NCCnovel Chapter 22 Face to Face Noodle Shop
Chapter 22 Face to Face Noodle Shop
In Jinchuan at the end of July, it had just rained for a while, and the sun came out brightly within five minutes.
Squatting at the entrance of the Second Hospital, Ma Ye felt no different from lying in a steamer.
"Bro, can we really make money by squatting here?"
"That's still better than you handing out flyers in the emergency room."
The sunlight overhead caused the moisture on the ground to slowly evaporate, soaking half of the stack of flyers under Zhu Jin's bottom.
Already worried about getting her pants dirty in the rain, Zhu Jin only wore a pair of shorts.
But as the heat gradually intensified, the mosquitoes around seemed to see a walking blood bag and flew towards the long, white legs.
"Bang! Bro, why don't we squat down in front of the restaurant across the street?"
There are seven or eight manhole covers here, swarming with mosquitoes!
The flyers under my butt were all bought with money. I can't use them to wipe my hands. I can use them again after they dry.
I rubbed my palm against the curb, but it still left a lot of bloodstains in the lines of my palm, and the more I rubbed, the dirtier it became.
"Let's wait a bit. It's just opened for lunch, and if we go over there and squat down, we might get chased away."
"How about grabbing a bite to eat while we're at it? I'll try to be a little more friendly later, maybe I can get some publicity for us."
"What's there to eat? I brought two of the steamed buns I made last time. Eat them if you're hungry."
He swung his handbag over, splashing water that hadn't been dried properly all over Zhu Jin's legs. Before he could even utter a curse, two steamed buns were handed to her.
They were still warm to the touch, probably the two left over from the pot this morning.
But even though it had been in her bag all morning and the temperature wasn't high due to the rain, Zhu Jin felt that it was only a matter of time before it spoiled and she had to taste it herself.
I untied the plastic bag and carefully took a bite along the edge of the bun.
In an instant, the rotten chives mixed with the fishy seafood burst out of the bun.
Zhu Jin covered her mouth and rushed to the trash can on the side of the street, throwing the remaining buns in with her.
"You're such a waste of a child."
"What nonsense! It's all stinking! What are you planning to do with the money the family's saving? Save it for having kids!"
Putting the flyers back into his bag, 22-year-old Ma Ye finally understood what it meant to know the gratitude owed to one's parents only after raising a child.
The family actually has some savings. The 20,000 yuan given by Uncle Sun, the City God, and the nearly 5,000 yuan they earned from the last job, plus the little savings they've accumulated over the years, should be enough for the two of them to live happily for a year or two.
But Ma Ye still felt somewhat uneasy.
"Let's go across the street and get a bowl of noodles. It's almost midnight, and the ghost messengers still haven't come out to work."
"Yay! Let's go out to eat!"
Zhu Jin quickly wiped the crumbs off her mouth with her arm and skipped along with Ma Ye to the other side of the road.
The noodle shop across from the Second Hospital has been open for who knows how many years. Ma Ye used to come here to eat often when he started working odd jobs with his master more than ten years ago.
The price is affordable; a bowl of vegetarian noodles used to cost only one dollar.
But this time when I came, the words "Special Price Noodles" on the storefront had been torn down.
"Boss, aren't you selling vegetarian noodles anymore?"
As soon as I called out, the chef who came out of the kitchen was not the same old master chef; instead, it was a slightly younger man.
She was dressed in all black, but there was no trace of flour on her wrists.
"I'm sorry, young man, the rent has gone up recently, and my father wasn't in good health either; he just passed away yesterday afternoon."
Rent? Doesn't this shop always use its own property?
Ma Ye didn't ask directly, but the phrase "just left" triggered his professional instincts, and he almost reached into his bag for the flyers.
"The old man is only in his fifties, in the prime of his life, why is he leaving?"
"There's nothing we can do. He's been living a very frugal life for the past few decades, and his nutrition has been inadequate."
He was diagnosed with lung adenocarcinoma at the beginning of the year, but couldn't bear to spend the money on treatment. In the end, he collapsed in a noodle shop.
"Please accept my condolences. One bowl of vegetable noodles, and the other... Xiao Jin, what would you like to eat?"
