old city newcomer

Chapter 30

After putting the luggage home, Gu Tong ran into her room and began to change clothes.

Qi An said after school that he would come downstairs to pick him up at eight o'clock and go to the snack street with Pan Yang and Lu Chunze.

Gu Tong was excited when he heard about eating, and he was already so hungry that his chest was on his back, but he still had to save his stomach, and he would go to the snack street to eat to his heart's content.

There was another thing that made Gu Tong very excited. It was snowing outside.

Pan Yang said hell, it rarely snows on New Year's Day.

Gu Tong likes snow very much, it is a vast expanse of whiteness, and the world after snow is full of freshness.

He was wearing a thin red plaid shirt, jeans on his legs, snow boots on his feet, a long down jacket with a hood around his body, and a hat on his head bought at a hat shop on Xiejie Dark gray beanie.

Meng Ya looked left and right, and matched him with a Burberry brown plaid scarf.

When he ran out the gate and saw Qi An, Qi An's hands were in the pockets of his down vest.

Still leaning against the wall and smoking a cigarette, his long and straight legs were stretched out by the slanting shadow of the light.

Gu Tong looked at him for a while, then ran over and pulled the hat over his ears: "Happy New Year."

"It's not there yet." Qi An raised the brim of his hat to his eyebrows again, and pulled his head over to cover his eyes.

"Am I the first to say it?" Gu Tong sniffed.

Qi An didn't speak, and pulled him to the bus stop ahead.

"Aren't you going to ride a 'Lamborghini' this time?" Gu Tong asked.

"I don't want to take bus 41 today. There is bus 103 at the station in front of me. It goes directly to the entrance of Snack Street." Qi An stood in front of the stop sign with arms folded, looked at it, counted silently, and said to Gu Tong, "Thirteen stops."

"Yeah." Gu Tong stuffed his bangs into his hat, his stomach was empty, he didn't have the strength to speak, and stood on the side of the road with Qi An waiting for the bus.

There are not many people going out at night, and with the holiday tomorrow, there are basically no people to be seen.After getting into the car, the car was full of empty seats. Gu Tong and Qi An sat in the last row, shoulder to shoulder.

The snow outside began to fall heavily, and a mist formed on the glass.

"Are you hungry?" Qi An asked.

Gu Tong nodded and rubbed his stomach at him.

Qi An took out his hand from his pocket, and put a rose cake wrapped in tissue paper into his hand.

Gu Tong's eyes lit up: "Sister did it?"

Qi An smiled at him.

While eating rose cakes, Gu Tong was humming a song, very out of tune, but fortunately her voice was low.

He stretched out his hand and wrote the word 'an' on the window, with tong written next to it.

Turning to look at Qi An, Qi An raised his eyebrows.

"My Tong character is too difficult to write, and there are too many gestures. Tong is less than An." Gu Tong took a big bite of the rose cake, feeling much more comfortable in his stomach.

When the bus was approaching nine o'clock, Gu Tong jumped out of the bus and greeted Pan Yang and Lu Chunze.

Pan Yang held four strings of squid with long tentacles, and Gu Tong hid behind him.

"Hey, it's so delicious." Pan Yang asked the stall owner to smear some sauce on it again: "Little colored contact lenses, try it?"

Gu Tong looked at him, thought for a while, and bit half of the tentacles.

what.

Let's bite the other one in half too, to save Junze from having OCD.

I didn't expect it to be quite delicious.

At the entrance of the snack street stands a wooden archway with red pillars, on which the origin and history of the snack street are written.Gu Tong likes this ancient architectural style very much, it is very similar to the one at the entrance of Chinatown, it should be a symbol and sign.

Surrounding the snack street is a very bustling shopping mall. People walking out of the mall are dressed in gorgeous clothes, carrying various famous brand paper bags in their hands, with smiles on their faces.

With a sound of "Zi La", Gu Tong was taken aback, squinted at the yellow and black signboard on the booth next to him, and was stunned.

"Fried ice cream?" Gu Tong stared at the "sizzling" fat triangle on the oil plate.

"It's too tired, you can't eat it." Lu Chunze held two glasses of pear juice and handed it to Gu Tong: "There is something lighter ahead."

Gu Tong didn't hear it, her eyes were fixed on the orange fat triangle.

"Hey, doll." The stall owner took a small shovel and turned the fat triangle over and over: "Come, try something new."

After speaking, he filled a white plastic bowl with a fat triangle that was still steaming and handed it to Gu Tong, and took two toothpicks from the bamboo tube for him.

