Three Women in the Cage

After hearing this, Zhang Mei rushed to the chicken coop without delay. It turned out that the chicken coop was for her younger brother. Her younger brother had to eat an egg every day to nourish his body, while no one else in the family had a share.

It seemed that this had been the rule since she was old enough to understand. An egg had to be cooked for her younger brother every day, but she and her younger sister rarely got to eat one.

This younger brother was obviously spoiled by his family. Even at such a young age, he yelled at Zhang Mei and showed no respect for his elder sister. So when he saw Xinxin suddenly appear in the house, the child walked forward curiously.

"Who are you? Why are you in my house..." he said bluntly.

Xinxin was stumped by the question. She was timid and tongue-tied to begin with, and when she heard the little boy ask this, her face suddenly turned red with embarrassment.

Zhang Mei knew that Xinxin was shy, and without caring that her grandmother was beside her, she walked up and pulled the boy away, "What are you doing? This is a classmate I invited back, don't be so rude..."

But before the boy could say anything, the grandmother cursed, "Why are you pulling your brother so hard? How come he is so rude? You silly girl, you are so mean, aren't you? Go and boil eggs for your brother."

Zhang Mei angrily pulled Xinxin into the kitchen and said, "Don't worry, my brother has been spoiled..."

For the first time, Xinxin realized the idea of ​​favoring boys over girls in her family. No wonder the first two children were girls, and the third one was finally a son. Looking at the boy's fat face, she knew how much he was spoiled at home.

Xinxin didn't know that her family had also been poisoned by the preference for boys over girls, because her mother and sister had never mentioned anything to her. She was the youngest and didn't remember anything about what happened before.

So this was her first time facing the disparity of favoring boys over girls. Girls were treated like slaves at home, and if they didn't do their job well, they would be beaten and scolded by their parents. On the other hand, sons were pampered by their family, and didn't have to do anything, and they were served with delicious food and drinks.

Xinxin wondered if she had a younger brother, would her mother favor him like this? But after all, there was no younger brother in her family, so maybe she was luckier than Zhang Mei.

Xinxin didn't know that Zhang Mei was in such a situation at home, but she always had a smiling face at school, looking confident and generous, and there was no sign of grievance or sadness at all.

I have the love of my mother and sister, so I should be much luckier than her. But why am I not as sunny as her?

Xinxin became more and more curious about her. She still couldn't understand why Zhang Mei chose to be friends with her and invited her home.

But after Xinxin went to her house, she treated her better and better, and later invited her to her home as a guest. Her mother and sisters entertained her warmly.

Although Xinxin's family was poor, they still used the best things in their home to entertain her, and they thought that their relationship should become closer.

But not long after, a girl from Xinxin's neighboring village suddenly transferred to their class. That girl naturally knew Xinxin and also knew a lot about their family.

Xinxin was most afraid that others would know about her family affairs, so she usually tried to stay away from that girl. However, that girl, probably bewitched by the villagers, started to form cliques in the class to isolate Xinxin.

He also gave Xinxin a nickname in private, letting those people laugh at her in person, saying that her mother was crazy and gossiping about how her family was being trampled on and bullied in the village.

In short, a lot of things were arranged, and gradually, the classmates in the class always pointed fingers at Xinxin in private, and sometimes even provoked her openly.

Xinxin thought that even if all the classmates stayed away from her, Zhang Mei would not. At the beginning, Zhang Mei didn't care what others said and still played with Xinxin.

Later, I don’t know if it was because she was bewitched or because she didn’t want to make enemies with so many people, but slowly, Zhang Mei began to deliberately distance herself from her.

Later, the teacher changed their seats. Since then, they haven't spoken to each other again. To be precise, it was probably Zhang Mei who deliberately avoided her.

Just like that, Xinxin's first friend parted ways with her. She knew that it was the woman who deliberately instigated them.

The woman wanted to isolate her and leave her without any friends. Even if she ran far away, she could not escape the fate of being despised and ridiculed.

Xinxin didn't care how others isolated her or laughed at her, but she couldn't stand it. One day, Zhang Mei stood next to that woman and looked at her with complicated eyes.

They used to be so close that they would invite each other home, play and laugh together.

Every season when sowing, they would go to each other's homes to help, and even the parents of both sides became familiar with each other because of them. She thought they had become inseparable good friends.

She never thought that one day they would stand on opposite sides. She didn't understand, could the sincerity they had given to each other be so fragile?

Seeing her standing next to that woman, Xinxin looked at her with hurt eyes. Xinxin began to not understand her. Why did she do this to herself?

Later in junior high school and even high school, they were in the same school, just not in the same class. But even if they saw each other, they never spoke a word.

Xinxin actually never understood why they ended up like this...

Ever since she lost Zhang Mei's only good friend, Xinxin no longer confided in anyone, because she understood that no one would be sincere to her, and one day they would leave her, or even stand against her. Why bother with those false feelings, and end up being hurt all over and having nothing?

Later, her grades got better and better, but she became more and more silent. I don’t know if it was because she felt too lonely. In any case, the serious head teacher would come to her desk after class, look at her with a puzzled look, and ask her gently.

"Why do you always sit here alone? Why don't you go play with your classmates after class? Is there something on your mind?"

Xinxin would not tell him that no one wanted to play with her and no one wanted to be her friend.

She just lowered her head blankly, didn't answer, and remained silent as usual.

Seeing her quiet silence, head down, and not speaking for a long time, the head teacher could only sigh silently, then turned and walked away.

Later, the head teacher learned about Xinxin's family situation and that she had paid tuition on credit. Perhaps because he felt sorry for her, he came up with a solution and waived all her tuition.

This was the first time Xinxin felt the warmth from her head teacher. She began to take the teacher's care seriously and understood the love and sympathy in the teacher's eyes...

But she hated sympathetic looks, as they would make her feel even more inferior, as if she were pressed to the bottom of a tower, unable to raise her head forever...