Chapter 10 Fengyang flower drum

The deafening sound of firecrackers sounded throughout Chinatown.Chinatown has an unofficial boundary line, stretching from Kearney Street in the east to Larkin Street in the west, with nine streets in between, and from Bush Street to Broadway in the south, all the way to the Italian "diaspora" of North Bay.But on Grand Avenue and Stoughton Street—the business heart of Chinatown—the Chinese New Year firecrackers filled the day. From six o'clock in the morning, the streets of Gran Via were filled with the smell of gunpowder, food and wine.Many shops were closed for the holidays, but the San Francisco Bay breeze brought music and laughter.The Stars and Stripes of the United States and the flag of the Kuomintang fluttered in the wind amidst various colored flags and lanterns.The sidewalk becomes a flower market, filled with pink and white rhododendrons, camellias, daffodils, orchid grass, water lilies, plum blossoms and peach blossoms, all wrapped in clay pots with auspicious red or gold paper.

Old man Li and his nineteen-year-old daughter, Li Mei, were walking along Grand Avenue with their tattered packages on their backs, looking around, apparently fascinated by the sights on the street.They had just arrived in San Francisco from Los Angeles by coach.Mr. Li had two important things in his arms: a letter of introduction, and his ambition to open an authentic Beijing restaurant in San Francisco's Chinatown.He and his daughter have only been in the country for three months.I came with General White, who is a retired soldier and has lived in China for more than 20 years.Old man Li followed General White in his retreat from mainland China to Taiwan, and finally to Los Angeles, where the general established his new home.When the general passed away at the age of seventy-eight, old man Li was so sad that it took three weeks before he gave up the idea of ​​following him.

Old man Li has always regarded the general as a benefactor.Old man Li was hired by the general fifteen years ago when he and his wife sang flower drum songs on Beijing's famous Tianqiao and ran a small food stall at night.The general often went to the street stalls to buy antiques, and he often went to eat old man Li's fried hot buns and scrambled eggs with fungus. He liked these things so much that he finally hired old man Li to cook for him at home.Old man Li's salary is astonishingly high, ten dollars a month, almost three times the profit of being a small street vendor.During the fifteen years with General White, although his wife, who felt uncomfortable without work, died of overwork, old man Li has always lived a very comfortable life.Now, he's in America's largest Chinatown, tired but excited, ready to get back to his old business.

He stopped at the corner of Grand Avenue and Penn Avenue and wiped the sweat from his brow with one index finger. "Shh, we've walked a full five miles from the bus station to here." He spoke Mandarin, "Are you tired, Li Mei?" "A little tired." The girl replied.She was wearing a light blue cheongsam with big braids coiled on top of her head. Although her pretty face was not made up, it glowed with a healthy glow. "Dad, shall we go to Mr. Pan now?" "Oh, don't be stupid. No one is looking for someone so early. It's Chinese New Year, people are still sleeping early in the morning, full of wine and meat, and don't want to be disturbed by others. Let's have breakfast by ourselves and take the opportunity to rest our time legs." He wiped the sweat from his forehead again, and looked around.

"Father, this is a tea house." Li Mei pointed to a red signboard that said "Lotus House". "Okay, let's go in." After Old Man Li finished speaking, he frowned again when he saw the stairs, "No, Li Mei, I don't want to climb the stairs with such a big package on my back." "I'll help you carry the package, Dad." Li Mei said. "No, what you're carrying is already heavy enough." "I can carry more." Li Mei held old man Li's canvas bag and dragged it until he gave in to her.Old man Li shook his head and said. "Li Mei, you are just like your mother. Forty years ago when she was your age, she could carry a hundred catties of flour and walk seventy miles a day. She was as strong as a cow and as amiable... ..."

"Dad, what should we eat?" Li Mei asked. "Let's see." Old man Li said while climbing the stairs with difficulty, "We should have some New Year's dinner. But we should be careful when ordering. The owner of this restaurant may be very greedy, otherwise he wouldn't be so high-spirited." Because he knows that people will eat more after climbing such high stairs. Humph!" When he climbed the stairs and reached the upper floor, it immediately changed his mind about his boss.The spacious dining room, with its red-lacquered wood lattice windows, was immaculately packed and almost full of customers, making an impression upon entering.He believes that only places with a good reputation can do business like this.The smiling manager greeted them, led them to sit at an empty table by the window, and handed them two menus with the Spring Festival specials they were looking for.Old man Li held up the menu nervously, scanning the expensive dishes with his eyes, swallowing his saliva to resist the temptation.He wanted to eat anything, but his thrifty instinct held him back like a dog's chain.He quickly closed the menu, wiped the sweat off his neck, "Li Mei, come and order."

