Chapter 63 back miscellaneous

back miscellaneous When I came back to Peiping, and returned to the school where I used to serve, many old workers met each other and said in authentic Peking dialect: "You are back!" Yes, you are back.As soon as I won last year, it goes without saying that I want to come back.However, the situation in the past year has made me feel dizzy about returning. In the imagined Beiping, the price of goods has risen like a tide, and the whole of Beiping seems to be swaying in the tide.However, I finally came back.When the plane flies over the city of Beiping, the chessboard-like houses, the green trees dotted with it, the Forbidden City, and the yellow glazed tiles are so beautiful in the late autumn sunset.It was the first time for me to see Beiping City on a plane.This sight reminded me of so many good things about Peking, and I forgot everything, and fell in love with Peking again.

In the southwest, I received a letter from a friend in Peiping, saying that although life is difficult, it is not as bad as the legend, and that the streets of Peking are still the same as before.Yes, in Beiping, food is extremely expensive, but everything else is pretty much the same.Because only food is extremely expensive, people from Shanghai breathed a sigh of relief and just said, "It's cheap! It's cheap!" We came from Chongqing, but we didn't have such an appetite.Besides, although only food is extremely expensive, food is what everyone needs to eat every day.This is a heavy shadow over the future of Peiping.But now everyone is a little concerned about the present, in the future, it's up to them!In addition to food, the necessities of daily life are generally not too few; there are more things that are not necessary but have a bit of antique flavor.Old furniture and gadgets can be found in small markets and street stalls, and the prices are reasonable, sometimes very cheap.This is the old flavor of Beiping, even though I don’t have the patience to visit small markets and street stalls, I still appreciate it deeply.From this point of view, Beiping can be regarded as a "possessed" city, compared with the big cities in the southwest.Go to the Forbidden City to have a look again, it's scary, it's amazing!Although I have swam many times before, this is the first time I came back from the southwest.There are so many things, including small markets and street stalls.Visiting the Forbidden City makes people not want to buy things. Buying here and there, buying more and buying less, is nothing!Peiping really "has", it really "has" it!

Not only is Peiping as "available" as ever in this respect, but he is also almost as idle in life as a whole.Originally there were trams, and buses were added, but everyone is still in a leisurely way.The trams sometimes come slowly and you have to wait for a long time.It didn't seem to be like this in the past. Maybe it's because there are more lines, but the vehicles don't increase proportionally, right?The bus is also slow to come and has to wait for a long time.Fortunately, everyone has a lot of free time, so it doesn't matter if you slow down or wait a little longer.But the one who just came from Chongqing was a little impatient.Although the buses in Chongqing are not beautiful now, they are fast. Getting on the bus, selling tickets, and getting off the bus are fast.Maybe it's busy, but it's true.Even if you are waiting in a shift, you will feel better when you see the cars coming and going, full of passengers, than waiting to see the shadows of the cars.The buses in Chongqing are sometimes crowded, but it has never been like the bus I took from Xuanwumen to Qianmen. On the one hand, the bus was extremely crowded, and at the same time, the conductor was still calmly solving problems for the passengers vying to get on the bus at the halfway station. divergent.That's a lot of free time.

Now several large newspapers in Peking have several kinds of supplements, and medium-sized newspapers are also recruiting people to run supplements.The standard of the supplement is very high, and the academic spirit is very heavy.All newspapers pay special attention to school news, and often set up a column for publication.The former phenomenon does not seem to exist elsewhere, and although the latter phenomenon exists elsewhere, it is not as serious as here-it is almost necessary to record it.Beiping has long been known as a "University City" and a "Cultural City". This is an old tune, but it seems to be played more loudly.There is a lot of news about the school, maybe it can be regarded as a bit of business experience; maybe there are more students in Peiping, so the newspaper can sell more?There are many supplements, but it is by no means a business, because some papers in some supplements seem to be understood only by some university professors and graduate students.This kind of paper should have appeared in a special magazine, but at present the special magazine cannot be published, so I have to be wronged for the time being on the remaining pages of the daily newspaper: this is why the editor of the supplement has a reason.In terms of newspapers, anyway, there are not many materials that can be published, and there may not be too many advertisements in Peiping, so there are a few more supplements in it, while keeping in line with the tradition of valuing scholars in this ancient city, and at the same time, you can calmly take care of the somewhat shaky ones. Beiping City, of course, is also good.There is a lot of news about the school, which seems to be a bit in line with the tradition of valuing scholars.Academic research should be leisurely, and the scholars who have always valued in this ancient city are the leisurely scholars.I also love the academic atmosphere of Peking.I am just a sleepy reader, and recently edited an academic supplement, but I still feel that so many such academic supplements are indeed a unique leisure taste in Peking.