"It's hot." Gu Tong took a bite of the crispy shell, and after swallowing, he took another bite of the stuffing inside: "It's cold!"

His eyes lit up, and this expression made the three people beside him amused.

"It's hot and cold." Gu Tong looked at the lilac-purple ice cream inside: "It tastes like taro."

"Little Meitong, don't eat too much. I'll take you to the lotus leaf rice shop in front. The boss there knows Mr. Xiao An, so it's free." After Pan Yang finished speaking, he bought another donkey meat fire from the nearby stall.

There are small lights under the roofs of the two long rows of tile sheds, and a variety of snacks make Gu Tong stop and go. He heard from the chatting stall owners that this place will be demolished in two years, and the city will be rebuilt. It is a key renovation area.

In such a bustling commercial street, there is such a dilapidated but very popular and busy street, Gu Tong really likes the fireworks emanating from here.

Of course there are also dislikes.

Right now, Pan Yang is running after Gu Tong with two skewers with scorpions stuck in them.

Lu Chunze was like the head of everyone, taking care of Gu Tong for a while, and telling Pan Yang not to fall.

"What are your plans?" Lu Chunze asked Qi An, staring at them.

Qi An didn't speak.

Lu Chunze glanced at him: "The last time I went to your house, I saw that the old man is not in good health, what's wrong?"

"Lung cancer." Qi An said.

"Then still smoking endlessly with a big cigarette stick?" Lu Chunze sighed: "Your family is stubborn enough."

"Life is comfortable." Qi An smiled: "The old man is willing, but he refuses to lie in the hospital bed, what can I do."

"Just found out?" Lu Chunze bought two bottles of old yogurt, and each of them held a bottle with Qi An: "Dead?"

"Fucking said that she is very tough." Qi An took a deep breath.

Lu Chunze knew that Mr. Qi had a stubborn temper, and he was a well-known gunner in the old city. He loved face, and no one wanted to see him suffer from illness: "I'm still angry with my second uncle."

"Is it possible not to give birth? He is a man of face, the eldest son has no backbone, and the second son is in debt and can't find anyone. My father..." Qi An frowned.

"Still in Dali? Don't plan to come back?" Lu Chunze held Gu Tong's back who was running towards them. He and Pan Yang took two toy golden cudgels from nowhere and started to spin them. Pan Yang also taught Gu Tong a monkey.

"Probably, my mother has a grudge against him, and she only knows how to cherish it when she's gone." Qi An put the bottle of old yogurt on the small table supported by the trash can.

"What about you?" Lu Chunze smiled: "Do you know?"

Qi An sighed: "It's around me again."

Lu Chunze patted him on the shoulder: "I have to keep an eye on your situation for your sister."

"Reporting to her every day, the private investigators are more dedicated than you, and they don't need money." Qi An glanced at him.

"Talk to her more through your business." Lu Chunze lowered his voice when he said this.

Qi An looked at him: "Your parents won't agree, so don't bother with my sister."

"I have liked her since I was a child." Lu Chunze took the Versace glasses that Gu Tong bought for him today, a few snowflakes fell on the lenses, he took them off and wiped them with the glasses cloth in his pocket: "It is impossible to change in this life. "

"It used to be before, but now my sister's legs..." Qi An frowned and couldn't continue.

"I don't care." Lu Chunze took back his glasses: "It's your sister who doesn't want to trouble me now."

Qi An felt depressed for a while, he looked at Gu Tong, not in the mood to discuss with Lu Chunze any further.

After Gu Tong reported Gu Yan's safety, the phone automatically shut down.

He put the phone back in his pocket, swung the golden cudgel, and walked towards a bright place.

He heard the familiar open voice, this time it was a female voice.

The tile shed on the right is recessed into an open space, and a small stage has been set up. The women with heavy make-up are invisible, and they are singing in costumes.

Gu Tong listened for a while, and was fascinated by it.

"I'll listen to you when I come back later." Qi An took off his hat, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and put it on again: "Eat first."

Gu Tong nodded, walked a few steps forward and still couldn't help turning back to listen to the woman's play, although he couldn't understand it, let alone the way and knowledge in it, he just felt that listening to it opened his heart.

"I see." Gu Tong muttered as he walked.

"Little Meitong, fight or not!" Pan Yang waved the golden cudgel at him.

"Maybe, I can sing." Gu Tong said, "It sounds like I'm out of tune, right on the wrong side."

Qi An couldn't hold back, Lu Chunze's glasses trembled when he laughed.

