6 siblings
◎Eldest sister and youngest brother◎
"Mingxue, we just chatted with your family for a while. Is it convenient for us to talk to you now?" Xu Huaihuai knocked on the closed door. This was the bedroom of Wei Mingxue, the last person they visited today. Her father was working in the city and hadn't come home yet. Besides her, there was only her stepmother and her 5-year-old brother at home.
There was no movement in the room.
Wei Mingxue's stepmother, He Yulan, was chatting with Director Zhao in the living room. Her 5-year-old son, Yaoyao, was climbing up and down the sofa in the living room. While Lin Xu was recording information on his laptop, he took the phone that Lin Xu had put aside. The phone, which was still on screen, was skillfully opened by the child to start playing games. The music from the game, along with the child's screams and laughter, created a disturbance-level noise that spread throughout the living room.
"Yaoyao, stop playing with other people's brother's phone."
Yao Yao ignored her, so He Yulan could only smile and say to Lin Xu, "Kids are just playful, don't take it to heart."
"It's okay." Lin Xu glanced at the little boy whose eyes were only focused on the phone screen. "Don't hold your eyes too close to the screen, it's bad for your eyes."
"Did you hear me, Yaoyao? Don't get so close to play!"
The living room is really noisy. The living room, less than 15 square meters, is as noisy as a vegetable market.
Xu Huaihuai waited quietly at the door of the room for Wei Mingxue to open it.
“Hey, Ms. Xu, why don’t you stop knocking? You’ve already learned about our family situation, and we meet the criteria for assistance, right? Mingxue has been like this since high school. She stays in her room as soon as she gets home, and she locks it up. I don’t know who she’s keeping an eye on. She’ll take that lock down sooner or later when she goes to college.”
"I'm sorry, Ms. He, but I still need to communicate with the recipient in person."
He Yulan turned to Director Zhao and complained, "Mingxue's temper is really strange. I once saw her in her bedroom with the curtains drawn tightly, and the room was completely dark, like a coffin. Then she would turn on the light, wasting electricity. She really doesn't care about the electricity in the house."
“Yulan, your child is eighteen years old. It’s normal for them to have their own personality. As parents, we should respect and understand them. It’s not like they need to turn on a light…”
"What are you saying? Sister Xiu, you know me. She was only a little bit old when I married into the family. There's an old saying that being a stepmother is hard, but I raised her like my own daughter. Look, her father and I both support her to go to university. So many biological mothers let their daughters finish high school and then go to work or get married. Take Fang Ping's family, for example..."
What would someone hiding in a room do?
First, stay away from the door. Hide in a place you consider safe, such as a closet.
Second, keep a close eye on any activity outside the door to prevent anyone from breaking in at any time.
Being wary of everyone is simply a sign of insecurity.
Xu Huaihuai tore off a piece of sticky note, quickly wrote a line, and slipped it through the crack in the door.
After a while, the door opened, and Wei Mingxue, whose hair was not tied up, stood in the shadows holding the note in her hand. She quietly looked at Xu Huaihuai at the door.
The second scenario turned out to be correct. Wei Mingxue noticed the note slipped under the door.
Xu Huaihuai maintained a friendly smile and asked softly, "May I come in?"
Wei Mingxue didn't answer, turned around and walked inside, but didn't close the door, which meant she acquiesced.
When Xu Huaihuai came in, she locked the door behind her, completely shutting out the child's screams.
Wei Mingxue sat on the edge of the bed with her legs dangling, looking at her with an unreadable expression. She spoke the first words they had ever exchanged upon meeting: "Why did you lock the door?"
"Because I don't want Ms. He and her son to suddenly come in and make a lot of noise, right?"
Xu Huaihuai's gaze quickly swept over this overly simple space. The furnishings were minimal: a folding table that served as a desk, dressing table, and bedside table was placed next to a 1.2-meter-wide bed; a small wardrobe was against the wall; and next to it were several black plastic baskets, the kind you see in fruit shops; high school textbooks and exercise books were crammed together.
"Why didn't you say it was my mom and brother?"
"A legal relationship is not a romantic relationship."
"Stop looking, there's only one chair. Want to sit?"
Wei Mingxue kicked the only chair next to her bed.
"Please sit down, thank you."
Wei Mingxue looked at the woman sitting in front of her. Her makeup was light, yet she was very beautiful. She had a great presence, like a TV presenter, poised and elegant.
She didn't look old, yet she possessed a strange composure and calmness. She was clearly just a guest, yet she spoke those words; why did she seem to know what she was thinking?
Strange city folks. Wei Mingxue thought.
“My surname is Xu. I’m a friend of the sponsor of the Alpine Project. She’s quite busy with work, so she couldn’t come in person. I was asked by her to come and get to know your basic situation. You can call me Teacher Xu.” Xu Huaihuai extended her hand, and Wei Mingxue hesitated for a moment before quickly shaking her hand.
"Are you going to be a freshman this year? I heard from Director Zhao that your scores are quite high. Would it be convenient to see your admission notice? Or..."
Wei Mingxue lifted the mattress, pulled out a file folder from underneath, and handed it to Xu Huaihuai: "You can't take it with you."
"I won't take it. The new big data center has a very prestigious university and major, and my home is in the new city."
