No one really thinks it's hard to be a stand-in, right?

Hongxia dug out a fashionable rose-red wallet from a drawer, counted a few one-, five-, and ten-dollar bills, then grabbed a few dimes and threw them on the ground as if to vent her anger.

The silver coin rolled to Lin Minzhi with a rumble.

"No, I don't have 1000 yuan, that's all. Take it to buy some food for your son."

Ji Weiguo couldn't bear it, but he was glared at by Hongxia, and immediately held back his hands that wanted to help Lin Minzhi.

Lin Minzhi looked at the money on the ground, humiliation, pain, sadness, all kinds of emotions alternated in her heart, making her body tremble slightly, and hot tears appeared in her eyes.

After a long while, Lin Minzhi cried out, and the tone of the last few words was broken into pieces: "Ji Weiguo, I have been blind all my life, so I fell in love with you bastard!"

Ji Weiguo was so scolded that he couldn't hold back his face: "Enough, Minzhi!"

Ji Mian let go of Lin Minzhi's hand and squatted down slowly.

This change surprised Lin Minzhi, she watched Ji Mian's little hands pick up the money bit by bit.

In an instant, tears welled up in her eyes, and she hugged Ji Mian: "Mianmian, we don't want this money!...Be obedient! We have dignity..."

Ji Mian turned a deaf ear to it, and stubbornly picked up all the money on the ground, paper money and silver coins clenched in her small fists.

The next moment, he suddenly exerted force and threw all the money on the ground onto Ji Weiguo and Hongxia.

Hongxia screamed, and the corner of her eye was hit with a red mark by a coin.

Ji Weiguo was furious, and suddenly met Ji Mian's gaze, and was shocked by the hatred and ferocity in the child's eyes that did not match his age.

Ji Mian is like a growing but not yet powerful little animal, protecting his mother to the death in a desperate situation.

Ji Weiguo was startled: Has Ji Mian been cured?

When Ji Mian was diagnosed with mental retardation, the doctor did say that he could recover.

But the hundreds of thousands of medical expenses made the couple stop at the hospital entrance.

Ji Weiguo was also completely disappointed in Lin Minzhi because of Ji Mian's intelligence.

He is younger than Lin Minzhi and still has a bright future. He can't count on two wonderful sons in his life.

Hongxia...Although Hongxia is barren, she is a native of Tongcheng, has a car and a house, and can give him a stable job, which is undoubtedly the best springboard for him to have a bright future.

But at that moment just now, he was still a little tempted.

If Ji Mian's intelligence really returns to normal, then he will definitely try his best to help Ji Mian grow up.

After all, this is his son, Hongxia is a hen that can't lay eggs, the Ji family can't be left behind!

Lin Minzhi didn't know how she walked home.

She lay on the bed and cried bitterly, looking at her son with tears in her eyes.

Ji Mian wiped away Lin Minzhi's tears with his hands. His heart was so sore that he couldn't say a million words: "Mom..."

Lin Minzhi's body stopped suddenly, she hugged Ji Mian tightly, and choked up: "Mianmian, it's my mother who is useless! Mom is not up to date, has no money, mother is blind, and married a bastard..."

She cried, looked at herself haggard in the mirror, and slowly stroked her face.

At only 32 years old, I look like 42 years old.

How long has it been since I looked in the mirror.

With a sallow complexion, dull hair, and a bloated figure, is this still her?

When she was young, Lin Minzhi was a flower in all directions.

Now, after this flower was broken by a man, its roots were broken and it died early.

Ji Mian hugged Lin Minzhi's neck with her short hands, "Mom, I'm here."

Lin Minzhi stroked his hair, looking at his son, a burst of courage spontaneously emerged.

She still has her son, and herself, to eat, to watch her son grow up, and to continue her life.

In the past, I always heard people say that a woman's heaven is a man.

Now, her man ran away, and she treated his man as dead, and she wanted to be her son's god and her own god.

Lin Minzhi made up her mind and took Ji Mian to knock on the door of a flat.

"Dong Dong" twice, Lin Minzhi hugged Ji Mian tightly, and said nervously, "Brother Zhang, are you home?"

There was the sound of a stool mopping the floor in the room, the man's footsteps gradually approached, and the door opened.

Lin Minzhi said: "Brother Zhang, I'm sorry to disturb you, I have something to ask for your help."

