Luting Canteen

After nightfall, the three floors of Hengle Building on North Street are brightly illuminated by candles. Occasionally, one side of the beaded curtain shakes on the corridor, and it is the singers who enter the pavilion and wait for the guests to order songs.Look at the waiters back and forth reporting and passing the dishes, and they were also busy pouring wine during the banquet, without any delay.A boy wearing a square top scarf carried a bamboo basket and hawked pastries in a soft voice.The aroma of wine and vegetables floated, and the aroma of fat and powder added a bit of fun to the night.At this time, the sound of singing and laughter can be heard everywhere in Hengle Building, and it looks lively.

Ever since Li Hui came to learn cooking at the age of nine, he has been able to see this scene every night.

Nine years later, he was lying on the bottom of the bed of the No. [-] kitchen in Heng Le Building, groping the ground carefully with his hands, a piece of wood was pushed up like this, Li Hui was overjoyed, he held his breath and quickly picked it up and pushed it away. Open, let out a breath and rubbed his hands on the neckline.

"Ah, Ah Hui! Hurry up! The burden is too heavy for me to carry!"

A weeping voice came from the door in a panic, Li Hui was startled, and grabbed the things hidden underneath indiscriminately into his hands, before he had time to put the board back together, he hurriedly stuffed it into his arms, got up and ran to the door.

"Walk!"

Li Hui pulled the boy in waiter's uniform and was carrying two bundles, and the two ran towards the small gate at the back of the courtyard.

Passing through the moonlight-covered courtyard, the two dared not rest, and ran for a few streets avoiding crowded places before stopping in a back alley. Li Hui just sat down to the ground.

"Ah, Ah Hui!"

Seeing this, the young man cried out in a low voice, Li Hui waved his hand at him:

"I'm fine, Xiao Yi, look."

He took out the things he had just stolen from his bosom, and by the light of the night market at the alley, Li Hui called the boy over.In addition to an embroidered purse, there are a few pieces of paper - that is what Li Hui wants most.

"Ah Hui, this purse..."

The boy stared at the purse without moving.Li Hui weighed it in his hand and found that it was not heavy, then lowered his head and stuffed the paper and purse back into his bosom:

"I don't know what's inside, let's change the clothes first, and wait until tomorrow..."

Before he finished speaking, Li Hui felt his head sink suddenly, followed by a dull pain.

"..."

Gritting his teeth, he was unable to make a sound for a while, Li Hui's hands supporting the ground trembled a little, and his eyes were filled with dazzling yellow.

"It's not you, I really don't know where it's hidden."

The flustered expression on the young man's face was gone, he grinned and threw half of the brick casually, squatting down to touch Li Hui's lapel.

"you......"

As soon as he said a word, Li Hui couldn't help coughing, but he still tried his best to drag his burden quietly. The young man was probably too happy to notice Li Hui's small movements at all.

"When these things find a good buyer, I can live comfortably for several years."

The young man laughed triumphantly, Li Hui saw the right moment, picked up the bag and threw it at his head forcefully, and the other party swayed to the side before he could scream.When the burden fell to the ground, the dust raised could not be seen clearly in the dark, and Li Hui, who barely supported himself, shook a few times and finally fell down too.In the night market not far away, there were shouts of hawking, and people were smiling. They didn't notice that of the two teenagers who fell to the ground in the alley, only one remained.

Yan Ting stared at the big green trash bin on the opposite side of the alley, there was a person squatting there, to be precise, it was a teenager who was fighting for half a sesame seed cake with a black cat.One person and one cat were illuminated by the dim street lamps, which looked very dramatic.Today, Yan Ting’s canteen closed early, and it was only when I came out of the backyard to throw out the trash that I found out that the black cat who came to eat was always scratching the door for extra food in the past few days-it turned out that it was a failure to hunt for wild food, or it was already eaten. It's fat enough, Yan Ting thought, and looked at the boy who was eating the biscuits with both hands, even the discarded paper and the plastic bag outside, he wanted to bite into his mouth, stood and watched for two seconds, Yan Ting turned around and went back to pack the leftovers in the kitchen into packing boxes, and then put them out to the opposite trash can.Seeing the young man Yan Ting move his body and slow down his movements, Yan Ting didn't look at him, and turned back to go back to smoke a cigarette and drink some wine, when suddenly a voice sounded from behind:

"...this young man,"

The voice was hoarse and hesitant when he spoke suddenly after not speaking for a long time.Hearing such a title, Yan Ting frowned:

"Who is it? I—"

Turning around to glance at the young man who had already walked in front of him, Yan Ting had no time to stop his words, and after a strange ending, he shut his mouth in embarrassment, only to see that the young man with a disheveled face and messy hair was still dressed in ancient clothes. Dressing up, Yan Ting couldn't help asking:

"You were beaten?"

The boy pursed his lips and did not respond, but the black cat came over and swept Yan Ting's trousers with its tail, making an impatient cry.Glancing at the cat, the boy lifted up the packing box that Yan Ting put down just now and asked:

"Is this the meal at the son's house?"

