my suspect

80. Old Neighborhood’s Scallion Pancakes

The west slanting sun has turned into a setting sun, but the sky is still bright. The summer day always gives people the illusion of a long time. Many houses on both sides of the street have poured basins of water on the open space at the door, and the sun is shining. The ground that has been exposed to the sun all day is like a sponge. It is not until the sponge is full of water that the ground becomes dark and moist, and the hot steam dissipates. The wind passing through such a ground also brings a little watery coolness. Residents in many small streets and alleys still maintain the habit of having dinner outside in the cool air on summer nights.

There were a few drops of water stains on Gu Jun's trouser legs. It was because he hadn't escaped the water splashed on the ground by an old man just now. It looks like a swinging sleeve in Peking Opera, but I just care about being chic and don't care about the fact that the small open space in front of my house is connected to the sidewalk.

There was an intermittent sound reminding the sprinkler that the water came as soon as it was said. Gu Jun only had time to jump forward when he saw it out of the corner of his eye, but the old man's dragon tail still swung to him, and the water was full of dust. Turned into small muddy ideas, it climbed up Gu Jun's trousers arrogantly.

Probably because he heard someone jumping, the old man put away the second scoop of water before putting it out, and when he turned around, a young man in a police uniform was standing there shaking off his trouser legs.

"Oh, comrade policeman, I'm sorry." The old man hurriedly dropped the water ladle, "I'll get you a towel to wipe it off."

"No need, sir, it's okay, I'll do it in a while."

"Look, what do you mean? Comrade policeman, have you had dinner yet? Uncle, here are some freshly baked scallion pancakes. Let me get you two to try?"

"Oh, it's really unnecessary, sir, thank you, I'm still working, you have a good appetite." Gu Jun was delighted, this kind of enthusiasm that still remained in the streets and alleys was very similar to that in the alleys of the capital, kind.

"It's already dinner time, why don't you let me get off work?" The old man guessed that there are not many young people who are willing to chat with him. This time, seeing the young policeman speak well and have a smile, he became interested and wanted to chat more. A few words, "Do you pay overtime wages?"

"No, our leader is stingy." Gu Jun looked at the house number left and right, it was a bit messy, just passed No. 28, here it jumped to No. 32, and then it became 36 again, dare to say that the house number here is jumping here?

"Then your leaders are not kind, you only let people work, and you don't feed them." The old man was quite clear, "Isn't there a department, can you sue him?"

"You mean the labor and social security department?" Gu Jun thought the old man was quite interesting, so he didn't rush to leave, and simply stood there chatting, "It doesn't work, we are the police, and the labor department doesn't dare to take care of it. Hey, there is nothing we can do as part-time workers, we have to support our families."

"It's true, hey, it's really not easy for you young people now, by the way, young man, are you married?"

Gu Jun chuckled, nodded and said, "Yes, it's done."

"My daughter-in-law must be beautiful, right? Seeing that you look so energetic, your daughter-in-law must not be far behind?"

"He is prettier than me." It is rare for Gu Jun to meet a stranger who can show off his Lin Ze, "He is smart and can do acupuncture, has a good temper and is very sensible and filial..."

"Hey, young man, look at your boasting," the old man was also happy, "I understand, I was young back then, so I really don't want to eat here? The scallion pancakes baked by my wife are the best in this street. , you have no place to buy it."

"Master, your accent doesn't look like a local here, does it?"

"Did you hear it? I'm from Shandong, and I've changed my job here. I've been here for 40 years. My uncle, I'm going back to my old family and say I'm from the south. People on the street here say you're from the north, right? Hehehe, What can I say?" The old man was quite emotional, "The taste of food has not changed, but why is the accent not authentic?"

"Next time someone asks you, just say you are from China."

"Hey, that's reasonable, yes, I've made a note of it, don't you really want to say something?"

