FOOT SKIN BROTH

2016

“Can I have broth with noodle?” a middle aged man who just entered called out to the kitchen. His loud voice filled the small noodle shop immediately.

“Sure, just a minute.” A young boy stuck his head out from the kitchen answered with a small voice, holding a large ladle in his hand. He retrieved his head back to the kitchen, and after some clacking noises, he went back out with a rag on his arm and a tray on his hand. There’s a large bowl of hot broth, and a dish of cooked noodle.

“You are here on a good time, this pot of broth has just been cooked.” The boy wiped the surface of the table with the rag, and said to him with a smile.

“Oh, great! It’s been a long day and all I’ve wanted was to have some broth and noodle here.” The middle aged man took off his jacket. He leaned close to the bowl of broth and took a sniff, “It smells so good! I already told my workmates about your place. I told them what good broth you make here and how it’s separated from the noodle, saying that it’s going to disturb people from the tasting the broth. They all thought it’s unheard of, and wanted to try a few days later when there’s a break.” He glanced down at the boy’s feet, slightly opened his mouth but said nothing. He turned his sight back to the bowl.

The boy was standing next to the table, writing something down on a small notebook. He looked up upon hearing him, pressed in his lips a little, feeling shy, “Wang, I’m so glad that you like our broth.” he stopped, then continued, with a gentle touch on Wang’s shoulder with his hand: “then you should come more often if you really like the broth so much.”

Wang was a manager of a company near by. After working late, he always eats something from the noodle shop before he went home. Because he came so many times, he was familiar with the boy already.

The boy finished writing, tore the paper off and put on the table. He walked away but then turned his head back: “I’ll go and take care of the others for now. Please enjoy your meal.”

“I will, Guicheng, go do your work, don’t mind me.” Wang took off his fogged glasses, picked up that bowl of broth, blew on the surface, and raised it to his mouth, drank almost half of it in one breathe.

“Ha!” he let out a long satisfied sign. Then he took the lid of the salt container off, scooped out a small bunch of salt, out it on the palm of his left hand, put the lid back on. After that he picked up a pinch of salt from his palm, and carefully sprinkled it over his noodle.

It didn’t take long for him to finish eating and leave.

Guicheng watched him walking away, and licked his lips as though he was thirsty. He looked down and cleaned off his bowl and dish, returned the table back to its clean state.

Guicheng had the typical look of a teenage boy, nothing special. Tallish, slim, wears a pair of glasses. Maybe because he had an extraordinarily small nose, the frame of his glasses looked as though it’s been glued around his eyes. He’s never taken care of his skin, and together with his undernutrition, he did not look pale even though he had almost never been under the sun. His skin tone was a very dull yellowish color. Plus, he never had a regular sleep pattern, so there’s always two purple shadows under his eyes. He always looked as though he’s got no strength or energy. And even his hair was not healthy black, but a greyish color with dull reflections.

It’s always been four months. Since Guicheng has graduated from high school in June, he’s been working at the noodle shop that his uncle owns. He did not go to college, was not because he didn’t get into any. In fact, even though he failed his first choice, he got accepted by all the other colleges that he applied to. He didn’t continue going to school, one was because he thought it’s time for his to start paying back the debt that he’s always felt he owe his uncle, for raising him for so many years. After all they were always tight on money, and couldn’t afford to pay anybody to work for them, so it’s always helpful to have one more person other than his uncle working for the shop. And two, was because his uncle never said anything about going to college. He pretended not to see the admission letters. Guicheng saw all of these and he understood entirely, which was why he put away all those letters quietly and focused on helping his uncle run the shop.

Ever since his mother died out of sudden cardiac arrest, his father could not face him gain, because he looked too much like his mother. Therefore his father left him to live with his uncle, who lived on his own and run a noodle shop. From then on, his understanding of fatherhood became the money transfer form that he got monthly from him. And it seemed that neither of them had the intention to get to know each other better, they rarely called each other, although they lived in an era with so many ways to communicate with others. At most, they’d call each other on holidays, but even those calls usually got dragged into awkward silences after mere thirty seconds of connection.

As the only helper, Guicheng did everything in the shop. At first, he was only in charge of receiving guests and cleaning. But since he cooked his own meals in high school when he was living on campus, his uncle sometimes let him help preparing the broth for the noodle as well. Surprisingly enough, ever since he started to help preparing it, the broth tasted better and better time after time, and it got to a point when uncle himself suggested to separate the broth with noodle, so that the broth can be enjoyed on its own. It can also become the shop’s special feature.

