Kaifeng Bistro

Tan Zhifeng was suddenly flustered by the wind, his hand stopped awkwardly in mid-air, only an inch away from the opponent's face.He exhausted what little spiritual power he had left today, and suppressed the restlessness that was in chaos in his heart.At the same time, he tried his best to move his gaze to the side, retracted his hand, and said in a low voice, "You're awake."

The man hummed and said, "I woke up just now, but I don't have much strength."

"Hehe, um, when did you wake up?" Zhuo Zhuo carefully leaned forward, shaking his hand in front of his eyes: "Are you dizzy? Do your feet hurt? Are your heart, liver, and lungs all okay?"

The man slowly sat up from the floor, stared at Zhuo Zhuo and said, "Since you said 'Leave him as a coolie and don't need to give him money'."

Zhuo Zhuo laughed dryly, left the burden behind and walked away.Tan Zhifengsheng was still there in a daze, thinking helplessly, he also heard what was said later.

The man looked down at his clean body and bandaged wound, then at Tan Zhifeng who was sitting next to him with his head bowed in thought, and asked, "Is that you?"

Tan Zhifeng was taken aback and looked at the man in surprise.But from his eyes, he didn't see the slightest possibility that the other party recognized him.Suddenly he understood that what the man meant was that he cleaned up the wound for him.Embarrassed in his heart, he coughed lightly: "...Yes, but don't mind, Zhuo Zhuo was joking, we don't need anything in return from you."

The young man looked around and judged that this was the back kitchen of a tavern, but he felt that the atmosphere of this store was a bit weird. The mysterious Yi Yi made him suspicious, and the crazy burning was also very strange.

He wiped his face with his hands again, and set his eyes on the only boy left in front of him.The young man was white and clean, with delicate and straight eyebrows, but he couldn't see any characteristics, maybe he would completely forget it when he looked back.

At this time, Tan Zhifeng finally summoned up his courage, raised his head to look at his face, the two people's eyes met, but the young man's heart was shocked, and he froze unexpectedly.

He was sure that he had never seen each other before, but the young man's clear eyes were so familiar, as if they had stirred up many fuzzy fragments in his heart that did not belong to him, but they couldn't put together a complete picture anyway.

For a while, his breathing was suddenly not smooth, he couldn't help but bent down, and coughed twice violently.

Tan Zhifeng looked at him nervously.The man waved his hand, indicating that he was fine.

After finishing speaking, he looked at Tan Zhifeng again, and added: "Thank you very much."

One of his arms still seemed to be inflexible, so Tan Zhifeng helped him to stand up.The man shook the bag that Zhuo Zhuo had brought in, and took out an equally worn but clean blouse from inside.

Tan Zhifeng originally wanted to leave and leave him to change clothes here alone, but seeing that the other party couldn't use his strength with one hand, he had to go over and pull up the sleeves, help him put them on, and then help him tidy them up.

Seeing that Tan Zhifeng remained silent throughout, the man thought he was frightened by him, so he softened his tone and said to him, "Don't be afraid."

Tan Zhifeng still didn't speak, and the man fell into silence. It took a long time before he asked again: "This store is newly opened? Who is the shopkeeper?"

Tan Zhifeng opened his mouth, but his voice was a little hoarse.He cleared his throat and finally said, "It's me. I'm the shopkeeper."

"Hmm." The man seemed a little absent-minded and allowed Tan Zhifeng to help him dress, but after moving away a few times, he couldn't help but fall on Tan Zhifeng's face: "You...just moved to Tokyo? Why do I feel... ...I must have seen you."

Tan Zhifeng didn't know how to answer for a while, seeing that the other party was still looking at him suspiciously, he said, "Kaifeng is so big, it's possible that we have encountered it occasionally."

The man nodded, sighed, rummaged through the shabby cloth shirt just now, and took out a small bag with a large amount of money neatly placed inside, he pushed the money to Tan Zhifeng, and said: "Today's matter... ..."

"We won't talk about it. Don't worry, guest officer." Tan Zhifeng rejected his money very naturally and skillfully, and at the same time said with interest.

"No, I just want to thank you." The man began to straighten his hair and put on a scarf.Out of the corner of Tan Zhifeng's eye, he caught sight of the three potted flowers in the room with leaves stretching out and those without leaves dangling their petals, and they kept leaning towards this side.

Tan Zhifeng warned them in his heart, and the three of them still worked tirelessly to stretch their non-existent necks, trying to reach the corner of the listening wall to the end.

The man didn't seem to notice the unusual atmosphere. He packed up and said to Tan Zhifeng, who had straight eyes, "My name is Xu Gan." After that, he insisted on pushing the money towards Tan Zhifeng, looking left and right: " I'm hungry, is there anything to eat in the store?"

Tan Zhifeng came back to his senses, thought for a while, didn't touch the money, but walked back, and said as he walked: "Guest officer, wait a moment, I'll make you a bowl of soup and cakes."

At this time, he remembered what he had just said.Xu Gan is considered to be his first guest.

A room is divided into two rooms, the front and the back, by the fire half wall.The front is quiet, but behind, there is only the sound of Tan Zhifeng cutting the dough with a knife.The sound was very soft and fast, and after listening to it for a long time, it seemed to become part of the air, mixed with the crackling of firewood in the wall, making people feel warm and drowsy.

Tan Zhifeng glanced back. Xu Gan was sitting alone at the door, wondering what he was thinking.

