In front of good food, everyone is a foodie.
For noodle restaurants, the busiest time is the big Chinese New Year's Eve. This day at the Beihai Pavilion Noodle Restaurant has also been busy since the beginning. Usually until 12 o'clock in the evening is still very lively street, the big Chinese New Year's Eve at night after 10 o'clock, it is very quiet. The customers of the Beihai Pavilion Noodle Restaurant also seemed to have suddenly disappeared at this time. Just as the last customer came out and the owner said it was closing, the door was creaked open. A woman came in with two children. Two boys, around the age of 6 and 10, in brand new sportswear. The woman wore an unseasonal diagonal plaid coat.
"Welcome!" The hostess went up to say hello.
"Ah... Clear soup soba noodles... A bowl... May I? The woman asked timidly. The two little boys hid behind their mothers, and they also looked timidly at the lady boss.
"Okay, please, please sit here." The hostess said, leading the mother and son three to sit at the second table near the heating, while shouting to the counter, "A bowl of clear soup soba noodles!" ”
The boss, who heard the shouting, glanced up at the three of them and replied, "Good grin! A bowl of soba noodles in clear soup——""
Noodles had been prepared on the board, piles like hills, piles for one person. The boss grabbed a pile of noodles, then added half a pile and put them into the pot together. The lady boss immediately realized that this was the husband's special effort to give more to the mother and son.
As soon as the steaming and fragrant soba noodles were served, the mother and son trio immediately surrounded the bowl of noodles and ate head-to-head.
"It's delicious!" Brother said.
"Mom eats it too!" The younger brother clipped a chopstick noodle and delivered it to his mother's mouth.
After a while, the noodles were finished and 150 yuan was paid.
"Hospitality." The mother and son nodded their heads in thanks and left the store.
"Thank you and wish you a good year!" The owner and the hostess replied.
After the New Year's Day, the Beihai Pavilion Noodle Restaurant is still busy every day. A year passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, it was a big Chinese New Year's Eve.
Like the previous Chinese New Year's Eve, the busy day is coming to an end. After 10 p.m., just as it was about to close, the door of the shop was pulled open again, and a woman came in with two boys.
The hostess looked at the woman's unseasonal diagonal plaid coat and remembered the last three customers of last year's Chinese New Year's Eve.
“...... This one...... A bowl of soba noodles in clear soup... May I? ”
"Please, please sit inside," the lady boss brought them to the second table of last year, "a bowl of clear soup soba noodles—" "Good grin, a bowl of clear soup soba noodles—" The boss answered, and rekindled the fire that had been extinguished.
Hey, kid daddy, give them three bowls, okay?
The hostess whispered in the boss's ear.
"No, if that's the case, they might be embarrassed."
The boss said, grabbed a part and a half of the noodles and got off the pot.
There was a bowl of clear soup soba noodles on the table, and the mother and son three ate and talked, and the boss and the lady at the counter could hear their voices.
"It's delicious..."
"This year, I can eat soba noodles in the clear soup of Beihai Pavilion again."
"If only I could come and eat next year..."
After eating, I paid 150 yuan. The lady boss said to their backs, "Thank you, I wish you a good year!" ”
On this day, I was sent away by this blessing that had been said dozens or even hundreds of times.
The Beihai Pavilion Noodle Restaurant, which is becoming increasingly prosperous, has ushered in a third big Chinese New Year's Eve.
From half past nine, although neither the boss nor the hostess said anything, they both seemed a little distracted. Just after ten o'clock, the hired workers left work, and the boss and the lady immediately turned over the price tags of various noodles hanging on the wall one by one, and quickly wrote "clear soup soba noodles 150 yuan." In fact, since the summer of that year, with the rise in prices, the price of soba noodles in clear soup has been 200 yuan a bowl.
At the second table, 30 minutes ago, the hostess had already placed the "reservation" sign.
