Crimson Dawn

Chapter 47

Generally speaking, when a merchant says "you have come to the right place", it means that the merchant believes that the customer has enough money in their pocket to pay.As an otaku, Chen Ke doesn't have much shopping experience.So he paid special attention to the experience of others.The experience I got from my female friends is that no matter what price the boss quotes, all of them should be killed at one-third of the price first.Wu Xingchen said that the price from Tianjin to Beijing, the best carriage is only 15 taels.An ordinary carriage can be sold for twelve taels.It seems that because of his attire, the boss thinks he can kill this stranger.Chen Ke was about to quote the price of "five taels" when there was a sudden noise of the carriage stopping outside.

Soon, a man in silk clothes who looked like a butler entered the door angrily.When the boss saw the person coming, he immediately greeted him with a smile on his face. "Master He, why did you come in person? You will call, and I will go to the door to listen to your orders. What's the matter, Master He, have my gang of brats offended you?"

The housekeeper surnamed He was in his 40s, but he rushed in like a teenager.Standing still suddenly, the braids slid from the back to the chest.Steward He took hold of the braid with his fingers, swiped the braid behind his back, and then shouted angrily: "Boss Yang, our master went to Beijing to take up a post, and he hired your car because he thought you were worth it. Why did your people just hire us?" Did your dulcimer fall?"

Chen Ke almost laughed out loud when he saw this skillful braid flicking.

The owner of the car dealership was unmoved at all, his attitude was still humble, and his tone was neither soft nor hard, "Hey? Master He, let's make it clear from the beginning that we only deliver the car, but don't care about moving things for you. If you fall Things, don’t blame us.”

Butler He sneered, "I knew you would say that. But your people moved our things and dropped the dulcimer. The dulcimer is not ordinary expensive. It is our lady's favorite violin..."

The boss immediately interrupted the housekeeper: "Master He, we discussed it early in the morning and made a document. Our people don't move things, and if things fall in the middle, we don't care about our business. If the document is still there, you can So we have no reason to say that.”

It seems that the written evidence is true, butler He was anxious at that time, "That dulcimer is very precious, but it is called... called Pieno."

The butler spoke outrageously, and the owner of the car dealership listened carefully.On the other hand, Chen Ke couldn't help laughing out loud.Ever since he saw the butler playing with the braids just now, Chen Ke wanted to laugh. When he heard the butler say "pieno" seriously, Chen Ke already guessed that he was talking about the English pronunciation of "piano".Then he couldn't help laughing out loud.Chen Ke could understand that these two people were arguing, but they were both putting on a show, more like they were performing some stage play.

When Chen Ke looked at the two and laughed, the two also glared at Chen Ke together.

"Sorry, sorry. I have something to leave first." Chen Ke suppressed his smile, and pulled Chen Tianhua out of the courtyard at a trot.

When the two people in the courtyard saw Chen Ke's appearance, their original expressions of anger were replaced by curiosity and helplessness.From their point of view, Chen Ke probably has something wrong.Not long after Chen Ke went out, he heard a burst of laughter coming from afar.The two who were still arguing temporarily forgot the quarrel just now, and gave each other a surprised look.

Chen Ke staggered a little while walking on the streets of Tianjin, "Xingtai, did you see that action of flicking... the braid? Aha, haha, hahaha..." Chen Ke laughed while talking.

Chen Tianhua looked at the distance from the car dealership, it seemed that the people in the car dealership couldn't hear that Chen Ke was going crazy here.

"What's so ridiculous? Wen Qing." Chen Tianhua thought that Chen Ke's performance was really funny.More and more people on the road looked at Chen Tianhua and Chen Ke, watching Chen Ke holding his belly and laughing hard, the passers-by's eyes were half surprised, half curious, and also mixed with a little disgust.

There was a teahouse not far ahead, Chen Tianhua felt that it was inappropriate to be exposed to everyone's gaze, so he dragged Chen Ke into it.This teahouse is quite big, and there are a lot of rickshaws parked at the door.The sun is good today, and there are many people walking birds, sitting at the table to rest in the lobby on the first floor.The birdcages were either covered with blue cloth, or partly or fully opened.Thrush and other birds were singing in the cage.

