Go back to the prosperous days and become a layman

Chapter 741 Guangqumen

The four hens hanging on the handlebars were very eye-catching. Tang Zhitong originally planned to take a ride towards Xizhimen, but after noticing the gazes of the neighbors here, he turned at Nanyangshikou and entered Guangqumen to the south.

When it comes to raising and handling chickens, just inform the neighbors around you. Don’t bother with those who live farther away. There are so many people and so many gossips, and you never know how the story will turn out.

Not far east along Guangqumen is Qiliusuo, and next to Qiliusuo is Anhua Tower.

This type of high-rise residential building was rare in the old city. In 58, it was originally planned to build four buildings, but in the end only three were implemented, and Anhua Building was one of them.

Tang Zhitong stopped by the roadside and observed the construction progress of Anhua Building.

The nine-story building has been topped out and workers can be seen installing doors and windows.

A while ago, Zhang Xinping said that it would be completed in two or three months. If we count on our fingers, it should be time for completion.

The rent of this building is not cheap. In the eyes of ordinary people, it is a high-end residence. After it was built, many celebrities have indeed moved in, but Tang Zhitong is not interested.

When Anhua Building was first designed, it was intended to be advanced. There was a large canteen on the first floor and a public canteen on each floor, so there were no kitchens for the residents and the living experience was not very good.

Going further east, the road becomes difficult to walk on. Not only is it all dirt, but there are also basically low-rise bungalows on both sides.

Tang Zhitong didn't go to see what was behind the bungalow.

When Tang Zhitong was young, his grandmother did not allow him to come here, because the people of the old city of Sijiu called Guangqumen "Shawomen" and the area around Guangqumen "Shawozi".

There are many "free lands" around Guangqumen, and no one is taking care of them. Therefore, many people engaged in funeral services will "occupy the land" in advance and dig some "half-pits" in the selected places, that is, graves that are not deep enough. When someone wants to bury someone here, they will dig the pits to the standard depth. It is a bit like selling cemeteries.

These half pits are called "deng pits" in the funeral industry, and are commonly known as "sand pits" by the common people.

The area east of Anhua Building was formerly called "Si Haitang" and was a slum in the old society.

In the past, the area of ​​Sihaitang was inhabited by poor people, including ragpickers, rickshaw pullers, and craftsmen.

There are two types of craftsmen. One type is the female Bodhisattva who doesn’t want your car, your house, or to buy this or that. She just wants to chat with you when you need it, and have some exchanges that are beneficial to your body and mind. She only wants you to leave a little money when you leave.

In fact, there are not only female Bodhisattvas but also male Bodhisattvas in this field, commonly known as Rabbit Gods.

However, there are no rabbit gods living in this area, because rabbit gods are only for the rich, and there are more of them near the theater.

There is another type of craftsman who makes a living by performing funeral ceremonies.

Since there are many charity plots near Guangqumen and funerals often take place here, this place naturally became the first choice for those working in the "funeral" industry to live.

In the past, you could find people here carrying poles, beating deacons, playing suona, beating gongs, making paper horses, selling paper figurines, etc.

It was because this group of poor people lived here that the people of Sijiu City at that time called the area inside Guangqumen the "Forty-eight Poor Families", which was on par with the "Poor Eight Families" where the Tang family lived, except that there were more poor people here.

Tang Zhitong walked forward, looking around. The electric poles on both sides of the road were made of wood.

Although it is possible to use foot clips on electric poles like this, it seems that using foot pegs will also work.

The structure of the foot tie is simpler than the foot buckle and it is not difficult to make. It is tied to the shoe and the hook is used to hold the bark to provide support.

Tang Zhitong stopped and touched the electric pole. The wood was very dry and there was no bark on the outside.

It may not be very suitable to use a foot poke for wood like this, but it is still necessary to invent it.

Even if it can't be used by electricians, it can be used by Tang Steel!
The pine trees in the deep mountains and old forests all have bark and are of quite large diameter. It is obviously impossible to use foot hooks on those trees. Instead, foot spikes are more suitable.

Tang Zhitong secretly wrote down this invention in his small notebook, dusted off his hands, got on his bike and continued forward until he reached Guangqumen.

Guangqumen is the only east-facing gate in the outer city. When Huang Taiji attacked Sijiu City, Yuan Chonghuan's army and the Qing army fought a bloody battle outside Guangqumen and won the victory.

After Yuan Chonghuan was unjustly killed, his subordinate She Yishi "stole the commander's body at night", buried it inside Guangqumen and guarded the tomb for generations, which is the origin of "She Family Mansion".

I don’t know if it was because of the failure here, but Guangqumen was not taken seriously throughout the Qing Dynasty. It was precisely because of this lack of attention that the Qing Dynasty suffered a great loss.

