Zhao Mo Xiu Mo

The sun in the sky is so bright that people can't keep their eyes open.This year's summer is particularly hot, and even C County, a small county in the northern mountainous area, has also ushered in a hot summer.

The heat of the noon is steaming, and the pedestrians on the street are in a hurry.Parasols are still a rarity here, and people go out in the sun, so they can only choose places with shade as much as possible.

The gate of County No. [-] Middle School was closed tightly. It was only a few minutes after eleven o'clock, and it was not yet time for school to end at noon.The street outside the gate was already full at this time: those selling stationery and accessories, various gadgets, fruit, food, and Liangpi, all kinds of small wooden stalls filled the space outside the school gate. street.

These small vendors parked their tricycles at the places they occupied early, and set up small stalls in a short while.

Zhao Mo stretched out a half-worn towel and wiped the sweat from his forehead.He just arrived here, riding a pancake and fruit cart modified from a bicycle all the way from Yangqiao Community to the gate of No. [-] Middle School, he was still breathing.

His location is not very good, there are dozens of steps away from the school gate, let alone there is not even a shade tree next to him.People who set up stalls here have their own rules, and the location of everyone's stall is almost fixed.

Zhao Mo came later, so he couldn't get a good seat if he came early or late.He was inexperienced on the first day of selling pancakes at the gate of No. [-] Middle School. He took a good position near the school gate, but he was ridiculed by a couple selling meat buns after he didn't stay for long, and finally had to move. place.

The stall owner next to her was a skinny middle-aged woman, surnamed Zhang, who had been selling fruit here for several years.Seeing Zhao Mohan next to him raining like rain, she just glanced at it, and then continued to stand in the shadow against the wall in a daze.

On the contrary, the old man who sells Liangpi at the back looked at Zhao Mo constantly wiping his sweat and smiled kindly and said, "This summer is hotter than in previous years. Young people have strong firepower. Look at you sweating!"

"Well, it's quite hot." After wiping off his sweat, Zhao Mo twisted the towel and answered casually.The skin on his face, which was passable two months ago, was now dry and dark, his cheeks were sunken, and the undersides of his eyes were black and blue.

This kind of Zhao Mo can't make people connect with the kid who was praised by neighbors for being neat and stocky.His hands are rough and his fingers are full of wounds. No one can imagine that these hands were still holding a pen to write the mock exam paper a year ago.

At the age of 17, when his peers were still studying in school, Zhao Mo had already built a family with his thin shoulders.This black, thin, only 1.7-meter-long man mixed among all kinds of vendors, going out early and late every day to earn a living for himself and his younger brothers.

Uncle Liangpi is still babbling about how thieves are not allowed to survive.After Zhao Mo twisted the towel, he shook his head and put it on his neck, so as not to sweat from his forehead.He is naturally prone to sweating, but fortunately his body is still strong, otherwise he would have suffered from heat stroke.

Sweating is out of his control, but now Zhao Mo doesn't pay attention to the heat.When the school bell rang, students flocked out, and the students who came to buy pancakes and fruits could surround the entire car airtightly.When the fire of the pancake stove is turned on, and there are hot pancakes spread out, it will be really hot.

After waiting for another half an hour, the bell finally rang from the campus behind the gate.Vendors enjoying the shade, making jokes, and talking about each other have returned to their respective positions, cheering up and waiting for business to come to their door.

After a while, the school security opened the semi-automatic gate, and the students came out in a swarm.The hustle and bustle of the air swept over, and the heat in the air seemed to rise a few degrees.

Without raising his head, Zhao Mo picked up a towel to wipe his sweat with his left hand, and scooped up a spoonful of milky white viscous batter with a wooden spoon in his right hand, and poured it on the hot pot.Put down the wooden spoon, pick up the special wooden shelf, turn it half a circle to the left, and sip it half a circle to the right, a round pancake takes shape.After a while, I cracked an egg neatly, and the hot air mixed with the aroma came out from the stove.

There are already students gathered in front of the car.The first girl with a ponytail and an apple face yelled excitedly: "I want a ham sandwich, no coriander, no hot sauce."

"Do you want a piece of ham or fifty cents?"

"Hmm...it's fifty cents!"

"Row."

Zhao Mo responded with his mouth and kept moving his hands.Spreading, flipping, spreading sauce, and putting crispy fried cakes are all done in one smooth movement.He took out a small ham from the small box and cut it open on top of the crispy fried cake, pressed it, then put it in a plastic grocery bag, handed it to the waiting girl through the front window, and took back the money.

The girl gave a five-yuan ticket, and Zhao Mo stuffed the ticket into the front pocket of his apron, leaving his right hand free to spread another pancake.He reached into his pocket with his left hand and fumbled, and took out a one-dollar bill and a fifty-cent bill, handed it out, and said, "I'm looking for your money."

The next one has already called out: "I don't want hot sauce, and I don't want ham."

"What about the cilantro and onion?"

"Everything!"

Zhao Mo packed the pancakes and handed them out, sweat dripping down his face: "Three yuan."

……

The peak of leaving school passed quickly, and gradually only students in twos and threes came out of the gate.Zhao Mo’s pancakes and fruit carts were scattered and there were only a few left, all of them were high-grade boarding students who couldn’t figure out what to eat.

Zhao Mo waited for more than an hour before three or four pancakes were sold.Many students gathered in front of the stalls selling fruits, stationery, and gadgets, and even the old man who sold Liangpi was busy.

Until two o'clock in the afternoon, the day students who came to school walked in one after another, and his pancakes did not sell any more.

At 02:30, the class bell rang, and the rattling semi-automatic iron door swung shut.

Zhao Mo wrung out the towel again, secretly heaving a sigh of relief.The weather has been getting hotter and hotter recently, and selling this wave at noon every day is like a tough battle.For him, backache, back pain, and arm cramps are trivial matters, but the suffocating heat is the most difficult thing to bear.

He breathed a sigh of relief, then turned off the stove, and while wiping the pot noodles, he thought to himself: I have to go home later, the pulp is almost used up, and I need to get some more eggs, otherwise there will be not enough for the night.

Thinking of this, his movements became more agile.No. [-] Middle School is the only high school in the county, and its business is much better than that of the junior high school. Although it is a little bit more tiring, it makes a lot of money.I just don't know if Sanwa stayed at home well today, this kid had a fever last night...

Put the wooden shovel in a small iron basin filled with clean water to rinse it clean, and tidy up the bits and pieces of seasonings and things. Zhao Mo's forehead was sweating again.He sighed, took out a mineral water bottle from the corner, unscrewed the lid and poured it upside down.

He picked out this mineral water bottle from the one Junzi had finished drinking, and after washing it, he reserved it for drinking water when he left the stall.When he goes out in the morning, he brings such a bottle of cool water, and it is often used by him for a meal at noon.

However, the weather is hot recently, Zhao Mo sweats a lot and drinks a lot of water.No, the water that could have lasted the whole day was gone before the afternoon.He weighed the empty mineral water bottle and felt his empty stomach. His brows were frowned: the water poured into his stomach turned into sweat and flowed out. He was not hungry at all. He had eaten this lunch for several days. No food was saved, another expense!