Entertaining Children

Yanjing is an ancient capital with a long history. At the same time, as the capital of China, it is also a very modern city. The combination of modern and ancient styles has also created many places in Yanjing. Surrounded by tall buildings and mansions, there are many old buildings with unique charm hidden, and the most distinctive ones are called Hutongs.

Sun Tingting was born and grew up in Yanjing, but it cannot be said that she knows all the hutongs in Yanjing like the back of her hand. Now, Xiao Yao dragged her around in an unfamiliar alley for about ten minutes, feeling almost dizzy.

"Where are we going?" Sun Tingting finally couldn't help asking.

Today is August 1st, Xiao Yao's eighteenth birthday. Although he played with the teammates of Shen Na's group until the early hours of the morning yesterday, he promised Sun Tingting that he would spend her birthday alone with her, Xiao Yao still didn't sleep in. " place, drilled in.

"Take you to a special place for lunch." Xiao Yao said with a smile, "It's not far away, and we'll be there in five minutes at most."

"Eat lunch?" Sun Tingting glanced at the watch on her left wrist and said, "It's only 10:30, have lunch so early? I thought we were going to play somewhere first, and take a stroll."

"Uh..." Xiao Yao rubbed his nose in embarrassment, and then smiled, "It's a bit early for lunch, but the environment in that place is very good, even if we don't eat, we just sit there and talk first. Not bad. Believe me, you'll like that place, and we'll be comfortable just staying there for a day, even if we don't do anything today."

"Okay, it's your birthday today, I'll listen to you." Sun Tingting nodded and smiled.

The two walked for a few minutes holding hands, and Sun Tingting smelled a strong fragrance of flowers.

"It smells so good." Sun Tingting sniffled.

"If you smell the fragrance of flowers, it means we've arrived." Xiao Yao pointed forward with a smile.

Sun Tingting looked in the direction of Xiao Yao's finger, and saw a lot of flowers protruding from the top of a courtyard wall about ten meters ahead, red, yellow, and white, and the colorful ones were very beautiful.

"Is this right here?" Sun Tingting took two quick steps and came to the courtyard wall, only to see a blue iron door closed tightly, and a small log-colored wooden sign was hung on the wall beside the door, with a very beautiful art on it. The font reads: "Grandpa's Secret Garden".

"Grandpa's Secret Garden? What an interesting name. This is where we eat? But why is the door closed?" Sun Tingting looked at Xiao Yao who followed.

"That's why we have to knock on the door." Xiao Yao smiled. He reached out and patted on the iron gate, and shouted loudly, "Sister Di, are you there?"

"Sister Di? You are very familiar with this place." Sun Tingting looked at Xiao Yao and said.

"Hehe." Xiao Yao smiled without saying a word.

"Here we come." There was a reply from the yard, and then the blue iron door was opened from the inside.

The one who opened the door was a girl who looked about twenty-six or seventeen. Her half-length hair was pulled back casually, her upper body was a white chiffon sleeveless shirt, and her lower body was a light yellow half-length gauze skirt. She wasn't particularly beautiful, but she looked very delicate. Standing there, Sun Tingting's first impression was that "people are as light as a chrysanthemum".

"It's quite early." The girl looked at Xiao Yao and smiled.

"Well, your place is good, even if you come to sit, it's a kind of enjoyment." Xiao Yao responded with a smile, and then introduced: "Sister Di, this is my girlfriend, Sun Tingting."

"Duo'er, this is Sister Di, Xie Di, the owner of this yard is also the boss, chef and waiter here." Xiao Yao said to Sun Tingting again.

"Hello, Sister Di." Sun Tingting called after Xiao Yao.

"Hello," Xie Di smiled and nodded, looked at Sun Tingting and said, "This sister has a really good temperament, and you two are a good match when you stand together."

"Thank you, Sister Di." Sun Tingting smiled slightly with her head lowered. It made her happier when Xie Di praised her temperament like complimenting her beauty.

"Of course, I don't dare to bring that kind of roughness to you.

" Xiao Yao laughed.

"Come in first, don't stand outside." Xie Di moved the two of them into the yard sideways, "Sit down as you please, and I will serve you some tea and snacks first. You sit down first, and I have to deal with the ingredients. I won't be with you anymore."

Saying that, Xie Di closed the door, turned back and went back into the house.

"What an exquisite and beautiful yard." Sun Tingting couldn't help sighing after entering the yard.

This is not a small yard. The surrounding walls are either covered with vines, or hung with various decorations made of flowers and green leaves with very creative patterns. All kinds of lush green plants are planted on the ground, green bamboos, small kumquats, pomegranate trees and loquat trees protrude directly from the wall. Grape vines are hung on the simple wooden frame, and crystal clear grapes have grown underneath. There are many bonsai flowers and plants on the ground around the courtyard wall, such as crabapple, jasmine, rhododendron, lavender, and many flower species that Sun Tingting can't name, turning the entire courtyard into a small colorful world isolated from the world.

"No wonder it's called the Secret Garden. The flowers and plants here seem to isolate the bad air in Yanjing." Sun Tingting took a deep breath, full of all kinds of floral fragrances, "This place is really elegant and romantic."

"Come, drink tea first and have some snacks." At this time, Xie Di came out with a wooden tray and greeted the two of them. On the tray was a tea set and a plate of pastries.