"Shall we have some New Year's dinner?" she asked. Old man Li swallowed and said, "Of course, of course. But now it's almost time for New Year's dinner, we don't need to eat too much." Li Mei ordered fried noodles for one dollar and a New Year meal - steamed dumplings with big meat.When the New Year's dinner was served, old man Li picked up one of the three steamed dumplings and pushed the remaining two to Li Mei. "It's all yours, Li Mei." "No, you can eat, Dad." Li Mei pushed the plate over again. "Eat it." Old man Li said, trying not to look at the two steamed dumplings. "My stomach is growing and getting smaller. Now I don't need to eat so much. Just take a few sips That's enough for 'social drink'." He pulled a wine bottle from his pocket and took a sip. "Hush, good wine. Eat it while it's hot, Li Mei. Don't wait for the steamed dumplings to cool down before eating."

While Li Mei was eating the steamed dumplings sparingly, old man Li poured tea and shared the fried noodles. "Li Mei, are you happy in America?" he asked. "Happiness, Dad." "That's good, that's good. You know what I want to do besides open the best Peking restaurant in America? I also want to find you a decent man, he should be a learned man , have the ambition to be an ambassador.” He took another sip of his wine, sighed and said, "Li Mei, if I had married another woman, I might have learned to read and write, and I might have become a scholar or a government official, but I married the wrong woman. "

"Dad, is it my mother who brought you that bad luck?" "A lot of bad luck comes from her. You know, if your mother didn't drag me down, I would have gone to school a long time ago. But your mother is so good, so good. She herself is just dead tired, poor woman." "Oh, you always think of Mama so sadly." "Good people don't always live long." Old man Li shook his head and said, "General White is also a good man, and now he also left us to go to heaven." "We can still make new friends, Dad." Li Mei said, "We will make new people in San Francisco."

"I hope Mr. Pan is also a good man." "He must be, otherwise the Consul General would not recommend him to help us." "I don't know how the Consul General introduced us in his letter of introduction." Old man Li said, taking out a letter from his chest pocket.He fiddled with the letter in his hand and said, "We don't want to read other people's letters, Li Mei. It's a sin to peek at other people's letters." "Don't you want to read this letter, Dad?" "Of course not... But, you know I don't know a few words... Maybe it wouldn't do me any harm to take a look. It's just like a blind man walking into a bathroom where a woman is taking a bath. Since he was blind, no harm was done."

"I don't think there is any harm." Li Mei said. Old man Li blew open the envelope and took a peek inside.Then he carefully pulled out the letter and played with it in his hands for a while. "Hey, Li Mei, come and take a look." He handed the letter to Li Mei and said, "Since the letter is unsealed, Mr. Pan may not care if others take a look at it." "I don't think I care." Li Mei said.When she opened the letter, she frowned, "Dad, the letter is written in foreign characters." "Hush, give it back to me. It's a sin to read other people's letters." He immediately took the reply, folded it, put it back in the envelope, and put it in his pocket, "Hurry up and finish your fried noodles, Li Mei. We Take a walk in Chinatown and get acquainted with this place first." "I like Gran Via." Li Mei said, "Will our restaurant be opened on Gran Via?" "Yes, as long as there is enough space. We will open the largest restaurant in Chinatown, specializing in northern food and wine. Maybe we will also have some entertainment. Do you remember what General White said about your flower drum song ?” "He never talked to me about my singing," Li Mei said. "You sang exactly like your mother. That's why he didn't talk to you, he didn't want you to be complacent. Do you know what he said before he died? He winked at me and said:' Lee, that daughter of yours will have a bright future if she can be found. One day, her flower drum song will make people eat her little hands.' These words from General White gave me the idea of ​​opening a restaurant After our restaurant opens, Li Mei, you don’t have to do anything, just sing and dance to the customers.” "And let them eat my hands?" Li Mei asked with a smile. "So, if customers ask for your opinion when ordering, you can try to give them some advice. This is much better than building a staircase in a restaurant to make them eat more. Have you finished?" "Finished." "Okay, let's go, let's get