Big brother Zhang is a cement worker that Lin Minzhi met at a night stall. His full name is Zhang Xianzhen. He is a taciturn big brother. He often buys Lin Minzhi's pancakes.

Once Lin Minzhi was molested by a gang of hooligans on the construction site, and it was Zhang Xianzhen who helped her run away.

Lin Minzhi heard people in the old street mention that Zhang Xianzhen used to be a policeman, defending the country at the border.

Later, when he fought with the bandits, his leg was broken, and he is still lame now.

After retiring from the army, Zhang Xianzhen returned to Tongcheng and found that his wife had remarried with his son, and the state's security had not kept up, so he asked a friend to find a job on the construction site.

Zhang Xianzhen used to be a policeman, and he also defended the country. He was a righteous man.

Lin Minzhi was in trouble and had nowhere to go, so she had to come to him.

"Brother Zhang, I want to ask you to borrow some money." Lin Minzhi stood at the door, unable to lift her head: "Borrow 100 yuan, and I will pay it back next month."

There are more than 300 yuan in the family, Ji Mian goes to kindergarten for [-] yuan, she borrows [-] yuan, and the remaining ten yuan is used for household use.

It's just... 100 yuan, in [-], was not a small sum.

In the 90s, most people's wages were only two or three hundred. If Zhang Xianzhen refused to borrow... Lin Minzhi didn't hold out much hope.

"it is good."

Unexpectedly, Zhang Xianzhen agreed without hesitation.

He didn't ask Lin Minzhi why he borrowed 100 yuan, he turned around sullenly, took out a tin box from under the pillow, and counted one by one.

One, five, ten, and counted a whole hundred to Lin Minzhi.

Lin Minzhi was overjoyed, and hurriedly said: "Brother Zhang, I'll give you an IOU, and I can pay it back next month!"

She has already decided to set up a stall on the Liming construction site and run a few more construction sites. Although it is a bit tiring, it will cost more.

Zhang Xianzhen lived alone, Lin Minzhi did not enter the house in order to avoid suspicion, and stood at the door to write the IOU.

Before leaving, she bowed to Zhang Xianzhen a few times with tears in her eyes, and Lin Minzhi remembered the kindness of sending charcoal in the snow.

Ji Mian also remembered.

After returning home, Lin Minzhi put Ji Mian in the room and hurriedly started preparing the food for the evening stall.

Her breakfast stall sells pancakes, a piece of omelet with vegetable leaves and ham sausage inside, which is considered a pancake.

Lin Minzhi's craftsmanship is good, and she sells a lot of pancakes.

Ji Mian sat on a small stool and watched, with many thoughts in his mind.

The novel "Tenderness on Stranger Roads" is based on reality, and the place names of many cities in the novel can correspond to reality.

For example, Tongcheng corresponds to a small town in the south in 97.

However, pancakes have not become popular in the streets and alleys in the past [-]s. The pancakes eaten by southerners can only be regarded as egg pancakes, which are soft and have a mediocre taste.

If Lin Minzhi added shortbread to the pancakes, it would be more delicious and sell better than it is now.

When Lin Minzhi was rolling out the dough, Ji Mian was watching the dough.

Lin Minzhi looked at her son, felt pity in her heart, pulled a small piece of dough for Ji Mian, made it into the shape of a bunny, and coaxed: "Mianmian, play by yourself."

Ji Mian pinched the little rabbit, her heart moved, she lowered her head and slowly rubbed the little rabbit apart, pressing it flat.

Lin Minzhi sighed inwardly: If Mianmian's intelligence is not flawed...

"Your child has intellectual defects. There will be some obstacles in behavior, language perception, memory and thinking, etc., poor learning ability, and unwillingness to communicate with others. If you need treatment, the cost will be about 20."

The doctor's words are vivid in his memory, and Lin Minzhi's heart hurts like a knife when he thinks back to this day.

Ji Mian is exquisite, icy and cute, no one who has seen him would say that he is not good-looking.

God gave him a perfect skin, but deprived him of the right to be a normal person.

Thinking about it, Lin Minzhi burst into tears.

Without noticing it for a while, Ji Mian went to the side of the boiling oil pan, and with a "Zla", Lin Minzhi trembled in fright: "Mianmian!"

She put down the dough and hugged the child, seeing that Ji Mian just threw the dough piece into the oil pan without splashing the oil, she was relieved.

