Milk tea and huge sums of money

Jiang Yuanzhou, whose father is a geography teacher, attended elementary school, junior high school, and high school on the Jiangyuan Plain and has a deep affection for that plain.

As a genuine liberal arts student, what I like to talk about most is my hometown.

So, the name Jiang Yuanzhou came into being.

Let’s talk about his mother.

Aunt Su is a northern girl who looks petite but is a man at heart.

He is friends with my mom, and we hit it off right away.

The two of them are extremely close. Other mothers take their children out to play and go to amusement parks or KFC, but these two are different. Jiang Yuanzhou and I have to follow the two mothers to the mall every few days to look at clothes and buy shoes.

The tacit understanding between Jiang Yuanzhou and I started when we went shopping together with our mothers in our childhood.

I couldn't help but yawn again. Aunt Su was still picking out clothes. The sofa next to her was already piled with many pieces of clothes she had tried on.

The shop owner's face was filled with rage and anger, which was no longer interesting after seeing it for a long time.

My mother was even more exaggerated. She complained that this piece of clothing had loose threads and that the zipper of that piece didn't work, but she insisted on trying them all on herself.

"Mom!! Are you guys done? I'm hungry!"

My mother turned around and glared at me. "Girl, you're not even as patient as Jiang Yuanzhou. He's a grown man and he's not in a hurry, so why are you so anxious?"

I curled my lips, looked at Jiang Yuanzhou who was being praised for some unknown reason, and stuck out my tongue.

No rush?

Just now, this guy secretly told me that he had already gone to the bathroom twice, and why were they still in this store after coming back?

Looking ahead, there are countless shops with lights on, and the future seems bleak.

"Let's sneak away."

Jiang Yuanzhou said to me in a low voice.

I looked at the two mothers warily and nodded.

Before we stood up, Aunt Su turned around and saw the guilty expressions on our faces.

"Where are you two going?"

"Toilet," Jiang Yuanzhou and I answered in unison.

“…”

My mother looked at us with amusement and finally let us go.

"Forget it, forget it, you guys should go out and play, it's boring to stay here, if you are really tired, just go home."

Jiang Yuanzhou and I nodded immediately. We had never felt that our mother was so nice.

What?

What to do if it’s lost?

Are you kidding! This Hanchuan is my world.

There is a brother next to the store who is taller than my dad. He sells milk tea here every Friday. The milk tea he sells is delicious, but very expensive.

In that era when prices were still low, four yuan a cup of milk tea was indeed expensive!

The reason I voluntarily followed the mothers out was just to buy a cup of milk tea from this brother.

The pocket money Jiang Yuanzhou and I saved for a week was only enough to buy a cup of milk tea.

"Little friends, are you two here to buy milk tea again?"

The older brother smiled when he saw us and handed me a big cup of milk tea. Jiang Yuanzhou carefully handed over a huge sum of four yuan, then ran away with the milk tea.

If my mother saw me eating such expensive milk tea, she would definitely scold me.

Jiang Yuanzhou and I often argue over who gets to take the first sip.

Because the taste of milk tea is different every week.

The person who takes the first sip will know what the drink will taste like before the person who takes the second sip.

"Rock, Paper, Scissors!"

"Rock, Paper, Scissors!!"

I grinned, shook my fist, looked at Jiang Yuanzhou with a mocking look as he pulled out the scissors, and proudly took a big sip of the milk tea.

"hawthorn!"

Of course sometimes we argue about what it tastes like.

Jiang Yuanzhou couldn't wait to grab it and took a big sip.

"hawthorn!!"

But it seems that this time it is not necessary.

The river in front of us is a tributary of the Yellow River. We sat on the bank and felt very comfortable.

I really can’t imagine that one day in the future this river will turn black and smelly due to pollution, but that’s a story for another time.

The river is still very clear. On the other side of the river is a school with "Hanchuan Experimental High School" written on its imposing gate.

Every Friday, at this time, many brothers and sisters would come out of that big door wearing the same clothes.

Some rode bicycles, some drove electric scooters, and some just walked. It was very lively.

Some older brothers on bicycles would wave to us when they passed by.

Today, we watched them whizzing past us, and an older brother saw us in a good mood and threw us a handful of candy.

"Children, it's time to eat wedding candy!"

The people around him immediately screamed in surprise.

The older sister sitting in the back seat of his car had a red face, and Jiang Yuanzhou and I looked at each other in confusion.

But...looking at the White Rabbit milk candy in my hand.

Free sugar, still good...

When I finished my last sip of milk tea, Jiang Yuanzhou took it and shook it to make sure it was empty. Then he crushed the milk tea cup with his foot and put it aside, waiting for the old man to ask us in a local dialect, "Do you want a bottle?"

After I finished drinking it, I felt a little empty.

Well...I have to start saving money for next week's milk tea...

————

After entering junior high school, the workload became heavier, depriving me of most of my leisure time, but the milk tea appointment every Friday evening stubbornly remained.

It was another Friday afternoon filled with test papers and formulas. After school, Jiang Yuanzhou and I left the others behind and met at the school gate tacitly, with a clear destination.

The older brother’s milk tea cart was still there, but the number on the price tag had quietly changed to five yuan.

"Still the same old rules?" The older brother saw us with a smile on his face.

We have all grown a lot taller, but he still seems to call us "kids" out of habit.

Jiang Yuanzhou nodded and handed over the change he had prepared.

Now I don’t have to save up for a week like I did when I was a child, but the serious expression on my face when I receive the milk tea hasn’t changed much.

We walked to the familiar spot by the river and sat down.

Long ago, we no longer had to play rock-paper-scissors to decide who would take the first sip.

I don't know when this became my unspoken right.

On the other side of the river, the scene of school dismissal at "Hanchuan Experimental High School" is still lively.

There are several pairs of figures that are particularly eye-catching.

They walked side by side, very close to each other. The girl smiled and turned her head to talk to the boy, and the boy leaned forward slightly to listen. The sunlight outlined their silhouettes huddled together.

Jiang Yuanzhou and I bit our straws and no one spoke for a while.

Today's milk tea tastes like strawberry mixed with something, sour and sweet, but I was a little absent-minded while sipping it.

My eyes dropped to my knees, which were pressed together.

I took my last sip and handed him the empty cup. Jiang Yuanzhou took it and shook it habitually to confirm that it was empty before crushing the paper cup with his foot and putting it aside.

Finished drinking.

"Oh..." We sighed almost at the same time.

Then, because of this synchronized action, they couldn't help but smile at each other.

"Next week," he brushed the grass clippings off his pants, "will you come back to buy it?"

"Come on." I answered without hesitation.