The old man looked at me deeply, as if he wanted to find any flaws in my face, but he couldn't see any clues after looking for a long time.
"real?"
"of course."
The old man took another puff of cigarette, exhaled a puff of smoke, and said calmly: "I will try to settle the matter between you and Feifei in the first half of this year, so that I can be at ease. From now on, I will let your mother take care of your children at home." It’s not a big problem 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 more and more intense. I was silent for a while and tried to persuade him: "You are so old, you have to stop working as a sanitation worker. You are so tired when you get up at three o'clock in the morning for the morning shift." Ah! How about..."
The old man interrupted me rudely, "You know nothing, little kid. You haven't even started a family yet! Can you do it if I don't do it?"
My throat seemed to be blocked by something and I couldn't speak.
After the conversation ended angrily, when I returned to the room, I found Lin Feifei lying on the bed playing games, dangling her two white feet, which made me feel restless.
Thinking of my father's instructions to me, I felt it was necessary to have a "lying talk" with Lin Feifei.
From the kitchen to the bedroom, which is actually only a short distance, the cold wind whizzed into my clothes, like thousands of cold needlepoints piercing my skin, making me shiver involuntarily.
Lin Feifei saw that I kept rubbing my hands, put down the phone, and said considerately: "It's so cold outside! Give me your hand, and I'll cover it for you."
"good!"
After her words, I immediately put my hand into her clothes blatantly.
Hmm... I can't hold it with one hand.
Lin Feifei had a pretty face, raised her hand and patted my hand gently, and my heart suddenly felt as if it had been scratched by a cat.
"Uncle, did you say something to you?"
I was stunned, "How do you know? What did you hear just now?"
There was a bit of slyness in Lin Feifei's smile, "Uncle comes to see you alone, he must have something to say, and it must be related to the two of us."
I was originally worried about how to take the initiative to open the topic, but now that Lin Feifei has taken the initiative, it has saved me a lot of trouble.
I hesitated for a moment, licked my lips, and felt a little anxious, "My dad just asked me, how much is the bride price at your home?"
After saying that, I was filled with anxiety, like a drummer beating crazily.
To be honest, marriage can sometimes drain a family's money. An ordinary family like mine has already spent a lot of money when buying a house in the county for the down payment. If there is another sky-high price gift, the already poor family will be even worse.
Lin Feifei didn't seem to have thought about this problem. She was stunned for a moment and said with a wry smile: "I shouldn't be the one to ask for this! Then it's not a business? It should depend on how much your family pays, right?"
I smiled bitterly, "Isn't the bride price very high now? My dad is not sure, so let me ask you to see what your family means."
Lin Feifei smiled and said, "Don't think too much, uncle. I think it's just as much as your family gives you! How can I ask for it! I think this money is just a sign of respect and etiquette! After all, this money, even if we Even if I get married, I have to bring it 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! We should put the small family first."
At this moment, I felt inexplicably moved. She said something that touched my heart. The meaning of the bride price should be blessings from the elders, not pressure.
What Lin Feifei said undoubtedly gave me reassurance. I was very pleased with her understanding.
From the 30th to the 2nd day of the Lunar New Year, Lin Feifei accompanied me to visit relatives. I felt a little dazed, as if she had become a member of our family.
Our family has many relatives, but there are only two or three that I want to visit. I was afraid that Lin Feifei would be bored, so I took her to the night market on the night of the second grade of junior high school.
There are also night markets in big cities, but compared with my hometown, I always feel that there is something missing.
town night
The night is not as noisy as the city, but it has a style that is not found in big cities. When you walk into the night market, the colorful neon lights add a romantic atmosphere to the night market. The stalls are close to each other and filled with various delicacies.
There is an endless stream of pedestrians in the night market, bustling with people. It has been a long time since I visited the night market. I didn't feel much about visiting the night market before, but now I like this kind of fireworks more and more.
Lin Feifei hadn't been to the night market for a long time. She wanted to eat everything she saw. Her hands were filled with fried skewers and spicy hotpot. She said with a smile: "I feel like I have gained weight in the past few days since I came to your house."
I touched her smooth face and smiled, "This is called happy fatness. You were too thin before, you need to put on some fat."
Lin Feifei pouted, "No, if I get fat, you should leave me."
I feel so sweet in my heart. When I'm with the people I like, I feel happy doing anything. But when I'm with the people I don't like, even eating shark's fin is torture.
Lin Feifei walked and ate while saying incomprehensibly: "Dear, what we talked about last night, did you tell your uncle?"
"No, what's wrong?"
"It's nothing, I just feel that he is quite happy today. I thought that after you told him, he would have relieved himself of his mental burden!"
I sighed and said with emotion: "Don't you think I'm very similar to my dad? Sometimes I'm depressed, and sometimes I'm as happy as a child."
"That's it, 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, glanced at her, and said with a smile, "But I don't think you look anything like your mother!"
Lin Feifei's shoulders relaxed slightly, showing a hint of weakness. Under the weak light, her expression gradually became a little blurry.
"Actually, this is just what you see, but every time I see my mother, without even saying a few words, the two of them start to quarrel. Every time I get angry, it feels like my mother is standing behind me. Similar."
I understand this feeling. The ideological imprint of the original family is like a shadow engraved in our DNA. We unconsciously become like our parents.
The reason why I have been wandering outside and unwilling to come back is actually inseparable from the trauma I suffered when I was a child. Although I am more mature now and can understand the difficulties of my parents, the sense of alienation that I have developed since I was a child has made us two people. People from different worlds came home and lived under the same roof this time, but I felt that my heart was far away.
Maybe it was the same experience that brought our two wounded hearts together. I hugged her tightly and said, "Actually, I used to be the same as you, but now I slowly learn to let it go. We should reconcile with ourselves first." "
After so many beatings, I finally understood that our family of origin is actually just a background for us and a background in life, rather than the reins that bind us.
Lin Feifei put her head on my shoulder, with a hint of sentimentality in her tone, "That's why I have been reluctant to go home. Every time I go home and see my mother, I can't help but think of those scenes from the past. "
