Old things in the south

Chapter 38 My Beijing-style Memoirs (1)
Where is the former residence?

Since it was opened to visit relatives in the mainland, when relatives and friends met me, they would always ask me if I wanted to go to the mainland to visit their old relatives and their former residences. I smiled and shook my head, thanking them for their concern, and I told them that I had no such plan at the moment.In the past ten years, I have corresponded with relatives and friends in mainland China. In the past two or three years, I have met and corresponded with my only third sister, mother and daughter of my third sister and my husband Chengying's younger sister and brother-in-law in Hong Kong in the past two or three years.The juniors in the United States—sons, daughters-in-law, sons-in-law, and nephews—have all been to the mainland and met their family members. They probably know the situation of their relatives and friends, so they are not in a hurry to meet each other.As for the place, I often laugh and say to my relatives and friends here: "Peking is gone, so what should I go back to see?" Just like my friend Hou Rongsheng returned to the mainland to visit relatives ten years ago, I remember the sentence in the article written when he came back. If she felt the same, she said: "Where is my city wall?" I almost cried after reading just five words.

But recently, because of this hot topic, the scenery, childhood, and people of Beijing rushed to me, and surrounded me. I don't know which one to recall.In the past, regardless of the content of novels and prose, or the use of words, most of my writing was "Beijing style". I have lived there for 26 years!This time I am going to publish a special collection of works of this type that have not yet been collected. Thinking that there are still many memorable ones that have not been recorded, I plan to write the general one again, but where do I start?My juniors and relatives and friends in mainland China once sent me photos of the streets I lived in, my former residence, my alma mater, etc. Although some of them have not been confirmed, they also gave me many memories.A cousin read the streets, business names, etc. written in my works, and went to look for them, took photos and sent them to me. I am really grateful and moved.Then why don't I start from the place where I lived in Beijing - Beiping - Beijing - Peiping: Zhushikou - Chunshushang Ertiao - Xinlianzi Hutong - Hufang Bridge - Xijiaomin Lane - Liang Homeland—Nanliu Lane—Yongguangsi Street—Nanchang Street, the order is recorded in the form of miscellaneous memories!
Zhushikou

In 1922, after my father had settled his career in Beijing, he returned to Taiwan to pick up my mother and me to go to Beijing. I was five years old at the time, wearing a small kimono.At that time, I temporarily lived in the Qian'an Inn at the entrance of Xizhu City. This kind of inn can be lived for a long time or temporarily, and you can be single or bring your family.Zhushikou was divided into east and west, and Zhengyangmen Street was the boundary. It was a very bustling urban area at that time, because Beijing was the capital at that time, and the Northern Expedition had not yet succeeded.The city of Beijing is square and upright, the city is divided into inside and outside, and all the prosperity is in the outer city south of Zhengyangmen, so restaurants, theaters, big shops, and brothels in Bada Hutong are all outside Qianmen (Zhengyangmen).

The Qian'an Hotel where we stayed temporarily is next to Beijing's famous No. [-] Stage. I caught up with a big obligatory play in Beijing, but I don't remember anything except Li Wanchun, a young actor and martial artist.Talking to his little brother Li Huanchun in Taiwan, Huanchun said: "When you watched my big brother's play, I didn't know where I was!" It means that he was not born yet!
Going west from Qian'an Inn, you will find Hufang Bridge and Luomashi, which are the bustling streets of Nancheng.Going south from Zhushikou, it is not far from Chengnan Amusement Park, Tianqiao, Temple of Heaven and other places. Nearby is the Eight Great Hutongs, where brothels are concentrated. When I came out, the picture frame was adorned with flower names such as Daiyu, Lvzhu, Cuihuan and so on with colored light bulbs.At this time, the whole city was quiet, except for the Bada Hutong, which was full of traffic in front of the Bada Hutong, which was full of self-use foreign cars with four bright lights, all of which were owned by the dignitaries of the Beiyang government at that time.The high-end brothel is called "Qingyin Xiaoban", and most of them are from Suzhou, while the "second-class teahouse" is Beidi Rouge.When the Northern Expedition succeeded and the capital was moved to Nanjing, the Eight Great Hutongs became a historical term in name only.

