Kaifeng Bistro

A few days later, the first light snow fell in Kaifeng.The restaurants and people in Kaifeng began to get busy—the winter cured meat was pickled and stored for the winter. The weather gradually became dry, and it was time to pickle the cured meat. Even in this deep alley near Taixue, there were There was a burst of strong aroma.

The scholars living in the two-row mansion shop gradually noticed that there were new residents at the end of the alley.A thin and handsome young man with a beautiful servant girl and two servants, one big and one small, rented the small and dilapidated shop. Taking advantage of the clear weather after the snow, they kept busy inside and out. with.

The people living in the mansion are all the scholars who went to Beijing to rush for the exam and failed the exam. Many of them come from far away hometowns. After failing the exam once, they simply stay and "re-study" until the next exam, so as not to waste time on the road and pay homage to celebrities. , see the world, and make friends with scholars in the capital.

The nearby alleys are very close to the Imperial College, Taixue and other universities, so there are few vacant houses, and they are always full.

"Tan Zhifeng? Tan Zhifeng, don't pretend you can't hear me. The oil on the walls and floor of this table, chair, and floor is thicker than the city walls of Kaifeng. You plan to let us live here? Is this the place you rent for three yuan a month? "

Tan Zhifeng walked out helplessly, followed by the tall young man in green shirt.He put all his belongings in bet to the owner of the house, and even showed his hand in front of the man, so that the man agreed to temporarily rent the house to him for a month.If they can't pay the rent for the first half of the year by the end of the month, they have to pack up and leave immediately.

Tan Zhifeng and the young man worked together to erect a wooden signboard at the door, facing the entrance of the alley.Inside the open door, the girl was holding a pair of maids on her arms, wearing a peach-colored gauze shirt in winter, gnashing her teeth and rubbing a horse brush against the wall, looking like she wanted to tear down the wall.

"Sister Zhuozhuo, it's not good for the liver to be so angry." Behind the girl was the honest boy.He was also trying to wash the ground, but there were too many stains on the ground. When a bucket of water was poured down, it became black when it reached the door: "Yi Yi said, be careful that you will lose all the leaves next spring. In this case, you will lose all your leaves." When I become a human, I will lose my hair..."

The girl named Zhuo Zhuo who said this sentence jumped into a rage, turned around and grabbed the bucket from the boy's hand and threw it outside the door.Tan Zhifeng said to the young man outside the door: "Yiyi, this thing looks awkward no matter how you look at it, plus this supporting base, with the word Zhifeng written on it, it feels a bit like..."

"... a bit like a grave." Yi Yi glanced at it and replied sincerely.

As soon as he finished speaking, a basin of cold water was poured over his head.This splash carried the anger of the girl Zhuozhuo who hated iron for several days, and drenched Tan Zhifeng and the boy at the door.

"Ah! Zhuozhuo, you crazy!" Yiyi finally lost his composure, and rushed into the room splashing water all over him, and the whole martial arts was staged, and the only few tables and chairs left in the room were shattered into pieces of wood.

"Excuse me..." Tan Zhifeng was roughly estimating his loss, while hesitating whether to sacrifice a little spiritual power to dry the clothes on his body, when a strange voice suddenly sounded behind him: "Are you... newcomers?"

Tan Zhifeng was taken aback, thinking that it was fortunate that he held back just now, otherwise the other party would turn around and run away when he saw the water all over his body evaporate in an instant, and then went to Daxiangguo Temple to call for someone to catch the demon...

He looked back, and there was a sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy standing behind him, wearing a thick gown woven with gold satin, and the long gown inside was randomly tied with silk ribbons, standing at the door sleepily.His skin is not fair, he has a square face, two sword eyebrows, big and dark eyes, he is tall, and his facial features are quite regular, but his complexion is a bit dull.

The young man was obviously taken aback when he saw Tan Zhifeng, and suddenly lost sleepiness.He stood up straight, grinned embarrassingly, saluted first, and then pointed to the back sideways: "My name is Chen Qing, I'm Zijin, I'm a student of Guangwen Museum, and I live diagonally opposite."

Tan Zhifeng wiped his face, returned a salute, and said, "My surname is Tan." Then he patted the wooden sign beside him that was dripping with water: "My name is Tan Zhifeng."

"When I woke up in the morning, it smelled very fragrant on the opposite side." Tan Qing said, his face turned red again: "I thought there was a foot shop here. It used to sell pancakes, but then old man Zhang died, and no one lived there for a long time."

"What?!" Zhuo Zhuo rushed out of the room: "It's still a haunted house... Eh... Zhifeng, who is this?"

"No, no," Chen Qing quickly explained: "He didn't die here, he died in his hometown, and he didn't come back when he went back to his hometown. Later, I heard that he had already left. He was over 60, and he was old, so he was considered dead. "

"This is Chen Qing and Chen Zijin." Seeing Zhuo Zhuo, Luo Zhifeng didn't know what to say, and hurriedly introduced to the three people standing in a row at the door: "They are students of Guangwen Museum. These three are my... "

"Hehe, Mr. Chen!" Zhuo Zhuo saw the handsome Chen Qing with bright eyes: "We are all helpers in the store, my name is Zhuo Zhuo..." After finishing speaking, he pointed at the young man in blue and the boy again. : "The silly tall guy is called Yiyi, and this kid is Shangshang."

Chen Qing was at a loss: "Mr. Tan, the name of your servant is very special..."

