Four Seasons Three Meals

From Jiangcheng to Huaigang, it takes three hours by high-speed train.

Jiang Huai didn't go home to pack his luggage. He took the high-speed train with his briefcase after get off work.

His seat was by the window, and next to him was a young couple with a child over one year old.

Both of them were ordinary migrant workers in disguise, the wife coaxed the children with a pack of snacks, and the husband kept secretly looking at Jiang Huai beside him.

This man is glamorous, and the husband feels that he should not be here.

Jiang Huai's attention has been on the child.

The snacks in the hands of the wife are wrapped in crude packaging, and the cheap essence can be smelled when the seal is torn off.The child sucks his finger, but looks away.Jiang Huai followed his gaze, and his eyes stopped on Wangzai's steamed buns in the cart.

He raised his hand to call for the train attendant, bought a small bag with money, tore off the seal and handed it to the child.

The child laughed happily, babbling with the snacks in his hands.

The wife was flattered and looked at Jiang Huai shyly: "Thank you boss."

Jiang Huai said, "You're welcome."

His wife put away the snacks, Jiang Huai looked at the red and green plastic wrapping paper, and remembered the case he had taken over before-the unscrupulous merchant added a lot of preservatives to the spicy sticks, and the three-year-old child was gluttonous and developed cancer.

He couldn't help talking: "Eating too many snacks is not good for your health."

The wife said: "No way, the child is hungry, he may have eaten."

While talking, the child wolfed down the whole package of steamed buns, choked a bit, and pulled the woman's sleeve for water.His wife unscrewed the thermos cup, and Jiang Huai caught a glimpse of the yellowed rim, bought another carton of milk and handed it to her.

Before his wife had time to thank him, Jiang Huai said, "This is nutritious."

The wife ripped the plastic, and the straw punctured the foil and slipped into the milk carton.Looking at the child, Jiang Huai thought of the doll with the New Year pictures posted at home when he was a child, with a round red face and a chubby butt.

Baibai Pangpang is indeed very pleasing, but this child is a bit too "pleasing".

Jiang Huai watched him finish drinking the milk and eating the apple the woman peeled for him, and couldn't help meddling in his own business: "Will you take your children for regular medical checkups?"

The woman shook her head blankly.

He said it very euphemistically: "Sometimes the physiology is not adjusted, and you will overeat."

The woman chuckled honestly: "Where do I have that consciousness, we rural people have a low life, and we can't afford this kind of disease of wealth and wealth. It is a blessing to be able to eat."

When she said, "It is a blessing to be able to eat", her face was filled with unconcealable maternal love.

Jiang Huai turned his head and stopped talking.

After a while, the woman asked him: "What is the boss doing in Huaigang?"

Jiang Huai vaguely replied: "Play."

The woman said: "Is the boss a foreigner? I heard you speak without an accent."

Jiang Huai neither admitted nor denied, and his attitude was ambiguous.

The woman thought he was tacitly acquiescing, and continued: "Huaigang has a lot of fun and delicious food. The boss has a good vision."

Jiang Huai followed her words and asked, "Do you have any recommendations?"

"Tianbao Temple and Wenchang Temple are fun to play. Shuishu Temple is very good for marriage, and people go to worship every year."

Jiang Huai asked her, "What about food?"

The woman said: "People in Huai-Hong Kong love to eat noodles, and the noodles here are delicious."

Jiang Huai recalled it for a while and asked her, "Hot and sour rice noodles?"

The woman smiled: "The boss knows."

Jiang Huai thought, the last time he ate hot and sour rice noodles was on the day of his undergraduate graduation.The school gave him the last scholarship, and he rewarded himself with a good meal.

The woman said: "Our family makes hot and sour noodles. It's very clear. Huaigang hot and sour noodles are delicious because of the smell of meat."

Jiang Huai thought, after getting off the high-speed rail, he can eat a bowl before leaving.

The woman continued, "We'll open in front of the Experimental Middle School. If the boss comes to eat, I'll give you a discount."

Jiang Huai asked her, "How is business?"

The woman said: "The business has improved in the past two years, and we have business during the winter and summer vacations. When the child was young, there were no customers during the holidays. The child was hungry for snacks, and we had no money to buy them."

As she spoke, the woman cut a piece of apple for the child with a knife, and fed him tenderly.

Jiang Huai's heart was moved when he heard it, and his eyes were sour.

The man went to the junction of the carriages to smoke, and the woman asked Jiang Huai to watch the child and wash her hands in the toilet after feeding the apple.

Jiang Huai took out 200 yuan in cash from his wallet, took out a business card after thinking about it, put it together, and stuffed it quietly into the woman's backpack.

When the bell rang for the end of get out of class, Jiang Yan dawdled for a while, then slowly moved to the school gate with his schoolbag on his back.

Jiang Huai was standing under the bulletin board, looking up at the grade list posted on the board.

Jiang Yan walked over and shouted hesitantly: "Brother."

Jiang Huai turned his head and said "hmm".

Jiang Yan looked down at his toes, and Jiang Huai asked him, "Have you taken the monthly exam?"

Jiang Yan nodded.

Jiang Huai asked again: "How many people are there in your grade?"

Jiang Yan thought for a while, then said implicitly: "More than 600."

There are more than 600 people in the whole grade, and the big list shows the top [-], and Jiang Yan is not among them.

On the right side of the big list is the wall of honor, with photos of outstanding graduates past, Jiang Huai ranked first.

Jiang Huai looked at his younger brother's hair, not knowing what to say.

He thought for a while and asked Jiang Yan, "Are you hungry?"

Jiang Yan hesitated for a while, then nodded.

Jiang Huai said, "Let's go, I'll treat you to supper."

Jiang Yan nodded and said, "Thank you."

Jiang Huai asked him, "What do you want to eat?"

