Bitter Tea [101 Mei Xuan]

Chapter 31

During the seven-day National Day holiday, I finally returned home from school.

It was still foggy in the early morning, and I couldn't see my fingers.The students returning home today are all behind the school gate waiting for the school bus to their hometown. Because of the excitement, the small words spread in the humid darkness.

After getting into the car with large and small bags of luggage, Meng Meiqi found a seat by the window and sat down as usual. After preparing garbage bags and snacks, she took out the Walkman and listened to music.

The songs in the Walkman were downloaded when she was at home last time. Meng Meiqi has always been conservative with the songs she likes very much, so most of them don't feel like listening to them.This time, I specially ordered a few playlists from An Wenna and her friends who also like to listen to music, and I plan to go back and change my Walkman.

As soon as a song reached its climax, Fu Jing also got into the car.It was still a little cold in the morning, and she was wrapped in a black and white checked shirt. She was panting from exhaustion from running all the way, and sat down next to Meng Meiqi without even saying hello.

The distance between their homes is not too far, so they usually take the same school bus when they go back. Meng Meiqi is used to her being on the verge of being late every time, so she took out a tissue and stuffed it into Fu Jing's hand.

Fu Jing wiped her sweat smoothly, and said, "I'm exhausted, I really don't want to take a car with you, our sophomore car is a bit late."

Meng Meiqi turned away in disgust: "You are steaming all over, get up and down."

Fu Jing inserted one hand into the snack bag on Meng Meiqi's lap, stirred for a while and took out a bag of bread. The black and red skin was exactly the smell of red dates that she hated the most.Fu Jing pursed her lips in frustration, tore open the packaging bag and took a few bites, shaking her head while continuing to flip through it twice: "Are there no potato chips? I like potato chips the most."

Meng Meiqi slapped her hand away unceremoniously, tied the mouth of the bag tightly, and pulled off the earphone on one side: "I didn't buy dog ​​food."

Fu Jing stuffed her mouth full of bread, and spoke vaguely: "You little brat want to go to heaven?"

The people in the car were about to arrive, and the teacher in charge of delivering the car came up to check the people, and after confirming that they were correct, the driver started the car and set off on the road.

In order to catch the school bus, everyone got up very early. Before dawn, they had to get up, wash and hurry. Now, when they have time to rest, they all lean on the seats and fall asleep.Meng Meiqi chewed a piece of blueberry-flavored gum, glanced sideways at the neighbor who was happily playing cards, and poked Fu Jing who nodded: "Sleep after eating, are you a pig?"

Fu Jing hammered her on the shoulder: "Now it's time to recuperate. I went back and invited a few friends to have barbecue."

The two sisters like to eat barbecue. Meng Meiqi became excited when she heard her say that: "Where to eat? Why don't you take me? I will go too."

Fu Jing said: "It's still Auntie Liu's on the street. I heard from my friend that their family got some money recently and renovated the store. It's beautiful."

Meng Meiqi's eyes lit up immediately: "Take me, take me! I have to go! I want to eat my favorite shrimp!"

Fu Jing hesitated for a while, licked her lips and said, "All my friends are here."

Fu Jing usually brings Meng Meiqi with her when she eats barbecue. She recognizes all those reliable and unreliable friends, and sometimes goes out to eat skewers or eat hot pot behind Fu Jing's back, so Meng Meiqi doesn't understand Fu Jing Points to consider: "What's the matter, I'm quite familiar with them."

Fu Jing glanced at Meng Meiqi, and said slowly, "I also invited Wu Xuanyi."

Meng Meiqi was stunned for a moment: "This..."

Fu Jing said: "Isn't your relationship with her bad? Will it be awkward to meet you? You should think about it. If you think it's okay, I'll take you there."

Meng Meiqi clicked her tongue, remembering Wu Xuanyi's cold look when they met for the last time a week ago, and felt a little thumping in her heart.

My family’s house is in the old housing area of ​​the town. The buildings here are not high, with four-story roofs at most, and most of them live in low-rise bungalows. When it rains, there will be eight-legged jumps in the sewer. Springtails ran out, and snails crawled all over the wall.Several small communities in this neighborhood are close together, surrounded by several courtyards for selling food, walking and playing birds. There is a river meandering beside it, and pine trees are planted beside the road and at the door of every house. green.

After saying goodbye to Fu Jing, Meng Meiqi stood outside the community with her luggage on her back, looked at the dilapidated and faded gate of the community, and walked in with her head down.

Meng Meiqi's house is on the third floor, and there is not such a serious problem of insects and ants. Open the window and you can see the river, and the air is good, but she doesn't like to stay at home. When she didn't go out to school, she spent most of her time living with those people The children in the bungalows played together, sometimes tearing up calendars and building boats, sometimes roller skating on the main road, and sometimes burning ashes and burying raw sweet potatoes, having a great time.On the other hand, the people at home are a bit put on airs, and those children who should play wantonly are locked at home, either learning some piano and Go, or participating in one-on-one tutoring classes, and do not come out all day.

There were vegetable stalls in the compound and they began to set up their vegetables, and the doors of all the stores were also open, but because it was still early, there were no people on the road, and Meng Meiqi was happy and quiet, so she didn't have to awkwardly say hello to unfamiliar neighbors.

All the way to the house, Meng Meiqi took out the key to the door, and opened the door with the voice-activated light above her head.

The room was pitch dark, and her parents hadn't woken up yet. Meng Meiqi closed the door softly, put her luggage on the sofa, walked into the living room and took a cup of hot water to sip.

The mother seemed to hear something, opened the door, her hair was messy, and she looked like she hadn't woken up: "When did you come back?"

