Chapter 8 Twenty-Four Years of the Republic of China, Autumn, and Beiping

"Okay, let's test you now. What is 'beauties have been like famous generals since ancient times, and the world is not allowed to see gray hair'?" Zhigao squatted on a small wooden stool with long arms and legs, and was thinking with a smile while using a large funnel-shaped net cut and sewn from bean bag cloth to catch the little goldfish. "Don't be lazy, answer the teacher's question quickly, don't move! I have a 'hot tail'! I'm sick, don't disturb it." The little girl snatched back the bullshit with one hand, and asked again: "Say it quickly! If you can't memorize it, can't you explain it?"

"Oh, I understand that. Beauty and heroes are the same, but they can't have gray hair. This is an advertisement for Shuangmeilu's hair dye - use Shuangmeilu, and you are not allowed to see gray hair .” "Why are you messing around?" The little girl flicked the paper in her hand, and was about to ask again. Zhigao turned away: "Where did you get the broken book?" "I bought it at the Liulichang book stall the year before last, and it was sold at the Changdian temple fair in the first month. My father saw that the stall was very poor, and only this book was still on display—"

"The year before last? I didn't recognize you two years ago." "Let me ask you again: 'A flower can be broken when it blooms, don't wait until there are no flowers to break the branches'?" "That is to say, when I saw the flowers blooming well, I had to pick a few of them. They came too late, and they were picked away, so I had to break off the branches to make brooms." "Hey, look at you. You don't have any knowledge at all. You can't change your shit. Dad also said that I should help you read Tang poetry." "I'm a dog, so what's the matter? Well, I'm a dog, you're Blister."

"Bubble eyes are valuable! Look at my blister eyes, I'm still reluctant to sell them. They are expensive." Zhigao looked at the small burden. The wooden basin was half full of clear water, and was divided into four compartments with cross pieces of wood. One compartment was a big goldfish, the other was a small goldfish, the other was a swarthy tadpole, and the other was a small goldfish. The grid is emerald green algae, with a crap she just snatched from the side.Really, the "Goldfish Pond" in the southwest outside Chongwenmen is the most treasured treasure of this little girl from the Long family.

She is a round little person, very refreshing.There are a pair of round eyes, slightly protruding, like the blister eyes in a goldfish. The little girl specializes in dragon eyes and blisters.Her surname is Long, and her name is Long Xiaoqiao. Maybe her parents didn't expect to become a goldfish seller, or she would change her name to "Xiaojing", Long Xiaojing, which sounds better.She doesn't like "Xiao Qiao", because Qiao is a "braid", which is very unlucky. Dragon eye is a representative fish among goldfishes, pompoms, double balls are firm, inflated, symmetrical and upright, it is the top grade.If you can't be a dragon's eye, you have to be a blister.

The water bubble is also good, there are two soft and translucent floating bubbles on the top, round, long body and big tail, when swimming, the tail swings like a big flower; when it is still, the tail droops like a hanging flower. Lingluo.There is a kind called "cinnabar blister", which is silvery white all over, except for two large blisters which are orange-red.Therefore, she also loves to wear clothes with faint yellow flowers. From far and near, it is just a small goldfish. Zhigao teased her narrowly: "Hey, Bubble Eyes, I threw you into the river, how do you swim?"

She twinkled her round eyes and didn't answer. "Like this 'hot tail' one? Once it rots, it's not good, no way." "It will be fine, don't look down on it, wait for it to fade, and keep it in the old water again, after a while, it will look better." "Tsk tsk tsk, it's a pity that you are not it." Before he finished speaking, the bubble eyes splashed water on Zhigao's face.Zhigao fled. Xiao Qiao saw that he was gone and had nothing to do, so she continued to yell, "Zhi—big goldfish—little goldfish—hey—" Invite some playful children to watch around.

As she was burying her head in catching the orange-red gills, she heard a bright voice cheering her on: "Hey—come and see—big goldfish—little goldfish—bubble eyes—can’t be sold blistered eyes—” Xiao Qiao chased after him as soon as he threw the bullshit.Zhigao was warning: "The stall collapsed, and the fish was stolen—" She was so frightened that she let go and walked back. Zhigao bumped into someone. "Zhigao, when will you be able to go to Guanghe Tower? You only play with your junior sister, or are you so immature?" "Hurry up, Uncle Tang, is Huai Yuxin here?"