Seeing Chen Tianhua helping Chen Ke in, the guy thought something happened.Chen Ke took out a silver dollar and threw it at the buddy, although he was surprised, but the buddy saw many people after all, so he caught the silver dollar nimbly.Then I heard Chen Ke say in a suppressed voice: "Get me a private room upstairs."

"Okay! Two guests, upstairs please." The waiter sang loudly.

As soon as he entered the private room, the man had just lowered the curtain, when Chen Ke hugged his stomach and continued to laugh.That's right, this is the end of the Qing Dynasty, the appearance that should only appear in TV dramas, but Chen Ke saw it so realistically.Apart from his uncontrollable laughter, Chen Ke had no other emotions.

After returning to this era, I live in very stressful days every day, with a lot of pressure.Chen Ke is not a person with a deep city background, nor is he a person who is keen on learning southern dialect.But within 5 months, Chen Ke had to do these two things very diligently.There are more than these two things to do, carefully gather comrades, make money, and build a party.If in later generations, if someone does this, it is definitely acting.When he left Shanghai, on the one hand, Chen Ke was worried about what kind of tricks his comrades would make, and on the other hand, he felt a sense of relief uncontrollably.

As for the performance of the two "Chinese and foreign" in the car dealership, the Tianjin local dialect, the braids, and the manners, in the 21st century, they are definitely acting.But Chen Ke knew very well that this was the reality he was facing. In the 21st century in China in 1905, Chen Ke suddenly felt that there was a historical drama all around him.Zhuang Zhou turned into a butterfly in his dream, while Chen Ke lived in a drama. "It's not that you are in a dream, but that you are in the play!" Now that he is far away from the party organization in Shanghai and without the heavy pressure, this absurd cognition completely aroused Chen Ke's hysterical smile.

Chen Tianhua looked at Chen Ke helplessly, laughed for a while, stopped for a while, and then continued to laugh with tears streaming down his face, until he knelt on one knee on the floor and retched.After tossing and tossing for a long time, Chen Ke asked the guy outside to fetch a basin of water, wash his face while laughing, and finally returned to normal.

The flushed face turned reddish, and gradually turned into a normal complexion.Chen Ke's bright eyes once again showed the usual sharp and focused expression. "It's been a long time since I saw these things, I couldn't hold back for a while." Chen Ke said to Chen Tianhua.

At this moment, no matter what Chen Ke said, Chen Tianhua could accept it.Just now the buddy secretly called Chen Tianhua out and asked if he wanted to find a doctor for him.Chen Ke, who was laughing, didn't notice at all. "Wen Qing, don't worry. Have some tea before leaving." Chen Tianhua persuaded.

"Don't stay in the store anymore? I've been tossing around for a long time. If I don't stay in the store again, I'm afraid I won't be able to find it. Besides, after a few days on the boat, I want to take a bath."

"Since I have been tossing for a long time, I don't care about resting for a while."

Hearing what Chen Tianhua said, Chen Ke nodded.I was resting, but I heard the sound of singing from outside.The second floor is full of single rooms, and the shopkeepers generally don't intervene as long as the guests are not too outrageous.The voice of the girl who sang was not bad, and the voice of the erhu was quite low and melodious.In the afternoon, there weren't many people on the second floor, so listening to the music gave me a taste.Chen Ke noticed that Chen Tianhua's fingers tapped the table lightly according to the melody.Chen Tianhua is very good at Tanci. When he was in Shanghai, he often sang Tanci for everyone.It's all about foreign invasions and government misbehavior.It seems that Chen Tianhua is not only proficient in Tanci, but also cares about the northern Beijing opera.

After laughing so much, Chen Ke's spirit was also very excited, and he also had a sense of vigor, waiting for the music outside to stop.He asked, "Do you want to hear me sing a part?"

"Wen Qing can also sing?"

"I don't know how to sing, I only know how to sing nonsense."

Chen Tianhua knew that Chen Ke was not a liar, and after listening to the song "My Motherland", Chen Tianhua admired it very much.Since Chen Ke was interested, Chen Tianhua naturally refused to be a loser.

Gently tapping the rhythm with his fingers on the table, Chen Ke sang "Hua Tian Cuo", a Chinese-style song, there is no love in the lyrics.

"It's so late at night, why is there light in the paper window, it's not the candle that I waited for you to light for me all night.

It was just a dream of encountering the Red Mansion, and all my landscapes faded as if washed by heavy rain.

