The lonely foodie

It was time to collect the rent at the end of the month. After dinner, Aunt Deng put on reading glasses, calculated the rent on the abacus, and wrote it down carefully in the small notebook next to her.

"Aunt Deng." Ivan knocked on the window, and stuck the little thorn in through the window hole in a twisted posture.

This is a room on the first floor of the self-built house where Ivan lives. The window opens to the door, and everyone who enters and exits the building can see clearly. It's a bit like the room of the dormitory aunt when I was in school.

Aunt Deng is the landlord's mother. She is a thin and capable old lady who can calculate. I heard that she was an accountant before she retired.

Hearing someone calling her, Aunt Deng raised her eyes and looked out from behind the flower mirror. After seeing clearly that it was Ivan, she lowered her head and flipped through her little book.

Five to five to one, six to four to one, the hands with age spots clacked and pulled, and calculated Ivan's rent, utilities and other messy expenses this month, "420." Aunt Deng said.

Ivan took out his mobile phone and scanned the QR code pasted on the window, and paid 420.Then he grabbed Mo Bai who was standing by the window, and said to Aunt Deng, "This is my friend. I want to rent a room in our building. Is there any room available?"

Aunt Deng pushed the flower glasses on the bridge of her nose and stared at Mo Bai for a long time. She was more careful in picking tenants than finding a son-in-law. Her clothes were sloppy, she looked ugly, she smelled bad, her hair was too long, her nails were too long, and she was obese. Don't want people with pimples on their face... This kind of people are easy... to delay the rent.

It just so happened that Mo Bai didn't step on any thunder and passed the interview smoothly.

The fat lady handed over a bunch of keys and said, "Turn left to the second room on the third floor, go up and look at the house by yourself, come down and pay the rent if it suits you, and the utility bill will be settled next month."

"It's suitable, don't read it." Ivan took out his phone and scanned the QR code, "350, right? I scanned it for you."

"The room is next to me, so you don't need to look at it, the orientation is the same." Ivan explained to Mo Bai.

Mo Bai shook the key in his hand, smiled and nodded.

"Today you have to squeeze in with me overnight, and tomorrow I'll go to the supermarket to buy you quilts and sheets."

"Okay." Mo Bai nodded, "By the way, buy an abacus."

"Abacus?" Ivan paused and turned around. Mo Bai, who was going upstairs, didn't stop, and his forehead hit the tip of Ivan's nose firmly.

"Hey, I'll go." Ivan covered his nose, feeling sour, tears and snot flying from the bump.

"Look at how promising you are." Mo Bai took out a handkerchief and wiped away his tears, "You're still the shopkeeper, buying an abacus will make you cry."

"You..." Ivan pointed at him, "It's reasonable, I was hit by you."

Ivan rubbed his nose, turned around and continued to climb the stairs, "How can there be abacus in a place as foreign as the supermarket? That kind of creature is about to perish now, right? Only old ladies like Aunt Deng are willing to use it."

"Then go to a less foreign place to buy." Mo Bai's voice came from behind.

"Oh..." Ivan sighed, "There is no place that is not so foreign, so I can only ask for help from the almighty certain treasure."

Ivan’s 300-yuan second-hand computer has not been used for a long time, and its condition is getting worse and worse.

Log in to a certain treasure, and enter "abacus" in the search box. Ivan went to brush his teeth, and when he came back after brushing his teeth, the screen began to pop up frame by frame, as if Mr. Sloth was manipulating it, which looked weird.

"Which one do you want?" Ivan tapped the screen with his chin, with some toothpaste still hanging from the corner of his lips.

Mo Bai quickly sat upright, staring at the screen with a serious face.Hearing from Ivan that as long as you place an order on this website, someone will deliver the abacus to your home. Mo Bai was very excited, feeling that now is the moment to witness a miracle.

"This." Mo Bai poked the screen with his hand, chose an old-fashioned rosewood abacus, and gave him a small wooden box painted with gold.

Ivan looked at it and was also satisfied. He leaned forward and clicked "Buy", and went back to take a shower.

Mo Bai hurried to open the door, moved a chair and sat at the door and waited.

"What are you doing?" Ivan came out of the bathroom, grabbed a large towel and wiped his hair, and saw Mo Bai sitting upright at the door, staring expectantly at the dark corridor.

Occasionally when someone came back, the sensor light flickered on and off, so Mo Bai stretched out his head to take a look.

"Wait for someone to bring the abacus."

Ivan's hands stopped in the air, the towel drooped on his forehead, and his mouth opened into a round O shape.

