In Flower Street, the types of shops are strictly planned. At the head of the street are mostly fried shops or chicken cutlets and barbecue restaurants. Because there is a river canal more than ten meters in front of the street, the wet wind coming down the water can easily carry away the oil smoke here. Environmental issues aside, each family's treasured dipping sauce is fried and grilled, mixed with the aroma of meat, which is even more intense, and always attracts the cravings of those who wander out on the street.

In the middle of the street, the front half is a clothing store or craft shop with a delicate lintel. Sister Ling's shop is the only shop selling flowers in Flower Street, and it is named the same as the street, and it has subtly become the face of Flower Street. The storefronts here are usually one or two storeys, with glass windows that offer a panoramic view of the interior. In the second half of the year, there are butcher shops selling poultry and fish, and these unpleasant smelling shops are usually covered with thick transparent adhesive curtains at the door to prevent the smell from escaping, and there are large vents in the interior that will lead to the back of the street at regular intervals.

The end of the street is not as strict as the previous one. The road is not completely straight, and many of the shops here are old shops that have been around for many years. Like Uncle Lu's Yuzang pastry shop, as long as things are done during the festival, nearby residents will come to their house to order a few boxes, the packaging is simple, but the taste is unchanged and delicious. Ding Bo's tofu shop is especially famous for its soft and tender white tofu. Even, there are many kids who go out to study in college, because they miss the original flavor here, they come here as soon as they are on vacation. A stack of white tofu with soup can satisfy the desire of the tip of the tongue, if you are not used to eating light, a few drops of seafood soy sauce is the most refreshing taste after the big fish and meat are greasy.

The shops here are not really shops, many of them are remodeled from their own houses, the second floor is the bedroom where they sleep, the first floor is where they work, and the counter is usually across the door. Customers are not allowed to enter the store on their own, so they have to wait in front of the door.

If you want to understand the reason for its strange arrangement, it will go back decades, or even a hundred years.

There is a deep snake alley at the end of the flower street, which is called the flower street alley, which is where the Tingting family rented. This alley is not named after Flower Street, but quite the opposite. The alley is twisting and turning, and I don't know how many bends there are. And the bend at the very front has the widest and straightest road in the alley. Many years ago, many residents of Huajie Lane who wanted to deal in goods lived here together, opening the mode of living and lowering merchants, which was the predecessor of Huajie.

Over the years, the shop continued to expand until it became a well-known living street in the neighborhood.

Sister Ling's flower shop only has one floor, so of course she can't live in the shop. Her home is in the fourth bend of the flower street. The space there is rarely open, and at the intersection, there is a large bamboo forest and a four-pillar pavilion. The pavilion plaque has three black characters, "Qingping Pavilion", the black tiles of the eaves are white and gray, and the paint red of the column table can also see the cracks, which is about a little old, but this does not prevent the old people from playing chess here every day. There is still a large area of low grass behind the pavilion, and there are often children jumping around looking for small insects to play.

Even with such a wide space in front of the house, the backyard of Sister Ling's house is the largest in the entire alley. Among them, there are many strange tree species and flowers, which are due to Sister Ling's interest.

Because of yesterday's agreement, while the weather was still warm in the afternoon, Tingting decided to go to her house to pay a visit. Xiaopang originally came to play with Tingting, but because of Liang Leon's delay, he finally bought a set of cheap clothes and pants, and he was happy to follow her when he saw her go out.

Tingting knew that Sister Ling was a good person, so she didn't care about anything, but suddenly one more person visited, maybe it would make the master's original preparation a little out of measure. But she couldn't resist Chubby's request, so she could only take him with her.

Chubby's mischievous personality made many of the residents of the alley quite dissatisfied, and when he was younger, he would run to the front of other yards to scribble, or run to the vegetable field to water a large area of green vegetables with hot urine, even if he was found on the spot, he could slip away. Many people gritted their teeth at him and ran to complain to his father, but his father Pang Deqing was not a fuel-efficient lamp. Even if he knew that his son was in trouble, this Pang Deqing would only pretend to be dead, be scolded and promise to teach Xiaopang a good lesson, but he never really implemented it. If he was forced to be in a hurry, he threw out a sentence, "What's wrong?" What's wrong with breaking something? How much, I'll pay. "No matter how angry others are, it's not easy to care about it for the sake of face.

