small town story

Chapter 2 Story

After seven o'clock in the evening, the sky gradually darkened, and the heat in the air finally dissipated.After Su Youqin had dinner, she turned off the air conditioner, opened the windows of the house, and went downstairs for a walk.

The community village on the back of Zhenzi Road Street is the fruit forest base. In the construction of new countryside in those years, in order to better transport the products of the fruit forest base, the village built a three-meter-wide and more than 2000-meter-long cement road along the fruit forest.There are fruit forests and farmland on both sides of this road, and there are naturally large stone dams along the way. There are very few vehicles on weekdays, so it is very suitable for walking.

There are many people on Guolin Road. It is hot in summer, and the town residents have no place to cool off. They like to take a walk along Guolin Road after dinner.

Su Youqin had just arrived at the intersection of Guolin Road and met Aunt He who lived next to the middle school.Aunt He was in her fifties and moved to the town from a neighboring village when Su Youqin was very young. She was one of the elders in the town who watched Su Youqin grow up.

Aunt He is a religious believer, and when she sees people she knows or doesn’t know, she will take the initiative to say hello to people she doesn’t know, saying that she is making good fortune for herself.

Su Youqin never knew how to respond to her overzealousness. When she was able to speak, she would reply, but now she can't speak, so she can only smile.

The first second she saw Aunt He, Su Youqin slowed down, hoping that Aunt He and the others could walk faster and not see herself.But the intersection is so big, you can catch a glimpse at random, and Aunt He's enthusiastic and loud voice rang out as usual: "Take a walk, Youqin."

Su Youqin nodded, and smiled at the people who were walking with Aunt He.

I thought this was the greeting, but I didn't expect that the person next to Aunt He looked at Su Youqin curiously.It happened that there was a wind blowing, and the bangs on Su Youqin's forehead were lifted, and the conspicuous scar was easy to see under the streetlight cast from a distance.

The man's expression changed, then he turned his head and asked Aunt He, "Who is this girl? What's on her face, sores?"

Her voice is not loud, but Su Youqin is not far away from her, so it is easy to hear her.

Aunt He glanced back at Su Youqin quietly, seeing her looking down at her phone, she quickly reached out her hand and dragged the man to walk a few steps quickly.

Su Youqin raised his head and looked at the few people in front of him indifferently. A deliberately lowered voice came faintly. Su Youqin couldn't hear the specific words, but he could guess what they were talking about.

A few months ago, when Su Youqin first returned to the town, the neighbors looked at her in amazement.At that time, the scars on her face were more obvious. In addition to the red scars on her forehead and right cheek, some small scars could be seen on her neck. In addition, she was pointing at her throat and waving her hand, so she was unable to speak.

There was an elderly neighbor who didn't know how to be euphemistic, and asked her why she was disfigured and became dumb.

Facing the elders, Su Youqin couldn't bear to change his face, so he could only smile, and went home to hide behind the closed door.

People in the town live a comfortable life. Many elderly people or young people with children at home have nothing to do after eating every day, so they can only pass on gossip to their parents and west.Sympathy was mixed with the mentality of watching the excitement. In two or three days, the news that Master Su's granddaughter was disfigured and dumb in a car accident outside spread throughout the town.

Su Youqin guessed this situation the day she decided to go home, but she didn't care, so just spread the word, as she was a victim, and she was afraid that people would say gossip.

I see it very openly in my heart, but it is still a bit uncomfortable to see and hear others pointing and saying behind their backs again and again.

The people around Aunt He secretly glanced back several times.

Su Youqin looked up at the sky, there were only a few stars scattered in the dark sky, she took a long breath to suppress the irritability in her heart.

There was a sound of rapid footsteps behind him.She didn't pay attention to it at first, but the footsteps got closer and closer, until someone patted her left shoulder lightly, and she turned around in shock.

Shen Qianyao changed into a short one-piece skirt, and was looking at her with a smile: "It really is you, I think I can't mistake it."

This is the third meeting between the two today.

The first time there was no communication, the second time we chatted casually, and the third time, Shen Qianyao became so familiar.

Su Youqin was originally slow-tempered, and after the accident, she no longer wanted to make friends with others.She is not used to this kind of casual and familiar person.

The sense of distance is too close, and the rebellious mind is together, which makes people resist.She smiled at Shen Qianyao and looked down at her phone.

Shen Qianyao realized her attitude, didn't say anything, just slowed down, and landed about half a step away from Su Youqin's side.

Sensing her movement, Su Youqin turned his head slightly and looked at her suspiciously.

