Go back to the prosperous days and become a layman

Chapter 451 Tong Family
For the first time, Tong Wang felt that the night fell so slowly, so slowly that it made him anxious.

Looking at the prawns that were still jumping around, Tong Wang picked them up, washed off the dust on the outside with water, and then gently placed the prawns on the stove cover and burned them at the stake.

In order to prevent the prawns from jumping around, Tong Wang also considerately used a fire hook to hold them down.

After the prawn's body curled up and one side of its body turned pink, Tong Wang turned it over again.

In just two or three minutes, Tong Wang swallowed a cooked prawn with an enticing aroma.

Anyone who knows knows that the most delicious food often only requires the simplest cooking. Fresh-from-the-sea prawns do not need any seasoning, just grilling them will produce the most delicious food on earth.

Tong Wang seemed to have noticed this as well. He wanted to eat more and more, and he ate five in a row before stopping.

After eating a pound of prawns, Tong Wang was so moved that he almost cried. He almost forgot how long it had been since he had eaten such a hearty meal.

Tong Wang felt that these shrimps were more delicious than any seafood he had ever eaten.

After eating the shrimps, Tong Wang collected the shrimp skins on the ground and threw them into the stove to burn.

After washing his hands and pouring a glass of water, Tong Wang sat on a stool and waited for dark.

When it got dark outside, the fish and shrimps in the sack had long stopped jumping around. Tong Wang tied the sack and placed it on the bottom of the tricycle. He covered it with some firewood to hide it from others and stuffed leeks into the gaps.

After confirming that the leeks, fish and shrimps would not be crushed, Tong Wang pushed the car out of the door, locked the door, and slowly drove home.

Although the Tong family was wealthy, they were not ostentatious, which was why they chose to live in this three-courtyard house after liberation.

Although the Tong family's yard is much smaller than before, it is as exquisite as before, with a ceiling, fish tank, and pomegranate tree.

The ceiling of the Tong family is different from that of the Tang family. It is a real ceiling, built with hardwood by hired craftsmen, with a layer of mat on it. But since liberation, wealthy families have gradually become low-key, and the old craftsmen who made a living from this have gradually disappeared.

After the mat was dried and rotten, I didn't change it. I just threw it away and planted grapes underneath it, which could also provide a snack for the children.

The Tong family’s grapes are an old variety from Sijiu City, called Black Rose Fragrance.

The grapes of this kind of grapes are not big, but they have thin skin, are sweet and juicy. The disadvantages are that they are easy to rot, cannot be stored, and are not resistant to transportation. Fortunately, the Tong family had no intention of selling them.

The grapes at this time have long lost their leaves. In order to keep the grapes warm, the twisted and dragon-like vines have been tightly wrapped and tied up with straw ropes. When they are untied in the spring of next year, they will be green again.

At that time, you will have a recliner, a purple clay teapot and a katydid cage hanging under the ceiling. Wow, so beautiful!
The Tong family’s fish tank is also very exquisite, it is made of wooden boards.

According to the old fish-raising experts in Sijiucheng, fish tanks with wooden boards have the best air permeability, followed by large fish tanks with green tiles. Only novice fish farmers would use porcelain tanks because they are not airtight.

After wealthy families from Zhejiang came to Beijing, they often used porcelain jars to raise fish in their courtyards. Scholars mocked this by saying, "The courtyard must be lined with porcelain jars to raise fine fish, and huge basins to plant pomegranates." This led to the couplet "Ceiling, fish jars, pomegranate trees, gentleman, fat dog, and fat maid."

Old BJ usually plants pomegranates in the yard. In winter, he covers them with straw or builds a shed to keep them warm. He never uses potted plants. He is stingy.

The pomegranate tree of the Tong family is of the same variety as the one of the old Ma family on Flower Market Street. Both are Hejian copper-skinned pomegranates, but the one of the Tong family is obviously taller and bigger, and must be at least sixty years old.

The pomegranate tree is different from the date tree. Even at its age, the pomegranate tree can still bear abundant fruit every autumn.

It is precisely because of the pomegranate's ability to bear fruit that people generally believe that the pomegranate is a symbol of "many children and great blessings", so many courtyards will plant a pomegranate, especially in a small courtyard like the Tong family where only family members live and no outsiders are allowed.

In addition, there are many flowers planted in the Tong family’s yard. Now only those are planted in the ground, and the potted plants have been moved into the house to spend the winter.

In general, the Tong family's yard is the livable yard in the eyes of the people in the city, while the Tang family's yard is just like a country house in the countryside.

Tong Wang was humming Boss Mei's song. Just as he reached the doorstep, his son Tong Xiangsong came back from the other side of the alley and the two of them met face to face.

"Father, look, there are katydids that have been poisoned." Before even entering the house, Tong Xiangsong took out a gourd from his arms like he was presenting a treasure, and flicked it lightly with his fingers. Immediately, a "mooing" sound came from inside.

"Let's go home first." Tong Wang got off the tricycle, without pushing it, he took the gourd from his son's hand and handed the tricycle to his son.