Gu Jun reached out and touched the tip of his nose, and laughed a few times embarrassedly, "Why don't you pack two for me, and I'll take it home for my wife to taste?"

"Know how it hurts, good boy!" The uncle turned around and yelled at the door, "Old woman, put the freshly baked scallion pancakes in a bag and bring them back to the police comrade..."

"Oh, sir, if you shout like that, people think I'm taking bribes?"

"You only accept a few scallion pancakes when you accept bribes? Look at this!"

"By the way, sir, I want to ask you something. Is there a household named Yun who lives near here? No. 30 Xingyuli Street, but I didn't see this number after looking around."

"The house numbers here are not accurate, old and new are mixed together," the old man stared at Gu Jun, then shook his head from side to side, "Did you not see the numbers 24 and 34?"

"Hey, it's really true. Don't tell me I haven't noticed." Gu Jun also followed the uncle, shook his head left and right, and leaned forward to look around, "Why is that?"

"I'm so particular about it, I think it's unlucky to put a '4' on it," the old man said disdainfully, "According to such a particular person, don't people still jump over it? Thirty directly to fifty?"

"Then what's the point of number 30?" Gu Jun asked curiously.

The talkative uncle suddenly fell silent for a while, and then shouted into the inside: "Why are you so good at kung fu, and you haven't pretended yet? Comrade policemen have something to do, don't waste your time."

"Come on, come on, what's the rush!" A sprightly-legged aunt came out with the voice. Stack the cakes, the mouth of the bag is still open, bursts of aroma of scallion oil come to the nostrils, and the smell makes you hungry.

"Why are you so dawdling? It seems that the comrades of the police are waiting impatiently." The old man threw the blame, but Gu Jun had no choice but to accept the blame.

"Sorry, aunt, I'm sorry to trouble you."

"What's so embarrassing about this? It's just an extra spoonful of noodles. Eat it and come back next time." The aunt's personality is very similar to that of the enthusiastic landlady. "This cake is best eaten while it is hot. It’s so fragrant. If it’s cold, take the pot back home and put it back on. Just put some water on the bottom of the pot, cover it, and simmer for a while. The crust is still soft, so don’t take it. What kind of microwave oven, it hardens once you turn it, it's a waste of teeth."

"Hey, I see." Gu Jun reached out to take the plastic bag, took a sharp sniff, "It smells so good! Thank you."

"This is not worth thanking. Your job is not easy. It is not easy to come and go in the wind and rain."

"Auntie, was the neighbor who lived next door to you named Yun?"

"yes……"

"Old woman!" the uncle yelled, interrupting the aunt, "Go back to the house and have a look at the mung bean porridge, so as not to burn the pot."

"What are you shouting for? You scared me, old man!" The aunt glared at the uncle in displeasure. Watch."

"Auntie, you are busy, lest it really mess up," Gu Jun raised the bag in his hand, "I will thank you for this cake on behalf of my wife."

"It's not worth it, it's not worth it," said the aunt, waving her hands and turning back into the room.

The uncle looked at Gu Jun with a water ladle in his hand, the ladle was full of water, his posture felt that if Gu Jun continued to ask, he would be watered, the uncle must regret that he took a bag of scallion pancakes for this kid now.

"Master, you should give this cake to someone else." Gu Jun looked at the uncle, walked over and put the cake on the window sill, "Auntie's craftsmanship is really good, I don't need to eat it to know how delicious it is, see you soon."

There was a sound of splashing water behind him, and Gu Jun continued walking without looking back.

"Little boy, why do you ask their family?"

Gu Jun turned around, and the uncle was looking at himself and the police uniform on him with an empty water ladle in his hand.

"Master, I am now in charge of investigating the case of the Yun family back then, and I want to know something about it."

"Didn't it already be fixed back then? Why do you check again?" The uncle threw the water ladle into the water tank, "Are you going to go through the motions again? It's useless to clean up these things all day long. I really don't know what you police do for food." ?”

