chapter 34 clean place

My expression began to become unnatural. Penelope, who was sitting opposite me, noticed something was wrong with me. She looked at me and then looked back, and her eyes met with Emily's. Penelope's temperament was a little cold, and Emily was born with pride. After such a real meeting, the two of them didn't even say hello to each other. Instead, Brian waved to me and said: "Maxwell, you are taking your girlfriend to dinner. " "Well, it just so happens that you guys are here and let's share a table together." Even though I didn't want to meet in person, I still invited him politely. This kind of politeness made me feel very awkward, but I had to do it. Emily took Brian's arm, shook her head and said, "No more fighting. Let's sit over there to avoid crowding." Brian obeyed my order, smiled at me, took Emily's arm and walked to the table on the other side. Looking at their backs, I believe that after this unexpected encounter, Emily and Brian should absolutely trust me and Xiang Chen. Penelope is a boyfriend and girlfriend, because today Penelope and I are on a date alone, enjoying a dinner just for the two of us. This should be the first time Emily came to "Sky" to dine in the few days after returning to China, so she was very surprised when she suddenly saw Emily. She also gave Emily and Brian draft beer and coke, but she didn't mention it. And the past, because now Emily and I have each had a new love in her eyes, and talking about the past is too uninteresting and spoils the atmosphere. During the meal, Brian and I chatted a few more tables several tables apart. I asked Brian why he and Emily were still staying in Suzhou. Brian said that Suzhou is where we went to university. Nian rarely comes, so he and Emily have time to spend a few more days here, but Emily will go to Nanjing with him in a few days. Brian's answer stimulated my fragile nerves. Of course I knew that Emily went to Nanjing to meet Brian's family. Maybe it wouldn't be long before I really received their wedding invitation, which would tear me into pieces again. . During the meal, I kept restless, but never looked at Emily or drank too much. I warned myself over and over again: Our past has long been diluted by the flow of time. No matter how much we are reluctant to let go, no matter how hard we let go, No amount of self-torture will change anything. I know very well that from the time Jane Wei put on the crystal and diamond necklace Brian gave her, I have been living in an independent world. I have built the strongest wall to seal myself in, not to look at it, not to think about it, not to feel pain. I don’t know when, Brian and Emily had finished dinner before us. They just said hello briefly and left first. But I kept watching them walk into the small alley, but I couldn’t see them anymore. The scene around the corner where you could once buy roasted sweet potatoes on a winter night. It's a bit cold this night. Penelope waved her hand in front of my eyes, waking me up from my daze. Only then did I realize that this was a dinner that originally belonged only to Mi Cai and me. I smiled apologetically and raised my glass to Penelope Penelope, taking a sip. I drank the rest of the draft beer in the cup, but I was still sober. Dinner was still going on. It wasn't that Penelope and I ate slowly, but that Emily and Brian left in a hurry. I ordered another glass of draft beer. It wasn't that I wanted to get drunk. This kind of draft beer wouldn't make me drunk, but I want to use this cold wine to sober up. Half an hour later, Penelope and I finished the dinner, said hello to her, and left with Penelope. "Maxwell, you haven't paid the bill yet,"Penelope said and grabbed me. "We are all such familiar friends, why should we pay?" I said and continued to walk forward, but I just made a joke with Penelope. In fact, we were mostly silent during the entire meal and did not communicate much. When we were about to leave, Teasing her also made the night at least seem less heavy. Penelope exerted more strength to hold me back. Her face, which had been calm all night, was full of anger: "You are like this even though you have no moral character. How can you run your friend's restaurant?" "You drank too much, isn't that strange? Can coke make people drunk?" I looked at Penelope with a half-smile, and her excited look was completely different from usual. Penelope realized that she had lost her composure and stopped arguing with me. She took out her wallet and walked towards the bar. At this moment, I understood better how much Penelope hated my bad conduct. She was even so disgusted that she ignored my manners and behaved with me in public. I drag. I quickly followed, grabbed Penelope, and said to her: "I agreed to treat you, how can I ask you to pay for it?" "I don't want to be around a scum like you, don't talk to me." "Haha, I'm kidding you, the place to pay is not at the