In October 2022, I took my 5-year-old daughter to live at my third aunt's house with an older brother I knew, which was also my first time at my third aunt's house, and I was still a little nervous, after all, I had never experienced this kind of thing before.
I still remember that it was the second year of junior high school, and suddenly there was news that our school was going to be cancelled, and our junior high school students needed to be reassigned to the school, which meant that we had to face a new environment and face an unknown future. During this time, I was really lost and anxious, and I felt like I had lost my bearings.
My biggest concern at the time was not being able to choose a school that I was comfortable with, because I thought it was very important to me.
Fortunately, I was able to get into the town's middle school with excellent grades, which was my long-awaited first choice.
However, due to the limited capacity of the school's dormitories, it was not possible to arrange accommodation for all students, and I faced the dilemma of commuting long hours every day. If this continues, it may affect my academic performance and physical health. At first, my parents were able to take me to and from school, but gradually I felt that I couldn't do it, they needed to work, and they needed to rest. Therefore, they can't always be there for me and help me with this problem.
One day, my mother suddenly made a suggestion, saying, "Son, we might as well let you stay at my third aunt's house for a while, because my third aunt's house is relatively close to your school, and it only takes ten minutes to walk, so you don't have to work so hard to go to school every day." "I was a little surprised because I had never stayed with someone else's home, so I didn't know what it would be like, but I also thought it was a good suggestion that would allow me to experience a different life.
So I said yes to my mother and started my boarding life.
The next day, they took me to visit my third aunt. At the third aunt's house, they explained my situation to the third aunt in detail and asked the third aunt to take me in for a while. Although the third aunt was a little embarrassed after listening to their explanation, she finally readily agreed. My third aunt told us that she would arrange accommodation and daily life for me to stay at her house for a while.
After listening to the third aunt's answer, we all breathed a sigh of relief and our mood became much better.
The moment I found the boarding place and stepped through the threshold, a warm current suddenly rose in my heart that I had never felt before. Until then, I had struggled to find a suitable place to stay, and now I have finally found the place I have been waiting for, and the feeling is hard to describe in words.
My third aunt's family is a very ordinary family living in a small and inconspicuous city. The third aunt's house is very simple, without any decoration, the light is very dim, and as soon as you enter the house, you feel a dull and depressing feeling. This environment made me feel very uncomfortable, and I began to take care of my daily life carefully, trying not to do anything that might cause trouble for my third aunt.
My father often sent some daily necessities to help the family, although I understood that this was not a long-term solution, but at least it allowed me to forget the family's plight for a while and not have too much material trouble. Although I live in a completely different environment, I try to make myself happy, try to ignore some differences in my life, and start to slowly adjust to this new life.
The incident of injury between the second and third aunts has been going on in our family for a long time, which makes us very worried and sad. We hope that this issue can be resolved as soon as possible so that peace and harmony can be restored to our family.
While I was trying to adapt to life at my third aunt's house, where I established a cordial relationship with them and gradually integrated into their family, I was tormented by my third aunt's hurtful behavior towards me.
To this day, I still vividly remember the first time I had dinner with my third uncle. Probably because I was hungry that day, I accidentally made some "baha, chirp" sounds while eating. I didn't notice this small detail at the time, but what I didn't expect was that the third uncle actually heard it. He was stunned for a moment, and then quickly changed to a serious expression, and scolded me sharply, saying that I was eating like a pig, and it was very unelegant.
He also warned me, saying that if I continued to eat like this, when I got married in the future, I would be laughed at by my in-laws and heard the words of my third uncle, I felt very embarrassed and sad, and I realized that my behavior was indeed a bit rude, so I quickly apologized to my third uncle and promised that I would correct this bad habit, and since then, I have been reminding myself to pay attention to my words and deeds, so as not to let others have a bad impression of me.
At that time, I was really confused, because my relatives actually said such humiliating words in front of me, I couldn't imagine how they could do this to me, I was very sad in my heart, I wanted to leave immediately, but I didn't do it, I just tried to swallow my tears, trying to make myself look stronger, and at the same time trying my best to maintain my image and not let them see the fragility of my heart.
However, this thought of mine was shattered by the ridicule of my third uncle, and I felt that my dignity had been greatly insulted, and I began to feel like a clown, playing a humble role here, and I felt very aggrieved and wanted to cry, but I still tried to restrain myself, and just silently left the table, leaving them there to continue to talk and laugh.
