NIP Chapter 140 The Unfinished Rabbit Doll
Chapter 140 The Unfinished Rabbit Doll
After several rounds of drinks and five courses of food,
The few large earthenware bowls on the table were filled with only a faint aroma of Shaoxing wine, and the dish of braised matsutake mushrooms and rock eagles with the aroma of wine was completely devoid of broth.
The ceiling fan creaked and groaned tirelessly overhead, sending in gentle, warm breezes through the night.
Song Ming put down the nearly empty coarse pottery bowl in his hand. He glanced at the old street outside the window, which was now completely dark, and the carefree smile in his dark eyes gradually faded.
He slowly stood up, tore off his slightly wrinkled white chef's uniform, revealing a close-fitting black vest underneath.
"Senior brother, I have to go back tonight."
Song Ming's voice was not loud, but it carried an indescribable calmness.
Chen Feng did not speak immediately after hearing this, but his eyes quietly fell on his junior brother's face.
"There are still empty rooms on the second floor, and we have extra blankets for you," Chen Feng said casually, exhaling a smoke ring.
"I'm not keeping it." Song Ming smiled nonchalantly, neatly folding the apron he had taken off.
"I just dumped everything and came here at noon today. We two brothers are having a good time here, but back in Beijing... someone with enough influence has to go back and take over this mess."
Song Ming dropped his roguish demeanor, and his expression revealed a sense of responsibility that Chen Feng had never seen before.
"We're already past the age where we need our masters to worry about us."
The old man is seventy-three years old this year, and sometimes when his high blood pressure flares up, there is no one to take care of him and administer his medication.
I see that you're doing very well here, senior brother. As for that banner in the capital that represents our sect's honor at state banquets... let me, Song Ming, hold it up.
We can't let the old man worry about us troublesome apprentices anymore.
Hearing these words, Su Chen and Xing Ruo, who were sitting on the bench, felt their eyes inexplicably well up with tears.
They had only known this eccentric, talkative chef from Beijing for a few hours.
But Song Ming's pure chivalry made everyone in this small "human touch" place feel reluctant to see him leave.
"Brother Mingzi... if you're in such a hurry, have Fengzi make you a steamer of the most authentic 'Little Rabbit Buns' tomorrow morning before you leave."
Zhang Qiang's large eyes were full of sincerity, and his large, fan-like hands gripped Song Ming's elbow tightly.
"No, Brother Qiang. There's a morning tea banquet for some foreign guests in Beijing at six o'clock tomorrow. If I don't go back, my second brother's mediocre skills will ruin everything."
Song Ming laughed heartily and patted Zhang Qiang on the shoulder twice in a hearty manner.
Time always moves forward, but people always look back.
For Mengmeng, who was sitting in Chen Feng's lap at this moment, with oil stains still on the corners of her mouth, she was only a little over five years old this year.
During the month or so that she returned to the old streets of Jiangnan from Beijing, apart from occasionally making video calls with Grandma Liu through the screen, her world was completely unfamiliar.
Although she gradually got used to it and became familiar with it.
But for her, who was just over five years old, those five years spent in Beijing were her entire, and most profound, past.
She remembered the doll Uncle Song secretly slipped to her, the red thread he held in his rough palm by Houhai Lake, and those sweltering afternoons in the capital.
She felt very at ease after seeing Song Ming today, and she was happy all day.
But now... Uncle Song is going to fly away in a big airplane again.
"Wow--!!"
Mengmeng, who was just scooping her food with a small spoon, suddenly pouted, and large tears, like broken strings, slammed into the rough pottery bowl with a "plop, plop."
The little girl cried so hard her little shoulders heaved, and she struggled out of Chen Feng's arms in a state of near collapse. Her chubby little hands clung tightly to Song Ming's arm, and she cried in a childish voice, with snot bubbles coming out of her nose.
"Uncle Song won't leave... Mengmeng won't let you go!! Waaaaah... Big plane is a bad guy, why did it take Uncle away?!"
That delicate, heart-wrenching cry pierced the hearts of all the grown men present.
When Xingruo heard these words from behind, tears streamed down her face, and she covered her mouth with a pained expression.
Even Zhang Qiang, who always prided himself on being tough, rubbed his somewhat bloodshot eyes roughly.
Song Ming shuddered violently.
His heart, which had finally managed to calm down, shattered into countless pieces in that instant.
His usually steady hands trembled slightly as he frantically rummaged through his chef's pockets.
"Don't cry... my little baby, don't cry, Uncle won't leave, Uncle won't leave..."
Song Ming knelt on one knee on the cold ground, looking somewhat disheveled. He pulled the tearful Xiao Mengmeng into his arms, gently rubbing her cheek with the stubble on his chin. His eyes reddened instantly.
He watched this little girl grow from a tiny ball of fluff, crying for milk in her cradle, until she was able to chase him all over the yard begging for candy.
For the past two weeks, he has been unable to sleep at night in the capital while searching for them.
"Mengmeng, look here! Look what wonderful treasure Uncle brought you!"
Song Ming sniffed and very carefully pulled a somewhat flattened object, about the size of a palm, from his pocket.
It was a small rabbit doll made of white pure cotton fabric, with only half of its outline cut out.
Because it was cut out by hand with scissors, the rabbit's two long ears are different sizes, making it look extremely comical.
The doll still had some rough edges that hadn't been trimmed properly, and the coarse black cotton thread had been haphazardly sewn around most of the fabric, revealing a few strands of white duck down peeking out.
"This is... a bunny bun?" Su Chen tilted his head and glanced at it, then muttered in a daze.
"Shut up!!"
Song Ming turned his head and glared at Su Ang, then turned back to her, gently and somewhat embarrassedly wiping away the tears on Mengmeng's cheeks with his thumb.
"Don't cry, Mengmeng. This is what your uncle sewed for you by himself with scissors and needle and thread after get off work in Beijing these past two weeks."
My uncle's hands can lift a heavy iron pot weighing dozens of kilograms, but handling that tiny embroidery needle is a real pain. Look, he even sewed the ear crooked..."
Song Ming grinned self-deprecatingly and gently placed the half-finished little rabbit into Mengmeng's chubby little palm.
"Originally, your uncle planned to sew it all up completely, put a small music box inside, and then give it to you."
But now... Uncle has found you and your senior brother ahead of time. This precious baby, Uncle is entrusting him to our smartest little cutie tonight, okay?
Song Ming gently brushed Mengmeng's rosy little nose with his fingertip, his slightly red eyes filled with heartache.
"Let Mengmeng sew these last few stitches for me. Next time... next time Uncle comes to the old street to see Mengmeng in his big plane, Mengmeng must take out this sewn-up, most beautiful little rabbit in the world and show it to Uncle, okay?"
The chubby little hands gripped tightly the somewhat ugly little rabbit doll that smelled of Uncle Song.
The little girl was sobbing, with glistening teardrops still clinging to her long eyelashes.
She looked at Song Ming's palm, which had several red dots from holding the needle, and finally stopped wailing. She nodded her little head heavily.
"Okay... Mengmeng will be good. Mengmeng will sew it up with the prettiest red thread... Uncle mustn't lie, you must come see Mengmeng and Daddy next time..."
"Pinky promise, for a hundred years, never to be broken!!"
Song Ming extended his thick little finger and childishly hooked it tightly with his cute pink little finger in mid-air.