The katydid, also known as the "hundred-day insect," has a lifespan of only three or four months. In the summer, Tong Wang likes to buy a few of them, put them in a bamboo cage, and hang them under the ceiling to listen to the noise.

No matter how careful you are with this thing, you won't be able to keep it alive through the winter.

In order to be able to hear the movements of katydids in the cold winter, the profession of "splitting insects" was born. Players called the people who bred katydids out of season "jar breeders", and the act of hatching katydids in clay jars was called "splitting insects".

Tong Wang has played with flowers, birds, fish and insects since he was a child. The so-called katydids are actually made of a substance similar to sealing wax boiled with rosin, paraffin and talcum powder. After heating it, he uses a pin to pick up a little bit of it and put a small dot under each layer of the katydid's wings.

Some of these small dots are for tuning the tone, and some are for tuning the color. After they are lit, the tone will change when the katydid chirps by rubbing them.

The purpose of the game is to create a new experience. You can take the gourd with you when you go out, take out the gourd and flick it, and the katydid inside will chirp. It is just like others are still listening to a phonograph while you are listening to a tape recorder, which makes you feel very proud.

Tong Wang treats this as a toy and will not get addicted to it, but his son Tong Xiangsong is a little different.

Tong Xiangsong was not interested in this. He had been indulging in eating, drinking and whoring since he was young. After liberation, the last of these was gone, and he turned to gambling.

Tong Wang didn't know whether to be thankful or unfortunate, at least he didn't get poisoned.

Ever since Tong Xiangsong messed up the job of storing grain, Tong Wang was angry but he couldn't just sit there and do nothing. Nine out of ten times, gambling leads to loss. Once you get addicted to gambling, as long as you don't quit, the Tong family's industries and belongings will sooner or later belong to someone else within ten years.

In order to nip his son's gambling habit, Tong Wang strictly forbade him to gamble, and instead strongly supported him in playing with flowers, birds, fish and insects. Unexpectedly, he showed some signs of falling into it.

As for whether he would lose his ambition due to playing with things, Tong Wang didn't think it mattered. Since his son didn't work, he couldn't just sit around doing nothing, right? It was worth spending a little money to occupy his energy and kill time, as long as he didn't go out and do something naughty.

"Father, can you give me your ivory hollow-core gourd?" Tong Xiangsong pushed the tricycle into the gate and couldn't wait to ask his father for the thing.

"That is a gourd for raising oil. It has soil inside and cannot raise katydids. The gourds used for raising katydids are all the same, with wide holes and trumpet-shaped mouths, and a seven-eye gourd lid. It's already very good. Don't underestimate this thing. If you find one you like, you can sell it for some money. Take the things under the firewood down." Tong Wang knocked on the firewood with one hand and told his son to work.

"Hey, Dad, did you buy fish?" Tong Xiangsong took out the sack from under the firewood and smelled the fishy smell, and asked with some surprise.

"We have to eat, right? We're having some meat tonight. There's a bunch of leeks in the car, be careful with them." Tong Wang was very pleased with himself for getting fish and shrimp, and walked towards the main room. Tong Xiangsong followed closely behind him, carrying a sack with great effort. When he opened the door, a little girl with pigtails was playing with the cat and catching fish, and her mother was watching over her.

Because the weather was cold and the little girl loved fishing, the Tong family's fish tank had already been moved into the house.

The little girl was holding a small fish net and stirring the fish in the tank by the handle. The cat was standing on the edge of the tank with its claws stretched out, ready to scoop fish out of the tank at any time.

Since there was never a shortage of mice in Beijing, cats existed in every dynasty, and keeping cats was even encouraged.

Although the Tong family is wealthy, the cat they raise is not a rare breed, but just an ordinary orange cat.

Originally it was raised to catch mice, but since the little girl liked it, it had the opportunity to show up in front of the adults.

Originally, the Tong family had two guard dogs, but two years ago, one of the dogs bit someone. The person became ill and started convulsing and scratching the wall, and eventually died.

As a result, a wave of banning dog keeping swept the whole city, and dog-beating teams would take to the streets from time to time.

At this time, many residents in the alley reported to the street that the two dogs raised by the Tong family were too fierce and sometimes came out to scare people.

The Tong family is no longer the same Tong family as before, and they finally chose to handle the matter themselves. Now the two dogs are lying on the armchair, becoming dog-skin mattresses, accompanying Tong Wang in a different form.

That's why the orange cat ran away when it saw Tong Wang. It was so scared. It saw Tong Wang strangle his two little friends to death with its own eyes.

Tong Wang didn't regret killing the dog, but he regretted killing it too early. If he had kept it until now, his whole family would probably have been able to eat dog meat for several meals to satisfy their cravings.

Hearing the sound of the door opening, the orange cat saw that it was Tong Wang, and immediately jumped off the edge of the tank and climbed up to the beam along the pillar.

The little girl turned around, dropped her fishing net, and ran over to ask for a hug: "Mafa, Ama."

