Entertaining Children

"How did I lie to you? This is indeed Yanjing's traditional food." Xiao Yao pointed to the diners around and said, "You see, everyone is drinking this, and they all drink with gusto. This is served by the waiter. Didn't do anything in there."

Xiao Yao picked up a piece of burnt circle and put it into his mouth, "At most, it's because you're not used to it because of the taste! If you're not used to it, don't drink it, change it to something else, and you can't say I lied to you!" Shen Man It's not Sun Tingting, Xiao Yao is not afraid of being forced by her to finish the bowl of soybean juice by himself.

"You!" Shen Man stared at Xiao Yao, but found that he couldn't refute, so he gritted his teeth bitterly. But she also got a mind, and started to follow Xiao Yao to eat, she would eat whatever Xiao Yao ate, and if Xiao Yao didn't touch it, she decided not to touch it.

However, it seems that except for the bowl of soybean juice in front of him, Xiao Yao can eat all the snacks on the table, and he also introduced it to Mei Fang next to him with great interest: "This is called Jiao Quaner, which is made of flour and water. It is made into dough and then cut into slices with a knife and fried. Generally, after the dough is kneaded, it needs to be kneaded for 3 hours before being flattened and sliced. Uncle Li’s home is the most authentic. I often came to his house to eat Jiaoquan’er when I was young. earlier."

"This is called Donkey Rolling," Xiao Yao ate a burnt ring, picked up another piece of Donkey Rolling and said, "Because the last process is to sprinkle soybean noodles, like the loess raised by wild donkeys rolling in the suburbs of old Yanjing So named. This is a snack, not a traditional breakfast, but it can also be eaten as a breakfast..."

"Bayi, you haven't come for a while." Xiao Yao was talking, an old man in his sixties and wearing an apron came over to say hello, and he was happy to see the video camera Wang Dachuan was carrying. He asked, "Hey, why do you still have a camera? Are you filming a show?"

"Uncle Li," Xiao Yao stood up and said, "It's a show, I will introduce them to Yanjing's special traditional snacks, and I will also help you promote this small shop, okay?"

"Okay, okay, it's good to be daring!" the old man said cheerfully.

Xiao Yao exchanged a few words with Uncle Li, and even pulled Uncle Li to wave to the camera to say hello, after which Uncle Li said goodbye and left.

"You are very familiar with the people here. The boss knows you." Shen Man asked strangely, "Do they know you are a celebrity? It seems that you are so excited that you have never seen a celebrity."

"I lived here when I was a child. At that time, my grandfather would take me for a stroll here. These are my grandfather's old neighbors, of course we are familiar with each other." Xiao Yao smiled, "In their eyes, I am just Whether the eldest grandson of the old Xiao family is a celebrity has nothing to do with them, so there is no reason to be excited."

Xiao Yao wiped his mouth and said: "Have you eaten well? After eating, I will take you to go shopping nearby. Let me introduce to you this old alley where I lived when I was a child."

"Eat!" Shen Man and Mei Fang said immediately.

"I haven't eaten yet!" Wang Dachuan, who was carrying the camera, looked at the snacks on the table with a bitter face and said.

"I'm sorry, I forgot about Brother Dachuan." Xiao Yao said embarrassedly, "Eat slowly, don't worry, we'll wait for you. How about this, you eat, give me the camera, and I'll take pictures!" Saying, Xiao Yao stretched out his hand to Wang Dachuan.

"Okay!" Wang Dachuan handed the camera to Xiao Yao. When he was in the United States, he had seen Xiao Yao personally carry a camera to take pictures of Sun Tingting, and he was very assured of Xiao Yao's camera skills.

Xiao Yao first took some close-up shots of the snacks on the table, then took some shots of other diners eating breakfast in the store, and finally carried the camera to the nearby stove with great interest to take pictures of Uncle Li making breakfast. When he came back after turning around, Wang Dachuan had already finished eating.

Returning the camera to Wang Dachuan, Xiao Yao took the three of them out of the breakfast shop and walked into the alley.

"Master!" Not long after he left, Xiao Yao saw an old man carrying a birdcage, and he took the initiative to greet him.

"Ba Yi, are you coming to see grandpa again?" The old man smiled and nodded in response, and also looked at Wang Dachuan behind Xiao Yao and said, "Why are you still wearing a camera?"

"Grandpa went to filming, so he's not here today." Xiao Yao said with a smile, "I participated in a show and took them around the place where I lived when I was a child, and took pictures casually."

"Okay, okay, you can shoot whatever you want." The old man smiled.

"Did you see Dunzi?" Xiao Yao asked the old man.

"Go to school, today is not the weekend." The old man said.

"Yes," Xiao Yao patted his forehead, and continued, "Is it time for Dunzi to go to elementary school?"