Toon tree two

Not long after staying in Qian'an Inn, he moved to Chunshushang Ertiao.This is the first home where I grew up and started living in Beijing.In fact, this is the backward entry of Yongchun Guild Hall. The main entrance is headlined by a toon tree, and there is another back door to enter and exit. There is a large yard in the middle. There is a locust tree in the yard. Many locust tree insects like silkworms hang from the tree, commonly known as hanged ghosts; the light green is the same color as the flowers of the locust tree.It was also my first nature toy.Prepare a glass bottle and a pair of chopsticks, and put the hanged ghost into the bottle to watch.Looking at the wriggling group, it's really disgusting. I don't know why we children like such things?
In Ertiao on Chunshu, I started my life as a little girl in Beijing. I started to wear cloth shoes with leather toes, I started to wear socks, I started to drink soybean juice, and I started to eat boiled mutton (my mother pinched her nose all her life) Those who have never entered), also started to go to the first grade of the primary school attached to the Normal University, and received a comprehensive new Chinese education.

Of course, my father also began to discipline me strictly, forbidding me to be late and not allowing me to go to school in a rickshaw.When I got up in the morning, my mother tied up my little yellow braid like a dog's tail, and walked out of the house with a yellow cloth schoolbag with the word "school bag" on it.There was a little black dog in the alley chasing me two steps, always afraid that it would bite my heel.Go out of Ertiao on Chunshu, pass through the horizontal alley, walk a section of Lujiao alley, and arrive at Xiliulichang. The first thing you see is a live sheep slaughtered on a bed of mutton lying bloody at the door. After abducting for a while, we are facing the primary school attached to the Normal University.I feel happy and warm in the morning light, but the first time my father let me walk to school by myself, I was so scared.I knew that I had to work hard to keep going. This was the first education my father gave me in life, and I had to learn "self" in everything.

At Ertiao on the Chunshu tree, my mother brought me my third sister Yanzhu and my younger brother Yansheng. The arrival of my younger brother was a happy event for the Lin family, because I had two half-sisters and a second younger sister who stayed in Taiwan. The father already has five daughters, and it is very important for the younger brother to come to the world.All the children born to my mother in Beijing have the word "Yan" in their names.

Song Ma, an important character in my writing "Old Things in the South of the City", also served as my brother's nanny after his birth.

At that time, the daily necessities at home were often bought at the Earth Temple in Xiaxie Street, and the temple fair seemed to be every three days.I went to the Earth Temple with my mother and Song Ma. They bought supplies, such as brooms and dustpans. A game of hoops that can't be caught.

At this time, the family changed from three to six people, and the three-room house on the Chunshu tree seemed not enough, so my father asked the postman to find a house for him, because my father was already working at the Beijing Post Office.Before that, he worked in the Japanese-language newspaper Beijing-Tianjin-Daily News.

Xinlianzi Hutong

Xinlianzi Hutong is in the inner city. When I first moved there, I went to Changdian to go to school. I had to go out of Shunzhi Gate (also called Xuanwu Gate) along Shuncheng Street, and then walk along Xiheyan to the school. At that time, the distance was far and I couldn’t walk. I went to school, so I hired a foreign car to pick me up every day.But after a while, a new city gate was opened between Zhengyangmen and Xuanwumen, which was first called Xinghuamen and later Hepingmen.The city wall has not been opened yet, and people can walk through it. This gave me a great pleasure as a primary school student. Every day when I go to school, I walk through the piles of bricks and dirt piled up by the folded city wall, and walk around unevenly. There is a kind of caution, choice, Don't be afraid of the sense of difficulty to complete it!I like to go out of Xinlianzi Hutong in Hepingmen where I live every day, walk a section of the street, pass through Hepingmen, and arrive at the school on South Xinhua Street. I don’t need to drive around Xuanwumen anymore.