Therefore, the nicknames of "big fat" and "little fat" are not groundless, and many of them are the angry complaints of people who have suffered from Pang Yu's scourge.

Sister Ling was also tragically attacked by Chubby's evil hands. A few years ago, a pomegranate tree against the wall at the back of her yard was only arm-thick, but its branches and foliage were flourishing, and the south-facing side of the backyard happened to be a low wooden hedge, so it happened to climb out of the wall. Of course, the naughty little fat who passed by couldn't spare his hand, and dragged the pomegranate branch under his body fiercely, and finally broke the little pomegranate hard.

When Sister Ling, who was like a friend to flowers and trees, saw this tragic situation, tears fell for a long time, and she couldn't catch up with him when she ran out of the backyard, so she had to pick up the scattered branches on the ground and throw them at his back that was running away.

Originally, this beam was knotted, but I didn't expect that this kid would come to apologize for the first time, and generously took out his treasured snacks and toys. I don't know if I suddenly woke up after doing too much bad things, or I saw that my beautiful big sister couldn't walk. Anyway, Sister Ling is not an adult who cares too much about a child, so she can only forgive with hatred.

Now, the relationship between Sister Ling and Xiaopang is not as tense as it was in previous years, and Tingting helped ease the relationship. After all, Sister Ling also knew that Xiaopang really dug out her liver when she treated Tingting, otherwise she wouldn't want to deal with it. In her words, "You can't get too close to this little black skin, or he'll be so pampered that he sticks to you." ”

Tingting came with no empty hands, holding two apples that were yellow and red. In fact, this is also a gift from others, a few days ago, the neighbor Aunt Wang had relatives to visit, sent a large box, probably because she felt that the number was too much, and it was not fresh after eating, so she politely grabbed a few to her. Now there are only two that are not big or small, so they hurriedly came over.

But Sister Ling felt that this was too outrageous, and she was unhappy with a bitter face, and she didn't even pour tea for the two of them. However, seeing Tingting licking the osmanthus cake in a small bite, looking reluctant to bite it, she didn't complain, laughed secretly, and went to the storage room to pour out a glass of fresh juice.

"Xiao Tingting, this is my favorite mango flavor, you can try it."

"Is that okay?" Tingting's eyes widened, just looking at the thick yellow in the glass, and there were even flesh fibers floating in it, she couldn't help but tremble with her tongue, and she couldn't wait to take a bite.

"Of course. I know you don't like carbonated drinks, and I buy freshly squeezed juices, so I might be entertaining you again one day. ”

Tingting's heart was hot when he heard this, and he was moved with a little guilt. Actually, she doesn't hate carbonated drinks, sweet food, she always likes it. The excuse last time was just too polite, but I didn't expect Sister Ling to take it to heart. But she was embarrassed to admit her mistake directly, otherwise she would be sad about the kindness of others, so she could only smile, "Sister, you are so good, just like my own sister." ”

Saying these words is probably the highest compliment of Tingting. She has no mother since she was a child, and she has no siblings, and of course she doesn't know much about the care of other women, but she can only learn from the book that the affection between sisters is the strongest besides her mother.

"Sister Xiaoling, what about mine? What about mine? ”

Sister Ling was originally happy because of Tingting's words, but when she heard Xiaopang constantly making noise around her, she also made a straight face, "Without your share, let's die of this heart." ”

"If you don't give it to me, I'll grab Tingting's drink!" How could Xiaopang accept this grievance, he stood up with a hula and pestle in front of Sister Ling.

"You dare?"

"Why don't I dare?" Xiaopang is notorious on the street for his dead skin, and he is definitely not afraid of her provocation, so he stubbornly stretches his face and reaches out to take the cup. But he only glanced at the rim of the cup, and then sat back in a deep voice. Probably seeing that Tingting had already taken a sip, leaving a shallow lip print on the wall of the cup, the young man's pride did not allow him to continue to splash his skin.

