【Lou Cheng】 How easy is another day

"How long is your leave?"

When we met for the first time, we didn't say hello or exchange pleasantries, and what we threw to Wei Xia was a question.And this question, matched with the expression of the other party, is very authoritative.

Wei Xia felt that every bone in his body was straightened—if the bones could be straightened—looking at the old gentleman who was not at all kind and kind, he replied: "06:30."

The other party glanced at his watch, and then looked at the third person present. After receiving a slight nod from the latter, he said to Wei Xia: "You are late today, and our plan has to be changed. You will return to this place. Come on, let's go eat."

"Now?" Wei Xia looked at his watch before entering the door, it was only four o'clock.

"You hungry?"

"I just came to see you, and I don't want you to spend any money." At this point, he remembered his father's advice, and handed the tea he had brought together to him, "Oh, this is what my father asked me to bring to you..."

He looked at the other one with a little embarrassment, scratched his head and said, "I didn't know there was another elder. Dad didn't say, there is only one gift..."

Seeing his embarrassment, the lines on Minglou's face softened: "It's all the same. Also, it's not a waste of money, silly boy."

Having said that, he finally laughed and asked again: "Are you hungry?"

Wei Xia was even more embarrassed, but at the same time relaxed: "A little bit."

Mingcheng laughed along with him.He let them chat, and went to buy him a snack by himself, fearing that he would suffer from jet lag after drinking coffee, so he specially ordered black tea for him.After returning back, I heard Minglou asking Weixia: "Is everything all right at home?"

"it is good."

"Where's your father's body?"

"Also."

"Where's Jiahui?"

"It's not bad to write a letter last time. She has gone to Shanxi."

"What to do in Shanxi?"

"It's been almost two years since the educated youth went to the mountains and went to the countryside..."

Having said that, Wei Xia paused for a moment, thinking whether to explain to them what it means to go to the mountains and go to the countryside. At this moment, the two elders looked at him, and Minglou shook his head: "I remember that she wanted to be a Doctor's."

Wei Xia was a little surprised by this sentence, because of the natural familiarity and kindness in it.He was sure he had never met these two men, nor even heard their names before he came to America.But in front of them, all the training they had received was useless, their guard was useless, and their vigilance was useless. They didn't ask any questions, but the answer came naturally.

Fortunately, we are talking about family matters.Wei Xia tried to maintain the last bit of vigilance, and thought a little fortunately.

The smile of the person in front of him brought him back to his senses. He subconsciously squeezed the paper cup containing the black tea, and replied softly: "Yes. But she can't go to university, and she can't be a worker, so she can only go to Shanxi."

Mingcheng patted him on the shoulder—it was clearly a stranger he met for the first time, but Wei Xia didn’t reject him, but felt very kind—and said, “Do you have a picture of her? I haven’t seen her yet.” .”

There is actually one.It was taken by Jiahui's family of three at the Chinese photo studio in Wangfujing before Jiahui went to Mount Wutai.Wei Xia hurriedly took out his wallet from his pocket and handed them the photos.

Mingcheng read it first, and then handed it over to Minglou.Minglou's eyesight has deteriorated since he got older. After looking carefully for a while, he said, "Both children are like father."

Wei Xia laughed: "My dad always said that Jia Hui is like an aunt. Unfortunately, I have never seen her. Have you two seen her?"

Minglou and Mingcheng glanced at each other, and then looked at the black and white photo together. The young girl was wearing a white shirt, with short hair that reached her ears, and only had a faint smile, but her eyes were very bright. It was Mingtai when she was young. s eyes.

Mingcheng said, "It's like my aunt."

Minglou didn't speak for a while, but said after a while: "Your father is talking nonsense. Jiahui is more beautiful than aunt. Well, don't delay, if you don't leave, you will be blocked when you enter the city."

He returned the photo to Weisha.When taking the photo, Wei Xia accidentally touched his finger, and it felt very cold.

Wei Xia thought, if his hands were so cold, then he must have been shaking.

So on the way to follow them to the parking lot, Weixia didn't know why, and always looked at Minglou with some worry, but soon, he found that it was his own worry that was unnecessary-the two elders walked very On the contrary, it was him who had to work harder to keep up.