"Master, I'm 28 this year. I wasn't in Yuncheng back then, and even if I was, it wouldn't be my turn to care, don't you think so?" Gu Jun took two steps back and stood in front of the uncle again, "Is it useful for me?" I don’t know now, but now that I’m in charge of this matter, I’ll handle the result, and then you’ll know whether I’m qualified to eat your scallion pancake.”

"Hey, is it useful? They came here again and again, and we said everything that should be said, but what happened? What a wonderful family, if it is gone, it will be gone. Poor, that little one." How big is the doll..."

"Master, can you tell me in detail?" Gu Jun's heart skipped a beat, "Is this couple called Yun Tianhe and Lin Minghua?"

The uncle thought for a while, "Tianhe is the right name, the woman's surname is Lin, I really don't remember the exact name, the neighbors in the street just say hello to know the surname, who would ask the full name, especially The other party is a lesbian."

"Does the Yun family still have a son?" Gu Jun suddenly felt a little dry. He was approaching Lin Ze's childhood.

"That baby, I remember, she looks really cute, her mouth is so sweet, she screams when she sees people," the uncle said, shaking his head and sighing, "Who doesn't like such a sensible baby? But this Fate... As long as my wife baked scallion pancakes back then, there must be a small head lying on the wall, like a greedy cat... Hey..."

Gu Jun looked at the half-new and half-dilapidated wall along the old man's fingers. The side near the old man's house seemed to have been painted recently, while the other side was covered with moss. The house on the other side of the wall was also silent and the roof was covered with old wood. leaf.

Lin Ze lives here?How did such a small person climb up there?Won't you fall?Little greedy cat?

Gu Jun closed his eyes, it was really hard to connect the little greedy cat with Lin Ze, but if he could, he really wanted to hug that little greedy cat, pat his little butt, and warn him not to crawl casually wall.

"Master, do you still remember the accident that year? Who came to investigate? It doesn't matter, as much as you can remember."

The uncle raised his head and looked at the almost dark sky, "Go into the house and talk, stand outside and feed the mosquitoes...get the cake." The uncle opened the screen door and bit again, Gu Jun stepped forward obediently from the window sill Picking up the bag again, he followed the uncle into the house. As soon as he entered the house, he saw that the aunt was not watching the mung bean porridge at the stove, but was standing inside the door, probably listening all the time, and the aunt's eyes were a little bit red.

Seeing Gu Jun coming in, the aunt hurriedly raised her hand and rubbed her eyes, then turned and walked towards the stove. Many old houses in the south have this design. The entrance is a large room, which has the functions of living room, dining room and kitchen. Called the living room, called the main room.

The uncle sighed again, "The old lady likes that child very much, and that child also kissed her, and she called her 'grandma' when she saw it. After that incident, we also inquired about it and wanted to go and see this child, but we never heard of it." After inquiring, I heard that the child's grandfather took him away, and then there was no news at all, and I don't know how the child is doing now? Do you blame us grandparents for not helping him? Even, it didn't help him get rid of the shit pot that those people put on his father's head."

"Master, can you explain in detail? Yun Tianhe was drunk and driving..."

"Fart!" The uncle suddenly became excited, pointed at Gu Jun and cursed: "Tianhe doesn't drink at all! If you are like those people, get out!"

"Old man, what are you doing?" The aunt hurried over to smooth things over, "Comrade policeman, don't be surprised, my old man has this temper, and those people came to ask them back then, and the old man told them so, but no one In the end, he was convicted of drunk driving, which made the old man so angry that his blood pressure was high..."

