Straightening up and rubbing her sore old waist, Granny Shen looked up at the slightly westerly sun in the sky, wondering if it was time to close the stall and go home. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

She is an old resident here, since her husband died when she was young, in order to pull her two children, she has been selling snacks for more than 40 years at the intersection of Xiliu Lane and West Chang'an Avenue. Now the children have grown up, and after they got married, they moved out of this old street that carries the vicissitudes of history.

It stands to reason that she is 70 years old this year, and when her children are filial, there is no need to be busy with such early mornings and nights, and she should have lived with her children for a long time. But people who have been busy all their lives can easily be idle, and in the early years, they will take care of their grandchildren, granddaughters, grandchildren, and granddaughters one after another after seeing the age of junior high school. Regardless of her son's opposition, she insisted on moving back from her son's house, and she was expensive in this ancient street that carried too many memories of her.

The fine willow lane is not long, it is a small street no more than 300 meters long and 5 meters wide. On both sides of the street, a row of willow trees is neatly planted, and the branches without willow leaves cast small and mottled branches under the warm sunlight of the winter afternoon, which are engraved on the pavement paved with green bricks.

The antique two-storey buildings of brick and wood structure stand neatly on both sides of the street, so that this alley is full of a quiet and simple atmosphere, and Granny Shen's food stall is placed at the mouth of the alley, and then walk 10 meters to the north, out of the alley is the busy traffic, high-rise West Chang'an Street.

A trolley, a small square table, and four or five small stools constitute the whole of Granny Shen's snack stall.

"Sister Shen, you haven't confiscated the stall yet! It's only three o'clock, if you don't go back to clean up the house, can it be said that your kid won't come back here for the New Year this year? Lao Wang, who lived in the alley, walked in front of the food stall with a Peking bus.

Today is the 28th of the lunar month, the day after tomorrow is Chinese New Year's Eve, and the nine-day public holiday of the Spring Festival will also start tomorrow, so at this time of year, most of the children of the residents in Xiliu Lane will choose to return here with their wives and children to accompany their parents for the New Year after work today.

"The house has already been cleaned up, isn't this preparing to close the stall!" Granny Shen responded casually, glanced at the dozen fritters on the iron shelf on the side of the oil pot, and decided to wait.

In fact, she no longer lives on the meager income of the food stall, her children have a good career outside, and she can't spend the pocket money given to her by her son and daughter every month, and opening a food stall is purely a little fun in her later life.

Since there is no shortage of money, Granny Shen definitely did not delay the collection of the stall in order to sell the dozen or so fritters. It seems a little wrong to say this, because Granny Shen really wants to sell these fritters before closing the stall. But it is more appropriate to receive money than to sell.

"Here we are." Granny Shen's face was happy, and her eyes fell on a little girl who appeared at the mouth of the alley.

The little girl is not very old, about ten years old, wearing a black down jacket, although the clothes on her body are very clean, but they are obviously old clothes, and some of them are too big, so that the little girl who is already a little thin looks even thinner.

The medium-length black hair was tied in a ponytail with a broken rubber band, and it swayed behind her head as the girl moved. The delicate little face is a bit of a dish because of malnutrition.

"Little girl, you're here! Do you still want today's fritters? Granny Shen pointed to the fritters on the cart and looked at the little girl with a look of love and pity.

"Yes, but ......" The little girl glanced at the fried brown and crispy fritters, swallowed her saliva fiercely, and finally touched her pocket, and said, "Grandma, I have had lunch today, so I don't want it, goodbye Grandma." ”

"Have you really eaten it?" Granny Shen hurriedly grabbed the little girl who turned around and was about to leave. Although she is 70 years old, she is far from being blind and deaf, and how can she not see the eager gaze of the little girl just now when she looks at food.

"Yes, I've really eaten it." The little girl endured the hunger in her belly and nodded. It's a pity that the sound of "grunting" from her belly made the little girl blush.

"Here, take."

Looking at the golden fritter handed to her, with the unique aroma of fried food lingering in her nose, the little girl forced her eyes to look away, swallowed her saliva, and said, "Grandma, I'm ...... I don't have enough money today. ”

As she spoke, the little girl lowered her head deeply. It's already three o'clock in the afternoon, and she hasn't eaten any leftovers from last night in the morning, so how can she not be hungry. But today's harvest was not very good, she didn't pick up many drink bottles on the street, and the money she got back after selling them was only enough to buy a little fever medicine for her sister, and where did she get the extra money to buy food.

"Silly girl, my mother-in-law won't take your money today." As she spoke, Granny Shen put all the fritters that were still slightly steaming on the oil pot into a food bag, and took out five cups of warm soy milk from the foam incubator next to her, also packed them, and stuffed them into the little girl's hands together.

"No, no, I can't." The little girl shook her head like a rattle, and waved her hands back as she went. It's just that she didn't notice the edge of the road behind her, and with a foot in the air, the whole person stumbled and fell directly to the cold ground.

Does "Woo ......" hurt? For the little girl, this pain is nothing compared to the pain she has suffered in the past, but tears still involuntarily roll in her eyes.

"Little girl, does it hurt to fall?" Granny Shen hurriedly put down the food bag in her hand, helped the little girl up from the ground, and gently patted the dust on the little girl's clothes.

"It doesn't hurt." The little girl wiped away her tears, broke free from Granny Shen's embrace, turned around and ran out of the alley, no matter how Granny Shen shouted, she never turned back.

"Alas! This kid. Granny Shen sighed distressed and helplessly, and watched the little girl's petite figure disappear at the corner of the alley.

"Sister Shen, don't waste your efforts, that kid is digging very hard." An old man about the same age as Granny Shen passed by and persuaded Granny Shen.

"Who's to say it isn't!" Granny Shen took out a cup of soy milk from the food bag with some melancholy, opened the lid, and there was no liquid in it at all, but there was a roll of red banknotes. She wasn't going to set up a stall tomorrow, she wanted to give the money to the child so that they could have a good year, but she didn't expect that not only did the money not be sent, but even the soy milk fritters, the child didn't ask for it. Maybe she should have thought of it a long time ago, as early as half a month ago when she first saw that sensible distressing girl.