It's May.

"At the end of this semester, we'll be juniors. "Guan Qing, as usual, came to Tianbei Grocery early in the morning.

"You've been very idle lately," I sorted out yesterday's ledger, "Anyway, you're the quasi-boss of the Guan Group, it's really okay to mix with me every day?"

"My dad said that when I was in school, I would focus on my studies and think about the company when I was on vacation. Guan Qing said, "There's something, I don't know if you've heard of it." ”

"If it's about youkai, don't tell me," I rolled my eyes, "Nothing you've told me about youkai is good." ”

"Is there one?" this guy dared to look at me with an innocent face.

I won't mention the previous things, only in the past month, as long as he told me that he saw a strange phenomenon, there would be monsters coming to Tianbei groceries that night to ask for help, and the better thing is to let me help them write recipes and suicide notes, but most of them are strange and meaningless things such as getting rid of the honeycomb on the tree, looking for stones in the sewer, etc., which makes me cry and laugh.

"Not only that, but so many more. I closed the ledger, "Since you can see the yokai, my service time has changed from night to 24 hours on call, and nearly half of the yokai say that you introduced them, I always want to ask you, what did you say to the yokai?"

"I said that you have everything you need," Guan Qing still looked innocent, "Now that Tianbei's grocery business is getting better and better, shouldn't you thank me, this is called publicity." ”

“... Don't tell me, every time you see a youkai, you help me spread the word..."

"Of course, such a good store, how can people know if it doesn't advertise. ”

“... I should have thanked you!" I said, covering my face, "I only take orders after 12 o'clock in the middle of the night, and you don't want to introduce them to me if they can handle them themselves..."

"Then what to do, some monsters are really helpless, you're like the one from yesterday, it just can't open the can no matter what. ”

"I have a solution," I resisted my anger, "you can also open a store yourself, called the Guan's Service Center, which specializes in solving all kinds of trivial things for youkai, and can also expand the customer base of the Guan's Group, killing two birds with one stone, how good." ”

"No, no, no, there are so few youkai I can see, I can't do it well. Guan Qing was answering my question very seriously.

"Thank goodness you can only see some of the youkai, otherwise I would have planned to quit my job and live in seclusion in the mountains and forests by now..."

"By the way, the thing I told you just now," Guan Qing pulled the topic back again, probably because he saw my resentful eyes, he hurriedly added, "This has nothing to do with monsters this time, the old street next to you seems to be about to be demolished, I saw a notice when I rode over today." ”

Guan Qing said that the old street, and Tian North groceries are located in the street is only a wall apart, it is rumored that the street has a history of hundreds of years, many years ago merchants gathered, a prosperous, until now still retains the large and small Ming and Qing style buildings on the street, the old street people come and go, from morning to night never stop, all kinds of snacks and handicrafts emerge in endlessly, it is a place where locals and outsiders like to come.

Lao Cai has no other name, it is called Lao Cai. Speaking of this old street, I really have a different affection for it.

I didn't know anyone when I first came to City A, it was four o'clock in the morning when I got off the train, and my mobile phone happened to be out of battery, coupled with my personality that I was not good at talking, I didn't find the direction to go to school for a long time, and I accidentally walked into this old street without a name.

I thought it would be as empty as the other streets, but the old streets are not the same at all.

At four o'clock in the morning, the sky of City A was already cloudy, the mist had not yet dispersed, and the lights were still flickering, but the breakfast stalls in the old street had already come out, with wontons floating with green onions, steaming sugar porridge, and water with toppings. The soup is wrapped in small dumplings, these seemingly ordinary foods are the most attractive in the early morning, and the boss or the proprietress skillfully greets the guests who get up early or return late, and their extremely satisfied smiling faces can be seen on the air, and for a poor student like me who comes from a foreign land and is hungry, the breakfast stall in front of me is simply covered with divine brilliance.

"You just got off the train. "Just as I was figuring out what to eat, a voice came from the corner of the street.

I turned my head and saw a hairy guy.

At that time, I was not as calm as I am now, and my instinct made me want to run away, so I pretended not to see it and hurriedly walked away.

"Boy, I know you can see me. The furry guy said, "Look you've turned around several times, you don't have a place to go, do you?"

I stopped, indeed, at this point in time, I couldn't go anywhere.

"Hungry, aren't you?" it asked, "the ravioli up front is good, you can try it." ”

I was a little hesitant, the wonton did look delicious, the skin was thin and the filling was big, I couldn't help but swallow a little saliva, but maybe because it was delicious, the stall was extremely crowded, and I have always been very reluctant in crowded places, because I don't know when, there will be monsters running out to scare me, and countless times of running away from the desert have made me more and more afraid of dealing with people in public.