The scenery in the cup is ghostly, I forget who I am, my mood is as cold as water at night, holding a butterfly cup in my hand, flying solo without getting drunk or returning.

Hua Tianli made a mistake and agreed to forget it before dawn.

Hua Tianli made a mistake, and the hug turned into suffering.

Hua Tianli made mistakes, made mistakes, like being obsessed with flowers in the mirror and the moon in the water.

Huatianli made a mistake, please forgive my affectionate interruption. "

This piece borrows a lot from the tunes of Peking Opera, and the other parts are straightforward and refreshing.Chen Tianhua has heard the Tanci version of Hua Tiancuo, and knows what kind of story it is.It was refreshing to hear Chen Ke sing so directly.

After hearing Chen Ke finish singing, Chen Tianhua couldn't help laughing, "It really is Wen Qing's style, such a gentle story, you can sing it with confidence. Admiration, admiration."

The two chatted and laughed for a while, but heard a middle-aged man's voice coming in from outside the curtain, "Guest officer, excuse me. Do you want to listen to a song?"

"No." Chen Ke flatly refused.

The people outside pondered for a while, "It's okay for the guest officer to give you less."

"We're leaving now, don't listen to the music."

The door curtain was raised, and a middle-aged man walked in with an erhu. This man was not tall, rather thin, with many and deep wrinkles on his face. He looked far older than his voice.Seeing the two of them, this person showed a look of surprise, but this look was fleeting.He made a deep bow, "I just heard the guest official singing, and I admire it very much. I have a heartfelt request."

"Since it's an unfeeling request, there's no need to say it." Chen Ke replied.

A look of disappointment appeared on that person's face, and he hurriedly bowed again, "Excuse me." After speaking, he wanted to leave.

Chen Tianhua had never seen Chen Ke reject others so straightforwardly, and his attitude was quite arrogant.There was a slight look of surprise on his face.Chen Ke saw this in his eyes, turned his head, and said, "Wait a minute."

The man didn't know what kind of medicine was sold in Chen Ke's gourd.He looked a little apprehensive.

"As the saying goes, there is coming and going. This gentleman, we want to go to Beijing, but there are no train tickets, but I don't know if there is any other way."

Hearing this, the man was startled.He looked Chen Ke and Chen Tianhua up and down, "The two masters are going to Beijing by train?"

"The train is fast." Chen Ke didn't feel anything special.

"The villain knows the people at the station. There is a train to Beijing today. Maybe I can take the two gentlemen on the train. But the ticket price..."

"How much is the ticket?"

"From Tianjin Laolongtou Railway Station to Beijing Zhengyangmen, the first-class ticket is 5 yuan, and the third-class ticket is 1 yuan."

"How many people are there at the station?"

"He will take you to the car, just give him the money. No more."

Yet another rich man.Chen Ke thought.Turning to look at Chen Tianhua, Chen Tianhua was very excited.Seeing that Chen Tianhua didn't object, Chen Ke said with a smile: "Does that mean going to the train station after teaching you how to sing, or buying a ticket and then teaching you how to sing?"

Seeing that the man was silent, Chen Ke knew what the man was thinking, "Let's teach the tune first."

The middle-aged man immediately became happy. Chen Kelian taught it three times and wrote the lyrics.The middle-aged man handed the paper to the person outside the curtain.After a while, a clear female voice sang outside.Comparing these two phases, there is an immediate difference.Sure enough, as Chen Tianhua said, the songs that Chen Ke sang confidently and confidently, were sung by women, they were soft and lingering.

"There is a specialization in art." Chen Ke praised, and he could sing almost as well after listening to it three times. Chen Ke asked himself, it was absolutely incomparable.But this question is not important, "What about the ticket?" Chen Ke asked.

"I'll make some arrangements. Please wait a minute, I will take you to the station when I come back." The middle-aged man said quickly.

After the middle-aged man withdrew, Chen Ke asked the waiter to settle the bill.The two didn't spend much at all, and the man found some change and left.Chen Tianhua asked: "Wen Qing, aren't you worried that that person ran away after cheating on the song?"

"He can't bring a girl to follow us to the station." Chen Ke couldn't help thinking in his heart, if he didn't want to leave a harsh impression on Chen Tianhua, Chen Ke probably just put the two of them together. chased away.

