Silly Zhu's Moving: The Old Neighbor's Nightmare

"That's right! Bro, you have money on you, right? You can't lie to me again."

"If you lie to me again, I'll... I'll tell Dad and he'll teach you a lesson." As she spoke, she clenched her little fists defiantly at Sha Zhu's gaze.

Look for Dad, He Daqing has abandoned you and your brother.

I don't know why you're crying and looking for He Daqing so suddenly. Sha Zhu feels sorry for Yu Shui.

"Don't worry, I brought money with me today. I'll take you to eat Quanjude Peking duck or Donglaishun mutton hot pot. You choose one."

Rainwater's eyes lit up when it heard about roast duck and mutton hot pot, and it muttered "roast duck, hot pot" to itself.

His eyes darted around before he said, "How about we go eat roast duck first, bro?"

Upon hearing this, Sha Zhu teased Yu Shui, "You want to eat roast duck first, then hot pot? Can your stomach even hold it all?"

"Brother, I meant we should eat roast duck first. We can have roast duck this time, and we can have hot pot next time," Yu Shui hurriedly explained.

"You're dreaming. You can only choose one thing; there won't be a next time."

"Oh? Then, let's have Peking duck this time," Yu Shui said regretfully.

"Brother, look, there's a candied hawthorn stall up ahead," Yu Shui suddenly pointed in the direction of the candied hawthorn stall.

Sha Zhu looked at the old man pushing a cart selling candied hawthorns ahead and asked Yu Shui, "Want some?"

"Okay, brother, buy me one," Yu Shui said coquettishly.

“Okay,” Sha Zhu said, unable to resist her cuteness.

I parked my bicycle next to the candied hawthorn vendor, waited for the rain, and picked out two larger ones.

After giving the old man the money, Sha Zhu rode his bicycle and continued towards the Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant on Qianmen Street.

Gradually, more and more pedestrians appeared on the road. When they passed the martial arts master's house,

Sha Zhu stopped his bicycle and slowly pushed it forward, saying to Yu Shui, "Yu Shui, do you see that little restaurant over there?"

Rain turned his head and looked over. "Brother, which restaurant are you talking about? There are restaurants all over there."

Sha Zhu looked exasperated. "Then, the nearest restaurant at the alley entrance."

"Yeah, brother, I saw it. What's wrong?" Rain asked, puzzled.

"The alley across from that small restaurant is the home of one of my masters. He taught me martial arts."

"Brother, don't you have a chef from Fengzeyuan? Isn't he the one who teaches you cooking?" Yu Shui asked.

"Yes, the chef from Fengzeyuan is still on the east side of the alley, not far away."

"When did you find this master? How come I didn't know?" Rain asked curiously.

"I'm your brother, haven't I? I haven't been home for two months, so I'm staying here."

During the day, I go to Fengzeyuan to learn cooking. After get off work, I come here to learn martial arts from the martial arts master.

Sha Zhu pushed the cart forward, gradually leaving the area where his master lived.

"Really? Bro, how's your studying going? Aren't you amazing?"

"Yeah, that's awesome! Your brother is invincible!" Sha Zhu said boastfully.

"Bullshit," Yu Shui said disdainfully, looking at her brother. That eye-roll. Sha Zhu got back on his bike and continued towards Quanjude Restaurant.

"Rain, do you want to learn martial arts? Once you learn it, you'll be very powerful, and none of your classmates or other children will be able to beat you."

"Okay, okay. Brother, when will you bring me over? I want to learn too," Yu Shui said excitedly.

Sha Zhu thought of dozens of ways to trick Yu Shui into saying she didn't want to study anymore, but he had no idea how to coax her back.

Sha Zhu looked at Yu Shui with pity, "You'll have your day."

"Learning martial arts is tiring, so you're not allowed to cry. I'll bring you over tomorrow, okay?"

"Really? Great! Once I've mastered martial arts, I'll beat Liu Guangtian and Yan Jiefang until they're crying for their mothers!" Yu Shui said, gesturing with her hands.

"What do you mean crying for your mother? You're crying for your father! Why did you hit them? They bullied you," Sha Zhu asked.

“Those two are always teasing us,” Rain said.

