Chapter 138 Taste (Two in One)
With the help of Wang Jiaju, who "walked into the trap", Su Yun really followed Master Shi and cleared out the egg reserves in the kitchen during these two days.
In the end, Su Yun couldn’t remember how many flavors of egg waffles they made. All she remembered was that in addition to the normal sweet flavor, they tried all kinds of flavors, such as salty, spicy, sour, fruity, etc…
After lunch, Mr. Shi checked the inventory and asked Zhao Liying to help look after the small building. He planned to go down the mountain himself to get supplies.
The geographical location here is remote. In the past, he and other hostel owners bought half of the supplies from farmers in the town, and sent young people to drive down the mountain to the city to purchase the other half. They rarely went down the mountain.
Mr. Shi was full of expectations for this trip down the mountain: maybe among the supplies he bought this time, there would be ingredients that could make the taste his wife wanted.
In the past few years, he has tried his best to make eggettes of various flavors. He has reached the point where he has given up hope. He just keeps trying out of habit, hoping that one of these many attempts will be a lucky one, allowing these two old men to fulfill their obsession.
Until Su Yun came.
Perhaps it was the children who always represented hope that brought new vitality to this old man. Although the kitchen was sometimes bustling with activity, Mr. Shi felt that it was a long-lost lively atmosphere, much more down-to-earth than the previous situation where they were two old people with a frustrated middle-aged man.
Since there was no more material, Su Yun, together with Wang Jiaju and Lin Jiashu, sat in the corridor behind the house, admiring the well-kept yard and enjoying the leisurely afternoon time.
This corridor also has a special name: 緣側, which means the elevated corridor under the eaves in Japanese.
The deep eaves are a major feature of traditional Japanese wooden architecture. The space of the eaves is mostly used as an edge, usually located in a direction with good lighting conditions, to flexibly separate or connect the inside and outside spaces.
In anime, the protagonists often sit on the wooden floor, talking to the moon, sipping tea and listening to the rain, or reading on their side... With it, you can enjoy the scenery outside without going out.
It combines the functions of internal and external spaces, yet it is separated from the inside and the outside. It is a third domain between the inside and the outside, and its design and use are the most ambiguous.
Lin Jiashu was a drummer. Although he could play the guitar a little, his playing was like playing with cotton. In addition, he looked like a suicide squad running around with a submachine gun when he was holding the guitar. Su Yun thought he was making a lot of noise, so she waved her hand and sent him to take a nap.
He was not picky. He went back and got a pillow to use as a pillow and then lay down on the spot, looking like a paralyzed boss.
Seeing that Lin Jiashu had finally calmed down, Su Yun handed the guitar that Wang Jiashu had shamelessly taken away back to Wang Jiaju, and then lowered her head to write a schedule while Wang Jiaju was practicing a piece of music beside her.
"This is summer vacation!" Lin Jiashu, who was paralyzed on the ground, squinted his eyes and listened to his teammates' rehearsal music, then stretched his whole body.
"No matter how much food you eat, you can't fill your mouth." Su Yun rolled her eyes at him.
"I've been fed up with eating so much these past few days..." Looking at the several plates of egg waffles of various flavors placed nearby, and thinking back to what Su Yun had forced them to eat these past few days... Lin Jiashu almost shuddered.
Wang Jia suddenly stopped practicing, then reached out to grab two egg waffles to eat: "No, it's quite delicious, maybe you're just not used to it."
It makes people miss the old days especially.
In the past, in order to buy a bag of eggettes, my brother and I had to search all the small pieces in the house - and we were not always able to collect enough money.
"He has not experienced our past and really doesn't understand the significance of street snacks to us." Su Yun also took two and stuffed them into his mouth, speaking vaguely.
Seeing that these two people seemed to be excluding him by taking advantage of the difference in taste, Lin Jiashu immediately became anxious: "Who said I can't eat! I'll eat it for you to see, ah - cough cough cough..."