Jiang Speech: "Whatever."

Jiang Huai thought for a while and said, "Then eat hot and sour rice noodles."

The adolescent boy grew up, Jiang Huai ordered two or three for Jiang Yan.

The hot and sour noodles were served quickly. The transparent and bright slender sweet potato noodles were soaked in the black and red hot and sour soup. The noodles were dotted with emerald green coriander leaves and oily meat smell. The hot and sour aroma stimulated the taste buds. The meat smells fat but not greasy, and it melts in the mouth.

Jiang Huai took apart two pairs of disposable chopsticks, polished off the rough edges and handed them to Jiang Yan.Jiang Yan was so hungry that he didn't have time to stir, so he picked up a chopstick full of vermicelli and fed it into his mouth.

Jiang Huai saw the looming bony collarbone through his empty neckline.

He asked Jiang Yan: "Didn't you have dinner?"

Jiang Yan nodded, and scooped up a spoonful of meat smell with a spoon.

"why do not you eat?"

With something wrapped in his mouth, Jiang Yan spoke vaguely: "No money."

Jiang Huai watched him gobble it up for a while, and said to the boss, "Add an fried egg."

Jiang Yan said uncomfortably, "Thank you."

Jiang Huai picked up the bowl and took a small sip.The greasy smell of meat is neutralized by the sour taste of balsamic vinegar, and the pungentness of oily spicy pepper stimulates hunger. Because of the addition of sugar and star anise, the aftertaste is contradictory sweet and mellow.

The deliciousness exploded in his mouth, and Jiang Huai felt a little better.

After the two finished eating the hot and sour noodles, Jiang Huai paid the bill and sent Jiang Yan home.

The taxi stopped at the gate of the community, Jiang Yan walked in, Jiang Huai called him to stop.

He took out five hundred cash and a bank card from his bag, and handed them to Jiang Yan.

Jiang Yan didn't answer and looked at Jiang Huai.

"This 500 yuan, you use it to pay the materials fee."

Jiang Yan took the cash.

"There is 1 yuan in this card, and the password is your birthday."

Jiang Yan looked at him, but didn't answer.

"I'll do the math. It should be enough for your expenses this semester. If it's not enough, call me and I'll transfer the money to you."

Jiang Yan hesitated again and again, took it, and said, "Thank you brother."

Jiang Huai stretched out his hand, stood on tiptoe, and rubbed Jiang Yan's hair strangely.

The boy quietly grew taller than him, and he had to stand on tiptoe to reach the top of his younger brother's head.

The young man shaved his body and touched his hands, looking a little more unruly.

Jiang Huai smiled and said, "I've grown a lot taller."

Jiang Yan slightly bent his knees and squatted down.

Jiang Huai patted him on the shoulder and said, "Go back and rest early."

Jiang Yan asked him: "Brother...won't you go back?"

Jiang Huai lied to him: "I booked a hotel."

Jiang Yan nodded, turned and walked into the community.

Jiang Huai watched his figure disappear into the night, turned and left.

He opened a guest room in a guest house near the community, and lay in a daze on the bed after taking a shower.

The room was closed and narrow, with a damp musty smell. Lying on the bed, Jiang Huai felt that he was wrapped in airtight water vapor, wet and sticky, and he was sweating when he moved.

The ceiling was in disrepair, damp and moldy, and mottled like the bald spots of a middle-aged man.Jiang Huai imagined all the white potholes as glutinous rice ball skins, the black mold spots as sesame fillings, and the dirty ceiling as a gathering of glutinous rice balls.

The sound insulation of the guest house was poor, and the next door was playing mahjong, and the sound of calling cards and playing cards was loud, and all of them reached Jiang Huai's ears.

He lay with his eyes open until dawn, got up to wash up, and planned to go downstairs to eat brown sugar dumplings.

The breakfast stall in the early morning is full of business, and the shop is full of seats, and all the boss's boilers are spent on the shop.Many people squatted on the side of the road, holding bowls to eat.Jiang Huai bought glutinous rice balls and pancakes, followed their example, sat on the curb, took a sip of brown sugar soup, and was so hot that he gasped.

Jiang Desheng walked out of the community while yawning.Jiang Huai watched him walk into the bank next to him, and after a while, he came out with his pockets bulging.

Jiang Huai looked down at the pancakes and glutinous rice balls in his hand, and suddenly lost his appetite.

He finished the glutinous rice balls, sealed the oil cakes and put them in a bag, got up and went to the vegetable market next door.

The vegetable vendors have just set up their stalls, and the carts are full of fresh vegetables.Jiang Huai bought two pork ribs and heard the vegetable vendor next door chatting with others.

"His mother-in-law hated him for gambling, so she secretly soaked overnight fungus for him to eat, and killed him with poisonous fungus."

"Tsk tsk, it's the most poisonous woman's heart."

Jiang Huai followed their words, looked at the dried fungus on the vegetable vendor's stall, looked at it for a while, and forced himself to look away.

He also bought a winter melon and carried the vegetables into the community.The security guard in the community knew him and greeted him: "Lawyer Jiang hasn't been here for a long time."

Jiang Huai didn't bother to explain the move, and nodded with a smile following his words: "You work hard."

He walked into the residential building, waited for the elevator, and pressed the eighteenth floor.

The elevator is full of small advertisements about infertility, asking for a child with a lot of money, and unlocking the lock to access the sewer. It is older than Jiang Huai. When the door is opened, the elevator door creaks, like an old man in his twilight years who is tired and panting with his mouth open.

He stepped out of the elevator, stood still, raised his hand and knocked on the door lightly.

There was the sound of footsteps inside the door, followed by the sound of the lock being unlocked. A woman opened the door and looked at him.

Jiang Huai took a deep breath and called out.

"mom."