"The letter didn't come, but the money was remitted. It's enough, and I can't use it up. I don't plan. It's better for the child to stay by my side. What have you heard?" "No. I haven't heard that there are any more movies. But maybe it's the kind of big movie that only comes out once a year or two. It's good if it's not popular. The money depends on the people." Really, the news about Huaiyu has faded, and even the news about Dandan has faded. Zhigao only believes that although there are many forks in the road, whoever enters will be lost, and what happened is just the aftertaste of making a movie.Movies with sound, the world with sound, are much better than him, and he is also very relieved.

Didn't it mean that the fish that don't need to be in love with each other forget each other in the rivers and lakes?That is, each has its own merits and is worthy of celebration. Shanghai is far away, and the news was deliberately blocked, and it was not revealed for a long time.Big cities also have their strengths. Zhigao's master, surnamed Long, was originally a luthier of the boss named Danfu, and he played the piano with him for twenty-six years.Boss Fu has a wide and bright voice, with a beautiful, clear and pure tone. He was once a top dan actor in the early Republic of China. Who knows that this voice is so good, it is often not easy to last. When he is middle-aged, he has already "slumped", the sound is dull, and people are also tired. Exit the pear garden.

Master Long lived in the market in Beiping, only selling goldfish.Later, when I went to Deguanghelou to play the old piano again, I also fell in love with Song Zhigao as a "female embryo" who was devoted to planting, half apprentice and half son-in-law.Song Zhigao acted as if the overall situation had been decided at the beginning, with no other distractions, everything was God's will, and it seemed to be in this category. There is a pair of feathers on the top, that is, like bats hopping, or like a dragonfly touching water, two dragons playing with pearls, or even butterflies flying, swallows shuttle...he is only here. October is Xiaoyangchun, the autumn rain is over, the winter sun is blazing, the temperature is very ambiguous, the grass turns green in the sunny place, and the mountain peach blossom occasionally blooms its last one or two pink buds, which are graceful on the branches. Zhigao hangs clothes and people in front of his "good house". Xiaoqiao raised her voice from a distance: "Aren't you afraid of the hot sun? Dress like this?" "No, I wore it to dry off." "You are so lazy!" Zhigao did not speak.He let her dictate and scold him. "Father said, you stepped on the gongs and drums too well together yesterday, like a puppet, your body is the same as the four-beat head, but you have no energy. Hey, sit up better, crooked." "What do you know?" Zhigao squinted his eyes that were a little bit warm from the sun and looked at the sky, "This day, instead of killing a 'returning carbine', it can still be hot for a while. Soak my eyes, pour me a bowl of sweet water. " It's very pleasant to drink. Zhigao understands that his own "returning the carbine" is nothing more than that. Master Long studied a new tune with him, always saying: "The accent should not be so new as you might imagine. Everyone listens to opera and gets used to it. How to pull it off, steal, trade, transport, spray, all have their own rules. If you want to be new, you must be new in your habits." So he understands better. He started on the road, not singing the flyover, singing the opera yard; not singing the opening scene, but at most he reached the second axis.He is a niche student who is steadily rising. It can also be red, but it's not that the ground is so red that it penetrates half the sky.Just like setting off fireworks, it is a drop of gold, and it cannot become a skyrocket, but it is more than enough, and some people will never be a drop of gold in their entire life. In his twenties, he continued like this until he was thirty, married a daughter-in-law, added a fat daughter, and lived like this, forever and forever. When the earth arrives in midwinter, everything changes, only life remains the same.It is snowing all over the sky, the weather is chaotic, and the streets and alleys seem to be paved with an uncertain silver - because there are impurities.impure. Zhigao felt that everything was going well, and both father and daughter hoped that he would succeed in the world, so they pestered and trained him very carefully. At night he lay on the kang, there was no fire in the house, and he couldn't spend the winter, so it was good for three or five people, but one or two would do as well.The fire is getting stronger, the water in the pot is sizzling, the water is boiling, and the pot of fragrant slices is brewed.It is convenient to ask for money, and the box shop brought the copper