Double Life: My whole world is you

Cheng's mother came back after a while. It was already dark when she got home. She was carrying a load of water and a big bag of vegetables. Seeing the two of them doing their homework harmoniously, she smiled with satisfaction.

When the two saw Cheng Ma coming back, they both smiled and shouted. Cheng Ma put down the carrying pole in her hand and suddenly opened her arms and said softly, "Qiao, Zhu, come here, hug one."

Cheng Zhu was stunned. After all, it was strange for his mother to hold one child at such a big age, especially in the countryside. Cheng Qiao pulled him, and he came to his senses and ran to Cheng Ma's arms with Cheng Qiao. After holding the two children, Cheng Ma happily picked up the pole, picked up the water again and walked towards the kitchen. Cheng Qiao and Cheng Zhu followed closely behind.

After entering the kitchen, Cheng's mother started a fire to boil water. Cheng Qiao immediately asked, "Mom, did something happen to Auntie?"

"Nothing." Cheng Ma said, and seeing the two people looking at her in disbelief, she lit the fire and put two more pieces of wood in the stove, then sighed slightly, "Oh! I heard from your aunt that your Aunt Xiang passed away after taking medicine."

Cheng Qiao knew about this, she lowered her head and said nothing, Cheng Zhu exclaimed, "Why? I remember she came to our house to play for a while on the first day of the new year, it was only more than ten days in total!"

"He passed away a week ago, on the seventh night of the New Year." Cheng's mother was in a low mood.

"Ah, mom, Aunt Xiang's sister is three years younger than me!" Cheng Zhu's eyes were filled with sadness, "Isn't she without a mother like Kaiyang? Then will her father also marry a stepmother for her like Kaiyang's father?"

"Yes!" Cheng Qiao responded.

"Why did Aunt Xiang go to take medicine?" Cheng Zhu was still puzzled. "I remember seeing her before going to grandma's house on the fourth day of the New Year. She even smiled and greeted us."

"You are still too young to understand adult matters." Cheng's mother took a look at the stove and pulled the two of them to sit next to it and said, "Actually, eleven years ago, before your father passed away, Mom was also going to drink pesticides."

"I don't remember it at all!" Chengzhu exclaimed again, "Mom, why?"

"You were only one year old at that time, so you definitely can't remember it." Cheng's mother looked at Cheng Qiao, "Qiao, do you have any impression?"

Cheng Qiao nodded. That was her earliest memory of childhood! She remembered that she was standing outside the two dilapidated houses, Cheng Zhu was in the room with Cheng Ma, and her father was standing outside the window of the room holding one of Cheng Ma's hands. Cheng's father shouted, and other people from the bay came over. They moved a wooden ladder from outside, climbed up from the second floor of the living room to the room, and then came down from the wooden ladder in the room to snatch the pesticide from Cheng Ma's hand. If Cheng's father had found out later, if Cheng's father hadn't caught Cheng Ma, Cheng Ma would have drunk the medicine and died that day. This was her secret in the previous life, and she didn't want to mention it, but she would occasionally dream of that scene. She would be frightened in the dream, and burst into tears when she woke up.

"Sister, what's wrong with you?" Cheng Zhu asked when he saw Cheng Qiao's tears falling.

"It's okay." Cheng Qiao shook her head. "The smoke blew into my eyes."

Cheng's mother loosened the tongs when she heard her words. She continued, "It was the end of 1997, and the winter was very cold! Your father started his holiday on the twelfth day of the twelfth lunar month before the New Year, and your brother's birthday was on the twentieth day of the twelfth lunar month, so we celebrated his first birthday. He received some gifts and started playing cards before the New Year, and continued until the beginning of the year. On the afternoon of the fifth day of the New Year, after returning from your aunt's house, he started playing cards again, and did not return until the evening of the seventh day of the New Year when he took a nap. On the eighth day of the New Year, after he got up early and had breakfast, someone called him to play cards again. I had a quarrel with him for a few words, and he said I was meddling too much. I got up in one breath, and saw the pesticides left over from last year in the room. I pushed him out and locked the door from the inside, and prepared to open the pesticides and drink them. Zhu was crying beside me, and I was going to take Zhu with me after I finished drinking. But he grabbed my hand from outside the window..."

Cheng Qiao listened quietly. Why did they take Zhu away and leave her behind? Cheng's mother secretly wiped her eyes and continued, "The fortune teller said that Zhu has a hard life and will always have one of his parents killed. If your father hadn't caught me that day and I had taken the medicine and died, he wouldn't have died."

"Mom, it's all my fault!" Chengzhu felt even more depressed. "If it weren't for me, Dad wouldn't have left."

Cheng's mother realized the problem with her words and quickly comforted her, "Mom, that's not what I meant! Everything is God's will!"

"Brother, don't think too much." Cheng Qiao also hurriedly comforted, "Dad's incident was an accident. It has nothing to do with you."

"Yes, as long as our family is together, that's all!" Cheng's mother said as she stood up and looked at the water in the pot. "The water is boiling, Zhu, go wash up first."

After washing up, Cheng Qiao saw that Cheng Zhu's mood had not recovered for a long time. He sat on a chair in a daze. Cheng Qiao walked over and slapped him on the head, "Change the math part I marked. Bring the Chinese to me for checking."

Cheng Zhu came back to his senses, looked at Cheng Qiao's cold gaze, and took out his winter vacation homework awkwardly.

It was already ten o'clock when Cheng Zhu finished his homework. Cheng Zhu yawned and quickly lay down to sleep. Cheng Ma was still sitting in a corner of the bed knitting shoes. Cheng Qiao felt that she didn't want to sleep yet, and she would also light the lights tonight. With the mentality of not wasting resources, she reviewed for more than an hour. Until Cheng Ma's tired voice came, "Qiao, it's already half past eleven, go to bed early."

"Okay!" Cheng Qiao felt a little tired at this time, so she put away her books and lay down. But she hadn't fallen asleep yet, and her mind was still recalling the materials she had just studied. It was not until her consciousness became blurred that she truly ended the day and entered a state of rest.

She was used to getting up at 5:30 in the morning, but Cheng's mother beside her had already gotten up. She had just put on her clothes when Cheng's mother came in with a bowl of hot noodles. She said softly, "Have some breakfast before going to school."

Cheng Qiao nodded. Their school was about 10 minutes closer than her grandmother's. So it was not urgent to get up at this time. She quickly washed up, ate a bowl of noodles, and then got another bowl. While eating, she smiled and said, "My mother's noodles are as delicious as my grandmother's."

"When you go to the city in the second half of the year, Mom will make more delicious food for you." Cheng's mother looked at her and said gently.

But Cheng Qiao's eyes showed fear. In her previous life, the 20 to 30 kilograms of meat were fed to her by her mother. She didn't reply, quickly finished her meal, put down her bowl and prepared to pack her schoolbag. At this time, Cheng Yun and Cheng Dan also appeared outside her house.

When Cheng's mother saw her leaving, she followed her into the room reluctantly and then left the room and said, "Qiao, give mom a hug."

Cheng Qiaoshou paused as she was about to open the door. She turned around and saw Cheng's mother's expectant face. She smiled silently, walked over and hugged Cheng's mother. She stood up and opened the door again. Cheng's mother followed her out. She didn't stop until she sent her to the tile kiln, and watched her and her companions walk away from a distance.