Chapter 55

"Is there some kind of magic in our shop?" Du Rourou looked puzzled and said.

"What's going on?" Ding Sha was adjusting the recipe for the little pickles for the third time, and was a little curious when he heard this.

"It's just that I've already heard the third couple breaking up this month..." Du Rourou felt very speechless.

"Uh... breakup season?" Ding Sha thought about it.

Du Rourou also nodded after thinking about it, "It's possible that it's graduation breakup season if there was no epidemic..." She said, "It seems that every time it gets to this time, the leaves falling from the trees on campus seem to increase..."

"Hahaha, then let's make a bowl of heartbreak liangfen today?" Ding Sha came up with a clever idea.

"Heartbreak liangfen?" Du Rourou was puzzled for a moment as she searched it, "Isn't that a spicy stick?"

"No," Ding Sha put the freshly made little pickles in a small glass jar without water or oil and put them in the refrigerator.

"It's similar to liangfen noodles from northern Sichuan, also a type of liangfen, it tastes numb and spicy when you eat it."

"You're not making dessert?"

"Special circumstances call for special treatment. It can also go on the menu after it's made." Ding Sha said.

The liangfen was made with pea flour. After stirring, it was set aside to solidify, which took some time. Ding Sha then took a new round-bellied squat vase to put flowers in.

The various flowers growing too recklessly in the yard, with many thorny branches extending beyond the originally planned flower beds onto the road. Zhao Auntie had been scratched a few days ago.

So Ding Sha simply bought back a lot of vases. He pruned the branches that needed pruning, threw away the ones to be discarded, and put the flowers he had inserted out to decorate the tables and house, making them fragrant and beautiful.

After the liangfen solidified, it was cut into small pieces, then sprinkled with garlic, green onion, coriander and a specially made Sichuan-style hot and spicy seasoning.

The hot, spicy and fragrant taste made the people eating it uncontrollably tear up and sweat profusely, which really matched the name of heartbreak liangfen.

There was a lot of leftover liangfen, so Du Rourou took back the menu and asked Ding Sha to write down this dish, while helping to take the inserted flowers out to decorate them.

Many new decorations and ornaments had been added to the restaurant recently. Many were sent over by Uncle Wei, and some were figured out by Xiao Jun himself and placed in the restaurant, looking particularly fanciful.

Zhao Auntie was taking an afternoon nap, and Xiao Jun had gone out without knowing what he was doing.

Wang Wenhao was practicing his knifework bitterly in the kitchen. He was too thin and lacked strength, so recently he had been frantically eating to gain weight.

A girl walked in. "Are you open for business now?"

"Yes, please take a seat. Let me bring you a menu." Ding Sha happened to hand her the menu in his hand.

"Hmm, I'd like a sweet and sour pork ribs, and a plate of heartbreak liangfen, oh and also a freshly squeezed fruit juice if you have it." The girl ordered very quickly. Ding Sha went to the back to tell Wang Wenhao, then brought out the liangfen.

The girl looked like she couldn't handle spicy food. After just a few bites her nose and eyes turned red, but she still smiled at Ding Sha, "So spicy!"

Ding Sha brought her the fruit juice, "Have a sip to relieve the spiciness."

The girl took a sip. "But it's pretty delicious."

Once all the dishes were served, Ding Sha stopped disturbing her and quietly went to sit in a corner to continue communicating with the fragrance of the meal.

After the girl finished eating, she didn't leave immediately, but sat for a while, looking at Ding Sha and taking the initiative to say, "The weather is really nice today!"

"Yes, there's a gentle breeze and sunshine, but it's not too hot." Ding Sha also smiled back.

"Your shop is also very beautiful." The girl said.

"Thank you, please come again next time!" Ding Sha thought for a while, and grabbed her a handful of plum candy to cleanse her palate.

"Next time?" The girl smiled. "Probably."

The girl got up to pay. "Thank you for your hospitality. I'm very happy to have met you and your shop today."

Ding Sha didn't know why she felt a little strange, but couldn't figure it out. She could only smile and repeat, "Me too, I'm very happy to have met you today. Please come again next time!"

The girl left, but Ding Sha still felt strange.

