My friend's uncle took a fancy to me

When Zhou Qizhen was 22 years old, he had a big quarrel with his father over the issue of start-up capital. During the quarrel, the incident of his aunt's miscarriage many years ago was brought up, and the quarrel between father and son became even more fierce.

Everyone blamed him, but who cared about his feelings? The aunt he trusted and relied on the most suddenly took his mother's place one day. He couldn't let go and even became disgusted with the world. Insomnia was the norm.

Once I drove to the riverside, parked my car on the side of the road and sat there drinking alone. A group of children were playing football in the open space next to me. Everyone had a smile on their face because they were happy, and the smile of one little girl was the most dazzling.

The ball was accidentally kicked next to him, and he suddenly thought of teasing the children. The other children didn't dare to come over, only the little girl came over and said, "Big brother, this is our ball."

Big brother? Zhou Qizheng raised his eyebrows and corrected him, "You should call me uncle."

The little girl said without hesitation, "I thought you would be happier if I called you brother."

"How do you know I'm unhappy?"

"You've been drinking alone. My dad also drinks alone when he's unhappy." The little girl hesitated and pointed at a car parked on the side of the road. "Is that your car? You can't drive after drinking. It's very dangerous."

Zhou Qizhen felt a little uncomfortable being suddenly cared for by a stranger, who was even a child.

"If this were my brother, my mom would break his legs."

Zhou Qizheng: “…”

"Little friend, thank you for your concern, but I don't have a mother anymore, so no one can break my legs just because they care about me."

"I'm sorry! I didn't know you had no mother, but your mother is watching you in heaven. If you don't behave, she will come into your dreams and punish you."

Zhou Qizheng: “…”

“I wish she could come to me in my dreams!”

I thought the child's talk was quite interesting, so I asked, "How old are you, kid?"

"I'm twelve now, how about you, big brother?"

"I'm ten years older than you."

"Oh, then why are you unhappy? Look, you're driving a Panamera."

Zhou Qizheng was a little surprised: "You also know cars?"

The little girl said a little embarrassedly, "Hehe! This is the only one I know." She saw it on TV when she came to her aunt's house a few days ago. At that time, her cousin said that he would drive this car when he grew up.

"I said I could start working at 22, and it would be great if I could buy a Panamera for my birthday. But my mom said if I didn't study hard, I wouldn't even have a Panamera. I'd just be good at eating and having a good diet."

Zhou Qizhen, who heard such remarks for the first time, couldn't stop laughing so much that the corners of his mouth kept rising up, and finally, even his shoulders began to shake.

He had forgotten that he could laugh like this.

"Look, brother, you are happy now. You must smile more in the future. This way you will have good luck."

Zhou Qizheng looked at her with a smile: "But among the people I know, no one can make me laugh as well as you do. What should I do if I can't laugh?"

The little girl thought for a moment, then took off a purple bracelet from her hand and handed it to him: "This is for you. I love purple the most. Seeing purple makes me happy. This is my lucky color. Whenever I encounter difficulties, I make a wish with this and it comes true!"

Zhou Qizheng took the bracelet and felt his pockets. There was nothing in them except cigarettes and the wine on the ground. "Brother has nothing to give you. Wait for me to look for it in the car."

"No, my mom said I can't just ask for other people's things."

"But you also gave your brother a bracelet."

"I gave it to you because you said you were unhappy."

"OK, thank you."

"You're welcome." He picked up the football and glanced at Zhou Qizheng one last time, then asked worriedly, "Then after I leave, you have to promise not to drink and drive."

Zhou Qizheng nodded in agreement, then called out to the little girl who had already walked away, "What's your name?"

The girl said without even turning her head: "Lu Xiaoqiao!"

……

As he recalled, the red wine on the table was almost empty. The empty bottle was like his hollowed-out heart, all given to the woman named Lu Xiaoqiao.

Even Zhou Qizhen himself didn't know when he started to have that kind of thought about her.

Maybe it was when I saw her grow into a graceful young lady, or maybe it was when she always called me "Mr. Zhou" every time I saw her.

No matter when it started, he always believed that this was their destined fate. She used self-deprecating ways to try to make him laugh during the darkest times. The purple bracelet she gave him added color to his dark abyss every time.

And her temperament, like a little sun, trapped him tightly, making it impossible for him to get out or escape.

……

The next day.

Lu Xiaoqiao had just finished lunch when the company's front desk told her that someone was looking for her outside and asked Lin Lin to go back first. She went downstairs alone.

When she got downstairs, she saw a slightly plump young man wearing a sports suit and carrying a sports cross-body backpack. He was talking on the phone with his back to her.

When the man sensed someone behind him, he quickly hung up the phone: "Excuse me, are you Lu Xiaoqiao?"

"Yes, who are you?"

"I'm Jin Ling's boyfriend, my name is Liu Peng."

When the two went to the temple to climb the mountain, Lu Xiaoqiao heard Jin Ling say that she did have a boyfriend who also worked nearby: "Oh, what can I do for you?"

"It's like this. Jin Ling accidentally fell on her way back from the bar last night and broke her arm!"

Lu Xiaoqiao's originally relaxed expression froze in an instant. She was shocked that her arm was fine yesterday, but she broke it after a fall.

"Ah? Is it serious? Is he okay?"

Liu Peng seemed a little embarrassed to speak, but still said awkwardly: "It's not a big problem, but the arm is still in a cast! The surgery will cost a lot of money. You should also know Jin Ling's family situation. Every month my salary has to support the family. The two of us combined don't have enough money."

Lu Xiaoqiao was stunned for a moment. What did this mean? He wanted to borrow money from her? Or was she overthinking it? Their relationship didn't seem deep enough to lend money to her.

But then I thought, this is because the person is sick and in urgent need of money. It’s just to help the emergency but not to help the poor. This money has to be borrowed: “How much does it cost?”

Liu Peng replied: "Eight thousand."

"Eight thousand?"

Lu Xiaoqiao was surprised. Is the operation so expensive? It must be very serious. But he had just lent the money to Momo, and this month's salary was just paid not long ago. It seems that he can only advance the money!

"Don't worry, I'll ask my aunt to pay my next month's salary."

"That really troubles you!"

"It's okay, it's more important to see a doctor."

When Lu Xiaoqiao returned to the company, she found her aunt and said that she wanted to advance next month's salary. Originally, Zheng Wen was in charge of this area, so she just needed to talk to her, but she just didn't want to find Zheng Wen.

After getting the money, he transferred it to Jin Ling via WeChat, and comforted her to take good care of herself and said that he would visit her in a few days when she had a holiday.

……

Two more days passed.

Seeing that Lin Lin seemed to be worried, Lu Xiaoqiao asked during lunch, "Lin Lin, are you worried? You haven't been very happy all day."

Lin Lin sighed: "Don't mention it, my uncle had another argument with my grandfather yesterday and smashed all the teacups in the study."

Lu Xiaoqiao asked in surprise: "Did your uncle smash it?"

Lin Lin shook her head. "No, it was my grandpa who hit him. It hit my uncle's hand, and he didn't even dodge. When I left, I saw the back of his hand was red. I don't know what happened to him. My grandpa said one thing and he would say several words back. Grandma couldn't get in the study either. She was so anxious that she kept crying."