acquainted with this place first." They left the teahouse and walked north along Grand Avenue. "Hey, the backpack is too heavy." Old man Li said, "Let's find a hotel first." "Maybe we should visit Mr. Pan first, Dad," Li Mei said. "No, we are strangers, so we can't visit him on the Spring Festival. We'll see him again tomorrow afternoon. Let's go to the hotel first." "I'll help you carry your backpack." "No, I'm not that old yet." "Dad, if I carry your backpack, it will save both of us." "What kind of back method?" "Put your backpack down." Old man Li put down his backpack.Li Mei tied it to her backpack and swung them over her left shoulder. "See, now I even have my hands free." "It's really like your mother." Old man Li shook his head and said, "She can climb the western mountain with a hundred catties of flour on her shoulders." "Dad, there's a hotel here." Li Mei said, and stopped in front of a big hotel. There was a big restaurant next to the hotel, with a spacious marble porch leading directly to the second floor.Old man Li hesitated as he looked at the magnificent porch. "This is a first-rate hotel, Li Mei," he said. "Until our restaurant opens, maybe we should stay in a second-rate hotel. You can speak some Cantonese, maybe you should ask a passer-by Let him show us how to find a cheaper hotel nearby." "Okay, Dad." They walked another avenue north.At the intersection of Grand Avenue and Sacramento Avenue, Li Mei stopped an old man and asked him in Cantonese where there was a cheap hotel.The old man looked them over, turned his head to the east, and said, "The cheap hotels are all on Kearney Street. It's just another street from here. If you don't care about bedbugs, there are rooms for a dollar a day." Old man Li can understand a little Cantonese.He immediately turned east on Sacramento Avenue and motioned for Li Mei to follow him. "A room for one dollar is fine," he said. "In China, it costs three dollars to stay in a hotel for a month. The times are different, and we can be a little more luxurious these days." As they approached Kearney Avenue, firecrackers started to go off everywhere.Old man Li straightened his body, sighed and said, "Li Mei, it's like those days in China. If General White was still alive, he would like this atmosphere very much." Hanging under the firecrackers that are being set off, I stop and breathe the smell of firecrackers to my heart's content.He stood there with his eyes closed, with a smile on his face, as if enjoying a refreshing cold bath on a hot day.There were quite a few tourists hiding from the exploding firecrackers, and a few ladies covered their ears with their fingers and ran past Old Man Li, screaming and laughing as they ran. It wasn't until the last firecracker went off that old man Li opened his eyes, shook his shoulders and said, "Okay, all my bad luck from last year has now been blown away. We will definitely achieve great success in opening a restaurant in the Year of the Horse." He shook off the crumbs of firecrackers on his shoulders, rubbed his ears with his index finger, "Hey, it's really loud! Let's go, let's find a hotel." They found a small hotel on Kearney Street and climbed the trembling stairs to the counter on the second floor.A Cantonese man showed them two dark and tobacco-smelling rooms.Old man Li tried the creaky double beds in each room, nodded his head and said: "Not bad, very comfortable. We want these two rooms. Li Mei, let's sleep for a while. This bed is good, they last a day Worth a dollar, we can't let them sit idle." After taking a nap, they had a simple bowl of shredded pork noodles for lunch at a small restaurant next door.Then, they wandered around, trying to familiarize themselves with the topography of Chinatown.There are still firecrackers everywhere on the street, and people are walking around in the street, saying "Gong Xi Fa Cai" to each other.The housewives wandered from grocer to grocer, purchasing the finest poultry and duck, the freshest fish and fruit, and the tenderest vegetables, for the family feast lasted for a fortnight.Children put on their best clothes, search for firecrackers that haven't exploded, and flock to stalls selling preserves and New Year's sweets.Merchants adorned their shops with new couplets and potted flowers wrapped with red strips of gold and auspicious words.Joyful music abounds—Cantonese opera, southern folk songs in every accent, and modern Chinese music incorporating tango and rumba styles. Old man Li and Li Mei walked up and down the Grand Avenue, enjoying the scene and atmosphere of the Spring Festival.At night, the whole Chinatown began to boil.Under the decoration of