"Don't." Pan Yang hurriedly stopped his idea, he knew that as soon as Gu Tong had an idea, he had to implement it immediately: "Come on, wake up, it's time to eat."

Gu Tong made an excited expression, and pointed at the small flag with lotus leaf rice printed on it: "It's here."

The front of this store is not open, the two screen doors are wide open, and there is only enough space for ten tables in the room.It was snowing outside, and there were people inside at this time, and the four of them were waiting outside to step on the snow and play.

"Hey, Mr. An." The boss saw them at the door and hurried out to greet them.

Gu Tong couldn't hold back and asked, "Boss, do you know Mr. An?"

The boss smiled generously: "I don't know anyone in the Eight Great Hutongs. Mr. Qi's only grandson helped us keep the yard."

Gu Tong pouted and nodded, only to see that the boss was still smiling: "Baby, you don't know, Mr. An fights with five or six adults by himself, falls off the beam and breaks his leg, and is beaten away by those people Yes, it's amazing."

Qi An glanced at the boss, and the boss smiled at him with a "hehe" smile: "Don't look at the small room, there is a private room, it's cold outside, hurry up and sit down."

Gu Tong took off the hat, her hair was overwhelmed, and after a few tricks it still collapsed, and she put the hat back on.

"No one is watching." Qi An pulled off his hat.

The room was well heated, Gu Tong was wearing a red plaid shirt, and within a few minutes, the boss and his wife brought out four portions of lotus leaf rice.

"Two more bowls of noodle tea." Pan Yang took out a spoon from the bamboo tube, regardless of whether it was hot or not, quickly scooped a spoonful into his mouth: "Damn it's so fucking delicious, this is what I said. "

The boss patted his chest: "What else do you want, eat as much as you want today, free of charge."

"Enough." Lu Chunze waved at the boss: "Go ahead, there's quite a lot of business today."

"Okay, then let's go get busy and say hello if we have something to do." The boss pushed the smiling proprietress out of the private room, and put a screen across the door, separating it from the lively hall.

Gu Tong ate very seriously.

When Qi An opened the lotus leaf bag for him just now, he didn't realize that the rice was wrapped in lotus leaves. He had eaten bamboo tube rice, but this was the first time he had eaten lotus leaf rice.

His is sweet, eat it in one bite, sweet peas, corn kernels, red dates and purple potatoes are broken into the mouth, and the rice is not glutinous, one grain is one grain.

delicious.

Just no meat.

He took a mouthful of Qi An's, and his mouth was filled with the smell of meat, he took two more mouthfuls, and finally exchanged with Qi An.

The meat is still delicious. Now for Gu Tong, meat is the first.

"The taste of small colored contact lenses changes very quickly, doesn't it?" Pan Yang sipped the tea while holding the noodles: "Do you want tea?"

Just as Gu Tong was about to take it, Qi An moved his own bowl to his eyes.

Gu Tong withdrew his hand again, picked up the tea bowl, and sipped while following Pan Yang's example.

"It's not too hot, drink it directly." Qi An chewed the rice in his mouth and smashed his mouth: "It's so sweet."

Gu Tong held the tea bowl to his mouth, Qi An sighed, and took a sip honestly.

When leaving, Qi An saw that there was no one at the counter, so he put 200 yuan into the cash register.

When she went out, she was covered in snow, and the snow was bigger than before, falling like a goose feather in Gu Tong's palm, and it melted away in an instant.

The four of them walked to the stage where they were singing just now. It was almost twelve o'clock. Gu Tong took out his mobile phone from Qi An's pocket, pressed it to check the time, and there were still more than 20 minutes left.

"Happy New Year." Gu Tong said again.

Qi An looked at him and smiled.

When walking back, Gu Tong bought some jerky pork, and he tore it with his teeth to eat it. Gu Tong learned how to cook it once. Although the jerky was hard, it tasted very delicious. The jerky is cut into nine small pieces, which can be eaten together for a long time.

Gu Tong held the bag and followed Qi An while eating while looking to both sides, and saw a man wearing an old military green padded jacket with two small silver-gray bottles in his hands, tugging at someone's sleeve, as if he was promoting/selling a product.

Before he could look away, the three people in front of him paused, and Gu Tong bumped into Qi An directly.

"Damn it, tell me I'm not blind." Pan Yang rubbed his eyes, staring at the man and staring hard.

"You may really be wrong by yourself." Lu Chunze clenched his fists: "It's impossible for all three of you to be wrong."

"Damn it!" Pan Yang roared, "It's definitely the second uncle, what the hell!"

"Copy it from the back." Before Qi An finished speaking, he had already rushed towards a small path next to him.