Mingcheng was still driving that day, and Weixia sat in the back seat with Minglou.They drove along the East River first. The weather was good and the river looked very beautiful.After watching the river scene, Mingcheng walked along East 42nd Street and turned onto Fifth Avenue, and then introduced the city to Weisha who came to New York for the first time while Minglou was asking about Weisha's family affairs.

It wasn't until this time that Wei Xia realized that they had deliberately brought him for sightseeing.

Sightseeing returned to sightseeing, and Mingcheng arrived at the restaurant before five o'clock without any delay. On the way, Minglou asked Weixia what he wanted to eat, but Weixia refused to make the decision, so Minglou picked a Chinese restaurant they often went to.

It was a Shanghai cuisine restaurant that also served Suzhou cuisine. The restaurant's dinner market hadn't opened yet, but Minglou was a regular customer. Seeing him bring guests, the counter opened early for them.

Minglou didn't even look at the menu, he ordered a dish and asked Wei Xia once, is this okay?Wei Xia was embarrassed when asked, and said: "Although I am from Shanghai according to my ancestral home, I have never even been back to Shanghai. It seems that I have no relatives in my hometown, so Uncle Lou and Uncle Cheng, you two make up your mind. I Not picky eaters. It’s already causing you a lot of trouble.”

The proprietress who took the order for them was quite familiar with Minglou and Mingcheng. When she saw the new-faced guests, she smiled and greeted them: "Mr. Cheng, what are you doing?"

Mingcheng unpacked the tea sent by Mingtai and was washing the cups to prepare for brewing. Hearing this, he glanced at Wei Xia, and replied with a smile, "Nephew Allah, I'm going to New York for some business, so I'll visit Allah by the way."

"Oh, from Alida eh?"

"Los Angeles."

"Old soul in Los Angeles, Ala's nephew is also there."

Wei Xia grew up in the north, so he can only hear a rough idea of ​​Shanghainese, but he can't speak it.In recent years, the only father in the family who can speak Shanghainese has also spoken less—probably because his old friends who can speak Shanghainese with him are no longer around.At this time, in a foreign land, with unfamiliar elders, the scent of Biluochun smelled on his nose, which really made Weixia feel dazed, as if all the memories of his youth came back all at once.The life in his memory was obviously like this.

Seeing that the proprietress was busy talking to Mingcheng, Minglou hurriedly called out to Mingcheng: "Nong, gossip and gossip, help me order. Wei Xia will be back at the hotel at 06:30."

Mingcheng pushed the brewed tea in front of Minglou: "Would you like me to order food? Please order it, Allah just cut it. Oh, please order Fei Chenguang's dishes, it's too late."

"Yu Nonggang."

Then he said to Wei Xia who was a little at a loss because he didn't know what he could do: "He likes to order food the most. We let him make up his mind."

After speaking, Mingcheng smiled and blinked at Weixia: "Today is a hurry, we can eat whatever we want. When will we go back?"

"I don't know yet." Wei Xia hesitated, "We have to wait until the 25th. Uncle Lou may know about this..."

He looked at Minglou more hesitantly, but at this moment Minglou's attention was all on discussing the dishes with the proprietress, as if he didn't hear what Wei Xia said.After ordering, Ming Lou took off his glasses and looked at Wei Xia again: "If the result on the 25th is as you and I wish, when will you go back?"

He couldn't help but trembled in his heart, and after gathering his composure, he replied, "I don't know. Maybe I'll leave later, or maybe I'll stay longer. Listen to the arrangement."

Minglou nodded, picked up the tea and took a sip: "Oh, Biluochun."

"Well, this year's new tea. Dad specially asked me to bring it here. It's not easy to bring anything else. You can try it."

"Very good." Minglou smiled again, and continued to ask him, "On the way here, you said that your father is now at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, so will he come in November? ——I know that many of you who work for the Communist Party You can't say anything, if it violates your discipline, you don't have to say it."

Because his father didn't say hello, Wei Xia didn't know what the identities of the two people in front of him were, and what standpoint they were talking to him with.But at the same time, he also discovered that he didn't miss a word of every word he said.Just waiting for the right opportunity to bring it up.

But my father also said that as long as it is a family matter, you can talk about it.So Wei Xia thought about it, and answered this question in a different way - he didn't have to say it.But he still said it, maybe because they said that Jiahui is very similar to his aunt—but this way of saying it is still difficult: "My father's legs are not very good now, and he basically doesn't participate in the work that requires overseas assignments."

