Chapter 18 Chapter 5 Talks about Preparation

Everything must be prepared first, Miss Alice knew that.When she wrote to Mr. Nuoxi, saying that she should be well prepared to go to China, although she never thought of how to prepare, at least she was always ready to "depart".Mr. Nuoxi visited Mr. Habu on Momo Street and asked his friend all the ways to go to China. He changed his name, learned to eat bitter tea, and learned how to ask for directions and enter the store after going to the Chinese port. Prepared in advance! Alice also knew many people who only prepared a mouth for eating, like a rice bucket and a rice cooker for filling food.In this world, there are certain types of people who come to study in order to prepare for promotion and make a fortune.The Erniu who took care of Miss Alice's tea in the Fuling Hotel also told Alice that Chinese women would marry a rich man in order to prepare for being a wife, and that Chinese men had long necks in order to prepare for the beheading of officials. Long, and inherently more brittle than the rest of the body.It is not easy for the Chinese to understand things about China. Of course, there are more things that Alice does not understand. Of course, "preparation" is an indispensable thing.

Alice is not responsible for the preparations for Miss Yibin's second brother to lure Alice to another country.She couldn't understand this any more than she could understand the weather tomorrow.Although she could guess, based on her experience, she thought that Ruxiang was unhappy and wanted to find something wrong, so she was going to take a turn in the street, and when she turned around, she went to her country's embassy to tell the minister, saying that she was on the street for someone. A passer-by spat on a mouthful of phlegm (spitting is a habit of all Chinese people, and your country’s ministers will not believe this), and a protest was sent to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and those very polite Chinese officials would immediately send a clerk or The secretary came to apologize to you, the Japanese have done this before.And prepare to sleep peacefully at night, and don’t let other sounds disturb your sweet dreams—for example, car horns—you should send a servant to call a police officer on the street, and give a strict order that I will come to your China during the day The yamen is working and should rest at night. From now on, whenever there is a car crossing the street at night, he is not allowed to honk his horn to make noise near the mansion!Then the patrolman even said that the foreign master did everything he ordered.Although you followed the order, there are still clucking or whining sounds, making noise, then go to see your country's minister again and report this matter, and soon you will see a wooden sign from the police chief on both sides of the street, which says "here Where foreigners drive here late at night, no matter whether they are soldiers or civilians, they are not allowed to honk their horns, and if they violate it, they will be fined." Needless to say, it is a good result of the minister's protest. This example can be found in Britain and the United States.

She also thought of... But we still let Alice sleep in the drawer, let's hear what Miss Yibin can think of for her. This incident happened at a time when Alice was just waking up in another sleep, but Miss Yibin was thinking about asking Alice to go to her own country with her second brother to play the next day.Because she had discussed this opinion with her second brother, the second brother said that it was good to do it this way.The second elder brother agreed to this matter, and still wanted Yibin to take Alice's place to prepare everything from Beijing to Tianjin, Tianjin to Tanggu, Tanggu...all the way to the east gate of the county.

The second elder brother said: "Jiumeizi, try to think about the needs and sufferings of this trip. In order not to make Miss Alice sick on a Chinese sea ship to see the filthy conditions in China, it is best Don’t take a boat to our county.” "But Miss Alice should be allowed to take a private boat on the river, because that's what I like." "The happiness of little Chinese girls may not necessarily be the happiness of foreign girls." Yi Bin then used her own opinion to refute her second brother.She said that apart from crying, which is a unique hobby of Chinese girls, of course Alice would sympathize with her.With the approval of the second brother, Miss Yibin planned everything for Alice to take a 600-mile private boat for 31 or 21 days.She clearly knew that Alice was a complete layman on this trip, but she still came to discuss with Alice softly.