Seeing that he took too much and ended up choking himself, Wang Jiaju handed his teacup to him with a helpless look, patted his back and advised: "Don't force yourself. Food is like music. Sometimes you need specific conditions to taste its special flavor."
"Only under special conditions can one taste special flavors?" The speaker was unintentional but the listener was intentional. Su Yun repeated Wang Jiaju's words and felt as if the fog in her mind was cleared a little.
In order to verify her idea, Su Yun stood up suddenly, put the newly made plan aside under Zhao Liying's complicated gaze, then took a notebook and came to Grandma Liang.
"Grandma, do you remember when you first ate egg waffles?" The biggest characteristic of Alzheimer's disease is that the older the things are, the clearer they are remembered. Su Yun took a notebook and prepared to start recording.
Granny Liang thought for a moment before answering, "When I was ten, my mom celebrated my tenth birthday for me. People at that time only celebrated their tenth, twentieth, and thirtieth birthdays..."
"Do you remember what it tastes like? What ingredients are added?" Su Yun quickly wrote a line on the notebook and then asked again.
"We were so poor back then, there was no need to add any extra ingredients. We just had the most ordinary ones," said Granny Liang cheerfully.
Is it the regular original flavor?
It has already been made for Granny Liang.
Thinking of this, Su Yun put a cross behind the first record.
After hearing Su Yun repeatedly asking Granny Liang about the taste of the eggettes she had eaten, Zhao Liying finally shifted his gaze from the schedule on the table and asked, "Are you planning to try to find the flavor she wants by referring to the eggettes she had eaten?"
"Yeah." Su Yun nodded and scribbled on the notebook with great enthusiasm.
It was dusk as they spent the night. Su Yun looked at the dozen pages of records in the notebook, marveling at the old man's long experience and stretching his muscles.
Seeing her walking to the edge with the notebook, Zhao Liying thought for a moment, glanced at Granny Liang again, and after confirming that she had started listening to the radio again, he tiptoed to the table.
I quickly opened it and took a quick look, and sure enough, there had been changes.
He even used his previous modifications—wait, isn’t this…
"What?! You want me, a rock singer, to sing Cantonese opera?!" Lin Jiashu's scream suddenly came from the side.
"To be precise, you were the one playing the music with a machine, and Jiaju and I were the ones singing!" Su Yun corrected him, "I know you don't have this plan, but you've already listened to most of The Flower of the Imperial Concubine. You can put the disc into the machine and play it, right?"
"It's possible, but what are your plans?" Lin Jiashu asked doubtfully.
"I'll take down the red quilt in the room. I'll put on the bed sheet, and Jiaju will put on the quilt. Oh, by the way, Jiaju, put on your black duck cap." Su Yun calculated, and then explained to the two, "I studied the types of egg waffles that Granny Liang had eaten, and decided to do a 'reenactment' of the most likely memory."
"Re-enactment of the case?" Wang Jiaju quickly understood what Su Yun meant. He picked up the notebook and pointed to a few lines of words and asked, "Do you want to reproduce this record?"
"That's right." Su Yun nodded, "That's what you said - food is just like music. Sometimes you need specific conditions to taste its special flavor."
Seeing that these children seemed to have made an agreement and were walking towards the hall from the side, Zhao Liying did not bother to find out whether Su Yun knew about his previous sneaky behavior. He quickly put down the new schedule and walked quickly back to sit on the sofa.
"Should we practice first?" Wang Jiaju asked a little nervously.
"No, I think you sang the phrase 'I'm on the street with no money to buy bread' back then." Su Yun teased him: It wasn't just when the two met for the first time that he sang this. The scene where the spoof words came out will be popular in future generations In the charity film "Banquet of the Rich", which Jiang organized all Hong Kong artists to raise funds for the floods in East China, Wang Jiajun also made a cameo with his band, playing the English version of "The Flower of the Emperor" with guitars, keyboards and other instruments. accompaniment...
At that time, Wang Jiaju was not yet the cynical band leader, but just an ordinary teenager. So when Su Yun suddenly brought up his dark history and teased him, he blushed immediately: "You!"
