"Lunch? Oh... It"s too late. OK, OK, I"ll eat when I"m hungry. You have a meeting with someone? I see, I see." Tao Xiaman hung up the phone and kept strolling.
Strolling in this city.
As a shutterbug on a rare holiday, how could she not move her camera?
Photos could keep memories that time couldn"t. Her photography hobby was a good way for her to remove her bad and irritable mood at the moment.
She sat on the bus, feeling that those buildings and pa.s.sers-byes caught-on-camera were no longer the same as those in her memories.
When the tour bus called out the stop, Tao Xiaman got off. She unexpectedly hesitated when she saw the signpost "Jihua Road".
Back here again--- the place she had once lived… Tao Xiaman shook her head.
Here, was her hometown…
Tao Xiaman walked in this old street without taking many pictures. Even if this was the place within her memories, many new buildings had appeared. Many things weren"t the way they had been before.
She stopped in front of a noodle restaurant.
"-Dad, I want shaved noodles and a lot of toppings."
"Shaved noodles are shaved noodles. Topping noodles are topping noodles. They are separate."
"I don"t care, I want it. Can I?"
"- OK. OK."
Cheerful laughter and chatter from her memories seemed to be heard now. And many past scenes also appeared…
She felt a bit nostalgic about what she saw. But she just took a picture instead of walking forward.
"Don"t you want to go inside?"
Tao Xiaman turned around and saw a younger man in casual clothes--- looking like a college student around 20.
She suddenly realized she was in his way---the noodle restaurant was too small.
"Sorry." Tao Xiaman said and made way.
The young man nodded and walked in with a smile. Tao Xiaman was struck by a sudden urge and just followed. Then, she heard his conversation with the white-hair shop boss…
"It"s you again, boy. Same as before? "
"Yes, please."
"Well! Take a seat and wait a minute!" The white-hair boss said and then shouted to the kitchen, "One topping noodles, one shaved noodles with toppings! Take-out!"
The young man sat on a stool and began to read a book with a bookmark in it.
Tao Xiaman looked at the amusing scene.
She rarely saw such quiet young people nowadays. Someone who wouldn"t use their phone while , read a book.
There was even a bookmark. He really must love reading.
"Why do you put toppings on the shaved noodles?"
She sat down in front of the young man. The restaurant was deserted with only 4-5 customers during lunch time.
"Is there a problem?" The young man slightly raised his head and answered without any surprise.
Tao Xiaman shook her head, "No, I"m just curious. Sorry about that… Oh, h.e.l.lo, my name is Tao Xiaman, a photographer."
"h.e.l.lo." The young man nodded.
What a simple self-introduction! But only this made Tao Xiaman feel even better.
She asked, "Do...you come here often?"
The young man nodded, "Recently."
She went on, "Do you live here?"
The young man shook his head, "No."
Tao Xiaman smiled, "Not living around here but still come all the way to eat. So you must like the taste here?"
The young man also showed a smile, "I am just buying it for my friend... He often works too hard and forgets to eat."
Tao Xiaman nodded, "You"re so kind."
The young man didn"t say anything but smiled. The shop boss came to him and said, "Hey, boy, here are your noodles!"
The young man paid the money and stood up. Before he left, he glanced at Tao Xiaman and said, "My friend will eat topping noodles no matter if they taste good or not."
How strange!
…
Tao Xiaman didn"t know the name of the young man. This encounter was not a romantic meeting since she had a fiancé, but this was really a wonderful episode in her life.
"What do you want to eat, girl?"
However, the boss of the noodle shop still stood in front of her.
Tao Xiaman, who had already sat down, decided to eat here to avoid any awkwardness.
She thought for a moment with her head lowered and looked at the chopsticks tube on the table, "Shaved noodles with toppings."
"OK!"
…
After leaving the noodle restaurant, Tao Xiaman pa.s.sed through the house she"d lived. She wanted to go and look at it, but the pa.s.sers-byes banished the impulse, leaving her with a hint of melancholy.
She looked up at it, taking a deep breath, and walked away.
The shaved noodles with toppings were still delicious, but this may be the last time for her to taste it.
Because she didn"t know if the noodle shop would still be there when she pa.s.sed by in again in the future.
When she was about to walk out of the old street, Tao Xiaman saw her primary school cla.s.smate, who was fatter than before, walking through an ice cream stall with her four or five year-old son…
Her cla.s.smate did not recognize her and just walked away. Tao Xiaman thought maybe she should greet her, but her memories seemed to keep returning to that noodle shop, and she did not want to lose that sense of nostalgia.
She hoped time would remove all of her pain and memories.
This was Tao Xiaman revisiting her hometown.
…
But Tao Xiaman never dreamed what would happen later.
"Are you Tao Xiaman?"
A very tall man with sungla.s.ses and tattoos---Qiang Zi b.u.mped into her in front of her old house.