The meal lasted until after nine in the evening and everyone was drunk. Especially Song Daozhen - Tao Mu had known the old man for so many years, and had never seen him drink more than two taels of wine. I got drunk today too. When everyone helped him to lie down in the main room, he was still mumbling something. Tao Mu vaguely heard the old man read "Xiao Wen'er".
Dean Tao took off Mr. Song's clothes and shoes, helped him lie on his side, and wiped his face and hands with warm water. After everything was packed up, he held the dirty clothes that Old Man Song had taken off and dragged Tao Mu out of the main room.
The moonlight is like water, and the cool breeze is refreshing. The moonlight poured down from the old locust tree with swaying shadows, like a thin veil, covering the quiet courtyard. The drunk people found their own rooms and lay down to sleep.
Dean Tao put the clothes that Mr. Song had taken off into a paint-chipped enamel basin and placed it under the faucet. While washing, he said, "The little Wen that Old Man Song was talking about is his son who died early. His full name was Song Yunwen. He usually never talks about the past, but today he was drunk and was reminded of the past by the past."
Tao Mu's heart softened, and he couldn't help asking, "Has the old man never thought about building a new family in all these years?"
Dean Tao was silent for a while, and his hands paused. After a long while, he said lightly, "No. Maybe he was hurt too deeply by what happened in the past. He kept saying that the fortune teller said he was doomed to be alone and would not have a wife or children. He said that if he married and had children, he would harm others and himself, and would be alone for the rest of his life."
"Can you take the fortune teller's words seriously?" Tao Mu lived his life again, and he didn't believe in fate the most. Hearing this, he was very unconvinced: "I live my own life, I don't believe in fate. From now on, I will be the old man's grandson, I will accompany him for the rest of his life, and take care of him until the end of his life."
After a pause, Tao Mu said to Dean Tao: "Dean, in my heart you are my grandmother. I will also take care of you in the future."
Tao Mu said these words from the bottom of his heart. But he didn't expect Dean Tao to suddenly get angry, glare at him, and scold him in a low voice: "What nonsense are you talking about!"
Tao Mu was stunned, watching Dean Tao holding an enamel basin and walking under the grape trellis to hang clothes. The moonlight, like a filter, shone on half of her face. Dean Tao's outline flickered in the moonlight, and she felt a mixture of sadness and joy.
Tao Mu scratched his hair stupidly. His brain, which had always worked quickly, became even slower under the influence of alcohol. He still didn't understand why Dean Tao got angry at him.
Tao Mu, who couldn't figure it out, went straight into the west ear room - the Song family's courtyard was an old-fashioned three-story house. The front is the back seat, which was converted by Song Daozhen to open Song’s Restaurant. Further in is the main courtyard, where Old Man Song lives in the main house. The side rooms on both sides are locked with large copper locks, and no one is allowed to enter normally. Further back is the back room, which was previously used by the two waiters of the restaurant. Later, the two guys got married and started their own families and moved out. Old man Song used the back room as a warehouse and storage room.
In the empty courtyard, Tao Mu has a room of his own, which is the west ear room. The house was redecorated according to Tao Mu's preferences, with air conditioning, television, and computer. Even the thickness of the bed was Tao Mu's favorite. The quilt has been exposed to the sun every day and still has the smell of the sun. Tao Mu felt sleepy as soon as he went up, and fell asleep in a short while.
Then he dreamed about his childhood in a daze.
When Tao Mu was five years old, he broke into Song Ji's kitchen, hugged Old Man Song's legs and looked up to call him Grandpa. He was good-looking, sweet-spoken, and a small guy. He begged Old Man Song in a baby voice to let him do odd jobs at Song's in exchange for food. He said the food in the orphanage was from a big pot and not tasty, but Songji's food smelled delicious even from across the street: "Grandpa, your cooking smells so good, you must be very skilled. I want to learn from you, I will work for you, I don't want money, just give me a meal to eat."
What can a five-year-old child do? Old man Song is a solitary person and he is usually impatient with the loud and shouting kids in the alley. But Tao Mu was a small, soft and white ball. When he hugged Old Man Song's thigh, Old Man Song could clearly feel that the child's body temperature was higher than that of an adult. He lowered his head to look at Tao Mu, whose dark eyes were full of him.
Old man Song softened his heart all of a sudden. He thought of his son. When he was demoted, his wife couldn't stand the hardship and abandoned her parents and children to remarry. His son has been wandering the streets since he was young, going hungry every day, probably just like Tao Mu. If someone had been willing to lend a hand and take care of his son at that time, perhaps his son would not have learned bad habits and would not have been shot during the crackdown.