The so-called "falling on the street with no money to buy bread" is actually a spoof of the lyrics in "The Flowers of the Emperor", "the sky is full of falling flowers and the moonlight is blocked". In the 1960s, there were many parodies of classic Cantonese songs. The song is very humorous and funny. The children found it interesting and learned a few lines.
"Don't be angry, don't be angry, let's go upstairs to the room to practice." Su Yun quickly held him down and coaxed him in a gentle voice, "I was just joking with you. It's just right that we're going to the room to practice. You can also help me take the things down later. I can't carry so much by myself..."
Seeing Su Yun dragging Wang Jiaju upstairs, Zhao Liying became even more anxious. He could only look at Lin Jiashu who was fiddling with the record player next to him: "What the hell are you doing?"
"We young people are doing things, so old people like you shouldn't interfere." Lin Jiashu waved his hand impatiently to chase him away.
That arrogant little look made Zhao Liying, who attached great importance to filial piety and propriety, very angry: What's wrong with children nowadays?
随着月亮逐漸上升，屋內的暑氣消散得差不多的時候，下山采購的石老爺子終于回到了小樓這裏。
“你們等我一會，我馬上做晚飯。”石老爺子急忙說道。
“不用了，我們都吃了。”趙勵英趕忙拉住石老爺子：為了避免蘇韻在樓上和那個少年鬧出什麽來，他破天荒地下了廚房，手忙腳亂地用剩餘的材料弄了一頓大雜燴炒飯出來。
雖然賣相不怎麽樣，但最起碼還是能讓人吃飽。
這麽想着的趙勵英，忽然就看見蘇韻和王嘉遽噔噔噔地抱着一大堆東西下樓：“石老伯你回來了？”
“那可太好了，我想你再做一碟原味的不放任何配料的雞蛋仔……”
那歡呼雀躍的語氣，絲毫是對旁邊黑了臉的趙勵英沒有一點客氣。
“好，我馬上給你們做，很快就有得吃。”石老爺子倒是沒注意到旁邊感覺良心喂狗所以黑了臉的趙勵英，背着大包小包進了廚房。
看石老爺子進了廚房，蘇韻就再次來到了梁婆婆的身邊：“婆婆，今晚有任姐和仙姐的戲，我給你買好了票啦，來，這邊坐……”
說着她就在趙勵英更加疑惑的目光裏，哄着梁婆婆坐到了竹椅那邊，正對着小平臺。
“手勢姿勢什麽的都記住了沒有？”蘇韻一邊整理布置着，一邊看向王嘉遽，“這次只許成功不許失敗啊。”
“我盡力吧。”王嘉遽苦着臉說。
說歸說，在林佳樹開始播起音樂之後，他擺出的架勢卻是比蘇韻的都要還原。
到底是從小就跟着家裏大人聽粵曲長大的，耳濡目染之下，肯定比蘇韻這種臨急抱佛腳的做得好。
“落花滿天蔽月光，借一杯附薦鳳臺上……”聽披上紅色床單的蘇韻對着口型“唱”了起來，趙勵英神色一凜，似乎察覺到了什麽。
“好！好！”看着臺上二人，梁婆婆笑容滿面，不斷地拍手鼓掌，仿佛她看的不是小孩子過家家一般的對口型表演，而就是真的任白在臺上給她表演。
趙勵英想了一下，便也跟着拍起了掌：舊時代看戲，越熱鬧掌聲越多就越表示臺上表演得好。