Standing to the side, Zhu Jin was still looking up at the menu on the wall, looking it over several times before finally deciding on lunch.
"I want tomato beef noodles, and a bottle of Da Bai Li beer."
"Okay, sit down and wait a moment, it'll be ready soon."
Upon entering the vegetable section, one could see that the free vegetable sign had been torn down, and adhesive residue remained on the wall.
Having come this far, Ma Ye couldn't refuse, so he found a small plate and added a little more.
When I gently placed it on the dining table, the peanuts in the dish almost slipped off.
Zhu Jin had already set out the chopsticks, and after unscrewing the bottle of beverage, she took a sip and felt completely refreshed.
"Brother, I remember this place used to be quite affordable, right?"
Why is a bowl of vegetable noodles now fourteen yuan?
"There's no way around it; when a son inherits his father's business, the business philosophy will inevitably change."
The two ate a few bites of the side dishes, and soon two bowls of noodles were served.
They broke apart the disposable chopsticks and repeatedly scraped off the burrs on the trash can before finally taking a bite of the noodles.
As soon as the thin noodles with green vegetables entered his mouth, Ma Ye's eyebrows furrowed slightly.
"What's wrong, bro?"
"It's okay, you can eat yours."
It's lunchtime now, and this noodle shop should be at its busiest during this time of year.
But today, apart from Ma Ye's table, the chefs and the new and old owners were all sitting on the side, looking out the door.
"Brother Fan, this won't do. We've been open all morning and this is the only table we've served."
"Didn't you learn any of my dad's special skills?"
"Xiao Zhang, don't talk nonsense. Your dad and I work in the kitchen all year round. I even do the purchasing myself. What problem could there be?"
If you ask me, just put the special-price noodles sign back on. All these years of low profit margins and high sales volume have still managed to support your whole family, haven't they?"
The cigarette butt was almost burning down to the filter when the new boss, Xiao Zhang, finally stubbed it out in the ashtray.
"Selling discounted noodles? Am I crazy or are you crazy?!"
Yes, my dad has been making a living around the hospital by selling these discounted noodles for so many years, but the profit margin is too thin!
This morning when I got home, I checked, and it turns out the old couple had spent all their severance pay from being laid off on the noodle shop. Luckily, they didn't have any IOUs, but they didn't have any savings left either!
When the topic of his troubles came up, he took out another cigarette and put it in his mouth.
The ashtray was crammed with the cheapest cigarette butts from the Great Hall of the People, and the cigarette packs on the table were dented.
The chef was still flipping through the notes left by the master chef. He had read them countless times, but he still couldn't find the reason why the taste had changed.
"Damn it, if only I could call my dad back and ask him."
The boss jokingly mocked himself as he lit a cigarette again with his lighter.
But the speaker may not mean anything by it, but the listener may take it to heart. Making the dead talk is exactly what Ma Ye is doing!
After slurping the last bite of noodles into his mouth, Ma Ye got up and walked away, leaving Zhu Jin still there, savoring the indescribable changes in the flavor.
"Master, do you remember me? My master and I used to come here all the time."
The chef, who was still flipping through his notes, looked up and glanced at the question, but the question made him forget what it was.
"Young man, there have been too many people here before, I can't remember them all."
What's your master's name? Maybe I can remember it from the name.
"My master's real name is Zhu Weisong, but people on the street don't know his real name. They all call him Master Zhu, the one who lives in the dark."
The name Zhu Weisong has a very narrow reach, but as soon as the chef mentions Master Zhu, who does free work, he immediately puts down his notebook.
He grabbed the new owner, who had turned his back, seemingly having come up with a solution for the noodle shop.
"Xiao Zhang, this is the apprentice of the famous Master Zhu. Everyone in Jinchuan who deals with the dead knows his name."
"What's wrong with dealing with dead people? He can't possibly bring my dad here, can he?"
The boss, Xiao Zhang, looked displeased and took a deep drag on his cigarette.
Ma Ye knew that these days most people were good citizens who believed in science, so he quickly handed over the leaflets from his bag.
"Boss, on the surface I'm just an ordinary feng shui master."
But behind the scenes, I also did some other business.