It took a long time to explain to Mo Bai what is going on with online shopping, and Curious Bai asked for a long time what is going on with the Internet.

With Ivan's cultural literacy, how can he explain clearly what is going on with the Internet?I had no choice but to reply simply and rudely, "In short, this thing can play games, watch movies, read books, look up information, shop, and know astronomy and geography. You can ask it anything you want to know."

Mo Bai took out a small notebook and wrote on it, "Computers, artifacts, know astronomy at the top..." After writing this, he suddenly stopped, and asked eagerly, "Does it know history, what happened in history? ?”

"I know." Ivan threw off his slippers, climbed onto the bed and sat cross-legged, and asked Mo Bai, "What time history do you want to search for?"

"Around 1941." Mo Bai said.

从1931年九/一八事变开始算起，到1945年8月15日结束，共14年抗战。

In 1937, the Nanjing Massacre, which shocked China and the world, took place, and about 30 innocent Chinese were brutally/killed/killed.

In 1938, the Huayuankou of the Yellow River burst its embankment, causing millions of people to die directly or from famine.

...

On August 1945, 8, the enemy surrendered unconditionally to the Allies.

After reading the entries about that era, I burst into tears before I knew it.

Peace, what a luxury.

Ivan turned over in a daze, and saw that Mo Bai was still sitting by the bed, and the computer screen was shining brightly.

"Middle-aged Internet addict." Ivan muttered and fell asleep again.

That night, Ivan dreamed of Ivan Gang, the person who treated him best in the world, but because of him, the person whose life and death are still unknown.

"Dad." Ivan murmured, tears slid down the corners of his eyes to his temples, sank into the pillow, and disappeared.

In the morning, Ivan was going to go to the business/license office. It was rare to get up early, and bought two buns by the roadside and gnawed on them.

"I'm afraid I bought two steamed buns." Ivan looked puzzled, took a bite, it was noodles, and took another bite, but still didn't get the stuffing.

Simply break open the bun and see a small piece of meat stuffing in the middle as big as a fingernail.

Mo Bai patted his head to show comfort, and then gave him a look of "I'll kill you if you lose it".

"I know, I know." Ivan rolled his eyes at him, "I will eat this stuff well, OK?"

"Hi, hello!" A crisp female voice called out to them.

Ivan looked up, those two idiots.

"Hello, hello!" Ivan also replied, like an echo.

The girl waved at them and motioned for them to go over.

The empty small shop next to Fat Sister's Porridge Shop is being renovated, the heroine of fool No. 1 greets them, and the heroine of fool No. 2 is instructing the workers to hang acrylic words on the signboard.

Sunshine Desserts.

"Thank you so much that day." The girl said to Ivan, "We went back and asked my sister who had experience in opening a store for advice. They also said that the store we rented was not suitable, and the price here is quite suitable after negotiation."

The girl stretched out her hand to Ivan, "Let me introduce formally, my name is He Guang."

Ivan stretched out his hand to shake her fingertips, and quickly drew them back.His ears turned red with embarrassment.

"That's my boyfriend, Du Yang." He Guang pointed to Fool No. 2.

Du Yang and He Guang, so it is called "Sunshine Dessert." The names of the shops on this street are hopeless, and they are all uniform and named after the boss.

"Your business is booming." Ivan congratulated absent-mindedly, "I'm leaving first, and I'm going to apply for a certificate today."

Mo Bai grabbed Ivan who was about to run away, pursed his lips and shook his head at him.

Ivan sighed, rolled his eyes, took out a handful of money from his pocket, counted 8, stuffed them into He Guang's hands, and ran away.

Knowing that He Guang and the others had paid a deposit of 800 yuan, Mo Bai told Ivan that if he meets them again, he must return the money.

He Guang's face was flushed red, and he felt hot while holding the handful of money.

Ivan ran away, and He Guang wanted to return the money to Mobai. The corner of his mouth was smiling, and he looked gentle and polite, but for some reason, there was a slight sense of alienation, as if he was pushing him for the 800 yuan. It seemed too vulgar.

"Accept it." Mo Bai said with a smile, "We also want to thank Miss He."

He Guang put away the money and called to Mo Bai, "Teacher, if you don't mind, try our milk tea."

The shop has basically been renovated, He Guang asked Mo Bai to sit down on the soft chair against the wall, and went into the operating room by himself.

There is only a long bar between the operating room and the seats, and Mo Bai can clearly see He Guang's movements.

