Double Life: My whole world is you

Cheng Ma and four others were making dumplings with her third aunt, her cousin was playing cards with her two uncles and her uncle-in-law, and her two cousins ​​were sitting nearby playing. Cheng Qiao was making dumplings with the adults. Cheng Ma kept urging Cheng Qiao to play with the children, as if the adults had a secret they didn't want her to know. Helplessly, she could only play Eagle Catches Chicken with a group of children, while her cousins ​​were having a lot of fun.

After a while, my third uncle came back with a group of children, ranging from a few years old to over ten years old. Cheng Qiao counted them and found there were nine. My third uncle had four brothers, and he was the eldest. He also had a younger sister and two children in the family, making a total of ten. However, my cousin Junting was more than ten years younger than them. He has now started a family and has a child who is half a year old.

Brother Junjie led nine children to join their camp, but because there were too many people and the adults occupied half of the backyard to make dumplings, so the children came to the front yard together. There was an open space in the front yard, as big as a basketball court. Although there was no paved floor, it did not affect everyone's fun.

Soon, Cheng Qiao forgot everything while playing with them. In addition to playing "Eagle Catches Chicken", they also played "Four-Character Game", where one person catches the others and runs away. Before being caught, they say a four-character idiom or phrase, such as "Diamond Point in Painting", or "Princess Huanzhu", and the commonly played "123 Wooden Man", "Nine-square Grid", multi-person skipping rope, etc.

Tired of playing, the boys were fighting cocks on one leg, the younger ones were playing with glass beads or firecrackers, the daughter of my cousin's family (my third uncle's sister), (why do we call my third uncle's brothers and sisters cousins? Because my third aunt's mother-in-law is the sister of my grandmother's adoptive parents, and my third aunt was raised by my third uncle's mother when she was only three months old), was called Chong. She was in the same grade as Cheng Qiao, but seeing that the girl was half a head taller than him, with those thin and straight legs, Cheng Qiao glanced at his own legs and instantly felt inferior.

"Qiao, what are you daydreaming about? Let's go catch some stones together." Chong pulled Cheng Qiao to a corner of the living room, and she went to the room and took out a handful of small stones that were about one centimeter in diameter. "Catching stones" is also a fun thing for the girls here. A handful of small stones are scattered within an area of ​​less than half a square meter. You hold a stone in your hand and throw the one in your hand without touching other small stones. Each time you catch no less than three stones on the ground, you must also catch the one you throw in your hand. At the end, whoever has the most small stones is the winner. It can be played by two or more people. I haven't played this for many years, and it's quite novel and fun to play it suddenly. While playing, Cheng Qiao sat on the ground with Chong without caring about her image. After an unknown amount of time, a majestic voice sounded behind her, "Cheng Qiao."

She trembled with fear when she heard the sound. She had already thrown the stone in her hand and was about to grab the stone on the ground, but her hand was suspended in the air. She stood up and shouted with a smile, "Happy New Year, Uncle Desheng."

After a few seconds of calm, Cheng Qiao stood up, forced a smile, lowered her head and said, "Happy New Year, teacher."

"Happy New Year." He nodded to the two of them and followed his third uncle into the backyard.

After a while, I heard someone shouting, "It's time to eat."

Cheng Qiao looked at the time, it was half past four, and asked in confusion, "Eating so early?"

"Let's go in and wash our hands." The two walked hand in hand to the backyard. At this time, there were three tables in the backyard, and the adults were pushing and shoving to sit on them. Cheng Qiao washed her hands and stood next to Cheng's mother. They heard that the third aunt wanted to eat early because she was afraid that the two cousins ​​would come back late.

Finally, the seats were taken. Cheng Qiao followed Cheng Ma and her aunt to sit at the second table. They were only half a meter away from Teacher Wu at the first table. Cheng Ma asked the question that all parents want to ask the teacher, "Teacher Desheng, how is my Cheng Qiao's grades?"

Hearing what Cheng's mother said, Cheng Qiao nervously swallowed a few times. She lowered her head and shouted in her heart, "There are so many people here? Mom, please give me some face. Why can't you ask when there is no one around?"

Teacher Wu looked at Cheng Qiao, who was facing away from him and lowering her head, and smiled and said, "Cheng Qiao works very hard. If she keeps trying, she will have a chance to get into No. 5 Middle School."

"I still need the teacher's care."

Cheng Qiao heard Teacher Wu say, "Teacher's care is secondary, the most important thing is to rely on yourself."

Cheng Qiao quickly finished a bowl of soup and a bowl of vegetables and hurriedly left the table. She did not come out of the room until Cheng's mother and others were ready to go back. She did not see Teacher Wu again. She still rode her uncle's motorcycle to go back to her grandmother's house and arrived home in three or four minutes.

It was just half past five when Cheng Qiao returned to her grandmother's house. She said hello to her grandmother and prepared to go to Chengliangwan to find Cheng Xia. Her grandmother stopped her and said, "It's New Year's Day, how can you go empty-handed?" After saying that, her grandmother gave her a bag of kumquats. She took it with a smile and said, "Okay, grandma, I'll go play for a while and come back."

When she arrived at Cheng Xia's house, Cheng Xia and Uncle Cheng were eating dumplings and watching TV in the room. They were very happy to see Cheng Qiao coming. Cheng Xia wanted to serve her dumplings, but Cheng Qiao quickly refused, "I just came back from my aunt's house after dinner."

But Cheng Xia still put down the bowl and poured her tea. Uncle Cheng also went to get some snacks. The three of them sat together and ate and chatted. Cheng Xia said excitedly, "Coincidentally, there must be a lot of your grandmother's family today. You can sleep with me tonight!"

Cheng Qiao thought that there were two beds in her grandmother's two uncles' homes, and there were also two beds in her grandmother's room, so it was more than enough for them and her aunt's family to sleep together. But she thought that the adults seemed to have a secret to tell, so she hesitated for two seconds and nodded in agreement, "Okay! But I have to tell my grandmother."

"I'll go with you after I wash the dishes." Cheng Xia said after finishing the last dumpling.

Cheng Qiao accompanied her to wash the dishes, and then the two of them walked towards their grandmother's house arm in arm.

At this time, Cheng Ma and the others were sitting on the sofa at her uncle's house, watching TV and chatting. Cheng Xia greeted everyone sweetly and said, "Auntie, I'll take Cheng Qiao to my house to sleep."

"Okay, okay!" Cheng's mother agreed immediately.

Cheng Qiao was speechless when she saw her impatient look, and complained in her heart: "My mother seems to dislike me."

Adults have their own world, and children have their own world. Cheng Qiao took her little sister to their home, and they brushed their teeth together, read books together, soaked their feet together, and slept together. Lying on the bed, Cheng Xia held her hand and said, "Qiao, I miss you a lot when you're not here. In fact, I don't like holidays very much."

"I like being with you, too." Cheng Qiao turned sideways and looked at her. "Being with you makes me feel comfortable and worry-free. It's just a pity..."

"Isn't it a pity that I'm not a boy?" she asked with a smile.

"Yes! Otherwise I would have married you without hesitation." Cheng Qiao said with a smile [Otherwise I wouldn't have been unmarried at the age of 30 in my previous life! ]

"Haha! Even though you can't marry me, we will be together forever." Cheng Xia said seriously, "We will be friends forever."

"Yes." Cheng Qiao nodded. [No matter how the world changes, the person I have chosen will never change, unless you don't want me anymore...]