"There are no stars tonight." Shen Qianyao said, and met Su Youqin's eyes: "Are you going to make breakfast tomorrow? Is the breakfast shop only open for half a day?"

The former sentence is nonsense, but the latter sentence, Su Youqin nodded.To be exact, open until breakfast is sold out, if breakfast is sold out by 07:30, she will close at 07:30, but she doesn't want to explain.

"Should I come to the store for breakfast tomorrow morning?" Shen Qianyao said to herself, "Do you have a variety of breakfasts? What are they?"

The person beside him was lively, outgoing, and generous, and Su Youqin couldn't stop answering.She opened the memo on her mobile phone, quickly packed buns, steamed buns, oil cakes, porridge, soy milk, etc., and handed them to Shen Qianyao.

The sky was almost dark, and the light from the phone screen was dazzling.

The two walked side by side, the screen was shaking, Shen Qianyao raised his hand to grab Su Youqin's hand, stabilized the screen, and smiled after seeing it clearly: "Buns include brown sugar buns, bean paste buns, vegetable buns, and meat buns, right?"

Su Youqin nodded.

Shen Qianyao smiled brighter and brighter: "Then I'll eat tomorrow morning, you have to keep it for me."

Su Youqin smiled softly, thinking to herself: How much can you eat by yourself?Still need to keep it for you?But she didn't want to type any more, so she nodded slightly.

Halfway along Guolin Road, Su Youqin stopped. She pointed to the road she had just walked, signaling that she was going back.

Shen Qianyao smiled and waved at her: "Shi Mi and a few friends are waiting for me on the big stone dam next to the entrance of the village. Goodbye, see you tomorrow."

A good-looking person's smile is contagious.

Su Youqin softened her heart and waved her hand.Her lips opened and closed twice, but she didn't make a sound. It was dark, and Shen Qianyao probably didn't see it.

Su Youqin turned around and went back where she came and went.

After walking a few steps, she heard the voice of Aunt He greeting Shen Qianyao, she turned to see Aunt He and the others came out of the nearby fruit forest and were standing not far away.

Shen Qianyao returned Aunt He's greeting with a smile.

Su Youqin heard Aunt He ask her: "Mr. Shen, do you know Youqin?"

Su Youqin turned on the music player of her mobile phone, playing music outside, and walked home slowly.

There was a lot of noise in the mahjong parlor next to the breakfast shop.Several gray-dressed middle-aged men laughed and said that the card was played wrong just now, the woman dyed exaggerated red laughed, and the boss Huazi squatted in front of the door with a bowl of instant noodles to tease her little daughter Xinxin, Seeing Su Youqin walking by, asked her if she had eaten?

Su Youqin nodded, clapped her palms at Xinxin, and stroked her head.

After teasing the children for a while, Su Youqin opened the shutter door and went to the kitchen to prepare the stuffing for the next morning.

Cut the cowpea into small pieces, boil it and squeeze out the water.Stir-fry the three-fresh meat that is beaten into the size of a little finger by a machine with bean paste, and mix it with cowpea to make cowpea meat buns.

Chopped cabbage, squeezed out excess water with salt, mixed with boiled diced lotus root and seasoned to make steamed buns.

Bean paste and brown sugar are packed in food bags.

The machine beats the minced meat and mixes it with green onions to make the stuffing for pancakes.

Finally, soak the beans, reconcile the old flour, water and flour in an appropriate proportion, cover it with a cotton cloth, and wait for it to ferment.

It took nearly two hours to prepare the buns for the next morning.Su Youqin turned off the lights, closed the shutter door, went upstairs to wash and sleep.

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At three o'clock in the morning, everything was silent, and the alarm clock rang.

Su Youqin woke up from the chaotic dream, turned off the alarm clock and lay down for a few minutes before getting up.

During the time when she just woke up after the car accident, her dreams were always accompanied by pain. After returning to the small town, those painful dreams rarely appeared, replaced by blurry and hazy scenes.

Not wanting to immerse herself in the chaos, she quickly washed up, went downstairs, opened the shutter door a little, bent over to get in, and closed the shutter door again.

Kneading noodles, cooking porridge, making soy milk, making steamed buns, the mind is half awake, but the memory of the body is orderly.After more than two hours, the finished product that the breakfast shop will sell today is finally completed.

Today is market day in town.

Pingcun Town has developed to the present, and the farmer’s market has fresh meat and vegetables every day, and the three large supermarkets also provide all kinds of vegetables and meat. However, people in the surrounding villages are still used to going to the street to buy things on the first, fourth, and seventh days. , or sell some agricultural products.