In 1900, when the Eight-Nation Alliance attacked Sijiu City, they first attacked Chaoyang Gate, but because there were too many defenders, they could not take it for a long time, so they changed their attack to Guangqu Gate, which had weaker defenses.

Guangqumen itself was small and had insufficient military force. In addition, the nearby people handed ladders to the Eight-Nation Alliance, which led to the burning of the Old Summer Palace. Even the way to the Old Summer Palace was led by local people.

It is not entirely true to say that the people were ignorant. The Qing Dynasty was incompetent at the time, and the people were living in dire straits. Perhaps the guides thought they could make a little money by taking advantage of the situation, or perhaps they also thought that changing the emperor would be better than the current one.

Who was right and who was wrong has been lost in the long river of history. Even Guangqumen has long since disappeared. During the Republic of China, only the city platform and the city wall were left, which still exist today.

In addition to some messy residential houses outside Guangqumen, there are also many factories built, which has already taken shape as an industrial zone. The chimneys standing in the distance are constantly emitting thick smoke.

Tang Zhitong went out of Guangqu Gate and turned south. He found a deserted place and put the four chickens into the space. He then went into the outer city from Longtan Road.

Longtan Road is on the north side of Longtan Lake. Longtan Lake is currently a tourist attraction, but it is free to enter and many people fish here.

Tang Zhitong did not get off the car to join in the fun and continued heading west to the Temple of Heaven.

The Temple of Heaven is the place where emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties offered sacrifices to heaven and prayed for good harvests. It covers a large area and has been open to the public since the seventh year of the Republic of China. However, many old Beijingers have never been there because the tickets are expensive.

Currently, a ticket to the zoo costs eight cents, a ticket to the Ditan Park costs two cents, and a ticket to the Temple of Heaven costs 45 cents, which is prohibitively expensive.

Tang Zhitong had never been to the Temple of Heaven, but he heard that the site had been fully utilized two years ago to build farms and forests, mainly producing sorghum, sweet potatoes, and soybeans. It is foreseeable that the Temple of Heaven and its superior departments will have a better life than other units in the past two years.

Tang Zhitong could see kites flying high above the Temple of Heaven from outside. This was a good place to fly kites, as it was large, with few people and no electric poles.

Tang Zhitong planned to go home and ask Xiao Wang if he wanted to try it here, but before going home, he had to go to Chunshu Hutong.

As a master of keeping things balanced, Tang Zhitong naturally couldn't miss the portion from Chunshu Hutong since his family had eaten oil residue two days ago.

Tang Zhitong hid the lard in his bag and brought it upstairs. This kind of thing must be carefully handled and should not be seen by outsiders as much as possible.

Ye Zhijuan was rather surprised by the arrival of her son-in-law. Most of the time the young couple were inseparable.

"Mom, Xu Hui from the neighborhood office came to my place a few days ago and said that there are regulations that cadres are not allowed to raise chickens. I disposed of all the chickens at home today and brought some lard with me." Tang Zhitong said as he took out lard wrapped in newspaper from his shoulder bag.

"That's thoughtful, but you also have to pay attention to your own safety." Ye Zhijuan did not refuse, nor did she ask where the lard came from, but instead gave a reminder.

"Don't worry, I still say the same thing, all these things that have passed through my hands do not take up the quota of others, and they have all been handled well, and no beginning or end will be left behind." Tang Zhitong had no way to explain the source, and could only assure it again and again.

"Well, it's good that you have an idea. If you are short of money, just ask me." Ye Zhijuan nodded to make her attitude clear.

"Okay! I'll refine the lard first." Tang Zhitong opened the newspaper and walked towards the kitchen. He had a hook that could hide the smell that drifted outside the house to the greatest extent. If he let Ye Zhijuan do it, I'm afraid half of the neighbors in the building would know that the Wang family had meat today.

"Eanzi, heat up the steamed buns later, heat up a few more, and eat them here before you leave." Ye Zhijuan ordered before Tang Zhitong entered the kitchen.

"Okay!" Tang Zhitong didn't refuse. It was almost time for dinner. It would be better to eat a steamed bun here than go home and eat steamed bread...

No one knew where Wang Jingmin had gone to have fun. Tang Zhitong didn't see him when he went upstairs, nor was he at home. He didn't come back until the lard was almost refined.

As soon as he entered the door, the unique aroma of refined lard entered Wang Jingmin's nose. Wang Jingmin slammed the door shut and ran to the kitchen: "Brother-in-law! Are you eating lard today? I didn't smell anything outside!"