hot pot and boxed dishes: sauced pork, small tripe, white tripe, smoked chicken, meatballs, etc., to this "good house" one by one, and the little guy helped to light the charcoal and fan the fire , Wait for the pot to boil, put it on the table, say "see you" and leave - treat me well, if Huaiyu is here...if Dandan is here. Why did Dandan call his daughter-in-law "bubble eyes"?Call "sister-in-law"?We haven't seen each other for three years, and we are very unfamiliar. If Dandan is here, even those who have kissed her don't know how to step down. He tossed and turned in bewilderment and sorrow, and then fell asleep again. Somehow, the self in the dream actually put on a new suit, with a white three-piece haircut, a gray striped collar tie, and a clip with broken diamonds.There is also a pocket watch, and a diamond ring—as rich as you want, surrounded by people, and the beauties beside you are bright and graceful. It's a cheating dream. He sighed in his dream. "Ugh!" Only a slight long sigh was heard, resounding from outside the Guanghe building, before the play was announced.Duan Pingting always held his hand tightly when he just started to moan, expressing clearly that she was there. The brilliance of the sun is not weakened by the midwinter, it still hangs tenaciously on the horizon, taking advantage of this last opportunity to burst out the last light.The ancient red walls, green tiles and yellow glass with a history of hundreds of years are coated with a layer of golden light, as if about to start a prairie fire, as if calling all stray lives to go home for the night. He said: "You read it to me!" She read the play newspaper, yes, big red paper, sprinkled with golden dots. She read: "Is this it? Song Zhigao, there are two 'small banquets' and 'big banquets'. Lu Bu: Song Zhigao. Is that the brother you want to listen to?" He picked up a gift in his handle, which was an umbrella he made by hand. Tang Huaiyu later became a worker at the Dujinsheng Silk Weaving Factory in Hangzhou. Whenever the master craftsman of the bamboo picks the bamboo from Yuhang, Fenghua, Anji and other counties where the bamboo is produced, it is handed over to the workers who process the bamboo bones.Wiping bamboo, splitting long bones, braiding, shaping, splitting green bamboo shoots, milling grooves, splitting short bones, drilling, piercing umbrella plates, etc.The first silk umbrella in West Lake was released in the 23rd year of the Republic of China.Before this, no one thought that silk could be used as an umbrella cover, and the spring scenery was also covered with the umbrella cover. The entire beauty of the West Lake was condensed on a silk umbrella-a beauty that the number one worker could not see. He shaped it, a silk umbrella has thirty-five bones, and that section of bamboo has never split thirty-six, because he can close it. ——No one knows the truth. In the past, what he held were knives, guns, swords, halberds, and double hammers. All the handles were superb in his hands. Good day for shooting stars. He has never been eager to catch any light bamboo plate.It is always a pity that the eyes are not bright. To send Zhigao, I chose "Zhuangyuan Bamboo" and painted "Cuidi Spring Dawn". Winter is almost over.How could Huaiyu forget the three-year agreement?In the end, he was accompanied by the setting sun to fulfill the promise again in a gloomy and gloomy time.His familiar footsteps carried him into the arena. Once he was able to enter, Huaiyu took off his sunglasses.He closed his eyes, and there were many people in the theater who loved to listen to the opera, so they couldn't help but close their eyes and appreciate it, and he was finally one of them. He asked again: "Are there many people?" "It's all full." Duan Pingting hugged her dark purple shawl tightly and sat down with him.At a glance, there are rows of wooden boards against the wall, and there are children standing on tiptoe to watch.It is "seeing" instead of "listening", and the eyes are full of strangeness. Sure enough, it was "Little Banquet". Huaiyu recognized it when he heard it.Hey, it’s a new doll’s accent, Lu Bu has a sharp and far-reaching doll’s tune, it’s really extraordinary: "Brother Taoyuan and I discussed merits and demerits. Guan Yunchang wields a big sword like a tiger, Zhang Yide makes a snake spear as brave as a diamond, and Liu Xuande makes a pair of swords like a god descending..." When Huaiyu heard it, he said "Yes!" He was very pleased, and asked again in a hurry: "What costume are you wearing?" She listened for a while, and as soon as she realized that it was him who asked, she said: "Pink, deep and light pink, lined with blue and silver, hey, look at his feathers, shaking while not shaking, they look like the two whiskers of a cockroach!" "looks good?" "Pretty-not as good-looking as you." Zhigao is already singing: Huaiyu slapped his