Xu Gan was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't notice that there were already three more people behind the counter.Zhuo Zhuo put the black-glazed teacup in front of his eyes, the tea whisk stirred gently, sometimes quickly and sometimes slowly, the white tea foam rose up little by little, when the tea whisk left the cup, the tea foam in the black-glazed porcelain cup turned into a fish Play lotus leaf map.

Xu Gan looked up in surprise. The girl in front of him was wearing a dark red coarse cloth shirt, but her face was very pretty.The girl smiled with crooked eyebrows and asked him: "Guest guest, how old is this year? Where do you live? Who else is there in the family?"

The handsome young man behind the counter also raised his head, and asked with interest: "You can earn a lot of money by working so hard? Do you have two hundred coins a month?"

He turned his head and saw a little boy with thick eyebrows and big eyes sitting on the opposite side of the table. He stared and asked, "How much is two hundred coins? Can two hundred coins be worth 780, no, seven thousand eight hundred coins?"

"..."

Xu Gan was a taciturn person at first glance. Facing a series of questions, he didn't speak, but he didn't show any expression of impatience, as if he was thinking about how to answer.

At this moment, Tan Zhifeng brought the noodles.Afterwards, Tan Zhifeng held the wooden plate in his hand, turned his back to Xu Gan, and looked at the three people opposite without saying a word.He looked at the counter, the wall, and the corners, and finally stretched out his hand towards the flowerpot on the counter.

Zhuo Zhuo screamed "Ouch", and the surroundings of Xu Gan suddenly became quiet again. Tan Zhifeng nodded in satisfaction, and walked to the kitchen at the back, but Xu Gan stopped him: "The shopkeeper... the shopkeeper!"

Tan Zhifeng turned his head, raised his eyebrows slightly, and looked at Xu Gan suspiciously.Facing Tan Zhifeng's gaze, Xu Gan also seemed a little nervous. He paused for a while and looked across from him, as if he wanted Tan Zhifeng to sit down with him.

"Hurry up, Zhifeng, your brain is trapped by the door?"

"Tan Zhifeng, what are you doing, do you know? You look flattered and at a loss. It's really hopeless..."

"Why doesn't he eat? Will he be dissatisfied and not give money?"

Although he knew that Xu Gan couldn't hear these words, Tan Zhifeng was already dizzy from the noise coming from all directions, and he couldn't go on like this. He thought, after the person in front of him left, he must set some rules for them.

Tan Zhifeng walked over slowly. Instead of sitting opposite Xu Gan, he lifted up the unfinished tree stump and sat at the counter not far from his desk.

Xu Gan looked at him, then at the soup cake in front of him.His expression became much softer than at the beginning, and Tan Zhifeng couldn't help but boldly stared at him twice more.

Could it be him?Xu Gan's eyebrows and expression were rather stern, but when he was talking to him, Tan Zhifeng felt that he was deliberately suppressing that aura of not getting close to strangers.

Xu Gan doesn't look like someone who lives around here. What is he doing here?Tan Zhifeng wanted to ask him a question, but he didn't know where to start.

At this time, Xu Gan opened his mouth. "It's delicious." He said, "How do you make it?"

Tan Zhifeng didn't know why Xu Gan asked him how to make the soup cakes, so he could only try to answer: "...the noodles contain sauce, vinegar, a little pepper powder, and ground sesame seeds..."

Xu Yan listened quietly, and Tan Zhifeng could only continue talking: "It stands to reason that the noodles should be served with the fresh juice of boiled shrimp, but there is no fresh shrimp in the store, so I can only use the juice of boiled mushrooms and bamboo shoots instead..."

Xu Gan seemed to be savoring it carefully. He nodded and said, "Ling'er will like it. Next time, I'll bring him here."

Tan Zhifeng's heart skipped a beat, and asked at the same time as the other three: "Ling'er is..."

Xu Gan picked another large portion of noodles, and the fragrant heat spread out in front of Tan Zhifeng's eyes, Xu Gan's face was a little blurred, but Tan Zhifeng still vaguely noticed a trace of tenderness in his eyes.After the fog cleared, he said, "Ling'er is my son, he is four years old."

There was silence in the room, Tan Zhifeng was silent for a while, and finally mustered up the courage to ask Xu Gan about him.Tan Zhifeng thought that he had saved him anyway, so asking a few questions should be nothing.

Xu Gan didn't mind either, he answered one after another while eating the soup cakes.He is 20 years old this year, and his father is a blacksmith outside the South Gate.Since he was a child, he had been engaged to Wu Niang, the daughter of the neighbor's family, and they got married at sixteen. Then Wu Niang gave birth to Ling'er for him, but she let go, leaving only their father and son to depend on each other.

"These things..." Xu Yan narrowed his eyes, and said slowly: "These things... were told to me by the aunt next door. Two years ago, Ling'er fell ill, and I took him around to seek medical advice. I also got sick and had a high fever, almost becoming a fool. After waking up, I struggled to return to Kaifeng. I can’t remember what happened in the past. Fortunately, I still saved my life..."

Xu Yan suddenly shifted his gaze to Tan Zhifeng's face, Tan Zhifeng's heart skipped a beat when he saw it, but Xu Gan immediately lowered his head, paused, and then said: "After these years of tossing, there is no money left in the family. No matter what you do, it costs money, so I had to try it out."

While speaking, he had already eaten a bowl of noodles.Tan Zhifeng watched his tired face finally relax a little bit, and even showed a little satisfaction, and felt relieved for a while.

He still had a lot of questions to ask, but at this moment, there were more sounds outside, and he realized that the south gate was about to close.