Hedgehog

Don’t blame me for being a warlord, this scene is really similar to when I was a child in the countryside with my grandma. When it got dark, the whole mountain village was dark and there was only a little light left for eating.I almost had a momentary illusion, as if I smelled the smell of grass after the rain in the countryside, and the annoying sound of frogs croaking all over the place.

Fortunately, when I looked up, I could see the buildings surrounding me in the distance, and the glass curtain walls were full of light. This place is still Beijing.

The lights in the wing room are brighter than I imagined, the huanghuali furniture is full of water, there are unfinished Go games on the kang table by the window, twisted and twisted dwarf pine bonsai, daffodils and crystals on the high table. Two goldfish swim back and forth in the tank, separated by a screen.

I have a bad feeling about tonight's meal. Maybe Ji Rongfu was tricked into thinking that ABC was returning to China to find his roots, and made me some improved Chinese food like braised pork with marshmallows.Now it is very popular in Beijing to use this kind of courtyard house as a boutique hotel, or as a high-end restaurant, with a Chinese style and a Beijing taste, because the land price of these courtyards is ridiculously expensive, and the land price cannot be earned back if the restaurant is built in a serious way.So one by one finds a unique way, focusing on quality but not quantity, and only accepts two or three customers a day. Occasionally, one or two of this kind of restaurants are not bad, and the rest are out of play. The three worst dishes I have ever eaten, two They are all eaten at this "improved Chinese food" place.

I hope Ji Rongfu didn't bring me to be a guinea pig.

This place is not far from Jishuitan Hospital. If the food is unpalatable, I can take the opportunity to overturn the table, settle the old and new grudges, beat him up, and send him to the orthopedics department.

"coming?"

Only when I heard the sound did I realize that there was someone else in the room, and this person was in a good position, quite concealed. There was a faint figure behind the screen, who seemed to be sitting, but slowly shook out again, and I was taken aback for a moment. , only to find that the man was sitting in a wheelchair.

Sitting in a wheelchair and not forgetting to improve Chinese food, it is really disabled.

Then I realized that this place should not be a restaurant, because the red sandalwood table next to me was on top, and the pot of daffodils was not real. The white petals were too thick, and the material was like jade, with a shining light.

No one would put such an expensive item in a restaurant.

"I was delayed on the road." Ji Rongfu put away the umbrella, and a servant-like person appeared at some time, and quietly took the umbrella over. I felt like a poor scholar who had strayed into an ancient house. Siheyuan separates this world from the outside world, the air is stagnant, and people float around like ghosts.

The man's wheelchair came.

It's not so scary when you look up close. He is a very elegant and handsome man, wearing silver-rimmed glasses, about 30 years old, and wearing a double-breasted white Chinese-style clothing. The material is soft, like fine silk. The blanket covering his legs is very beautiful. It was purple with dark patterns, and it was hard to tell whether it was embroidery or the pattern of the fabric itself. The brilliance contained inside made his hand on it thin and slender.

His eyebrows and eyes are somewhat similar to Ji Rongfu, but he is too thin, like Ji Rongfu who has been hungry for a month.

I vaguely guessed the identity of this person.

"Hello." The man reached out to me very friendly, and glanced at Ji Rongfu.

"This is Lin Sui." Ji Rongfu introduced for me.

"Hello, Mr. Lin." He held my hand, his fingers were cold, and he left immediately: "I'm Ji Rongze."

What a good name, it sounded like a brother, if it wasn't for sitting in a wheelchair, it would probably be a disaster just like Ji Rongfu.

I couldn't help turning my head to look at Ji Rongfu, he was also looking at me, he has a pair of beautiful eyes, people always feel that his eyes are infinitely gentle.

The dishes were quickly put on the table, the heavy red sandalwood square table, the armchairs were comfortable, the lines were soft, and the backrest just supported the waist.I am really afraid of Ji Rongfu from the bottom of my heart, just like animals are afraid of natural enemies. Every time I see him, I am tense like a bowstring. I get tensed for as long as I spend with him. It is more tiring than recording a show. I often feel back pain after I go home.

There are quite a few servants in this house, but they don't have a strong sense of presence. They shuttle around to serve dishes. The dishes in his house are very beautiful. They are all thin white porcelain.