"If I let you smell it, wouldn't the whole building be able to smell it? Let's eat quietly and don't tell anyone." Tang Zhitong warned his brother-in-law who was running and sweating.

"I know, brother-in-law. You are almost as nagging as my sister." Wang Jingmin complained casually while staring at the rice pot.

"Hey, you're so brave. I'll tell your sister later that you said she was nagging." Tang Zhitong stared at the oil pan and joked with his brother-in-law.

"Brother-in-law, you are making a complaint! I didn't say my sister was nagging, I was saying you... I wasn't saying you... Okay, I was wrong, is it okay if I was wrong? Brother-in-law, you should be a kind person." Wang Jingmin had been completely bewitched by the aroma of the oil residue. He stared at the oil residue, and he didn't say anything stubborn. He looked like he would do whatever he was told.

Tang Zhitong laughed, stopped teasing his brother-in-law, and started to pick up the oil residue.

At the same time, Feng Zhi was also urging Xiao Wang: "Sister-in-law, is it almost time? Is it time to go home?"

"Wait a little longer, until I finish sweeping this area. Everyone else hasn't left yet, so it's not convenient for us to leave, right?" It was the first time for Xiao Wang to participate in the collective labor in the alley. He was very excited and worked very hard, but Fengzhi was not like that. She just wanted to go home quickly to eat something and fly a kite.

Zhang Guifang worked for the whole morning and finally dismantled the chicken coop and turned the floor over carefully.

The chicken manure on the ground did not have time to ferment, so she directly turned over a thick layer of soil and pressed it underneath. By the time the vegetables were planted, sprouted, and took root, the chicken manure had almost decomposed naturally, just in time for the best fertility.

The chicken coop at home was built by Master He and He. It was not only beautifully built but also very sturdy. Zhang Guifang tried twice to dismantle it but failed, so she just left it there.

When Tang Zhitong got home, his family had already finished their meal and Fengzhi was begging Xiao Wang to take her to fly a kite.

"Mom, this is the money from selling the chickens, please keep it. I sold more than two hundred and forty in total. On the way back, I saw someone selling apples, so I bought some apples and had two hundred and forty left." Flying a kite is roughly equivalent to a spring outing, which goes best with a picnic, but we don't have the conditions for this right now, so we can only prepare some fruit.

Tang Zhitong was thinking about this on his way back. He stuffed a dozen apples into his bag and immediately made up an excuse to sell chickens.

"So many?!" Zhang Guifang's hands were shaking with excitement. She didn't care about the apples at all. Two hundred and forty yuan was already far beyond her expectations.

In her entire life, Zhang Guifang had never received so much money at one time, except for the relief money sent by the mine.

What's more, this money was all earned by her own hands!

Zhang Guifang felt so accomplished that she began to regret killing those little roosters. If she had kept them until now, would she have made hundreds of dollars more?
"It's okay. There's a meat shortage everywhere in the city right now. Our chickens are fat, so we sell them for a little more money than others." Tang Zhitong said happily.

Right now an ordinary chicken can be sold for fifty yuan. In a few months, the meat will be out of supply. I wonder what the price will be by then.

Tang Zhitong thought that there might not be much increase, because by then all kinds of high-priced goods would be launched on the market, high-priced candies, high-priced snacks, and even high-priced restaurants. Anything related to food would be priced high outside the normal quantity.

The sale of high-priced goods has a specific background. In addition to the lack of food, the prices of various goods on the black market have risen alarmingly. Instead of letting the dealers make this money, it is better to keep it in their own pockets...

Of course, this is Tang Zhitong's own thinking. The original words of a big boss who is very good at calculating are: "Supply is tight now, so we should 'walk on two legs', that is, some goods can be distributed by vouchers, and some goods should be available for purchase as long as there is cash."

The result is obvious. In the first year of the implementation of the high-price method, a total of 33 billion yuan was recovered.

After that, it was Wang Xiaoer’s New Year - each year was worse than the last, until it was finally cancelled.

Leaving Zhang Guifang at home to hide the money, Tang Zhitong and Xiao Wang took Fengzhen, Fengzhi and the kite and went directly to Baiqiao.

If it were up to Tang Zhitong's personality, he would not bring anyone today, just the couple, but classmate Xiao Wang was willing, so Tang Zhitong had to compromise.

However, when they arrived at Baiqiao, they were dumbfounded. The vacant land here had already been reclaimed by nearby residents to grow vegetables.

Even Chinese farm dogs know to walk when entering the fields, so the few people must not trample on them casually. Seeing that Fengzhi was about to cry, Tang Zhitong thought of the Temple of Heaven and suggested, "Why don't we go to the Temple of Heaven? There is a lot of open space over there. I have seen people flying kites there."

(End of this chapter)