Among the customers who come to Shiweitian for lunch, more than half are white-collar workers from nearby office buildings. The customer flow begins to increase day by day. Fortunately, many customers pack their bags and take them back to the company for their colleagues. Otherwise, the store would be overcrowded and crowded.
.
While Yanagi Gen and Xiangzi were standing outside the store talking, a five or six-year-old girl with a sallow face and thin skin was wearing dirty clothes with short trousers and sleeves, but she was wearing a pair of fat sneakers on her feet.
There was also a cut, and the hair was yellow due to years of malnutrition. Perhaps it had not been washed for a long time, and it was disheveled and dirty. However, with his weak little hands, he was holding a blind old man. He walked to the right side of the store door and stopped. The old man groped around.
While taking off the erhu from her back, the little girl opened a small horse-drawn stool, placed it behind the old man, and then helped him slowly sit on the stool.
The old man tried the sound with his erhu bow a few times, coughed twice, then drew the bow and sang at the top of his voice.
The song "Sailing on the Sea Depends on the Helmsman" was sung, with a low and harsh erhu tune and the old man's hoarse voice. It was originally an impassioned carol, but when it was sung from his mouth, coupled with the plaintive erhu tune, it sounded like mournful music.
Oh my god, it makes my heart sad to hear it.
Xiangzi muttered: "Bad luck!" He walked forward quickly and said: "Go away, go away, this is not a place for singing...go away quickly..."
The music suddenly stopped, and the little girl looked at Xiangzi with a pair of black eyes like bells, hiding behind the old man, holding on to the old man's clothes tightly and not letting go.
But the old man raised his head, his eyes that had lost their brightness were empty and lifeless, and he said to the frightened little girl behind him: "Xue, don't be afraid, grandpa is here, don't be afraid, we can just go, there is
What a vicious dog!" He said, reaching back and patting the little girl's hand holding his clothes.
Xiangzi was scolded as an 'evil dog' by the old man and was furious: "You blind man..."
Liu Gen rushed over, pushed Xiangzi away, and growled: "What are you doing..." Then he gently pressed the old man's shoulders with his hand, squatted down and said, "Uncle, it doesn't matter, you sing here."
When Xiangzi heard this, he hurriedly gave Liu Gen a hand: "Brother Gen, if that happens, the customers who come to the store will be disturbed..."
Liu Gen turned around and glared: "Shut up!"
The little girl seemed to have seen a savior, her big black eyes looked at Liu Gen as if asking for help.
"Little sister, you haven't eaten yet. Let's go to the store with my brother." Liu Gen stretched out his hand to hold the little girl.
The little girl rolled her big eyes twice, said nothing, and just shook her head.
The old man said: "This child can't speak. I'd like to thank you for your kindness. Xue hasn't eaten well in two days..."
"Old man, you also go to the store to have something to eat." Liu Gen said, reaching out to help the old man get up: "If you don't go, this little sister won't go either."
"Thank you." The old man put away his erhu and bow, put them behind his back, and with the help of Liu Gen, he stood up, which seemed very laborious. He held his stomach with one hand, as if he was in pain.
The little girl always held the old man's clothes tightly with both hands and never let go. Her eyes were always wary. She kept looking at Liu Gen and followed behind the old man.
"Brother Gen, sit outside, there are no seats inside." Xiangzi walked up and whispered in Liu Gen's ear. He didn't want Liu Gen to bring the grandfather and grandson into the store.
Liu Gen then helped the old man sit at a table under the shed outside the store and said to the little girl: "Little sister, sit down too."
The little girl still held the old man's clothes tightly with both hands, and the old man said: "Xue, sit down, we have met a kind person."
The little girl then sat down next to the old man, but her eyes were still looking at Xiangzi warily.
"Xiangzi, go bring two bowls of mutton steamed buns, as well as side dishes and barbecue." Liu Gen said to Xiangzi who was standing aside.
"Hey..." Xiangzi responded and stepped into the store.
People who came in and out of the restaurant glanced curiously at the old man and the little girl. Two boys and girls sitting at the table closer to the old man got up and left before finishing their meal.
Liu Gen heard the girl whisper to the boy: "You haven't eaten enough either? It's really off-putting!"
Xiangzi brought out a plate with a large bowl and a small bowl of mutton steamed buns, placed them in front of the old man and the little girl respectively, and then returned to the store.
"Old man, what do you think of the taste?" Liu Gen handed the bamboo chopsticks to the old man, and then called to the little girl: "Little sister, eat quickly."
The little girl looked at the old man with a look that seemed to indicate that she did not know how to move the chopsticks without the old man's consent.
"Snow, eat." The old man touched the little girl's arm with his hand, patted it and said, then the chopsticks in his hand, like a blind man's stick, slowly and gently knocked on the table. When he hit the big bowl, he heard a sound.
Different, I recognized the location, then I came closer to my mouth and fished it out in the bowl with chopsticks. It took me a long time to pick up a piece of steamed bun soaked in it. When I was about to put it in my mouth, the piece of steamed bun soaked in the soup was soft.
But it fell into the bowl.
Liu Gen said to a female clerk who was clearing away the dishes: "Sister-in-law, go inside and get two spoons." He saw that the old man had difficulty using chopsticks.