Pan Yang and Lu Chunze followed closely behind, and also galloped along.

The trail was very dark, and it was almost impossible to see the road, but Qi An ran very fast.

The second uncle is what Mr. Qi misses the most. He has a lot of thoughts and bad ideas. He is afraid that something will go wrong. He thinks about money all day long. He thinks about selling the yard and taking a lot of money to play cards in the chess room.Give him a bedding and sleep along the street, nothing is more addictive than playing cards.

But he was afraid of his father, so he was kicked out of the house several times and entered the police station several times, but he refused to mend his ways despite repeated admonitions.

Qi An saw that he was holding something in his hand, but he didn't know what it was. It was probably not a good thing. He was worried that his second uncle would miss Jiang Ming's mother, so don't miss other people.

He turned a corner and moved towards the person at the end of the road quietly, and the two people behind him didn't dare to show their breath.There was no one on the path, it was very quiet, only the heartbeats of the three of them.

Qi Erbo pulled several people and failed to sell the goods in his hand. He felt depressed for a while, and cursingly took out the aluminum flagon from his cotton-padded jacket, suffocated it, wiped his mouth, and prepared to retreat.

Turning around, he met Qi An face to face, and ran away without hesitation for half a second.

The three of them rushed up immediately.

The second uncle may be used to running in the past few years, running away at every turn, and has developed the ability to avoid debts. He is probably familiar with the snack street. Although he is not as fast as Qi An, he knows the local people well. , turn right from the mutton stall, and turn directly onto the main road of the commercial street.

Next is pure ratio speed.

Qi An jumped onto the main road and chased after him, Pan Yang and Lu Chunze couldn't run anymore.

After running for a while, a few cars drove over on a sideways road, separating the second uncle from them, and the man disappeared in a few seconds.

Qi An was so tired that he put his hands on his knees and gasped for breath. The shoes he wore today were not non-slip, and there was a thick layer of ice on the ground.

bored.

Qi An took out a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, took two deep puffs, sat on the curb with his arms outstretched and rubbed his head.

"What is he holding in his hand?" Lu Chunze also sat down, exhausted, and took a sip from Qi An's cigarette. Although he could smoke, he didn't smoke much, and he wasn't very addicted.

"It can't be fucking drugs, right?" Pan Yang cursed with a cigarette in his mouth.

"He's not so stupid." Qi An took a long breath of smoke, flicked his fingers, and the soot fell on the large ice in front of him.

"If he dares to sell this kind of thing, the old man will execute him at home directly without the police." Lu Chunze shook his collar, sweating a little hot from running.

The three of them stayed for a cigarette, and the hot sweat turned into cold sweat.

"Fuck..." Pan Yang threw the cigarette butt on the ground: "Just fucking ran away."

Qi An's face turned cold in an instant, and he turned around and ran back. Lu Chunze took out his mobile phone to call Gu Tong while running.

Qi An was running on the underworld when he came here, with an expression on his face that he had never seen before.

Although Gu Tong is such an adult, there must be a way to contact them, or maybe he has gone home now, but Qi An can't use these psychological comforts to convince himself.

He was the one who brought Gu Tong out, Gu Tong left Gu Yan, only Qi An was there.

The mobile phone is out of battery and I can't take a taxi. There are many thieves in this area. The shops in the snack street are closed one after another. Qi An searched for a long time. Lu Chunze and Pan Yang behind him kept calling Gu Tong's name. echo.

There was a loud "bang" behind him, the fireworks exploded in the night sky, and the New Year's bell has already sounded.

Qi An clenched his fists tightly. He once said that his affairs should not affect Gu Tong, but now, he has lost Gu Tong.

"Fuck." Qi An thumped the wall, lowered his head, and quickly wiped his face.

"Don't worry, think about where Gu Tong might go." Lu Chunze looked around, and the lights on the booth went out one by one, and the darkness fell.

"Maybe he's already gone home." Pan Yang panted heavily, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and looked around with awe-inspiring eyes.

stage.

"Come back and listen to it later".

Qi An raised his head, glanced at the open space not far away, and walked over there slowly.

Pan Yang and Lu Chunze followed him, and within a few steps, they found Gu Tong, who was leaning against the wall and sleeping soundly, on a row of red benches in front of the stage.

"I'm really convinced, I can fall asleep here." Pan Yang was relieved.

The women on the stage were taking off their costumes, and the stage was so small that it didn't even have a backstage, so they could only make do with taking off their outer clothes and wrapping them tightly in padded jackets.

