Luting Canteen

"Brother, I'm already here, why don't you celebrate your birthday early? I only have these two days off, you should cherish it!"

Yan Zi stood at the entrance of Luting with her bag in her hand, feeling the cold wind from the air conditioner blowing towards her face—it was already the beginning of autumn, but it was still too hot.Yan Ting glanced at her from behind the stage:

"Don't you know that weekends are the busiest time?"

"I know, I was going to help,"

Of course, what he said was obviously lacking in confidence, and then Yan Zi thought of the time when Li Hui taught him how to cook soup, and realized that he might have said something wrong, so he carefully glanced at Yan Ting, but he just continued making fruit tea.

"Brother, where should I sleep?"

"Sleep in my room,"

"You slept on the floor, right?"

Yan Ting raised his head and glanced at his nervous sister, then at the flowers and plants in the yard behind her that were a little wilted by the sun, and replied with a faint smile:

"Well, I play the floor."

Ever since she learned about Li Hui's disappearance one day in April, she didn't know how to comfort Yan Ting.Maybe it's useless to comfort her - if it's a quarrel, she can persuade her; if it's a breakup, she will scold her brother first; yes, like Uncle Chi, she can tell him that it will be fine in the future.

However, my brother's situation is not any of the above.

All of them wondered if one day Li Hui would suddenly come back, so they waited day by day, week by week, month by month.Waiting for the day when my brother sent a group message and told them that he was back.

Li Hui is still alive, just living in a place where they can't go.

Brother just, can't go to that place.If someone told him a place, she thought he would definitely take him home and bring him back to her side, regardless of whether he was going to a deserted end or not.

But the elder brother who was always protecting the people around him, God would not even give him a life-saving straw.

It's been almost five months now.

She felt that these five months were not on the same timeline compared with other people's, and their days were stretched very long.It seems that this summer will never end.

Sometimes she would end up crying in the quilt, thinking that her brother would definitely not cry, and thinking of not knowing whether Li Hui was doing well by herself, tears flowed out again, unable to stop.

Even she is like this, even she seems to have been crushed by a stone in her heart. I don't know when it will be lightened. What about my brother?

After drinking the fruit tea, Yan Zi saw that it was still early in the evening, so he said to put things in the bedroom first.As soon as the bedroom door was opened, Yan Zi froze.

There was obviously a place on the bed for Li Hui, and there were quilts and blankets on such a hot day.Yan Zi gently put the bag on the ground, and looked around again.

On the bedside table, Li Hui's cell phone was charging, and there should be his pen case, notebook and books beside him.Hearing Ye Qi say that they have been teaching Li Hui how to read, she couldn't help laughing when she thought of him looking at his phone in distress when he came to play at home.So he carefully took out the exercise book from under the pencil case and opened it, and saw Li Hui's childish characters, and beside it were Tang Meng's, Ye Qi's, those I didn't know, maybe Song Song's brother and the others, and the most frequent ones were his brother's. the word.

I like you.

Li Hui misses his son very much.

Li Hui likes the son the most.

What my brother wrote, except for the ingredients, is all about these words.As for Li Hui, he carefully wrote row after row below.If she had seen it before, she would have smiled and said brother, you childish ghost, what about now?

Now she thought about it and turned around, saw Li Hui coming in in a hurry, and told her sister Yan Zi, don't look.Then she will deliberately raise the notebook and ask if you know what these words mean?Do you want my sister to tell you?

Yan Zi curled his lips and looked towards the door of the bedroom.Only Yan Ting stood there.

"elder brother......"

"Fool, what are you crying for? If you cry again, your makeup will really be gone."

Regardless of whether it was hot or not, Yan Ting came over and pulled Yan into her arms, then raised her face and said:

"Wait to take off the makeup and wash your face, brother is fine, do you understand?"

"How can it be all right, how can it be all right! You always say that it's all right!"

Yan Zi tightly hugged Yan Ting's waist, cried out loudly.

"How sad you are, brother, why are you holding back, why are you—"

"Yan Zi, brother really can't bear it,"

Shaking his lips and adjusting his breathing, Yan Ting patted Yan Zi's head while softening his tone:

"I'm just worried. I'm afraid he won't eat well. He eats a lot. I don't know if he has a place to live when he goes back."

After he had to accept the fact that Li Hui had already gone back, he often woke up when he fell asleep, and then remembered the fire in Heng Le Building, afraid that Li Hui would go back.He kept telling himself that he wouldn't, he stole something and escaped, and he would never go back.

Repeatedly like this, in the end he didn't know who to tell, he could only look at the night, at the moon, and kept praying in his heart—if he couldn't be returned to me, at least let him live there safely until the end, Eat well and sleep well, there is someone who can take good care of him.

