spring dream

006

Dumplings stuffed with pork and scallions, dipped in vinegar sauce with added sugar and chili oil, Lu Xiaozhao can eat about twenty of them.Old man Xiao put down his chopsticks, and he stopped talking. First, he sent the old man back to his room for bed. After finishing everything in the main room, he went to the table to continue the second round.

Lu Ran handed him a few dumplings from his plate, stacked the dishes and glanced at Xiao E, the man only drank a bowl of dumpling soup: "Eat a little, Xiao Zhao specially made your favorite stuffing. "

"Yeah." Xiao Er responded briefly, grabbed the thick side of the dumpling leaf and put one in his mouth. He couldn't taste the saltiness, and forced four or five of them into his mouth, which was tasteless, and he became addicted to cigarettes.He took out the cigarette pack from his pocket, sipped one with his mouth, saw Lu Xiaozhao coming from the main room, and did not light up.

Lu Xiaozhao sat back on the stool, grabbed the vinegar dish and poured the dumplings on it, and made another plate.He looked at Xiao Er, then at Lu Ran, neither of them moved their chopsticks, put down the bowl a little embarrassedly, and scratched their bangs with a smile.

"Eat yours." Lu Ran's index finger flicked down his forehead, Lu Xiaozhao's eyes turned red, and the corners of his lips raised, he picked up the handle of the spoon to scoop up preserved egg tofu, "Oh", suddenly thought of something, his expression froze, he got up and ran to The kitchen, yelling while running, "I forgot all about it, and I made a lot of pastries."

The big square iron plate is filled to the brim, and there are all kinds of dim sum in all shapes and colors.In the early years, when Mr. Xiao planned to turn the teahouse into a restaurant, he specially learned how to do it from a few aunts and sisters who sang operas, but it didn't come in handy in the end. Xiao E didn't allow anyone to think about the teahouse.

Even courtyard houses are not allowed to be bought or sold.Lu Xiaozhao understood that he was afraid that Wen Qi would not be able to hear the opera and see the scenery in the courtyard, so he didn't want to come back.

Lu Xiaozhao began to "report the names of the dishes": "Donkey Rolling, Ai Wowo, Opening Smile, Pea Yellow, Mending Biscuit, Rose Cake, Beef Tongue Cake, Osmanthus Crisp and... Cherry Blossom Red Bean Glutinous Rice Cake."

When the last dessert was announced, from the corner of the eye, he peeked at the expression on Xiao Er's face, and sure enough, the cigarette pack twirled between his fingers fell to the table, and he looked towards himself.

"Master Xiao, try one?" Lu Xiaozhao wrapped a piece in glutinous rice paper and handed it to him.Xiao Er took it, his eyes fell on the pastry and he refused to move away, his wrist rested on the edge of the table, and he took a long time to bite into his mouth.

Familiar taste.

"Is it delicious?" Wen Qi pressed down Xiao Er's leftover glutinous rice cake wrapping paper and asked, leaning on his shoulder.

Xiao Er had a bitter look on his face: "It's so sweet."

Wen Qi kept talking, chewing mouthful after mouthful: "Well, it's obviously delicious."

"Master Xiao."

Xiao E paused his hands when he heard the sound, looked at Lu Xiaozhao with his mouth half open, and heard him ask again: "Is it delicious?"

After a while, he nodded dully and replied softly: "It's delicious."

The pantothenic acid stomach has some sweetness, which is much more comfortable.Lu Xiaozhao washed the dishes and tidied up the stove, Lu Ran wiped off the water stains on the bowls and chopsticks, put them in the cupboard, put down his rolled-up sleeves, stepped outside the house, walked to the bare pomegranate branches, and looked at the east wing with Xiao E. A red plum tree planted on the side has a few red flower bones emerging from the end of the branches: "This is the only warm color in the yard."

"Wen Qi doesn't want to see only white in winter. The red plum saplings were bought at the flower market in Hujialou seven years ago." A little star was ignited on the fingertips of Er, he took a deep breath greedily, and then slowly exhaled, "Red plums, wintersweets and green plums, red, pink, and green, made him dizzy. I wanted to choose my favorite yellow wintersweet tree. In the end, I chose this red plum."

"Why?" Lu Ran asked.

The second puff of the cigarette lasted longer and longer, and with a puff of depression in his chest, Xiao Er smiled and stroked his eyebrows with his thumb: "Because I like red."

There is something wrong with the financial system of the restaurant’s collection of bills. A customer’s payment/ticket was issued incorrectly, and she couldn’t make a hit temporarily. Sister Fang, the head of the troupe, called Xiao E. Xiao E answered a few simple answers and hung up. Turning to Lu Ran, he said, "I'll go back to the teahouse and stay there at night."

Lu Ran raised one eyebrow, and said jokingly, "Let Xiao Zhao go, there's no reason to order the boss to run errands."

"Sarcasm for me?" Xiao Er pointed at him with the cigarette-clamping finger.

"How dare you." Lu Ran lightly squeezed his wrist, stepped forward, and looked at him at the same level. The two people, who were about the same age, the same size, but very different personalities, knew each other what they were going to say next.After a long pause, Lu Ran spoke first, "Anyway, don't break yourself."

"Not at all." Xiao Er chuckled twice, pulled out his hands and hugged his chest, "Grandpa is still right in saying something, if you don't let others down, you don't receive the other's kindness in vain. So even if I live on, I have to Live on, this life belongs to Wen Qi, and I have no right to end it."

Lu Ran couldn't empathize with Xiao E's pain, but he thought about it differently, if this kind of accident happened to him and Lu Xiaozhao, it might not be better than Xiao E's.

He said softly, "Put on your scarf, the temperature has dropped."

The ferret at his feet jumped up with an arched back, jumped onto the waist of Xiao Er's trousers, climbed all the way along his jacket, and then curled up around his neck, with his head resting on his chin, rubbing his nose flatteringly.

"It's really obedient." Lu Ran raised his hand to smooth his snow-white hair, "Are you almost eight years old?"

"Seven and a half years old." Xiao Er said the time more accurately, after all, he is a person who counts the days.He turned and walked out the door, "Wen Qi brought it back when he was one year and three months old."

"Xiao Er." Lu Ran stopped him.

Xiao Er turned his head and looked at Lu Ran and the dim courtyard behind him for no apparent reason.

Lu Xiaozhao packed up everything at home, and ran to Lu Ran with his suit and coat. The voice next to his ear was clean and clear: "Wen Qi will be back."

The two looked at the lonely figure standing in the darkness together.

Xiao Er nodded, took the cigarette from his lips, and smiled at the corner of his eyes: "Well, thank you."