I'm in Delingha tonight

Xi Shan: "You have to have a bottom line in life."

Chi Nian: "Oh."

He acted like a puppy who was rejected for a hug with droopy ears, and he was mindlessly poking at the table with a chopstick in one hand.Xi Shan ordered food, and occasionally asked him "Do you want to eat offal", "Do you want to eat pork ribs", etc. Chi Nian was only responsible for expressing his opinions with different tones of "um", and waited for a while to enjoy his success.

The dishes don't need to be too entangled. As for the drinks, Xi Shan asked Chi Nian for a bottle of iced Weiyi, while he ordered beer.

In front of Xi Shan, these meticulous and thoughtful arrangements made without even asking, made Chi Nian occasionally mistakenly think that he is a child who is much different from Xi Shan's age, who can't drink but only drinks milk, and eats hot pot. Take care of him ordering non-spicy tomatoes.Chi Nian thought, as if he really needed to be pampered.

Chi Nian was headstrong when he was a child, but his temper has changed a lot over the years, he instinctively accommodated other people's decisions, and now he has suddenly become the one to be accommodated, his heart has softened to the point of complete failure.

The order was taken away, and after a while, the waiter first brought ice Weiyi and beer.

After a while, the mandarin duck pot of Taijitu was also served on the table.The bottom of the tomato pot is not boiled yet, but there are plenty of ingredients, and it should be thicker as it cooks.On the other side, most of the prickly ash and chili are floating on the surface, the butter is lumpy, and there are spices floating in the corners.

With a little fire, the fragrant and spicy taste diffuses instantly.

Chi Nian couldn't help swallowing.

Two people eat hot pot, so don't order too many dishes to avoid waste.The small crispy pork is the first to appear as a fried food. When you bite down, if you are unlucky, you will bite into the peppercorns, and you will feel a kind of abnormal refreshment while the tip of your tongue is tingling.When the pot boiled, plates of meat dishes that looked fresh were either boiled or scalded, sliding into the pot one after another, and a white mist rose up.

Except that he personally blanched a goose intestine before, it was never Chi Nian's turn to touch this meal - Xi Shan would cook the dishes and put them in a colander for Chi Nian to pick and eat.

The hairy tripe and goose intestines are crispy, the beef is tender just right, the yellow throat will not get old no matter how you cook it, and it has a "crunchy" bite. Whether you put it in a spicy pot or a tomato pot, the shrimp slippery and kelp seedlings have different tastes.After the meat is almost eaten, add vegetarian dishes, lotus root slices, potatoes and brown sugar glutinous rice cakes, and a bowl of fried rice with eggs to fill every gap in the stomach.

The glass bottle of soy milk collided with the beer mug, and there was a crisp sound over the boiling hot pot.

No wonder it is always said that food and love are the only things in life that cannot be let down. Chi Nian seldom ate spicy hot pot in the past, but now his lips are red and swollen due to the heat, and he can't stop his chopsticks.

There was no extra dialogue in a meal, only:

"Is the pork belly ready?"

"Your brains, eat with chili noodles, try."

"Eat quickly, this will get old if you cook it!"

……

After three rounds of dinner, Chi Nian ate his stomach and bit the soy milk straw: "I can't eat anymore."

Xi Shan was still slowly cutting a piece of potato into small pieces, picked up one of them and rolled it in a dry plate of chili noodles, before finding time to return to him: "Then watch me eat."

"Why do you eat so much?" Chi Nian sighed, pointing a row of chopsticks, "You really eat too much!"

Xi Shan chewed slowly: "Because I'm too tired during the day, I need to replenish my energy."

Chi Nian took advantage of the situation and asked, "Brother Xi, what have you been up to lately? Can I help you?"

He didn't know what to say, but Chi Nian knew the answer even with his toes.For Chongqing, he is a newcomer, unfamiliar with the place and has few friends. For Xi Shan, he is several years younger, a college student who has just graduated from the ivory tower, and has basically zero social experience. Money needs connections, but no connections.

