Lin Yiyang was very familiar with the neighborhood, so he quickly found the shop.
A very simple shop with a palm-sized place, a glass cabinet on the right connected to the checkout counter, and a few small shelves on the left, displaying peripheral products, and dozens of hemp rope bags filled with brown coffee beans. Handwritten on white cardboard.
There was only one young couple in the store, and they were also picking beans.
They were pointing and talking softly to the white wall above the sack, on which were the name, place of origin and flavor of the coffee beans. The girl in the couple picked one, stuffed it into the boy's mouth, and let him taste it.
Lin Yiyang picked two pills and put them in her palm. He pointed to her mouth.
"Try it," he said.
She dazed, obediently put the coffee bean into her lips, bit it, and chewed it lightly.
Originally wanted to taste carefully, but Lin Yiyang kept looking at him, and gradually chewed slowly, becoming more and more uncomfortable. He seemed to have noticed her thoughts, looked away, took two sweet and sour berries from the burlap bag next to her, and stuffed them into her palm.
Yin Guo took it and held it in the palm of his hand. He didn't have the nerve to try again this time.
After the two couples left, there were only three of them left in the store. She and Lin Yiyang were at the coffee beans side, and her cousin was in the last row of the shelf, picking out gifts.
Yin Guo is not used to trying beans, so he took out a tissue, spit out the dregs, and clenched them into balls in his hands.
All this was seen by the man next to him.
He pointed to the small corner to the left of the counter, indicating to her that the trash can was there.
Yin Guo threw the ball of paper, and heard him ask himself: "What does your friend want?"
Several.
Just now she wanted to study how to pronounce it, so she looked it up in a dictionary and asked the clerk after she knew how to pronounce it. Lin Yiyang's question was like saving her.
Yin Guo showed him the names, and he called a clerk over, pointing out several bags of coffee beans. The clerk smiled and chatted with him, and Yin Guo listened, saying that these are the best sellers.
When going to checkout, Lin Yiyang raised his right arm and looked at his watch.
Yin Guo immediately said: "You need to be in a hurry, hurry up, I've bought it anyway."
He has looked at his watch several times since he came out of the cafe.
First, I rushed there in a hurry, didn't eat lunch, and hurriedly wiped out the coffee and panini, and brought them here. Although I didn't say anything, it can make people feel that everything is in a hurry. I guess they came from Washington again .
"An appointment again when you are free?" He also knew that there was no longer any delay.
Yin Guo nodded.
Lin Yiyang didn't talk nonsense, and pushed the door out.
Through the glass, Yin Guo saw him crossing the road and didn't take a taxi. He must have gone to a nearby subway station.
This scene of crossing the road reminded her of the night when they first met.
The man with glasses took the siblings into the car first, packed the suitcases, and Lin Yiyang paid the bill at the bar.
Through the car window and the double glass of the bar, Yin Guo watched him drink up half of the unfinished glass of wine, sign the card, put on his winter clothing hat, and push the door out.
A gust of wind rolled up the snow on the road, wrapping the cars and people on the roadside in a white mist, which soon dissipated. He ran two quick steps, crossed the road, went around to the right side of the car, and got in the car.
The driver asked, where are you going?
He said Queens.
The driver was surprised, in this terrible weather, he still needs to take a detour?
He said, yes, take a detour.
...
"Sister?" The cousin came back with two accessories and was surprised to find that Lin Yiyang had disappeared, "He left?"
"Yeah, I'm in a hurry." She took out her wallet and asked for the bill.
He still held two berry-flavored coffee beans in his hand, and wanted to throw them back into the burlap bag, but stopped again. I've been holding it in my hand for a long time, so don't throw it in, what if someone picks it up and tries it? How unclean.
She had no place to lose it, so she stuffed two coffee beans into the small pouch inside the schoolbag.
After buying coffee, she and her cousin act separately.
Meng Xiaotian then wandered around the surrounding area. She went straight back to the hotel, took the clubs from the room, carried a small bag with her mobile phone, wallet, and key card, and went to the golf room.
The last time she came to the United States, she signed up for the youth group of the American Nine Ball Open.
Generally, the youth group and junior group of this kind of competition are encouraging, with bonuses, but no official world points. However, the registration fee for the competition plus the expenses of the round trip and the prize money are not enough, so after testing the water last year, she directly signed up for the professional group this year. This year can be regarded as her first battle on the career path.
During last year's competition, she met a few friends in the youth group. This year, there is only one competition with her in the professional group. It is a Singaporean girl named Su Wei. This ball room was also recommended to Yin Guo by her. It costs 15 dollars an afternoon, which is very affordable.
The two meet here every day to train.
Another reason they chose this American ball room is that they can see many world champions in the United States. Everyone practices like ordinary people, and occasionally engages in small games, which is very interesting.
Before going out, Yin Guo refreshed the weather forecast, and there was another cold snap, and there will be partial snowfall today.
Sure enough, when I came out of the coffee shop, it was still sunny, but it was already dark outside the golf room before three o'clock.
After she entered, in the corner of the ball room, someone called: "Yin Guo."
Su Wei pointed to the distance with her eyes, and sat quietly on a billiard chair, watching Berry, a famous native American player whose opponent was playing: "Didn't you just want to watch a real person yesterday, today you are here."
After Su Wei finished speaking, she greeted Berry with a smile in English: "This is my friend, I just told you, Xiaoguo."
Yin Guo threw the backpack on the pool chair and greeted Barry.
Barry looked about forty years old, very mature and enthusiastic, and he came over to chat for a long time.