"Okay, silly girl, let's go and remove the make-up. Let's go to Luting to turn on the air conditioner. Brother will cut watermelon for you, or dig half of it for you, okay?"

Wiping the sweat off Yan Zi's forehead, Yan Ting looked at her and smiled:

"You see you're sweating, why don't you take a shower?"

Yan Zi nodded while sucking her nose, regardless of makeup, wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, and said:

"Brother, I want to wear your clothes."

Seeing that Yan Ting didn't reply, Yan Zi looked over:

"elder brother?"

"Okay, brother will find it for you."

Yan Zi nodded again, carefully put the notebook back to its original place, squatted on the ground to open his bag, and suddenly remembered something, and yelled loudly:

"That's right bro!"

Seeing her excited look, Yan Ting squatted down too, and as soon as he raised his hand, Yan Zi handed over a painting bucket used to put the drawings.

"Look what I brought here?"

"what?"

Sniffing a little proudly, Yan Zi said:

"Family baby."

Yan Ting frowned:

"Did you bring those sketches of Hengle Building?"

"What's more! My parents hid things that we didn't discover when we were young."

She heard from Ye Qi and Brother Tang Meng that everyone was helping to find information about the past, and she wondered if they could find any way.She thought of the few blueprints she had at home, but they didn't seem to be of any use.I just drew some sketches and wrote some words. When I was young, my parents would not let me touch them. When my grandfather was around, I always secretly showed them to them.

But she thought again, Li Hui is from Heng Le Lou, so take these to her brother, wondering if she can comfort him.Although she talked about seeing things and thinking about people, she still felt that there was something related to Li Hui, which would comfort her brother to some extent.

It's just that she is not very good at finding reasons, so she asked once if she could take it out, and her mother gave her a look and said that it was a family heirloom and she was not allowed to touch it.

So she had to rummage through boxes and cabinets at home when her parents were away, but because of her previous illness, her father was away from home for less time, and she finally found out recently.Parents also know how to put it, put it in a thin aluminum bucket and put it behind the radiator.

"I used to talk about central heating, but it didn't work out, and the old one was useless, but the radiator has never been removed. Didn't we use a shutter-like wooden board to make a compartment outside the radiator in our house? I found it in my mother’s room, and I kept wondering if it was locked in a drawer or a box.”

Lifting her face proudly, Yan Zi urged again:

"Brother, look inside."

Opening the lid, Yan Ting gently pulled out the drawings from inside, but when he lifted the painting bucket, something slipped out and fell gently to the floor.

"Ah, that's right, that's what I said."

Yan Zi carefully picked up the purse and opened it, and unfolded several stacks of papers in front of Yan Ting:

"Brother, look, there is still a recipe written by someone who doesn't know. It's very simple, and I feel like I can follow it."

Looking at the purse, Yan Ting's breathing became a little unsteady. He stood up, and hurriedly opened Li Hui's drawer, took out the recipes and purse brought by Li Hui, and sat back beside Yan Zi.

"Brother, this, this—"

The two purses are exactly the same, and the recipes in Yan Ting's hand and those in Yan Zi's handwriting are also exactly the same.only Yan Zi's

That one was a little yellower.

Yan Ting touched it, and found that the recipe paper and the blueprint are the same kind, no wonder it can be preserved for so long.

"Brother, why do you have this?"

Yan Zi was too surprised to speak.

"It's not mine. It's Li Hui's master who wrote these recipes."

"From Heng Le Lou, that famous chef?"

Yan Ting nodded.

"Why, why does our family, will, have Master Li Hui's things?"

"I have no idea."

However, Yan Ting thought.However, does that mean that the little guy has been alive and well, and then went to find the rest of the recipe and left it to the Yan family?He knew that one of the ancestors of the Yan family was the designer of Heng Le Building, so he went to find him, and now the recipe is here, just to tell himself that he is fine?

Thinking of this, Yan Ting was startled, and quickly took the recipe in Yan Zi's hand to read over and over again.

No.

His heart sank.It didn't have Li Hui's words on it.If it's his little guy, he must be able to write a few words to him, right?

Yan Ting laughed at himself.Although he didn't know why there was this in the house, he was willing to think that the little guy was fine, he must be alive and well there.

"elder brother,"

Yan Zi spoke softly, and tugged Yan Ting's sleeve again.Yan Ting turned to her and smiled:

"You, do you know how to restore these when you go back? Parents know that they won't miss you."

"No, this is Master Li Hui's stuff. It has something to do with Li Hui, so I put it here, brother. Besides, isn't it supposed to be passed on to the next generation? Brother, aren't you the next generation? You Just take it, I'll talk to my parents."

It was obvious that he was a little guilty at the end, but Yan Zi still had an expression of "it's not going to happen anyway".