他在嘗試着，讓蘇韻這個案件重演的“幻境”，顯得更真實一些。
“你們這是在做什麽？”端着碟子出來的石老爺子一臉不解。
“我的雞蛋仔呢？”梁婆婆忽然喃喃自語了一句，然後開始在前面的茶幾上摸索了起來。
石老爺子見狀，趕緊就把手裏的碟子遞了過去：“在這裏。”
梁婆婆哦了一聲，接過碟子就吃了起來：“沒錯，就是這個味道！”
這似曾相識的一句話，卻是令一頭霧水的石老爺子大驚失色：當年、當年她就是這麽說的！
那一年兩人還不是夫妻，只是互有好感的一對年輕人，因為他買到了難得的戲票，所以兩人就約好一起去看。
任白的戲在當年已經是戲院裏少有的高價，卻依然一票難求。
他花光了積蓄買了兩張票，便再也買不起加配料的雞蛋仔，但妻子卻是紅着臉拉了拉他的手，主動拒絕了小販加配料的問話，只說她從小就愛吃原味的雞蛋仔。
在看戲時，她拿了一個來吃，然後就滿臉欣喜地說就是這個味道，說這就是她整十歲生日時，娘親給她買的雞蛋仔的味道，很是懷念……
其實她的演技很差，看得他羞愧難安，卻又滿心甜蜜。
而同時也是在那一刻，他知道，這個姑娘就是他想要守護一生的人。
有點可笑的是，他們兩個人都想把雞蛋仔留給對方多吃一些，所以整場戲下來，兩個人都是才吃了一個，剩下的雞蛋仔都被好好捂在紙袋裏，料想讓對方吃熱乎的——結果卻在夏夜的暑氣蒸騰裏發了馊。
想到這裏，石老爺子趕緊招呼妻子繼續吃：“還有很多呢，多吃點啊。”
梁婆婆卻是搖了搖頭，似乎把他當成了同來看戲的鄰座路人，滿是皺紋的臉上露出了小女兒的羞态：“噓，不吃了，我要留給我未來的老公吃的，他做工很辛苦。”
石老爺子咬着唇點了一下頭以示回應，明明表情似是在笑，眼淚卻是已經無聲淌下。
明明已是見面不相識，但那一份深沉的愛意，卻始終未曾因為時光的無情而消退。
之後，趙勵英在飯桌上曾經代石老爺子問了蘇韻為什麽會想到這個方法時，蘇韻如是回答道：“有時，人記着的并不是回憶裏的味道，而是回憶裏的那個人。”
“就像你一樣。”
“和我一樣？”
“是呀，在冥冥中，命運總是會将一些原本就應該屬于你的東西再次推回你的身邊，這就是人們生命裏曾經有過的、小小的不可思議。”
如同無怨無悔地照顧癡呆妻子的石老爺子，即使他以為妻子早就已經忘記了他，但在冥冥之中，才發現妻子的愛意并沒有分毫變改。
亦如同趙勵英一樣：兜兜轉轉，他始終還是會回到他所熱愛的事業裏。
“看來這次賭約，是我贏了。”看着石老爺子抱住梁婆婆無聲流淚，臺上的蘇韻解下了披在身上的紅色床單，緩步走下來。
“給我兩日的時間，我處理好這裏的事，就和你下山。”趙勵英看了一眼旁邊，很是平靜地說。
“好。”知道他重情義的性格，蘇韻很是痛快地點了頭。
成功地把趙勵英劃拉到手裏，當夜，蘇韻就忍不住想要和小夥伴們來個慶祝。
然而最後就只有她和王嘉遽兩個人坐在緣側裏——林佳樹那個早熟的家夥太過感性，被兩位老人跨越時光疾病的愛情感動到，就差沒嚎成一張表情包，結果就在嚎完了整整一包300抽的抽紙之後哮喘發作呼吸困難，緊急用藥處理完畢，就被他們合夥扛回房間裏休息去了……
擡頭望了一下天空的圓月，趁着夜風送來一陣清涼時，蘇韻又伸手去撈了幾個雞蛋仔塞到嘴裏。
那張大嘴巴勉力塞下一嘴的雞蛋仔的樣子活像只小倉鼠，一點都沒有平日裏那裝腔作勢擺出來的優雅美麗，但不知道為什麽，看着她這麽接地氣地暴露出了最真實的一面，王嘉遽卻是覺得異常的懷念。
曾經蘇韻還沒有進入娛樂圈裏爬摸打滾時，就是這幅模樣，不需要為了保持形象而端着，做什麽都能笑得痛痛快快開開心心。
沒錢的時候，濕熱難耐的夏日裏湊在一起喝杯白開水都是滿滿的好心情；等到大家都開始有錢了，就各奔東西，一年都聚不了幾次。
那些幾個孩子擠成一堆等待街頭零食遞到手裏的時刻，似乎都因為各種各樣的原因而遠去。
直到這個帶着香甜味道的夏夜，看到她和自己坐在緣側上一邊聽着夜風一邊吃着記憶裏的街頭小吃，王嘉遽忍不住就靜靜看着，看了很久很久。
今夜似乎特別的靜谧，月色亦似乎特別的動人。
最是适合相聚談心。
倒也不是說蘇韻在發跡之後就失了初心，而是從一開始她就是這樣的性格：在身邊時她會對身邊人千好萬好，仿佛讓人恨不得溺死在她雙眸裏的浩瀚星海之中；但一旦她離開了，卻又像是一陣風，無法捕捉得住，追逐風的人只能無奈地靜靜等待着她下一次的回歸……
“你為什麽不吃？不用留給我啊，廚房裏面還有很多。”從前王嘉遽作為孩子堆裏的老大，零食不多時就總是省下自己的一些給她和王嘉祥，那樣早熟的懂事讓蘇韻很是心疼。
只是大了那麽一兩年，大的孩子就得提前成熟起來照顧小的孩子，這本來就是大人的失職和推卸責任。