The comments section looked up some information, and it was similar to what Xu Huaihuai had thought: it was a public school, the tuition was cheap, the accommodation fee was also cheap, and it was far from home.
Hearing Xu Huaihuai's words, Wei Mingxue thought to herself that the fifty-yuan college application guide was well worth the money; choosing a public university that was cheap in terms of tuition and accommodation and far from home was the right decision. However, she overlooked one crucial point: it was her own hard work that gave her more options.
Xu Huaihuai closed the admission notice, put it back in its original packaging, and returned it. Wei Mingxue then pressed it back under the mattress.
Xu Huaihuai joked, "Hidden in front of me, aren't you afraid I'll steal it from you later?"
"Not everyone is Wei Ziyao, who only knows how to touch other people's things."
Wei Ziyao, the full name of the child named Yaoyao, is the younger brother born to Wei Mingxue's stepmother.
Wei Mingxue sat back down on the bed. "Besides, I'm already sitting on the bed. You can't lift the mattress." Feeling that her words were a bit harsh, she added "Teacher Xu" in a low voice.
"Were those certificates on the living room wall torn down by Wei Ziyao?" There were traces of certificates pasted on the wall where the sofa was in Wei Mingxue's living room. The number of certificates was not something a five-year-old child like Wei Ziyao could have. Now, only transparent tape, the four corners of the certificates, and some scribblings of unknown meaning remained on the wall.
"He's the only one with plenty of free time in the family."
When he tore up your first certificate of merit, didn't anyone stop him?
"Yes, I pulled him off the sofa and told him I would hit him if he tore it again."
"And then he kept tearing it?"
“No, he cried loudly, and his mother came over and slapped me. Then she told my dad that I bullied my brother over a worthless certificate. My dad said, ‘I’m the older sister, and my brother is still young. I should give in to him. Anyway, those certificates are old. We’re siblings. As the older sister, I shouldn’t hit my brother over a few pieces of paper.’”
"It's hilarious. My dad never mentions Wei Ziyao's mom hitting me. Even my classmates, when they see the marks on my face, will ask what happened and if it hurts."
"Sometimes I wonder if there's something wrong with my dad's eyes. Why can't he see the handprint? Can he only see his son's scribbles on the wall? He even said he has the talent to be a painter. If it weren't drawn on the wall, he would probably frame it."
Wei Mingxue's tone was actually quite flat.
She had long been used to whoever the family favored, and over time, she stopped crying secretly.
She was just a little confused as to why.
However, all of that became unimportant when I received my acceptance letter and was able to leave home.
But when she looked up, she found that Xu Huaihuai had turned her face away. Even though it was only for a moment, she still saw a tear fall from her cheekbone.
This stranger, whom she had only met once, was shedding tears for her.
The last person to shed tears for her was her mother, a figure whose memory is hazy.
Wei Mingxue was stunned.
She only hesitated for a moment before realizing she needed to find tissues for Xu Huaihuai, and then she touched an empty and clean tissue box.
From the moment Wei Mingxue began talking about the award certificate, Xu Huaihuai envisioned a series of scenes. People and objects.
It appeared out of thin air, without any warning.
Like a flowing river, Xu Huaihuai was swept along.
Many unfamiliar faces brushed past her. She was certain that this was not a hallucination, but she didn't know why Wei Mingxue didn't notice anything unusual at all, as if only she could see it.
The scene changed, and the endless stream of people disappeared.
The surrounding area was filled with houses that looked quite old.
Suddenly a door opened, and Xu Huaihuai's gaze followed the door into the living room.
She saw a family of three eating: a man, a woman, and a little girl.
The image was so clear that she felt as if she were there, witnessing everything as an observer.
The little girl looked very familiar, like Wei Mingxue, or rather, she was a younger version of Wei Mingxue, only six or seven years old. The woman was a younger version of He Yulan, and the man was probably Wei Mingxue's father.
He Yulan served rice to Wei Mingxue, but little Wei Mingxue only ate half of it and refused to eat any more.
He Yulan said, "Mingxue still refuses to accept me."
Wei Mingxue's father said, "Mingxue, food is precious, and it's wrong to waste it. Be sensible and don't make things difficult for your Aunt He, okay?"
Xiao Wei Mingxue ate her meal.
However, the bowl of rice that He Yulan served was hot on top, but the bottom was all cold rice from the previous meal that she hadn't finished.
It was winter. He Yulan was dressed so warmly.
Xu Huaihuai never thought she was prone to crying, but at this moment, as Wei Mingxue calmly narrated, calmly raised her doubts, and calmly ended the conversation, she simply couldn't control her tears.
Those strange, replayed scenes shattered and vanished in an instant, as if they had never existed.
Xu Huaihuai turned her head away, afraid that her tears would make Wei Mingxue uncomfortable. She knew that sometimes sympathy and pity could hurt people with soft and sensitive hearts.
But how could they not notice at such a close distance?
She heard Wei Mingxue's bewildered voice: "We're out of tissues."
[Author's Note]
It is not hardship that makes people grow.
Rather, it is the courage to face suffering.
Suffering should not be glorified.
The eulogy should be filled with the courage of oneself.
November 23, 2025, 02:00 Beijing Time
Jingxi Bird sincerely wishes you, the viewer, courage and strength! [Sprinkling flowers]
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