Tao Mu stayed in Song Ji like this. He is young and cannot do heavy work. Just help wash dishes and vegetables in the kitchen. When Old Man Song was free, he taught Tao Mu how to cook, step by step, from peeling potatoes and shredding them to carving patterns, thickening the sauce, and stirring the spoon to cook. Tao Mu studied with Old Man Song for seven or eight years. He trained hard in the coldest days of winter and the hottest days of summer, and had calluses on his hands and scars on his fingers, but he never complained about the hardship or tiredness.
Old Man Song then took Tao Mu as his last disciple. When Old Man Song was learning cooking, the idea was that a teacher is a father for life. When a master accepts an apprentice, he not only has to teach the apprentice the craft, but also has to worry about the apprentice's future and even ask about his marriage. Not much different than father and son.
Old man Song also converted the west side of the main house, which was originally a study, into a west wing for Tao Mu to live in. It was convenient for Tao Mu to finish his homework and practice basic knife skills every night, and then go to bed directly. No need to go back to the orphanage. Tao Mu lived in the courtyard from the age of six until he was twelve and went to junior high school. Some people began to laugh at Tao Mu, saying that he always smelled of onion, ginger, and garlic, which was not very fashionable.
There were more people laughing at him, so Tao Mu didn't want to work at Song Ji anymore. He insisted on working in a western restaurant outside the alley. Because wearing a vest and shirt looks more fashionable than wearing a gown and cloth shoes. Later, Tao Mu worked various "Western" odd jobs one after another. He is good-looking, sweet-talking, and attracts customers wherever he goes. So even though he is younger, everyone likes to use him.
Tao Mu went to school during the day and worked at night, specifically looking for a place with staff dormitories. After work, I just stay in the staff dormitory for the night. He is a very stubborn person. Since he is not working for Song's, he will not live in the Song's courtyard. But he would still go to Song's every weekend, bringing all kinds of delicious and fun Western food and pastries from the store where he worked to see Old Man Song.
Every time Old Man Song saw him, he would scold him, disliking him for being ignorant and not doing his job properly. So gradually, Tao Mu even stopped going to Song Ji. After buying something, he would just throw it to Dean Tao and ask Dean Tao to help him deliver it.
During the summer vacation of the third year of junior high school, Tao Mu accidentally entered Yese to work. The night staff dormitory is a high-end apartment that Liu Yao bought as an investment. I was too lazy to rent it out, so I just let my employees live there. The decoration is luxurious and the location is good. There is also a large floor-to-ceiling window in the living room. Standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, I wish I could see most of Yanjing City. That was the best house Tao Mu had ever lived in since he was a child. Moreover, everyone in the store is very fashionable, whether they are resident singers or gigolos, each one is better looking and richer than the other, and they all wear and use famous brands.
These people are also good to Tao Mu. Knowing that Tao Mu was an orphan, they gave him their outdated brand-name clothes, taught him to sing, mix drinks, and put on makeup, and some even taught him how to seduce rich women. But later his boss found out and beat him up.
But night has a bad reputation. Someone saw him working at night and turned around to gossip about him in front of Old Man Song. Old man Song was so angry that he picked up a broom and made a scene in the night. He had to take Tao Mu back. That day happened to be Tao Mu's birthday. Everyone in the night celebrated Tao Mu's birthday. The boss Liu Yao even opened a bottle of XO, and Tao Mu drank most of it. When Old Man Song came over, Tao Mu was already drunk beyond recognition.
He impatiently broke away from Old Man Song and told him to go back to where he came from and not to delay him from making money. He also said that Old Man Song was not his relative and he had no right to manage him. Tao Mu was an orphan without parents, and even his parents didn't want him. He could do whatever he wanted, and no one could control him.
That night, Old Man Song slapped him hard and walked away trembling. When he got home, he threw away the whole table of dishes that he had spent a day preparing, along with Tao Mu's favorite birthday peaches, into the trash can.
Tao Mu found out later. I shamelessly went to apologize to Old Man Song. After saying a lot of nice things, I finally coaxed Old Man Song into submission. Old Man Song asked him to leave the night, but Tao Mu was not happy. The two quarreled again, and Tao Mu ran back into the night unhappily. Go and apologize to Liu Yao again. Because Old Man Song almost ruined the night.
Tao Mu felt that the people who treated him best at night were his boss Liu Yao and his wife Meng Qi. In order to curry favor with everyone, Tao Mu always cooked for everyone. He was only fourteen or fifteen years old at that time, and because he was good-looking and good at talking, he earned more than others by selling wine. He sang for Brother Kevin and could earn 70,000 to 80,000 yuan in tips in one night. He stood at the bar and tried to mix cocktails for people, and all the girls in the bar gathered around to look at him. But sometimes bad things happen. For example, he was slapped in the face by drunk customers to vent his anger; someone threw a stack of money in his face to force him to drink, and gave him 1,000 yuan for each glass; he was also pestered by customers to perform and to support him. There were all kinds of people.