"Okay, thank you Sister Di." Xiao Yao took Sun Tingting to finish the tour of the small yard, and sat down at a table in the middle of the yard covered with a beautiful color matching tablecloth.

"Then sit down slowly, I'll prepare lunch for you." Xie Di greeted and went back to the house again.

"This place is so beautiful, how did you find such a place?" Sun Tingting asked Xiao Yao curiously with her big eyes open.

"Well, I discovered it in the first half of last year." Xiao Yao said, "Isn't Shitou, Xu Fei and I playing parkour? If there is nothing to do, we will ride around Yanjing to find a suitable venue. I came here by chance. When I saw this courtyard, I thought it was a store, so I wanted to come in to have a rest and eat something. Unexpectedly, when I came here for the first time, I was directly refused by Sister Di and kicked out. .”

"Ah? There are people who drive the guests out. Sister Di has such a personality? Why?" Sun Tingting asked curiously.

"Sister Di is more than just a character, she is very character, she has many rules here. But the main reason for refusing me to enter that time was because my image was not very good at that time. You also know that Yanjing has a lot of wind and sand. At that time I Cycling around looking for venues, riding sweaty, plus the dust on the road, wind and sand, etc., can be regarded as disheartened, so Sister Di didn't entertain me." Xiao Yao laughed, "I was rejected by her once, Instead, I was more interested in this place, and when she opened the door, I also caught a glimpse of the environment in the yard, so I came again the next day neatly, and she let me in."

"What rules does she have here?" Sun Tingting continued to ask.

"Look at her here, in such a big yard, there are only three tables, one big, two small, and three tables, and the rest of the place is almost occupied by flowers and plants. So she only entertains three tables of guests at most per meal. And at most, she only accepts one day in advance Reservations. For example, if you make an appointment with her today to have dinner the day after tomorrow, she will not agree. She said that it is too late to remember, and she only remembers the guests who will come tomorrow.” Xiao Yao smiled wryly, and continued, “She does it here All of her food is flower food, that is, food that uses plants and flowers as raw materials. She does not accept orders. Whatever dishes she made today, she thinks you are suitable for eating those dishes, she will serve you, and you can eat whatever you want. "

"And she did that?" Sun Tingting asked in surprise.

"It's more than that," Xiao Yao continued, "She basically only serves lunch here, and there are only three tables. If you don't want to leave after eating, even if there are guests coming later, she will not drive you away. You can stay here as you like. She also provided tea and snacks all afternoon. But she does not provide dinner, and she closes the door when it gets dark, and the guests can't leave."

"She's not doing business, isn't she afraid of going bankrupt?" Sun Tingting asked curiously.

"She's not doing business at all." Xiao Yao smiled, "This yard was left to her by Sister Di's grandfather. That's why it's called Grandpa's Secret Garden. Many of the flowers and plants here were planted by her grandfather back then. Sister Di’s parents are both abroad. Her grandparents passed away one after another, so this yard was left to her. She wants to keep the yard carefully built by her grandfather from being abandoned, and she also wants some people who really like this environment and appreciate it. I can enjoy this place, so I opened this store."

"Sister Di specially learned how to make flower food in order to open this shop. This is a flower cake," Xiao Yao picked up a piece of pastry from the plate and handed it to Sun Tingting's mouth, "It's a sauce made from rose petals Made of flour, it has the fragrance of flowers and fresh sweetness. Try it, it tastes very good.”

Sun Tingting took a bite of the hand that Xiao Yao handed over, and it was indeed sweet, then she nodded with a smile and said, "The taste is really good."

"My boyfriend fed it. Everything tastes delicious." At this moment, Xie Di came out with another plate of food and put it on their table.

"Where, it's really delicious." Sun Tingting gave Xie Di a thumbs up, and continued, "By the way, Sister Di, why does he know you so well? Does he come here often? Are you familiar with each other? "

"He," Xie Di was about to speak, when he heard a knock on the door of the courtyard, he smiled and said, "I'll open the door, you should ask him yourself."

"Sister Di will also go to the yard to rest after finishing her lunch." Xiao Yao said, "At this time, she has two hobbies. One is to take pictures of the guests in the yard in the afternoon, especially children. The other is It’s just playing guitar in the yard for fun.”

"Then I know why you and her are so familiar. You are good at both photography and guitar, and you must have a lot in common." Sun Tingting immediately smiled and raised her hand.

"Yes, Sister Di's photography and guitar are self-taught because of her interest. I have helped her solve many problems encountered in these two aspects, so I am very familiar with her. In fact, I can be regarded as the only one here. I'm a VIP." Xiao Yao smiled triumphantly.

"VIP? Do you have any privileges?" Sun Tingting blinked her eyes.

"The privilege is that she allowed me to book the room today, and only entertain the two of us today. This is a treatment that other guests cannot enjoy." Xiao Yao said proudly.

"Why do you want to book the venue?" Sun Tingting said, "Miss Di is always picky about customers, and the ones who can come are definitely not that kind of rude people. In such an environment, even if there are people next to us, they won't disturb us, right? You As I said just now, the people who come here are those who really like and enjoy this place. Sister Di has such a big rule, how bad it is for you to deprive others of the opportunity to enjoy this place. "

Just at this time, Xie Di's voice sounded from the gate of the courtyard: "I'm sorry, my friend is celebrating her birthday here today, and I specially said hello, and I don't want others to disturb you. So today I only entertain guests at their table. Come back tomorrow."