Another day, the third aunt saw my dirty clothes piled up at the head of the bed, her face suddenly became very stinky, her face was full of unhappy looks, with a serious face, angrily asked me why I was not clean and tidy, and girls without quality could not marry, this sentence scared me so much that I didn't dare to come out, and I didn't even dare to look up at her.
Suddenly, his words burst in my ears: "Wash all these clothes!" I stood there, speechless in amazement. He usually never let me do the laundry, how could it be this time? I looked at my hands, didn't dare to resist, just shook my head blindly. Tears rolled in my eyes, and I held back to keep them from falling. He looked at me with anger and indifference in his eyes.
He didn't say anything, just turned around and left me alone to stand there I felt my heart beat faster and it was difficult to breathe as if an invisible hand was gripping my throat tightly My tears finally couldn't help but flow down my eyes and I felt like I had been abandoned by the whole world I looked at those clothes and my heart was full of fear and helplessness I knew that I had to wash them or he would definitely punish me I wiped my tears with my hands, picked up those clothes and started my laundry journey.
Some time ago, my cousin misunderstood that I took his things, I wanted to ask my third aunt to say something for me, who knew that she not only refused to help me, but also blamed me for not having a point in my heart, it really disappointed me, we are a family, but now the family affection is so weak, I dare not trust others easily in the future.
When I ran to my room and finally could leave all my troubles behind, I felt sad in my heart, tears kept streaming down my face, and I felt like a hindrance under this roof, making everyone unhappy.
At that time, I really wanted to leave this place immediately, but I was afraid to face my parents, because they would think that I didn't know how to respect my elders, so they would reprimand me for being ignorant. I almost broke down in the process, it was very painful, but I couldn't overreact in any way, otherwise it would only make things worse. So I could only endure it, although it was very painful in my heart, I still had to show myself a calm appearance, so as not to make the third aunt even more angry.
Although the life of the third aunt's house was poor but very warm, it made me fall into deep thought, and at this time I made a decision, I decided to leave the third aunt's house.
On that busy weekday afternoon, I couldn't help but rummage through the potatoes as I picked up food on the table because of my hunger and love for the potato dish. At this moment, the third aunt suddenly got up from the sofa, slapped the dining table angrily, and issued a series of questions to me. Her words were full of reproaches for my behavior, and asserted that a girl like me, who did not know how to respect her elders and had no food literacy, must be something that no one would really like.
I was so blown away by her actions and words that I didn't know how to respond for a moment.
At that moment, I felt every cell in my body tremble, my heart seemed to be pressed by a boulder, tears poured out uncontrollably, and I collapsed. I couldn't stand this torture any longer, and like a child, I shook off my cousin's hand and tried to hold my hand, and ran out of the house without looking back. I was like a wounded beast trying to escape to a place where no one could find me and lick my wounds.
That day, I ran into school crying, weaving lies all the way to face the concern of my classmates. However, when I got out of school, the doorman suddenly informed me that there were relatives waiting for me at the door. I was surprised to find that this relative was actually the third aunt who chased after me. She squeezed an embarrassed smile into her face, held my leftover lunch in her hand, and told me that she had come to apologize to me.
I was so angry that I knocked the food out of her hand. I really can't accept that she has done so much harm to me and use such a hypocritical attitude to try to redeem it.
I wanted to run away from this place and never go back, even if my parents forced me to apologize, I would never compromise.
Later, the school finally helped me solve the dormitory problem, and I was relieved to escape from my third aunt's house, which was painful for me, and finally started a new life. The day I left home, I was both nervous and excited.
Fourth, never forgive, never interact.
Even though I have left my third aunt's house, I still see her often. For example, one time, when my classmates and I were shopping, my third aunt suddenly called me on the side of the road and took out snacks to give to me.
I walked away with an iron face, and then lied to my curious classmates that it was a stranger.
On holidays or important days, my mother always repeated the words to let me visit my sick third aunt. However, in the face of such a request from my mother, it was really difficult for me to develop any feelings for her.
Even though she was old and in poor health, I chose to treat her indifferently. Just like when my third aunt died, my mother asked me to attend the funeral, but I firmly refused.
I can't forgive my third aunt because she always hurts me. It's like she casually insults my eating habits and hygiene, criticizes my character, and turns her back on me when I need support the most.
I couldn't love someone so selfish and hypocritical, and her repeated hurts made me feel alienated from her.
In comparison, I have never hurt my niece. I let her live, learn, and grow with my daughter like family, and I do everything I can to give her happiness.
I hope she can understand that the relationship between people needs to be cultivated by each other, and if you blindly take but don't give, then there is no result. I believe that treating people with sincerity can reap more rewards.