但最讓人心酸的是，就連他們自己覺得這是十分正常的事情。
“怎麽一直看着我不說話？”蘇韻看他不回答，又開口問了一句。
被蘇韻的問話拉回神思，王嘉遽笑着搖了搖頭：“我只是在想，我們好久沒試過坐在一起了。”
“是啊，大家都很忙。”蘇韻嘆了一聲，“有時我甚至都不敢相信，才這麽幾年，我就變成了現在這個樣子。”
“但是在我心目中，你永遠都沒有變過。”王嘉遽忽然道，“那你呢？”
她走得太遠太遠了，有時他都懷疑自己還能不能追上她的腳步。
蘇韻拿起一個蛋香滿溢的雞蛋仔一口吞下，然後又喝了一口杯子裏的涼白開，這才回答道：“怎麽說呢……你對于我來說，是好特別的存在。”
就好像這杯涼白開一樣，也許不如外面的汽水果汁等飲料讓人倍感新鮮止不住喜愛，但兜兜轉轉到了最後，人始終都還是記挂着家裏這一杯看似平淡無奇但又仿佛帶着些許歲月回甘的白開水。
同樣都是後世原生地區裏近乎标志性的殿堂級樂隊的核心人物，相比起任性自我需要隊友哄着寵着的林佳樹，王嘉遽卻是安定團隊的絕對關鍵和靈魂。
Mingming's temper is typical for musicians, even to the point of being a bit cynical, but in the end he is always worldly-wise without being worldly-wise, smooth-talking yet naive, and when necessary he puts aside his principles and helps others with a pure heart.
Su Yun had laughed in her heart when she saw him leading the band to play the accompaniment of the English version of "The Flower of the Imperial Concubine". In fact, she also admired him very much for being able to temporarily get rid of the illusory "aloofness" of those musicians and to openly put down his status to actually do his part for the flood victims.
Maybe he is not as handsome as those who amazed the world on the silver screen, but the words "childhood sweetheart" and "neighbor's brother" do not need to be read out loud. In themselves, they already carry the gentleness and tenderness that linger in the retrospect of time.
Therefore, when he is by your side, you don’t need words or any deliberate or unintentional flattery. You can naturally feel the peace of mind and the fact that he will always protect you wholeheartedly.
And it has never changed from beginning to end.
As the bright moon sank in the west, Su Yun sat on the edge of the room, quietly looking at the white sand, still water, stone lanterns and bamboo fences in the courtyard, which was like a minimalist painting in the quiet night.
On a summer night, these ordinary things will appear so beautiful.