Chapter 25 Fried Potatoes

Xia Tang's snack bar is about to open, but Xia Dashan's family is filled with gloom and sorrow.

They moved back to their original narrow tube-shaped building.

Without a balcony, Xia Dashan had to smoke in the living room.

Last week, after Xia Dashan had finished smoking the foreign cigarettes he had bought, he switched to homemade cigarettes.

The smell of earthy cigarettes was strong and the smoke was huge. Every time he smoked, others had to wrinkle their noses when passing by him.

But even so, Liu Mei didn't dare to care about her.

She knew that Xia Dashan had been in a bad temper ever since he moved in.

She already loses her temper every now and then, and if she says a few more words, World War III will break out in our house.

She was holding a rice basin in her hand as she walked through the living room with lifeless eyes.

Seeing the quilt on Xia Lulu's cot casually spread out, he couldn't help but kick the quilt and cursed in a low voice:

"What a lazy guy!"

Now, Xia Tang is gone and Xia Xia is married, so Xia Lulu is the only person in the family she can scold.

But Xia Lulu also has a bad temper and will talk back when she is scolded by her, unlike Xia Tang and Xia Xia who would let her beat or scold them.

Thinking of Xia Tang, Liu Mei couldn't help cursing in her heart.

The little whore whose three generations have died!

A taciturn and trouble-making person!

He usually keeps quiet, yet he brought such harm to their family!

What a scabby dog ​​that can't bark! It just bites people!

She walked out of the door, put the rice basin under the tap in the public area to wash it, and rubbed each long grain of japonica rice vigorously like Xia Tang.

It's like rubbing the japonica rice until it's bald.

She was angry, so her actions were inevitably a little rough.

Hu Dahua from next door passed by and saw that Liu Mei used so much water, and couldn't help but say:

"Sister Liu, isn't your faucet a little too wide?"

"Last week our building manager said that since you moved back here, the water and gas have been used up much faster than before. You better save some!"

These words immediately touched Liu Mei's heart.

She didn't even turn off the faucet, letting the white water rush over, and pointed at Hu Dahua and cursed:

"How much I spend is none of your business? Didn't my family pay for this stall?"

Hu Dahua was no pushover either, he immediately put his hands on his hips and said:

"Oh, so what you're saying is that something went wrong in your family?"

"Although you didn't live here before, you always came in every now and then to put things away. You often washed the quilts and hung bacon outside. What happened to you at that time?"

"The other day, the building manager was arranging for the water bill, and you guys said you would pay it when you got water. Now you tell me that you are behind?"

Hu Dahua became more and more angry as he spoke, and his voice could not help but get louder:

"Sister Liu! Now tell me, where did you put this money?!"

Hu Dahua had a loud voice and the tube-shaped building was not soundproof, so he successfully attracted many neighbors to come out and watch.

After hearing what Hu Dahua said, they stood at the door and started to make a fuss:

"That's right, Miss Liu! You told the building manager that you were short of money the other day, and I heard it! You have to tell me where you paid the money!"

"If you ask me, it's because they didn't take advantage of the Xia family enough before! Now that they've been driven back, they want to take advantage of us!"

"Sister Liu, don't say anything else, just turn on the faucet! Just turn it on! The water belongs to you and your family!"

"That's right! Turn off the water!"

As Hu Dahua spoke, he walked over and reached out to turn on the faucet.

But unexpectedly, in her panic, Liu Mei actually thought that Hu Dahua was going to punish her, so she immediately picked up a whole basin of rice and poured it on Hu Dahua's face!

This time you've really stirred up a hornet's nest!

Hu Dahua was not a pushover at all. He grabbed Liu Mei's hair and started tearing it apart.

The two men started fighting, and the broken baskets, broken flower pots, broken wooden racks and other things placed around them were knocked over with a crackling sound, and the ground was immediately a mess.

The neighbors who had been watching the excitement now rushed forward to pull them apart.

But not all of these people had good intentions. Some tried to stop the fight, while others just wanted to cause trouble, which made the whole scene even more chaotic.

At this moment, a young girl's voice suddenly came from the corridor:

"Mom! What have you done to my mom?"

Before she could finish her words, Xia Lulu's young figure rushed into the crowd like a bomb.

She wanted to pull Liu Mei out, but there were too many people inside.

Someone's arm grabbed her and Xia Lulu lost her balance and fell to the side.

It was not such a coincidence that Xia Lulu's head hit the flower pot beside her and she fainted.

At this time, someone shouted at the top of his voice:

"Help! Help! Someone is bleeding!"

Xia Dashan was originally sitting in the house, and his head was dizzy from the noise.

After hearing this, I walked to the door:

"What are you all arguing about? What's wrong?!"

And Liu Mei, who was tearing the cloth apart with her adrenaline surging just now, just now saw her daughter lying on the cold concrete floor.

She was stunned for a moment, then suddenly opened her mouth and made a sound like a whistle:

"ah!!!!"

*

Xia Lulu was quickly sent to the hospital.

But fortunately, it was just a superficial injury. The doctor checked and said that there was no damage to the brain and that he would be fine when he woke up.

However, the doctor did not specify when I would wake up.

Liu Mei held Xia Lulu's hand and kept wiping away her tears.