Seeing that the younger sister who seldom disobeyed her parents' wishes, and who still has access control time, did such a thing for herself, Yan Ting put an arm around her shoulder:

"Then put me here first. When my parents asked, they said that I asked you to find it. That's the deal. Don't fight, you know?"

Knowing that Yan Zi was about to open his mouth again, Yan Ting wisely stopped him first, and then looked at the two purses and the recipes—although he didn't know if this would change anything, but he felt more at ease, and he began to have some A vague hope.Although I don't know how long this silky hope will make me feel better, at least I can sleep a little better today.

"Yan Zi, thank you."

Seeing the brother who really smiled, Yan Zi's nose soured:

"Tch, I don't want to hear you say thank you."

After the evening business was over, Yan Ting called Song Song and Yang Shubai again, and everyone had a meal together, because Yan Zi was there, and Yan Ting's mood was indeed better today, the meal was very happy, Yan Ting Also rarely drunk.Tang Meng and Yang Shubai stayed to clean up, Song Song and Ye Qi helped Yan Zi carry Yan Ting back to the bedroom, Yan Zi quickly closed the window and turned on the air conditioner.

"Yan Zi, is the boss sleeping on the floor bunk? Hurry up and put it on."

"No, put him to bed."

"Huh? Are you sleeping on the floor?"

Song Song lifted Yan Ting's slipped arm up and looked at Yan Zi.

"It's okay, Brother Song Song, I really like sleeping on the floor."

Ye Qi looked at the eye bed, knew that Yan Ting had confiscated Li Hui's pillows and quilt blankets, and understood what Yan Zi was thinking, so he said to Song Song:

"Yes, she was like this when she was a child, brother Baicai, let's quickly put the boss on it and kill him again."

"Hey, you still call me Bai Cai in front of Yan Zi,"

While protesting, Song Song and Ye Qi put Yan Ting down slowly.

"Okay, Yan Zi, you guys rest first, just remember to lock the courtyard after you take a shower later,"

"I'll clean up with you!"

"It's okay, you've only been here for a few days, go take a shower and rest, let's clean up quickly, remember to lock the door, let's go, call if you have something to do."

Smiling cheerfully, Song Song waved his hand, Ye Qi glanced at Yan Ting again, and followed him out the door.

Walking into the yard, Song Song lifted up his clothes to fan himself, glanced at Ye Qi who was silent, smiled and said:

"It's good to be drunk."

"I know."

"You know what a fart, you know you still have this expression on your face?"

Smacking his lips exaggeratedly on purpose, Song Song went over and slapped Ye Qi on the back.

"Hunchbacked again, straight and straight!"

"I'm pissed! Can you be gentle!"

"Oh, can you speak louder?"

Song Song laughed, and Ye Qi grinned. Seeing Song Song smiling, he thought about it and laughed too.

"He has never been drunk, so it's good to come here once today."

"Um."

"Come on, let's do the dishes."

Putting his arms around Ye Qi's neck, Song Song dragged him to Luting, regardless of his yelling "Hot, hot!"

"How are you doing?"

"It's okay, I didn't throw up. I'm sleeping now."

Hearing Song Song's report, Yang Shubai and Tang Meng felt relieved. "

"Song Song, you can prepare a hangover soup now, and tell Yan Zi later."

"Okay, Tang Meng, you and Ye Qi go back first,"

"It's okay, there's a little more."

"Okay, let's go back first, look at your dark circles, they are getting heavier."

Tang Meng smiled lightly.

"Tang Meng, reading all the time hurts your eyes, so you should be more careful."

"I see, thank you Shubo."

"Ye Qi too, you guys go back to sleep quickly, go, go."

After waving his hand, Song Song started to chase people away, and the two had no choice but to go home first.

Yan Ting slept soundly that night.

Before, because I slept lightly, or because I didn't know if I was afraid to dream about the little guy, I hadn't been able to dream.He was afraid that he would be reluctant to wake up once he dreamed about it.Moreover, thinking about it, I don't know how to talk to Li Hui in the dream, should I hug him tightly?Or, look at him smiling?

But today, I seem to be able to sleep better.Maybe, is it about to dream about the little guy?

He fell into a deep sleep, but it seemed that he was half asleep and half awake.Sometimes walking, sometimes floating.

In a trance, he came to a place where there was a raging fire, and the streets were full of crying people. He should have felt hot, but he couldn't feel any temperature.I wanted to take a closer look, but a voice came from behind:

"You came."

He turned around in a hurry, but saw an unknown person standing there——wearing white clothes, he looked like a nobleman somewhere, with a half-smile on his face, and the flames were swaying on his face. He looked at himself and said:

"What you saw was Heng Le Building."

Yan Ting wanted to speak, but he didn't know what to ask and where to start. He just looked at him, and finally heard the man say a few more words:

—I burned it.