"Then let's practice martial arts, and once we've mastered it, we can spar with them," Sha Zhu continued.

"Then shall we move tomorrow? You'll be staying at my master's place for a long time from now on. I'll help you move your things over when you go to school tomorrow."

“Ah, brother, I need everything in my room,” Rain said.

"Also, brother, how am I supposed to go to school?"

"I'm going to work at a steel mill, and I'll pick you up and drop you off by bicycle."

Look how nice it is to live here. There are restaurants and shops all around.

Buy whatever you want, eat whatever you want.

There are only a few breakfast shops, small restaurants, and hardly any other stores near my home in Nanluoguxiang.

Sha Zhu pointed to the shops on both sides of Qianmen Street.

"Look, isn't it great to live here? There's so much good food. Look at those shops. Pastry shops, donkey rolls, jujube cakes—we can eat all this every day."

"Brother, do you have money? If you do, you can stay at home and we can buy some to eat at home too," Yu Shui said doubtfully.

"Money? I definitely have it. I've been working for two or three years now, and I also get paid for learning cooking from my master."

"If you want to eat it every day, and you take it home, do you think the neighbors will be able to eat it all if they see it?" Sha Zhu asked Yu Shui.

Rain frowned, thinking about the neighbors in the yard and Aunt Jia's obese body.

"Brother, Aunt Jia snatched the fruit candy from Xu Damao's hand the other day."

That was clearly distributed to us by Brother Da Mao. But Aunt Jia saw it and snatched it away.

She also saw Dad come back with his lunchbox, and she stared at it while secretly cursing him.

"She even called me a cheap piece of trash, and Dad told me to ignore her and stay away from her," Yu Shui said, feeling wronged.

"Alright, let's stay away from her from now on."

As he spoke, Sha Zhu stopped his bicycle. He looked up at the gate of Quanjude.

"Okay, the rain has started. I'm going to park my bicycle."

Sha Zhu parked his bicycle in the designated parking area, then, still wet from the rain, went into Quanjude.

It was rush hour, so the store was quite crowded. The interior decoration was classic and elegant.

The wooden tables and chairs and the paintings hanging on the walls create a rich cultural atmosphere.

The aroma of roast duck filled the air, making one's mouth water.

Sha Zhu, holding Yu Shui's hand, sat down by the window under the waiter's guidance. He took the menu from the waiter and casually flipped through it.

The waiter enthusiastically said, "Let's start with our signature roast duck. It has crispy skin and tender meat, all carefully roasted by our master chef."

"Okay, two will do. One to eat here, and the other to take away. Two servings of spring pancakes, two side dishes, and two bottles of Arctic Ocean soda will do."

Sha Zhu handed the menu back to the clerk and said.

Seeing that the brother and sister had no intention of choosing ducks, the waiter took the menu and went to prepare them.

"Rain, is there anything else you'd like to eat? How about I get you some pastries?" Sha Zhu looked at Rain.

Rain glanced at the roast duck on the table next to the guests and said,

"Brother, no need, look over there, four people over there are sharing a whole roast duck, they haven't even ordered any other dishes."

"Brother, you ordered two dishes! What are we going to do if we can't finish them? Our teacher told us not to waste food."

Sha Zhu looked in the direction Yu Shui was looking, and sure enough, there were four people dressed in workers' clothes.

Several thin pancakes, topped with scallions and sweet bean sauce, are rolled up with roast duck and put into your mouth.

They were all scrambling to get a piece of the pie, as if afraid of eating less than everyone else. It seems they were pooling their money to try it out.

The roast duck here is not cheap; one roast duck costs eight yuan, which is equivalent to ten days' wages for an average worker.

Under normal circumstances, an average person's monthly living expenses are about five yuan.

Those who can afford to eat here are people with some spare money. I bet most native Beijingers would never get to come here even once in their entire lives.

Of course, what if ordinary people can't afford it but still crave roast duck?

Beijing isn't just home to Quanjude and Bianyifang roast duck restaurants.

There are also small shops that specialize in roast duck, and there are quite a few that sell it for one yuan or one yuan fifty, a price difference of more than five or six times.

Of course, the taste can't be compared either. For ordinary people...

Is it enough that it's roast duck, especially since it's meat? Quanjude is just something people talk about.