0002 Night Rose-C.TLAY, Night.02 "Brother Shanye, are you back from buying groceries?"
Chen Shanye looked up when he heard the voice. The blood-orange sunset was sinking at the end of the road. The afterglow of the sunset dyed the narrow and winding street covered with advertising billboards with golden splendor. Even the intricate black wires above his head added a sense of art. The dirty and messy urban village seemed to be given new life at this moment.
The one who called him was Luo Rui. Her pretty face, with light makeup, was covered with colorful spots of red and blue cast by the colorful rotating lights in the hair salon.
Chen Shanye pretended not to notice the light in the woman's eyes and just smiled: "Yes, Aman is waiting for me at home."
He started to leave, and Luo Rui quickly took a few steps to follow him. "Last time, A'man came to the store to get his hair cut, and he kept saying how delicious your cooking was. It made me drool."
Chen Shanye had long legs, and every time he took a step, Luo Rui had to jog. She raised her hand to shield her forehead from the glare and asked tentatively, "Aman also said... that he would invite me to your house to eat mutton rice noodles next time..."
"Oh, he can still cook rice noodles. It's not bad. But he may not be able to cook mutton."
Chen Shanye walked a little towards the middle of the road, trying to keep some distance from the strong smell of perfume on Luo Rui. Behind him, bicycle bells rang wildly, accompanied by the sound of "Watch the road, watch the road".
Most of the people who rent houses in Tangxia Village are migrant workers from Guangdong. There are nearly 300,000 migrant workers here. You can hear Cantonese, but more often you can hear Mandarin and various local dialects.
Luo Rui was anxious to explain that she didn't want to eat the rice noodles made by Zhong Mang, she wanted to eat the ones made by Chen Shanye, but Chen Shanye didn't give her a chance. He turned around with his long legs and was about to turn into the narrow alley. He was holding plastic bags in both hands, leaving only the back of his head and a word "I'm in a hurry, so I'm leaving now" to Luo Rui.
The man, striding briskly, quickly disappeared around the first corner. Luo Rui stood at the entrance of the alley, stamping her feet in anger. A sarcastic, mocking voice came from behind her: "See, I told you there was no hope, but you refused to believe me and insisted on banging your head against a rock."
When she turned around, she saw Wu Xiangzhen from the store, with her arms folded across her plump chest, looking as if she was going to watch her show.
"How many girls on this street have their eyes on Chen Shanye? Have you ever seen him dating anyone? Even that brat Zhong Mang has come to the shop looking for service. Only Chen Shanye is left standing there like a rock."
Wu Xiangzhen walked over to the girl who was half a head shorter than her and advised her earnestly, "Don't waste your time on him. I think Zhong Mang is interested in you. Why don't you consider him?"
Luo Rui glared at her fiercely: "It's none of your business!"
Feeling unhappy, she crossed the street and walked towards the milk tea shop across the street, hoping to drink something cold to calm her down.
Chen Shanye, with a wild name and a wild appearance, has eyes like those of a wolf and a tiger, and a top-notch figure. If Luo Rui had the right to choose her own customers, she would certainly hope that Chen Shanye could become her regular customer. It would be better than those bald old men with beer bellies.
But his personality was not as wild as his name suggested. He didn't visit prostitutes or gamble, and he didn't even play mahjong. He would automatically keep a safe distance when talking to girls. Most other men who came to the hair salon for a wash and a haircut would secretly pinch their hands, waists, or buttocks, but only Chen Shanye was quiet and didn't look around. He would even avoid her even if she lowered her chest a little.
Luo Rui felt that one day she would be able to win Chen Shanye. Although her figure was not as plump as Wu Xiangzhen and the others, it was still well-proportioned. Most importantly, she was young and beautiful.
Turning into the alley where she could only see a strip of sky and the street lights had to be on during the day, she also wanted to reach out and grab something to bring some hope to this chaotic life.
Chen Shanye dodged the electric bikes that came out of the alley, and avoided the underwear hanging casually under the eaves, and finally arrived at the door of his house after turning three or four corners.
He transferred all the bags in his right hand to his left hand, took out the key to open the security door. There was no light in the stairwell, and the sensor light that the landlord had just replaced seemed to be broken again. He clicked his tongue but the light didn't come on, so he groped his way up to the third floor in the dark.