After waiting for a while, the man rushed back.A group of people headed towards the station.

The streets of Tianjin are no different from countless old photos. There are many pedestrians on the street, and there are various shops on the street, people selling cigarettes, people watching foreign movies, and occasionally some performing arts.The closer to the station, the more beggars.Those ragged, sallow and emaciated children were begging hard.As for those half-grown beggars, their eyes flickered, they didn't really beg, but tried to lean against people, no matter how you looked at it, it looked like pulling out their hands.Chen Ke wanted to pass Chen Tianhua's backpack, and he carried it behind the middle-aged man, and Chen Tianhua walked behind Chen Ke, so there was also a support.

After waiting outside the gate of the station for a while, the middle-aged man brought out a man who seemed to be in charge.The man looked Chen Ke up and down, and said in a condescending tone: "There are still tickets for the first-class seats. Pay now."

Chen Ke took out the money he had prepared and turned it upside down in his hand.When the man saw the silver dollar, his eyes lit up immediately.Chen Ke put the money back in his pocket, "I'll give you the money when you get in the car."

Looking at Chen Ke's smiling face, that person could tell that Chen Ke would never give money so easily, but since he saw the money, he wasn't too worried. "follow me."

Chen Ke and Chen Tianhua were sitting in the first class seats. According to Chen Ke's observation, the carriages were not full. God knows why the station didn't sell tickets. Presumably they were held back by someone, and these tickets were not sold.There were two foreigners facing Chen Ke. They took a cigar and looked at Chen Ke with surprise and slight disdain.Chen Ke also refused to show weakness, he took out a cardboard box of cigarettes, and lit one for himself and Chen Tianhua.Foreigners see that the cigarette packs are beautifully printed, shining brightly in the sunlight on the plastic paper outside the packs.For a moment, he didn't know what Chen Ke's identity was, and his contemptuous eyes abated a lot.

The journey was fairly stable, and the train arrived at Beijing Railway Station.Chen Ke hurried to buy a ticket. This time he was lucky and got a ticket.In the evening, the two of them had already boarded the train on the Beijing-Hanzhou Line, heading towards Xingtai.

It happened to be morning when they arrived in Xingtai. They hired two mules at a very cheap price and drove towards Nangong County.Hebei is a plain area. Chen Ke grew up on the Henan Central Plain. In his memory, on the endless plain, the dividing lines formed by sentinel-like poplar trees or paulownia trees cut out pieces of grain fields.On the plain, tree-shaded dirt roads with poplar trees or paulownia on both sides, or tree-shaded asphalt roads covered with dust, communicated the various villages.Of course, there are also roadside ditches that are indispensable.This simple and infinitely repeating scene is my hometown.

In Xingtai, what Chen Ke saw were patches of sand.There is very little grass, and occasionally some shrubs and trees can be seen.This is very different from the 21st century Hebei in Chen Ke's impression.Not only that, the closer it is to Nangong County, the more sandy land there is.In September, the fields that had been harvested were empty. Chen Ke remembered what his elders said before, that in those days, only one season of grain was planted in the fields.Wherever it is like after liberation, there are two seasons of planting.This barren land only grows food for one season, and it is strange that the people can eat enough.

"Tianhua, when we are liberated, we will definitely allow two seasons of grain to be grown here every year." Chen Ke said.

Before Chen Tianhua could reply, the mule driver who came with Chen Ke said with a smile: "Sir, you are not joking about planting grain twice a year."

"Dude, don't you want to plant two seasons?" Chen Ke asked back.

The mule driver just smiled and stopped talking.

The mule was definitely not as fast as the train. The two of them had been on the train for a whole day, and after letting the mule shake like this for a while, they felt a little groggy.While napping, while advancing.In the evening, the group finally arrived at Gaojiazhai, Nangong County.

When I asked Pang Zi, the locals knew about it.While looking at the distinctive outfits of Chen Ke and Chen Tianhua, they led them into the street.As soon as he arrived at the gate of a courtyard, a young man of medium build stood at the gate.The child who was poking his head from the yard looked familiar. That kid was the kid Chen Ke first asked.It seems that he was the one who notified the young man.

The young man asked suspiciously: "I am Pang Zi, what are you two looking for?"

Chapter 47

No. 47, to URL