innocent year

Chapter 9 Coffee Companion

On the third day of the Lunar New Year, Xu Minghai honestly squatted at home in the morning to write the inspection.After lunch, Li Yandong forced Xu Yong to take him to the leader's house to pay New Year's greetings, saying that he would take advantage of the festival to walk around and give presents to prepare for the next wave of room allocation.The two of them didn't take Xu Minghai with them, and left after a few instructions.

Seeing that the adults finally disappeared, Xu Minghai immediately went to Qiushi with the prawn crisps and plum candy he had found from everywhere.When he pushed the door of the southeast room, he found that Chen Lei had come back, and he seemed to have just come in, talking to Zhou Yingying.

"Hello godfather, hello auntie," Xu Minghai asked after calling someone, "Where's the fruit?"

"I just ran away after eating the braised noodles. If I don't stay with you, I'll stay at Master Jiu's house." Zhou Yingying said.

"When did Guo Zi get so close to Master Jiu?" Chen Lei wondered, "I haven't been back for only three days."

Zhou Yingying explained: "The old man seems to have a lot of things, and Guozi likes to go."

"Then I'll go too!" Xu Minghai turned around and ran away, but heard Chen Lei calling out to him.He turned around and went back, only to see Chen Lei taking out a gift box: "Didn't you say that you wanted to taste 'Nescafe' after watching the commercial last time? Here it is."

"Godfather, you are awesome!" Xu Minghai took the red box, opened it, and saw two jars, one black and one white, with an indescribable foreign atmosphere, summed up in four words: delicious taste up.

"Where did you get it?" Apart from the advertisements, in real life Xu Minghai has only seen school teachers use glass bottles of Nescafe coffee as tea mugs.

"I'll take it for you," Chen Lei scolded with a smile, "You brat, what are you asking about every day?"

"Thank you godfather!" Xu Minghai ran out carrying his bag, and faintly heard Chen Lei say to Zhou Yingying behind his ears, "I brought you a sweater, made in Guangzhou..." His tone suddenly became limp, and he stuttered a bit.

When Xu Minghai arrived in front of Guan Jiuye's house, he knocked on the door a few times and went in. Seeing that Qiu Shi was sitting at the table and listening to Jiuye with him.But this time it's not a stand-up, but a sweet, crisp and mellow Peking Opera libretto.Xu Minghai didn't care to listen carefully, he just put the gift box on the table, and said triumphantly, "Comrades, have you had coffee yet?"

Seeing Qiushi shaking his head, Xu Minghai unscrewed the coffee jar repeatedly, and handed it to Qiushi's nose for him to smell.

"Oh, I haven't drunk this in a long time." Master Jiu retorted.

Xu Minghai looked at the wrinkles on Guan Jiuye's face, and thought to himself, isn't this coffee the legendary high-end imported product?I, a contemporary primary school student, haven't had it yet. Where do you go to drink it?

"Have you ever drank?"

"That's it," Guan Jiuye said childishly, raising his neck, "before the fall of Tianjin, he was drunk by Shilin."

Xu Minghai felt that Guan Jiuye might be crazy again at this moment, what is Qishilin?Where do you live.At this time, the old man stood up while talking, and when he turned around, he took out a round guy wrapped in plastic rope and carefully wrapped in pink paper from the kitchen.

"It's just right," Master Jiu smiled, "We'll have it all together today."

"Ah?!" Xu Minghai was taken aback and shouted, "Cake!"

cake?Qiushi was a little silly, he watched Master Jiu untie the plastic rope, then reached out and took off the white circle, which seemed to be plastic foam.

Unexpectedly, Qiushi's first birthday cake appeared in front of him.

The unique strong fragrance of margarine burst out in an instant, capturing him immediately.Qiushi looked at the pink three-dimensional flowers, the green leaves, and the red words "Happy Birthday", and suddenly felt an indescribable great happiness gushing out from the bottom of his heart. Full body.

"Insert the candles!" Xu Minghai scratched his ears and found a pack of thin candles from the box, then divided them into eight, and carefully inserted them on the cake.

Guan Jiuye took a box of matches, and after wiping them, he guarded the flame tremblingly with a pair of hands with blue veins criss-crossed and skinless, and lit the candles one by one.Xu Minghai closed the curtains on the window with a swish, and the room was instantly darkened. For a moment, there were only shadows and candles flickering, full of warmth.It made Qiushi feel that all this should only appear on TV.

"Fruit, make a wish!" Xu Minghai urged him, "Birthday wishes are the most effective!"

Qiushi was a little confused: "I don't know what to promise, you can do it for me."

Xu Minghai shook his head: "It's not my birthday. You close your eyes, recite what you want to happen in your heart, and then blow out the candles!"

Qiushi thought for a while, then closed his eyes.The long and thick black eyelashes fell down and fluttered slightly under the eyelids.

When Xu Minghai sang "Happy Birthday to You" for the third time, Qiu Shi finally opened his eyes.

"Your wish is really long," Xu Minghai said while holding Qiushi's hand, "Blow out the candles!" The two puffed up their cheeks and pursed their lips at the same time. off.

Xu Minghai opened the curtains, and then shifted his gaze to Qiu Shi's face, only to see a fully stretched upward curve supporting the corner of Qiu Shi's mouth, and his eyes were crooked like crescent moons in a winter night.

So Xu Minghai exclaimed as if he had discovered a new continent: "Guozi, you know how to be happy?!"

Master Jiu: "How did you say that? Who can't be happy?"