bar, but in that corner." I turned Penelope's body so that she could see the box in the corner. Penelope looked at me with some confusion. She kept her back to the box while eating and didn't understand the situation. I smiled and explained: "Didn't you see that there are no prices on the menus we ordered? Eating here is all about conscious effort. Just put the money into the box when you leave." "Can you vote as much as you want?"Penelope looked at me in surprise and asked. "Yes, no one will supervise you here." "But this" I pulled Penelope to the corner where the boxes were placed, took out 300 yuan from my wallet and put it into the box, and then said to Penelope: "Everyone who comes here to spend money once had a pure empty city in their hearts. No one will Use worldly materials to desecrate this empty city, so this store has been operating for many years without losing money. If there is a clean place in the world, it must be here." On the way back, Penelope drove her lightweight Alto through the real city, but she still seemed interested in the "music-themed restaurant In Empty City" and asked me again: "Maxwell, is that restaurant Have all the people who have come to consume over the years abided by this rule?” "Of course not. When this restaurant first opened, there were a lot of people who came here to get a meal or skip the order." Penelope was not surprised by my answer, because the most indispensable thing in the world is some villains who love to take advantage and get something for nothing. She then asked: "Then why is it like now that everyone abides by this rule?" I recalled it and replied: "At that time, we were all advised to give up this ideal business method because it was too unrealistic, but we insisted on it. In the end, we couldn't make ends meet and it was difficult to continue the business. Finally one day, we posted it on the bulletin board of the restaurant. Closing Notice.” "Then what" "On the last night before the shutdown, there were still many people bringing their families to have dinner for free. Our hearts dropped, and it was silly to complain. This idealized business method ultimately revealed nothing more than human nature. It’s just ugly.” Penelope nodded thoughtfully. I opened the car window and lit a cigarette and continued: "After closing the business that night, we were really disappointed. Several friends closed the door and drank a lot of wine, because after this night, there would no longer In Empty City. Dining room" He exhaled the smoke in his mouth for a long time, smiled and said: "Perhaps there is such a thing as surviving from a desperate situation. When we opened the box to settle the business income for the day, we unexpectedly found that there was a full 100,000 yuan in cash inside. We were surprised, but no one knew which customer put it in." "So this restaurant can continue to operate because of this 100,000 yuan." I nodded and said: "Well, these 100,000 yuan gave me the motivation to continue operating. To be precise, it was a spiritual motivation. I couldn't close In Empty City for the unknown customer. Later, we The box was changed to a transparent one so that everyone could clearly see how much money they were given after the meal. For those villains who only threw a few coins in, a few friends and I would block them in the alley and beat them up over time. People who like to take advantage will not come here, but she never knew about this. If she knew, she would not agree to what we did. It took a long time, and the transparent box was replaced with an opaque one, but basically she would not If you lose money, of course we don’t rule out the possibility of fishing in troubled waters.” After listening to my narration, Penelope, who had always been indifferent, actually said with sympathies: "If you beat them well, those wicked people should not be beaten by you who abuse lynchings like this. Won't those who are beaten call the police?" "Of course we will call the police, but one of the buddies who beat people with us is a police officer here, so we just turn a blind eye. Besides, we don't extort money, and we have a measured attack. Mainly a warning, as long as those scum don’t come and the restaurant can maintain normal operations.” Penelope looked at me and suddenly smiled I looked at her in surprise, not knowing why. "I find it inexplicably funny when I hear you call someone else a scumbag,"Penelope explained with a smile. "Who said scumbags can't call others scumbags?" "I didn't call you a scumbag this time." "That's what you mean, you think I'm stupid, can't you tell?" Penelope laughed "haha". In so many days together, it was the first time to see her smile so openly. At this moment, she was cheerful and even more beautiful, so little Alto shuttled through the light and shadow of the city more briskly. In it, there is less weight of reality and more of a string of beautiful laughter.