Later, Liu Yao forced him to stay in the kitchen to help with cooking and did not allow him to go out. Tao Mu has worked in Song Ji and a western restaurant, and can do everything. Moreover, customers particularly value his cooking skills, and Brother Yao dares to sell a bowl of fried rice for 78 yuan. But Tao Mu didn't like staying in the kitchen, so Liu Yao and Meng Qi coaxed him and were willing to give him a share. A bowl of fried rice costs seventy-eight yuan, and I give him half. A bowl of rice wine meatballs costs sixty-six yuan, and I give him twenty.
Tao Mu's purse suddenly swelled up. But he learned from the people in the night to spend money lavishly and indulge in pleasure, so no matter how much money he made, he would not have any left. He also saved money to remodel the electrical circuit of Old Man Song’s courtyard house. We replaced Old Man Song's TV, refrigerator and air conditioner with a new one, and also converted the toilet to a flush toilet. Old Man Song thought that he was acting like a spoiled brat just because he had some money, so he fooled Old Man Song, saying that he had to live with him when he came back in the future, and that he didn't want to come back because the house was so shabby.
Old Man Song stopped talking. As a result, he never returned to live there even after the courtyard was renovated. After all, no matter how much the siheyuan is renovated, it will just be a big, dilapidated yard, and it is nowhere near as comfortable as a high-end apartment.
Later, he met a few young models who often came to the bar at night. Those young models got along well with him, so they encouraged him to become a model and design clothes for online merchants. Tao Mu is good-looking and is a natural clothes hanger. You can wear anything in your own style. Those online merchants like to use him. It's a pity that Tao Mu went at the wrong time. He went in winter. In the middle of winter, in a studio without heating, Tao Mu had to be photographed shirtless for several hours. He was so cold that he sneezed and had a fever when he got home. The few thousand dollars I earned were all spent on medicine.
While taking care of him, Meng Qi also scolded him, saying that he was a fool and didn't know how to enjoy his blessings. How nice it would be to stay in the kitchen at night every day. I can only cook a few dishes in the whole night. Make so much money so easily. It’s much better than going out in the cold in the winter.
Tao Mu was still quite naive at that time, and he didn't realize that Meng Qi and Liu Yao were worried that the modeling industry was too chaotic and that the kids would learn bad things when they were not under their supervision. So I don’t want him to get too involved with those models.
Tao Mu felt that being a model was indeed very hard and not fun. So later, when those models called him again, he refused to go. But Tao Mu became interested in taking pictures again. He went to find the photographer who took the photo for him and asked him to teach him how to take photos. After graduation, I worked part-time in that photographer's studio. The cameraman is quite famous in the industry and occasionally gets to work on celebrity posters. He asked Tao Mu to be his assistant, and Tao Mu also came into contact with the film and television industry.
At that time, Tao Mu was in his third year of high school. He originally planned to not go to college after graduating from high school and go straight to work. Anyway, he felt that going to college might not earn him as much as he does now. As a result, the photographer and the assistant of the advertising company suggested that Tao Mu apply for a film and television school. He also said that Tao Mu was so good-looking and so smart. As long as you graduate from a professional school, you will definitely become a big star.
Tao Mu was tricked by these people into signing up for the art exam. Both Beijing Film Academy and Yan Film Academy passed. Finally, he suddenly had an idea and applied to Beijing Film Academy - because Old Man Song did not agree with his idea of becoming an actor and thought it was particularly unreliable. Later, I asked around and found out that after graduating from Beijing Film Academy, students can at least become drama actors, and they also have a salary system that pays for five insurances and one fund. It's better than Yan Ying having to change careers or become a supporting actor if she can't act in TV dramas.
Tao Mu had a headache arguing with Old Man Song. After a lot of effort, he finally saw Old Man Song finally relax and was too lazy to think about whether Beijing Film Academy was suitable for him. I went straight to Beijing Film Academy.
Later, he went to H Town for a walk, and it seemed like a lifetime had passed, and then he returned to Yanjing. I have two fathers and one grandfather. Then when I think back to those old days, it’s as if there was a filter through it. It doesn't feel bitter at all. A heart that had always drifted like duckweed finally landed firmly on the ground, just like a big tree taking root. Slowly sprouting and stretching freely.
The quiet moonlight quietly crept into the west room through the window.
Tao Mu stretched his eyebrows in his sleep, with the corners of his lips curved like a waning moon hanging high in the sky.
A teardrop quietly slid down from the corner of her eye and disappeared onto the pillowcase.
Tao Mu was sleeping soundly and dreaming. In the dream, there was Mr. Song, his father Yao, his father Xiao Qi, and Dean Tao...
They are all his relatives.
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