Miss Yibin was discussing with Alice about taking a civilian boat, and when she called Alice for the first time, Alice was thinking of all the polite and useful things that foreigners who were going to China were going to send Chinese officials to do. Miss Yibin said, "Alice, are you awake? It's another day." Those who want to live in darkness will find it difficult to believe the words "one more day" or "two more days".But Alice has seen the sun and the moon, the hands of the wall clock moving, the wind in winter and the flowers in spring, so she believes that the days are passing.The days gone are gone forever.The accumulation of new days is the evidence of life consumption.So I also look forward to the solemnity of this old day drifting away and the new day coming suddenly.She answered the girl Yi Bin who was sitting at the table who seemed to be very close to her.

In a slightly sad tone, she said, "Good girl, good sister, thank you for the news that I know this is a new day to be welcomed with open arms." Miss Yibin said that she had already asked her brother, and Alice replied in a tone of gratitude, "My dear sister, I should like to have such a brother to welcome you to Europe!" When Miss Yibin arrived, she talked about her second brother and asked her to plan for Alice to travel 5600 miles and live on a boat for about a month, so she went back and forth to discuss with Alice, and Alice followed Miss Yibin’s lead. In a soft tone, he thanked him while expressing that this was an unexpected and gratifying wish.

Their conversation is still one of thinking that "there will be no opinions" and the other is that "there will be no ears". This kind of conversation can continue until the end, and they say goodbye and good night to each other. Of course, it is very common and not Not surprising, because many, many people have done that at another time. Now let's take a look at a chapter of China travel notes that has not been described in Mr. Hab's "China Travel Guide". This is how Miss Yibin began to discuss the wooden boat ride with Alice, and she sang a song for her first.The song is very beautiful.Alice had never heard a better song in all her life.She thought that if she hadn't believed that Miss Yi Bin was a Chinese, she would have thought she was Peter from the Immortal Island when she heard this song. The Immortals sang around the house where she lived to comfort her loneliness.

Miss Yibin sang, and told Alice the source of the song. "This is the scull song sung by the rowers in my place, Alice, what do you think?" She said as if waiting for an answer, or some kind criticism or compliment.Alice indeed used five metaphors to praise the oar song, but Miss Yibin never heard a single word.She only gave Alice three compliments on the beauty of the song in her own opinion, one of which was about the clarity of her voice. Therefore, Yi Bin said politely, "It's a pity that the voice is not good. If the voice can be a little older, it will be true."

Alice laughed when she heard this kind of modesty, she smiled and said incredulously, "My sister, then why did I hear from the waiter at my Fuling Hotel that you Chinese can sing with the sharpest voice?" It's a famous actor, where do you say this?" Miss Yibin was silent.If she kept silent, Alice thought that Miss Yibin wanted her to think for herself.Alice went on thinking.After reasoning for the third time, she figured out that this one is Chinese art, and the other is just a boatman's song, so it has to be slightly different.Alice finally said "I see" when she arrived, and Miss Yibin soon began to talk about the boat.

"Use some wooden boards, nail some iron nails of different sizes, and after it has become half of a long melon shape, use tung oil to rub all over the body of this thing, and feed it some pockmarks on the wooden seams, and feed it. Some tung oil lime paste, so I pushed it down the river, lined up some small decks horizontally on both sides, put on a house-shaped canopy made of bamboo or palm leaves, and vertically erected on its front waist. A big piece of wood, add a tail to its back,... add a few Mayang men in blue cloth jackets, then this thing can go down the current and up against the current.”

