Double Life: My whole world is you

The young woman called her husband for more than ten minutes and finally agreed on a rate of 3300 yuan a year. No deposit was required and the client had to pay for water and electricity by themselves, depending on how much they used. Cheng's mother paid a deposit of yuan first and agreed to come at nine o'clock on the tenth day of the first lunar month to sign the agreement and pay the balance.

After the matter was settled, the young woman started chatting with Cheng's mother about family matters. Her surname was Ji and she was in her early thirties. Her husband was a civil servant and she worked as a clerk in a company. They had a six-year-old daughter and had plenty of money for their daily life, but they were under some pressure because they had just bought a house.

After they came down together, Cheng Qiao saw that the community was not big, with a total of three buildings, one building with three units, and one unit with two households. Their building was at the innermost, next to the railway road. The first two buildings were seven stories high. There was only one entrance to the community, and there was a security guard and a cleaning lady at the gate. The property fee was 50 per year.

The house was decided and Cheng's mother was very happy. Cheng Qiao looked back and saw the 9-story house and frowned slightly, but when she thought of the single room without a toilet, she felt that this house was not bad.

After returning home, the group was busy whittling water chestnuts. Cheng Ma cleaned up the house for a while and then started to cook. After dinner, Cheng Zhu brought the whitted water chestnuts and rice to his aunt. He came back with another bag. Cheng Ma helped everyone whittling water chestnuts after she cleaned up. It was around eight or nine o'clock when Cheng Zhu finished whittling water chestnuts. He brought the repaired water chestnuts to his aunt and helped her pack up the stall and go home. After the four of them were done, Cheng Ma boiled a large bucket of water. Cheng Qiao and Cheng Ma shared one bucket, and Wei Wei and Fang Fang shared another bucket. The four of them sat in the living room to soak their feet. Cheng Ma was knitting shoes with wool, Fang Fang was reading a novel with a book, Wei Wei was doing her Chinese winter vacation homework, and Cheng Qiao was writing an essay.

Cousin Yong came back at around nine o'clock. When he got home, he came straight up to Cheng's mother and said with a smile, "Aunt, I'm starving! Is there anything to eat? I only had a bowl of hot dry noodles in the morning."

Weiwei turned around and rolled her eyes at him, then muttered quietly, "You'll starve to death if you hang out outside every day."

Yong stood behind her and asked with a sullen face, "What did you say?"

Weiwei held his head and said loudly, "I didn't say anything."

Cheng Qiao looked up and saw that her cousin Yong was about eighteen or nineteen years old. He was almost five feet seventy tall, thin and fair, with a non-mainstream afro with a streak of yellow in the middle. He wore ripped jeans, a white sweatshirt underneath, and a black jacket on the outside. He had a cigarette in his mouth and looked very ruffian.

At this time, Cheng's mother quickly got up from the bucket and replied with a smile, "Do you want fried rice or noodles?"

"Eat noodles, aunt, put more meat in it." After he said that, he sat down aside, took out a Motorola flip phone and played an English song, and he shook his head to the music.

Cheng Qiao and Fang Fang looked at each other and then stood up and went into the room. Wei Wei poured the water angrily and glared at him fiercely from behind, and silently cursed a few words. Yong turned around and saw her and frowned slightly, "What are you doing? Go get me a glass of water."

"You won't fall? You don't have hands?" Weiwei responded casually.

"Pa." Yong slapped him.

Weiwei raised her head and glared at him fiercely, but she didn't cry or make a fuss, because she knew crying and making a fuss was useless. She walked into the next room and slammed the door. Cheng's mother came out of the kitchen and watched everything in silence. Yong sat down again and shouted inside, "Go get me a glass of water."

"Here." Cheng's mother poured him a glass of water from the kitchen and said with a smile, "You are so old, don't quarrel."

"Wei is too disobedient. He just talks back at me." Yong said.

Cheng's mother nodded and said nothing more. At this time, Cheng Zhu's voice rang out from upstairs, "Mom, we're back."

Cheng's mother came over with a smile. Seeing him carrying another bag of horse hooves, she felt distressed and hurried down to help him carry it up. Auntie also came up with a bag of horseshoes. When she saw Yong, she smiled and asked, "When did you come back? Have you eaten?"

"The noodles in the pot are ready. Serve them right away." Cheng's mother put down the horseshoe in her hand and ran into the kitchen.

"You're back so late to eat?" Auntie pulled a chair and sat down next to Yong and asked, "Last time you said you were going to open an Internet cafe with your friends, how's it going?"

"Don't worry about it. Just prepare the money when the time comes." Yong crossed his legs and took the noodles handed to him by Cheng's mother.

After looking at him, the aunt walked into a room, opened the door and said, "Everyone, please work hard tonight. You can get up later tomorrow morning."

"Okay." Cheng Qiao and Fang Fang put down the books in their hands and walked out.

"Where's Weiwei?" asked my aunt.

Fangfang pointed to the door next door. Auntie knocked on the door and called a few times, but Weiwei didn't answer her. Cheng's mother came out of the kitchen, took a peeler and said, "Weiwei has a lot of homework. I'll help you peel it tonight."

Yong finished a bowl of noodles and threw his chopsticks aside, shouting to Chengzhu, "Zhu, go get me another bowl."

"Okay." Cheng Zhu responded, and after peeling the horseshoe in his hand, he stood up and served him a bowl.

Yong finished two bowls of noodles and walked down alone. Chengzhu let out a sigh, and his aunt complained, "It's getting more and more outrageous."

Cheng's mother just smiled and said nothing more. After a few minutes, she said, "Little sister, we found a house this afternoon. I have to go to work tomorrow and move out the day after tomorrow."

Hearing what Cheng Ma said, Auntie was stunned for a moment, then asked, "Where is it? How much is it?"

"It's in the Heyuan community in front, on the ninth floor, 3300 yuan a year." Cheng's mother replied.

"It's so expensive, you might as well live with me and give us a thousand a year." Aunt said unhappily, "Besides, we can have someone to look after us if we are together as a family."

"Little sister, I know that living here is very difficult for you and your brother-in-law." Cheng's mother said, "Let's go live outside for a while. If things really don't work out, I'll come back to find you."

"You come home so late every day, aren't you worried about Zhu being alone at home?" Auntie tried to persuade him to stay, "Besides, it's the weekend, are you worried about leaving him alone at home?"

"It's okay. A friend of mine found me a job as a cleaner in a machinery company. I can take care of him three times a day and I don't have to work on weekends." Cheng's mother threw the sharpened horseshoe into the basket and said, "Little sister, I have caused you and your brother-in-law a lot of trouble in the past year. Thank you."

My aunt sighed and said, "Second sister-in-law, no matter what, we are a family. You also know my difficulties. Since you have rented a house, you can move out for a while and come back after the storm is over."

"Okay, little sister." Cheng's mother nodded, "If you know of any places that need help on the weekend, please keep an eye out for me!"

Aunt nodded, and Cheng's mother and aunt continued chatting about family matters as usual. Cheng Zhu occasionally interjected, while Cheng Qiao and Fang Fang were immersed in their own world. Finally, they peeled the water chestnuts brought back by aunt and Cheng Zhu until half past eleven. After peeling, Cheng's mother brought hot water for everyone to soak their hands, and she herself took a garbage bag to clean up the water chestnut skins...