"No, I'm going to preschool." The old man said, "Primary school in the second half of the year."

"Don't go to school! Don't go to school!" The bird in the cage carried by the old man cried.

"You learned from Dunzi?" Xiao Yao asked with a smile.

"That's right, that kid doesn't like going to school." The old man smiled and nodded.

"This bird can speak human language? Is it mynah?" Shen Man asked curiously, looking at the black bird in the cage.

"Yes!" Xiao Yao nodded, and gestured to Wang Dachuan behind him, "Brother Dachuan, give me a close-up!" Saying this, Xiao Yao squatted down and teased the starling bird in the cage, "Xiao Hei! Blackie!"

"Hello! Hello!" the bird called again.

"It's so fun!" Shen Man happily squatted down and approached the birdcage and shouted, "Xiao Hei! Xiao Hei!"

As a result, the starling ignored Shen Man at all, and deliberately turned his body sideways.

"You still recognize people!" Shen Man stood up discouraged and said.

"Grandpa, I won't delay your bird walk, let's go for a walk in front." Xiao Yao bid farewell to the old man.

"Okay, you guys are busy with your work." The old man smiled and waved.

After bidding farewell to the old man, Xiao Yao led a few people to the depths of the alley again.

"There used to be a folk art troupe here," Xiao Yao said, pointing to an old-fashioned courtyard. Let me go. There are Beijing rhyme drums, erhu, suona, and sanxianer. They are all folk artists, and there are not many performances. They just play together. I first received the influence of folk music and folk art here. But this The team seems to have been disbanded last year, and it will be difficult to hear it again in the future." At the end, Xiao Yao's tone was full of melancholy and regret.

"You learn to play the erhu, and the "Women's Band" that plays folk music is influenced by them?" Shen Man asked, "Want to carry forward folk music?"

"I have been influenced by them," Xiao Yao nodded, then shook his head and said, "But it can't be said to carry forward, I never shoulder these noble and great responsibilities on my shoulders. I combine folk music and modern music, In fact, it is also fun, and it is different from their authentic traditional folk music and folk art, I just hope that these things I play will satisfy more people listening to folk music by the way.”

After walking for a while, Xiao Yao became emotional, pointing to a yard that smelled of wine and said excitedly: "This place is amazing. The private winery has existed for decades. The wine my grandfather drank is They're home brewed."

"Didn't you sneak in and drink in bars when you were young?" Shen Man said with a smile.

"Don't steal it," Xiao Yao said with a smile. "After I sneaked in, Uncle Wang always teased me with wine and asked me if I wanted to try it. The first time I drank baijiu, it was Uncle Wang who dipped his chopsticks in it." He asked me to lick the wine, but I leaned over and took a sip from the wine bowl in his hand, and then I was drunk. I was only four years old that year! Because of this, my grandfather almost got anxious with Uncle Wang .”

"But it's different now. After the age of eighteen, my grandpa supported me to go to Uncle Wang for a drink." After speaking, Xiao Yao walked to the yard and began to wave and knock on the door, and shouted loudly, "Wang uncle!"

"Ba Yi! I haven't seen you for a while!" The courtyard door opened, and an old man with a gray goatee said to Xiao Yao, "Why are you here? Are you getting wine for your grandfather?"

"No, my grandpa is not at home." Xiao Yao smiled, "I was looking for you!"

"Why are you looking for me?" the old man asked.

"Of course I'm looking for wine from you, what else can I ask you for?" Xiao Yao said with a chuckle.

"Okay, there are several big vats in the yard, scoop them up by yourself, have you brought wine bottles and jugs for wine?" the old man said cheerfully.

"I don't want those," Xiao Yao said, "I want the ones that have been hidden in your cellar for more than ten years, not too many, just one jar!" Xiao Yao raised a finger.

"Good idea!" The old man's face changed, and he was about to close the door when he turned around.

"Don't rush to refuse, listen to me." Xiao Yao grabbed the old man's arm and said, "I didn't ask for it for myself."

"Then who did you ask for it for? Old Xiao?" The old man said, "Let your grandpa get something for himself!"

"No, it has nothing to do with my grandfather. I asked for it for an American." Xiao Yao said, "I went to the United States some time ago and encountered troubles. It was a friend from the United States who helped me solve it. I I just said to give him a bottle of wine to express my gratitude, but he said that Huaxia’s wine is not as good as whiskey or other foreign wines, no! I said that I can get Huaxia’s wine that has been hand-brewed by a master with decades of winemaking experience and has been cellared for more than ten years. Good wine, definitely better than the foreign wine at his house. He doesn't believe that I can get more than ten years of hand-brewed wine, and he doesn't believe that Huaxia's wine is better than his family's foreign wine. I have to take the good wine in your cellar Go to America and slap that gringo in the face!"