By 10:30, there were no more customers in the store, but the boss and the lady were still waiting for the arrival of the mother and son. They're coming. The older brother was wearing the uniform of a middle school student, and the younger brother was wearing the slightly larger old clothes that his older brother had worn last year, and both brothers had grown up and were a little unrecognizable. Mother was still wearing the unseasonable, somewhat faded coat.
"Welcome." The hostess smiled and greeted her.
“...... yes...... Two bowls of soba noodles in clear soup... Can I?" The mother asked timidly.
"Okay, please, please sit inside!"
The lady boss led them to the second table, hid the reservation card on the table, and shouted at the counter:
"Two bowls of soba noodles in clear soup!"
"Well, two bowls of clear soup soba noodles—"
The boss replied and put the portions of three bowls of noodles into the pot.
The mother and son ate two bowls of clear soup soba noodles, talking and laughing.
"Eldest son, Chun'er, today, Mom, I want to thank you."
"Thanks? ?...... us Why?"
"You also know that your father died in a traffic accident and owed money to eight people. I repaid all the pensions, and if I didn't have enough, I repaid them in installments of fifty thousand yuan a month. ”
"Yeah, we all know that."
The owner and the hostess were at the counter, listening motionlessly.
"The remaining debts were originally agreed to be repaid by March next year, but in fact, they can be paid off in full today."
"Ah, is that true, Mom?"
"It's true. The eldest child sends newspapers every day to support me, and Chun'er buys vegetables and cooks rice every day to help me, so I can work with peace of mind. Because I worked hard and received a special allowance from the company, I am now able to pay off the debt in full. ”
"Oh well! Mom, brother, from now on, the daily cooking matter is still wrapped up for me!"
"I also continue to deliver newspapers. Brother, let's work together!"
"Thank you, thank you so much... Thanks..."
"My brother and I also have one thing to hide from my mother, and I can say it today. It was a Sunday in November, and I went to my brother's school for a parent-teacher conference. At that time, my brother had already hidden a letter from his teacher to him... If the younger brother writes an essay and is selected as a representative of Hokkaido, he can participate in a national essay contest. Because of this, on the day of the parent-teacher conference, the teacher asked his brother to read the essay aloud by himself. If the teacher's letter is read to the mother, the mother will definitely ask the company for leave to listen to the brother read the composition, so the younger brother did not give the letter to the mother. I still heard about this from my brother's friends. So, on the day of the parent-teacher conference, I went. ”
"Oh, that's right... And what about later?"
"The teacher's essay was titled, 'What kind of person do you want to be in the future?' All the students wrote, my brother's title was "A Bowl of Clear Soup Soba Noodles", and as soon as I heard this topic, I knew that it was about the Beihai Pavilion Noodle Restaurant. At that time, I thought, brother, how did this guy write out such embarrassing things.
"The essay is about my father dying in a traffic accident, leaving a large debt. Mom worked hard every day from morning to night, and I went to deliver morning and evening newspapers... The younger brother wrote it all out. Then he wrote that on the evening of December 31, the mother and son three ate a bowl of clear soup soba noodles, which was very delicious... The three of us only bought a bowl of clear soup soba noodles, and the uncle and aunt at the noodle restaurant still received us warmly, thanked us, and wished us a good year. To my brother, the voice of the blessing was clearly saying to him: Don't bow your head! Come on! Live well! Therefore, when my brother grows up, if he wants to open a noodle restaurant that is the first in Japan, he must also say to the customers: 'Come on!'" I wish you happiness!' 'Thank you!' The younger brother read the composition aloud..."
At this moment, the boss and the lady who had ears pricked up at the counter and listened intently to the mother and son were gone. Behind the counter, I saw the two of them crouching face to face, a towel, each end, wiping away the tears that came out of their eyes.
"After reading the composition, the teacher said: 'Today Chunjun's brother came to our parent-teacher conference in place of his mother, and now we ask him to say a few words...'"
"What did my brother say at this time?"