In fact, the broth that Guicheng made tasted so good, had nothing to do with his experience of cooking for himself. It was kind of an embarrassing thing to say even. No explanation could be offered, the whole thing happened not long after he started helping his uncle’s shop. One night after he finished cleaning the shop downstairs, lighted new incenses and said good night in front of his mom’s photo as usual, he went upstairs back to his room and started to copy a new book that he newly borrowed.

Sitting in front of the table, he naturally put one foot up on the chair. While his right hand was still engaged in writing he reached down his left hand and started tearing the skin of his foot. He has always been picking on the thick dead skin around the edge of his toenails, then put them orderly along the edge of the desk, between the book and his body, so that it wouldn’t interfere with him reading the book, nor would he accidentally knocked the skin off to the floor. Occasionally when he tore down a slick that’s relatively large, he’d put it in his mouth and chew on it using his front teeth. It might sound like that this person is disgusting, with such a weird addiction. But in fact, it’s only the hand finding something for the mouth to do subconsciously, and there’s no difference between that and turning pens or shaking legs. But that night, Guicheng found that his foot skin took a different texture.

He didn’t notice in the first place, was still chewing on it, listening to the sound coming from the inside of his skull, from the instance when his teeth broke through the springy surface of the skin, while focusing on copying the words. But when the longer he chew, he found that instead of broke after chewing for a few times and had to be given up, this time it lasted for a long time. Not only did it survived from being cut into pieces, it was as chewy as new, and there’s even a very special burnt ash taste to it. He had to put down his pen and took out that small piece of skin, and examined it carefully. This piece of skin was remarkably transparent, with clear skin texture on top. And the thickness, was two to three times as thick as what it would normally be. While he was still amazed by it, he did not move his eyes from that skin, and tore down another piece from his feet. This time, the size was as large as half a palm! He was shocked, and looked down immediately. He saw that a large piece of whole skin disappeared from the edge of the nail on his big toe all the way to the center of the bottom of his foot, exposing the skin underneath, which was a few degrees whiter than the skin that was originally covering that place.

With great care, he started to tear from the broken edge of the skin, which was slightly rolled up. Tearing piece after piece, and in the end he successfully peeled off the skin of the entire foot without much effort. He looked up and down his new born foot with skin white and tender as though it belonged to a baby. He couldn’t help but caressed through every inch of the skin. Then he peeled off the skin on the other foot as well. It was as effortless as when he did the other one, and the skin beneath, as tender.

Since then, peeling off the skin became a ritual act of his at night. The exposed new foot skin would remain its white and soft state, until almost a whole day has passed, then it showed signs of decay. That’s when Guicheng would start to peel the aged skin off, so that he can have tender feet again. For some reason that he didn’t even know, but simply following his instinct, he would store all the peeled off foot skin in an old wooden box.

One time when he was preparing the broth, he suddenly remembered the taste of the foot skin from that night. So he went off and brought the wooden box, and spilled some of the foot skin into the pot. After the broth was boiled, he tasted it, and found it exceptionally good. He’s always thought that the broth lacked something, being just chicken and some simple spices. But now that with the special burnt ash taste of his foot skin, the subtle bitter and astringent taste, the excessive taste of oil and fat was accidentally balanced, and formed a very delicate balance among the tastes. Plus, the broth cooked from foot skin, bore a semitransparent consistency, with some skin that’s not completely melted but boiled to a point where they’ve already lost their skin texture, the whole pot of broth looked like a pot of melted jade.

“Your broth is so addictive. Every time after I’ve had it, I want it again right afterwards. How did you cook it?” The people that came there always ask like that.

“That, I do not know. It’s all Cheng’s effort, you have to ask him!” Uncle always laughs loudly, pointing to Guicheng, showing a sign of proudness.

People always felt surprised when they learnt that he was the one that cooked the broth. After all, who’d believe that a boy as listless and slouchy as him would have the ability to cook that good. Guicheng would normally lower his head a little, answering with a polite voice: “Control the temperature, cook longer, and stir well. There’s nothing special to the method that I cook really.”

Somehow, maybe due to the warming effect of broth, people that come here to eat were all behaving in a friendly way. Naturally, they all talk to Guicheng as though they’ve known each other for a long time.