Su Youqin opened the shutter door early and pushed the steamer cart and electric baking pan to the door.

Some people who went to the farmer's market from a distant village to sell things, carrying big backpacks, walked past the door, coughing from time to time.

Su Youqin remembered that when she was in middle school, she went to self-study at 06:30 in the morning in winter.The day students living in the surrounding area usually get up at six o'clock and walk to school in the dark.

At that time, the street lights on the roads and streets had not yet been installed.At six o'clock in the morning, the sky was dark, Su Youqin was timid and had no companions, so he always stomped his feet heavily when walking, using the sound of his footsteps to embolden himself.

Once it was also a market day, she got up late, didn't have the heart to stomp her feet to strengthen her courage, she just kept her head down and rushed forward, unexpectedly, there was a person selling piglets on the street, who was resting on a ridge by the side of the road with two piglets on his back , Su Youqin didn't pay attention, and rushed directly into the man's arms, and the two were so frightened that they yelled and retreated at the same time.The man lost his balance and fell to the ground. The piglet fell out of the basket and ran away whimpering.Just a tricycle passed by and almost hit the piggy, the driver braked suddenly.Su Youqin recovered from the sound of brakes, got up and put the books aside, and went to catch the piglets by the light of the tricycle.The driver hurriedly got out of the car to help, and told Su Youqin to leave it alone and go to school quickly.

After so many years, Su Youqin rarely thought of this matter.Now looking at the person carrying the basket under the street lamp, the scene at that time clearly comes to mind.

People's memory is so strange, many small things hidden in the corner of memory, thought to be forgotten, but will be remembered again in a similar environment.

It is not known whether these memories occupy brain memory.

It is probably because the villagers went to the market early to form an "alarm clock", and the town on the market day woke up earlier.It was only past seven o'clock, and half of Su Youqin's food prepared today was sold out.

After a while of busy work, Su Youqin looked at the three remaining big steamers, thinking about Shen Qianyao saying that she would come to have breakfast last night, and wondered if there would be any breakfast in the store when she woke up.

Do you want to keep it for her?But will she really come?Maybe she was just talking casually.The heat from the steamer was blowing towards your face, Su Youqin closed the lid of the steamer and decided to leave it alone.

Shen Qianyao arrived at the store at nearly nine o'clock, and there were two steamed buns and a few steamed buns left in the steamer.When she arrived, Zhu Chenggang brought Mingming's distant cousin to the store.

Shen Qianyao ordered a cowpea meat bun and a steamed bun, grabbed a cup of soy milk, and sat at the table closest to the steamer cart.

Zhu Cheng took his cousin to sit at the table behind the pan.

Su Youqin took off her gloves, took two cups of soy milk and put them in front of them.The cousin thanked Su Youqin again and again, while thanking her.

This distant cousin didn't know Zhu Cheng well. Seeing her quietly scrutinizing her eyes, Zhu Cheng coughed lightly.Su Youqin didn't care, smiled at Zhu Cheng, and sent him a WeChat message: "Let me introduce you."

Zhu Cheng put down his phone and introduced: "Sister Cui, this is Su Youqin, the owner of this shop, and Mingming's friend." He turned to Su Youqin: "Youqin, this is Mingming's cousin Li Cui, we all call her Cui sister."

Su Youqin nodded and smiled at Sister Cui.

Ms. Cui is not tall, less than 1.5 meters tall. Her skin is yellowish. There are no traces of maintenance on her face. Wrinkles and small fine lines are clearly visible. Her hair is neatly combed. She wears tea roots on her ears and holds a soy milk cup with her fingernails. clean.He looked neat in the cheap short-sleeves and long trousers sold by street vendors.

Compared with the people in the town who were in their forties, she looked older, but her whole body was clean and comfortable.

Su Youqin was quite satisfied with her.

Zhu Cheng continued to introduce: "Sister Cui has worked in the canteen of a junior high school for two years, so she is very familiar with kitchen affairs."

"I don't know how to knead dough and make steamed buns, but I know everything else. I can also learn to make steamed stuffed buns." Sister Cui continued Zhu Cheng's words, her voice was a bit rough, a typical rural person, loud and straightforward.

Su Youqin nodded, picked up the tablet at hand and typed: Come to the store to help, one thousand and three a month, including breakfast.In the future, I will add more breakfast items, and if I am too busy, I will increase my salary.The working hours are from four in the morning until the breakfast is sold out, and the store is cleaned.Take one day off for the last six days.

She handed the tablet to Sister Cui and Zhu Cheng so that both of them could see it.

