The time was probably close to noon, 12:00 Beiqi time to be precise, Beichizi Street.
In the near autumn season, the locust trees planted on both sides of the street are intertwined with gold and green. The layers of complex colors cover up the skylight, revealing only a vertical strip of light. The locust trees extending to the left and right form a strip in the center. In the cold tunnel, you can occasionally see birds jumping on the branches and pecking at their feathers.
Lin Nian was sitting at a stall on the street waiting for his lunch, with one foot on the bronze box under the table and looking sideways at the locust trees on Beichizi Street.
"Here comes the pot." The stall owner put a white towel around his neck and looked like an old waiter in a movie. Scoop a few burnt rings out of the hot oil and put them on a plate, then bring a small plate of pickles to serve with them.
"Thank you." Lin Nian politely thanked the boss, rubbed his hands, picked up the focus ring and took a bite.
But immediately I saw the boss waved his hand and said that he was wrong. He had to have a sip of bean juice to appetize before eating the jiao rings, or dip the jiao rings in the bean juice and eat them together to be authentic.
Lin Nian has always been a person who listens to advice. He took a sip of the soy milk according to the boss's instructions. Maybe this thing was too similar to the soy milk he drank in the south. Generally, soy milk is sweet, so Lin Nian took this first step. The mouthful was a bit too much, causing him to squirt out some of it, but fortunately he quickly held it in, covering his mouth and nose, bending over and coughing violently.
"Aren't you used to eating? You just came to Beigen? Are you traveling or going to school?" The boss could tell that this young man wearing a gray polo shirt and sweater with the word "college student" written all over it was an outsider, and the locals were always happy about it. Seeing the pain on the face of a foreigner being washed away by Douzhier, he cheerfully handed him a tissue and put a bottle of mineral water next to him.
"Five dollars." The boss reminded Lin Nian as he stretched out his hand to touch the mineral water. Then he saw Lin Nian retract his outstretched hand. He couldn't help but feel a little disappointed on his face, but he was still encouraging, "Young man, you can't hold on anymore." Hold on, drink some water and rinse your mouth."
"It's okay." Lin Nian finished coughing and took a deep breath, which filled his mouth with the smell of bean juice. "I can handle it."
"Young people are just stubborn." The boss regretfully took the mineral water back.
"One more question, is this what the soy milk tastes like, or did you accidentally make it bad?" Lin Nian asked with a frown while holding something that looked like soy milk, but was completely different.
"What do you think it tastes like?" the boss asked.
"Gushui." Lin Nian said truthfully, not afraid of offending anyone.
"That's right. This proves that my old skills have not fallen behind." The boss happily turned around and continued to entertain other guests, leaving this boy who was reluctant to spend five yuan to buy a bottle of mineral water where he was. Keep savoring that sour taste.
Lin Nian sat at the stall and frowned, taking a sip of jiaohuan and bean juice, and occasionally picking up a pickle with chopsticks. The bean juice was a low-calorie drink and could not satisfy his energy for a day's activities, so he added two more plates of jiaohuan and sesame balls. , I had to eat a lot of fried food before the bowl of bean juice bottomed out.
After drinking the bean juice, Lin Nian sat there and was sullen for a while before he came to his senses. The boss next to him was happily selling mineral water to out-of-town couples who were also suffocated by the bean juice. While explaining why Beichizi Street is called Beichizi Street, it is not because there is a real pool or something, but because there was Nanchizi Street first. In the Ming Dynasty, the emperor's imperial garden there was called "Little Nancheng", Pudu Temple, Imperial History The Chen and Changpu rivers are both there, but there is nothing worth talking about on Beichizi Street. To put it bluntly, Beichizi is named after the geographical location of Nanchizi. It is separated from the Forbidden City by the Tongzi River. It was also considered a forbidden area in the imperial city during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The red walls and cornices that can be seen everywhere are evidence of this.
The young couple were stunned by the talk of the eloquent old man. They sat down in a trance and took a sip of bean juice and a sip of mineral water. After drinking it, they bought another bottle, which made the old man beam with joy. Compared with Stingy college students who can't get enough of money are still easy to fool couples and tourists. If they fool around a little bit, they might be able to take them to the photo shop of an acquaintance and rent them a palace dress to kill them.
Lin Nian sat at the stall under the locust tree, reading old BJ's free historical stories while looking at the scenery of locust trees embracing each other. If he had nothing to do, Bei'an was really a good place to travel. Just sit anywhere near the Forbidden City and tell a story. A story can pass the day.