“Being a boy, how come you talk like a girl, that polite?” people couldn’t help but started to joke about the way he talked.

“Is it fish broth?”

“Chicken.”

“Why does it taste fishy then? Weird.”

Seeing that the noodle shop had such a great ambience, his uncle was in good mood all the time. “I really have to thank you, Guicheng. Ever since you started helping me, the business has been so much better.” Sometimes uncle would say so with gratitude in his voice.

“I’m just doing what I should.” Guicheng would answer with the same voice and posture as when he was answering the customers.

Guicheng’s secret was never found out.

“Wow, you have such white feet!” One time, a woman who always came to the shop said so with amazement, looking at Guicheng’s exposed feet inside of his sandals.

“They are better looking than girls’ feet.” some other women that also came quite aften commented after looking down at Guicheng’s feet, upon hearing what the first woman had said.

Guicheng’s cheeks would turn bright red, sucking on his lips tightly, his sight would reach out from the frame of his glasses nervously, and glances from one face to another, not knowing how to react. But he wouldn’t have any attempt to hide his feet. Instead, he’d stand at the most centered place, showing them, blushing. The feeling from doing so, is like exposing the part of yourself that you feel the most embarrassed yet the proudest about out in public, to let people look and play at it.

Very soon, through those women, people who live nearby all knew that the nephew of the owner of the noodle shop has feet better looking than girls’ feet. Guicheng hence became a popular figure for a while.

True, in day time, his feet are white and tender as those from a fourteen-year-old girl who picks lotus seeds. Texture of the skin delicate and fair, and the bottom of his feet soft and plump. Ten toes look just like freshly picked lotus seeds, every one of them are crystal-like, every one of the tips shows slight color of pink. Especially when he walks, his toes looked as if they couldn’t bear the weight that’s been put on them, and turned even pinker and tenderer. They always attracts everybody’s sight. People’s eyes tend to follow around wherever his toes go. Even though he lives nearer to the South, on October, the weather still turned quite cold. But on contrary of Guicheng’s normal low tolerance of coldness, he insisted on wearing that pair of sandals which exposes a large amount of the skin on his feet. One time there was a customer who was sucking on his noodle, being too focused on watching Guicheng’s feet, he chocked on his noodle and shot them out from his nostrils.

However, when it becomes night time, after midnight, his foot skin starts to grow madly. Unlike at the beginning, recently, it’s been growing at a speed which naked eye can detect. Under the original white and tender skin, layers after layers of new skin rapidly grow. The texture of skin overlapping like crazy. The shapes of his feet like two socks been stuck fuller and fuller by stripes of fabrics, growing fast in a deformed way. The skin on the surface merges with the newly grown, and becomes yellow and rough. Even though it still doesn’t hurt, it takes a lot of effort to tear them off. Each time, it takes a long and repetitive process of peeling off piece after piece, until a thick layer of skin has been tore off, then his feet can be turned back to the normal white and tender state before the skin grew thick crazily.

Therefore, every night Guicheng spent more and more time cleaning off his foot skin, which has only been growing more rapidly. Night after night, he did not sleep but cleaning off the dead skin all night long. He could have stopped once the deformed shape has been cleaned off, leaving the hardest-to-peel layer there, it wouldn’t be bothering much. But he had to peel all the new grown off before he decided to stop, had to peel until there’s only that white tender layer left, and no new skin would be forming.

The wooden box which he kept the foot skin, he hid under his bed. Every early morning, he grabs a handful and put them in a tissue paper, then put it inside of his pocket. After putting in the materials for the broth, when his uncle’s not looking, he’d take it out and spill the skin inside all into the pot. He then would stir the broth with all of his effort, trying to let the foot skin melt as fast as possible. Every time when the broth is almost ready, he looked as if he’s been drained completely. Then he normally finds a chair and put it next to the pot, then squatting on the chair, caressing his feet in silence. The skin of his feet still turning and melting inside of the pot.

His uncle saw him always squat next to the pot in such a weird posture, thought it must be his lower back pain, which has become severe recently. One time, after seeing him staggering through the kitchen, almost falling to the ground, with his hand holding the back of his waist, he couldn’t help but said to him: “How can some one as young as you have lower back pain that is so severe. You’ve also been getting up at night recently, right? I have been constantly hearing noises and toilet flushes. As a boy, you have to mind all of these.” he hesitated for a second, then leaned close, with a sound no louder than a whisper, said with a serious voice: “Everything need to have a limit.” then he left as fast as he could, seemed to be extremely uncomfortable about a topic so personal and intimate.