Sister Cui looked at it very slowly, and only raised her head after a long time: "Only about six hours a day? Can you work six days and take one day off?"

Su Youqin nodded.

Sister Cui smiled instantly: "That's great. The salary is higher than that of working in a supermarket. The supermarket can only repair two days a month, which is only [-] yuan a month. Boss, I am willing to come." She smiled, and her face was wrinkled more.Su Youqin found that she had two shallow dimples.

Su Youqin likes people with dimples.

Her first girlfriend in high school had beautiful dimples.At that time, Su Youqin always liked to poke her girlfriend's dimples, she turned her head slightly, and met the eyes of Shen Qianyao next to her, who smiled brightly at her.

"Boss, when will I come to work?" Sister Cui called Su Youqin's gaze back.

Su Youqin quickly typed on the tablet with two fingers: "Do you need to go home to prepare? If you need to go home to prepare, you can start working from the next market day. If you don't need to prepare, you can come to work tomorrow. By the way, the salary is monthly Hair at the end of the month."

Sister Cui read the words on the tablet and quickly said, "No need to prepare. I brought what I need from my hometown yesterday. You can go to work now."

Su Youqin and Zhu Cheng looked at each other and smiled.Zhu Cheng joked: "Sister Cui is so anxious, is it because she wants to get an extra day's salary?"

Sister Cui waved her hands again and again: "I just want to help the boss. The boss is so young, I heard that she used to work in a big city, so she shouldn't do the cleaning."

Su Youqin put away her smile.

Sister Cui didn't mean anything malicious, but these words sounded uncomfortable to Su Youqin today.Sister Cui would not understand that for someone trapped in the shallows, to speak of the meaningless achievements she may have is to rub salt in the wound.

This emotion only existed for a few seconds, and was pressed down by Su Youqin.She simply typed down some precautions one by one, and explained it clearly to Sister Cui.

With Zhu Cheng at the side to help, Sister Cui could easily keep up with Su Youqin's pace.

By the time the three of them finished chatting, half an hour had passed, and everyone else in the store had finished eating and left. Only Shen Qianyao was sitting there with a soy milk straw in his mouth and playing with his mobile phone.

After making an appointment with Sister Cui to come to work tomorrow, Su Youqin stood up.Sister Cui stood up, she was in a good mood, looked around the store, and said: "Boss, this store really needs to hire someone to help, you can't speak, it's so inconvenient when selling things. "

Su Youqin and Zhu Cheng looked at her at the same time.

The expressions of the two of them changed in an instant, Su Youqin was a little better, the smile on his face didn't fade away, Zhu Cheng turned cold, and was about to talk about Sister Cui, when he heard a lively female voice from next to him: "Hey, what are you talking about? It’s inconvenient, we’re not here to talk when we’re here to eat.”

Shen Qianyao put away her mobile phone, walked to Su Youqin's side, leaned forward slightly, and looked at Sister Cui with a smile: "Sister Cui, don't you see those well-opened restaurants on TV have their own characteristics? The characteristics of our breakfast shop, Just don't talk, just eat. As the saying goes, you can't talk when you eat."

Sister Cui was overwhelmed by Shen Qianyao's smiling face and words, she nodded involuntarily: "It seems so."

The awkward atmosphere was ruined by Shen Qianyao's few words.Zhu Cheng recovered his face, greeted Su Youqin, and left with Sister Cui first.

Su Youqin turned around to collect the dishes left by the guests.Shen Qianyao followed behind her.

Su Youqin looked at her suspiciously.

Shen Qianyao smiled and said, "I just paid, have you received it?"

The voice notification of successful payment seemed to have sounded, but Su Youqin didn't listen carefully, but there was no need for Teacher Shen to lie to her, she nodded.

Shen Qianyao continued to ask: "After the breakfast shop closes, what are you going to do? Going to the street? I wanted to change a cell phone film, but I just found out that my tempered film was cracked when I was eating." She said to herself, and also It doesn't matter whether Su Youqin can answer: "I saw that the film on your tablet is also cracked, do you want to change it together?"

Su Youqin put away everything.Go to the door, pick up the tablet, and type on it: I have to clean up the store.I don't go to the streets.Mr. Shen, go and do it yourself. "

While she was typing, Shen Qianyao looked closer from the side, and the two were very close.Su Youqin took a small step back.

Seeing the words Teacher Shen, Shen Qianyao laughed. She glanced at the scar on Su Youqin's right face, and said with some regret: "Okay. Then Boss Su is busy first, I'll go first, bye."