There are few dishes. First, there is a yellow bamboo strip steamer, which is placed on the plate with heat. I can tell it is crab at a glance.The servant set out a plate of rice wine and ginger vinegar, opened the steamer, and it turned out to be a whole bunch of yellow hairy crabs. It was a great pleasure to eat the crabs at night.

His master is good. The crabs are steamed very skillfully. They should be steamed with basil. They can hardly smell ginger. These hairy crabs are scary big, at least eight or nine heavy. It’s good to be rich. I will cook them I have been to the place of origin during the show, and I still have the name of a TV station, but I have never eaten such a big one.

"Mr. Lin is from the south." Ji Rongze talked to me politely. His movements of removing crabs are very beautiful, because his fingers are slender and his skin is white, and his every move is very elegant.

"Yes."

I glanced at Ji Rongfu next to him. He was obviously not very familiar with him. After removing the crab cover, his movements slowed down, but he even looked slow.

"Don't worry about him, his dishes are being redone, who made him late." Ji Rongze is a very thoughtful host: "We just eat by ourselves."

What a waste of money, such a big crab was dismantled for him to play with.

I couldn't help but teach him: "Take out the crab stomach, yes, this is..." As he was speaking, he picked up his crab, put it into my bowl, and watched silently as my spoon was full of water. crab roe.

I looked at him, and he looked at me, smiling at me with infinite affection.

I put the spoonful of crab roe into my mouth without hesitation.

"Okay." He sighed: "I have to wait for my food to come."

I sensed what he meant: "What's your dish?"

Before he answered, the servant silently set up a battle on the table. The first plate was covered with a western food cover, which was simply huge. I could smell the smell of black pepper. A tempting aroma came out, followed by other side dishes, and bits and pieces of dishes were placed on the table.

As soon as Ji Rongfu's main dish was opened, I immediately understood what he was proud of.

"Big blue crab?" I immediately recognized what the large chunks of crab meat that had been processed were. When eating sea crabs, I care about freshness the most. Ji Rongze's rank would not go far and wide to use king crabs. After that gourmet show, Sanmen blue crab became very popular in China, finally stealing some limelight from hairy crab.

"Mr. Lin also likes blue crabs?" Ji Rongze and I signed to each other: "I also like the salty and delicious taste of sea crabs."

"Actually, I personally think that hairy crabs eat crab roe and crab paste. Sea crabs are more suitable for eating meat, and there are many ways to do it. Unlike hairy crabs, they can only be steamed. The cooking method of this crab should be the black pepper crab in Singapore. Bianhai crabs are all too spicy..."

Ji Rongze's smile finally reached his eyes.

"Yes, Rong Fu ate at a restaurant that specializes in crabs last year. He said that they did a good job, and he even brought me a chef back. All the dishes are made in Singapore."

"Ministry of Crab." Ji Rongfu interrupted: "In Colombo. Their chef also has a sushi restaurant, which is also Michelin three stars."

I silently looked away from the blue crab on his plate and continued to chat.

"It's very important to make sea crab sauce. I've also made chili crab, and the acidity is always poor." I never expected that I would come here with a guitar on my back, and the conversation was all about cooking, but I couldn't stop: "Actually I personally think that there are many folk practices that are worth learning from. I once ate a small crab in Shandong, which was about the size of a thumb. It was spicy, crispy and soft, without any residue. The taste was between drunk crab and fried crab. This one is a small local restaurant, and I can’t even tell the type of crab.”

"Is it a sand crab?"

"Probably not, but this crab is also in season. I will go and ask in October to see how it is made."

Ji Rongze laughed, and I realized that his eyes were crooked when he smiled, and he didn't look aggressive at all. He is indeed Ji Rongfu's brother.

"You must tell me when the time comes." He smiled at me: "I have already been aroused curiosity."

"Of course." I agreed with all my mouth, and picked up the side dishes with crabs on the table to eat. My eyes lit up immediately after I ate it. A plate of chicken head Miyu Xiaoke, although it will change its taste after less than a day out of the water The food is not too novel, but this dish of sauced eggplant tastes really special. Most of the eggplants without the skin are too sticky and soft, but this side dish is very muscular. The rare thing is the taste. With the use of chicken oil and chicken broth, the special chicken flavor is soaked into the fiber of the eggplant, which makes people want to swallow it with their tongues.