A workday night, Wang came again. It’s almost been two weeks since he last visited.

“Guicheng, are you here? Are you closing yet? I want broth with noodle, and a poached egg.” he called out to the kitchen as soon as he entered the door.

Recognized Wang’s voice, Guicheng immediately walked out from the kitchen, “We are not closing yet. How is it that you haven’t been here for such a long time? You almost came here everyday before.” he accused with a sign of coquetry.

“I’ve really been so incredibly busy these days. I’ve been ordering deliveries to the company. Today that I finally have some time, the first thing I do is to come here and have your broth. I’ve been wanting it badly. I even dreamt about it one night.” Wang explained, scratching his head.

Guicheng heard him saying so, blushed a little on his face, with a smile at the corner of his mouth, he walked back to the kitchen and brought out a bowl of broth, “drink the broth first, I will bring you the noodle with the poached egg once it’s ready.”

But after putting down the broth, he did not leave at once, instead he lingered at the same place, slightly rubbing his feet together, which are in sandals. He moved his lips as though he wanted to say something, but didn’t.

“We’ve had another news about stolen urns in the past few days.” seeing him still standing there, Wang said through the fog of the broth.

“Yep, scary.” Guicheng answered rather mindlessly, he seemed somehow disappointed.

“This society is becoming more and more deformed.”

“Guess so.”

“Guicheng, have you been resting well? You don’t look good.”

Guicheng touched one of his cheeks with a hand, just when he was about to answer, Wang gulped down a mouth full of broth, added fiercely, “People that steal urns from other people’s tombs should all die.” He’s clearly still thinking about that piece of news.

Guicheng put down his hand that was touching his cheek, the light inside of his eyes dimmed then relit again. He blinked, then nodded his head once as though he’s understood something.

Wang was the last customer at the shop, he finished very fast and left quickly, saying that he shouldn’t put them off from closing the shop.

Guicheng stood in front of the table that Wang just sat on, still looking at the door that hasn’t fully closed yet from when Wang pushed it open to leave. Then, he picked up the bowl which Wang had just used, stuck out his tongue and licked along the edge round after round. His eyes closed, his face wore an intoxicated expression. The color of his lips was almost the same as the skin on his face, greyish yellow. Yet when he stuck out his tongue, it showed an intense red, like fire burning at the center of a dessert.

“Cheng, shouldn’t you change your sandals? It’s been really cold outside. And how are they so dirty? Why are they covered in dirt?” The uncle had just walked into the kitchen, said so when he saw Guicheng washing the dishes.

Guicheng behaved as though he heard nothing, and went upstairs after finished washing the last bowl.

His uncle looked at him going upstairs, shook his head, and did not ask anything more.

The next morning, when it was almost time for opening the shop, Guicheng still hadn’t showed up. His uncle walked up stairs to check on him while calling out his name, and his voice chocked half way in his throat when he opened the door of Guicheng’s room.

Lying in the middle of the room, like a piece of rotten wood stuck out from the floor, was Guicheng. His face a purplish blue, and his features twisted together. Around him, was a floor full of dried semen and broken pieces of urns.

Follow-up

One week later, a news report astonished the people around the country. Everybody was calling the boy in the report a deformed freak nurtured by the society. While those that knew Guicheng when he was alive, treated this as though it’s their best conversation starter, gossiping about his stories with made up stuff that had never happened. The content of the report was roughly as follows: The person that has been stealing urns was found. His name was Guicheng, and he already died from sudden cardiac arrest in the morning of October the 14th. After deeper investigation, more disturbing crimes were discovered, including putting the ashes inside of the stole urns and his own semen into the broth of his uncle’s noodle shop for customers to drink. The only undamaged urn next to his body had a candid photo of a middle-aged man inside. He looked a lot like the boy’s father, but the identity was denied after investigation. According to an informed source, he was a regular at the noodle shop that Guicheng was working in, but his true identity was never revealed in the report.

