"Brother, I'm a little hungry."
Lu Qiuya, carrying her luggage, followed Lu Zhan out of the crowd and stood on the steps in front of the train station, looking around curiously.
She had only been to Ning City once before, when she was led by a school teacher to participate in a mathematics competition. Everywhere she went, there were group activities. She only had some free time at noon on the day the competition ended. Lu Zhan took her home for a meal and then hurried back to school.
She had never been to the urban area of Ning City, so now everything seemed new to her and she was very curious about the place where her brother had lived for several years.
Seeing that it was already past half past twelve, the army cafeteria must have been swept away by a group of hungry soldiers. Lu Zhan thought for a moment and led her forward:
"There's a noodle shop up ahead that serves good plain noodles. Let's eat there before going back."
Lu Qiuya's eyes lit up when she heard this:
"Okay! I love eating plain noodles the most!"
Lu Zhan smiled slightly. He certainly knew that Lu Qiuya liked to eat plain noodles.
He still remembered that when Lu Qiuya first came to his house as a child, she was very picky about food. No matter whether the family cooked corn porridge or multi-grain rice, she didn't like to eat it. She would only eat a little each time and then stop. After a few days, her originally round little face became thin due to hunger.
Lu's parents couldn't do anything about her. The family's conditions were like that at the time. Seeing that she didn't eat coarse grains, they could only take out the fine grains that they usually didn't want to eat and steam big white steamed buns for her.
When the steaming started, Lu Qiuya was drooling with greed. But when the big white buns came out of the steamer and she took a few bites, she stopped eating. She was so angry that Lu Zhan's mother wanted to spank her with a broom, but Lu Zhan ran over to protect Lu Qiuya and took the two hits for her.
Later, ten-year-old Lu Zhan took three-year-old Lu Qiuya to the back of the mountain to pick mushrooms. After picking a basket of mushrooms, they walked for an hour to the town. That basket of mushrooms could be sold for fifty cents.
When passing by a Yangzhou noodle restaurant, Lu Qiuya stared at the bubbling pot of noodles at the door and couldn't move, her little mouth smacking. Lu Zhan didn't hesitate at all and led her to sit down in the noodle restaurant.
Fifty cents was only enough to order a bowl of the simplest plain noodles, but Lu Qiuya ate it with great relish. She finished more than half of the bowl in one breath, then she remembered that her brother was still hungry.
Lu Zhan claimed that he was not hungry. After Lu Qiuya burped after eating, he drank the noodle soup that Lu Qiuya had not finished. Only after drinking it did he understand why Lu Qiuya liked to eat this plain noodles.
It turns out that although there is no meat in this Yangchun noodles, only a little chopped green onion and two or three vegetable leaves, the soup base is made with chicken bones, and lard and soy sauce are added to the seasoning. Just drinking the soup tastes very delicious.
From then on, Lu Zhan would go to the back mountain from time to time to pick mushrooms and catch wild rabbits. When he had a good harvest, he would take Lu Qiuya to the town to improve their meals. Even though Lu Qiuya gradually got used to the local food in their hometown, before leaving home to join the army, Lu Zhan would take her to the town to eat Yangchun noodles whenever he had time.
Later, when he went to Ning City to serve in the army, he discovered this Yangzhou noodle restaurant by chance, and it became one of the few delicacies in his mind.
The noodle shop owner recognized Lu Zhan as soon as he saw him.
It was because Lu Zhan and Shao Jingque's images were so outstanding that when they appeared in the store together that night, they looked like a golden boy and a jade girl. The noodle shop owner couldn't help but secretly look at them and was deeply impressed.
The noodle shop owner enthusiastically said:
"Hey! Comrade, you're back! Come in and sit down. What would you like to eat today?"
A hint of surprise flashed across Lu Zhan's eyes. From the boss's tone, it seemed as if he knew that he was not in Ning City during this period.
He nodded calmly:
"Boss, two bowls of plain noodles, please."
"Hey! Sit down first, the noodles will be here soon!"
The noodle shop owner agreed, but his eyes kept glancing at Lu Qiuya, secretly speculating in his heart -
Why is there a new girl following this young soldier today? Why didn’t the girl come last time?
Lu Qiuya noticed the boss's scrutiny and felt a little unhappy:
"Boss, what are you looking at? Is there something on my face?"
The noodle shop owner didn't expect that his observation was discovered, and said with an embarrassed smile:
"Nothing, I just haven't seen this guy in a while. I took a few more glances. He must have been working hard on disaster relief. He looks a lot thinner!"
Lu Zhan frowned. He felt something was strange when the boss greeted him just now. Now he was even more certain that the boss not only knew that he was not in Ning City, but also knew that he had gone to disaster relief. What was going on?
"Boss, how did you know I went to do disaster relief?"
The noodle shop owner glanced at Lu Qiuya, who was also paying attention to her answer. Not sure whether he should say something, he asked tentatively:
"Who is this young comrade?"
Lu Qiuya answered quickly:
"I'm his sister, boss, if you have something to say, just say it. There's nothing I can't listen to!"
Hearing this answer, the noodle shop owner felt relieved and a relaxed smile appeared on his face:
"I guessed too!"
"Didn't Henan Province have a flood a while ago? Usually, there are more people from other places eating noodles in our restaurant."
"One day, the girl you came with came to eat noodles alone. She happened to run into some people from Henan Province who were fleeing a disaster. They told her about the flood in their area. The girl was so scared that her face turned pale. She left in a panic without even eating the noodles she had cooked."
"At the time, I was wondering if you were also participating in the disaster relief efforts in Henan Province, which is why that girl was so worried."
Lu Zhan was stunned. When had he and that girl come to this noodle shop?
Lu Qiuya suddenly became energetic and asked excitedly:
"Is that girl's surname Shao?"
The boss smiled and shook his head:
"How would I know? You'd have to ask your brother!"
Lu Qiuya turned around and saw her brother's serious face. She swallowed the words on the tip of her tongue and turned back to ask the boss expectantly:
"Boss, isn't that girl very beautiful? She has long wavy hair."
This time the noodle shop owner nodded:
"Yes, she was very beautiful, otherwise I wouldn't remember her so clearly!"
Lu Qiuya was so excited that she wanted to stand up and jump a few times.
Very good!
The relationship between Shao Jingque and her brother is indeed special!
But why does her brother look so ugly...
Lu Zhan's heart was already in turmoil at this moment. If it was really Shao Jingque, wouldn't that just confirm what she had told him before?
The boss came over with two bowls of hot noodles and said with a smile:
"Eat it while it's hot. The fried egg on top is a gift from me!"
“Thank you, boss!”
Lu Qiuya was really hungry, and she was in a good mood at the moment, so she picked up the noodles and started eating them in big mouthfuls.
Seeing that she was enjoying her meal, the boss happily wiped his hands and turned to clean up the dishes on other tables, but he heard a voice saying:
"I remember now, the last time she and I came here was at noon, right?"
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