"Ice City" a bowl of beef noodles in clear soup

Xinhua News Agency, Harbin, February 9 Title: "Ice City" A bowl of clear soup beef noodles

Xinhua News Agency reporter Zou Dapeng

For noodle restaurants, the busiest time is lunchtime. Ye Da Wu Dai lay in the hut behind the kitchen, staring at the ceiling in a daze.

Near the Spring Festival, the snow outside the storefront has not disappeared, and this year's winter is particularly cold, with heavy snow one after another. Harbin is known as the "Ice City", in the cold wind of cutting noodles, enter the house to stomp your feet, rub your hands, come to a bowl of hot beef noodles, blow open the tender green garlic seedlings, and take a bite of piping hot fresh soup, which is indescribably comfortable.

This round of "ice city" new crown pneumonia epidemic hit, the noodle shop customers seem to have suddenly disappeared. In this semi-basement between No. 5 and No. 7 Hengshan Road in Xiangfang District, the reporter pushed the door to the 29-year-old Hui boy Ye Da Wudai and his wife Ma Guihua for a while before they walked out of the back kitchen.

"Eat noodles?" "Beef noodles, another cold dish!" The couple shrugged, pointed to the crisper and said awkwardly, "That... ay...... I did it for a few days in a row but there was no customer, I couldn't finish eating and could only throw it away, too wasteful to dare to do it! ”

Not only cold dishes, but also the usual hot tea eggs, fried rice and hot dishes are gone. The small shop only has more than ten square tables, and when it is lively, it is necessary to share tables and wait for seats. Today, in the empty hall, there is only the cry of his 1-year-old son.

"Yesterday a total of 16 bowls of noodles were sold, everyone did not dare to come out to eat, no one ordered takeaways, and 30 bowls had to be sold every day to not lose money." Ma Guihua said that after the confirmed cases in Xiangfang District in early January, the business of the small shop suddenly went cold, and in the past, it was necessary to buy 5 kilograms of green peppers a day, and now the 1 kilogram of green peppers bought four or five days ago has not been used up.

During the conversation, a bowl of hot noodles was served, and the fifth generation of Ye Da smiled shyly, sitting next to the reporter and chatting with reporters to pass the time. The couple's hometown is in Ruomaling Village, Hualong County, Qinghai Province, and every household in the small mountain village has people opening noodle shops and working outside.

Five generations of Yeda, who came out of his home at the age of 13, from digging cordyceps and building roads to being waiters and apprentices in noodle shops, finally settled in Suzhou after 10 years and rented a shop to support a noodle restaurant. At first, the business was good, but the kind couple was finally deceived by the "three landlords".

At the end of 2017, the couple came to Harbin and exchanged the noodle restaurant from their hometown to start all over again. At that time, the business was just right, selling nearly 200 bowls of noodles and two pots of rice a day, and small cold vegetables were mixed twice a day to sell. In addition to the help of parents, the store also hired two more people to do chores.

"At 6 o'clock in the morning, I began to purchase and cook soup, and only ate one meal a day when I was busiest, and I could eat it at more than 2 p.m.," recalling the original hardship, the couple felt particularly sweet, "that scene which knows the taste of the bed, ah, at 12 o'clock in the evening to lie down, only the first day of the New Year's Day rest, every day takeaway on more than 1,000 yuan of flowing water, now there is no work to dry, every day idle lying tired." ”

When the business was booming, the couple borrowed another 200,000 yuan of foreign debt and let their parents return to their hometown to build a new house. Due to the busy making of money, until today, the couple has never lived in this big room, and can only watch from the video to relieve homesickness.

At the beginning of 2020, the epidemic struck, the small shop suffered a "cold wave", closed for 3 consecutive months, so that the couple with foreign debt panicked, after the normalization of epidemic prevention and control, the business has improved, but the money earned throughout the year is only enough to pay the rent. This year, I was thinking of doing a big job, but I didn't expect the epidemic to strike again.

This Spring Festival, some people returned to their hometowns, and some people stayed. Hometown has the thoughts of relatives, and foreign lands have the expectations of tomorrow. Making a bowl of noodles tasteful is the trick of business; living a life of self-improvement is the true meaning of life.

"As long as we are open for business, there will be running water, and when the spring blossoms and the epidemic has passed, the business will be better." In this cold winter, there are many ordinary people like this little couple, quietly under pressure, waiting for spring.

A bowl of beef noodles with clear soup awaits the favor of the guests, and what rises is the yearning for a better life. (End)