The Story of Midnight Food Store

When I first started work, I worked as an assistant in an advertising company. From going to work in the morning to going home at night, I spend more than 17 hours outside every day, and it is nearly 1 1 pm when I get home. I have never been in the habit of sleeping on the bus. I am so sleepy that I can't even sleep for a nap.

For college students who have just graduated, they choose to live in Tongzhou. Besides the low rent, there are direct trains to Guo Mao.

It is those people who often take the last bus. Although we haven't spoken, we are familiar faces.

This young man from Sichuan often wears a suit and earrings. He is an assistant in a law firm near Guo Mao.

The northeast girl carrying Micheal kors jiaozi bag works in an investment company.

The IT man with glasses and a black schoolbag on his back is always reading.

Long-haired girls never talk to anyone after getting on the bus, and they start reading foreign documents as soon as they get on the bus.

There is also a middle-aged Sichuan man who works as a supervisor in a fast food restaurant. He doesn't often take the last bus. However, as long as he is in the car, it will be very lively. As soon as he comes up, he will greet everyone, talk about some things he encountered at work, and then talk to his son on the phone. His voice is very soft at this time, and then he will say a few words to his wife. The last sentence is usually "wife, I'll pick you up when I earn more in two years."

He hung up and we arrived at Tongzhou Beiyuan. After I got off the bus, I went to the beef noodle restaurant in an alley next to Xinhua Street Station to eat a bowl of noodles. The boss is a kind couple with only four tables in it.

After I finished eating, they began to close the door.

Occasionally I wonder if they are waiting for me. But I never asked them.

In fact, this bowl of beef noodles is not authentic, but there were no restaurants on the streets of Tongzhou at that time. Only eating a bowl of hot beef noodles at her house will make me feel a little warm.

The location of this shop is a little off-center, and it is very small. As you can see, both the boss and his wife live in the store, and there are not many guests every day. Except that the boss likes to drink some wine, the cooking is not very delicious. It seems that these two people are still very satisfied with their present life.

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One night, after getting on the bus, the girl learning a foreign language was carrying a big bag and didn't look at anyone, but this time she didn't read a book. She started calling and said, Mom, I quit ... I'm a little unhappy, just want you to know that I quit ... What are you talking about? I want to have a rest. Mom, I don't want to talk about it. I hung up.

She put down the phone and lowered her head to stop talking.

The talkative middle-aged man sat next to her. He hesitated and resigned?

The girl nodded slightly, as if crying.

The middle-aged man hesitated and patted her on the shoulder, but his hand did not fall.

The girl finally cried, leaning on the man's shoulder and crying until she got off the bus.

We all listened to her sobbing silently, looked out of the window silently, and carefully avoided each other's eyes.

Street lamps on Beijing Road flashed into unlit carriages, and the silent faces of everyone sitting by the window were reflected on the windows.

I understand a trace of despair in her crying. We migrant workers wandering in a foreign land are all at a loss about the future. We don't know what will happen tomorrow. Are our ideals and efforts in the right direction?

The middle-aged man suddenly said, we all often meet in this car, which is also a kind of fate. Let's have dinner together.

We looked at each other and began to look at the girl. She looked at the man and nodded tearfully. She smiled and said, it's so late, where are we going to eat?

The atmosphere in the car began to liven up, and everyone was discussing where to eat.

Finally, everyone decided to go to Lamian Noodles with me.

When a group of us appeared in the small noodle restaurant, the boss and proprietress were waiting for me, staring at the group of people I took.

We each ordered a bowl of noodles, all the cold dishes left in the store, and even all the beer in the store.

Beef noodles are still uneven in thickness. Beef soup is not authentic. It smells like beef, but it is not fragrant. The coriander is still unwashed, and the chopped green onion is cut evenly. There is basically no beef in the beef noodles. You can select two pieces of Tintin beef by careful selection.

The cold dishes that day were terrible, and neither were the cold cucumbers. It was mixed with Chili oil instead of minced garlic. There was almost no salt in the tiger dish, but almost none of the six of us ate it.

Finally, I know all their names. The middle-aged man's surname is Liang, the foreign language girl is Lu, the IT man is Sun, the financial woman is Du, and the boy in the lawyer's building is Du. They also know my name is Zhang.

None of us talked about ourselves that night. Everyone drank a little too much and began to curse the traffic in Beijing for no reason, telling why it was so hard every day.

Xiao Lu has been drinking, whispering to Lao Liang, whispering to me, and drinking with Sun Xiao. She has been trying to be strong in front of everyone.

She asked me softly, what is that grandson? Trying to take advantage of me? He doesn't look at age? Not renewing my contract? Aunt doesn't serve food.

Her face began to faint with wine, and she spoke loudly to everyone.

three

I don't know what happened to her. I looked at her drunk and out of control face. A little distressed, not only for her but also for those of us who are working hard outside.

I heard the despair and disappointment in her crying. We have to face some unknown things every day, and everyone will encounter unpleasant things. Every time I leave my job, it is always a torment for us who are working hard outside. There is a saying that if you are poor for six months, you will change your job for three years.

Rent, transportation, telephone charges, meals, and communication expenses between colleagues, homeless people like to report good news to their families carefree, and live a hard life alone in big cities.

We, a group of foreign college students working in Beijing, are a group of ants who have just entered the company and are struggling at the bottom. We keep a cold and polite distance from others. In fact, we all need affection, friendship and love, as if those things are so far away in this city.

We are all wary of others. We don't trust the people we meet on the road, or even the colleagues we get along with every day. Colleagues are also wary of each other, but on this day, those of us who are on our way to work seem to be friends.

We talked a lot that day and were no longer on guard. We said a lot of words to encourage each other and ourselves, and became friends that night.

That day, I spent 32 yuan, which was my most expensive dinner. It was midnight 1 when I got home.

After that, Xiao Lu didn't take the last bus. Without a job, she has no money to pay the rent. She hasn't contacted us much either. I never saw her again. Later, Lao Liang hardly rode with us.

I occasionally contact Kong Li, and once she accidentally told me that she saw Lao Liang and Xiao Lu together.

Soon after, I changed my job and no longer lived in Tongzhou. I have never been to that place again. I don't know what happened to the ramen restaurant there, and I don't know what happened to those friends who took the last bus every day.

Time flies, many years have passed, and we have no contact anymore. I even forgot the appearance of Xinhua Street.

We wear masks on each other in the city and don't trust anyone. Even in the company, we keep a polite distance from our colleagues.

However, when we ate Lamian Noodles together that night, I understood that I was no longer wary when dealing with people. We once sincerely exchanged our inner feelings, and we were warm to each other that night.

We sincerely encouraged each other, and the owner of that noodle restaurant left me the bowl of noodles at night, although we didn't know each other yet. When I am alone in a foreign land, they make me feel a little warm.

Those friends who used to take the last bus together, do you still remember the night when we had a supper shop in Lamian Noodles?