thigh: "It's even better than before! It's his!" The "Little Banquet" ended with colorful sounds.Zhigao returned to the backstage. Yes, he was stable once he went up to Guanghe Building.Shui Buyan handed him a small teapot, and helped him print sweat beads. He made fun of: "You are so strong, Yin Yin hurts me, how can anyone like you? Take it easy!" Glancing at his colorful box, beside the big mirror, there were two sticks of candied haws, probably specially made by her. The bamboo sticks were long and soft, and there were about ten mountain reds strung on them, twice as many as usual, and the whole body was crystal clear. Dazzling, trembling, isn't it his pair of feathers? When he was happy and couldn't laugh because of the paint on his face, a stranger in the background suddenly brushed past him with his head down. Wei Zhigao saw nothing else in his eyes. After drinking, some tea leaves were still sticking to the tip of my tongue, and when I spit it out, it was a piece of dark green - it was green before.He wiped it carefully again, for fear of damaging the paint, and at the same time, he made a gesture with the pair of plumes on his top and the candied haws, both of them were very playful to please each other. Although he often quarreled with Blister, now his voice became limp, and he stopped calling her Bump: "Miss Xiaoqiao is so skillful! Xiaosheng is so polite!" She stretched out her hand and poked her fingers, and her fingers were stained with powder. Cursing and scolding, they are really lovers of double worlds.Everything is predetermined. For a moment there was nothing else in sight.Unexpectedly, he also had a period of time when he missed someone, felt drowsy and painful, and his roots were broken, and he even pretended to laugh louder than usual. "Zhigao, congratulations!" It was Li Shengtian, Master Li, who had withdrawn from the arena after the battle in Shanghai.It seems that he is indeed old. Master Li is currently only accepting disciples at home, and those who vote under his name are all children from poor families, and it takes ten years to study Liyuan.He stopped singing, and there are still people in the world who will succeed him. The essence of the stage has been passed down from generation to generation.Just like the cycle of birth, old age, sickness and death is endless. Master Li brought two eleven or twelve-year-old senior brothers behind him, very proud.They are all learning martial arts. When they walk, they walk like a dragon and a tiger. They are a bit pretentious, but they have an elf face and whisper softly. Because of the presence of the master, they can't help restraining themselves, and because of the presence of horns, they also look silly. Eye. The two appeared from a dark corner, and Zhigao turned around to see him, as if suddenly seeing himself and Huaiyu who had been a few years ago, and was taken aback.Immediately, I was overwhelmed with emotion, and was stunned for a while, unable to speak. Throwing his head, Fang Xiaozhi shouted: "Master Li!" "Zhigao, if you pass today's test, you will become a character! Art is sold to the bone, and you are still down-to-earth." Zhigao just grinned: "Master Li, please sit down. I didn't hear you right. Don't drink it on the spot. Just give me a scolding. Little brother, did you come to see the play? Did you give me a gift?" Greeted Master Li to the field.Someone really came with a gift. He put it on his hand to manipulate, what is it? Yeah, it's an umbrella. Blister sighed, and stretched it open. The umbrella surface was made of silk as light as a cloud coat and as thin as a cicada's wing. She had probably never seen such a good umbrella in her life. Dyeing the silk creates "spring dawn on emerald dikes", clear water and emerald emeralds, is a kind of hope in the world. "Whose gift?" Zhigao asked, "Who sent it? Who?" "Don't know?" She stared with a pair of round eyes. "Hey, you found him for me—oh no, the 'big banquet' is coming up, you can do it for me!" The cymbals and the small gongs had been played twice in unison, and the drums were impatiently smashed to pieces, turning from slow to fast, urging him to play.Drama is like life, there is no delay.Zhigao acted first. In a corner of the gate, there was a figure with his head bowed, staring blankly at him beckoning to another girl - not an ordinary relationship. This figure, to be honest, was also a woman, dressed heavily and wrapped in a padded jacket, like old rouge covering her waxy face.The bangs on the forehead are like the broken curtains of ancient brides covering the spring scenery, and the eyes look out from the gaps, unusually shrunken and humble.It is a posture of insisting on seeing people and insisting not to be seen. If you look at the real thing again, you will naturally be surprised that she is also a beautiful woman, but she is sloppy and cramped for no reason. No