The old man talked from Beichizi Street to the Forbidden City, and from the Forbidden City to the British and French Allied Forces, he was filled with indignation. Then he talked about the secret history of the palace, with a bit of saltiness and color, which made the young couple blush and cry. Out of curiosity, I almost talked about all the big and small things in Bei'an's past, and also gave me some travel routes recommended by locals.
At the end, the old man seemed to have nothing to say anymore, and began to complain that the house prices in Beigen have risen again in recent years. Not to mention the courtyard houses, even the old houses in Xiaoping within the third ring road can be sold for millions, and even It’s getting harder and harder to get license plates. Previously, his son’s queue for the lottery to buy a car actually ended in the second half of the year. The young lovers looked sad again.
The old man reminds the young people to work hard and see that the real Zhenghuangqi of Lao Bei'an now lives in a courtyard near the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heaven and the Summer Palace, highlighting a long history and culture and a quiet environment. Take the courtyard house on Beichizi Street as an example. If you can see it, look at the second courtyard diagonally opposite. Even though it’s only the second courtyard, this location is close to the Forbidden City. People who want to live there are not ordinary rich people! I think back then, I was an old man who drank tea in a courtyard house like this. To be able to own such an apartment, wow! So, young man, if you work harder, you might be able to move in with your girlfriend?
The old man frightened the young couple into a daze, thinking that the old man setting up the stall must be some kind of hidden yellow flag to experience life. Then Lin Nian ordered another plate of jiaohuan over there. The uncle immediately stood up and walked towards the frying pan. He was happy that although the young boy had picked a little bit with his hands, at least he could eat it. After eating a few more plates of jiaohuan, he would be able to stop caring about the other party not buying mineral water.
"Hey, look, someone is coming out of that courtyard." The girl in the couple pulled her boyfriend's sleeve and pointed to the second courtyard where the uncle opposite used to encourage young people to strive, and the slowly rising garage on the side. A matte iron-grey Aston Martin drove out. The model was DBS. The owner was very low-key and didn’t even open the convertible in the nice weather. The light from the shade of the locust tree reflected on the matte surface of the car. A matte texture.
"This car is pretty good, it should cost half a million yuan." The man who was so excited turned his head and glanced at the artistic sports car and sighed.
The boyfriend in the couple looked at the uncle in a daze. It seemed that the uncle had exposed something unintentionally. The admiration he felt before because of the uncle's talk seemed to have dropped a little bit.
"Uncle, please have another bean juice and a charcoal ring." Lin Nian glanced at the Aston Martin idling out of the garage across the street.
"okay!"
A portion of bean juice and two plates of coke rings were placed in front of Lin Nian's table. Lin Nian took a piece and put it in his mouth, glanced at the watch, and then waited for the Aston Martin opposite to slowly drive around in the street. He drove slowly to a roadside stall and stopped.
The couple sitting in the stall looked at each other and thought, the old Beibei people really seem to love the drink of soybean juice. Even the owner who lives in a courtyard and drives a top-notch sports car can't escape from gargling with a bowl of soybean juice before going out at noon?
The Aston Martin's privacy-protecting window was lowered. Lin Nian, who was chewing on the focus ring, glanced inside and was surprised to find that the calm-looking girl in the driver's seat, leaning on the steering wheel with one hand, seemed to have changed her appearance. clothing?
Through the car window, Lin Nian waved to her and motioned for her to come and sit. The couple at the table next to him looked at him a little strangely, as if they were wondering what kind of trendy flirting and chatting skills this was.
What I didn't expect was that the Aston Martin actually stalled, and the door on the other side opened at a 45° angle. The young female car owner got out, closed the door, walked around in a circle, and walked straight towards Lin Nian. in front of this table.
Lin Nian, who was sitting on the low table, couldn't help but look up at the girl again. Instead of wearing the casual large T-shirt and sneakers before, she put on a rather decent white coat, with the hem hanging down to her knees. A pair of khaki high-top boots. The coat's waistband is loosely pinned to the waist. From the unbuttoned collar, you can see the same-colored one-piece neckline and off-shoulder makeup. It's very mature and sexy. You can also vaguely see a silver strip hanging down to both sides. A drop necklace between the collarbone.
If the other party had always given him the impression of a rebellious high school student before, then now the high school students seemed to have become mature and intellectual all of a sudden because of their outfits, giving people a sudden sense of reality. Compared to the previous Dragon Slayer Girl The exaggerated impression of the swordsman and the rich girl from Bei'an living in a boudoir compound give people a more human touch close to life.
Or is it feminine? Can you put it that way? At least it’s something like that.