"If you want to drink it, drink it. I probably won't be able to finish this full cup. Although Tingting wondered why Xiaopang didn't splash like usual, he saw him sit down with a bitter face, and felt how much he had been wronged, so he handed the cup over.

"No! This is what I gave to Xiao Tingting! ”

Sister Ling still held a grudge and reached out to protect the cup, but Xiaopang was inexplicably annoyed, quickly snatched the cup, and drank it all.

"Ah......h She knew that if she was too disappointed, Sister Ling would definitely pour her another glass, which would be too embarrassing.

"Why are you so annoying!" Sister Ling blushed her neck and glared at Xiao Fat, her voice was much louder than usual, but it was just a weak woman's vindictive complaint. She was half tantrum like this, but she still felt that she still had no deterrent effect on this pranky boy, so she had to turn her head and comfort Tingting, "I'll pour you another glass." ”

"No, no." Tingting shook his head like a rattle, "I really don't need to, I've already tasted it, save it for next time." ”

"It's not a precious thing......"

"That's not good, my sister has already entertained me with a cup, I am willing to let Xiaopang drink it, how can I let you renew a glass because I haven't drunk enough? It's a matter of principle, and I'm sorry for it, thanks for it......"

Sister Ling looked at her such a serious tone, naturally she couldn't force it much, so she could only smile helplessly, "Xiao Tingting is still so stubborn, haha." Cute brain-breaking. ”

When the two came out of Sister Ling's house, they bumped into Sister Ling's mother at the gate and was collecting the soles of her shoes. Looking at her face, she was a scathing woman, completely dismissive of Tingting's polite greetings, and didn't even raise her head. Tingting knew that Sister Ling and her mother had a discordant relationship, probably because of the discussion of marriage. Sister Ling was born beautiful, and there are many young men in the neighborhood who fall in love with her, but she doesn't seem to take her feelings to heart at all, and it has been five years since she graduated from college. Although the business is in good condition, her mother is not satisfied and even complains. I heard that it was he who insisted that girls should focus on marriage, marry early, and teach their husbands and children to be women's virtues.

Of course, Tingting does not agree with this pedantic view, but she is just a milky child, so naturally she can't teach other people's private affairs as an outsider. And Sister Ling's family is not without reasonable people, it is said that her father will often quarrel with his wife over his daughter's decision, and it can be said that he is the second model father in Tingting's heart.

When the two walked to the Qingping Pavilion at the bend again, there were still three or two old men playing chess in it. When Tingting occasionally passed by here, she would be curious to watch a few rounds, and today's invitation had been served, and she estimated that there was a lot of time left, so she dragged Chubby closer again.

But this time was different from the past, and Chubby exclaimed from time to time, which made several old men look irritable. One of the old men surnamed Liang was particularly vicious, and he was a temper changer known to everyone in the neighborhood, so he put down his chess pieces and looked at the two of them carefully.

"Grandpa, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, we're a little noisy."

Tingting was stared at by the old man, and he was embarrassed to leave, so he could only apologize with a dry smile. But the old man didn't eat this set, he raised his head and scolded, "What kind of chess do you say you are a girl watching from every house?" Is this something you should be looking at? Get home early! ”

"I made you noise, what are you scolding her for?" Although Xiaopang was at fault first, he couldn't sit still when he heard such an insult, and stepped forward to point at Old Man Yang's nose and bared his teeth for a while.

It's obviously Chubby's fault, but the old man is angry with Tingting, and there is obvious sexism, which is indeed excessive. The other two old men probably also felt biased, and hurriedly comforted both sides, one of them was a white Mediterranean old man, and even spoke in a cordial tone, "Little girl, I see that you are very interested in Go, can you play?" Why don't you wait for this game to end and play with the old decay? ”

The wrinkles on the face of this old Mediterranean man were obviously much more than those of the other two, and even the skin and flesh were wrinkled and drooping, and he seemed to be old.

Tingting quickly shook his head, "I won't...... Just curious, it feels funny. However, after watching it a few times, it seems that I know a little bit of the rules. ”

"Oh? How so? ”

"Well, it's probably a circle of eating, whoever occupies more space wins."