Eggplant and chicken are always a good match. Eggplant is like a sponge. Whether it is fish soup or chicken soup, it can be absorbed very well. I personally prefer to use chicken because chicken is heavier than fish oil, which can remove the astringency of eggplant. taste.

But this little dish really opened my eyes to the world.

"This is?" I have a name in my mind, but I can't confirm it.

Ji Rongze rolled his eyes with a smile.

He is wearing Chinese clothes, white, and his face looks like jade. I guessed that he would eat, but I didn't expect him to be so good at eating.

He said: "Mr. Lin is amazing. This dish is indeed eggplant. It was restored by a chef at the Jinling Hotel. The old man served the spoon at a state banquet ten years ago, and now he is not easy to cook."

Anyway, I also do food shows, but I didn't hear any rumors.Presumably the old gentleman was just playing around.

I took another bite, and this time I tasted it carefully. I haven't watched Dream of the Red Chamber twice, and even if I watch it, it's for the sake of eating.Last year, someone remade the Red Chamber, and the senior who wanted to make an album for me worked on the music part, and wanted to help me to help, but I was very smart and turned it down.As a result, the version of Red Mansions was full of curses, and everyone from the director to the costumes was ruined.

"There are two versions of the eggplant in Dream of Red Mansions. One is steamed nine times and sun-dried, which is probably attached by later generations. But the version that is more widely spread, the eggplant is diced, mixed with various fragrant fruits, chicken soup, and bad oil. Putting it in a jar, many people thought it was made by modern cooking methods, but the old man tried a method that is almost lost, that is..." He deliberately slowed down.

"Eggplant bream!" I blurted out.

I had already guessed that 鲞 and 鲊 are actually synonyms. The word 鲞 in eggplant 鲞 means a kind of practice, but I have never heard of other 鲞, so it is probably another way of saying 鲊.Bream is a real ancient dish, which can be traced back to the Eastern Jin Dynasty at the earliest, but now it is gradually lost. There are only a few fragmentary traces in the local dishes, which cannot be used in big scenes, and it is almost like a side dish.

I have always been very interested in the practice of bream, but I have never done this topic, I just ate some sporadically, and I have never really gotten into it.When I have time in the future, I will definitely look for ancient dishes all over the country just like Yuan Rui restored music.

Ji Rongze looked at me appreciatively.

"Mr. Lin really has a deep understanding of food. He is very knowledgeable. I will definitely discuss it when I have a chance in the future."

"Where is erudition, I am doing food shows by myself, and I am always running around, Suzhou, Chengdu, Shaanxi, Yunnan, Qingdao, but I have not gone abroad. In fact, many dishes are only delicious locally! For example, mutton, many people go to When I went to Inner Mongolia, I didn’t eat authentic mutton. The real good mutton should go to Ximeng Gol, where the mutton is really good, there is no big ingredients, just a few flavors of local herbs...Mr. Ji, you too You should walk around! If you stay in one place all the time, you won’t be able to taste authentic flavors!”

Sure enough, when people are proud, they tend to get carried away. As soon as I said something, I knew I had made a slip of the tongue, but it was too late to take it back, and my own voice stopped again, and there was silence, which was even more embarrassing.

Fortunately, Mr. Ji Rongze has a lot of people, and even his smile has not faded.

"I will definitely go there once I have time." He smiled at me: "Mr. Lin has been to Suzhou? Did you go for noodles or dim sum?"

"I ate them all. I like noodles more. There are so many toppings over there that I can't pick my eyes..." I put my tail away quickly. In fact, I ran away to death in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang areas. Another one this big for me.

"I also have a Suzhou master in my family. The boat duck is very good. Mr. Lin will treat you well next time. This time it was Rongfu who said he wanted to eat crabs. His taste is very strange, so I had to cook a few more for him to choose." Eat, let the insiders laugh."

My eyes suddenly lit up.

"Master Suzhou? Can you make three shrimp noodles?"

"Yes, Mr. Lin likes to eat this?"

"It's okay to eat, but I can't fry the shrimp roe. I can't taste it. Maybe there's something wrong..."

