The boss's joyful voice came from the bar: "Okay, I'll be right there."
Zhou Mingming looked at the electronic clock on the wall. It was already two in the morning. This time, he squeezed left and right and finally squeezed to Lin Yi's side. "Dad, stop playing and let's go home. My mom must be worried."
Lin Yi waved his hand without even turning his head: "It's okay, your mother is on night shift tonight."
Zhou Mingming's eyes felt dry and sore, and he was a little anxious: "No, Dad, it's already midnight, and it will be dawn soon. Let's go back, okay?"
Lin Yi was not happy: "Why go back? It's so fun here. Why didn't Dad have these things when he was a kid? It's so interesting. No wonder you like it so much.
"Don't worry, son. You can come whenever you want. Dad understands and won't stop you. It's so interesting. But if you're sleepy, you can go back first. I don't want to leave yet."
This time the boss opened a box of new coins and brought over 400 in total, saying that the extra 50 were extra gifts.
Lin Yi gave half of it to his adopted son, sent him off to play, and then plunged back into the intense 'battle'.
The game-addicted teenagers who were watching all cast envious glances at Zhou Mingming.
When he had finished playing with nearly 200 coins, it was already daybreak. Zhou Mingming was hungry and sleepy, his head felt heavy, and he felt a little nauseous.
He stood up and took two steps, only to feel his feet feel weak, as if his body was hollowed out. There were almost no customers left in the game hall at this time. He walked around for a while and found his father.
His father's hair was messy, there was a pile of cigarette butts at his feet, and an empty instant noodle bucket, but he was not hungry.
He went over and patted Lin Yi's arm, looking listless and saying weakly, "Dad, let's go back."
Lin Yi also looked a little depressed, and his eyes were red and his vision was a little distracted. Seeing his son asking him to go home, he pointed to the twenty or so coins left beside him and said, "I haven't used them up yet."
Zhou Mingming had a wooden expression on his face as he silently picked up the box of coins: "Refund...Refund it."
Lin Yi: "The boss said that if I return it, I'll only get one dollar for 5. Why don't you keep it and come back next time?"
Zhou Mingming waved his hands: "Remove it! Disgusting!"
He had to walk around here for a short time and was really about to vomit.
He took the box to the bar, and the owner happily refunded him five dollars. When the two men left the arcade, he was still standing at the bar, sighing, "This father and son are really interesting!"
The boss's old father, who was sweeping the floor, had a different opinion. He pounded his aching back, shook his head and sighed, "Alas, pitiful are the hearts of parents in the world."
......
After leaving the game hall, both of them walked a little unsteadily, and they really wanted to find a soft bed on the street right away and sleep on it forever.
Lin Yi touched his stomach and said, "I'm hungry. Let's have breakfast before going back."
Zhou Mingming was even hungrier, so how could he not agree? The two of them found a clean-looking breakfast shop, sat down and ordered a basket of steamed buns, a bowl of tofu pudding, a bowl of wontons, and two fried dough sticks. They asked the waiter to serve them first and order more if they were not satisfied.
After eating until he was 80% full, Lin Yi from the Health Department said that he was almost full, but Zhou Mingming was not so satisfied. The young man had a fast metabolism and his stomach was like a bottomless pit. Moreover, he had not eaten or drunk anything from yesterday noon to just before breakfast.
Lin Yi wiped his mouth and stood up. "Okay, you eat first. I'll go stroll back."
Zhou Mingming waved his hand randomly, indicating that he could do whatever he wanted, and continued eating. He had just ordered another basket of small meat buns and two fried cakes.
Not to mention, he usually didn't think the breakfast here was that delicious. Maybe he was really hungry today, so he just felt the fragrance. The taste of the food exploded on his tongue and bloomed like gorgeous fireworks in his mind, making him hungrier and hungry the more he ate, and the more he ate, the more he wanted to eat.
Finally, he touched his ordinary belly with satisfaction, looking at the empty table full of clean plates, bowls and small steamers. He didn't even feel bloated, but he was finally relieved of his hunger.
He stood up and tried to leave, but the waiter chased him out the door, "Young man, you haven't paid yet."
Zhou Mingming was stunned. He pointed towards the store and then towards the direction where Lin Yi left: "My dad, isn't my dad married?"
The waiter smiled and shook his head.
Zhou Mingming felt his trouser pockets on both sides and asked embarrassedly, "How much is it?"
Waiter: "Two steamed buns are four yuan, wontons are one yuan, tofu pudding is one yuan, two fried dough sticks are one yuan, two fried cakes are three yuan, plus the tofu pudding and two fried dough sticks your father packed when he left, a total of twelve yuan."
Zhou Mingming scratched his ear: "What did you say? My dad packed it up?"
The waiter nodded and said yes.
Zhou Mingming felt the five yuan he had just received from redeeming his game coins in his pocket, and he was about to cry. He asked the waiter hesitantly, "Can I... keep the account first?"
The waiter pointed to the words on the glass at the entrance: Small business, no credit. His smile faded a bit, and he looked at Zhou Mingming with a look full of scrutiny and suspicion.
Zhou Mingming felt around in his pockets again, but couldn't come up with another seven yuan. Then, remembering that he still had a cookbook he'd bought yesterday for eighteen yuan, he regained some spirits and handed it over along with the five yuan bill. "I don't have enough money, so I'm leaving the book with you. I just bought it yesterday for eighteen yuan. I'll come back later with the money to redeem it."
The waiter was unmoved and shouted into the store: "Boss, someone wants to dine for free."
The boss rushed out of the store with his belly bulging: "Who dares to eat and dine!"
The waiter pointed at Zhou Mingming and said, "That's him! I've noticed something's wrong with him and his accomplices. They ordered a lot of food, like they hadn't eaten in 800 days. Plus, they came together but left one after the other. The one who left first not only ate a lot in our restaurant, but also packed up his food before leaving. Now the younger one wants to run away without paying, but I stopped him. He insisted on paying with a tattered book. Let me tell you what to do."
Zhou Mingming felt his head ache even more. His father had really screwed him over this time. The shop owner and the waiter all looked at him unkindly. He could only bite the bullet and explain, "This isn't a broken book. I bought it yesterday for 18 yuan. It's new. I'll come back later to redeem it."
The boss took the book, flipped through it, and handed it back to him: "It's good enough for a rag collector to give you fifty cents. You want to use this old book to pay for it? Do you think I'm stupid?"
After saying that, he turned around and asked the waiter next to him: "How much did they spend?"
Waiter: "Twelve dollars!"
The shop owner looked him up and down, then fixed his eyes on his feet: "What size are your shoes?"
Zhou Mingming was confused: "41, what's wrong?"
The boss touched his chin and nodded: "Okay, they look pretty new. You can keep the shoes and redeem them later with money."
Zhou Mingming shook his head faster than a rattle: "No, no, how am I supposed to walk home if I pawn my shoes to you?"
The boss chuckled and said, "Wait," then turned back into the store and pulled out a pair of flip-flops from behind the bar: "I'll lend them to you."
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