thousands of lights, the town hall is as magnificent as a palace inlaid with jewels. The shops and large commercial institutions are brilliantly decorated with neon lights and Chinese New Year lanterns, and every restaurant is full.Old man Li took a deep breath of the tangy aroma, and decided to break through the budget and have a hearty meal. This was the first time in fifteen years. "Li Mei, let's have a good meal at a fancy restaurant, are you hungry?" "I'm so hungry I could eat a buffalo right now." "Well, let's have a four-course dinner tonight. Eat well on Chinese New Year's Day and you'll be sure of a good year." They came to the Hongwalou restaurant and waited for half an hour before occupying a double seat.They ordered a four-course family dinner, and while they waited for the food to be served, Mr. Li took two sips of his "social drink" to cleanse his stomach.Outside the restaurant, people had already started forming long queues on the street.By the end of old man Li and Li Mei's dinner, the sidewalk was already full of people, children sat on the railings by the side of the road, old ladies sat quietly on some grocery boxes, and others stood behind them, some In three or four rows, the people standing at the back kept stretching their necks to look at the people in front. The young lovers held hands and slipped through the crowd, chatting and laughing happily. Seeing the crowd on the street, old man Li was very surprised. "What's going on here? Is there a fire somewhere?" "Waiting for the parade, Dad. Didn't the consulate tell you?" "Yes, yes. I forgot. Well, Li Mei, let's watch the parade. Oh, there are so many people!" He took Li Mei's arm and joined the ranks of waiting bystanders.After a while, two policemen on motorcycles roared past.People turned their heads to look at the empty south end of Gran Via.At this moment, there was music, and occasionally a few firecrackers sounded. With a burst of warm applause, many cars carrying those important people slowly drove into the avenue, and the parade followed closely behind.One square team after another walked down the street in a stately manner, with a square team composed of soldiers in the front; followed by drum bands organized by middle schools in Chinatown in gorgeous clothes. followed by a procession of children in costumes and students waving small flags; followed by a procession of illuminated floats carrying the Queen of Chinatown and her little princes, all dressed in Chinese style. Silk cheongsams or long gowns wave to the audience with smiles on their faces, and keep throwing flowers to the cheering crowd; finally, there is a majestic dragon dance team, which has a long street, accompanied by special music composed of gongs and drums. Dancing the long dragon, jumping and shuttling on the street with firecrackers, the long dragon's gleaming eyes kept winking, and its big mouth opened and closed, as if drunk by the New Year's wine. Li Mei was busy clapping and applauding. Old man Li was dazzled by this scene, and suddenly felt nostalgic in his heart.After the parade passed, the crowd of onlookers began to roll away like a flood to the north.There is a performance on the viewing platform, a beautiful Cantonese opera actor is singing Cantonese opera with the accompaniment of huqin and yueqin.Old man Li watched the singing for a while, and suddenly had an idea. "Li Mei," he shouted excitedly, "we're also going to have a show. I'll go back to the hotel and get your flower drums and gongs, and we'll sing them a flower drum song..." "Oh, Dad, don't." Li Mei quickly objected. "Why don't you sing?" Old man Li said, "This is an excellent opportunity to show off your talent in singing and dancing. You won't be afraid, will you?" Li Mei was stopped by the question, "I'm not afraid, but..." "That's good." Old man Li interrupted her, "When we open the restaurant, you have to sing and dance for these people. You wait here, and I'll get the instruments. Wait here and don't move!" He was very angry Quickly squeezed out of the crowd and ran to the hotel. Fifteen minutes later he was back with a small hub with a strap and strips of red cloth wrapped around it.He also brought a gong as big as a vegetable plate, which was shining brightly.He handed the flower drum to Li Mei and started to beat the gong. "Please give up an open space, respected ladies and gentlemen." Old man Li shouted in impure Cantonese, "Please give up an open space, my daughter and I will perform for you, the flower drum song of Fengyang, Please give us an open space, thank you!" People clapped and quickly made room for them.Old man Li beat the gong and walked around