go the same way

"Hey, Xiao Pei is back. Did you just arrive? Why are you standing at the door?" The aunt is also warm-hearted and friendly with her neighbors. Li Pei is not withdrawn. She must have known her well before, "This is Dr. Nie, Xiao Jiang introduced it, he came to see the house, and you two may become neighbors in the future. Hey, the family really has a lot of turnover, otherwise I don’t really want to sell it.”

After all, he realized that he was complaining, and smiled awkwardly: "I will not go back on what has been decided. Doctor Nie, don't worry, the house will definitely be sold."

"I met Dr. Nie yesterday." Li Pei nodded to Nie Xunqiu, "Auntie, I lost my house key. Do you have any contact information to call the locksmith?"

The neighbor said "Oh": "Yes, yes, I remember I called once before, I copied the number, I will find it for you later."

As soon as the eloquent woman left, it was as if a hand was stretched out to turn off the boiling water, and the atmosphere immediately fell silent.

"Staying in a hotel is not an option. I mentioned it to Dr. Jiang and decided to stay here. She told me that a friend was leaving the house in a hurry. She told me this morning and let me come in the afternoon." Nie Xunqiu broke the silence, "No It's a coincidence that you live here too."

Li Pei's fluctuating heart was finally willing to stop at this moment, and stayed safely in his chest.

He responded with a calm expression: "Yes. It's very close to the company."

As soon as the words were finished, the neighbor who entered the house to look for things came out with a palm-sized contact book. When he turned to the last page, there was a note of a different color stuck inside, on which was a copied phone number.

Li Pei dialed according to the string of numbers, and said his address and request.

Maybe the master was very skilled, or there were a lot of people who forgot to bring their keys today, so they should come down there, but there are still several residents in front of Li Pei waiting to unlock and go home.

After hanging up the phone, Li Pei returned the note to his aunt and said, "Thank you, he will come here for a while. Dr. Nie probably hasn't eaten yet, Auntie, why don't we go out to eat together."

The neighbor declined: "No, when I came here, the ribs were being simmered at home, and it's just right to go back now. You can go with Dr. Nie, Dr. Nie, and we will talk tomorrow. It will really help you a lot."

Nie Xunqiu was very easy-going: "Okay, see you tomorrow."

The locksmith and Li Pei estimated the time to be about an hour. Li Pei didn't plan to take Nie Xunqiu too far away, so he simply relied on his memory and walked along the neighborhood with him, until they arrived at an alley where there was a restaurant called "Family Taste". Very authentic home-cooked Sichuan restaurant.

Even though he is in another time and space, many details still overlap with the past, such as the house number of his house, the name of each road, the plane trees planted on the sidewalk, and the old restaurant hidden in the shade in summer.

Sometimes he doesn't want Cunhe to follow the shadow, occasionally takes a taxi to work, and doesn't go home for dinner, and after saying goodbye to Li Yuan at the company, he strolls around the city by himself, blending into a small corner of the city with everyone passing by.

That is, the house and this old shop that were discovered in this way.

It was dark and there was only one table left when they entered.The diners are all nearby residents. There are young couples who are too lazy to start a business, young parents who come to eat directly after picking up their children, and office workers who order a dish and a soup and gobble it up.When Li Pei came to this store for the first time, there were almost as many people as there. He sat down and listened to the gossip around him. He felt that the world was very lively for a long time, and there were endless joys and sorrows, as if they could all be related to him. .

But in fact, he is just a bystander, unable to enter other people's lives, and outsiders just pass him by.

He used to think that Cun He understood him, but he was wrong.

The back kitchen was busy serving dishes, the flames on the stove flew over the head of the spoon, and the heavy iron pan and the spoon bumped against each other, arousing the strong aroma of prickly ash and pepper, which filled the entire store.

The waiter who was busy before and after was also the proprietress. She left a plastic-wrapped menu and two sets of plastic-wrapped sterilized tableware, and then turned to pay for the next table.

Li Peilai has eaten there many times. He flipped the menu over, pushed it to Nie Xunqiu, and wiped the table with a piece of paper himself: "You have lived abroad for so many years, you should not eat offal, right?"

The environment here is much better than some small fly restaurants, and the table is not greasy. Li Pei has seen the proprietress carefully clean the table, but she wiped it with a piece of paper, and learned from observing the regular customers.These dispensable details made him feel that he was getting closer to the ordinary, and he could also look forward to a new life tomorrow.

Nie Xunqiu stayed in a post-war country that was in need of prosperity. Food and clothing were far from being solved. The supply of the station relied on imports, and sometimes the supply was not so timely, or it was distributed to severely malnourished children. I also buy some cassava and fish locally to make rough food to satisfy my hunger.

But it's better than the days when there was nothing before.

Nie Xunqiu quickly browsed the menu: "I have no taboos."