Because my home in Xinlianzi Hutong is at the end of the alley, it is a dead end, so it is very quiet. Every day after I leave school, I put down my schoolbag and go to the street with my mother Song to watch the excitement, or when I come back from school, mother Song and My younger brother and younger sister were already standing at the door and waiting for me.

Song's mother always took a small bench at the door, and she was not the kind of girl who was described as "goofy" when she stood at the door.There is more than one small bench, because the younger brother and younger sister also have to sit. Song's mother taught the younger siblings to read songs. When they saw me coming back, they would read to me: "Pull the big saw, pull the big saw, and there is a big show at the gate of grandma's house. The shed, the back is decorated, and the mutton buns are placed upwards. Pick up the girl, invite the son-in-law, and the little grandson is also going. Other girls have come, but my girl hasn’t come yet. As soon as I talked, I came, riding a donkey, hitting Umbrella, bare butt, with a bun."

We went to the street to watch the excitement, because if there is a big funeral in Beijing, this is often the only way to go.The funeral procession can be several miles long, enough for you to watch it for two hours.

Hufang Bridge

Among the residences in Beijing, there were only two people who lived in the main street, and the Qian'an Inn was not counted.Hufang Bridge was the most memorable place when I was growing up. At that time, my second sister was also sent to Beijing from Taiwan, and my mother gave birth to the fourth and fifth sisters in Hufang Bridge. The book is also colorful, and I have used this place as the background in "Old Things in the South of the City" and other short stories, or recorded in special articles.My second younger sister was eight years old when she arrived, and she was supposed to enter the second grade of primary school, but because she couldn't understand the language and had never studied, she was inserted into the first grade of the No. [-] Primary School (later called Hufangqiao Primary School) next door.One day when she came back from school, she said to her mother, "The teacher told me to take Confucius away tomorrow." My mother wondered, why is it called taking Confucius away?It turned out that the teacher asked to take the notice book, and she heard it as Confucius Gong in Taiwanese homonyms.The reason why she knew Confucius was because Taiwan also respected Confucius, and Confucius was called Confucius Gong.

The big three-entry house at Hufang Bridge was originally the Jiaoling Guild Hall in Guangdong. My Lin family moved from Jiaoling, Guangdong to Toufen, Taiwan seven generations ago. My grandfather returned to Jiaoling every year to worship the ancestral temple, so my father also lived in Beijing. I am very familiar with the Hakka people, and rented the entire Jiaoling Guild Hall.There are many provincial guild halls in Beijing, all of which were lived by students from all over the Qing Dynasty who went to Beijing to take the exams. After the Republic of China, there were no exams. Although students from various provinces still lived in the guild halls, many rented them out to provide income for the management of the guild halls.

My father loves beauty and cleanliness, so he refurbished the Jiaoling Hall. At that time, my father had a lot of friends and a large family. We had six siblings, plus a coachman, Song's mother, and another nanny, and there were eleven people in the family. people.There are always guests coming to play on weekends. My mother usually goes to Guang'an Market on Guang'anmen Street to buy vegetables every day, and buys fish and shrimp at Xiheyan.There are loads or carts selling yellow croaker and prawns at the door in spring, and there are whole carts of red-stemmed and green spinach for green vegetables.There was an anecdote among the royal family in the late Qing Dynasty, saying that the Queen Mother of the West was fleeing, and there was nothing to eat in the countryside. One day, the imperial chef served a dish.The Empress Dowager Xi had never seen any of the 180 dishes every day in her palace. It was not bad to eat, so she asked what kind of dish it was. , This is a red-billed green parrot on a gold inlaid white jade plate!" It turned out that it was just fried tofu and roasted spinach, which is this kind of red and green spinach.

I live in Hufang Bridge, and I am already in the third or fourth grade. I still go to school every day, and this time I live in the opposite direction from Xinlianzi Hutong.To go to school, walk from Hufang Bridge Street to Jinghua Press, turn north and walk along South Xinhua Street, pass Zangjia Bridge, Xiaoshatuyuan and other intersections, and go straight to Changdian and Haiwang Village, and you will find the attached primary school.I remember that there is a shop named Shuzhen at the entrance of Shatuyuan, which specializes in dry goods. They make their own dried spicy radish, which is red and white in color. It is spicy and delicious. I often buy a pack and open it on the way before I get home Eat one by one.There is also a small southern restaurant. I don’t want to go home to eat at noon, so I eat steamed buns with dried vegetables and minced meat in this restaurant. I only eat three big buns each time or add a bowl of soup, a total of five big buns, and I don’t need to pay cash. According to the booklet, accounts are settled every month.