the circle formed by the onlookers. "Well, my little minion," he called professionally, "what are we going to sing today?" Li Mei followed behind her father in good spirits. "Huagu Song." She replied with the accent of singing on stage, with her left arm spread out, she made a stage appearance. "What shall we play for you today?" "Flower drums and gongs." "Yes, flower drum and flower gong." He asked after beating the gong three times, "Well, my little servant, what flower drum song do you want to sing for everyone?" "'Fengyang Flower Drum'." "What else?" ""Little Autumn Fragrance"." Old man Li beat the gong again and said to the audience: "Dear gentlemen and ladies, both of us can play and sing. When this little servant sings..." "That song was like a song." "When I sing..." "The noise was like a broken gong." "Oh, my little slave," Old Man Li said, "Why don't you know how to be humble? Haven't I told you the teachings of Confucius?" "As I said, my old master has been there for more than ten years, when I was young." "Then, you should have read his sage book and understood the eight virtues he talked about." "How could I? Even you, my old master, often hold his books upside down." "Well-meaning ladies and gentlemen," said old man Li apologetically, "this little slave is spoiled. Do you know where I picked her up? I was..." "Attention, my master, we are newcomers to this friendly city!" "Yes, yes. Our ancestors said: family ugliness should not be publicized. Little servant, just like you said, this city is friendly, and the people are also very friendly..." "And our shows are good too, so let's not keep the well-wishers here waiting too long!" "Well, as long as there are another forty people in our audience, we will start singing, and there will be another forty people." "No, my master, come four more. As long as there are four more, we will sing." "Okay, okay. Four more people. Please be patient, honored audience, patience is the tonic of life." "Patience can turn gray hairs into blacks, and weak bodies into strong ones!" "Oh, here comes a respectable lady," said old man Li, "Please make room for this respectable lady. Please make room! Oh, here are three more gentlemen! Little slave, now we have more Four spectators, what should we do?" "Then let's beat the gongs and drums and start the performance!" Old man Li jumped to the center of the circle and struck the gong three times. "Little servant, don't forget to bow to everyone!" Li Mei stopped jumping and bowed three times to the audience, "Well-meaning ladies and gentlemen, I bow to you." "Well-meaning ladies and gentlemen," said old man Li, "if she sings well..." "Give me a round of applause when I finish singing." Li Mei said, bowing again. "If she can't sing well..." "Give me a round of applause, too." Immediately afterwards, old man Li beat the gong, and Li Mei played the drum, jingle dong gong, jingle dong gong, jingle dong gong... After the prelude, old man Li stopped the gong.Li Mei sang to the beat of her own drum. Talk about Fengyang, sing about Fengyang, Fengyang is a good place, since Zhu Yuanzhang came out, Fengyang has suffered from it. The rich give out usury loans, and the poor sell their sons and daughters; When she finished singing, old man Li joined in by beating the gong, and they beat the gongs and drums again just like the beginning, ding dong ding ding, ding dong ding ding, ding dong ding ding, ding dong ding ding. "Hey, I'm talking about a little slave." Old Man Li said. "Why, my master." "Then you are from the rich Fengyang?" "Yes, my master. But I was sold." "Poor girl, don't you have any relatives?" "I have hundreds of relatives, fat and thin, old and young." "When you have money..." "They came after my ass like a dog." "When you were poor..." "They are like the wind, they don't know where to blow." "Poor girl, you need someone to feed you..." "Now, I can eat a mile-long Cantonese sausage." "Hey! Needless to say, no one dares to take you as a little minion. I'm worse, and now I can eat a buffalo, including its horns." "Food does not fall from the sky, and gold does not grow from the ground." "Well said, my little minion. So what do you say we should do?" "Strike the gong, beat the drum, and sing our best songs!" They beat the gongs and drums again, in the same beat.After the prelude, old man Li and Li Mei sang together. Fengyang drum, Fengyang gong, beat the gongs and drums and sing songs.What song shall we sing?We can only sing Fengyang. Sing Fengyang Flower Drum Song, Phoenix, Fengyang Flower Drum Song.Oh, oh, oh, oh, it's the middle of winter. Then Li Mei went on to sing a solo. My fate is so miserable!Marry