The entrance to the shop is a glass archway, and behind it is a long, dark and thin hallway, and at the end of the line of sight is a two-story mural with a pool of water folded back below. He wandered through the door and thought for a long time, feeling an indescribable sense of oppression, and the eye sockets of the giant beast in the painting emanated, and he did not know whether the owner of the place wanted to let people in, or if he did not want to be disturbed at all.

Thinking of today's purpose, he still chose here, hoping that he was the one who had adapted to the sense of oppression in advance, and it was not only himself who would be difficult in the next negotiations. Passing through the hallway, the view becomes wider, and the waterway is lined with booths on one side and a long bar counter on the other. This is not unusual, what is new is that a red brick wall has been erected on each side of Yanshui, reaching out to the second floor. These two walls have four arches on each side of each floor, so that a small storefront has at least sixteen arches.

He froze in place, feeling in a trance that he was being pulled into a fantasy world by a sudden sense of strangeness, and every time his mind passed through a door, it was like passing through a period of cause and effect from a past experience. The rapid passage of cause and effect made the sourness come to his head, and he hurriedly opened his eyes and wanted to find a seat to sit down.

"Sir, will you sit upstairs or downstairs?" A handsome young man politely interrupted his fugue.

"Uh...... Downstairs, in the corner of the wall, is that okay? He pointed to the corner seat closest to the door, feeling that it was the safest, close to the door and relatively hidden, which was convenient for quick evacuation after an unhappy breakup.

"Of course, are you one?"

"No, I'll wait for one...... Friend. ”

"Okay, here's our menu. Do you want to do it now, or do you wait for a friend to come along? ”

He didn't bother to eat, so he turned directly to the wine section: "Give me a glass of Old Fashioned, and I'll talk about the rest later." ”

"Okay, wait a minute."

"Wait a minute, I have a few questions for you, what does the name of our store La Pie mean?"

The boy turned around, and he answered this question more than once, and he knew it by heart: "It means 'magpie' in French." ”

"Magpies?" He couldn't help but give himself a wry smile, and he really knew how to choose a place: "Who is the monster in the mural?" ”

"That's the flower beast, and the boss asked a mural god to design and paint it. The theme of this mural is magpies, and if you look at it, there are four magpies that symbolize spring, summer, autumn and winter. The two women next to Magpie are our bosses, and they are a pair of sisters. The flower beast at the bottom is the messenger that connects the heavens and the earth, bringing the beauty of the four seasons to all beings. There are also various little fairies around him, and the signature of the little fairy is some of the essential spices in French cuisine. ”

"That's interesting!" He stood in the atrium, carefully examined the whole mural, and looked up to find that the top of his head was a completely transparent triangular glass ridge, and several groups of warm yellow spherical glass chandeliers hung down in the center. As if frightened by something, he quickly retreated to his seat. At this time, the bar was beckoning for wine, and the young man brought Old Fashioned to him: "Sir, you use it slowly, call me again if you need to." ”

"Okay, you go get busy, the second ring must be blocked again at this time, I'll wait slowly."

He was very grateful that she didn't show up for the appointment on time, and he was also grateful that he found such a unique place first, he just sent her the location of the alley, and he felt that she couldn't find it on her own. That's the best, and you can use these arches to take a good look at the past cause and effect between him and her.

He took a sip of wine, the "classical" of this house is seasoned with roasted orange peel, and his tongue is quickly occupied by the spicy bourbon, forcing his stomach to steam up enough heat, and after swallowing, the tip of his tongue still has a bitter taste from bitters and a hint of orange. He remembered that she was hooked on the show Mad Men. She has watched so many dramas, American dramas, British dramas, Japanese dramas, Korean dramas, and has never been Amway jewelry, leather bags and cosmetics, at most, she just asks him to invite herself to drink a cocktail in an American drama and eat a plate of fried rice cakes in Korean dramas...... She's such a good woman who can get by.

Passing through an archway, he could not help but notice the striking flower beast in front of him, whose eyes were now meeting his own, and said to him as if no one was there: Where are you from? You don't belong here!

He swallowed a sip of wine, and answered himself in his heart: I came from the place where the flowers bloomed, I belong to this city for her, I am about to say goodbye to everything here, will I say goodbye to her forever?