"It's all closed." The woman said, "This kid has been listening for a while, and I'll let him sit on the stool and wait for you."

"Thank you." Lu Chunze hurriedly nodded at the woman.

Qi An walked up to Gu Tong and called his name softly. Gu Tong opened his eyes and saw that it was Qi An. He smiled first, then pulled his hand to stand up, rubbed his eyes and asked, "Did the bad guy get caught?" ?”

In the next second, he bumped into Qi An's arms, and his back was bent into an uncomfortable arc by his tight embrace. The force in his waist was really strong, and Gu Tong felt very uncomfortable.

"Qi An?" Gu Tong patted him on the shoulder, and glanced at Lu Chunze and Pan Yang next to him. They didn't speak, but just smiled at him.

Qi An hugged him for a long time, and when he let go, Gu Tong felt a little sore in his waist.

The four separated at the entrance of the snack street, and Qi An and Gu Tong got into a taxi.

There was a cross talk in the rental, and those two uncles with open voices. Gu Tong didn't dare to disturb Qi An. Be distracted.

Fortunately, the jokes said by the two uncles are very funny. I have asked Pan Yang about the meaning of some of the words in the jokes, and I can understand a lot. Anyway, at least I understand what "bird" refers to.

Gu Tong listened carefully all the way, and after listening, she almost got home.

Qi An got out of the car with him and watched him walk towards the gate of the courtyard.

Gu Tong took only two steps, after thinking about it, she turned around and walked back towards Qi An.

He wanted to hug Qi An again, but Qi An avoided it.

Gu Tong bit her lower lip, cheering herself up in her heart, and after mustering up her courage, she went to grab Qi An's hand.

He was also dodged.

"What's wrong..." Gu Tong's nose was a little sour.

"It's okay, you go home quickly." Qi An's voice was deep, and his face looked very tired.

"Yes... did I do something wrong?" Gu Tong looked up at him, not understanding what made Qi An unhappy.

Qi An frowned: "No, it's my fault, I'm in a mess."

Gu Tong looked at the nose and mouth, and finally stared down at Qi An's shoe tip.

The two of them just stood along the street like this. There were no pedestrians on the road. Occasionally, fireworks exploded above their heads, but the sound was not loud.

"I'm afraid you'll ignore me again." Gu Tong lowered her head and whispered, "I'm very happy today."

Yes, very happy.

Qi An looked at him.

But Qi An was still so hot-headed that he only cared about his family affairs, and left Gu Tong alone on the street without caring about it. His subconscious behavior made him feel scared when he recalled it. If someone called Gu Tong's attention and Qi An was not around, The innocent Gu Tong will definitely be deceived, in case...

Qi An didn't dare to think about it.

He never used to think about what if he assumed that this kind of thing hadn't happened, but now, he couldn't stop thinking about these possibilities in his mind, he couldn't control it at all, and the more he thought about it, the more angry he was, and he was angry with himself. angry.

His face was very swollen.

"Say something." Seeing that he hadn't responded for a long time, Gu Tong stood there and said to him.

"What do you want to hear?" Qi An asked looking at the top of his head.

This time it was Gu Tong's turn to stop talking. He waited for a long time before looking up at Qi An with red eyes: "Didn't you say it was your fault?"

Qi An frowned.

"Then you... why did you punish me?" Gu Tong's voice trembled a little, he was "questioning" Qi An very aggrieved.

The snow is gradually getting smaller.

Qi An closed his eyes and held Gu Tong in his arms.

Gu Tong didn't cry, but grabbed the clothes on his back and buried her face in his chest.

Qi An would never be shaken by anything, but facing Gu Tong, he let himself fall into it time and time again.

He began to feel that he was a little strange.

"I'll take you back to my house during the Chinese New Year." Qi An whispered to him.

Gu Tong nodded: "Eat the rose cake made by my sister."

"More than that." With his chin resting on his head, Qi An looked along the road to the street corner, taking in everything at a glance: "There are still a lot of delicious food, let you eat your fill."

"Do I need to bring anything?" Gu Tong asked in a muffled voice.

"Just bring your stomach." Qi An smiled.

Gu Tong stood at the gate and waved to Qi An, watching him get on the called express train.

When turning around, Gu Tong took the hat in his pocket back and pulled it over his ears.

Although I don't know why Qi An suddenly seemed to be a different person, now that he is gone, he still feels a lot of emptiness in his heart.

Wearing the hat he bought with Qi An always makes him feel more at ease.

Gu Tong looked up at the red lantern on the gate.

It's a new year.

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