Upon hearing Li Qianfan agree, Ye Ling'er finally revealed a smile.
Not far away was a food street, to which Li Qianfan and Ye Ling'er made their way.
The food street was lined on both sides with a variety of restaurants offering everything from Chinese to Western cuisine, hotpot to skewers.
But Ye Ling'er had no intention of dining at a restaurant. Instead, she turned her attention to the food stalls.
"Let's not eat at a restaurant, let's go to the food stalls instead. I haven't eaten at one in a while," Ye Ling'er said.
"Whatever you want. As long as you're happy," said Li Qianfan.
Ye Ling'er, therefore, took Li Qianfan's hand and walked along the food street.
But after walking for quite so ti, Ye Ling'er still hadn't decided which food stall to eat at.
There were too many stalls here, a dazzling array selling all kinds of things, with the air filled with the mingling scents of various specialty snacks.
Faced with so many options, Ye Ling'er's indecision kicked in.
She looked conflicted, unable to make up her mind, while Li Qianfan was growing impatient.
"My Miss Ye, have you made up your mind yet?" Li Qianfan urged.
"What's the rush?"
Ye Ling'er muttered, continuing to lead Li Qianfan forward.
Just as they were about to exit the other end of the food street, Ye Ling'er still hadn't decided on a stall.
But at that mont, a stall on the outskirts of the food street caught Ye Ling'er's attention.
The stall was a bit of a hodgepodge, offering both barbecue and spicy hot skewers—it seed to want to sell everything, a jack of all trades.
It wasn't clear if it was the location outside of the food street or the haphazard assortnt of goods, but this stall wasn't doing much business.
The owner of the food stall was a man in his forties, looking very ordinary, dressed in simple clothes, and was busy wiping down various utensils behind the stall.
A little girl, who appeared to be about five or six years old, sat on a small stool in front of the stall, her hair tied into two braids, engrossed in an elentary school language book.
One could tell at a glance that they were father and daughter, and their life was probably not that great.
Perhaps it was sympathy that moved Ye Ling'er to finally make a decision without hesitating any longer, pointing at the stall and saying, "Qianfan, let's eat at this one!"
"Wouldn't it be better to—"
Li Qianfan had not finished speaking when Ye Ling'er interrupted, "This is the one!"
"All right, all right, your wish is my command."
Li Qianfan and Ye Ling'er walked over and before they could even sit down, the little girl jumped up from the stool, placed her elentary school language book on it, and ran over pitter-patter.
"Big brother, big sister, what would you like to eat? My dad's cooking skills are really good. The roasted at and spicy skewers he makes are especially delicious..."
The little girl eagerly tried to drum up business for her father, and so Ye Ling'er ordered, "Then we'll have forty roasted lamb skewers, two baked flatbreads, two bottles of beer, and a mixed vegetable dish."
Glancing at Li Qianfan, Ye Ling'er added, "And a large serving of stir-fried noodles."
Ye Ling'er knew that Li Qianfan had a big appetite, so the large stir-fried noodles were specifically for him.
"Okay, have a seat here and wait a mont."
After the little girl noted down Ye Ling'er's order in her little notebook, she scurried back to her father.
Li Qianfan and Ye Ling'er had already sat down by the table. Shortly after, the little girl ca over carrying two bottles of beer.
She looked so small, holding the two bottles of beer seed to be quite an effort, and she wobbled as she walked. Ye Ling'er was genuinely worried she might accidently fall and smash the bottles.
Of course, what Ye Ling'er was worried about wasn't the beer, but the little girl.
Fortunately, the little girl hadn't gotten into any trouble and finally ca over. She put two bottles of beer on the table and then pulled a bottle opener from the pocket of her jacket to open the beers.
"How old are you, kiddo?" Ye Ling'er asked.
"I'm six years old!" the little girl replied, her voice milky and childish.
"Do you help your dad here? Are you tired?" Ye Ling'er asked again.
"Not tired!" the little girl shook her head without hesitation.
"What's your na?" Ye Ling'er continued to ask.
"I'm Liu Xiaoyue. My dad is Liu Dashuan, and we live at..."
The little girl rattled on like reciting a lesson, spilling everything she was supposed to say and then so.
The stall owner Liu Dashuan was in a hurry and quickly said, "Xiaoyue, co back here, don't bother the custors."
"Oh."
The little girl finally left and sat down on the small stool to read her book.
Liu Dashuan, busy tending to the stall, said, "I'm sorry, my daughter is too young and doesn't understand things very well, I hope she hasn't troubled you."
"No trouble at all," Ye Ling'er shook her head.
Li Qianfan looked around and asked, "Why do you set up your food stall here? This spot doesn't seem so great. Look, hardly anyone passes by."
Liu Dashuan responded with a bitter smile, "This spot really isn't the best, but precisely because it's not on Food Street, I don't have to pay for the stall space. My business may not be much, but compared to those big food stalls on the street, the inco is still okay."
"I see," Li Qianfan suddenly understood.
Ye Ling'er asked again, "Why do you let your daughter help out? She's so young."
The little girl imdiately lifted her head and said, "I'm not little anymore, I'm already six years old!"
Liu Dashuan gave his daughter a glare before answering, "There's no choice, there's nobody at ho, and rather than leaving her alone at ho, it's better to have her here where at least I can keep an eye on her."
"Where is your wife?" Ye Ling'er pressed on.
This ti, Liu Dashuan did not answer but just sighed deeply.
It seed very likely that Liu Dashuan's wife had passed away, or else he wouldn't have reacted like that.
Twenty minutes flew by without notice, and the food Ye Ling'er had ordered was ready and set in front of her and Li Qianfan.
"What are we waiting for? Let's eat."
Li Qianfan said, and handed a pair of disposable chopsticks to Ye Ling'er.
Ye Ling'er leisurely tasted the food and found Liu Dashuan's cooking skills to be decent. Although the flavor wasn't particularly excellent, it was, after all, just street food, so one couldn't be too demanding.
And Li Qianfan was already devouring his food.
"Slow down when you eat, what's the rush?" Ye Ling'er said, frowning.
"Okay, okay, I'll eat slower." Li Qianfan replied with his mouth full of food, his words muffled.
Though it was just a simple street food al, both Li Qianfan and Ye Ling'er were very satisfied with it, even feeling a sense of hearty indulgence.
As they were nearly finished with their al, Li Qianfan reached for his wallet to pay the bill.
But just then, a group of local youths walked over from a distance.
"Brother Huang, those chicks are damn hot!"
"No shit, would I ever point you to soone bad?"
Reviews
All reviews (0)