His hometown is in Dali, and as soon as he entered the door, he thought that this flower beast really came to the wrong place, shouldn't it be more appropriate to go to the place where the flowers bloom? Beijing, flowers are really pitiful! No wonder it glared at itself with resentment, and it wanted a drink from the unfortunate situation.

In his hometown, he had his dream of literature and art, and like the owner here, he also had a small shop of his own. He and his wife opened a homestay, and he didn't bother much, just drinking, reading, and playing the guitar in the store to pass the time. Later, they had a son of their own, and the hard-working wife began to complain: "You have to take care of the children and the shop!" His wife gave him the opportunity to choose first, and he chose the child without hesitation, on the grounds that he was not good at management and management, and he would rather spend more time with his son. After a few years, his wife, who is good at business management, filed for divorce from him, and she said that he had changed, no longer the teenager with dreams and feelings at the beginning, and she fell in love with a tenant who was more literary than him. He didn't even fight for custody of his children, and when he left home, he only had a few boxes of books and a guitar, and the only bit of literature and art that was left did not betray him who lost everything.

He plans to start over in a different city, and wants to go to Xiamen, another place with flowers and seas, where he spent his best college years. Her presence changed his decision. She was his college classmate and each other's first love. Like many college couples, they broke up because they chose a different city for graduation. She returned to Beijing, married a rich second generation soon after, and then divorced soon after, and received a lot of money. He was also divorced, and only was given freedom. When she heard that he was single again, she contacted him through an old classmate and invited him to her city. They both thought that regaining their old love after so many vicissitudes was like opening a jar of old wine, and with that stamina, it was enough to support the rest of their lives.

How nice it would be if the story ended here, he drank it all and asked for a glass of Old Fashioned.

Beijing, for him, is a documentary that is playing while holding down the fast-forward button. He put down the guitar and learned to meet all kinds of businessmen, he didn't understand that people in this city were obviously in a hurry to work, get married, have children, and retire, and still pretend to be leisurely and comfortable between pushing cups and changing lamps. He didn't understand that the literary and artistic feelings he was once proud of were tampered with at which point in time and at which fork in the road, and he was reduced to a laughing stock in today's circle of friends. To avoid saying more strange things to himself, he slowly reduced the time he spent reading.

Thankfully, he still has her, and she makes it worth all his efforts. She knew it would be difficult for him to build a sense of belonging in the city, and she knew he would mind the inevitable gap between the rich and the poor between them. She was very careful to protect their hard-won love, and she once turned back to the girl who coveted a small life and only wanted a little happiness when she was a student. She waited for him to come back from hard work, and just wanted to hold the "family bucket" together to brush up on a few episodes of American dramas. She is all the literature, art and ideals that he is willing to exchange.

Until—she slowly lived her life as he used to be, and she just wanted to be stable, and she wanted to have a child with him. His hesitation and procrastination completely hurt her. She felt that all her efforts could not be exchanged for a child, and her disappointment in love made her completely crazy. She became suspicious of all the women he knew, and she was sure that he must not have children because he had other women. His work circle and life circle were messed up by her.

The bitterness of the second cup was stronger than the first, and he shook the cup in his hand, could it be that the orange peel was not fragrant enough? He actually loved her very much, and he didn't have any other woman. He just hadn't settled into the fickle city yet, and couldn't convince himself that he was going to have a child with the city so quickly, and he didn't think she understood such explanations. He had been divorced once, and he had a child, and he couldn't imagine what that child thought of him. He never dared to try again what he couldn't figure out. He dared to love a woman again, but he didn't dare to play a father again. He knows these complexes in his heart, and he still needs time to brush them up. But she didn't give him time, so she became a different person.

He was afraid that he would be kicked out of another family, and then from another city. He knew that there was something wrong with him, and he could fight for it again or compromise it, but he was reluctant in his heart. He can't tell what he's obsessed with, maybe he just wants to live part of his ideal as it should be, so what does it look like? He felt like a flower beast trapped in the north, and the ferocious beauty only existed in the frozen spring.

He ordered himself a third glass of Old Fashioned, and she hadn't found the place yet.