Chapter 9 Seven, street entertainment

As a kid from a relatively poor family, I was largely out of touch with highbrow entertainment.My place of entertainment is in the street.On the way home from school, I will probably see something interesting. The most common is the puppet show.A ragged outsider, not necessarily the same person, was walking on the street with a set of crude props on his back, and the children gathered one after another and followed behind him.When there were more children following him, he stopped and prepared to start the show.A wooden frame with a cloth curtain underneath and an open wooden box above is the stage, and the busker hides behind the cloth curtain to manipulate the puppets.He had a whistle in his mouth, blowing a single tune to match the movements of the puppet.The content of the play is the same, but it is Wu Song fighting a tiger or a tiger chasing a turtle.However, I met a must-see and never tire of it.After the show, buskers routinely collect money from small audiences, and routinely receive little or nothing.There are also bad boys who often bully him, throwing stones into the stage during performances, almost certainly falling on his head.At this time, he would draw back the curtain, poke his head out, and look around angrily, trying to find the murderer.Of course he couldn't find it, so he cursed aimlessly, and then acted again.The bad boy threw it again, and finally he had to pick up his belongings and walk.

Monkey performances are also often encountered. The monkey people let the monkey perform actions such as climbing a pole, fetching objects, and making a bow, and then let it hold a gong to ask the audience for money.I heard that the monkeys were often beaten during training, so although I couldn't help but want to watch it, I hated the monkey trickers and felt sympathy for the monkeys.Sometimes I met a singer who sang, usually a little girl singing, accompanied by an adult man playing the erhu.While watching, I would weave the same story in my head, imagining that the man was the bad guy, and I became a warrior, saving this poor little girl about my age from the fire pit.

At that time, there were hawkers walking around the streets of Shanghai, and many of them were targeting children.They carried different belongings on their shoulders and each practiced a craft.One is to use melted sugar water to quickly pour out a pattern, such as flowers, people or animals, which is solidified like a piece of sugar paper-cut, with a small bamboo stick sticking to it so that children can hold it in their hands.This kind of hawker usually carries a small roulette used for gambling, and it spins once for a penny. If you win, you can get a candy map, and if you lose, you can only get a small candy cube.In addition, there are fried ginkgo, grilled squid, dough kneaders, marbles, rings, and so on.I usually watch the fun, but sometimes I can't help spending my pocket money.Adults can't imagine how tender the ginkgo nuts are and how fragrant the grilled squid are.

When acquainted children get together, they will play small games on the side of the road or in the yard.For example, playing marbles is the kind of small glass ball used in checkers today. Use your thumb and forefinger to pop it close to the ground. If you hit the opponent's one, you can win.I'm not good at playing, so I don't like to play this kind of game.What I often play is to scratch the cigarette brand.I don't know why it's called a cigarette brand, but it's actually a piece of cardboard with colorful comic strips printed on it. We cut them out one by one and used them for playing.The method is blowing (windy blowing), put A's one on the ground, B pats his own one close to it, and relies on the fanning wind to turn it over, or gently slide it close to the ground, Insert it under it, so it counts as a win, and you can win one.In order to make cigarette brands flat and not easy to be scratched or inserted, we impregnate them with oil.Cigarette brands that are well impregnated are often undefeated after repeated battles, so they are specially used for combat, rolling black and shiny.In the eyes of the children, this dirty appearance is a symbol of achievement and power, and they almost feel awe of it.

Although I often play in the street, I am a primary school student after all. I have to go to class every day and stay at home most of the time after class. This distinguishes me from those "wild children".Father forbade us to play with "wild children".However, for a while, I fell in love with a "wild child".It was a big boy, and when night fell, he held up a large handful of label paper, yelled and ran and sprinkled it on the street, attracting a group of little kids to follow him and grab it.I joined the team of little brats.He obviously likes me, and since I showed up, he stopped Penza and gave me the label paper straight away.Later, he often took me to his home. His home ran a hardware factory, and he himself was an apprentice in the factory. Every time he gave me some hardware accessories to play with.After my father found out about my dealings with him, he tried his best to stop him, saying that he was a street hooligan.I assured my father that he was a good man, and my father asked me to bring him to the house to see him for myself.The big boy was shy for a while before he got up the courage to go upstairs with me.His father leaned on the bed, asked him some questions, and gave him a few words of admonition, asking him to make progress, study hard, and stop playing around on the streets.When I met him a few weeks later, he happily told me that he had enrolled in night school.