Ji Rongze smiled, but didn't answer.

"Then next time I'll take you home, ask that chef." Ji Rongfu interjected beside him. He had already finished eating blue crabs and was eating crab roe tofu. He frowned after taking a bite, probably because he hated the smell of beans. It's the spoiled young master.

"Forget it, each family has different methods, and generally there are secret recipes, so it's not good to ask." I refused.

It was obviously because of this reason that Ji Rongze didn't answer my words just now, but just smiled, he thought I was going to ask about the secret recipe.

He was probably only responsible for eating, not cooking. He laughed at Ji Rongfu's picky food, and he probably was picky too. A true gourmet would not be too bad.It is said that in the past, apprentices in antique shops practiced in places where there were all genuine products. When they got older, they would instinctively feel the gap when they touched fake products.The same goes for gourmets, people like Ji Rongze, who grew up among the brocade, eat good things since childhood, so they naturally have a good tongue.

In fact, the study and pickiness of food has always been one of the capitals that ancient literati used to boast.Dream of Red Mansions, Jin Ping Mei, the writing about eating in it makes people salivate, Jin Shengtan uses eating in riddles, Yuan Mei's "Suiyuan Food List", the whole book is about eating, not to mention Li Yu, a fan of steamed crabs , hated those who fry crabs and gritted their teeth.

Smart people are always like this. When they meet for the first time, they each have considerations in their eyes. I know why he stopped talking just now, but I don’t know when he will come back to his senses—the question I just asked was not about that Suzhou The master's approach is to treat him as someone who can cook.

There are some words that I don’t need to rush to explain now, he is so smart, he will think of it himself.

Until then, it's not too late to be friends.

It was still Ji Rongfu's car when he went back.

It is said that some drivers have to sit in the back seat to show their style, and the two of us occupy one of the back seats.When I ate crabs, I drank a little rice wine, far from being slightly tipsy, but I didn't want to talk, so I played dead.

Fortunately, the road is not too long.

When the car was approaching Yi Song, Ji Rongfu suddenly called to stop.

Not just me, even the driver was dumbfounded, but the driver was much more obedient than me.

"You go back to the hotel first, let's walk back."

It wasn't until I got out of the car that I realized that the "we" he said was really us.

Beijing is still bustling at midnight, especially in this area, because a very complicated overpass has just been crossed, and this piece of wall is not far under the bridge. , the wall is covered with hexagonal patterns, walking along the long steps to the top of the wall is the bustling nightlife in Beijing, whether it is a restaurant or a bar, those buildings are more than ten meters above our head on the right, and the entire sidewalk Except for a tramp singer shivering in the wind, there were only the two of us.

If someone from above smashed a brick down and hit Zhong Ji Rongfu on the head impartially, it is estimated that the Ji family would not have a healthy heir.I couldn't help being vicious again.

Ji Rongfu didn't speak, just walked quietly. He was probably full of gentlemanly demeanor, and he habitually walked on the outside. There was no fence on the sidewalk. It is said that the traffic center of the East Second Ring Road is a suicide hot spot, and it will be smashed to pieces in minutes.

But if it really hits a rock, it should also kill me.

For a person who once dreamed of reviving the music scene, this kind of death is too unfair.

So I'd better run this part of the road now, or put the guitar on my head, and save my life.

But I didn't run, neither did Ji Rongfu, we all just walked forward quietly.This atmosphere is very similar to watching TV when there is a station playing an old song you like, and the sofa is soft, you are not sleepy, hungry or thirsty, so you don’t want to move, just want to lie lazily like this until the end of time.

The light from the street lamp was shining down, and there was actually a lot of dust in the air. I turned my head to look at Ji Rongfu, and it was rare for him to turn his head. His profile is very beautiful, with high browbones, and extremely affectionate eyes. I like his clean and high nose. And the corners of his lips slightly raised because he knew I was looking at him.

There is always something inexplicable about him, calm and elegant, his shoulders are beautiful, his arms are slender, the dim street lamp shines on his browbones, and his dark amber eyes are like a deep pool.

"Lin Sui." He suddenly turned his head and called me.

"Huh?" I replied hesitantly.

He smiled at me, raised his hand and pointed to my right.

