To Oak

Zhu Miao's heart was beating like a "thump, bang, bang" and his head was buzzing. He ran all the way for a long distance before stopping, holding his knees and gasping for breath.The moderate rain made his hair wet. He hadn't gone for a haircut for a while, and his naturally curly hair was messed up. He fiddled with it, and took out the only 19 yuan and three cents left in his pocket. I bought a small bag of early spring cherries for 15 yuan.

Like a penny-pinching old woman, he carefully picked out bad-looking cherries. The fruit stall owner gave him a white look and said angrily, "They are all good, don't pick them..."

Zhu Miao ignored him, picked out the items by herself, and went home with the plastic bag.

On the way, he looked at the bag of bright red cherries, and couldn't help it. He took out a cherry stem from the bag and ate it. He ate slowly and carefully, and the cherry stone was smooth and smooth when he spit it out. of.It's so sweet and delicious, but Zhu Miao is reluctant to eat it again. Cherries are expensive, and you can't buy many cherries for 15 yuan.

He was walking home with the bag, and on the way were children after school and adults who were going home to cook.The old-fashioned old buildings are always a bit damp during the rainy season in spring. The white walls can hardly see the color, and they are yellowed and mottled.A black and white kitten came out of the corridor. The white fur on its chest was like a white scarf.

Zhu Miao had fed it a few times, but there was nothing to eat today. He waved his hand to signal, and the clever kitten left with a flick of its tail, mercilessly.Zhu Miao pouted, and gently knocked on the closed door—it's funny to say, he doesn't have a key to his house.

"coming--"

There were stumbling footsteps inside, and Zhu Miao waited patiently for a while.It was his grandma who opened the door for him. She was nearly eighty years old, and her body was still strong, but her back was already bent, she looked small, and she dragged her feet when she walked.

Seeing grandma, Zhu Miao hastily brought the cherry in front of her face as if offering a treasure.

"Deng Deng—" Zhu Miao said, "Grandma, I bought you cherries."

Grandma's face was wrinkled when she smiled, but her smile was far less loving than usual, and there was some worry hidden in it. She said, "Miao Miao eat."

"I've already eaten, and I can't take it anymore."

Zhu Miao walked in while talking, and found that everyone in the family was there.His uncle was packing up by the door of the small balcony, all of which were Zhu Miao's things.Zhu Miao's aunt was sitting on the sofa in the living room eating melon seeds. Seeing Zhu Miao came back, she didn't move her buttocks, and said, "Miao Miao is back, and your uncle is packing your things. The lighting in the house is too poor, and the small balcony cannot be closed. Yes, it has to be dismantled again."

Zhu Miao was at a loss for a while.

His father died when he was more than three years old, and his mother remarried. He was brought up by his grandmother and lived with his uncle and aunt all the time.When he was still young, he always slept with his grandmother. When he got older, the small balcony at home was sealed off, and a bed was used as a place for him to sleep.It’s okay to suffer from sarcastic remarks for many years, it’s okay to guard him like a thief at home, and not to give the key, it’s okay, the balcony is disassembled, and it is not protected from wind or rain, he is equivalent to no sleep, this is a big deal up.

Grandma was holding his hand and was about to speak, Zhu Miao hurriedly helped grandma back to the room. He didn't want to see grandma because he was arguing with his uncle and aunt.

Zhu Miao closed the door of grandma's room with her backhand, put the cherries on the table for her, and said, "Grandma, eat by yourself."

Grandma frowns anxiously: "Miao Miao, what should I do now?"

"It's okay," Zhu Miao patted his chest, as if he didn't care, "I'm going to sleep at my classmate's house."

Zhu Miao held down Grandma's shoulders and told her to sit up.He walked to the small balcony. He didn't have many things at all, some clothes, a few books, and homework textbooks were all in his schoolbag.Zhu Miao didn't say a word to his uncle, grabbed a few clothes and stuffed them into the schoolbag, and saw a few old books being dug out and casually dropped on the ground.

Zhu Miao was startled, and nervously grabbed those books, without reading them, and stuffed them all into her schoolbag.

"Miao Miao," his uncle said, "the house is small, there is no room..."

It's not that there is no room, there is also a large spare room, which is lived by Zhu Miao's cousin. The cousin is studying in a foreign university, and he can't come back several times a semester.It's just that he didn't want to be bored, so he didn't answer the words, threw his schoolbag on his back, and yelled "Grandma, I'm leaving", the sound of closing the door was so loud that his aunt jumped up in fright, and kicked her toes on the table Jiao, cursed angrily.

Zhu Miao went downstairs in two steps in three steps, leaving behind the scolding voices behind the door.

It was still raining outside, Zhu Miao slowed down and stood in the corridor, feeling a little dazed for a while.

He lied just now. He didn't have much contact with the classmates in the class. The most frequent "social activity" was fighting. He hesitated and didn't know which direction to go, and scratched his head in agitation.The black and white kitten came again, squatting next to him, tilting its head, turning its round eyes around.

Passing neighbors already asked him curiously why he didn’t go home yet. Zhu Miao didn’t want to say anything, so he walked into the rain and walked carefully along the narrow eaves. The water dripping from the eaves wet his shoulders .He was carrying his schoolbag on one shoulder and put it in his pocket. When he turned around, he found that the kitten was still following him, and its fur was dirty from the accumulated water on the ground.

Zhu Miao walked for another 5 minutes, turned around, and the cat was still following.

He sighed, held the cat by the back of the neck, wrapped it in an old T-shirt and picked it up. The cat was surprisingly obedient.

The sun was setting and it was getting dark. Zhu Miao was still wearing a short-sleeved school uniform, and sneezed loudly, feeling chilly.He walked aimlessly, thinking about where he should sleep, maybe he couldn't sleep under the overpass.Unknowingly, he walked into the alley where the coffee shop was located in the afternoon.

