A Literary Life Starting from the First Year of High School

On Sunday morning, Lin Shubai woke up without an alarm clock, which was unusual for him.

He got dressed and went out the door. Wang Xiulan was already busy in the kitchen. She heard him and poked her head out, looking him up and down: "Are you up? Eat first, then go get a haircut."

"it is good."

Breakfast consisted of porridge, salted duck eggs, and half a fried dough stick left over from yesterday. Lin Shubai broke the fried dough stick into pieces and soaked them in the porridge, watching it slowly soften before eating it spoonful by spoonful.

Don't cut your hair too short.

"it is good."

"Also, I left the apple by the door. Don't forget to take it when you leave. Double-check it before you go out, so you don't get to the building and find yourself empty-handed."

"it is good."

"When you arrive, greet the uncle and auntie loudly, not like a mosquito."

"it is good."

Wang Xiulan glanced at him. "What's wrong with you today? I told you everything, but you weren't listening at all!"

"I heard you. You said not to cut my hair too short, not to forget to bring the apple, and to call out loudly when we arrive." Lin Shubai repeated these three points.

After finishing his meal, Lin Shubai changed his shoes and went out. The barbershop at the entrance of the community was called "Starting Over," a very old-fashioned and tacky name. It was said to have been open for more than ten years. The owner was a man in his forties surnamed Wu, who wore frameless glasses and looked more like a middle school dean than a barber.

After the haircut, Boss Wu looked at himself in the mirror from behind. "How is it?"

Lin Shubai looked at it. The sides were shortened, the back wasn't pushed up too high, and the bangs were cut above the eyebrows. He did look more energetic, at least not like the decadent artsy youth he had been a few days ago.

"That's good. How much?"

"fifteen."

As soon as Lin Shubai reached the bottom of Building No. 3, he heard a series of hurried footsteps coming from the stairwell, and then Liu Yang rushed out of the stairwell.

"Here it is!" Liu Yang snatched the apple from his hand. "Why did you bring this?"

"I'm sorry to bring nothing."

"You'd feel even more embarrassed if you brought her along."

Lin Shubai followed Liu Yang upstairs. There was a mixed smell of scallions and soy sauce in the stairwell, which wafted down from upstairs and became stronger as they went up.

"What is your mother doing?" Lin Shubai asked.

"Braised pork ribs, sweet and sour fish, Mapo tofu, tomato and egg drop soup, and cucumber salad." Liu Yang counted on his fingers, "Oh right, and there's some kind of soup, she said it's some kind of slow-cooked soup, it's been simmering since morning."

"Morning?"

"She said the ribs need to be blanched first, then caramelized with sugar, and then stewed for an hour. The fish needs to be killed and cooked immediately; it can't be killed in advance, otherwise the meat will become tough."

Liu Yang's mother, surnamed Wang, named Wang Meifang, was in her early forties with short hair and wearing an apron. She was busy in the kitchen when she heard the noise and peeked out. When she saw Lin Shubai, her eyes lit up, and her voice was even louder than Liu Yang's: "Oh my, Lin Shubai is here! Come in quickly! Don't stand at the door!"

Lin Shubai changed into slippers and went inside, greeting her with "Hello, Auntie."

"Good, good, good!" Wang Meifang came out of the kitchen, wiped her hands on her apron, and looked him up and down. "Oh my, this child is so handsome. Liu Yang, look at him, how neatly he is dressed. And look at you, you dress like you're going to war every day."

Liu Yang rolled his eyes. "Mom, they're here as guests. I understand if you praise them, but could you please stop putting me down?"

"I'm just stating the facts." Wang Meifang turned to look at Lin Shubai. "Please sit down, make yourself at home. There's fruit, melon seeds, and candy on the coffee table. Help yourself to whatever you want. Liu Yang, keep him company and don't let him sit alone."

"Okay, okay." Liu Yang pulled Lin Shubai to sit down on the sofa.

After a while, Liu Yang's father returned, wearing a dark blue work uniform with black machine oil stains on his hands. Liu Yang's father's name was Liu Shengli. People of his generation had names like Jianguo and Shengli.

"Hello, Uncle." Lin Shubai stood up.

"Sit down, sit down, don't be shy." Liu Shengli sat down next to him.

Wang Meifang called out from the kitchen, "Old Liu, come help bring out the dishes!"

Liu Shengli stood up and walked towards the kitchen. Liu Yang followed to help. Lin Shubai wanted to help, but Liu Yang pressed him back onto the sofa, saying, "You're a guest, just sit and wait to eat."

Lin Shubai had no choice but to sit down. He could hear the clattering of dishes in the kitchen, Wang Meifang's commanding voice, "Put this plate in the middle," "Put that soup bowl over here," "Have you gotten the chopsticks?" and Liu Yang occasionally chiming in, "Mom, don't rush me, I'm getting them."

The dishes were served one by one.

"This is pork rib soup," Wang Meifang introduced. "I added red dates, goji berries, and codonopsis, and simmered it for more than two hours. Try it and see if you like it."

The family, including Lin Shubai, sat around the dining table. The table wasn't big, but it was piled high with dishes, some of which had to be stacked. Wang Meifang put a piece of pork rib on Lin Shubai's plate. "Here, try my cooking. Liu Yang said you like braised dishes, but I didn't know if you like sweet ones, so I didn't put much sugar in this."

"Thank you, Auntie." Lin Shubai took a bite. The ribs were stewed until very tender, melting in his mouth, with a perfect balance of sweet and salty, even better than his mother's. Of course, he couldn't let Wang Xiulan know this, otherwise there would be a "Braised Ribs Competition" at home.

"Is it tasty?"

"tasty."

"Eat more if you like it, don't be shy, treat it like home." Wang Meifang put another piece of fish on his plate.

Halfway through the meal, Wang Meifang suddenly put down her chopsticks, looked at Lin Shubai, and said, "Shubai, Auntie has something to ask you."

"Please speak."

"Do you think there's any hope for Liu Yang's Chinese language skills?"

Liu Yang nearly spat out the ribs he was eating. "Mom! People are eating, why are you asking this?"

"I asked my question, you eat yours." Wang Meifang ignored him and continued looking at Lin Shubai. "He's never passed Chinese before. This time he got 98, and he's as happy as if he got a perfect score. Do you think he can consistently score above 90 in the future?"

Lin Shubai thought for a moment and decided to tell the truth, "Liu Yang's foundation isn't bad, he's just too lazy. He actually memorizes things quite quickly; last time when we were reciting ancient poems, he memorized them faster than I could."

This is true. Last week, Old Chen did a spot check on Liu Yang's recitation of "Short Song Ballad". Liu Yang recited it a day in advance and did it word for word the next day. Of course, his understanding was a bit off. He interpreted "singing while drinking" as "singing while drinking". Old Chen was so angry that he almost smashed his enamel mug.

Lin Shu-bai continued, "He's just too lazy to put pen to paper."

Wang Meifang nodded, then turned to look at Liu Yang, "Did you hear that? It's not that your brain is bad, it's that your hands are bad. You need to write more in the future."

Liu Yang lowered his head and ate his rice, saying, "Okay, okay."

After the meal, Wang Meifang brought out a plate of sliced ​​watermelon. "Here, have some fruit after the meal. The watermelon was bought this morning, it's quite sweet."