"Because I was suddenly called up to speak, at first, I couldn't say anything... 'Everyone has always been very good with my brother, and I thank you all. My brother had to make dinner every day, so he could only give up the activities of the interest group and come home halfway, and I felt embarrassed to be my brother. Just now, when my brother first started reading "A Bowl of Soba Noodles in Clear Soup", I felt very ashamed, but when I saw my brother reading aloud excitedly, I felt even more ashamed. At this time, I thought that I must not forget my mother's courage to buy a bowl of clear soup soba noodles. We two brothers must work together to take good care of our mother! I hope that everyone will be able to be friends with my brother in the future. I said that..."
Mother and son, quietly, held hands with each other for a long time. Then he laughed cheerfully. Compared with last year, it seems to have completely changed.
The clear soup soba noodles, which were Chinese New Year's Eve meal, were eaten and paid 300 yuan.
"Hospitality." The mother and son bowed their heads deeply and thanked each other and walked out of the store.
"Thank you and wish you a good year!"
The boss and the hostess shouted their blessings to them and watched them go away...
Another year of great Chinese New Year's Eve has arrived. In the Beihai Pavilion Noodle Restaurant, after 9:00 p.m., the number two table was placed on the sign of 'Reservation Seat', waiting for the arrival of the mother and son. However, I did not see the figure of the three people.
A year, another year, table two has been waiting silently. But the mother and son still did not appear. Beihai Pavilion Noodle Restaurant has been renovated due to the increasing business. The tables and chairs have been changed to the organ newspaper. But table two is still good. The owner and his wife not only did not feel uncoordinated, but instead placed the second table in the center of the store.
"Why put this old table in the middle of the store?" Some customers feel strange.
Therefore, the boss and his wife told them about "a bowl of Yangchun noodles". And said that seeing this table is an inspiration to yourself. And maybe one day the mother and son three will come again, at this time, I want to use this table to greet them.
In this way, the story of table two makes table two a "table of happiness". Customers were chanting everywhere. Someone deliberately came from afar. There are female students, but also young couples, all of whom have to eat a bowl of Yangchun noodles at the second table. Table Two has also gained fame.
Time passes, year after year. The year's Chinese New Year's Eve has arrived.
By this time, the Beihai Pavilion Noodle Shop was already a main member of the shop club on the same street. On this day Chinese New Year's Eve, friends, neighbors, and peers who are close to their families have come to Beihai Pavilion after a day's work. Eat Chinese New Year noodles at Beihai Pavilion, listen to the bells of Chinese New Year's Eve night, and then relatives and friends gather together to burn incense and prostrate their heads at a nearby shrine to ask the gods to bless all the best in the new year. This has been the case for five or six years.
This year's Chinese New Year's Eve is certainly no exception. After half past nine, with the fish shop owner and his wife holding a large basin full of sashimi filled with sashimi in their hands as a signal, about thirty friends who are usually close to their families also brought wine and dishes, and they gathered one after another at the Beihai Pavilion, and the atmosphere in the store suddenly became lively. Friends who know the origin of the second table, although they did not say anything in their mouths, they all thought in their hearts that the second table may be empty again this year. The sign of the "reservation seat" has long been quietly standing on the second table.
Between the narrow seats, the guests moved their bodies little by little to sit down, and some people greeted their late friends. Eating noodles, drinking wine, and sandwiching dishes from each other. Someone went to the counter to help, and someone casually pulled open the refrigerator to get something. What a cheap sale of business, what a beautiful anecdote of the sea bath, what a grandson. At 10:30, the lively atmosphere in the Beihai Pavilion reached its peak. Just then, the door of the store was creaked open. People were looking toward the door, and suddenly the house fell silent.
Two young men in crisp suits and coats on their arms walked in. At this time, everyone was relieved, and with a soft sigh, the shop resumed its previous bustle.
"It's no coincidence that the shop is already full." The hostess said apologetically.
Just as she was rejecting the two youths, a woman in a kimono walked in with her head bowed deeply and stood between the two youths.
The people in the store suddenly held their breath and their ears stood up.
"Well... Three bowls of Yangchun noodles, is it okay? ”