"No one has ever known the number of such men, not even the officials and family members who specialize in collecting donations from ships. Their life is just like a postman. Except for special circumstances, they can stay in their own homes for a while. Except for five days and one and a half months, the other days are all running back and forth at the designated place." "From above to below, the distance between the two places is hundreds of miles. With this river and this kind of boat, the upper-class people in remote villages and towns have the opportunity to pay attention to all the comforts of life. The boat from Up and down depends on water power, and from bottom to top there are many strong and strong men who come to help pull the boat up with a cable made of bamboo strips. Yes, I am talking about these men , strong, and honest. These people—or 'things'—can be met anytime, anywhere, and they are easier to take care of than dogs. As long as they have a bowl of rice, he will work for you until late at night, and he will not spare his energy And sweat. With this kind of worthless, rotten, and inexhaustible power that can be used forever to supply ships for hauling, I ask you to believe that our countryside does not lack the materials of Chinese civilization! That is to say What is not easy to believe is that from these people, you can find the strength of a cow and a horse, as long as they work hard and sing at the same time." Alice said: "I don't believe it. I heard you sing that song just now. It seems to be hypnotizing. I will close my eyes and stop talking after singing it five times at most. I bet!" Please do what Alice thinks, even if Miss Yibin did hear what she said.Because Miss Yibin then sang another song.This song is another tune.The singing is just a moan like excessive force, bursting with grief and indignation.Alice thought: This is the same thing as the Russian boatmen's song on the Volga River.Miss Yibin told her that it was not the same, and Miss Yibin could not explain the reason, but Alice believed it, because it was only natural that China could not become Russia.Even if one day, all these singers and stretchers suddenly go crazy, kill people casually, and get up with wooden sticks and bamboo poles to settle accounts with the law, the officials who enforce the law, and all the ladies and ladies, but I don't know when this will happen. The genius will come!And who alone wants this day to come?Officials, businessmen, and even many kinds of beggars in China at this time, no one believes that this is a fear of life, so they take it to heart.And no one dares to hope that this day will come: just because this day is coming, but before it comes, some people are restless and hope for this day, and they should die. This chapter is about preparation. Let us see how to prepare. Miss Yibin told Alice that the first thing to do is not to suspect that it has something to do with the singing on the Volga River when you are going to hear the singing.The second thing is to be prepared to understand that she can't talk to such things. The reason is that according to Chinese etiquette, ladies have no possibility to talk to boatmen.According to the new situation, a foreigner, unless sent by Russia, would not casually talk to the coolies about life and other things.Thirdly, she told Alice to prepare either a British passport or a Japanese passport.Because recently the governors of various parts of China have once again paid homage to Britain and Japan, and the subjects of the empire are all honored guests. If there is a slight negligence, the ministers of their own countries can protest and severely punish the chiefs of the place, which is not like in the past. Miss Yibin said at the fourth point, "Alice, let me tell you, if you are sitting on a boat and you see one of a group of sweaty shirtless men singing that pitiful song suddenly fall to the river bank and die, you Don't make a fuss. It's the most common thing! They died like this, this boat, and this group of people pulling the boat, just take a short rest, check him for any change, and then have to leave him and go to a beach.The person who paid for the boat would not agree to a delay of three to five o'clock for such an ordinary matter.It is not at all surprising for their accomplices to lose one or two men when the boat is moored at night.It's not that they don't know, you should understand that there are also two fathers and sons or two brothers together, but it's over once they die.Those who were not counted as human beings in life will certainly be even more insignificant after death!You should be prepared to speak more.If you ask your fellow shipmates this, they will laugh at your shallow eyesight as a foreigner.Anyone who goes to our province is going to preach. His status is to uphold the will of God and save souls. Once he has been there for three or two years, he will also understand the sympathy of human beings. There is a shortage, but everything has to be stingy like money.If one has such a habit, wasting something like "compassion" on worthless dead people is worse than squandering money on opium! (Eating cigarettes is a common sense among the young people there, and it is more common than people living in Shanghai speaking English, but this is incidental, and you should know it in advance, so as not to be surprised when you get on the boat.) "Miss Yibin told Alice again Fifth thing, be ready to be sloppy. "You can't be sloppy, my dear Alice.If on a ship, you see a soldier, no matter one or a group, and he takes a Chinese guest on board, you don’t need to use