"Hey~ Nannan, do you miss Mafa?" Tong Wang handed the gourd in his hand to his daughter-in-law, squatted down and picked up his granddaughter.

The customs of the Manchus are somewhat different from those of other ethnic groups. They do not favor sons over daughters, and there is even a saying that aunts are more valuable than sons.

"Yeah, yeah, I do." Nan Nan grabbed Grandpa's face and kissed him, then asked, "Marfa, go fishing with Nan Nan."

"Okay, okay, go catch the fish." Tong Wang smiled at his granddaughter, but his expression changed when he faced his son who came in from behind: "Why bring it into the house? Take it to the kitchen and marinate the fish. Chop the shrimps and we'll have leek and shrimp dumplings tonight. Do it yourselves, and keep it away. Don't let the servants see it tomorrow."

Facing Tong Wang's instructions, Tong Xiangsong could only comply. His wife stepped forward to help, but was stopped by Tong Wang: "Bring a shrimp over later, with the skin on, so I can grill it for Nan Nan."

Then he stopped paying attention to his son and daughter-in-law, and concentrated on catching goldfish with his granddaughter. However, he was thinking that he had to find a chance to fire the servant to avoid being exposed later.

Goldfish are festive in color and have symbolized "abundance every year" and "abundant wealth" since ancient times, so they are quite popular among the people in Beijing.

Rich people have their own way of playing, and poor people have their own way of playing.

At the turn of spring and summer, fishmongers would walk along the alleys with their poles and shout in a rhythmic voice: "Big and small~ Hey~ Little goldfish..."

It always attracts a group of children. Families with extra money will basically buy two for their children to play with.

In fact, most of those fish are not goldfish in the true sense, but red crucian carp.

The serious goldfish all came from the palace and were collectively called "Wenyu". They got their name because when viewed from above, the whole fish looked like the small seal character "Wen".

Wen fish is a general term. Due to different degrees of deformity, each goldfish has a different name, such as Black Dragon Eye, Hydrangea, Longevity Star Head, Lucky Head, Bubble Eyes, etc., the main feature of which is the beauty of deformity.

The Tong family used to hire a fish handler to raise goldfish. The handler didn't have to do anything every day and could only take good care of the fish.

People who don’t understand might think this job is easy, but in fact it is not easy at all.

Tong Wang has seen fish handlers grow up with the knowledge that they have to dry water, change water, catch bloodworms and feed them every day.

Good fish need to be fed live food. Every day before dawn I have to go to the stinky puddle outside the city to catch red worms. The red worms stink very badly and I have to wash them many times before feeding them. They are so densely packed together that they look like red threads, which is creepy to look at.

After changing the water, any floating dust, hair, etc. on the water surface must be removed in time. When removing the dirt, it is important to do it clockwise or counterclockwise for several times, so as to avoid changing the direction and causing the goldfish's tail to grow crooked.

In addition, in order to prevent cats from scratching the fish during the day, we have to put up a wire mesh, put up a wooden lid when it rains, put up a straw mat during the dog days of summer to keep the goldfish out of the heat, and move the fish indoors in the winter. There are so many things to pay attention to, and we even take better care than taking care of our own children.

After liberation, goldfish were often given as gifts to friendly people because of their good meaning and beautiful appearance. Therefore, instead of being suppressed like the ceiling, it became more and more developed.

There are people dedicated to breeding goldfish in Zhongshan Park, and the eliminated fry will be sold to the outside.

Because it is too tiring to take care of fish and the Tong family cannot afford to hire a fish handler, the quality of the fish fry in the fish tank is average. Most of them are bought by Tong Wang on his tricycle from Zhongshan Park. If all the fish die or are fished out, he will buy more. If he can't buy any, he will go to Shichahai for a stroll. He is not picky about the species.

If it weren't for his granddaughter's love of fishing, Tong Wang felt that he would chop up the two fish tanks and burn them with firewood.

When Nan Nan had enough fun, Tong Wang steamed shrimps on the stove lid for his granddaughter to eat, looking like a kind grandfather.

Seeing his granddaughter eating happily and praising the food for being delicious, Tong Wang was also very happy and became more determined to hold on to Tang Zhitong.

As for money? In Tong Wang's eyes, it's just a bastard. As long as people are around, money can be earned again. If people are gone, everything is gone.

While Tong Wang was enjoying family happiness at home, Tang Zhitong was busy scrubbing the jars.

Xiao Wang took the jar out from under Ye Zhijuan's bed this afternoon and brought it home. Although it has not been used for years, it still smells bad.

"Can it still be used?" Xiao Wang also disliked the bad smell. The moment she opened the jar, she wanted to throw it away and buy a new one.

"It can be used. I'll brush it and then soak it in water for two days. When I find suitable vegetables, I'll make pickles for you." Tang Zhitong was not worried at all about whether the pickling could be successful. It must be successful. The pickled pepper brine that was "brought in" from Teacher Wang of the technical school last year is still lying in the space. Isn't this the day he's been waiting for?

(End of this chapter)