Chen Qing hadn't finished speaking, but there was a "goo" in his stomach.

Tan Zhifeng imagined the appalling store, and while anxiously thinking of a solution, he said: "Actually, this store hasn't opened yet, but there is food in the back kitchen. You... If you want, come in and eat something. No money from you."

Smells of fragrance came, Chen Qing nodded without hesitation: "It is enough to have a mouthful of hot rice to fill my stomach, and I have to go to the Guangwen Museum to listen to the teacher's lecture." Looking at them: "Aren't you cold in this weather?"

Yi Yi was the first to come back to his senses, tugged on his turquoise flowing robe, held his head up, turned around and entered the room without saying a word.

Shangshang looked at his brown bunt suspiciously: "Thank you for your concern, I'm not cold."

Zhuozhuo rolled his eyes: "I suddenly feel so cold... Mr. Han, lend me this padded robe..."

Tan Zhifeng took a deep breath: "Mr. Han, don't be surprised. We were working in the store just now. This place has been unoccupied for a long time. It's very tiring to clean up, and I'm sweating all over."

Chen Qing was hesitating whether to take off the padded robe and hand it to Zhuo Zhuo, but Tan Zhifeng had already stopped him: "No, no, come in quickly."

Chen Qing followed Tan Zhifeng into this small and dilapidated house from the outside. The wooden sign at the door stood there funny, and the water on it was almost frozen to ice.But as soon as he opened the dark blue cotton curtain and walked into the house, he was completely stunned.The room is very warm, not a trace of cold can be felt.Now Chen Qing seems to have found the answer to his question: "So it's so comfortable inside?"

Tan Zhifeng raised his hand and pointed, and saw that this small room was separated by half a wall, a hole was dug in the wall, and the fire in the middle was burning.In addition, the morning sun came in from the front and back of the house, and the whole room was refreshing and bright. Chen Qing broke out in a thin layer of sweat immediately, and took off the cotton robe.

The surrounding walls are no longer the greasy appearance when Zhuo Zhuo scrubbed them desperately in the morning, but are clean and pleasing to the eye.There are wooden signs hanging on it like wind chimes, which are gently shaken by the wind that opens the door.

On the left hand side is a table for collecting bills, and on the right side are four or five wooden tables against the wall.The shapes of the wooden tables are not regular, but the surface is very flat. After a layer of varnish, it still retains the original shape and grain of the wood, with a fragrance of the forest.There is a table and four chairs, and the chairs are wooden piles, and the annual rings can be seen clearly at the cut-offs.

At the corner of the table and by the wall, there are small pots of various flowers and plants, decorated with clumps of green, the whole room does not look like a tavern, but a small flower garden.At the end of the house there is a narrow staircase leading to the upper floor, presumably the upper part is where people live.

Chen Qing's eyes were full of surprise, but he still stood motionless at the door.Tan Zhifeng, who was walking back, turned his head and stared at the three "buddies" who were sitting at the table looking at Tan Qing with their cheeks on their hands, and finally couldn't help it: "Zhao Zhuo, Yi Yi, get up and entertain the guests! Changshang, come with me!" I'll come back and help!"

"Oh!" The three of them hurriedly got up from the table and started working as if they had just woken up from a dream.

Tan Zhifeng looked back at his masterpiece, and couldn't help but smile.When he came to the stove, he lifted the big log cover and looked down. He saw the porridge in the pot bubbling and bubbling, and the rice popped, but it was not cooked to a pulp, and the water and rice blended together. , soft, glutinous and creamy, with a thin layer of rice oil floating on the top, fragrant, and it seems that the heat is just right.

Tan Zhifeng rolled up his sleeves and began to scoop out the porridge cooked on the stove.Then, he wiped his hands and put a bowl of porridge on the wooden plate. Just as he wanted Shangshang to take it out, he suddenly remembered that he had dried the bamboo shoots a few days ago, so he ordered Shangshang to find it out, and cut the bamboo shoots into pieces by himself. Thin silk, filled a small plate.

In order to show his respect for the first customer who came to the door, Tan Zhifeng took out the wooden tray himself, walked to the table and saw that Chen Qing was leaning against the wall, frowning, obviously a little tired.Besides being hungry, there seemed to be something bothering him.

The porridge and bamboo shoots were put in front of Chen Qing, and the gloom between his brows dissipated instantly, holding the porridge bowl and waving a spoon, he gorged himself and drank it under the staring eyes of burning surprise. After finishing drinking, he put the bowl on the table: "The shopkeeper Yes, can I have another bowl?"

Tan Zhifeng had already returned to the back kitchen, and Changshang, who was the servant in front, hurried in to serve the second bowl of porridge. Only then did Chen Qing notice the preserved bamboo shoots on the table, and took a bite to taste. There seemed to be a fragrance of nectar in the saltiness , His eyes lit up immediately, and after a while, he swept away the plate of preserved bamboo shoots.

So, Changshang put down the porridge, and ran back to get the bamboo shoots. Just as the bamboo shoots were filled, Chen Qing's bowl of porridge had already bottomed out.On the third trip back and forth, Chen Qing finally took the white cotton cloth handed over by Zhuo Zhuo and wiped his mouth: "I'm full."

Tan Zhifeng came out from behind, saw that Tan Qing's face was reddish, with some sweat on his forehead, his face regained the spirit and luster that a young man should have, and said with a smile: "Okay, now I can go to study with peace of mind. Alright."