I remember that at about five o'clock the next morning, Shili pulled me out of bed, saying that I had to hurry to the store, and the neighbors were still waiting for him to roast the fire.

In autumn, the sky brightened a little later, and when I went downstairs with Practical Practice, there was still a little misty gray hanging in the west direction.

His car was a very old permanent bicycle, the beams were rusted, the wheels seemed to have just been replaced, and they looked about seven or eight percent new.

As soon as I got downstairs, I went straight to my second wheel, and I beckoned to him: "Uncle, don't ride a bicycle, I'm driving a car." ”

Practical glanced back at me, and said with a somewhat embarrassed expression, "But...... I get motion sickness. ”

"Bear with me, it's past five o'clock, don't delay the neighbors to eat."

As I spoke, I walked towards the entrance of the community, and the utility hesitated for a moment, but finally followed.

The place where he opened his shop was not close to the cement factory dormitory, and there was no traffic jam on the road after five o'clock, but even so, it took me a full twenty minutes to drive the car into a large courtyard of old bricks and tiles.

The yard is indeed quite large, and the area is difficult to estimate, but from east to west, from south to north, there are two roads, and a huge square block is all occupied by this yard.

When I entered the door, I saw an abandoned old warehouse not far from the door, and there were a lot of weeds growing in front of the rusty iron door, which looked like no one had taken care of it for many years.

In an open space on the side of the storehouse, a few cars were parked in a scattered manner, and some people got out of the cars with baskets and hurriedly drilled into the alley.

He rolled down the window and took a few breaths before he said, "Come and buy the breakfast." ”

"Huh?"

"The person who entered the alley just now came to buy breakfast."

When he spoke, he deliberately pointed to an old bungalow in the distance.

In this compound, there are three or four parallel alleys, each of which can run through a very old bungalow, and the courtyard walls of some houses are estimated to have collapsed, and traces of renovation can be faintly seen on them.

Except for these bungalows, I looked left and right, but I didn't see a decent storefront, but there was a steel-framed shed directly opposite the storeroom.

Practical seemed to have been observing my movements, and then said to me: "It was a bicycle shed, and there used to be a small door in it, but after all these years, the door is probably rotten, and the face frame is gone." ”

He glanced in the rearview mirror and asked, "This is where your store is located." ”

Practical smiled: "This used to be the old dormitory of the Food Bureau, and behind the carport is the canteen of the Food Bureau. You can see that this place is a little broken, but there are not a lot of people who open shops here, and the small bungalow in front of you is almost a room and a store, and the business is booming. ”

I casually asked, "Why doesn't anyone dare to take a plate?" ”

Practical patted me on the shoulder: "It's here, park the car here." ”

There was no parking space in the yard, and the cars that came in were parked haphazardly, so I found a fairly flat open space and crossed the car on the side of the road.

When I was driving just now, I noticed that many of the cement roads in the yard had been broken, and I had to deliberately avoid them when I walked, but after getting out of the car, I found that those holes were actually drawn, 3D drawings, from a distance, it looks like the real thing, not far from an old wall, there is a large area of street graffiti.

Utility gently thumped his chest, walked up to me, and said to me, "Take a closer look at that carport." ”

I looked in the direction of his finger and landed on the bicycle shed, which had not been used for many years, and all that was left was a few rusty iron fences except for a few empty racks of old bicycles.

Now that the sun has risen, although there is not a lot of color, the sky and the earth are full of yang, but the old bicycle shed in front of me is full of uncomfortable gloom.

At this time, Practical said to me again: "Do you see that girder?" ”

He was talking about the beams on the roof of the bicycle shed, which were also made of iron and now covered in rust.

I nodded, "Someone must have hanged themselves in that place before, right?" ”

Practical smiled: "Either the second master can take a fancy to you, guess it accurately." Guess how many people have lost their lives in this carport? ”

What do you mean, is there more than one person hanging himself on the beam?