We were passing a corner at that time, and the street lamp was behind us. I looked blankly in the direction he pointed, and saw a large expanse of lush plants pouring down from the top of the wall on my right.

It should be a rose, or a rose. The green leaves reflect the light of the street lamp, and the cream-colored single-petal flowers bloom like a waterfall. There is a mass of purple in the center of the flower, like beautiful eyes.This place is a wind outlet, and the wind with water vapor blows the flower branches slightly, and the green leaves turn over, like a sparkling lake.

The dark fragrance floats, the lights are dim, and even people like me who have always hated plants are dazzled for a moment.

Ji Rongfu smiled at me without taking any credit. The traffic behind him was like weaving, and the wind blew a strand of his hair down, just in front of his eyes.His eyes were slightly curved when he smiled, like the water surface of a terraced field on a sunny day, the sky and clouds flashed by for a moment, but nothing happened in the next second.

He said, "I passed by here last time, and when I saw this, I thought of you."

For a moment, I seemed to smell the moist water by the swimming pool, and the roses in that small western-style building were blooming very well. I always thought that he only thought that I was a clown that night.

I didn't know that he would think of me when he saw the beautiful scenery.

I once saw a sentence in Ye Xiao's borrowed book, that sentence said: One day, I saw a strange-shaped tree on the road, and my first reaction was to take a picture of it and show it to him, then I knew something was wrong up.

Something is wrong with me too.

It's almost to Yisong, and I can see Yisong's big fountain from a distance over his shoulder. The silver water column is intertwined in the air. In front of us is a large open-air parking lot, which is quiet and dark.

I should pretend nothing happened, my house is not far from here, I can walk to my home in less than 10 minutes, I am a gambler with nothing, just like the thin engineer I saw when I was a child, how can I gamble with Ji Rongfu, how can I Everything is lost.

But the guitar on my shoulders suddenly became heavier. It's not that I haven't carried a guitar for a longer time, but I have never felt that it is so heavy.

Because at that time my audience was not Ji Rongfu.

No one will be Ji Rongfu.

I finally stopped, my hand tightened the strap of the piano case, and I asked him: "Mr. Ji, you didn't tell your brother that I was doing a food show, did you?"

Ji Rongfu smiled.

He said, "Why do you say that? You are a singer."

It’s terrible, I wrote songs at the age of 16, and it’s been a full ten years since I wrote them. All fools know that I’m a singer, but when he says a word, I feel my heart tremble.

The wind blows from a distance, and I can still smell the scent of roses. Boxwood is planted in the roadside flower beds, and the cement flower beds may still have a little moisture.

I heard my voice ask him: "Mr. Ji, what kind of music do you usually listen to?"

"Mozart, Chopin..." Ji Rongfu put his hands in his trouser pockets, it's really rare that he can shake his body gently like this, under the streetlight, his eyes looked at me, like the clear sky washed by rain, his eyelashes are so beautiful .

Should have brought Gibson, at least the ballads are clearer.

I put down the piano case, the surface of the piano paint case was cold and slippery, and my piano lay quietly in the red velvet.I held the neck of the violin, held the bottom of the violin, and picked it up.The strings are cold and hard, and my fingers are stamped on the body.

My palms are sweaty.

"Mr. Ji, let me sing you a song."

When I wrote the song Street Light, I was 21 years old. Six years ago, I was preparing for my second album, and the whole Huatian called me Young Master.

In fact, the real young master and the fake young master can be distinguished at a glance, not everyone has the confidence to bear it calmly no matter how they are pampered, not everyone is Ji Rongfu, no matter how you look at it, they are princes in trouble.

For half a month, I couldn't write a melody.Every time I write a chord, I judge in my head whether it can live up to these people's expectations.

That's when I first suffered from insomnia.

Later, I met Ye Xiao when I was smoking in a remote part of Huatian Building. He is a typical spoiled person, proficient in threats and blackmail. We opened the French windows together to smoke. Looking down from the 35th floor, the lights of the city are like Lantern Festival Festival of River Lanterns.He stood by the window and talked to me about why he made music. He said that he knew from the time he could remember that he would not live to be 1.7 years old. He said that his brother-in-law was prettier than him. Nie Xingqiu, Zhou Zixiang, and Ye Jinnian died side by side, in no particular order.When his brother-in-law died, he watched from the sidelines. The [-]-meter-five man was as thin as [-] pounds, and his joints were all deformed. Such a proud man curled up on the hospital bed, crying and begging the doctor to give him a shot of morphine.