"You're such a strange person," said Furry, "why don't you just eat a ravioli, there's nothing to be careful about." After saying that, Furry walked up to me, and it moved around like a mop panning, "Don't you want to eat with humans?"

I nodded.

"Hey, troublesome little child, you wait for me for a moment. The furry panned towards the wonton stand.

What's the use? It's just a monster.

While I was muttering in my heart, Furry suddenly transformed into an ordinary young man.

"Yo, it's so early today," the owner of the wonton stall looked very familiar with Furry, "Why are you alone and didn't bring your friends to eat?"

The furry young man pointed at me, "That's my brother, he's shy, so he wants to take it home and eat it." ”

... A youkai says I'm its brother... It feels so weird.

"Okay!" the boss cooked a large bowl of wontons, sprinkled with chopped coriander, green onions and mustard, and served them in a packing box.

Furry took the packing box and skillfully took out the change to the boss, "Let's go, boss." ”

The boss nodded with a smile and waved at me, I smiled stiffly and stood there watching the furry come over.

"Let's go, find a place to sit and eat. It smiled at me, everything seemed so natural that the average person would not have thought that this was a youkai turned human.

I followed the furry to a small stone table.

"Come on, sit here and eat, or it will be cold." Putting the wonton in front of me, it changed back to its fluffy appearance, and I was a little hesitant, "Don't worry, it's not poisoned." ”

The aroma of steaming wontons quickly captured me, and within a few minutes, a large bowl of shredded chicken wontons bottomed out, and I hiccuped with satisfaction and let go of my guard.

"Do you live here?" I asked.

"Well, sort of. Furry replied, "I've lived on this street for hundreds of years, so to speak, this is my home." ”

"That boss... Seems like you know it all well?"

"Yes, I often bring people to eat wontons, and sometimes I eat other things, and after a long time, many bosses know me. "It's still cute to be fluffy and grinning.

“... Is there always someone like me?"

"Not often, most people don't see me," says Furry, "but I see people who are lost, hungry, traveling, drunk, lovelorns, all sorts of people." ”

"Are you taking them to eat ravioli?" I asked.

"Of course not, there are so many delicious foods on the old street, you can take him there depending on what people want to eat. Furry shook its mop-like body, "You have a lot of questions, come and ask you in lieu of me, why aren't you surprised to see me turn into a human?"

"Because there are so many strange things I have seen, I guess it's not strange. I bowed my head and said.

"You're a very powerful child," Furry looked at me for a moment, "don't waste your abilities." ”

"I don't quite understand," I said, "that you sit there every day just to bring strangers to dinner?"

"Yes," it said, "Lao Cai is a magical street, and for outsiders, it is the best choice to start the journey from Lao Cai, where the food has the temperature of the city and can warm people's hearts." Look at you or a student?"

"Well, when dawn I can take the subway to school. That one... Thank you for helping me buy ravioli. "I took out the money and handed it to it.

Furry was stunned for a moment, and laughed, "You are such an interesting person, it doesn't matter if others don't know that I'm a monster, you obviously know that I'm a monster and give me money, what's the use of monsters taking money." It waved at me, "I'm leaving, you remember to throw the packing box in the trash, you don't seem to get along well with humans, if you're bored at school, come and talk to me." With that, it panned and disappeared into the hustle and bustle of the old street.

My understanding of City A started with a bowl of shredded chicken wontons in Lao Cai.

This is a street with the atmosphere of primitive life day and night, the crowded and noisy bus stop can hear the local dialect of the big and small family affairs, the dazzling commodity street can see people bargaining for large bags and small bags, most places in City A will be quiet at 11 o'clock at most, but the old street at night will not stop, whether it is early in the morning or in the middle of the night, there will always be hot food and warm lights on the residential buildings to welcome you.

Later, I often came to this old street, most of the time I can meet furry, it sometimes turns into a human and takes me through the old street, compared to the caution of the school, here I want to be much more relaxed, because the furry will help me resolve all kinds of embarrassment, and after a long time I am also familiar with the vendors here.

But most of the time, I will sit side by side with the furry on the corner steps, it knows a lot of things, every time it opens my eyes, I never thought that I would be warmed by this street for a whole spring, summer, autumn and winter, even if the shoes and pants in the rainy day of City A are wet, the summer is hot and the winter is cold, but this old street has deeply tugged at my heart. Before I met Tianbei groceries, I spent most of my college years in Lao Cai.

But such an old street is going to be demolished?