He Guang opened the tea pot and brewed Sri Lankan black tea, young tea, medium tea and rough tea together.

The milk used for making tea is Malaysian non-dairy milk, which is more mellow and fragrant than fresh milk, and has a smoother taste. It is also cheap and easy to control costs.

Anyone who makes milk tea knows that one flush, two bakes, three bumps, and four warm ups.

"Bumping tea." is the soul of silk stocking milk tea.

Two tall barrels are used to pour the tea back and forth. During this process, filter it with fine cotton yarn similar to silk stockings until the tea taste becomes smooth and even. This is the origin of silk stocking milk tea.

"Teacher, try it." He Guang filled a straight glass cup with milk tea, put it on the small table on the tray, and a piece of strawberry mousse cake beside it.

"Drinking tea on an empty stomach can easily cause gastrointestinal discomfort. If the teacher does not have breakfast, he should try the cake first." He Guang said.

Mo Bai nodded. He knew this kind of saying. In his previous life, it was called "tea drunk", which is the same reason that drinking on an empty stomach can easily cause discomfort.

A piece of mousse cake is forked with a small spoon, and it has a subtle taste that melts in the mouth.

Take another sip of milk tea, and sure enough, the taste of milk and tea is very strong. No wonder He Guang specially reminded him not to be "tea drunk".

Mo Bai is not used to overly sweet food, but he still finished the cake and milk tea under He Guang's scorching gaze.

"Does the teacher like it?" He Guang asked expectantly.

Mo Bai wiped the corners of his lips lightly with a handkerchief, and said with a smile, "I just saw that you used three kinds of tea leaves, what's the point?"

He Guang hurriedly replied, "Yes, three kinds of black teas are used: thick, young, and medium. The thick tea has a strong aroma and sweetness, the young tea has a strong taste and color, and the medium tea is in between. Balanced taste."

Mo Bai nodded, almost as he guessed.

"What's the ratio of tea soup to evaporated milk?" Mo Bai asked again.

"I haven't paid special attention to it, it's probably half milk and half tea."

"It tastes too sweet and greasy to drink, but the tea fragrance is not enough. You can try 7% tea and 3% milk."

When He Guang went to Taiwan to learn desserts before, the teacher said that the golden ratio of silk stocking milk tea is 7:3, but he prefers sweet and greasy, so he changed the recipe without authorization, but Mo Bai pointed it out.

"It's okay if you're worried about the different tastes of customers." Mo Bai thought for a while, and then said, "I can provide three kinds of ratios to choose from, milk flavor, tea flavor, and both."

He Guang slapped his forehead and said with a smile, "You can have this."

Sunshine Dessert is facing the bar counter with a white wall. During the decoration, I specially asked the chef to leave it out, and Du Yang wanted to draw an illustration on it.

Mo Bai got up to leave, and Du Yang came in with a box of acrylic paint.

Du Yang was not as lively as He Guang, he only greeted Mo Bai politely, and began to paint on the white wall.

Du Yang couldn't paint well, he added water to the palette of acrylic to mix it, and the brush was dipped in the paint and then painted upwards. He lifted and tapped the tip of the pen lightly, and a small pine and cypress appeared vividly in front of his eyes.

Mo Bai stood at the door, watching with great interest, the cartoon little tree figurine looked quite cute.

"What's the teacher's name?" Du Yang felt the gaze behind him, and struck up a conversation with Mo Bai, without stopping his hands and without turning his head.

"Qu Mobai." After a pause, "Where can I buy the paint for this wall?"

"Do you want to use it?" Du Yang turned his head and looked at Mo Bai, "Draw it yourself?"

Mobai nodded.

Hearing that Mobai can also paint, Du Yang warmed up a lot, and he was no longer as indifferent as before. He pointed to the box of acrylic paints under his feet, "I have a lot of them, and I can pick whatever color I want."

Seeing Mo Bai's concerns, Du Yang said again, "This thing is worthless, Brother Qu, you're welcome."

Mo Bai made a gesture to lift the gown, raised his hand halfway, and suddenly remembered that there was no gown for a long time.After squatting down and looking at it for a while, I picked up a bottle of carbon black and held it in my hand.

"Do you have a pen?" Du Yang asked again.

Mo Bai hesitated for a moment, smiled and shook his head.

"The pen can't be given away. If you want to use it, take it. I'll pick it up after the painting. By the way, I'll take a look at Brother Qu's painting."

"Thank you, Brother Du Yang." After Mo Bai thanked him, he picked out two brushes, one large and one small, from the pen case.