Old things in the south

Chapter 33

The overpass is not a place that women should frequent. Therefore, writing about the overpass with a woman's pen can't go deep into every corner of the place, so how can you write about the spirit of the place?The rivers and lakes there, the art there.

But I did.

What I saw was not as much as what I heard.Many years ago, a reporter wrote "Hundred Scenes of Overpasses" in a newspaper in Peking. He wrote eight articles just about "Eight Monsters of Overpasses". What a flyover, the courage of writing is also admirable.

My father likes to go to Tianqiao, and he bought a squirrel-backed short leather jacket with blue satin and flowery surface from the clothing stall there, and wore it at home in winter.Some people say that the clothes are the clothes of the dead, I feel very awkward, so I don't like this beautiful dress of my father.My mother also occasionally took Mama Song and me to visit the overpass.She went all the way to Tianqiao to buy old German-style foreign stoves, as well as coal shovels and chimneys that can be bought everywhere, and came back with two rickshaws full.Before getting into the car, the old beggar who "dusted the grandson" had to dust off the poor for a while.She dusted the car seat, then brushed the clothes of my mother and me, and said sarcastically, "Grandma and aunt, please get in the car slowly... Hey, I said, you can hold on tighter." Grandma doesn’t care if I give you an extra two dollars when I get home....Grandma, please sit down and hug your aunt. Grandma, please fix it....Hey, Sun Zai! Don’t copy the handlebars , grandma wants to reward me with money!"

I saw my mother was finally forced to open her cross-embroidered handbag and pull out a copper coin.

When I grow up, it is even more rare to go to the Tianqiao. The daily necessities of our younger generation are obtained from Dong'an Market and Xidan Shopping Mall. Therefore, I will not forget to visit the Tianqiao once in my memory.

It was a winter afternoon, and my third sister and I were warming up by the fire. Somehow, we started talking about the overpass, and we went to visit the overpass with great interest. She wanted to see if there were old Russian car blankets for sale, but I had no purpose.But my mother said that the things in Tianqiao are very cheap if you can buy them.The third sister and I agreed that the mother was overwhelmed, we are not three-year-old children, and we would not fail to recognize the authenticity of Russian blankets and other things.

"What about counter-offering? Will you?" asked the mother.

"It's a joke! Asking prices all over the place, and paying back the money on the spot, we also understand!" said the third sister.

"After paying back the price, take your leg and leave. Isn't that the trick of your 'bargaining king'?" I said.

We didn't pay much attention to our mother's advice, and my third sister and I finally came to Tianqiao happily.

It seems that there should be a guide when visiting the Tianqiao, because there are some places where it is inconvenient for women to break in. For example, if you think that the venue is talking about cross talk, who can't listen?But it is said that the crosstalks are exclusive to Sacun, and they do not welcome female audiences. Peiping people respect women very much.I heard that there was such a thing, two female listeners came to the place where they shouldn't be listening, and the cross talker saw a female guest coming, it was inconvenient to dispel the village, and it was inconvenient to explain the reason to drive them away, so he had to leave one. The one on the right is talking about ordinary cross talk. The female audience listened interestingly and didn't intend to get up. Finally, the audience was really anxious, so I had no choice but to say to the two audiences:
"There's a big girl singing a big drum in the shed opposite, don't you two listen to it?"

The two female listeners probably realized something at this time, so they left blushing.

My third sister and I are not so stupid, besides, our purpose is to buy something, like those who sell medicine in the rivers and lakes to practice hand wrestling, we are afraid that we will stray into the forbidden area, so we don't even look around!

Those who sell estimated clothes, or those who sell odd pieces of cloth, all gather together in one place according to their kind.There are a lot of things to buy there, leather jackets, embroidered robes, and mended coats, many of which were sold by the downcast princes and grandsons of the Qing Dynasty for nothing worth two.The way of calling out for estimated clothes is very interesting. First, he asks for prices all over the place, and no one makes a fuss. Then he lowers the price again and again. When we walked to a cloth stall, the way of selling cloth attracted us. .There were three or four people doing business in that cloth stall, one squatted on the ground shaking off the cloth, and the other two stood there shouting, not just shouting, but with performances.When a piece of cloth was picked up from the stall, the big man standing took it. He opened the cloth and said to the squatting one, "How many feet is this piece?"

"Twelve and a half feet."

"how much is it?"

"15 dollars."

So the big man stretched out the folds of the twelve and a half-foot flannelette, stretched out his arms to the left and right, almost bent behind his back, and shouted rhythmically:
"Look at this piece of cloth, twelve and a half feet, you just bought it back, fleece trousers and coat, you have plenty to spare!"

Then he stretched the cloth again and said:
"Listen! How fine and strong this cloth is."

"Can you count less?" This is another of their own people pretending to be a customer and asking.

"How much less? Tell me!" My friend asked me.

"12 dollars."

"12 yuan, good." He pulled the cloth away again, still holding it up, with both arms bent behind his back. "12 yuan, twelve feet, look at the cheap price!"

Is there twelve feet?I want to have.I looked at it in my heart, a big man with two arms spread out flat, no matter what, it is six feet long, and double-layer cloth, isn't it twelve feet?What's more, he bends and bends as hard as he can, and he almost bends in a circle, of course twelve feet.

The third sister was also stunned, and was dumbfounded when she heard it, because Jiang Hu's words were straightforward and full of loyalty, which was very pleasant to hear, not to mention that the twelve feet he performed was so powerful, credible, and long!
"Do you think this piece of cloth is worth it?" Third Sister quietly asked me.