Only now did he see the name of the coffee shop, which was an English word, Flore, which Zhu Miao couldn't understand.

This coffee shop is located in the alley of the old residential area. The snack shop next door is closed. There are white camellias, red bougainvilleas, and many unknown green plants in front of it. Large glass windows It exudes a hazy yellow light, which looks very warm.

Zhu Miaosheng was afraid that the shopkeeper would see him, so he stooped and walked past. He glanced from afar and found that the shopkeeper was not there, but a girl wearing an apron, sitting behind the bar.

He breathed a sigh of relief, looked around, gritted his teeth, pushed the door open and went in.

The girl has long curly hair, thick and curled, hanging down to her waist, like a fluffy lion's mane.She raised her head and glanced at Zhu Miao as if she hadn't woken up, and said with a deadpan expression, "Welcome."

Zhu Miao glanced at the empty store, and asked tentatively, "I, I'm here to apply. Is the boss there?"

The girl's work card was pinned to her apron, with her name written on it, "Yi Ning".She said, "The boss is out."

Isn't it good to go out?

Zhu Miao almost cheered, the store was warm and fragrant, much more comfortable than the cold wind and rain outside, and Zhu Miao also smelled the sweet little cake, his stomach growled immediately.He put on a sincere attitude and said, "Then I'll wait for him here."

Yi Ning nodded and remained silent.

Zhu Miao blinked, looked at the small cake covered by the transparent glass on the bar counter, and said, "That small cake looks delicious."

Yiling: "Well, it's delicious."

and then?

After that, Yi Ning sat behind the bar and dozed off with his chin resting on his hand.Zhu Miao was not that thick-skinned, so she sighed, nestled in the chair, hugged the obedient cat in her arms, and fell asleep.On the table in front of him was the uncollected menu, Zhu Miao was bored and began to study the menu.

There were a bunch of names of coffees that he couldn't understand written on the menu, and "hand pour coffee" was written on the top.

Zhu Miao widened her eyes, looked and looked again, leaned over to the bar, and asked in a low voice, "What is...'dripping coffee'..."

Yiling glanced at him, his face still expressionless, and his voice was steady: "Hand-brewed coffee."

"what……"

Zhu Miao blushed belatedly. He thought that he had punched the shopkeeper indiscriminately. It turned out that he had misunderstood.Zhu Miao sat back on the chair, recalling how he was filled with righteous indignation at that time, so embarrassed that his toes curled up in his shoes and scratched desperately.

It's so embarrassing.

"Dangdangdang-"

The clock in the store struck eight, eight o'clock.Yiling, who had been silent all this time, stood up as if waking up from a dream, and Zhu Miao also woke up from her doze. She immediately sat up straight, raised her hand and rubbed her eyes.Yiling took off her apron and hung it up, Zhu Miao stared at her nervously, for fear that she would chase her away.

She took out a small wooden basin from under the bar counter, tapped it with a spoon, and said loudly, "It's time to eat—"

Several cats came out from every corner of the store like magic. Zhu Miao was startled, and counted them carefully. There were five cats, three black ones, one raccoon cat, and one gray British shorthair cat. cat.A few cats circled around her leg, scratching her leg.

Yiling knocked on the wooden basin again, and said, "Don't move."

The cats squatted down obediently, raised their heads and stared at her as she took out a can of cat food and canned food.Zhu Miao was also taken aback, thinking that Yiling looked like a witch who kept a house full of black cats in cartoons.A few cats were feasting, and the kitten in Zhu Miao's arms couldn't help it, and jumped off the ground, wanting to squeeze over to eat.

Yiling glanced at it, found another basin and put some cat food aside for the kitten to eat.

Zhu Miao leaned over and squatted down to watch the cat eat, and Yi Ning squatted next to him. The two of them remained silent, like two children squatting to watch the ants move.After the cats finished eating and licked each other, Yi Ning said, "Go back to the cage."

Several cats climbed the stairs to the second floor, and the kitten brought by Zhu Miao also wanted to follow. Zhu Miao grabbed it by the back of the neck and taught it in a low voice: "Don't be too familiar..."

After Yining went upstairs to close the cage and came down to clean up the bar, Zhu Miao asked, "Sister, are you going to close the door?"

"You can't say 'closed'," Yiling corrected him, "it's 'closed'."

Zhu Miao smiled awkwardly and asked, "Then I'll wait outside the door."

Yi Ning: "The boss is not coming back today."

Zhu Miao whispered, "It's okay", and went outside the door with the kitten in her arms. There was an awning on her head to protect her from the rain, and there was a wooden bench beside the flower bed outside the door. Zhu Miao sat on it, hugged the kitten, and watched With Yiling tidying up and closing the door in the store, before leaving, she nodded to him expressionlessly and said, "Goodbye."

Zhu Miao said "goodbye" to her, and sat down with the kitten who was full and asleep, looking worriedly at the rain like broken beads.

It was cold outside, so he shrank and hugged the cat to keep warm. The cat purred, "purring and purring", Zhu Miao was drowsy when he heard it, his eyes were half closed, and his head nodded.

"What are you doing here—"

Zhu Miao was terrified, looked up, and found that standing in front of him was the shopkeeper he met in the afternoon, wearing a black T-shirt and jeans, with tattoos all over his forearm, green leaves and red fruits, and the direction of the branches was just in line with the slightly convex veins. I don't know what kind of plant it is, and the expression on his face is not good-looking. It may be because of a bruise on his cheekbone, and he looks even more troublesome than in the afternoon.

The author says:

I know a friend who has a coffee fruit tattoo on his hand, which is very cool.