脚皮面汤

“老板，要一份面汤加面！”一位刚刚进来的中年男士向厨房喊道，洪亮的声音瞬间充满了不大的面馆。

“好的，马上。”一个年轻的男生从厨房里探出了头来小声应道，手上拿着一个大汤勺。 他把头缩回了厨房，一阵声响过后又出来了，胳膊上搭了一块抹布，手上取而代之端着一个盘子，上面有一个大大的装有热汤的碗，边上一碟煮好的白面。

“来的真巧，刚好赶上这一锅熬好。” 男生用抹布擦了擦桌子，把盘子放在了中年男士面前的桌面上，对着他笑着说道。

“哎呀，太好了。累了一天就想着晚上来你们这儿喝点面汤吃点面呢。”中年男子边说边脱下了外套，鼻子凑近汤碗嗅了嗅, “真是太香了！我跟同事们都说了，说你们这儿啊，面汤特别好喝，而且和面分开放，说是怕面在汤里耽误了喝汤。他们听了都觉得稀奇，就等着过几天放假集体过来尝尝鲜呢。”他向下瞄了一眼男生穿着凉鞋的脚，嘴张了张什么也没说，又把目光挪回了面前的碗上。

男生本来站在桌边，在一个册子上写着些什么，听闻抬眼看了他一下，抿了下嘴，很不好意思的道，“王叔喜欢喝我们这儿的汤真是太好了。”隔了一下，又说，“喜欢喝的话就常来啊。”说完还用手轻轻碰了下王叔的肩。

被称为王叔的男人是附近写字楼一家公司的高管，经常忙到很晚了，来这家面店吃点东西才回家。因为来的频繁，所以和男生也很熟了。

男生写完了单，撕下那张纸，放到了桌上，转了身又回过头来：“那我先去招呼别的客人了，您慢慢吃。”

“好，贵成，忙你的去吧。”王叔摘下起了层雾的眼镜放在一旁，端起那碗汤，吹了两下后，举到嘴边咕咚咕咚一口气喝下了近半碗。

“哈！”他满足的探出长长的一口气。之后掀起桌上盐罐子的盖子，装出一小勺盐放在左手手心，盖回盖子。随后右手拇指和食指从手心捏起一小撮，细细的往白面上搓了层盐。

没一会儿工夫，他就吃完走了。

贵成看着他的背影离开，口渴似得舔了下嘴唇，又低下头收走了他的碗筷，把桌子迅速恢复成干净的样子。

贵成完全是个普通十几岁男生的长相，没有什么特别的地方。偏高，瘦瘦的，戴个眼镜。可能是因为鼻子异乎寻常的小的缘故，眼镜像是被平着贴在了眼睛周围一样。因为从来没有注意过保养，又营养不良，所以虽然几乎不晒太阳，皮肤也不苍白，而是暗沉泛黄的色彩。加上睡眠不规律，单眼皮的眼睛下总是隐隐有着两个紫色的阴影，整个人总是显得有些有气无力的样子。头发也不是健康的黑色，而是反着暗淡光泽的灰色。

已经有快四个月了吧。贵成自从六月份高中毕业以后，就一直在叔叔经营的面店里工作。不去上大学，也不是因为没有考上。虽然第一志愿没有进去，但是后面报的几所都被录取了。没有去读，一方面是因为他觉得自己应该开始还欠他叔叔养育他这么多年的债了。毕竟经济一直有些拮据，请不起员工，家里要是能多一个人在店里帮忙总是好的。一方面，是叔叔他自己也一次没提到过大学的事，通知书也是装作没看见的样子。贵成看在眼里，心里是懂的，所以也像约好了一样把通知书默默收了起来，每天就一直专心帮忙照顾店里的生意。

自从小学妈妈心肌梗塞突发死后，爸爸就再也无法面对和妈妈神色极其相似的贵成，于是便把还小的他丢到了独自一人生活的开面店的叔叔家寄养。自那以后，他对于爸爸的定义，就仅限于每个月收到的一笔来自他的转账单而已。因为似乎谁也没有更加深入交流的欲望，所以在通信如此发达的情况下，却连电话也几乎没打过。最多是过节的时候，象征性的打电话祝福一番，但每次都是持续个三十秒就陷入了尴尬的沉默。

贵成作为唯一的员工，在店里什么都做。本来他只负责在前面帮忙接待客人，打扫卫生，但是因为高中时住宿，在学校都是自己煮饭吃，所以叔叔有时候也会让他在后面的厨房帮忙煮一下面汤。说也奇怪，自从他开始帮忙熬制面汤之后，面汤的味道竟越来越变得无比的好喝，好喝到没多久叔叔就提议把面汤和面分开来放，让面汤可以单独被细细享用，也算是制造了一个店里的特色。