Before I could answer, the big man automatically lowered the price again:
"Okay!" He shouted, "It's cheaper, it's cloudy today, there are few people shopping, and it hasn't opened yet! We are the third brother, and we have to make money even if we lose money! Enough for us to drink." Four taels of burning knives will be sold! This time, it will be sold for ten yuan, nine five, nine three, nine two, nine yuan! I will give you another twenty-five cents!"

The big man's voice was about to burst, I secretly counted, twelve feet, I was just about to buy a piece of fleece for a woolen coat, wouldn't this be just enough.This kind of flannelette in the cloth shop costs more than one yuan per foot, and the twelve feet are only nine yuan, no, eight yuan and seventy-five cents, which is really cheap.

At this time, there were more people watching the fun, so I whispered to Third Sister:

"Do you think I have enough lining for a coat?"

Third sister nodded.

"Then—" I hesitated, "Have a counter-offer." I already thought it was cheap enough, but I always thought that this is a bridge sale, and if I don't bargain, I don't seem to be an expert.

"Show me." I finally spoke, and the onlookers all looked at us and my sister.

I took it over and looked at it, and it was indeed fine white flannelette.

"Is twelve feet enough?"

There is no ruler on the stall, which is strange. Cloth is sold by piece, so how long can it be measured by his two arms?When I asked, he stretched the cloth again, and bent his arms behind his back again.

"Twelve and a half feet, go back and measure."

"Here's seven dollars and a half for you."

After I finished speaking, I took my third sister and left. This is what I learned from the "bargain king" mother.In fact, I also have another meaning, which is that I feel that it is already cheap enough, and I can’t bear to pay so little, and I am afraid that people will lose a few words, which is embarrassing, so I quickly took advantage of this and left, thinking that it would not happen. The seller, who knew that before he had gone two steps, the cloth seller called out:

"You come back, you come back."

I understood that he wanted to sell, so I couldn't help but take courage, turned around and said:

"Seven five dollars, can you sell it or not!"

"Please come back!"

"Are you selling it or not?"

"I sell it, you have to come back and buy it!"

He was right, and my third sister and I went back to the cloth stall.Unexpectedly, when I came back, he said:

"You add more."

Just as I was about to leave again, Third Sister said impatiently:

"I'll give you eight yuan and five dollars!" A dollar was added all at once.

"If you add a little more, I'll sell it if you add a little more, isn't that okay?"

"Okay, okay, if you want to sell it for eight yuan, you can sell it, and if you don't sell it, you will lose it!"

"It's sold, you take it!"

Compared with the original eight yuan and seventy-five cents, it is only fifteen cents cheaper. After all, we will not bargain, but, thinking about it, it is much cheaper than buying it in a cloth store outside, almost half the price.good!good!I think the third sister is as satisfied as I am, because she smiled at me, maybe she is very proud that she will counter the price.

We didn't plan to buy anything or go shopping anymore, and it was not early, so our sister and son came home happily.When I saw my mother, I told her that although we didn't buy anything, we bought a piece of cheap cloth.

"Let me see." Mom said and opened the paper bag. "After walking around Tiantianqiao for a long time, you two probably went back and forth in a foreign car, so you bought a piece of cloth! How many feet? Eight feet?" Mom shook the cloth away.

"Eight feet?" My third sister and I yelled, "It's twelve feet!"

"Twelve feet?" This time it was my mother who yelled, "I don't believe it, go get the ruler, there is no twelve feet! There is no twelve feet!" prosper.

The ruler was brought, and my mother measured it one by one, and finally laughed loudly: "What do I say? Eight feet, not more than one foot, eight feet is eight feet!"

My third sister and I were stunned.But the third sister insisted:
"What kind of ruler is this!"

"I'm a flying ruler!" My mother was anxious, and the unfamiliar Beijing dialect came out.

"What standard ruler—" Sanmei had nothing to say, but she struggled to say, "That's not a disadvantage, but it's cheap! I bought it for only [-] yuan, and it costs more than [-] yuan and [-] foot at the cloth shop." !"

"My lady, you're being fooled no matter what you say!" Mom pointed the cloth up to our noses and said, "It's more than one piece. It's double-sided fine flannelette, and this one is single-sided. See! It only costs seven Eighty cents a foot."

What a frustrating experience!What more is there to say!My third sister and I looked at each other and smiled wryly.After a pause, she seemed to remember something and said:
"I think the two arms of the cloth seller are obviously—" Third Sister also stretched out her hands and looked at them. "Isn't it six feet like this? Such a big man? Is it only four feet? Really? Strange. But he's very interesting, with his arms bent behind his back like a graceful sportsman's pose."

"His words also have a kind of hypnotic power, which attracts everyone to stop and watch. In fact, the people watching are not all buying cloth—" Before I finished speaking, my mother interrupted and said:

"That's like you two sisters!"

"——It's about appreciating their art, so that our hearing and vision can get sensual pleasure. Who wouldn't want to see the advantage and not take advantage of it? Who wouldn't listen to what sounds good to you? The overpass can make you get it."

"Take a loss once, and learn to be good once." Mom said, "You guys are being fooled and still boasting."

"This is the art and spirit of Tianqiao. If you suffer, you don't hate it."

"So, strolling over the bridge, strolling over the bridge! When you go to the bridge, you have to walk slowly and appreciate it carefully, but you don't have to rush to buy things. It's a pleasure."

Eight feet of fleece is not enough to make a coat lining, but it is enough to make a Qipao lining.I got ready to wear it, although the price was a bit more expensive, but it made me realize something, even though I was fooled, it was still worth it.

(End of this chapter)