Where can he help Xi Shan?

But Chi Nian still wanted to ask, not out of politeness and looking for topics, he was caring about Xi Shan in his own way.

Xi Shan ate up the piece of dismembered potato, his expression was calm, and he didn't think his overreaching question was ridiculous, so his eyes drooped slightly: "You, take care of yourself."

Chi Nian pouted unconvinced: "I can also help you on the premise of taking care of myself."

"Then you are late." Xi Shan glanced at him inexplicably, and rarely mentioned his own affairs, "I have been almost busy this week when I returned to Chongqing, and I am currently resting. I really can't help, not perfunctory."

Chi Nian was curious: "What's the matter, isn't it serious?"

Xi Shan wiped the oil from his fingers: "When I opened a store, I did the interior design, decoration, purchase, and recruitment in the early stage. I did everything myself. I didn't have to do everything myself, but my partner quit midway. I couldn’t let it go, so I decided to do it myself. I was almost busy before, and I took a vacation to go to Qinghai to relax. Now that I’m back, there’s still a little finishing work left...so I’ve been spinning around for several days.”

Chi Nian: "Wow, are you the boss now?"

"It's not a big chain, it's just an ordinary roadside shop." Xi Shan smiled and warned him not to divert his thinking, "Take your star eyes away, it's no good to flatter me."

"It's not good for me to flatter you." Chi Nian despised him, "At least I can recruit a few girls from the studio to take care of your business, okay... Oh, that's right, Brother Xi, what kind of shop do you open? Is it suitable for girls to consume?"

"It's a book bar that also sells drinks and desserts." Xi Shan said, "I'll take you there some other day. It's trial opening now."

"Then I'll ask them to join in the show." Chi Nian was beaming.

Xi Shan didn't say yes, nor did he directly refuse, he just stared at Chi Nian steadfastly.

His eyebrows and eyes are deep, and he lost a lot of weight after returning to Chongqing, and his cheeks are slightly sunken, which makes his facial contours sharp and can cut people.Xi Shan's face was cold when he was not smiling, but now his deep eyes did not blink, looking at Chi Nian, his heart beats, and he began to speak cautiously again.

There was a "gudong" sound in the hot pot, a bubble appeared, and it burst.

Chi Nian looked around and saw nothing unusual. Reflecting that he had said the right thing, he lowered his voice, shrugged his shoulders and asked cautiously: "What's wrong? Customers are always needed to open a shop."

"No." Xi Shan's voice was like a breeze passing through his heartstrings, "I want...to go alone with you."

Chi Nian was caught off guard, his heart skipped a beat: "Huh?"

At this moment, the eyes full of tenderness changed back to how they usually get along with each other. Xi Shan leaned back and leaned on the back of the chair: "But since you want to bring friends so much, then bring them, whatever you want."

He shot himself in the foot.

Chi Nian's eyes darkened.

He was vague about "I" and "you" but couldn't make a decent sentence. Xi Shan couldn't help it, and the jokes he pretended to collapse first: "I'm kidding you! You can only go once, why do you take it seriously?"

"Xi Shan—!" Chi Nian wanted to scratch him.

Xi Shan said "Hey": "No kidding, when are you free recently?"

Actually sent out an invitation, Chi Nian sat up straight, folded his hands neatly on the table, and actively answered questions like a primary school student: "Wednesday! I have a rotation on Wednesday."

"Then set Wednesday first." Xi Shan nodded.

It is always joyful to have a reason to meet with someone you like next time. Chi Nian is full of the date next Wednesday, as if he has become the famous fox waiting for happiness.He was as dizzy as if he was stepping on cotton, so that when he walked out of the hot pot restaurant, he discovered a key problem——

"Wait a minute." Chi Nian recalled Xi Shan's actions just now.

Got up, asked the waiter to pack the unfinished half plate of brown sugar glutinous rice cakes, pushed him for a while, and then walked out of the shop...