Minglou and Mingcheng immediately fell silent.After a while, Minglou said softly, "I don't know about this."

Wei Xia wanted to smile politely, but he didn't laugh: "It's nothing. It's just that it's more severe when the season changes."

"Rheumatism?" Mingcheng asked.

Weisha shook his head.

Suddenly, Ming Lou looked at him: "That's not all good."

"what?"

"I just asked you how your family is doing. You should tell us this first."

Only then did Wei Xia realize that once his Uncle Lou stopped smiling, the sense of oppression in the room would be completely different.

He wasn't afraid of him, and with an inexplicable sense of awe, he met Minglou's eyes and looked over: "My dad made a special trip to explain this. You don't have to worry, people who came from that age will always suffer from illness at this age Yes. The whole family is doing well. He doesn’t smoke and quit drinking. After moving, he couldn’t raise birds, so he raised two tortoises and cleaned up a few pots of orchids. Usually, if the weather is good, he can still play in the yard when he wakes up in the morning. How about Tai Chi now?"

Having said that, Wei Xia laughed: "So just now you asked, when will I go back, I don't know how to answer you. I want to go back early, Jiahui is not at home now, even though there are neighbors, I still need to spend more time with him rest assured."

He didn't mention anything about his mother, and they didn't ask about it. Wei Xia only thought that they knew it all, and subconsciously felt that they might indeed know it all.After he finished speaking, Minglou's face finally softened a little. At this time, the food happened to be served, so all the previous topics came to an end for the time being. Mingcheng filled a bowl of soup for Wei Xia and told him He said, "Your father likes to eat this. Hurry up and don't be late when you get home."

The ham and chicken soup was so delicious that Weixia, who was used to eating it in the cafeteria, almost swallowed it with his tongue.He almost ate all the braised pork knuckles, drank half of the soup, and soon broke into a sweat. Later, when the fried rice cakes with crab were served, he only picked the rice cakes inside.

Mingcheng thought he was embarrassed, so he picked a good piece for him and put it on the plate. Unexpectedly, Wei Xia put down his chopsticks with some embarrassment, and smiled softly: "Well, Uncle Cheng, I don't know how to eat crabs. In Beijing, we also Don’t eat this. Aunt Xiang sent us some drunk crabs before, but at that time I was still young and couldn’t eat them, so I never learned it. Eat it, don’t waste it.”

Mingcheng was taken aback, looked at Minglou, pointed at Minglou and said to Weixia: "What's the matter? Let your Uncle Lou teach you, I didn't know how to do it before, he taught me... But your father really You are raised as northern children."

Ming Lou glanced at the clock, and said with a smile, "Don't be in a hurry to learn this. In this way, you can come to my house some other day, and I will teach you. You have to be patient when eating crabs. Your father is impatient. I think you are much more patient than him." , can be taught."

Wei Xia laughed again, and finally got up the courage to ask: "Uncle Lou, how did you and my father meet?"

This question came as no surprise.Minglou answered him very slowly, his tone was gentle and watertight: "When he was in France, he came to join us. The three of us are fellow villagers."

"So we met in France. He never said much about his time in France."

Minglou also laughed, put down his chopsticks and asked him, "What did he say?"

Wei Xia thought about it, and replied: "It is said that he worked and studied part-time, and suffered a lot."

"Oh? What have you suffered?" Minglou asked again.

"I have to wash clothes, cook for people, and do chores. I can't sleep for a few hours a day. I only earn living expenses and tuition fees."

Mingcheng lowered his eyes, Minglou remained calm, and nodded: "I don't know about it either. I've never heard him mention it. It's too painful."

"That must have happened before I met you? He refused to say more..."

Ming Lou said lightly: "That's right, I don't want to mention the hard times."

Wei Xia thought about it, and felt that he should thank him: "Thank you for taking care of my father in France. If I had known this kind of friendship, I should have brought more gifts..."

Minglou's tone was still very flat: "We are all from the same village, he is young, so he should be taken care of."

Hearing this, Mingcheng smiled and divided the picked crab meat into the plates of the old and the young: "Hurry up and eat it, we still have 10 minutes to leave at most."