Without waiting for me to reply, Practical said, "Fifteen, in this carport, fifteen have hanged themselves." This old courtyard was originally in the tuyere of Shibei District, and it was a big murderous place, but anyone who knew a little bit about the door would not put it in his own hands. ”

I said, "The feng shui of this place cannot be regarded as a big evil, it should be, if you live for a short time, you will be lucky, and if you live for a long time, you will be fierce." To put it bluntly, this place is good for business, but not for settling down. ”

Practical seemed to be a little curious: "You still know Feng Shui?" If I'm not mistaken, the old couple probably doesn't have a feng shui heritage. ”

I avoided the topic, glanced around, and asked, "The people who came here to buy breakfast are all old people from the grain bureau, right?" ”

Practical stretched out his arm towards the alley on the left-hand side, motioned for me to enter, and then said as he walked: "In the past few years, this place has not had a good reputation, and most of the customers who came to take care of the business are old people from the grain bureau, oh, and some children who grew up in the grain bureau compound. In recent years, the compound has become famous, with more customers and more people. ”

Entering the alley, you can still see a strong yin qi entrenched in the depths of the road, but this yin qi is stagnant and does not gather, and there is almost no threat to ordinary people.

If I'm not wrong, the business hours of the various stores settled in the compound generally do not exceed eleven o'clock in the evening, after all, no matter how scattered the yin qi in the depths of the old road is, when it comes, it will eventually gather, and at that time, there will be evil in the alley.

Speaking of which, people who dare to open a shop in such a place are either bold enough, or, like the old alleys, they are all half-clear people who are mixed on the edge of the industry.

Thinking of this, I couldn't help but sigh: "The water in Bohai Bay is indeed deep enough." ”

Practical sighed helplessly: "Life is not easy, everyone is just eating together, Bohai Bay is covered by a family, more peaceful than other places, and there are naturally more people gathered here." ”

Listening to what he meant, many of the people who opened shops in the compound were indeed from half-door Qing backgrounds.

"Yo, Uncle Wang, it's so early."

As soon as he turned a corner, an old man with a basket in his hand came over, and as soon as he saw him, he hurriedly greeted him.

When the other party saw the practicality, he also put on a smile: "Isn't this waiting for you to burn it, you're a little late today." ”

"Slept, slept." Practical said as he led me into the courtyard gate not far from the corner.

From the outside of the courtyard, this is an ordinary small bungalow, but when you enter the door, you find that there is a hole inside.

As soon as I entered the door, I saw a simple wooden signboard standing in the middle of the courtyard, engraved with five words: "Shijia Old Store." Yes, it's the Shi family, not the real family.

Around the signboard, there are more than a dozen dining tables made of pure wood, at this time there are already many people waiting in the seats, as soon as they see the practical come in, they ask him why he is late today, when the first fire will be out of the pot.

"It'll be out in ten minutes, everyone wait a while, I'll get you some hot soy milk first, warm and warm."

It seems that these customers are practical customers, and when practical talks to them, the tone is also very casual.

I followed him all the way into the house, and the whole room was a kitchen, and the living room had an earthen stove and a stove, and the door of the inner room was made of steel, and a big lock was hung on it, and I thought that the room should be a cold room for storing all kinds of ingredients.

The guys in the shop had already made the cakes, put on an apron, brought sleeves, wrapped their wrists, and then blew the fire and sent the fire they had made one by one into the furnace.

I moved a Mazha and sat next to Shiji, looked back at the courtyard, and said to him, "Your shop is doing really well, there are so many people waiting in line early in the morning." ”

Practical put a fire on the edge of the stove and smiled: "They, they are all old people from the grain bureau, they are used to eating the taste of this place and drinking the water here. ”

After saying this, Practical turned to me again, and asked meaningfully: "If not, what do you think is the most important thing in people's lives?" ”

I pouted: "This topic is a bit big, I can't answer it." But when it comes to living a life, it's nothing more than firewood, rice, oil and salt, as long as you can eat a full meal, and then have a little pursuit, I think it's quite satisfying. ”

"Firewood, rice, oil, salt?" Practical pondered for a moment and nodded: "Your statement is quite interesting. Also, people live a lifetime, and they can lack everything, but they can't lack these things. ”

As he spoke, Practical picked up two more cakes and gently arranged them on the stove.

I casually said, "Why don't you use electricity to grill, it's so troublesome to shoot on the stove one by one." ”

Practical smiled: "Look at the people outside, they are willing to come to my store, just because in my place, you can eat the taste of decades ago, if you change to electric grilling, the taste will be gone." That's it, people, as long as it's something in your heart, it's good no matter what. ”

I nodded, "Yes." The second master also said the same. ”

Practical stopped what he was doing, tilted his head sideways, glanced at me, and then smiled: "Hmm...... Daily necessities of life. You and you are indeed different. ”

(End of chapter)