He said Lin Sui, I knew that day that I would die like him one day, and then I decided that I would leave something for this world.He said that music is actually a good thing. The person who wrote the music is dead, but after 100, 1000 years, someone who hears this music can still know what he was thinking at that time.Words lie, music doesn't.

He said Lin Sui, you probably don't understand what's going on now, do you think we're waiting for you to write a good song?You're wrong, we're just waiting for you to start writing your own songs, you don't have to be a great singer-songwriter right now, but you at least have to have your own musical attitude.You should have heard of Bai Yu's name. He has been waiting to write lyrics for you for a month. If you can't write what you want, he will make up for you. If you can't say it, he will say it for you.The whole world is waiting for you so you son of a bitch better go back to the dorm now and get me your guitar and start writing songs, next time I see you smoking I'll kill my throat before you I kicked you off the Huatian Building before.I do what I say.

That night I ran back to the dormitory and spent half an hour writing Street Lights.

Later, Bai Yu approached me specifically for this song, but that's another story.

Now "Street Light" is Ye Zhen's song.

I haven’t sung this song for a long time, and the key is almost too high. In fact, there will always be a difference between the person’s own voice and the recorded one. I didn’t know why I wasn’t suitable for singing until I finished recording the first song in Huatian. love song.

When I sing seriously, there is a line of natural sand in the timbre, but it is far from smokey. The contradiction is that my own timbre is relatively clean, so I can sing folk songs. Voice range, 25 degrees, not bad among male singers, besides, my voice is best heard in the alto. Yin Xi valued me at the beginning, half of it was my voice, and the other half probably liked my ability to write songs, good sense of music, singing business It is also considered high.

It's a pity that my mentality is gloomy and my mood is perverted. The only songs that I sing well are related to feelings after the breakup.

I don't know what Ji Rongfu thinks.

I don't like singing street lights easily, and I don't even sing when I'm alone, it's too much like a pitiful act, Bai Yu probably put too much of his own state of mind, and the lyrics are so tear-jerking.In fact, I was not worthy of pity at all when I was a child, because I was full of ghosts. I started cooking for my aunt’s family in elementary school. I added basically everything that humans can think of to the dishes. Anyway, when it was my turn to eat, there was only rice left. Can't hurt me.

Really overwhelmed.

For a vicious person like me, when I picked up the guitar, what I thought was to show him my soul.

Human beings are really born exhibitionists. The extreme of liking someone is to see each other naked, from body to soul.Sometimes it's to please, sometimes it's a sacrifice.In fact, everyone is just an ordinary person, with flesh and blood, and their hearts and lungs are nothing but a mass of blood, so how could it be possible to conjure a flower?

After I finished playing a song, Ji Rongfu was still very quiet.If someone passed by at this time, they probably thought: This wandering singer is really hungry, grabbing an audience and singing.

Then Ji Rongfu praised me: "The singing is very good, the song is very good, and the guitar is also very good."

His body is stretched, like a coconut tree on a summer beach, with its branches and leaves stretched out, standing and looking down at me with sincere eyes, without any malice in his body.The surrounding wind is so strong, but I can smell the warmth on his body.All the thorns in my body became weak again, no matter how much I agitated in my heart, I couldn't say a single vicious word, I could only say softly: "That's good."

He smiled with the corners of his lips curled up, probably because he was afraid that I would be disappointed, and reiterated: "It's really good."

I bowed my head to close the piano, and said: "Now you know, I sing very well, I can support myself, I don't need you to say or do anything, this circle has its own rules."

He still just smiled, looked at me with his usual soulful eyes, and said, "Okay."

I put the piano case on my back and looked up at him.

"Then I'm going back."

Actually not.

I never sang to keep him from saying or doing anything. If it was for this, I would just swing the guitar over his head like a firestick.

When I sing for people, I always only do two things, either I want others to like my songs, or I hope others like me.

Ji Rongfu chose the former.