Shortly after, she saw a large number of people suddenly flowing in one direction outside the store.

She pushed open the door to stop a neighbour's older sister who was coming back from that direction. "Sister, why are there so many people over there? Is there an event?"

"Oh my, no event," the neighbor lady could only sigh. "A little girl is trying to commit suicide by the river!"

"Suicide?" Ding Sha was shocked.

"Yes, she looks quite pretty, also very calm. Wearing a pink and white dress, with long hair. Don't know why she suddenly felt hopeless..."

Ding Sha was stunned for a moment. Wasn't that the girl who just had a meal?

She instinctively ran in that direction. Du Rourou shouted after her several times but didn't stop her.

Ding Sha ran out of breath to the riverside. It wasn't far from her small restaurant. There was already a crowd gathered, and she could still hear the faint sound of police sirens.

The girl was sitting calmly on a pillar by the river looking up at the horizon, with a very relaxed and peaceful expression, not looking like someone about to take her own life at all.

People around were pointing fingers and talking. Only Ding Sha was increasingly worried and anxious.

She plucked up her courage and walked two steps forward to try and talk to the girl. "Miss?"

The girl had already seen her and smiled. "Thank you, boss."

"It's so dangerous over there. Please come back. Let me help you, okay?" Ding Sha took two more steps forward.

"Don't come over, sister." The girl moved back a little further. She looked precarious, as if a gust of wind would cause her to lose her balance and fall.

"Thank you for talking to me today, I was very happy."

"Sister made some snacks just now, would you like to try them?" Ding Sha's mind went blank. She could only say whatever came into her head. The girl shook her head. "No need. The weather is so nice today. I like it."

"Then why..." Ding Sha couldn't help asking.

"I'm just too tired." The girl shook her head slightly. "Even seeing nice weather doesn't make me feel it's nice."

"There are still many possibilities in life..." While Ding Sha tried her best to persuade her, she also tried to get closer.

The girl seemed to be lost in thought, "Too tiring..."

Just as she finished speaking, the fireman who had detoured from behind the bridge suddenly pushed her forward.

The girl fell heavily to the ground, still somewhat in disbelief. Ding Sha immediately went up to pull her into her arms. "Everything will be fine..."

The girl didn't struggle. "Actually, after I finished eating, I regretted it a little, thinking that I could just walk away next time I came."

"Then come every day. I'll make delicious food for you." Ding Sha thought that greeting her with a "welcome back next time" every day could make her stay...

The girl didn't speak anymore, leaning in her arms not knowing what she was thinking.

"Pretending. I really thought she was going to jump. Just clamoring for attention..."

"Right, wasting my damn time. What a phony!"

"Let's go, nothing to see. Drama queen!"

Dissonant voices came from the crowd. Ding Sha was shocked and hurriedly covered the girl's ears.

The girl had already heard it. She stood up and pushed Ding Sha away. Then very quickly, before anyone could react, she jumped down.

"Ah!" Ding Sha screamed.

The fireman was stunned for a second before jumping down to rescue the girl too.

Ding Sha was too anxious to care about those people. She leaned over the bridge to see the fireman quickly finding the girl, before finally breathing a sigh of relief.

But now she felt even more furious.

Ding Sha turned around and walked up to the man who spoke first. "Do you want her dead so badly?!"

"Do you like making sarcastic remarks so much? Is your time so precious? More precious than a life?!"

"Do you not have a heart? No conscience? Do you have a grudge against her? Do you have to force her to her death?!"

The man dismissively said, "If she really wanted to die, she would've jumped down long ago without needing me to say anything. Isn't she just putting on an act?"

"Hey, I've got a bad temper!" The angry big brother next to him directly took off his shirt and threw a punch at him.

"What are you doing, assault?!" The man got hit crookedly to the side.

"Not assaulting people, hitting scum, human trash, scoundrels. But not people." The big brother laughed very unrighteously and cracked his fists which were as big as sandbags.

The man still wanted to act aggressively but didn't dare be beaten again. He stared fiercely at the big brother for a few moments before wanting to leave. But the big brother grabbed him by the collar. "Don't go yet. We're not done!"

"Wait until the girl gets up here and you go apologize. Once you've apologized then you can go. Understand?"