The flat noodles pressed by Ji Mian swelled up quickly in the oil pan, fried until golden and crispy, and exuded a burst of fragrance.

Lin Minzhi was a little surprised, and quickly scooped up the dough.

Ji Mian raised her hand: "Mom, eat."

Lin Minzhi took a bite, it was crunchy and lingering in the mouth.

She let out a "Yeah", her mind turned sharply, and she immediately had an idea.

Lin Minzhi imitated the dough made by Ji Mian, took a few sheets, and threw them into the pan to fry until they were fragrant and crispy.

Then, she spread out a pancake according to the usual practice, sandwiched the shortbread, and took a bite, it was soft and soft, and the fried aroma exploded in her mouth, full of fragrance and endless aftertaste.

I don't know how delicious it is compared to the previous pancakes!

Lin Minzhi happily kissed Ji Mian hard: "Mianmian, you have really helped mom a lot!"

Ji Mian lowered his head in embarrassment, the body of a five-year-old restricted part of his thinking, and the rules in the book suppressed him, making him involuntarily shy like a child being praised.

At night, Lin Minzhi locked the doors and windows as usual, put away the sharp kitchen utensils at home, and put Ji Mian at home while she went out to set up a stall.

Before leaving, he gave Ji Mian a preschool pinyin book.

Although Ji Mian is mentally handicapped, Lin Minzhi never gave up on saving him.

Ji Mian fumbled the pinyin book, feeling at a loss.

Traveling so far, he has not been able to calm down and think about his future.

He took out the slip of paper hidden in the cabinet, and it was densely written in a place the size of a palm.

That's the general plot of the novel "Tenderness on Stranger Ways" that Ji Mian wrote on it because he was afraid that he would forget his own origin.

He is now five years old, that is to say, in another 12 years, he will meet Li Jue.

The man who made the original owner love him to death... the man.

sigh.

Ji Mian closed her eyes.

I don't know when, it started to rain outside the window.

Vaguely, I heard the conversation in the stairway.

The female workers who just got off work discussed:

"You mean the kid on the stairs?"

"Yes, it's also pitiful. His mother and father can't control him, so he is thrown to the nanny. Now the nanny and her son occupy the room. Nuo, drive him out."

"It's a crime...it's raining outside, it's still so dark, and there's still a typhoon tonight."

"Don't tell me, it looks scary, you don't even cry, just stand there coldly..."

Ji Mian listened, climbed onto the bed, saw a boy sitting at the entrance of the opposite corridor through the fence and window.

Wearing thin clothes, his lips turned purple from the cold in the typhoon.

He crossed his arms and shrunk himself into a small ball to keep warm.

Poor... Ji Mian thought to herself.

The stairs are sensor lights, when someone walks by, the lights turn on.

No one walks, the boy's world is dark.

There was hatred in his heart and unwillingness in his eyes.

The wind was blowing against him, Aunt Chen's ear was burning with pain, and half of her face was swollen.

"Little bastard, your old lady is going to bore you to death, and no one wants to take care of you except me!"

"Why don't you just go and die together, and let your old lady go to enjoy the happiness! You don't know, your mother has found a new father for you now."

"Little oil bottle, little bastard..."

"..."

Aunt Chen's insults were vivid in my mind.

He didn't dare to go to Ning Qian, he was afraid of causing trouble for Ning Qian and making his mother bother him even more.

So no matter whether he was beaten or scolded, he endured it all the time, holding on to the only hope, and humbly thinking: Is it possible that as long as he behaves better, his mother will come back to see him?

Fu Chenyu bit his lips and told himself, don't cry, let others see the joke when you cry, and let others succeed.

But the tears still fell, falling into the black night.

Maybe the nanny was right, he was abandoned, no one loved him, no one wanted him.

He is the unwanted weed of the world.

When all thoughts were lost, the lights in the stairway suddenly turned on.

The milky, crisp voice came from a window on the second floor that was glowing with yellow light.

Recited aloud, word by word:

"Xiaoyu wiped away his tears when he met 'Ji, Qi, Xi'..."

"Xiaoyu wiped away tears when he met 'Ji, Qi, Xi' and smiled..."

The childish voice echoed in the night, lighting up the induction lamp above Fu Chenyu's head.

The bright light shone down, dispelled the darkness, and fell on him.

Fu Chenyu wiped away tears and listened to the Chinese Pinyin song in a daze.

The voice-activated sensor light on his head never went out again.