Yan Ting gave an "ah" as an answer, but unexpectedly, the expression on the young man's face suddenly came alive:

"Can you tell me what is used for seasoning here?"

"Butter and parsley, or something."

Although he didn't understand the inexplicably cheerful tone and strange way of speaking of the dirty boy, Yan Ting still replied.

In the evening, it is made with leftover rice. Fresh parsley, white mushrooms and tomato dices are used to boil the sauce, and then butter and cheese are fried together until they blend with the rice grains. It is similar to Italian risotto, but Yan Ting prefers to start The ingredients on the side are added and mixed with frying at will.

"Butter, parsley..."

Repeating Yan Ting's words, the young man lowered his head, Yan Ting looked at his bun that was about to unravel, thinking that this wig looks quite real.Recently, many young people like to wear ancient costumes to take pictures or something. This kid probably plays with this too, right?Maybe I spent all my pocket money to buy these, but it's not like picking up the things in the trash can to eat, right?Argued with the family?Thinking of this, Yan Ting looked at the young man again, just when the young man raised his head, obviously swallowed his saliva and said seriously:

"Young master, this, this smells too delicious, it's better not to give it to cats—"

"This is for people to eat,"

Yan Ting finally raised his chin impatiently, the fat cat had hooked his trousers with its claws.

"Go home after eating."

The boy was taken aback for a moment, staring straight at Yan Ting's face.Uncomfortable being stared at, Yan Ting opened the door and entered the courtyard.Looking at the closed courtyard door, the boy squatted down when he felt the cat scratching his instep.

"I'm sorry, I'm so hungry that I can't stand it, so I will grab food from you."

The cat propped itself up with its front paws on the boy's legs, sniffed the lunch box, turned its head and stretched its paws to scratch the ground. Feeling bored, the cat pouted its buttocks and stretched itself, barked a few times and took a few steps forward. He turned his head to stare at the boy again and yelled in a slightly tired tone.

On the second day after this, the boy ate braised chicken legs and tea eggs.

On the third day, potato soup and pasta.

On the fourth day, Yan Ting understood that the boy probably had nowhere to go, so he habitually left a mouthful of food outside as he did with the cat.

That night, the boy came to the backyard as usual, looked around and saw no one was there, then bowed towards the closed courtyard door and thanked him, and carefully put the things in his hand on the steps.The cat came, and the boy reached out to touch it, but the cat lowered its head and looked at the boy again, barking non-stop.The boy stood up holding the packing box, and the cat stopped making noises. Stepping on a stack of large flowerpots outside the wall, he jumped up to the top of the wall nimbly, and started calling at the boy condescendingly.

"Are you telling me to go up too?"

The teenager hesitated:

"But, but that young master will not be happy."

The cat meowed louder again.The young man looked at the rice in his hand - the young man told him about ingredients he had never heard of, and gave him food every day. After coming to this strange place, only this person would do that.

A thought flashed through his mind, and he was panicked by the meowing of the cat. The young man stepped on the flower pot tremblingly, first lifted the packing box up and put it in place, and then raised his feet to hook it to the top of the wall. The courtyard wall is not too high. , but the boy still lasted for a long time before climbing up.

"What's it called?"

Yan Ting heard the cat meowing non-stop just now, and walked to the base of the wall with a cigarette in his mouth to ask loudly, but the boy, who was still sitting still, swayed, and fell down with the packing box.Yan Ting wanted to dodge subconsciously, but was splashed all over the face by the spilled fried rice, and was knocked down by the boy as a meat pad before he could back off.But the cat jumped onto the boy's back as if gloating about his misfortune, kicked its four paws hard and fled to other parts of the yard.

After Yan Ting saw clearly the person lying on his body, he was furious:

"You look so damn skinny, why are you so heavy!"

The boy stood up embarrassingly, and the postures of the two became really ambiguous. Yan Ting put out the cigarette and asked angrily and amusedly:

"What do you mean? Are you trying to rob money by climbing over my courtyard wall, or are you trying to rob—"

Before the word "色" slipped out of his throat, the boy's face leaned over.In the next second, his lips touched his face and pecked lightly.The wetness of the tip of the tongue made Yan Ting's eyes wide open, and it took a few seconds for him to realize: This kid is eating the rice grains on his face!

He pinched the young man's shoulders hard, and the other party let out an "ah" and hurriedly left Yan Ting's body, sitting sideways.Yan Ting was disgusted to find that the boy's smell was still in his nostrils.W City in November is now at a temperature where you can wear a sweater. It's neither cold nor hot. If you get close like this, you can smell the sour smell. I'm afraid it hasn't been wet for some days.Thinking of the rice grains still on his face, Yan Ting raised his hands and rubbed them, seeing the young man looking at the ground and wanting to lean over, he couldn't help shouting in a rough voice:

"What are you going to eat after falling on the floor! Come and take a shower for me!"