"What's the crime? What kind of crime did such a good boy like Tianhe commit? They're all a bunch of bastards who don't have eyesight. They talk nonsense with their eyes open, and they're not afraid of lightning strikes!" The uncle stared at Gu Jun. The police uniform seems to have become the target of the uncle's venting at this moment, "Let me tell you, Tianhe is allergic to alcohol, let alone drunk driving, he will develop a red rash even after drinking a small glass of beer, he has never mentioned this to anyone, he is afraid of people It's a joke, the old man who served as a soldier can't even drink a drop, so he uses his car as an excuse. Anyway, he drives for the leader, and they won't pour him down. If I didn't force him to drink two glasses with me one year , I don't know that he can't drink, you said he can go out with his wife and children after drinking?"

"Don't his family know? People from the Lin family? It's impossible not to drink at the wedding?" Gu Jun asked intentionally.

The uncle sighed in disappointment, "I said, you policemen, why are you so sloppy in your work? There is no one in Tianhe's family, and there are also a few distant relatives who can't get along with each other. The Lin family opposed this marriage at the beginning. When I was young, I didn’t have a banquet, so I traveled directly to get married.”

"Master, who did you tell about this?"

"There are too many. There are people from the police station, some say they are from the traffic police, and some say they are from the city government office. They come one after another, but none of them are doing business. In the end, it is not wrong."

"Old man, be careful what you say." The aunt looked at Gu Jun awkwardly, but Gu Jun felt his face was a little hot.

"And then this house?"

"The houses on this street are old, some belong to the unit, and some belong to individuals," the aunt took the bait, and put the pot and spoon in her hand into the uncle's hand, "Go, stir the porridge, so that it will cool faster."

Although the uncle was a little dissatisfied, he still walked to the stove, put the spoon into the porridge pot that was already in the cold water basin, and stirred it back and forth. The fragrance of mung beans wafted in the house.

"The young couple didn't have any savings at the time, and the house they lived in was allocated by the unit. After that incident, their house has been empty, and then it became a warehouse. People rarely come, and I don't know what is piled up? Even the house number was demolished, and many old neighbors on this street moved out one by one. It has been 20 years, and many people are gone. Hey... In this world, I don’t know what will happen tomorrow, When I went out in the morning, I was still Hehe Meimei's family, so why did I say it was gone? Even now, I can still sometimes think of that morning when I was washing clothes at the door, and the little guy was waving at me when their family went out , called 'Grandma, good morning', and the couple also greeted me politely. Minghua helped to read it... Comrade policeman, how can you tell such nonsense without conscience? An innocent person is wronged after death, what a pity, there is no one to seek justice for Tianhe."

"What's the use of talking about it now?" The uncle walked back and stared at Gu Jun, "If you can really find out about this matter, I can give you an apology! But I think it's disgusting! Speaking of it It’s the ordinary people who say it’s unlucky, those who have no power or power, and have no place to talk about what’s right.”

Gu Jun exhaled slowly, looked at the uncle firmly and said: "Those people should apologize, uncle, the police uniform on me is clean!"

The uncle was stunned for a moment, and then sighed with emotion, "Okay, I believe you once, and thank you on behalf of the Tianhe family. This person must have a conscience to live in this world. Don't you fear retribution if your heart is dark?" ?”

"The reincarnation of the heavens, the French Open has resumed, sir, those people can't escape."

Standing on this smoky old street in Xingyuli, Gu Jun never felt that there would be a place where he wanted to walk step by step and carefully look at it. It only takes about ten minutes at the other end, and the people coming and going are either familiar or unfamiliar, and maybe there will be fewer familiar faces and more strangers passing you by every few months.

Let alone 15 years later.

But Gu Jun could still see that small, lively, and cute figure from the fireworks in the old street. He ran and jumped up and down the street, greeted everyone politely, and happily took Squatting at the door of the house with the snacks given by my uncles, aunts, grandparents, waiting for my father to get off work while being a contented little cat, or lying on the desk doing homework and waiting for my mother to call him for dinner, maybe I will climb on the shelf and hang it by the wall The ladder to smell the scallion pancakes baked by the grandma next door.

Suddenly, I miss him so much, I miss him so much, I wish I could hold this person in my arms in the next second, and hug him tightly.