Chow mein at the end of the alley

十年不见她了，自她嫁到南洋之后。稍稍丰腴一点，却依然眉清目秀。我对她最后的印象是婚礼，她穿着缎质绣花旗袍，绣花披肩风情万种的垂自肩颈。

而此刻的她虽美丽如昔，神色间却有几分仓皇，她到我下榻的旅馆来看我，我当时应邀赴南洋演讲。和她谈了几句话以后，她坦白表明来意，她说她很想念台湾，想请我为她先生打听一下，有没有回台湾就业的可能，我答应了她，话题便转到别处。

“这里的人吃东西真有趣，”我说，“他们爱讲一句‘搀搀’，点炒面可以搀米粉同炒，炒米粉又可以跟河粉搀，点河粉偏又跟乌龙面搀。”

她也笑。

我说这大概是“多元文化”造成的，既然这是一个由马来人、华人、印度人“搀搀”而合成的国家，则一个盘子里把面、米粉、河粉“搀搀”同炒也是理所当然的。

她对我的文化分析不置可否，却对炒面话题非常兴奋，她说：

“哎，你知道吗？要说炒面，这里各处的炒面我都吃过，就只有我家巷口那家摊子炒得最好。我也想学他做，就是学不像，他的铁锅好，家里的锅子比不上--哎，你哪天有空，我带你去吃一次！”

回到台湾，帮她问好了一个机关，丈夫对这件事很关心，一直问我：

“他们什么时候回来呀？”

“他们不会回来的！”

“不是说很想台湾吗？”

“他们不会回来的！”

“如果他们不会回来，你干嘛去帮他们找事？”

“找归找，那是尽朋友的情分，但他们是不会回来的。”

“你怎么知道？”

“你等着瞧，就知道我说的对不对？”我说。

“她口口声声想念台湾，那是真的，她口口声声想回来，那也是真的。可是，一个人如果强调自己家巷口的炒面是天下第一，那就是说，她爱上她所住的那条巷子了。一个人一旦爱上一条巷子，她其实是走不掉的了。她其实已经属于南洋了。”

她真的没有回来--一如我所料。

I haven't seen her for ten years, since she married in Nanyang. A little plump, but still beautiful eyes. The last thing I remember of her was her wedding, with her satin embroidered cheongsam and embroidered shawl hanging from her shoulders and neck. At the moment, though beautiful as ever, she looked somewhat disconcerted. She came to see me at my hotel when I was invited to give a speech in Southeast Asia. After a few words with her, she confessed her intention of coming. She said that she missed Taiwan very much and asked me to inquire for her husband about the possibility of returning to Taiwan for employment. "It's funny how people eat here," I said, "they love to talk about ‘adulterating'. Some fried noodles can be mixed with rice noodles, some fried rice noodles can be mixed with river noodles, and some river noodles can be mixed with oolong noodles." She laughed. I say this is probably due to "multiculturalism," since this is a country made up of Malays, Chinese and Indians, then a plate of noodles, rice flour, river powder "adulterated" with stir-fry is also natural. She was noncommittal about my cultural analysis, but excited about the topic of Chow Mein, she said, "Well, you know what? If you want to say chow mein, here everywhere chow mein I have eaten, only my home alley that stall fried the best. I also want to learn from him, but it's just not like him. His iron pot is good. The pots at home are not as good as -- hey, I'll take you out for a bite some day!" She asked for an office. Her husband was very concerned about the matter, he kept asking me, "when are they coming back?""they're not coming back!""I thought I missed Taiwan.""they're not coming back!""if they're not coming back, why are you going to fight for them?""finding back, that's all friends, but they're not coming back.""How do you know?""just wait and see," I said. "it is true that she says she misses Taiwan, and it is also true that she says she wants to come back. However, if one emphasizes that the chow mein at the end of one's Lane is Tianxia Diyi, one is in love with the lane in which one lives. Once a person falls in love with an alley, she can't really walk away. She actually belonged to the South Seas." She really didn't come back -- just as I thought.

标题: 巷口的炒面
作者: 张晓风
字数: 697
简介: 十年不见她了，自她嫁到南洋之后。稍稍丰腴一点，却依然眉清目秀。我对她最后的印象是婚礼，她穿着缎质绣花旗袍，绣花披肩风情万种的垂自肩颈。而此刻