"Then let's have liver and waist stir-fry. This restaurant is very clean and not smelly." Li Pei called the proprietress over to order, "I also want a mapo tofu, Kung Pao chicken, and sauerkraut vermicelli soup."

The proprietress quickly wrote down, took away the menu, went to the back kitchen and reported it in dialect. The chef let out a "hey", and his voice was swallowed by the rush.

"The dry-stir-fried shredded beef here is delicious. It's not deep-fried, but low-fired. It takes time." Li Pei poked a hole in the plastic package with chopsticks, opened it with his hands, and put the dishes and Take out the cups one by one, "Eat casually today, no more drinking."

"Come and try when there are few people." Nie Xunqiu imitated his example and swiftly took apart the tableware in front of him.He picked up the small teapot on the side, touched it lightly, and found that the tea in it was only lukewarm, and it was fine to drink, but the temperature for scalding the bowl was not up to the mark. He turned his head and was about to call the proprietress who shuttled between the tables to stop .

"Doctor Nie," Li Pei stretched out his hand to try it out, "The tea is not very hot, just leave it alone, and the dishes we ordered are not spicy. There are drinks here, if you want to drink, just ask her to come over and open it, and they will be together at the end paid the bill."

Nie Xunqiu turned around.He didn't want to drink water, but subconsciously felt that Li Pei might be picky about dirty dishes, and wanted a pot of hot water to scald them.On the side of the table against the wall, there is a small shelf with three round holes in the middle, just enough to put down drinks in glass bottles. Every time a group of customers leave, the proprietress will take out soda from under the counter to fill the vacancy.

They hadn't eaten in a store hidden in a small street like this before. It was very narrow here, and he was a bit too tall, with nowhere to rest his legs, making it extremely crowded.

Even so close, he could clearly see that long-lost face.

In just a short while, the dishes were quickly cooked, and the first one served was the Stir-Fried Liver and Kidney that Li Pei had mentioned.The dishes on the plate are brightly colored, and the smell is already tempting.The pork loin is cut with a flower knife, and it blooms like ears of wheat, and is wrapped in bright red pickled peppers. 1 minute, but it is a test of the master's craftsmanship. Obviously, the chef of this restaurant has rich experience, the fire is just right, the liver and waist are very crisp and tender, and there is really no smell.

After a few mouthfuls of one dish, the next one was brought up. Although they didn't order many, the taste of each dish was quite different, and the taste was rich in layers.

"Doctor Nie, although it's not appropriate to say these things to you on this occasion," Li Pei put down his chopsticks and wiped his mouth with a tissue, "but I still want to be frank, so as not to deepen the misunderstanding."

Nie Xunqiu's lips were still numb with prickly ash.Li Pei looked at him with serious eyes, cold and distant, and the numbness on the tip of his tongue seemed to be forced back by such eyes, which made him put down the movements of his hands unconsciously and listen to the other party's next words.

"You are very similar to a person I knew in the past. You have the same appearance, figure, and age. You can even find the corresponding words for the name. There are many unhappiness and conflicts between me and him, which cannot be resolved. I know you are two people, it will make me look weird to say that, this is my problem, you have done nothing wrong, so my solution is, I will pay for the auntie's rent, the name is still yours, after all you I have already promised her that my current house will be vacated as soon as possible, if you like, you can live in it directly, and then I will transfer it to you, lease it, sell it, and let you dispose of it."

There was a lot of noise all around, but Li Pei spoke every word clearly, Nie Xunqiu heard it, and felt that the surroundings were still too quiet.

He put his hands under the table and grabbed the trouser legs that were ironed without wrinkles, feeling his palms getting wet and dripping with cold sweat.

The heart sank amidst the din, and almost stopped beating.

He didn't ask who that person was, he knew it all too well.

The first time he saw Li Pei last night, he thought it was a reunion.

It was a long absence. From birth to death, meeting someone who only existed in the past is enough to be called a miracle.

Now, Nie Xunqiu knows that Li Pei has the memory of that world, and he hates him. Even if the person in front of him has an identity that is no longer shady, and his behavior and speech are no longer similar, he wants to stay away.

Nie Xunqiu thought that the two parties who used the word "reunion" should be unexpected and yearning for each other. Li Pei left that world in the most decisive way at the beginning, without leaving a word. If he didn't say goodbye, he just didn't think about it. to come back again.

There is no reunion between them.

He knew that he hadn't been exposed yet, so Nie Xunqiu pretended to be puzzled: "The price of the house is not cheap...Although my income is not high, I still have some savings, so I can pay my aunt with it. You don't have to move, you I also said, that is someone you knew in the past, why escape from the existing good life for a past tense? There are many similar people in this world, but life only belongs to you.”

"You said that on purpose. I know you have a lump in your heart. I understand. I'm still working for Doctors Without Borders. I have urgent missions to leave at any time. I might leave tomorrow, so you don't have to worry too much about seeing me every day."