one heard a word from her.Fortunately, she didn't, otherwise she must have been even more surprised. Her pronunciation is rough and muffled, deep and old. Even if she sings in an opera, her voice is called "clouds cover the moon", just like a clear sky and bright moon suddenly covered by dark clouds. Escape, no one will see its true colors. Not only the voice has changed, but also the complexion has changed, the flesh on the face has been shaved, the nose is pointed, the smoke oil is everywhere, and the lips are burnt yellow.Youth has long flowed eastward with the passing water, and what goes upstream is just a remnant body. Dandan. Although the weather is cold, there are people coming and going in the backstage, and it is a bit steamy.But she was holding a hot water bottle in her arms, and she couldn't stand it, so she hugged Laiwo's hands tightly to keep warm. Just like that, with her promise in mind, I came to see Brother Cake.See how happy he is.He is such a good man, and this is his reward. "I'm not a good person, this is my retribution." Dandan looked at the bright front desk.She is in the dark, he is in the light. When Dandan woke up from the darkest situation, Shi Zhongming was by his side. My little life was picked up, and I tried my best to keep it. It's just that I don't know to what extent the heart and soul have been corrupted?He kept screaming for pain, and almost passed out.The outside is still good, the gold and jade are outside, and the inside is ruined. The pain was so bad that Shi Zhongming could only let her smoke opium, and after this smoking, it would be fine, and everything would be subdued. Mr. Jin's magnificent funeral is already a month later. The funeral committee is still in the hands of Shi Zhongming, and it is not the turn of Cheng Shilin, the old courtier in his last words.This is the last time in my life, and the last time is also very sad and honorable. After three days of ostentation, important party and state officials also came here with peace of mind.Mr. Jin was buried in the ground, so he couldn't go to the Huangpu River to find his old friend. The high-quality American antiseptic injections made Mr. Jin's body lie peacefully for a month. After a year, everything was tidied up and settled, and Shi Zhongming "cryed" beautifully. A tycoon died of a sudden illness, and a tycoon took advantage of the momentum to rise.He took Miss Song in again to take care of her. ——Maybe everything is just for her. "Who are you? Do I need to answer you?" Dandan looked down on him so snobbishly. A single spark can start a prairie fire, he vowed to get her.While the whole world is still ignorant, he has been planning. He asked her to take three or five puffs on the fire only in the first half of the pipe, and not to smoke immediately after the second half of the pipe, because the first half is relatively pure and there will be no smoke on her face.After waiting for three tubes, she was so addicted that she felt like dying, so he poured her to drink the juice soaked in a traditional Chinese medicine, Dendrobium nobile. Then he wants her. Because of Fang Fei of Opium, her eyes are always puzzled, smoky and misty, and she doesn't know where the world is. Shi Zhongming sucked her infatuatedly, wishing to swallow her in one gulp.This sleepy and depraved beauty.Then, after a while... As her addiction deepened, his heart weakened.Because I got it, I'm not so proud. Shi Zhongming fell in love with one of the most popular gentlemen in Changsantangzi, and made sixty or seventy flower heads for her at a time. That gentleman was very attracted to emerging forces and valued support. Gradually, the peony will wither quickly. Fushou cream did not bring good fortune, and it is hard to say what women have done for nothing.Bring only syphilis. Coming back this time is not desperate: Dandan has a way to go, so he came back specially to "say goodbye".She remembered the three-year agreement, seeing Zhigao promoted, and then she left.Otherwise, she wouldn't be reconciled... "If you can't find it, you'll get back with some money." She was ashamed to see him, and she completely failed him. At the gate of the game, he lifted the curtain to look at Song Zhigao.Song, her once-borrowed surname.Looking down, hey, it's Zhigao's mother who has come. She has gained a lot of weight, and she looks very kind.Hong Lian became a vague-faced woman from a good family who kept eating strange-flavored melon seeds. Really, the head of the family was a melon seed seller, but she herself was a melon seed eater.Maybe there are fried pine nuts wrapped in it, which is reserved for Zhigao, so that he can send it backstage when the show is over, and congratulate his son decently on his success. Behind her was the girl called "Blister Eyes", obediently obeying Zhigao's orders, with a big mouth that was never idle like a goldfish: "Who sent