Mints and fortune cookies were given as usual at checkout.Minglou usually doesn't touch this thing, but because Weixia is here today and looks a little curious, he makes an exception and demolishes it, and explains this unique North American tradition to Weixia by the way.

The note attached to Weixia's own biscuits is "Heaven rewards hard work", Minglou's is "All wishes come true", Mingcheng's is the most interesting, and it says "Red Luan stars move, good things come in pairs".Mingcheng shook his head with a smile: "If you're old, I'll give it to Wei Xia."

Wei Xia was not married yet, and had never been in a relationship, so he blushed and refused to take it, which was embarrassing. This reaction fell into the eyes of the elders, which was also funny, so he stopped pressing.Before going out, Mingcheng saw the child walking ahead, so he stuffed the note into Minglou's windbreaker pocket.

New York in the twilight is a different look - there are many cities in the world, day and night are like two countries, and New York may be one of the places with the biggest difference between day and night.Wei Xia had never seen any place before, and the night was so bright, he looked out of the window in a daze, until Mingcheng parked the car, and then realized that there was a hotel across the road.

I looked at my watch, it was twenty past six.

He quickly thanked, and then said goodbye.Before saying goodbye, Minglou stopped him and said, "If you are free these days and want to take a look around, just call us. We also hope that you can come to our house as a guest. There is a guest room at home, if your discipline allows , it’s okay to stay.”

He reported the phone number to Wei Xia, and only said it once, without asking him if he remembered it.

Wei Xia felt that Uncle Lou was really weird.

He still politely agreed, and then opened the car door.

Ke Minglou stopped him.

"Wei Xia." Looking at Wei Xia's surprised face, Minglou just smiled, "To make a long story short, you see, you and I, Uncle Cheng, are two people. You also said before that there is only one gift..."

Wei Xia was stunned.

At this time, Mingcheng laughed, turned his head and said to Minglou first, "Look at you scaring the child", and then said to Wei Xia who raised his heart high: "He wants the photo of your family. Okay. , I want it too. So the two old ones of us had no choice but to ask you for it.”

In the past minute, thousands of thoughts really drifted through Wei Xia's mind, from the worst "what if I really encounter class enemies" to the slightly better "I don't know if the dollars in my pocket are enough" Yes, until Mingcheng finished speaking for a long time, he was still frozen in his seat, and finally woke up suddenly, and took out the photo.

But this time, the fingers touching him were still cold, and there was a real trembling again.

Wei Xia didn't know who caused this trembling.

This trembling inexplicably gave him courage, so he asked the questions that had been lingering in his mind since he entered the UN headquarters.

Before asking, he was not sure whether the other party could answer his question.Don't even know if this is an appropriate question.

But without any reason, he felt that he could trust the person in front of him.And he can give himself the answer.

"That, Uncle Lou. The debate is going to start tomorrow, isn't it?"

The next answer let him know that he was asking the right question—Ming Lou not only knew what Wei Xia was asking, but also answered his question: "Yes. From tomorrow until the 25th, it will be a debate period. "

"That……?"

"No one can predict the future. But I have always believed that if the process is controlled, the ending is written and we just have to wait for the day when it comes." His answer was very calm.

Wei Xia laughed, and the nervousness caused by asking the question subsided a lot: "Thank you for saying that."

"Then I hope you and I both get what we want."

Minglou held out his hand to him.

Wei Xia hugged him, hugging him like a dearest relative——

"Thank you very much. See you on the 25th."

END

The last time I chatted with a friend, she said that she went to Santa Barbara to interview Bai Xianyong.After the interview, Mr. Bai invited them to dinner.The hospitality was hard to turn down, so I went.

Who knew that the restaurant Mr. Bai picked was the one they went to a few days ago. The dishes are horrific, General Tso's chicken, chop suey, all kinds of food with tomato sauce, all the conceivable North American "Chinese" vegetable".

She originally thought, in this case, bite the bullet and eat.It's up to the host.

Who knew that in the same restaurant, she had the best Chinese meal she had ever eaten in the United States.

So her conclusion is: what kind of person you eat with is very important.

×

Another gossip.After hearing the story, I asked her, is that cypress tree still in the yard?Is there only one tree?

Yes, it is still there, what is missing is still not filled.