someone and marry a Huagulang.He is a big idiot, and his idiot and stupidity are annoying. Know the flower drum all day long, and the flower drum accompanies the singing loudly.Oh, oh, oh, oh, it's the middle of winter. At this time, old man Li continued to sing. My fate is miserable!married an ugly woman.I have seen thousands of women, but I just married this woman. Her big feet are the largest and only pair in the world.Oh, oh, oh, oh, it's the middle of winter. Old man Li and Li Mei sang together. Oh, oh, oh, oh, it's the middle of winter.Oh, oh, oh, oh, it's the middle of winter. After they finished singing, old man Li put the gong on the ground and bowed to the audience. "My dear ladies and honorable gentlemen, if this song pleases your ears, please support this little servant." When the audience applauded, Li Mei smiled and saluted everyone.Old man Li picked up the gong, used it as a plate, and went around the field to collect money. "Every generous lady, every generous gentleman, if you really like these songs, please give this little servant a little money, give as much or as little as you like, just a little money..." Although many people could not understand the Cantonese he spoke, they all knew what he meant and they all took out money.After a while, old man Li's gong was filled with coins. Some tourists were so happy that they even threw banknotes into the gong. After returning to the hotel, old man Li counted the money.It was seven dollars and thirty-five cents.He had never earned so much money in one hour in his life.He wrapped the money in red paper and handed it to Li Mei.Like her father, Li Mei was very excited about this unexpected harvest. "This is your lucky money for the year of the horse." Old man Li said, "Put it in your pocket, don't spend it. I said Li Mei, people in San Francisco are quite generous. This is a good sign. With your flower drum song With my cooking skills, we will do a big business in this city. Let's sleep a little longer tomorrow, and we will go to Mr. Pan after lunch." After lunch the next day, they went to visit Mr. Pan on Jackson Street.They rang the second-story doorbell, and a fat woman opened the door. "We are here to visit Mr. Pan from Beijing." Old man Li said politely to her in Cantonese with a strong Mandarin accent. "There is no Mr. Pan in this house." The fat woman said in Mandarin with a strong Hunan accent. Old man Li looked at the house number, scratched his neck with his hand and said, "This is the house number." "There is no Mr. Pan here." The fat woman said, closing the door. They rang the doorbell again, and the fat woman yanked the door open and said angrily, "I told you, there is no Mr. Pan in this house!" "But the house number..." Before old man Li finished speaking, the fat woman closed the door with a bang, "Hey, what a grumpy old shrew! Li Mei, look at the house number again, See if it's right. Maybe I'm old..." "This is the house number, Dad." Li Mei said after checking the envelope, "However, it is also possible that Mr. Consul General wrote the address wrong." "Is this Jackson Street?" "Yes. It's written on the road sign on the street. Dad, look, the foreign characters on the road sign are the same as the foreign characters on the envelope." "Well, all foreign characters are the same in my eyes, maybe we should ask someone. It's strange, why can't I see a single person on the whole street? Where have all the people gone? Li Mei, put down your burden , let's rest for a while. Shhh, I've never met such an impolite person. She's not from Cantonese, shhh, this woman's temper is really hot!" They put down their burdens and sat on the steps to rest for a while.A car passed by here.Old man Li hurriedly stood up and shouted at it, but it didn't stop. "Maybe we should sing a song here," he said, and sat down again. "No one will come to our performance on this street." Li Mei said, "It's so quiet here, it makes people feel deserted." "Lonely? Once my gong is struck, no place can be deserted." Old man Li took out the gong from his bag, "Li Mei, put some powder on your face, let's have another show. ' He stood up and began to beat his little gong.Several housewives pushed open the windows and stuck their heads out to see what happened. "Father, I see some people now." Li Mei said excitedly. "What did I tell you?" Old man Li said, beating the gong more vigorously, "People will come as soon as my gong sounds. Li Mei, take out my whip and beard, and tie the flower drum Good! Hurry up!" Li Mei took out those things according to what his father said, and then added them in with a flower drum, beating according to their usual