Xu Minghai: "Guozi hasn't been happy since the day he came here. I thought he had polio!"

"I've never heard of it!" Master Jiu waved his hand, then said to Qiu Shi with a smile, "Duo Le from now on, first deceive yourself about your height, and life will not be hard."

Immediately afterwards, the three cut the cake, and Master Jiu asked Qiu Shi to take a big one and send it to the mother.After Qiushi came back, Guan Jiuye looked at the two children happily eating, and took a bite out of it with a small spoon.After savoring it carefully, he frowned, and then there was pity in his eyes, and he said to himself: "Children today have never eaten good things..."

Xu Minghai and Qiu Shi looked at Guan Jiuye without knowing it.

"You call this... delicious?"

The two nodded violently with mouthfuls of cream.

"Hey..." Guan Jiuye looked up to the sky and sighed.

Xu Minghai felt that Master Jiu was too dissatisfied, and asked, "Is there anything more delicious than cream cake?"

"That's right. In the old pastry shop in Beiping City, which one of the 'Big and Small Pieces', 'Paperflower Cake', and 'Babao Nantang' sold in the old pastry shop would not taste better than this..."

Guan Jiuye clicked his lips, turned around and put the kettle on the stove and started to boil water: "The cakes at that time included oil cakes and trough cakes. There were peach cakes, jujube cakes and so on. They were seasonal. There are more desserts, like wisteria pancakes in spring in April, moon cakes in August [-]th, flower cakes in Chongyang..."

While eating, Xu Minghai and Qiu Shi listened to the many things Jiu Ye said that they didn't even know about.The water boiled, Guan Jiuye took the small spoon from the gift box, put a spoonful of coffee powder into the cup, and when the hot water was flushed, the aroma was overflowing.

"Then what's your favorite food?" Qiu Shi asked.

"Sachima."

"Ah? Saqima, I know, that thing can't be chewed at all!" Xu Minghai showed up and said, "The last time I went to my grandma's house to eat, when I was changing my teeth, I lost my tooth."

"The Saqima in the past is not like this. What they pay attention to is soft and sweet, which melts in the mouth." Master Jiu picked up the cup, took a sip of the steaming coffee, closed his eyes and recalled the taste, "Count the coffee in Beixinqiao Taihuazhai is the most authentic, no scum, no sticky teeth, and the most creamy taste."

"Is that place still there?" Xu Minghai followed Master Jiu's example and poured coffee and hot water into his and Qiu Shi's cups.

"No, nothing." Guan Jiuye opened his eyes and said with a smile, "After all, it's just a dream, and everything is empty."

Xu Minghai also picked up the cup at this time, poured the brown liquid into his mouth with pride, and screamed in the next second after swallowing: "Ah!!!"

This movement made Qiu Shi tremble, and quickly put down the cup in his hand.

"It's too bad!" Xu Minghai quickly ate two bites of the cake, trying to suppress the bitterness in his mouth. He said with a mournful face, "This is the Nescafé coffee in the TV commercial?! This is not what my mother gave me when I caught a cold. Is it the traditional Chinese medicine soup? Banlangen tastes better than this!"

Guan Jiuye was having fun by the side, didn't speak, just looked at the two little ones.

Xu Minghai felt that he had been duped, so he was ashamed to call himself "delicious" just because of this thing?Isn't this blatantly deceiving the feelings of the Chinese people?He looked at Qiushi and said, "Share the blessings, share the hardships. Guozi, why don't you take a bite too, and accompany my brother."

Qiushi bit her lip, then raised her cup like a hero.

At this time, Guan Jiuye took his cup, and put a few spoonfuls of powdered milk into it from another jar, as well as a piece of sugar cube that came with the gift box.After all the water melted, he signaled Qiu Shi to drink it.

Qiu Shi brought the changed color liquid to his mouth, stuck out his tongue, tasted it cautiously, then drank half a cup in small sips, and finally raised his head and said: "It's quite delicious, sweet."

"Ah?" Xu Minghai leaned over and drank Qiu Shi's remaining half cup.Huh?It's smooth and sweet, and it's really okay, especially compared with the traditional Chinese medicine soup just now, it's completely reborn.

"What did you put in there?" Xu Minghai asked.

Master Jiu pouted: "Isn't it written on the jar? Coffee Companion."

"What do you mean by partner?" Xu Minghai scratched his head.

"Partner..." Master Jiu pondered for a while, and said, "It's just that no one can do without someone, a couple."

Xu Minghai then asked: "Does Huang Rong and Guo Jing count?"

"Calculate."

"Does my father and my mother count?" Xu Minghai drew inferences.

"Forget it," Guan Jiuye nodded, "it's legal."

Xu Minghai pointed to Qiushi and continued to ask: "Then what about the two of us?"

"You two are brothers now." Guan Jiuye said with a laugh.

"What about your partner?" Qiu Shi asked.

"My partner...isn't here." Guan Jiuye said, "I haven't seen you for many, many years."

"Didn't you just say that no one is a partner without someone?" Xu Minghai did not forget this.

"As long as the two people's hearts are not separated, they can still be called partners, and it doesn't matter how far away they are."

At the first dinner, the two young ones ate cakes early and were full.Coming out of Jiu Ye's room, Qiu Shi suddenly remembered something, he asked Xu Minghai: "You said just now that birthday wishes are the best, so have your wishes come true?"

"It's come true!" Xu Minghai looked very happy, showing off his signature dimples.

"what?"

"Hey, I won't tell you~"