In 2016, 35-year-old Qin Juan returned to the old industrial city in Northeast China from Shenzhen and opened a bistro in an abandoned carport.
Those who come are all people whose edges have been smoothed by life:
A retired soldier with a broken gun and an old wound on his leg came to the kitchen to cook with all the resettlement money;
Xiaoyan, a single mother, runs takeout during the day and washes dishes in the kitchen at night, just to earn a stable meal for her children;
An old fan, an old horse, who has been guarding his hometown team all his life, was deceived by his old brother of thirty years and almost lost his fortune;
Former referee Lao Chen carries a whistle with worn paint in his pocket. He has followed the rules all his life and has never missed a whistle.
They all thought that as long as they kept this dilapidated carport tavern, they could keep the last thoughts in their lives.
But there are people who don't want them to keep it.
The IOU that Lao Ma was deceived into signing became a reminder, and local capital focused on the carport land and pressed forward step by step.
In order to protect the tavern and the brothers, Can Qian dragged his injured leg through all the troubles.
Twelve years later, the old alleys in Tiexi were demolished and rebuilt. The lights in the pubs were still on, but the people there had dispersed.
But every year when the snow falls, someone always opens the iron door and says to the bar:
"Shopkeeper, would you like a glass of something warm?"
This is a story about "keeping".
Guarding a shabby tavern, guarding a group of old brothers, guarding the youth and longings of our generation that can never be taken back.