"." Lin Nian looked at Li Hueyue in front of him with a focus ring in his mouth, as if he got to know her again, but he did not comment on her dress, and just motioned for her to sit down.
"I've already eaten." Li Huanyue said while looking at the jiao rings and bean juice prepared for her on Lin's table.
"A question." Lin Nian asked.
"Tell me." Li Huanyue looked at Lin Nian on the low table and waited patiently.
"Are you used to eating soybean juice?" Lin Nian pointed to the untouched bowl of soybean juice prepared for Li Hueyue.
"I don't hate it, and I don't like it either," Li Huanyue said.
"real or fake?"
After Lin Nian finished asking this question, he noticed that Li Hueyue was staring at him for several seconds. He did not avert his gaze. He looked at the girl and then realized that the girl seemed to have some light makeup on? Judging from the makeup skills Su Xiaoqiang taught him, this should be eyeliner and eyebrows, right? It seems like you even put on some blush? In short, this girl who looks cold and indifferent no matter how she looks at her has a little more girlfriend vibe?
Stop it.
The old man and the couple next to him were all stunned. They were not sure about the relationship between Lin Nian and Li Hueyue. Could it be that the real secret was this college student who was not willing to buy five yuan of mineral water to rinse his mouth?
Lin Nian stared at Li Huoyue for a long time without saying anything. Then he noticed that Li Huoyue bent down and picked up the bowl of bean juice on the table. He drank it all in one go without any expression. Then he put down the empty bowl and stared at him and said, " Can we leave now?"
Lin Nian subtly noticed that Li Hueyue seemed a little impatient? No, it's more impetuous than impatient. It's like feeling uneasy from the bottom of her heart, but why is she uneasy? Can someone like her really feel uneasy? Could it be that her subsequent meeting with the orthodox senior officials made her nervous?
No. Something is wrong.
Lin Nian took another look at Li Hueyue's outfit, but what he didn't expect was that Li Hueyue actually asked a question that he thought was impossible for this girl to say.
"What do you think of my outfit?" Li Huoyue asked.
He picked up the focus ring and brought it to his mouth, then put it down again. He glanced at Li Hueyue strangely. When he found that the other party asked this question, there was no so-called "shy" or "dodge" look on his face. At most, there was just some After hesitation and impetuosity, I felt a little more at ease. It seemed that my identity as a "hybrid succubus" (a nickname Lin Nian was ridiculed by his classmates in the Night Watch forum) was not that scary.
"Okay, it suits you very well. It's much better than the previous one." Lin Nian gave Li Hueyue's "new skin" a high degree of approval, perhaps because he himself liked this kind of intellectual and mature dress.
"Isn't it awkward? It's on me." Li Huoyue asked.
Lin Nian silently swallowed a swollen gulp, not daring to ask the other party why he changed his clothes. Why did Bingshan act so coquettishly as a girlfriend? It would be better for the overly bad words that he almost blurted out to rot in his stomach. As expected, he and Lu Mingfei still had some side effects from talking all night.
It’s not like I’m going to meet my parents with myself because I’m wearing something so nice.
"No, I should say it's just right. It looks pretty. Did you choose the clothes yourself? You're very discerning." Lin Nian has rich experience of accompanying Lin Xian to shopping malls to change clothes but not buy them. The same situation happened Having been through it countless times, you naturally know how to deal with it.
"That's good." Li Huanyue nodded slightly. After receiving Lin Nian's approval, she actually relaxed a little. After a moment of silence, she suddenly said, "Xiao Sheng helped me pick it."
Xiaosheng, that Zhao Xiaosheng? The commissioner from Lang Juxu whom I met at the airport?
Li Huanyue took a hundred-dollar bill from her pocket and handed it to the boss. She also took a bottle of mineral water, which seemed to be used as a mouthwash, and reminded Lin Nian, "Get in the car, we are going to be late."
"It's still early. I'm looking at the watch. Are you sure you don't want to eat something?" Lin Nian probably thought that Li Hueyue was lying to him when he said he had eaten.
"No." Li Huoyue saw Lin Nian pick up the bronze sword case under the table and stand up. He also turned and walked towards the Aston Martin. "It is basic etiquette for juniors to arrive early when meeting their elders."
Lin Nian didn't say anything. He simply got up from the low table and walked towards the Aston Martin carrying the bronze sword case. But he paused halfway and turned back to touch the old man's bottle of mineral water. After a meal, the Aston Martin's co-pilot caught his eye with admiration. With a slight roar of the engine, the iron-gray beast disappeared in the golden-green tunnel of locust trees.
ps: Does this count as finally opening the Li Huoyue line after many days?
(End of chapter)