However, after all, Beiping is somewhat different from before.Say it "has", it "has" valuable antiques, it is said that there are too few customers now.In the past, when you bought antique toys as gifts, you could curry favor with an official.Now it is said that there are too few people who know how to love antique toys.Gifts still have to be given, but there is an old saying, whoever loves money, everyone loves money.This is simple and clear, but it is not the old taste.It is not surprising that antiques have been neglected, and what has attracted my attention is that places of interest such as Zhongshan Park and Beihai have also become depressed.When I first came back, the weather was still not cold, and one day I took my children to visit Beihai.It was a promenade, but there were only a few people in the teahouse of Yilan Hall.I heard the guy at the teahouse next door tell a customer that there is no dim sum for sale. He said that he dared not prepare it because there were few customers.These used to be places where middle-level economic figures frequented; they seldom came, probably because they were not rich in money or in mind.

People with a medium economy are indeed tightening up.The wife of a friend who used to live in Peiping used to be a lady of the family, who can't do rough things at home, but can only do poetry and painting.This time we met, she was really busy looking at her.She told me that the number of servants has decreased, and many things have to be done by myself; she smiled and said that she has practiced now.She helped me tie the books, which was quick and strong; I didn't expect her to really practice it.This is certainly a good thing, but after all, Peking is not what it used to be.There also seem to be more people who are desperately poor.One night at nine o'clock my wife walked into a small alley in Xuanwumen with two children, and just a short distance from the entrance, she heard a voice: "Stop!" Looking ahead, there was a person standing ten steps away, walking from It was too late to say what to take out from the black jacket, then quickly, I glanced along the light, and what I took out was a gleaming sharp knife!My wife screamed loudly, and quickly turned around and ran towards the entrance of the alley. The children also screamed and ran.When they stumbled over a stone, the mother and child fell down; when they got up and looked back, the man also turned around and ran into the alley.This person seems to be not well dressed, with a white face and a young age.Presumably he had just walked this way, otherwise, he should have waited in the middle of the alley, waiting for someone to approach him before shouting "Stop!"Recently, there are frequent reports of road robbery in the newspapers, so there must be many newbies like this.Naturally, there were road robberies in the past, but I have never heard of so many.Peking is different.

Although trams and buses are not fast, tricycles are indeed much faster than rickshaws.The competition between these two cars is the competition of machinery and manpower, and foreign cars are obviously lagging behind.The rickshaw driver had no choice but to sell his labor at a lower price.Once I hired Sanluner, and the price was 400 yuan, and Sanluner must be 500 yuan.A rickshaw driver caught up and said, "I'll go, I'll go." When he got in the car, he told me that if it wasn't for the three-wheeler, he wouldn't do it for such a far price.Also, when hiring a three-wheeler, a foreign driver often catches up. If you ignore him, he will say, "Isn't it the same?" But, it's different!In addition to tricycles, bicycles have also greatly increased.Cycling can save a lot of transportation costs.There are fewer people who contribute money, but more people who contribute.The saved transportation expenses can help fill the stomach. Although it is a small supplement, it is a small supplement after all.But now the streets of Beiping are no joke. Cycling is not only exhausting, but sometimes desperate.It is said that the streets in Beiping are wide enough, but accidents often happen recently.Within a week of my return, five or six people were killed or injured.Among them, lawyer Wang Zhenhua was killed when he was hit by a bicycle.Naturally, the U.S. military vehicles should bear the greatest responsibility for this traffic chaos.But according to reports, the traffic police are also very afraid of our own military vehicles.The police are not afraid of bicycles, let alone rickshaws and tricycles.They treat rickshaws and tricycles equally, and they will punch and kick if they don't like it.Once at the entrance of an alley in Xuanwumenli, I saw a tricycle lying across the entrance and bargaining with people. A policeman came, without asking any questions, grabbed the tricycle driver and beat him up.Punching and kicking have always been like this, but he scolded strangely. He scolded, "×Your mother with democratic ideas!"But he also blamed it. After all, it was a tricycle driver. After the police went, he turned to his back and asked, "Do you have the right to beat someone?"

Don't mention this, I'm a glutton and have a stomach problem, so I'd better have something to eat.In the southwest, people often talk about the food in Beiping, there are a lot of this and that.But I still think about one unrefined thing in my heart, which is horseshoe sesame seed cake with fruit.It was sold in a basket in an alley early in the morning.This time I came back but haven't eaten yet.Inquired about the family members, also said that they rarely heard.This horseshoe biscuit is made of hard noodles and baked in a hanging oven. It is thin but a bit tough. The fruit (that is, crispy and thin fried dough sticks) is the best complement to each other. It is also crispy and crunchy. Compared with the hearty sesame paste Biscuits are much more interesting.But now chopping firewood is expensive, and there are fewer hanging stoves, making horseshoes can't be sold for more money, who wants to continue doing it!So everyone used sesame sauce biscuits to sandwich the fruit.The sesame sauce biscuits are thick, so they are more filling.However, it is different.

Made on October 28, 1946. (Originally published in No. 5 of the supplement "Weekly Literature and Art" of "Ta Kung Pao" on November 10, 1946)