Most of the players in the ball room were men, only the table of Su Wei and Yin Guo were female players who signed up for the competition this time, and the two blond girls at the other table were purely here to play. Su Wei is half of mixed race, and her height is closer to the people here. The two local beauties have long legs and big breasts. Of the four women in the ball room, only Yin Guo is a small girl.
When she came here for the first time, she was asked if she had signed up for the competition for the youth group under the age of fourteen.
But then, no one asked.
Because of her skills, even though she couldn't instantly kill the regional champions and famous players in the ball room, she was definitely no worse than them.
See the real chapter on the table.
Besides, on the pool table, there is no age difference.
There is also only an upper age limit for competition registration. People who are older than 14 cannot apply for the junior group, and those who are older than 21 cannot apply for the youth group, so as to ensure the fairness of the competition.
There is no lower age limit. Meng Xiaotian's elder brother, Meng Xiaodong, started competing in the professional group at the age of fourteen.
She came late today because of afternoon tea, and wanted to extend the time to eight o'clock.
It's a pity that the plan couldn't keep up with the changes. By six o'clock, Berry packed up his things and ran over, warmly inviting Su Wei and her to have dinner near Flushing. There is a gathering place for Asians and Chinese, and it is called the □□ Street.
Yin Guo hasn't been there yet, it's a bit far away.
Su Wei's boyfriend lives over there, she passed by, just stay here, no need to go back. In other words, she was going to come back alone after dark, fearing that it would be unsafe.
"Let me tell you, in Flushing, there is a Chinese restaurant opened by my boyfriend's family. It serves Sichuan cuisine, and the boiled beef is delicious."
Boiled beef is really a world-renowned Chinese dish...
She was hooked. I've been here for more than a week, and I haven't eaten the local dishes, and my tongue is almost wiped out by the western food. But no matter how delicious it is, there is no need to run there so late, and you can go alone tomorrow.
Seeing that she was still hesitating, Barry whispered something to Su Wei.
Su Wei found a new reason to seduce her: "He said, because of the Open, there will be a party tonight, and you will meet a lot of people from the professional group, from all over the world, so you can meet them in advance."
Hit the bullseye, must go.
She resolutely confirmed his location with Meng Xiaotian on WeChat, and told Meng Xiaotian to go back to the hotel early, put the cue into the barrel, put it on his back, and follow the two of them.
It took a lot of time on the road. When we arrived at the Chinese restaurant, Su Wei just started to order, and Barry answered seven or eight calls in a row, urging him to go to the ball room as soon as possible. As a last resort, they gave up the boiled beef and ordered fried rice.
Without bothering, I hurriedly paid the bill and went straight to the next destination.
The meeting place tonight is a Chinese ball room.
The owner is Chinese. He was a well-known snooker player in his early years. After retiring, he opened a ball room here. The entrance to the ball room was at the corner of the street. When the two arrived, several people were smoking by the trash can at the door. One of them knew Berry, threw away the cigarette butt, and pointed to the door with a smile: "Go and see a good show."
Berry understood, pushed open the glass door, and led them into the ball room.
The tables are arranged neatly, from the door of the ball room to the end.
Most of them are green tables, and there are a few blue tables on the inside. There is a space of about 2 meters between the tables.
On both sides of the billiard table, there is a water brown billiard chair.
After they entered the door, they found that the billiard table was full of unfinished rounds, and they all left, and they all crowded to the innermost blue table. Crowds of people chatting enthusiastically, obviously wanting to watch the battle.
Barry asked his friend aloud, who is beating?
Someone replied, there is a regional champion betting on football, three thousand dollars.
Barry asked again, who is it?
The other party answered a name, and Berry became excited, put down his backpack and clubs with a smile, and walked into the crowd.
Judging by Berry's performance, she should be a well-known player in the local area. She put her barrel aside, and before she could take off the hat of her down jacket, she saw it through the gap between the two men...
It's him?
It just passed by in a flash, but it is still very easy to recognize a Chinese in a place full of locals. Black hair, short hair, wearing a black hoodie when we met at noon today, with the cuffs rolled up to the elbow, with his back facing her.
Are you mistaken?
When Barry saw them coming, he smiled and moved the two friends away so that the two girls could get a better view.
She was pushed to the front of the crowd, facing the back.
The game hasn't started yet.
He was dusting the butt of his club with chocolate powder, twisting the little blue powder and sliding it slowly, one by one, over the butt, spreading it evenly and looking familiar.
"Today's bet is capped at 5,000 dollars," he said to the crowd of strangers in English, "I only made up 3,000 dollars, if any of you want to raise my bet, you are welcome at any time."
It was him, it must be him, this voice was still telling her interesting stories about down-and-out writers in the afternoon.
But now it is different, from the content to the tone, to the whole person is casual, saying: He can win this game, everyone present raises, and he will only win for sure.
The chocolate powder in the left hand is placed on the edge of the table.
He turned his head.
His eyes stopped, on her.
...it really was him.
Later, when Yin Guo remembered that night, she always believed that this was the beginning of her real acquaintance with Lin Yiyang. Here, the talent in this Chinese ball room is him, the lazy, talented, unruly, Chinese man who always beats his opponents with an attitude that doesn't care much and wins or loses as he pleases.
Lin Yiyang held the cue stick in his right hand, slowly leaned against the edge of the pool table, slowly reached out, picked up two balls from the table, threw one out, and gave it to his opponent tonight, the regional champion: "Come on, let Let me see your strength."
He didn't eat dinner and was not in a high mood, but now, it's different.