The old man fished again, and finally picked up a piece of mutton, put it in his mouth, chewed it and said, "It's delicious, it tastes like mutton."
"Old man, be careful of scalding." Liu Gen reminded the old man. When he saw the little girl eating so hard, she seemed to be starving. This reminded him of the time when he was hungry when he was a child. He felt sour and his eyes filled with tears.
Xiangzi brought out two more side dishes and a few skewers of barbecued meat.
Liu Gen picked up a skewer of barbecue and handed it to the little girl: "Little sister, eat barbecue."
The little girl glanced at the kebab in Liu Gen's hand and snatched it away.
The spoon was brought, and Liu Gen put the spoon into the old man's hand with his own hands: "Uncle, use the spoon."
The few people who brought the food out and were about to find seats kept away from the grandfather and grandson who were sitting with Liu Gen, as if they had a malignant infectious disease. This made Xiangzi frown and walked to Liu Gen.
She whispered in his ear: "Brother Gen, the customer is very unhappy."
Liu Gen glanced at the people eating around him, took Xiangzi's arm, walked aside and asked in a low voice: "Xiangzi, what is the purpose of opening a restaurant?"
"Of course it's to make money!" Xiangzi replied with a puzzled look.
"Then what do we make money for?" Liu Gen thought of that time he took the bus and no one gave up his seat to the gray-haired old man.
Xiangzi smiled: "Do you need to say this? It's just to live a good life."
"What does it mean to live a good life?" Liu Gen continued to ask.
Xiangzi was confused and thought, yes, to what extent can we live a good life?
Yanagi saw from Xiangzi's expression that he was confused, so he smiled and said, "Only when you have the ability to help those in need can you truly live a good life."
"But... there are so many people in need of help in this world. Don't Brother Gen and I also need help from others to do legitimate things? We don't have the ability to help others..."
"But now we have the ability to feed the old and the young." Liu Gen interrupted Xiangzi: "To help others, we don't have to wait until we are strong. It's actually very simple, isn't it?"
Xiangzi turned to look at the grandfather and grandson devouring their food, as if he understood what Liu Gen said, nodded, shook his head again, and said with a smile: "Brother Gen, last time Xia Yang said in front of me that you have changed, I don't believe it, look.
Come on, you have indeed changed. You have become the Xiangzi that I cannot beat to death, and you have become a heartless villain."
"Xiangzi, remember, we make money not only to prevent ourselves and our families from hunger and cold, but we should also help those in need so that more people will not go hungry and cold, just like others have helped us
Just like helping others." Liu Gen patted Xiangzi on the shoulder and said, "I should go to class. After the old man and the little girl finish eating, you and Mrs. Wu will take them to Teacher Mei's house and let them take a bath.
, have a good sleep. The little girl seems to have suffered a lot of frights. It is inconvenient for a blind man and an old man to bring such a young girl who cannot speak. From now on, let them live in Teacher Mei's house and we will support them.
...By the way, ask Sister-in-law Wu to buy that little girl some clothes that fit her perfectly."
"Brother Gen... you mean... let them..." Xiangzi looked at Liu Gen in surprise.
"It's just two more mouths. We are in the food business. If we don't lack those two mouths, we can't let the old and the young live on the street." After Liu Gen finished speaking, he walked back to the old man and sat down, looking at the grandfather and grandson.
After eating everything that could be eaten, he said to the old man:
"Uncle, in a moment, you and your little sister will take you to a place to live. Don't worry, they don't mean any harm. This little sister is too young and can't speak. As for you, you can't see the cars on the road.
Too many, accidents are easy to happen..."
"Xue, we have met a kind person!" The old man was blind and had no tears. Otherwise, he would have burst into tears: "Thank you, you are such a kind person." The old man stretched out his hand, touched Liu Gen's right hand, and held it tightly.
hold.
"From now on, if you are willing, old man, stop taking your little sister around and live here with peace of mind." Liu Gen said with wet eyes, feeling that the old man's hands were dry and cold.
"I'm an old man. I don't have a few days left. It's just..." The old man groped for the little girl's hand, put the little hand into Liu Gen's palm and said, "There will be a long time after the snow, and I have been doing my best for her."
I'm looking for a kind-hearted family, but many people think she can't speak and are unwilling to take her in. If you don't dislike her, big brother, accept her as your daughter and fulfill my last wish before I die."
Two drops of tears fell from Liu Gen's eyes, and he comforted the old man and said: "Uncle, I am still a student and have not married yet, but I will recognize Xue as my sister and treat her like my own sister. Now, you listen to me,
Go home and rest, I should go to school." After Liu Gen finished speaking, he held the little girl's hand and asked, "Your name is Xue, right?"
The little girl looked at Liu Gen blankly and nodded.
"Are you willing to treat me as your brother?" Liu Gen asked with a smile and tears in his eyes.
The little girl looked at the old man and saw him nodding. Then she nodded to Liu Gen with an innocent smile on her face.
"Okay, now I'm your brother. Later, you take grandpa and go with that brother." Liu Gen pointed at Xiangzi and said, "He is also your brother. Don't be afraid. He will not drive you and grandpa away again."
Leah."
Xiangzi stepped forward, bent down and smiled at the little girl and said: "Xue, don't be afraid, I will take you and grandpa to your home, and that aunt." He pointed to the woman named Sister Wu.