the umbrella? Has anyone seen him? Ah, There's a note—" Just as I was about to open the note to take a look, I suddenly saw a curtain-drawer at the entrance door, with a raw face and blistered eyes, asking: "Hey, who is this aunt looking for?" Dandan was startled, and in a hurry, she had to brush past the shoulders of the busy people and escape. "Auntie"? ——It can be seen that it is too long. It's not old, it's not syphilis, it's total, it's gone. "Hey, I lost the hot water bottle—" Dandan didn't look back.Cold, walk more resolutely. Even in such an inconspicuous remote corner, he couldn't stay any longer.The big temple does not accept her, and the small temple does not leave her alone. She was abandoned by everyone!I don't understand myself, where should I go wandering? I had to concentrate on finding something to do.Dandan left without looking back. Zhigao came in from the lower gate, and saw the note: "Safe. Don't read. Take care. Huaiyu." Like a centipede, he jumped up and turned to the front of the stage. From the crowd of people who were leaving the show, his gaze was all over the place, determined to find this kid out. An old friend who has been suppressed for a long time and has not met for a long time.he yelled: "Huaiyu! Huaiyu, come out!" The voice is loudly searching and catching up. Like a busy city after snowfall, the houses are covered with light make-up, the dead branches have not yet turned into bloated silver bars, and the walls and tiles look like countless unformed white snakes lazily hibernating.In the vast expanse of whiteness, there are some unwilling colors. Huaiyu left after the curtain fell.Afraid of being swept away by the crowd, she held her hands together: "Is it cold?" "It's not cold when it snows. It's only cold when the snow melts, and I can get through it." The footprints on the snow turned out to be straight. Duan Pingting asked again: "I went home the day after tomorrow. One day, where do you want to go?" "And you?" "Well, what's the best place in Peking?" "—there is a lama temple—" "Lama Temple? I never heard you mention it." "Yonghegong, didn't I tell you? When I was young, I was told my fortune." ... Zhigao waited for half the night, his make-up was off, and the people dispersed. He played with the umbrella—the silk umbrella that he hadn't used that winter, full of confidence.Here comes the interest: "Good boy! You're back in full glory, you're here to put on airs! I don't believe you don't show up, you dare to hide and make fun of me! I'll die until you come out, damn it, can you come out?" In the cold and silent backstage, only his voice was buzzing.Blister sat and waited angrily, not knowing why and who he was waiting for.Everything is blank.His eyes also rolled. The hustle and bustle of Tianqiao during the day seems to be built up for the coldness of night. That brick and stone bridge, all thoughts are lost, just like Dandan's heart, ten rooms are empty, nothing can be squeezed out.There are always adults fleeing in the distance, holding the child tightly and giving him warmth.They came from the enemy-besieged Northeast and were homeless. They came humbly to "beg for spring", hoping to get some money and survive so that they could welcome the spring.If you really haven't eaten, you can pass on the warmth.In the end there is a tomorrow. Perhaps it will be early tomorrow morning when one or two passers-by occasionally find the dead body of a smiling girl, clinging to the bridge pillar desperately, as if waiting for something. She knew that she was going to die, not only knew it, but also felt it bit by bit, suddenly there was a strange lightness, and she approached that unknown thing step by step.Occasionally her body jerked and twitched, it was because her blood was about to flow out, and she was blocked halfway, however, the thick padded jacket greedily sucked all the blood from the deep incision on her wrist, and the color became darker as a result. , more red, unable to see the true color. Gradually very thirsty and very cold, I stretched out my trembling smoky-yellow hands, grabbed anything around me, and hugged it tightly, thinking that it would keep me warm. The face of a person dying of thirst and cold from water is a "smiling face" with stiffened muscles and a retracted upper lip, smiling innocently and proudly.In this haggard floating life, still listening diligently: "Woo-yah-oh-" In the dead of night, the sound of watchmen came from the distant and unpredictable ancient times, and it was almost inaudible. suddenly, There was a lost cat between heaven and earth, black and without a single hair, and it bumped into her in a panic.It stared at her strangely, without distinguishing between life and death, without knowing the truth.In desperation, he jumped over and ran northward. Like being chased by a naughty little girl. facing north, pointing, Lama Temple...