For the first time, she even felt regretful.

If...if I hadn't fought with those people at that time...maybe...

However, regret is always short-lived for someone like her.

The next second, she couldn't help but curse those neighbors, and at the same time she turned Xia Tang out and cursed her over and over again.

In fact, she knew that no matter how much she scolded Xia Tang, it would be of no use.

If they really cursed out loud, someone from the factory might come looking for them.

But that didn't stop her from swearing.

Xia Dashan had been sitting on the other side of the bed.

Smoking was not allowed in the hospital, so he anxiously touched the white paper used to roll cigarettes.

After a while, Xia Dashan stood up irritably.

Liu Mei was shocked:

"What are you going to do?"

She was really scared, afraid that Xia Dashan would make a scene in such a place.

Xia Dashan walked out:

"I'll go find them."

"Lulu was injured so badly today, I have to ask them to pay for her medical expenses!"

After Xia Dashan left, the room became quiet again.

Liu Mei didn't stop Xia Dashan because she also felt that someone had to pay for Xia Lulu's medical expenses!

She hadn't eaten yet and her stomach was growling.

Liu Mei stood up and prepared to pour herself a glass of water.

But unexpectedly, when she was pouring water with her back to Xia Lulu, there was suddenly movement on the bed.

The next second, Xia Lulu's voice came from the hospital bed:

"How come I am alive again..."

"Mom?"

*

Qin Yue was on a mission in a hurry.

The next day after finishing his job at the snack bar, he and another colleague boarded a train to Guangzhou.

Xia Tang had never been to such a far place, and was afraid that Qin Yue might not be used to the food on the road, so she prepared a lot of food for him in advance.

The package was stuffed bulging with chestnut biscuits, potato chips, brown sugar biscuits, mushroom jam and other things.

My colleagues couldn't help but laugh and say:

"Don't worry about him not eating well."

"In my opinion, there is nothing he doesn't like to eat."

This is the truth.

But when you are away from home, you always want to eat home-cooked food, right?

Qin Yue was unwilling, but Xia Tang still forced him to the platform.

Before leaving, Qin Yue stretched his head out from the green train to look at her and waved at her.

Watching his head follow the train, getting farther and farther away, until it became a line on the horizon, Xia Tang couldn't help but admit that she missed him a little.

After rebirth, they seem to be together all the time.

This is the first time that the two have been separated for so long.

It feels like a hole has been dug in my heart.

Xia Tang lowered her head, pursed her lips, smoothed the wrinkles on her clothes with her hands, and slowly followed the crowd of people who were seeing her off, walking towards the exit.

The weather is nice today, and it's a good day for going to school.

She had prepared her goods for sale and planned to open the store today.

There is nothing to celebrate alone.

Xia Tang then placed the other string of firecrackers that Chen Minzhi had brought last time at the door and burned them.

Then paste red paper with the words "Good luck in business" on both sides of the door, and the business is officially open.

When we first opened, we didn’t have many categories and the preparation work was not complicated.

She soaked the raw rice noodles she bought from the farmers in water, and then cooked them over high heat until they were half cooked. She then put the rice noodle soup she had cooked earlier on the beehive stove to keep it warm.

Then I washed and cut the chrysanthemums that were delivered this morning and other ingredients bought from the morning market one by one, and placed them in different categories.

Small copper pots were placed at the door of the kitchen. They shone golden in the sunlight and looked neat and orderly.

As for the potatoes, Qin Yue washed and peeled them for her in the morning.

Xia Tang chopped the potatoes into small pieces, then lit the stove and placed it at the door on the back street.

Today, her snack bar has two doors.

One side faces the commercial street, and the other side is located at the junction of Back Street and School Street.

There was no one in the commercial street yet, but there were many people coming and going at the small door.

It was almost noon, Xia Tang put the stove for frying potatoes outside, and soon people came to buy vegetables or have brunch and ask about it.

An old lady was attracted by the smell of potatoes.

She was a regular customer at the back street. Seeing Xia Tang, a girl with a pretty face, sitting here selling fried potatoes, she couldn't help but be curious:

"Is this... newly opened?"

"Yes, auntie."

Xia Tang smiled and said,

"I sell fried potatoes, and I also have small pot rice noodles in the house. During the first seven days of opening, if you buy a small pot of rice noodles, you can get a portion of fried potatoes for free."

After hearing what she said, the aunt looked inside and found a price tag hanging on the wall behind Xia Tang.

Through the door behind her, she could vaguely see a small pot of rice noodles, a table and chairs inside.

“This is still a small hotel!”

The auntie couldn't help but say.

"It's not really a hotel, it's just a snack bar. Would you like to try it, auntie?"

Xia Tang pursed her lips and smiled softly.

"You are the first one to ask since I opened the shop. I can give you two servings of potatoes."

The auntie was just passing by and had no intention of eating rice noodles.

However, at this moment, he was moved by what Xia Tang said.

In this day and age, small vendors would fight over a penny. How could you ever see buying a portion of rice noodles and getting two servings of potatoes for free?

Besides...it smells really good.

The aunt smelled the faint aroma of rice noodles and couldn't help swallowing:

"Is your rice noodle delicious?"