the huge noise of the engine, and the homeland of Jiangnan gradually turned into a small piece of black and black under the eyes until it was completely covered by thick clouds.

Lu Yinong's eyes were swollen from crying all the way, and now he turned his back embarrassedly, facing the narrow porthole alone.

Zhang Peiming joked in a low voice: "Your little girl is lively and outgoing on weekdays, and she looks heartless, but I didn't expect it to be made of tears." ”

Lu Qing was afraid that Lu Yinong would be embarrassed to hear it, so he glanced at her uneasily, and then turned around and squeezed his hand in disgust.

Zhang Peiming explained: "I think she has a straight belly like this. Unlike my kid, who has a cold face all day long, he can't tell if he's unhappy, and it's hard to deal with. ”

This is not the first time Lu Qing has heard Zhang Peiming mention his son, her smile is slightly frozen, and her heart is like a boulder hanging with an inescapable worry.

Zhang Peiming patted her hand comfortingly: "Rong Hui is nineteen years old, his mother has passed away for many years, and I am the first to ask his opinion when I marry you." He's spending the summer vacation with friends in Europe, and he doesn't know where he's going crazy, so don't worry about him. ”

As he said this, Lu Qing's heart slowly relaxed.

Zhang Peiming finally said: "Don't worry, I will definitely take good care of you and my little niece." ”

Before Lu Yinong went to Beicheng and stayed in Zhang's house, he didn't have any more concept of money. Her mother died early, her father remarried, and until she was fifteen years old, the largest denomination of paper money she got in her hand was a 50 yuan red envelope given by her uncle during the Chinese New Year, which was confiscated by Lu Yong.

The happiness of the little girl has nothing to do with money, there are endless saltwater popsicles in the refrigerator in the steel mill dormitory, Detective Conan comics in the bookstore rented at the door only charge five corners a day, the hair ring bands and new clothes are usually bought by her aunt, she has good taste, Lu Yi is strong and beautiful, even if her family background is ordinary, it does not prevent her from shining among her peers.

The boy doesn't know what it's like to be sad. At least until going to the North Side, it was like that.

Lu Qing's wedding was held at the end of August of that year, Zhang Peiming was a second marriage, and it was not grand, limited to a few tables set up between relatives and friends, and no more tickets were issued.

The wedding was arranged according to Lu Qing's wishes, with the lawn wedding against a clear lake, and the venue was covered with fresh and tender Ecuadorian pink and white roses with blue hydrangeas.

Lu Yinong was a flower girl, the weather was very hot, she ran around lifting the skirt, sending bouquets of flowers and rings, sweat dripping down from her forehead, she felt that the makeup on her face was a little flowery, and the fish bone braids made by the makeup artist began to be a little loose.

When the bride and groom took a photo with everyone, she was caught in the middle, facing the black hole in the camera, and smiled tensely.

Except for Lu Yinong, no one from the Lu family came, and Zhang Peiming's mother did not come. There are no elders in charge, and the wedding itself is relaxed, but it seems to be a little sloppy.

At the wedding banquet, a little girl of the same age sat beside her, she was not very beautiful, with a round and blunt face, some flat facial features, and slender eyes swept down to look at her arrogantly.

Her name is Hang Minying, and she is Zhang Peiming's niece, and her uncle was afraid that Lu Yi would be lonely, so he was specially arranged to come over to be her companion.

Lu Yinong is enthusiastic about her peers, but Hang Minying's high-minded aura separates the distance between the two, and she is being looked up and down and picky, like pins and needles.

"This skirt is new this year, and my uncle is good to you." She said so.

"My mother told me everything about your family. Your mom died? What does your dad do? How many months will he be able to earn this dress? ”

"Oh, I'm sorry. Although I am also from Province K, my father is a professor at Jiangjin University, and my mother is a shareholder of the company. I've never been to Yuancheng, and I really don't know much about the income of a family like yours, so I'm a little curious. ”

She was embarrassed to say it, but the look of arrogance on her face was clearly not so.

Lu Yinong was simple-minded, and in her barrage of questions, she experienced for the first time a mixture of embarrassment, humiliation and helplessness. But she was too young to know how to handle the situation.

“…… My aunt bought it for me. She clenched the hem of her skirt and whispered first.

"Your aunt is very beautiful," Hang Minying smiled contemptuously when she saw her weakness, "Thanks to your aunt, otherwise you wouldn't have had the opportunity to sit at the same table with me for dinner." ”

With that, she jumped out of her chair and ran to the main table next to her mother to take a seat, smiling and casting a defiant look.

That meal, Lu Yinong ate like a fish in his throat. She shuddered to realize that the dress on her body and the food in front of her had a price.

She doesn't have enough bloodlines to match, and it's not a high price she can afford. This realization is like cutting her fragile heart with a knife.

She didn't understand that the undercurrent of shame was called self-esteem, and Hang Minying easily shattered it, leaving fragments all over the ground to sweep away the simplest pleasures with impunity.

Every step of the way for the rest of his life, money has gone ahead of emotions.

She is like this, overnight, suddenly become an adult with a lot of worries.