It was the time of the Northern Expedition "revolutionary" and the time when the New Culture Movement and the Women's Liberation Movement reached their peak. Many girls cut their braids, and I saw students with new haircuts every day in the primary school attached to me.Director Fu Xiaohan couldn't help calling all the students in the school to the auditorium to explain the truth that "the body, hair and skin cannot be damaged by parents", but the tide came and I couldn't stop it, so I also cut my hair. I saw it and didn't say anything.The uniform problem, however, was so serious that it caused me so much pain that we moved again.

Xijiaominxiang
Anyone who knows Dongjiaomin Lane in Beijing knows that it is the embassy district.Xijiaomin Lane is not as beautiful as Dongjiaomin Lane, but because it is a banking area, it is also very tidy. The Bank of China is opposite my house, and my father told me to go to Japan Zhengjin Bank to withdraw money, which is in Dongjiaomin Lane.When I was young, I held my bank account book in my hands, and I was also sweating.My father asked me to fetch the "Golden Three Ten Dollars", did he mean to train me?From then on, I had to work hard in everything. My father left us long ago. Fortunately, as the eldest sister, I was trained strictly by my father.

Speaking of uniforms, our school used to wear Chinese-style dresses or coats with large right breasts.The new trend has come, and the school has changed the style of uniforms. They are dresses with lapels, and the material is still moon-white bamboo cloth.My father is really unreasonable. He said that wearing such poor materials and styles looks like a foreign beggar, so he insisted that I still wear Chinese-style bamboo cloth coats.How can you not wear a uniform!My mother was also afraid of my father, so she came up with an idea to let me wear my uniform inside and a bamboo cloth coat every day. When I arrived at school, I took off the coat and folded it and put it in the reception room before going to the classroom. Go to the reception room and put on a coat.How long has it been like this, I don't remember.

Song's mother often took her younger brother and younger sister, and took a small bench to sit in the shade of the Bank of China opposite, waiting for my second sister and me to come back from school.At that time, the second sister was still in the No. [-] Primary School in Hufang Bridge.We have to pass through the Heping Gate every day. I go to the attached primary school first, and then she walks down South Xinhua Street, and turns east on Hufangqiao Street.

Next door to us is Zhao Bingnan, a Muslim surgeon who is licensed to practice medicine, and his father became neighbors with him.I remember that my family had a hand-cranked small Japanese phonograph, a small record, and it sang the Japanese children's song "Momotaro". Dr. Zhao thought it was interesting and borrowed it to listen to it.Later we moved away from Xijiaomin Lane, and he also moved to a bungalow opposite.The reason why I have a deep impression on him is that my fifth younger sister Yan Ping had pimples all over her face due to sensitivity one year. Western medicine couldn’t help her, so she went to Zhao Bingnan’s for treatment, and applied the ointment (in a small flat box) given by him, and soon There was a layer of scab, and after it fell off, it was a beautiful and fair little face.Many years later, Zhuo'er suffered from a hernia at the age of three, and the pediatric therapist was about to perform an operation. I was very worried.That morning, when I passed by Xijiaomin Lane, I saw the signboard of Zhao Bingnan when I went to the Madoctor’s Clinic. I suddenly had an idea, and I stopped to register with the gatekeeper, and the hernia was cured.He said very kindly: "Someone has come to treat it." I took it in to show Dr. Zhao, and told him that we used to be neighbors.He was very pleased and gave the ointment, which was still in a small flat box.The hernia that was swollen and accumulated water, as expected, the swelling subsided and healed within a few times.Therefore, I have a deep impression on Zhao Bingnan.

(End of this chapter)