Chapter 156 Who does he resemble?
The man in the gray Zhongshan suit slowly walked towards the baby.
He stopped just three steps away from Zhizhi, waved to the child, and gestured for her to come over.
Zhizhi frowned, her delicate face showing the embarrassment of being discovered.
She shook her head, not intending to go over.
The man smiled and said, "Little one, following me around isn't a good habit. Since you don't want to get close, let's keep this distance."
Zhizhi blinked. "You know... me?"
The man raised an eyebrow noncommittally. "Perhaps, perhaps we know each other. Here, take this."
He stepped forward, but not too close, keeping an arm's length distance, and tossed the note to the cub.
The crumpled note contained a series of numbers.
Oh! Is that a phone number?
Zhizhi was puzzled and stared at the note curiously. Her brother Su wrote with a pencil, and his handwriting was very childish, crooked and twisted like a caterpillar.
But the note is a darker color; could it be from an adult's fountain pen? Nevertheless, the handwriting reflects the person; it's quite beautiful to look at, with its flowing, elegant strokes.
Even if she couldn't read, she could tell that the numbers were written very beautifully and neatly.
Zhizhi waved the note in her hand. "Mom said not to talk to strangers. Why did you give me this?"
"Mother?"
He was stunned for a moment, then looked towards the distance where they had just set up their stall on the street, a look of understanding flashing in his eyes.
“Your stepmother is right, children shouldn’t talk to strangers, but Uncle is not a stranger, we will see each other again in the future.”
The man revealed a gentle smile, and when his features relaxed, one could vaguely see a heroic and spirited air about him. However, his hair had become far too gray, which diminished the sharpness of his original features.
He bent down and said, "Little one, you can call this number anytime if you need anything. It's not time to meet now, I'll be going now."
"Hey!"
Zhizhi wanted to ask more questions, but just as she reached out her hand, she saw him turn around and disappear into the crowd.
The little cub squinted her eyes and thought carefully, but she couldn't recall having such a person in her memory.
*
Military dependents' home
Zhizhi excitedly poured all the money in her pocket onto the wooden table, while Gansu sorted the paper tickets and Zhenwei counted the coins.
Zhizhi happily munched on the yam and candied hawthorn in her hand.
"I made a good amount of money today, so I'm having a late lunch. I want some luncheon meat! I want a hot and spicy lunch!"
Deng Qiu smiled indulgently and teased, "Wow! Is it the kind where you can put beef or mutton in it, or some duck blood, vermicelli, kelp, and even a layer of fragrant red oil floating on top?"
"Hey ya hey ya!"
Zhizhi crunched on the candied hawthorn, nodding excitedly.
Deng Qiu raised her hand and gently pinched her daughter's nose. "Why didn't you just say you wanted hot pot? Grandma Li gave me a piece of pig's blood today. Wait, Mom's going to fry some crispy pork, and then we'll stir-fry some sauce and start eating!"
I didn't know Zhizhi had a space before, but I found out after I went to Zhizhi's space.
It turns out that there was a small plot of land in the space where a bunch of spices were grown, including star anise, white cardamom, cinnamon, fennel, and black cardamom, as well as very authentic chili peppers and Sichuan peppercorns.
When she was pickling vegetables for winter, she also fermented a pot of black beans to make fermented black beans. She also crushed dried chili peppers with a mortar and pestle to make broad bean paste, which is the base flavor of chili oil.
Deng Qiu first picked out a piece of pork belly from the refrigerator, washed it, cut it into strips about the size of a thumb, then coated it with batter and Sichuan peppercorns and fried it in oil.
Attracted by the fragrance, Zhizhi quietly slipped into the kitchen.
"It smells so good!"
Deng Qiu smiled and picked out a warm piece for her, saying, "Try it."
The child can't handle spicy food very well, so she put in very little seasoning. She also plans to make two kinds of hot pot bases later: tomato and spicy.
With each chew, the crispy outer shell bursts with the aroma of Sichuan peppercorns and chili peppers in your mouth, while the tender meat bursts with juice. The pork used in this space is not fishy at all, and you hardly need to add any scallions or ginger to remove the fishy smell.
But the child didn't understand what "removing the fishy smell" meant; he just thought the meat smelled delicious and had a meaty flavor.
"This is delicious! Mom, you could be a chef!"
As Zhizhi spoke, she handed the note that the strange uncle had given her earlier that day to her mother.
"I met a strange guy today. He gave me his phone number. He looks so familiar, but I just can't remember who he looks like. Mom... Do you think those people who came to buy groceries today might be bad guys?"
Deng Qiu paused for a second, then wiped her hands on her apron before taking the note.
"The area code looks the same as our school's. Why did he give you his phone number?"
Zhizhi shook her head. "I don't know. He said a lot of weird things... He told us to call him if we ever have any problems. What problems could we possibly have?"
What was said without malice may have been taken to heart by the listener.
Deng Qiu grasped the key point in her words, "Zhizhi, you said you felt he looked familiar, does he look a lot like your uncle?"
As Ji Yanjing mentioned before, the Ji family also has an older brother who lives in Haiphong and will be coming over in a while.
If it were Zhizhi's maternal uncle, then it would be very possible.
"No, no, no." Zhizhi shook her head like a rattle drum. "My uncle and aunt look like celebrities, with fair skin and high noses. If I looked like them, I would recognize them at a glance. But that strange uncle doesn't look like that. He has single eyelids, a high nose bridge with a protrusion, and a small mole on the tip of his nose. He's tall and thin, and looks a bit fierce, but he's actually very gentle... just like someone I know very well."
Deng Qiu thought and thought, but still couldn't come up with a solution.
She put away the note, patted Zhizhi on the shoulder, and said, "Whether they are friend or foe, we can't panic. We'll talk to your dad about this later. Oh, and don't go to the vegetable market yet. We'll find out the situation first."
"Oh, okay."
Zhizhi nodded obediently, picked up the freshly fried crispy pork from the small bamboo basket, and went out.
Before long, everyone had tidied up and prepared a large amount of hot pot ingredients.
Jiang Anchao also came home from get off work at this time. He looked at the steaming copper pot on the table with surprise on his face.
"What day is this? Are you celebrating the New Year early? You're even having hot pot! Isn't that a bit too extravagant?"
Jiang An rubbed his hands together; he had almost frozen to death on the way. The winter in the south may not seem as cold as in the north, but the dampness is unbearable, as if the cold seeps into your bones.
He excitedly took care of his wife, saying, "Hot pot and wine go so well together, the more you drink, the better! Such delicious food, honey, can you get me a bottle of wine?"
Deng Qiu clicked his tongue at him, but still turned around and took out a bottle of Xifeng liquor from the cabinet.
Zhizhi was holding her little bowl, eagerly waiting for the pot to boil and the meat to be added, when she suddenly saw her father sitting opposite her.
She was momentarily dazed by the white mist rising from the pot.
"Wait!"
The little cub excitedly stood up, pointed at his father, and stammered, "I know who he looks like now, you, you, you... you're entrapping me!"
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