Linxia

Chapter 79, Sea of ​​Bitterness

This is very rare. Chai Yiwei is not as stingy as Huang Di on weekdays, but he is also very frugal. Today he is unusually generous.

Then, something even more rare happened. Huang Di, who usually took advantage of others, actually refused today: "Linzi, Chai Yiwei, you guys go ahead. I have something to do at home, so I'll go back first."

It turned out that he had something to do, so he left in a hurry without even having dinner in the restaurant.

'In the afternoon, the neighbor came to see him. Huang Di went out to talk to him. When he came back, he was a little absent-minded. Maybe something happened at home! Fang Lin thought to himself.

Chai Yiwei said, "Brother Fang, then let's go together?"

"Yiwei, if you want to return the favor by treating me today, you don't have to. I said that the meal that day was for celebration. Of course, if you really want to treat us, wait until another day when Huang Di is here. Then we can have more fun together." Fang Lin thought for a moment and suggested.

"No, Brother Fang, it has to be today...you have to accompany me!" Chai Yiwei said, with a hint of begging in his voice in the last sentence.

'What is his reason? ' Fang Lin thought to himself and agreed: "Okay then!"

The two of them said something to Manager Liu and decided not to have dinner in the restaurant that night. So they went out. Chai Yiwei actually brought Fang Lin to Kemanlou.

Kemanlou is one of the more famous restaurants in the city, similar to Ruyifang, Xianglaige, etc., and is more upscale.

"Chai Yiwei, are we going to eat here tonight? This is too luxurious. How about we go to another place?" Fang Lin advised.

Neither he nor Chai Yiwei are wealthy people, so there is no need for them to pursue those flashy things; practicality is enough.

"Brother Fang, let's eat here!" Chai Yiwei looked at the large gold-plated characters on the plaque, touched the silver in his arms, and spoke in a firm voice.

However, after he finished speaking, standing at the door, facing the bright and exquisitely decorated room full of guests, and the well-dressed guests coming in and out, all his courage was like a deflated ball, deflated all at once, his body became stiff with nervousness, his hands clenched tightly, it was obvious that he was feeling inferior.

"Chai Yiwei is not a wasteful person. He may have some necessary reasons for choosing this place." Fang Lin did not say anything else.

As for this inferiority complex, he could actually empathize with it. In his previous life, he also came from a poor mountain village and came to the big city for college. In the first few years, he subconsciously did not dare to go into nice places like big hotels and high-end restaurants. It was not until he started working and often went to these places for social events that he gradually recovered.

"Yiwei, this is a place to eat. We are the guests today and those waiters are here to serve us. The same goes for other guests, they are all here to eat, no one is more noble than anyone else. Let's go!" Fang Lin said, putting his arm around Chai Yiwei's shoulder and walking in.

"My dear guests, what would you like to eat?" The waiter came forward warmly.

Maybe it was because Fang Lin had a calm expression, a composed demeanor, and a good temperament, he subconsciously regarded Fang Lin as the leader, and when he asked this question, he slightly leaned towards Fang Lin.

Before coming in, Chai Yiwei was still a little self-conscious and timid, but when he ordered the dishes, he seemed to have memorized them for a long time, and he said fluently in one breath: "We want a beggar's chicken, a pound of Du Kang wine, and a plate of dried tofu to go with the wine."

The waiter was slightly startled when he saw that it was Chai Yiwei who ordered the dish, but then he noticed that Fang Lin didn't say anything, so he reacted very quickly and said, "Okay! Sir, you have good taste and ordered the most famous dish in our restaurant."

The dried tofu and wine are served first, and the beggar's chicken will have to wait for a while.

"You're the host today and you're treating us, so let me pour the wine!" Fang Lin joked and poured Chai Yiwei some wine.

Chai Yiwei did not refuse, he picked up the bowl and gulped down half of it in one breath, then he was brave enough to speak while panting: "Brother Fang, are you wondering why I had to choose this place? Because on the ninth day of the eleventh month of that year, my mother brought me into the city to work at Xuan Mo Zhai, and we had dinner here.

At that time, the shopkeeper wanted to invite my mother and me to his house for dinner, but my mother did not agree and said to me, "Our family and Shopkeeper Liu are not very close relatives, and we cannot trouble him too much." So she brought me here. Even though we were in such a great place, I didn't dare to go in, and it was my mother who pulled me in.

At that time, I remember that the table next to us ordered a beggar's chicken, which tasted so delicious that I was drooling. My mother told me that I could eat it when I made some money. I said that I would definitely invite her to come and eat with me, and she smiled.

Fang Lin listened in silence and had some guesses in his mind.

As expected, Chai Yiwei said again: "But my mother never lived to see me. She passed away that winter."

"Here comes the beggar's chicken!" As he spoke, the waiter came over with the dish.

"My dear guests, our beggar chicken is made by removing the feathers and internal organs of a young hen, marinating it with soy sauce, wine, and salt, and stuffing it with chopped green onions, minced ginger, mashed garlic, diced lean meat, mushrooms, etc. The chicken's belly is then filled with lard, and then wrapped with a layer of lotus leaves, tied with fine hemp rope, and then roasted in mud..."