rhythm, ding dong ding ding, ding dong ding ding, ding dong ding ding, ding dong ding ding, ding dong ding ding, ding dong ding ding Bang dong ding, ding dong ding... Suddenly, the fat woman opened the door and shouted, "Who is making such a fuss in front of this house? Why haven't you left yet?" "We're just playing a little music here." Old Man Li said, "It's music, lady, it's not noise at all." "This is Master Wang's mansion, and no monkey is allowed to disturb his lunch break. Go away, go away!" "We're not playing monkeys." Old man Li said angrily, "We're new here, we'll go when we should go, you don't need to bark your teeth like this." Liu Ma stepped out of the door, pointed at Li Mei with a finger and said, "If you don't leave here quickly, you will see what will happen to you, you beggar brat!" Li Mei snorted and sat on her bag, "Dad, we'll just stay here. I want to see what will happen to us." "What will happen to you? You will be arrested, you will be imprisoned! You will die and rot, and your bones will be thrown into the mountains to be fed to wild dogs! Your souls will forever wander in foreign lands, I can never go back to China..." "Thank you, thank you!" Old man Li interrupted her, "We have already arranged our own future, so you don't need to worry about it, lady. What you can do now is to inform your master, if he doesn't Like music and singing, he can plug his ears with cotton and cover his head with three wet quilts..." "Ah, you dare to insult our lord at the door of our lord's house, beware of being hit by thunder!" Mama Liu said, "If you were in China, you would have been arrested and locked up in prison..." Wang Da just came home from school at this time.He hurried up the steps and asked, "What happened here?" "This old man insulted the master just now." Mama Liu said, "And this beggar girl..." "We are singers." Li Mei said, "We just sang some songs..." "They're playing monkeys." Mama Liu shouted, "They were making a fuss here just now, disturbing the master's lunch break..." "Let this lady finish." Wang Da interrupted her, then he turned to Li Mei and asked, "What did you want to say just now?" "What I just wanted to say is that the master of this house must have hired this woman to look after the door. I have never seen a guard dog that barks more fiercely than her in my journey from China to the United States." Mama Liu yelled, "Okay, you beggar girl! Be careful not to be turned into ashes by lightning..." "Stop yelling." Wang Da said, "I think it's not anyone else who disturbed the master's lunch break, but yourself." "Okay!" Liu Ma said, "I'll go and tell the master. You will see what happens to you. Hmph, you shameless beggars." She rushed into the yard and shut the door with a "bang". door to door. "Father, let's go." Li Mei said, putting the flower drum into the bag. Wang Da found this scene very interesting.He giggled and said, "Don't be afraid, this woman is just a servant. She thought she was in Hunan Province, where the master can do whatever he wants. Did you just say you were a singer?" "Yes." Li Mei said, "We are singing flower drum songs..." "I'm still a cook." Old man Li said quickly, "I've cooked for General White for fifteen years..." "What flower drum songs can you sing?" Wang Da asked Li Mei. "I can sing stories about filial piety to parents, honest officials, ghosts, love and tragedy..." "We are high-class singers," said old man Li. "We don't sing vulgar songs like 'Woman in Love with a Pillow' or 'Little Widow Sighing at Two Pairs of Chopsticks.' General White likes to hear us sing very much." "Oh, sir." Li Mei asked, "Do you know where Mr. Pan from Beijing lives?" Wang Da frowned slightly, "Mr. Pan from Beijing? I don't know, but I can look it up in the phone book and help you find his address. What's his full name?" "We have his address," Li Mei said. "He lives in this house." “噢，我知道你说的是谁了，”王大说，“怪不得名字这么熟悉呢！他以前是这座房子的主人。四年前他把房子卖了，搬到夏威夷去了。你们认识他多久了？” “我们没有见过他。”李老头说，“洛杉矶的总领事是怀特将军的好朋友，他给我们写了这封介绍信。他说潘先生能够帮助我们在旧金山开一家北京餐馆。”他急忙掏出介绍信给王大看。 “那么，你是一位正宗北京菜的好厨师了。”王大看完信后说。 “我和我女儿打算在唐人街开一家唯一的北京餐馆。”李老头说，“同时提供歌舞表演……” “哦，爸爸。”李梅打断了他，“现在谈这些没用。潘先生不在这里，不能帮助我们。我们在这个城市又不认识任何人。” 李老头耸耸肩膀，“我想你是对的，李梅。也许我们要改变计划。但马年肯定是我们的好年头，李梅。我们用不着着急。咱们回旅馆去吧。”他转身向王大问道：“先生，请你告诉我们，在哪里可以找到一家价钱公道又没有臭虫的小旅馆？” 王大看了看李梅，“好的。不过，虽然可以找到没有臭虫的便宜旅馆，却又有一些醉汉。为什么你们不找一个条件较好的住家呢？请等一会儿，我帮你们找个地方暂时住一下。” “先生，请你不要给我们推荐价钱太高的地方。”李老头说。 “你们一分钱也不用花，李先生。”王大笑着说。 “慈善院？”李老头急忙说，“可别，先生，我在慈善院住过一次，我虽然一分钱没花，可我的裤子丢了。” “跟我走，李先生，在这座房子里保证你什么也不会丢。”王大用自己的钥匙打开大门。 “什么？”李老头说着，从台阶上倒退了一步，“这座房子？” “为什么不行呢？”王大说着，为他们敞开门，“这是我家，老爷是我父亲。” “噢，不行，不行。”李老头连连摆着手说。 “至少在我们去其他地方找房子的时候，你可以先把包袱放在这里，李先生。”王大笑着说。 “走，进去，爸爸。”李梅高兴地一边拽着父亲往门口走一边说，“请不要害怕，我们是少爷的客人！”