She walked away without a pause.Su Youqin hugged the tablet and looked at her back for a long time before looking away.

Su Youqin felt that Shen Qianyao's attitude towards her was a bit strange, but the two met only yesterday, and with her current appearance, she would not be so arrogant that she felt that such a beautiful teacher had thoughts about her.

Although she always knew that she was very popular with girls.

She also likes girls, but she had to make a boyfriend for some reason. She never thought that her so-called boyfriend would harm her for the rest of her life.

Su Youqin raised his hand and touched his slightly itchy right cheek.

After leaving the breakfast shop, Shen Qianyao returned to the school dormitory.The school has a special teacher's dormitory for non-town teachers to live in.The dormitory has three rooms and one living room, and three teachers live together.

She pushed open the door of the dormitory, and in the living room, teacher Wang Yu from the school's logistics department was taking notes with a piece of paper.Teacher Wang is 58 years old this year and is one of the few primary school teachers in the town who has not retired early.

"Ms. Shen is back." Wearing presbyopic glasses, Mrs. Wang lowered her head slightly and looked at Shen Qianyao from above the lenses: "Going to have breakfast? What did you eat?"

"Baozi." Shen Qianyao walked to Teacher Wang and looked down at the paper in her hand, which registered the accommodation situation of each teacher's dormitory.

"Buns? You can go to Su Youqin's to eat. Her buns are delicious." Teacher Wang continued casually, "Do you know Su Youqin? Her breakfast shop only opened after the summer vacation. You are going home during the holidays."

Shen Qianyao nodded, picked up her cup to drink water: "I went to eat at Boss Su's place." She asked indifferently, "Mr. Wang, do you all know Boss Su?"

Teacher Wang put down his pen and took off his reading glasses: "Su Youqin, she is from the town, so I must know her. Her grandfather, Master Su, is my predecessor. When I was young, I went to school in the town, and Master Su took good care of me. Master Su's lover Aunt Yuan is also very kind to me." She showed a nostalgic expression.

"Su Youqin grew up under the eyes of our old teachers. She has good grades, is beautiful and versatile. I remember that she was still on the school dance team and represented our school in provincial competitions. At that time, the dance teams of township primary schools could How many of them went to the province to compete? Our school is very good."

As Teacher Wang talked, he began to praise his school again.Shen Qianyao's heart was on another question, she thought for a while, but still asked: "Then, what happened to her now?"

Teacher Wang got up, with regret on her face: "Oh, I don't know the details. It seems that there was a serious car accident. It's a pity, such an excellent child." She put away the paper in her hand, got up and prepared to leave, "You are young People can play together. If I have the opportunity to get to know each other, Su Youqin is really a good kid. If she is willing to stay in her hometown, I would like to introduce Dong Wen to her."

Dong Wen is the son of Teacher Wang and works in the city's public affairs system.

Shen Qianyao laughed out loud, and joked: "Mr. Wang, Dong Wen has a girlfriend. You can't just meet an excellent girl and want her to be your daughter-in-law."

Teacher Wang also laughed: "He has a girlfriend, he only finds excuses to prevaricate me. I didn't meet a girl and let her be my daughter-in-law. I didn't mention anyone else except you and Su Youqin." Speaking of this, Wang The teacher asked Shen Qianyao again: "Mr. Shen, you really can't get married?"

Shen Qianyao had no choice but to return to this topic. She took Teacher Wang's arm and sent her out: "I really can't, I won't lie to you. You forgot, if I can get married, why would I come to the town?"

As a teacher in the logistics department, Mr. Wang naturally knew about Shen Qianyao's family situation.There were rumors that it was because Shen Qianyao had a conflict with her family and they didn't care about her, so she got into the town primary school by herself.She herself also said that she was unable to get married due to psychological reasons, so she was admitted to the primary school in the town to avoid various relationships at home.

Hearing Shen Qianyao's repetition, Teacher Wang had no choice but to give up. The two smiled and said a few more words before parting at the door.

Teacher Wang went downstairs to knock on the door of the next dormitory. Shen Qianyao returned to her room and saw another roommate, Teacher Wu Han, coming out of the room. When she was transferred to the primary school in the town, she didn't like Shen Qianyao's group of younger teachers very much, and she didn't have much contact with them on weekdays. Although they lived together, they didn't talk much.

The two looked at each other, Shen Qianyao smiled lightly, and walked straight into the room.Wu Han glanced at her several times, and called to her: "Teacher Shen."

Shen Qianyao turned around in doubt.

"Mr. Shen, have you considered moving out of the dormitory?"