Meng Meiqi passed her and saw Meng Guohai sleeping on the bed, and said in a low voice, "I just got out of the car."

Cheng Jieling nodded, turned into the bathroom to wash her face, and asked quietly, "You still came with Fu Jing?"

"Correct."

"The school is not used to it yet."

Meng Meiqi took a sip of the hot water: "It's pretty good."

After washing up, Cheng Jieling went into the kitchen without an apron, boiled two bowls of noodles, and brought them to the small table in the living room.

Meng Meiqi put down her teacup and sat opposite Cheng Jieling.

The noodles in the bowl are fragrant, and there is a beautiful sugar-coated egg sewn between the soft and smooth noodles. When the chopsticks are pierced, the orange-yellow egg liquid will flow out. It will be very delicious when mixed with the noodles.Meng Meiqi picked up the noodles and ate two bites, then raised her eyes to look at the person opposite who was biting the noodles.

After washing, Cheng Jieling would be a rare beauty as long as she tidied up.However, she has not put her mind on herself for a long time. She is either playing mahjong or doing some time-consuming odd jobs to earn money all year round. She will even watch the village grandfather play chess or dance among the aunts.

The ever-changing black curly hair, monotonous black, white and gray clothes, and plain face, in Meng Meiqi's impression in recent years, she has such a taste of clear soup and little water.

Meng Meiqi had heard earlier that her mother was unusually beautiful when she was young, and she was hot-tempered and unforgiving. He heard this kind of thing a lot, and a completely different image of her current mother came to mind. When she saw her mother's face head-on, she always tried to observe from the corners of her eyes and brows the savage woman who could drive men crazy with a glance or a smile.

However, the reality is that Cheng Jieling often brings her when she is still young to mix into the team of square dance aunts. She always wears black or white clothes, which makes her stand out among a bunch of colorful aunts, and also because of her long and beautiful foundation. , often got a lot of strange looks, causing her to be chased away by the aunt before she finished dancing.

Cheng Jieling has an obsessive love for square dancing. Even if she is driven away, she will ask the aunts for advice based on the idea of ​​seeking knowledge and making progress.

The aunt said that she did not understand the essence of square dancing.

Cheng Jieling said, so I came to learn.

The aunt said again, you are not old enough, how can you dance so lightly at your age.

Cheng Jieling said again, I am previewing.

The aunt ignored her, turned her buttocks and went back to the team.

Cheng Jieling's way of handling everything is a little unreasonable, which may be related to her nerves that are always offline.On the surface, she always looks like she can't see anything, which makes people who are not familiar with her feel very distant.

Meng Meiqi took two mouthfuls of noodles and said, "How are you and my dad doing recently?"

Cheng Jieling's bowl of noodles had bottomed out, and she drank two mouthfuls of soup: "How about what?"

Meng Meiqi clenched her chopsticks: "It's the ones we usually get along with."

Cheng Jieling didn't take it seriously: "It's not that good, I'm going to work when I get back, I cleaned the dishes, and I'm going to work."

Meng Meiqi looked at her back as she entered the bedroom, and pursed her lips.

There is nothing to do here at home. The friends I used to know are scattered all over the place, or go out to go to school, or drop out of school to work. There are fewer and fewer young people staying in the town. In recent years, the town has lost The population is increasing, and few young people can no longer be seen on the street.

Meng Meiqi felt that the air was quite fresh, so she went downstairs and walked around twice, said hello to the neighbor who was walking the dog, Grandpa Lu, and went to the embankment to have a look. There was nothing interesting, so she returned home out of boredom.

As soon as he entered the door, he saw Meng Guohai standing in the living room in his pajamas, looking here and there, as if he was a little confused about the extra things in the house.

"Dad." Meng Meiqi called from behind, bending over to change her shoes.

Meng Guohai turned around, touched the back of his head, and asked, "When did you come back?"

Meng Meiqi: "I just arrived this morning. The National Day holiday is on October [-]th."

Meng Guohai groaned, walked up to the cabinet and took out a bag of tea, Meng Meiqi stepped forward to take the teapot in his hand: "I'll go to the bar, you go wash up."

Meng Guohai seemed a little uncomfortable, so he murmured and turned into the bathroom.

Meng Guohai likes to make a pot of tea in the morning and drink it for a whole day, explaining that it is for health preservation.The first thing I do when I wake up every morning is to make tea, which has not changed for more than ten years.

"Stay here for a few days." Meng Guohai wiped his hands with a towel.

Meng Meiqi put the brewed tea on the tea table, covered it with a dark green rag, and said, "Seven days."

Meng Guohai nodded: "Lack of money?"

Meng Meiqi poured him a cup of tea: "There is no shortage, my mother will only give me this month's living expenses."

Meng Meiqi groaned again, picked up the teacup and stopped talking.

Cheng Jieling was not at home, and Meng Guohai was not very good at cooking, so he went to the compound to fry two home-cooked dishes and brought them back. When passing downstairs, some grandmas asked about Meng Meiqi who came back from vacation, and he smiled and said nothing .

Kung Pao chicken and pickled fish, Meng Meiqi steamed rice in the pot, and Meng Guohai was ready to serve when he came back.

Meng Meiqi picked up a chopstick of sauerkraut fish, and the tender white fish tasted delicious: "Dad, where are you going tonight?"

Meng Guohai grabbed the rice: "Where are you going? Let's go to the club."

Meng Meiqi lowered her head and bit her chopsticks: "Then I...I'll go have dinner with...Fu Jing at night."

Meng Guohai: "Go if you want."

Meng Meiqi hummed, put down her job and stopped talking.