Feng Jingjing often has a dream, in which she is locked in a dark room, no matter how much she struggles or shouts, no one pays attention to her.
The room is full of a musty smell, and there’s the sound of mice squeaking in the corners.
Especially when looking out the window, as night slowly falls, the fear in her heart, like the darkness, gradually engulfs her.
She stares at the glimmer of light in the window glass, which is eventually swallowed, and she falls into boundless despair.
The only thought is hoping someone will open that door...
............
She has a very good friend named Ningning.
Her mother never allowed her to make friends; her mother said that these city kids are cunning and look down on those who come from the countryside, and even if they befriend her, it’s not sincere.
But her mother also told her to get along well with those classmates and not to anger those so-called city people.
People from the countryside don’t even have the right to argue with city people about right and wrong; being born in the countryside is just wrong.
She had always firmly believed her mother’s words until she met Ningning.
At first, she thought Ningning was just like her, no, even worse than her.
She heard that her mother was also from the countryside, and her father abandoned her and her mother.
When she first received this news, Feng Jingjing even felt a bit of secret joy.
Ever since she and her mother came to her father’s side, her mother constantly reminded her that those children are different from her, they are all superior to her.
Ningning was the first similar person she met in this strange city.
They quickly became good friends.
But she soon discovered that Ningning really was different from her. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎
Even though her father abandoned her and her mother, her mother really loved her.
Not only her mother, but even her aunt and uncle really, really liked her.
Oh yes, her aunt and uncle were her father’s colleagues, and Feng Jingjing often ran into them in the compound; Ningning’s aunt was a very beautiful and capable woman.
She was the most beautiful and most capable woman she’d ever seen.
But her mother didn’t like her; from the first time they saw her in Northwest, her mother didn’t like her.
Her mother often said bad things about that pretty aunt.
Sly, snobbish, looking down on people from the countryside.
After she learned about Ningning’s relationship with them, she stopped associating with Ningning for a long time.
She was afraid she was just like her mother said, a child unaware of the adult world’s ways, that’s why she couldn’t see the pretty aunt’s malicious intentions or Ningning’s intentions.
She lost her only friend at school and could only watch other classmates play together alone every day.
Even when a kind classmate called her to join them, it would scare her to flee.
She didn’t deserve to be friends with city people, not even with Ningning.
But she longed for friends so much, watching Ningning approach, seeing her sun-like smile.
Whether with ill intentions or not, she unknowingly accepted her again.
She thought, just this once, she wouldn’t listen to her mother.
She buried all these thoughts in her heart.
Every day she looked forward to seeing her, afraid of saying something that might upset her, so often times, when they were together, it was the other person talking and her listening.
Ningning spoke of how her grandmother also disliked her for being a girl and didn’t like her and her mom.
Later, her uncle and aunt stood up for them, and her father, to prevent her mother from divorcing him, hid Ningning away.
Ningning too was kept in a dark room for a long time until her little aunt found her.
Ningning said that when her little aunt broke in and sunlight streamed into the room, at that moment, she felt her whole world lit up.
Feng Jingjing looked at the door in the distance, Ningning’s words repeated over and over in her mind.
She too hoped someone would help her open that door, just like Ningning’s aunt did.
She didn’t know how much time had passed, so much so that her eyelids grew heavy, and the sounds of the world drifted further and further away from her.


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