As soon as these words came out, the three old men looked at each other, and the white Mediterranean even directly proposed to the other two, wanting to see the level of people like Tingting, who had not yet started.

After some shirk to no avail, Tingting sat on the stone bench with the mentality of trying it out. She looked back at Xiaopang, a little restrained and flustered, but she still calmed down and pinched the son who went first.

The old man pointed a little and followed closely.

It was like a signal that Tingting began to snap the pieces onto the board without any scruples, without even thinking much about it. But the old man from the Mediterranean on the opposite side seemed to slow down, frowning slightly, "This start...... How so? Like a newbie and not like a newbie? ”

Old man Liang didn't take Tingting in his eyes, and quipped, "Old, Hu, what are you worried about, a little girl who has just come into contact with Go, don't think too much." ”

"Yes, too." The old man, surnamed Hu, touched the top of his head and continued to look down at chess.

But as the black and white colors on the chessboard increased, the expressions of the three old men became more and more ugly. Every time she arrives at Tingting, she presses it without thinking, and when she lifts it, she also reacts quickly, feeling like early Booth. But Old Man Hu needs to think for a long time, and sometimes, he even has to look up at her expression. But these were all in vain, Tingting was calm and indifferent from beginning to end, and she had already devoted herself to the chess game.

After about an hour, the last piece was settled, and the old people were still a little nervous, counting the chess pieces in rows.

"You have one more?" In the end, Old Man Hu said to himself in surprise.

The little fat on the side couldn't understand this kind of game at all, and he was about to fall asleep, when he heard Old Man Hu's words, he excitedly congratulated Tingting, "You're the first time to play, right?" Won these aggressive old men the first time? That's amazing, isn't it? Then he turned his head to Old Man Liang for a while, "You guys are too inferior and rubbish, you leave here every day and pretend to be a ghost, it turns out to be so vulnerable." ”

"Don't scream! She didn't win. ”

"Huh? Isn't it our chess pieces more? Chubby was almost dumbfounded.

To the Mediterranean, who was sitting surnamed Hu, he kept touching the top of his head and said, "Well, Kuroko wants to post first." Saying this, his expression suddenly became depressed and ugly, and he slammed his fists on the table, "Although I won, I didn't expect to be forced to such a point, I really played chess in vain for decades." ”

"Nope." Another chubby old man who had been silent all the time finally spoke, "It's not that we're in vain, it's that this little girl's talent is too high." She is very good at seducing, and as early as the third time you were tempted to eat, you were countered by her. ”

"It's not just a little trick, it's not necessarily powerful." Old man Liang said sneeringly.

"Brother Liang, it's boring for you to say that. Judging from the whole direction, this little girl is well versed in the layout, although she goes down quickly, she never takes a single step. Look at this chess game, almost all the children who were raised were deliberately released by her, and there were no careless children. If it weren't for our lack of experience, I guess we wouldn't have been able to make a few moves. The fat old man gave Tingting a very high evaluation.

Tingting listened quietly to the discussion of the three old men, but he didn't have any expression, just nodded slightly.

"Little girl, what's your name?" The old man surnamed Hu, who was devastated and regained his spirits, asked anxiously.

"Tang Xianting."

"The surname is Tang, oh oh. What is your father's name? ”

"Father's name is Tang Quan."

"Oh oh, it's the daughter of the Xiao Tang family, I don't usually see you together, I don't know yet." Old man Hu laughed.

"It turns out that my grandfather and father know each other, so what do I call you?"

"Haha, just call me the third master." The old man surnamed Hu pointed to the other two, "This chubby grandfather's surname is Zhang, and the other surname is Liang." ”

"Good. The third grandfather, Grandpa Zhang, and Grandpa Liang, let's go first, I'm going back to cook. Tingting politely stood up and bowed.

"Oh, then you guys go home." The third master responded, watched the two leave, and suddenly shouted, "Xiaoting girl, go back and find a serious teacher to train and cultivate your chess skills, maybe you can win a prize in the future." Don't bury your talents, my third master is optimistic about you. ”

Tingting heard it from afar and nodded with a smile.