any reason, you have to pretend that you don’t know about it, so that these deputy masters can be easily and quickly. Find a sum of money on this guest, so that those soldiers won't hate you.When you see a customs officer cheating with the ship owner, you have to act as if you don’t know it, and if you know it and think it’s normal, it’s reasonable.Because they came to this game, they spent money to campaign against the government. If they only rely on a small monthly salary, it will take many years to get back their capital.What's more, the superiors also know about this matter. It is because of the fraudulent work to make money that there will be a second person who spends more money to buy this beauty next month.The greater the tax fraud, the greater the personal income of the governor of a province who manages finances.Halfway through your boat, you see another boat from the same group being robbed by bandits, so you'd better pretend to be sloppy.If he doesn't rob you, he doesn't need to worry about it. This is also the case with the army sending ships.A certain ship was robbed, but a certain ship owner did not give money to escort the deputy leader of the ship, so some bandits heard it very clearly and robbed it anytime and anywhere, and the soldiers on the other ship saw the situation as funny.This is not the responsibility of their vice-lord, because he does not give money, and the vice-lords have warned him earlier when they met this ship owner who is only thinking about money, saying that he is irresponsible if he has no money.Another example is that if you see bandits on both sides of the strait on the road, if you can pretend to be sloppy, you can save a lot of frightening opportunities.If the previous escort troops did not negotiate with the bandits along the river, this group of boats would not dare to sail.Since the boat can sail, the bandits and the army have negotiated very well. Except for the boat that did not send money to the deputy leader of the escort ship, the rest of the boats will not be robbed if they are parked near the bandits' water camp. " Miss Yibin told Alice that if she had heard Mr. Nuoxi talk about names such as "minion", "guarantee", "buy road money", etc., then she should be prepared to understand all the new terms of these terms. After saving it, "bring it over" (everyone there understands it, which means guilt, and Yi Bin explained it in particular). After hearing these words, Alice understood seven hundred and thirty-nine taboos on the boat, one hundred procedures for getting off the pier, forty-seven ways to eat, and... Now she is only going to leave .Just like before, I stayed at home and waited for Mr. Nuoxi to leave. The days felt a little longer, but I was a little sad.Everything she could think of to prepare, if Xiang knew everything, she should also give some shrimps to those country folks as a gift—a rare and important gift!You can also buy some soap and the like to keep by your side—you might as well say more about the price when someone asks about it, or even if...it's all planned by yourself and Miss Yibin.People say that "everything is well prepared", this is not at all silly! Miss Alice hoped that, as soon as Miss Yibin saw her second brother, she would say, "Alice is all ready, please start this wild journey at once." Miss Yibin really went to the same afternoon that afternoon. The second brother talked.The skinny young man wanted to hear what Yi Bin had told Alice about first, which caused the little girl to repeat what she had talked about with Alice in detail. The test language is "detailed to the point". Yibin's second elder brother said to Miss Yibin: "I didn't expect that half of the new things have been added to this road in recent years. When I left my hometown, if you believe that my memory is as good as yours, then I can only count three hundred and seventy at most!" His number refers to the "taboo" that Miss Yibin and Alice talked about.We understand very well that on this short waterway, the annual wars are all due to the coming and going of these military leaders, adding many rules that would not have existed before. This is not surprising!If we admit that "more" is more correct than "less" in another sense, then this can be used as a news recitation, and it is worth spending a lot of time writing about the local situation of the newsletter by several specialized foreign reporters, and showing it to a foreign lady. It is also an excellent opportunity for the natives to be proud of their culture than the whites! There is something else that should be said, about how Miss Alice is going to meet this second brother, Yi Bin, who is about to lead her to play in the Mainland of China, in her heart.She thought that a companion, and a companion who needed his care in everything, before preparing to go on the road, if he didn't get to know him as well as Mr. Nuoxi, then how to address him and how to talk would be a troublesome matter. . Alice once asked this opinion to the girl Yibin who was talking to her on the next floor, but the girl couldn't think of it.She didn't have a proper answer, but when she was thinking about Alice, she told Alice, "Next time I'm free, I'll let you know about my second brother's past life." , she put her hands and chin on the roof of Alice's house, and began to read French eloquently. Miss Yibin's determination to read French is a kind of "preparation" for going to France in the future.Thanks to Alice's thought of this, she didn't mind Miss Yibin's nonsensical answers, otherwise Alice would be "prepared" for the enjoyment of the split friendship.