Chapter 12 10. The courtyard at the corner of the square

Many years ago, at the southwest corner of People's Square in Shanghai, there was a compound surrounded by a black bamboo fence. The house number was No. 184, Huangpi North Road.There are several small two-story buildings in the yard, which were the property of the owner of the racecourse before liberation, and the area around People's Square was originally the site of the racecourse.After liberation, the property of the boss surnamed Qu was deprived. His family lived in rent on the second floor of one of the small buildings, and the rest of the houses were allocated to other residents.In addition to the small buildings, there are also many simple thatched houses built in the courtyard. The people who live there are all Jiangbei people who are called by Shanghainese. They used to flee from the famine in northern Jiangsu to Shanghai.After moving away from Houjia Road, my family lived in this compound and became neighbors of the Qu family.

These small buildings are all old, and the one the Qu family lives in is considered the best among them.There is a foyer on the ground floor, which only leads to the second floor, and the residents on the first floor do not come in and out from here.There are three rooms on the second floor, and my family lives in the outer one.This room was originally owned by Qu's family, but it was forced to give up because the total area exceeded the standard.At that time, housing was allocated by the public. If my family could not come in, they would live in other people's houses.Despite this, Mrs. Qu still felt dissatisfied.She doesn't have a job, and the two families cook in the corridor, so she meets my mother every day, and my mother often feels sad for her accusations.However, every Chinese New Year, she will bring a plate of cakes to my house, with bright red dots printed on the cakes, like a ritual.Mr. Qu works in a real estate company. When he met my parents, he just nodded and never spoke.I could feel the gulf between the two families, and it was their only son who made this feeling all the more stark to me.Their living room is in the door at the top. I have never caught a glimpse of the situation inside the door. This handsome young man lives in it and studies hard.At that time, he had just graduated from Yucai Middle School and was later admitted to Tsinghua University.Occasionally met in the hallway, he didn't even look at us, as if we didn't exist at all.I don't feel inferior because of this, it's just that I see for the first time a type of noble youth, a type that has nothing to do with me, so I don't use it to measure myself.At that time, I never dreamed that I would enter such prestigious schools as Shanghai Middle School and Peking University in the near future.

There is a strange figure in this family, we call him the old father-in-law.He is about sixty or seventy years old, with wrinkled face, gray beard and hair, always bowed, unable to stand upright, wearing a broken felt hat and a dirty blue cloth jacket.It is said that he is the father of Mr. Qu, but his status is not as good as that of a servant.He has no right to step into the threshold of Qu's house. All that belongs to him is a dark corner under the stairs, where a wooden plank and a tattered quilt are laid, and he lives there.His close companion is a cat who always curls up on his bed.He specializes in rough tasks such as sweeping the corridors and taking out the garbage. He eats alone, cooks a few simple meals, or just eats leftovers.Mrs. Qu scolded him frequently, but he was always submissive and submissive.My father fought for him many times, protested to the Qu family and his wife, and even wrote big-character posters during the street rectification, but to no avail.The old man was not a loner, he obviously welcomed new tenants, and he became less lonely after we moved in.He liked to play with us children, and gave each of us nicknames, so that when we quarreled, we used his nicknames to call each other out.

I am used to living in the pigeon coop in Yimiao District, but I felt fresh and happy when I first moved to People's Square.At that time, the area around People's Square was still very wild, with overgrown weeds everywhere.Opposite my house, across the square, is the People's Park.We kids didn't have to buy tickets at all, because we knew where there was a hole in the park wall that our bodies could walk through freely.There is a large piece of dirt in the yard. I buried morning glory, impatiens, cockscomb and other flower seeds, soybeans, mung beans, etc. beside the fence in front of my house, and experienced the joy of planting for the first time.The house in my family is much more spacious than before, and the light is good. When I open the window, I can see a wide square.Every May 1st and 11th, a rostrum is set up in the center of the square, and the window of my house is diagonally opposite to the rostrum, and I can watch parades and fireworks while sitting at home.As soon as the festival came, my mother got busy, making many steamed buns and snacks, preparing to entertain relatives and friends who came to my house to watch the parade, and the festive atmosphere was particularly strong.

I only lived in this big courtyard for two years, when the renovation of People's Square happened, the big courtyard was demolished.Afterwards, my family moved to a dark room in a grotto gate building on Jiangning Road, and we never moved again.For the Qu family, the news of the demolition was like a bolt from the blue. They were all dissatisfied with the new house they had arranged and refused to move out.Of course, the demolition was unstoppable. I heard that they later moved to a relative's house, and Mrs. Qu became insane because she couldn't bear the excitement.