The waiter explained how to cook it while helping them crack the mud shell, untie the rope, and peel the lotus leaves to reveal the fragrant beggar chicken. Then he left with a tactful look. "Come on, eat while it's hot! Yiwei, the dead are gone, but the living must continue to live. Eat your mother's portion today. Taste it. I'm sure she'll be happy if she knows." Fang Lin said as he picked up some meat for Chai Yiwei.

"Thank you, Brother Fang. This is my first time eating this too." Chai Yiwei said, shedding tears as he ate. "It's delicious! It's delicious!"

He only ate two bites, as if one was for himself and the other for his mother, then he put down his chopsticks and continued, "That year, I worked in the store for a full month and got paid. I was so happy. I still remember that day I bought three pies. The pies were golden and had meat fillings.

When I got home, my father wasn't back yet, so I took out the pies to show my mother. She said that I had made a living and bought very good pies. I was very happy, but she suddenly said, "Don't make any noise. There is a beggar outside. She will knock on the door when she hears someone in the house."

I looked in the direction where I saw a pair of small feet wrapped in red cloth flash by through the crack in the door.

After a while, my father came in and my mother told him about the beggar woman. My father didn't believe it and said, "We have just finished threshing and it is past dinner time. How can there be a beggar woman? Besides, he just came in from outside. There is no one around."

I opened the door and looked around, but there was no one in sight, so I ran out and asked my neighbor if he had seen the beggar woman come. The neighbor said no. I asked again, but he still said no. Finally, I ran to the village entrance and looked around, but there was no one in sight either..."

Fang Lin felt as if he was listening to a ghost story, but he didn't interrupt. He picked up a piece of dried tofu and put it in his mouth to chew, to calm his nerves, and continued listening.

"That night, my mother had a stomachache. My father said she was too busy, so she stopped talking. She only got up in the middle of the night and had red and white loose stools a few times. The next morning, she couldn't wake up, yawned constantly, and the bed was wet. My mother was so old, but she wet the bed. This meant she was seriously ill. My father then rushed to ask for a doctor.

Dad went out to get a doctor and asked me to look after Mom. I was ignorant at the time, so I woke up early and yawned, and waited outside. Suddenly, I felt as if a red cloth foot flashed before my eyes. I shuddered and went in to see Mom, who was lying on the bed, and she was dead.

Fang Lin felt a chill down his spine as he listened, but he soon realized that there was great terror between life and death. People of this era were superstitious and attributed life and death to ghosts and gods.

"From the symptoms, it should be acute dysentery," he thought to himself.

Chai Yiwei continued, "After my mother passed away, my father found a stepmother who brought me an older brother... I gave half of my monthly salary to my family. My father said he would save it to build a house for me and to help me find a wife. But later, my stepmother kept saying that she should give it to my brother first..."

"Alas, no wonder Chai Yiwei doesn't want to go back. Without his mother, is that home still his home? There's no one to complain about his grievances!" Fang Lin sighed in his heart.

"Now that mom is gone, no one will be nice to me anymore. I miss her so much!" Chai Yiwei said as he drank and finally got drunk.

Fang Lin looked at Chai Yiwei, who was usually honest and taciturn. Today, he said this and spoke his true feelings. He cried and fell drunk while talking, and remained silent for a long time.

To be honest, the 'Beggar's Chicken' that was served to the guests tasted very good, but they didn't eat much. They packed up the rest and helped Chai Yiwei out.

Suddenly, Fang Lin saw a figure and subconsciously shouted, "Brother Cheng!"

The man turned around and he saw clearly that it was indeed Cheng Shiliang.

However, in my impression, Cheng Shiliang was tall, with his head held high and a cool and handsome air. Now he is hunched over, wearing patched clothes, limping, and doing the business of writing letters for people on the roadside.

"You've got the wrong person! You've got the wrong person!" The man was stunned when he saw Fang Lin and Chai Yiwei, then lowered his head and said something hoarsely, then he packed up his stall, turned around and limped away, merged into the crowd, and disappeared in a hurry.

"Maybe you're down and out and you're too embarrassed to recognize me?"

Fang Lin sighed and closed his eyes. At this moment, he suddenly thought of many people: Sister Guihua, Chuntao, Mr. Xin, Mr. Qiu, Grandma Qiu, Chai Yiwei, Cheng Shiliang...

Figures flashed before his eyes one after another, and he felt as if something was suppressed in his chest and was about to burst out. His myriad thoughts finally turned into a sigh: "All living things are suffering!"

He stared at the passers-by coming and going with wide eyes, as if he could see through those faces and see the different sufferings behind them.

'Perhaps, suffering is the underlying color of this world. Everything we do is just to retain that fleeting happiness and make it last longer and longer.'

Fang Lin looked at the surging crowds of people coming and going from north to south and east to west, like waves rising in the sea of ​​suffering: "I am sailing against the current in this sea of ​​suffering, and I see all living beings struggling in the sea of ​​suffering, unable to cross it, unable to save it. All I can do is, after seeing them, carry their expectations for happiness and move forward more firmly."

……

(End of this chapter)