其实，贵成熬的面汤好喝，和他原来自己做饭并没有什么关系。说起来还是挺难以启齿的。整件事情也实在是难以解释，就是发生在帮忙照顾叔叔的店不久后吧。有一天晚上贵成把楼下店铺一切都收拾妥当，也按惯例给妈妈的遗照上了香，道了晚安后，回到楼上房间里开始抄读新借到的一本书。

他坐在桌前习惯性的将一只脚踩到了椅子上，右手还在连续不断的抄写着，左手就不自觉的放了下去开始抠起了脚。他总是习惯性的沿着甲缝把摩擦得厚厚的死皮撕扯下，然后整齐的放在桌子边缘，在书和自己身体之间，这样就既不会耽误到看书，又不会不小心把死皮扫到地上。偶尔撕下来大片一点的，就会放到嘴里用前面的牙齿咀嚼着。听起来可能觉得这个人怎么这么恶心，有这么奇怪的嗜好。但是其实这也仅仅是潜意识下手给嘴找的一点事干，本质上和转笔，抖腿什么的没有什么差别。但是那天晚上，贵成发现他的脚皮嚼起来不一样了。

一开始他还没有在意，依旧一边嚼着，听着牙齿突破富有弹性的肌肤的瞬间从脑壳传来的声音，一边聚精会神的抄写着。可是嚼着嚼着，他发现平时嚼几下就会碎掉，不得不被放弃的脚皮，那晚却特别的耐嚼。非但没有碎掉，反而依旧弹性十足，而且竟有一股奇特的烤糊了的灰烬味。他不由放下了抄写着的笔，拿出正在嚼着的那块小小的皮，细细观察。只见这块皮晶莹剔透，纹理细腻清晰，厚度竟有平时的两三倍。他讶异之余，没有移开目光，左手摸索着又从脚上撕了一块下来，这次的竟有半个巴掌那么大一片！他吓了一跳，赶紧低头查看，只见顺着大脚趾指甲盖的边缘，一片完整的皮从那里消失到脚掌中央，露出了下面的肌肤，比他原来脚上的皮肤要白上好几个色度。

他小心翼翼的沿着微微卷起的皮断掉的边缘接着拨，一片一片的撕，最后竟轻而易举的把整只脚的皮都撕了下来。他来来回回打量着自己宛若新生的嫩白的那只脚，不由得轻轻的抚摸过它每一寸肌肤。随后他把另一只脚的皮也都撕了下来。一样的轻而易举，里面的肌肤一样的娇嫩。

自那以后，撕脚皮变成了每天晚上的例行活动。被暴露的新生的脚皮会一直保持嫩白的状态，直到快满一天时才会开始有老化的迹象。每到这时，贵成就会开始将老化的脚皮撕下来，于是就又拥有了娇嫩的双脚。出于连他自己也不清楚的原因，只是凭着直觉，每次都会将撕下的脚皮全数放入一个旧旧的木盒子里。

有一次熬制面汤时，突然想起了那一晚脚皮独特的口感，于是鬼使神差地把木盒拿来，倒了一些脚皮进去。待汤熬开搅拌一番后，他尝了一口，竟然异常的好喝。原本就一直觉得单纯用鸡肉和简单调味料熬出的汤还少了些什么，加入多了一丝他脚皮独特的烤糊了的灰烬味后，淡淡的苦涩，竟意外的平衡了原本过度的油脂味，变得微妙的恰到好处。而且，用脚皮熬出来的面汤，有着一种半透明的晶莹感，加上一些没有完全融化，却被煮得柔软的丧失了纹路的皮，整锅汤看着就像是融了的玉石一般。

“你们的面汤，喝完没多久又想着回来喝，真让人上瘾。是怎么熬出来的？”来的客人们总是会这样向叔叔问道。

“这个啊我还真不知道，都是小成帮忙熬出来的，你们可得问他！”每次叔叔都是大笑着指向贵成，颇有一丝对他感到骄傲的意思。

大家一般看到贵成总是会有些诧异，毕竟那么无精打采，看着还有点呆呆的孩子，没想到居然能熬出这样好喝的汤来。贵成一般这时都会微微低下头，略显一本正经的答道：“控制好火候，熬久一点，多搅拌搅拌就是了，也没有什么特别的方法。”