"Really?" The old man looked at Xiao Yao suspiciously and said.

"Of course it's true!" Xiao Yao nodded sincerely.

"Okay, just wait." The old man let go of the hand holding the gate, turned around and entered the yard.

"Xiao Yao, are you here to cheat and drink in the early morning?" Shen Man looked at the back of the old man, leaned close to Xiao Yao and whispered.

"What lie?" Xiao Yao also lowered his voice, "Although it has been slightly modified with artistic techniques, most of it is the truth. I did ask for this wine for an American."

"No way?" Mei Fang interjected, "When we went to America last week, it didn't seem like you had any trouble?"

"Look, did you tell me?" Shen Man smiled, "Although I didn't go to America, Sister Mei and Brother Da Chuan went with you."

"I didn't say it happened last week," Xiao Yao said, "It was my trip to the United States last summer vacation, and I agreed to it at that time. It's just that I was so busy after returning to China that I forgot. I just came here Just remembered that happened."

"It's been almost a year?" Shen Man asked curiously, "Which American friend is so unlucky that you let the pigeons go for almost a year?"

"The lead singer of Daydream, Keith Craig!" Xiao Yao laughed.

"Uh..." Shen Man's smile froze on his face, "You just forgot about such a famous star?"

"Isn't this busy?" Xiao Yao scratched his hair and said, "I went to Shanghai to go to school after I came back from the United States last year. Even if I remembered, I didn't have time to make a special trip to ask Uncle Wang for it!"

Not long after, the old man came out with a pottery wine jar, handed the wine jar to Xiao Yao and said, "I don't care if you are really American or not, since you have taken so much pains to ask me for this wine, why don't you buy it?" I'll give you an altar."

"Thank you, Uncle Wang!" Xiao Yao immediately took it happily and bowed to thank him.

"Wow, these wine jars are so beautiful!" After saying goodbye to the wine shop, Shen Man looked at the antique wine jar in Xiao Yao's hand and exclaimed.

"Are you going to buy a box to return the pearls? The wine inside is the key point, okay?" Xiao Yao laughed.

"I know the wine inside is the key point, but this is what you are going to give to the big American stars, and I can't drink it, so I can only admire the wine jar." Shen Man pouted.

"Okay, where are we going next? We can see the end of this alley." Mei Fang interrupted with a smile and asked Xiao Yao. Before they knew it, they had almost finished walking the alley.

"In front is the courtyard where my grandfather lived. Let me take you to his study room. It was the place where my grandfather taught me to read and write and gave me cultural enlightenment when I was a child." Xiao Yao pointed to a courtyard in front of him.

"I seem to have heard you say Mr. Xiao went to filming, and he is not at home today." Mei Fang said.

"It's okay, I can go in even if he's not at home." Xiao Yao said confidently.

Xiao Yao took the three of them to the gate of a courtyard, and sure enough, he saw the gate was closed.

"Here, help me get it!" Xiao Yao handed the wine jar in his hand to Shen Man, and said, "Hold it, don't drop it, it's just this jar, it's going to be hard to get any more." .”

"Don't worry." Shen Man took the wine jar and held it in his hands, curiously said to Xiao Yao, "What are you doing here?"

"Of course I entered the courtyard." Xiao Yao smiled, walked to a tree not too far from the courtyard wall on the side of the courtyard gate, and started to climb up the tree.

"Isn't it? Is he planning to climb over the wall and get in?" Shen Man and Mei Fang looked at Xiao Yao who was climbing the tree, and they were speechless.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Xiao Yao had just climbed halfway, when a shout sounded. Mei Fang and Shen Man turned around and found that it was a middle-aged woman about fifty years old who was pointing at Xiao Yao, who was climbing a tree, and shouting angrily.

Mei Fang and Shen Man were about to step forward to help explain, but Xiao Yao in the tree had turned around and shouted, "Aunt Zhang, I am Bayi! My grandfather is not at home, I want to go in, and I don't have a key!"

"Ba Yi," the middle-aged woman's anger disappeared, and she put on a smiling face and said, "Why are you so grown-up and still climbing trees and over walls? Why don't you go to the aunt's house to bring a ladder?"

"I'll go!" Mei Fang, Shen Man, and Wang Dachuan were desperate, "What kind of existence is Xiao Yao here?"

"Thank you Aunt Zhang, no need!" Xiao Yao yelled, and he had already climbed to the height of the tree trunk beyond the height of the courtyard wall, and then he jumped and disappeared into the courtyard.

"Please come in!" A moment later, the courtyard door was opened from the inside. Xiao Yao stood at the door and stretched out his hand as a gesture of invitation.