Something is not quite right.

Chi Nian looked at Xi Shan in shock: "Did we not pay you just now?!"

Xi Shan nodded: "That's right, you ate a king's meal."

Chi Nian continued to be shocked, blinked and began to panic: "Then, what should we do? Damn, why didn't anyone remind us? You just... Shall we go back and pay the bill..."

His incoherent appearance is so cute, Xi Shan couldn't bear to lie to him any longer, so he patted Chi Nian on the back of the head to stop the little turtle from wanting to go back and pay the bill: "I told you I'm treating guests - this store was opened by me and my friends, It's the one who was going on a blind date with your senior sister this afternoon, so don't be polite to him."

Chi Nian: "What?"

"The two of us, and the other one, are college classmates. After graduation, they want to start a business, so they drew me in and opened the barbecue restaurant next door together." Xi Shan pointed to the Japanese-style izakaya-style lanterns. Chi Nian continued with a face full of surprise, "During the process, I saved some money and rented the next door."

Chi Nian: "?"

"I originally wanted to expand the renovation, but after a while of discussion, I decided to open a hot pot restaurant. The business is good, so it was renovated and opened at the beginning of the year, which is what you see now."

Chi Nian finally came back to his senses. He turned his head, looked carefully at the hot pot shop, and then kicked Xi Shan's calf: "Why are you bullying me again!"

In fact, Chi Nian held back his strength so it didn't hurt at all. Xi Shan knew that there was no warning about the overlord's meal this time, so it was reasonable for Chi Nian to be a little short-tempered.He obediently let Chi Nian vent his anger: "Okay, at worst, I'll give you [-]% off next time you come to a dinner party."

"It's only six five?" Chi Nian yelled at him, "You give me a free order—!"

Xi Shan raised his hands in surrender: "Free order, free order."

He agreed so readily that Chi Nian muttered, "It's not too bad" and let Xi Shan go for the time being.

Including roast lamb and wolves, he has been teased by Xi Shan not once or twice, but only this time he acted like a monster without any psychological burden. Maybe the two of them had a hot pot meal and got married in the city dusk for the time being. Under the deep friendship.

The friends on the journey are only for a short time, just like Kampot and Dolma, they returned to their lives after walking with them for a while.But it is different in life, and it will last for a long time.

From now on, they will meet for a movie that they both like, visit the newly opened restaurant, and walk along Zhongshan Fourth Road when they are free...

If Chi Nian is not in a hurry to leave, Chongqing will become his hometown for a period of his life.

The food court is open in the middle, and there is still a distance from the parking lot.

They stayed in the hot pot restaurant for so long that they didn't notice when it started to rain in Chongqing.The water splashed down, causing ripples, and there was no intention of stopping for a while.

Xi Shan originally intended to send Chi Nian to the taxi pick-up point, but upon seeing this, it might not be easy to get a taxi on a rainy day, so Chi Nian offered that he could take the light rail.But the light rail station is still a long way from the food court, even if you walk along the eaves, you will get wet to some extent.

The wind is already the wind of autumn, but the rain is still the rain of summer.A stream of heat steamed from the ground, wrapped around the ankles, and mixed with the smell of damp water reminded me of the dry heat in July.

Xi Shan went to the grocery store on the first floor to buy a plastic umbrella.

Ten yuan, transparent, with very thin ribs, Chi Nian thought it could not withstand the strong wind in the north.Xi Shan propped it up under the eaves to see if it was the right size.

Chi Nian thought he bought it for his own convenience, so he went to pick it up: "I probably know the way..."

Xi Shan refused, and raised the umbrella above their heads: "I'll see you off."

A gust of cool wind, Chi Nian touched his arm, the rain soaked his clothes.There were no water marks, but it felt damp to the touch, and it was uncomfortable to stick to his body, but he didn't feel too impatient.

Because his heart was extremely warm, Chi Nian nodded: "I'm sorry to trouble you."