不知怎的，可能是因为面汤有温暖人心的作用，来吃饭的人的姿态在这家面馆里好像都挺放的挺开的，对贵成也都是自然就很熟悉的样子。

“一个男孩子，怎么说话斯斯文文的像个女孩子一样。”大家不禁对他说话的方式打起趣来。

“是鱼汤？”一个大妈问道。

“是鸡汤。”

“怎么腥腥的呢？真是怪了。”

看着氛围极好的面馆，叔叔每天也是笑容一直挂在脸上，心情愉悦得很。“贵成啊，叔叔真是谢谢你了。自从你来帮忙以后，生意好做多了。”有的时候叔叔会略带感激的跟贵成说道。

“哪里哪里，都是尽本分而已。”一般贵成都会以回答客人们时同样的语调和姿势对他回答道。

贵成的秘密一直都没有被发现。

“呦，脚怎么这么白啊！”有一次，一个经常来吃的大妈看着贵成穿着凉鞋，暴露在外的脚惊讶的说道。

 “简直比女孩子的脚还要好看嘛。”跟她同行的几个也是常来吃的大妈听闻也低下头看起了贵成的脚。

贵成双颊涨得通红，紧紧地抿着嘴，目光紧张地从眼镜框中探出，从一个大妈脸上扫到另一个大妈脸上，不知道该作何反应，却没有想要藏起双脚的举动，反而就那么站在最中央的位置一边羞着一边展示着。其带来的感觉，就像是把自己最感到羞耻却又最得意的部位当众暴露出来供人赏弄一样。

很快的，通过那几个大妈，周围的邻居们都知道了在面店帮忙的老板的侄子有一双胜过女生的双脚。贵成一时间也成为了很热门的人物。

确实，白天的时候，他的脚总是白嫩得犹如十四岁采莲少女的脚一般，皮质白皙，足底丰满柔软，十根脚趾犹如刚拨出的莲子一般，每根都晶莹剔透，每一颗脚趾头尖都透着微微的粉。尤其是当他走起来时，脚趾更像是受不了被施加在上面的压力似得越发的娇嫩粉红，常是引得所有人的目光都不由自主得跟着他的脚趾转悠。虽然是在偏南的地方，到了十月，天气也变得很冷。贵成却反常的很抗冻的样子，还一直坚持穿着那双将脚部肌肤大面积漏出的凉鞋。有次有个客人正吸着面条，看得走了神，吞了一半卡住了，最后呛得面条直从鼻孔里喷了出来。

然而到了晚上，午夜过后，他的脚皮就开始疯狂的生长。和一开始不同，近日来，他的脚皮总是以肉眼可见的速度，在原本细嫩白皙的那层皮下，一层又一层的迅速形成，交错纵横的肌肤纹理疯狂叠加。两只脚的形状就像是被碎布块塞得越来越满的袜子一样，迅速畸形肿胀。表层的皮肤和新长出来的慢慢融合，变得粗糙而泛黄。虽然依旧不疼，但是要费很大的劲才能扯下来。每次都是要反反复复一片片的扯下来好厚的一层，才能把脚恢复到脚皮疯狂增厚前白皙的样子。

于是，贵成每天晚上都要花越来越多的时间来清理生长得越来越迅猛的脚皮。常常是整夜整夜的不睡觉清理着。虽然可以在把奇怪的形状都除去后就停止，留下最难撕最固执的那一层，也不碍事。但是他每次都非要把一切新长出来的都撕个精光，撕到只剩下一层白皙细嫩的皮，没有新的皮肤形成为止才算罢休。

装脚皮的木盒子他平时都藏在床底，每次都是凌晨时用纸巾包一大把藏在口袋里，放好原料等火开后，趁叔叔不注意时赶紧从口袋里掏出来撒进去，之后很费力的搅着汤体，让脚皮尽量快速完全的融入。每次一锅汤快要熬好之后，他常是一副精力早已被榨干的样子。之后一般常是找来把椅子放在锅边，蹲坐在上边默默抚摸着自己的双脚。他的脚皮在锅里翻滚着继续融化。