The straight corridor can be seen to the end at a glance. The corridor lights above cast a pale light. As Chen Shanye walked towards his room, he kicked the shoes that his neighbors had casually placed in the corridor back to their own door.
The neighbor who moved in last week has a pink plastic shoe rack at the door, which is really out of place in this environment. A girl's voice came from the thin wooden door, saying something like "Thank you to some brother for the rocket" and "I'll dance for everyone next."
Chen Shanye also watched the live broadcast. Zhong Mang forced it on him. He said that the little girl dancing in it was pretty, with big breasts and a perky butt, and her dance was so tempting that people couldn't help but feel itchy.
He only watched half of the dance and then returned the phone to Zhong Mang.
Zhong Mang asked him how he felt, and he shook his head and said not very well.
He'd seen better ones.
Zhong Mang thinks he is old-fashioned and unwilling to accept new things. Chen Shanye is not interested in short videos on Douyin, self-media people, or live broadcasts by internet celebrities.
Once, Zhong Mang said, Brother, since your sister-in-law left, your life seems to have not moved forward a single step.
It was like a car ran out of gas and just stopped.
Chen Shanye didn't close the door after entering. He looked at the wall clock and saw that Zhong Mang had arrived at about the same time.
Sure enough, just as he put the meat and vegetables in the refrigerator, Zhong Mang came over from the opposite room, yawning, scratching his messy head and asking, "Brother Shanye, what are you doing tonight?"
Chen Shanye glanced at him sideways. He was thinking about how Zhong Mang had gone out to a restaurant with him a few days ago. He wanted to eat steamed mandarin fish but thought the restaurant food was too expensive, so he bought one.
But Luo Rui's delay had ruined his mood, and he didn't want to cook fish anymore.
He took out the remaining half bowl of mixed-sauce pork cap from the refrigerator and said in a calm tone, "Let's have some mixed-sauce rice noodles."
Zhong Mang didn't care. The mixed sauce hat made by Brother Shanye was amazing. He could eat it every day.
Chen Shanye took out a bag of dry rice noodles from the freezer, filled the pot with water and put it on the fire.
He thought about it and still felt unhappy. He complained to the thin young man sitting on the small sofa and browsing his phone: "Why did you ask that woman from the hair salon to come to dinner?"
Zhong Mang looked away from the phone screen, blinking his eyes. "Xiao Rui told you? Did you agree?"
"No, why would I agree? You should go and greet the person you want to invite yourself."
Chen Shanye stood with his hands on his hips. Although the door was open, the room was still filled with a stuffy heat. Sweat slid from his forehead to his tall nose. He lifted the hem of his T-shirt and wiped his face, then walked to the corner and turned on the fan. The blades slowly rotated, making a crackling sound.
"I'm just trying to create an opportunity for you. You've been here for so long, and there's no one around you."
Zhong Mang jumped up from the sofa and followed Chen Shanye into the kitchen. The small space was suddenly occupied by the two of them.
"I don't need it."
Chen Shanye put the rice noodles into the pot. The boiling water calmed down for a while, and bubbles gurgled up from the bottom of the pot that had been used for some time.
A fire started on the other side of the gas stove. Mixed sauce was poured into the wok and heated. The salty, fragrant and slightly spicy aroma of the sauce wrapped in steam filled the small kitchen. Chen Shanye turned on the range hood.
"Brother, don't always think about my sister-in-law... She's been running away with someone for so long..." Zhong Mang swallowed, not because he was afraid of Chen Shanye's anger, but simply because the hat being heated smelled so good.
Chen Shanye pushed open the small window next to the washbasin to let the fragrance out. Outside the window was the red strip wall tiles of the Handshake Building next door. The setting sun reflected on the mirrored tiles, making his eyes hurt.
The water in the pot began to boil again, the rice noodles danced in the pot, and small bubbles formed in the mixed sauce and red oil.
Chen Shanye said lightly when turning off the fire.
"I don't think about it all the time."
But the rumbling sound of the range hood covered up his voice. Zhong Mang made a "huh" sound, and Chen Shanye didn't respond to him.
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