叔叔见贵成常是清早一副怪模样蹲在锅旁，只当是他最近突然加重了的腰疼的缘故。 有一次见他在厨房摇摇晃晃的气力不足差点没倒下，手紧紧地捂着后腰，实在没忍住，跟他说了一声：“你这孩子，年纪轻轻的怎么老是后腰疼呢。最近起夜也比较多吧？半夜总听到你叮叮咣咣的，还老往厕所跑。作为男生，这些可都得注意啊。”犹豫了下，又凑近，耳语似凝重的加了句“凡事得注意个度。”之后赶紧走了，像是对这种私人亲密的话语极度的不适应。

一个工作日的晚上，快两周没见的王叔又来了。

“贵成啊，在吗？还没要关门吧？要一碗面汤加面，再来个荷包蛋。”他一进门就冲厨房喊道。

贵成一听是王叔的声音，连忙从厨房走出来，“没呢。怎么都这么久没来了？之前不是明明几乎天天来的吗？”言语间竟有点娇嗔的意味。

“最近真的是太忙啦，都是点了外卖送到公司。这不今天一有空，就赶紧来这儿吃了嘛。我对你们这个面汤啊，可是心心念念的，有天晚上还梦见喝来着。”王叔搔了搔头，解释道。

贵成听闻，脸色微微泛了红，嘴角抿着笑，转过身回厨房端了面汤出来，“您先喝着汤，面等下和荷包蛋煮好端出来。”

但是汤放下后他并没有立刻离开，而是驻留在原地，局促不安的摩擦了两下穿着凉鞋的脚，动了动嘴，像是想说，却又没说什么。

“这两天我们这附近的墓地又发生了骨灰盒被盗了的新闻呢。”见他没走，隔着面汤的雾气，王叔开始扯起了最近的新闻。

“是啊，真恐怖。”贵成有点心不在焉的答道，流露出失望的神色。

“这个社会真是越来越畸形了。”

“是吧。”

“贵成啊，你最近是不是休息不太好，怎么脸色这么差？”

贵成摸了下自己的脸颊，正要答话呢，王叔喝了一大口面汤，狠狠地又加了一句，“盗墓的人啊都该死。”明显还是在想着那个新闻。

贵成放下了抚摸脸颊的手，眼里的神色暗了又亮起来，眨眨眼，然后像是懂了些什么似的点了下头。

王叔是店里最后的一个客人，很快吃完后就离开了，说是不打扰他们打样。

贵成站在王叔刚刚坐过的桌子前，看着他离开时推开还没有完全关上的门，捧起刚刚王叔用过的碗，竟伸出舌头来细细的沿着碗边舔了一圈又一圈。眼睛合着，脸上满是陶醉的神色。他嘴唇和脸上的肌肤几乎是一样的颜色，灰黄灰黄的。一条舌头伸出来，却是火红的颜色，像极了一把燃在黄土沙漠中央的火焰。

“小成啊，天冷了凉鞋是时候也该换一下了吧？而且怎么都这么脏了，周围粘的都是土？”刚进来厨房的叔叔看到正在刷碗的贵成说了一句。

贵成却像没听见一样，自顾自刷完了最后一个碗就上楼去了。

叔叔看着他上楼，摇摇头，没有追问。

第二天早上，都已经到了要开门营业的时间了，贵成还是没有出现。叔叔一边喊着他的名字一边上楼查看，喊了一半的声音却在推开贵成房门的一瞬间戛然而止。

僵直的倒在地中间，突兀如一截枯木桩的，正是面色青紫的贵成。五官狰狞纠结，周围是一地干掉的精液和被砸得稀碎的各式骨灰盒。

后续

一周后，一篇新闻报道震惊了举国上下的人，所有的人都纷纷指责报道中的男生贵成是这个社会养育出的畸形人。而认识生前的贵成的人，都把此当做自己饭后最大的谈资，添油加醋的把他的故事说了又说。报道的内容大致如下：最近盗墓偷骨灰盒的犯人已经找到了，是于十月十四日凌晨因心肌梗塞突发而死亡的贵成。深入调查后还发现了更令人反感的罪行，包括将偷来的骨灰和自己的精液混入叔叔经营的面店的汤中供顾客食用。他的尸体边唯一一个还完好的骨灰盒中装有一张明显是偷拍的中年男子的照片，和男生的爸爸长得极像，但调查后否定了该身份。据知情人士指出好像是面店的常客，但是真实姓名身份并没有在报道中被透露。