The Red Era: Living in Seclusion in a Siheyuan as a Boss

Chapter 449 Qin Huairu is back
Next spring, the courtyard house at No. 95 Nanluoguxiang.

Mr. Deng Yunxiang, with his life experience and all his talents, came up with four groups of words for the courtyard: "Winter feelings are plain and warm, spring dreams are chaotic and bright, summer scenery is refreshing and remote, and autumn heart is gorgeous and elegant."

Normally speaking, there are not many times in the north when the sky is thin at dusk and the wind brings heavy rain, because there is a lot of wind in the spring in Beijing.

“Without the spring breeze, the ground will not bloom.” The spring breeze in the capital is called the “big yellow wind.” It blows as soon as it is supposed to, and never stops.

However, after a few days of strong yellow winds, the willow trees sprouted and the peach trees bloomed.

People who had been stuck in the house for too long saw children playing in the courtyard. The sound of pigeon whistles came from the sky. The deaf old lady in the backyard came out for a rare time and sat on the steps of the middle courtyard to chat with the old people in the same courtyard. It was a peaceful scene.

Today is Sunday!
The neighbors had some free time and went out of their homes to enjoy the leisurely atmosphere of the warm sun and clear sky in the courtyard.

"Hey! Uncle Third, Uncle Fifth, where are you two going?" Sha Zhu walked into the courtyard leisurely with one hand behind his back and an empty birdcage in the other hand.

Coincidentally, he ran into Yan Bugui who was about to go out and An Wuye who was waiting on the side on a tricycle, so he stepped forward and greeted them warmly.

Yan Bugui smiled and said, "Hey! Our school has two old desks that we just bought and we don't use. I thought about it and thought they could be used after some repairs, so I asked the school for them and asked Master Wu to help me get them back."

Yan Bugui smiled and replied, "Hey! That's right, our school has two old desks that have been discarded. I think they can still be used after repairing them, so I asked the school for them. Now, I'm asking Master Wu to help me get them back."

When Sha Zhu heard this, he immediately laughed: "Haha, Uncle San, given your family's current conditions, you still live so frugally!"

Yan Bugui smiled complacently: "You won't be poor if you have enough food and clothes, but you will be poor if you don't plan well! As a person, you should save money when you should, don't you think this is true?"

Sha Zhu gave him a thumbs up, "Hey! You're right!" But he was thinking in his heart: "Haha, this is how Old Yan will be in his life, a total miser!"

Yan Bugui said anxiously: "Come on, we have to leave quickly. I don't want to be late and be snatched away by others!"

"See you later, sir!" An Wuye smiled and nodded to Sha Zhu. They were very close. In this yard, whenever the neighbors needed a car, they would think of An Wuye first.

Sha Zhu also smiled and nodded to them, and responded: "Okay, Master Wu, then you guys go ahead and get busy. By the way, I'll need a car in a few days, so I'll have to trouble you to make a trip then!"

Master An Wu laughed heartily and said, "No problem, leave it to me!" After that, he waved to Sha Zhu and left with Yan Bugui.

Sha Zhu shook his head in amusement and then walked into the yard.

In the spacious open space in the middle courtyard, a group of middle-aged women were busy scrubbing clothes, splashing water and chatting about their daily lives.

At this moment, the second aunt inadvertently looked up and caught a glimpse of Sha Zhu's figure slowly walking into the yard, holding an empty birdcage in his hand.

She immediately put down her work and shouted at the top of her voice: "Wow! Zhuzi, what are you talking about? Why are you carrying an empty birdcage?"

When Sha Zhu heard this, he raised a mischievous smile and deliberately kept the question a secret: "Second Aunt, you don't understand this! Hey, this bird cage of mine is not an ordinary one. It can attract birds by itself! Do you believe it?"

A straightforward lady standing nearby opened her eyes wide when she heard this and asked in surprise, "Ah? Is this true? So magical?"

The second aunt was also stunned by Sha Zhu's words, but then she reacted and laughed and exposed him: "Hey! He is a big man, but he just talks nonsense here. He is teasing us!"

Seeing this, Sha Zhu smiled and ran away without any further explanation, leaving a group of aunts there to continue their laundry time. Occasionally, one could hear a few laughs caused by Sha Zhu's prank.

Sha Zhu stepped into the house and gently placed the birdcage in his hand on the table. Then he tilted his body and fell straight onto the bed. A feeling of laziness instantly spread over him.

My daughter-in-law Wang Qiuju is a public security officer. She is very busy even on Sundays and has no time to spare.

His son He Qiu is also a homeless man. He must be out having fun with Huaihua, Xu Xiaonian and others.

That’s how it is these days. During the day, adults go to work and children go to school, and the streets are quiet.

As soon as the children got out of school or on Sundays, they would run around in the alleys. They might not even go home at dinner time, and no one would take care of them.

They played during the day and at night. At night, they would go out, light a candle, and cover it with paper. The boy was naughty, so he would shake the paper and it would catch fire, and then they would play with it.

In the past, Beijing was known for "the south is cold, the north is poor, the east is rich, and the west is noble". Nanluoguxiang was once inhabited by dignitaries, and the alleys were all facing east, west, south, and north, without any crooked or crooked direction.

When Shazhu was a child, all the courtyards were neat and square. Children had nowhere to hide when playing hide-and-seek, and some could only climb on top of the big wardrobe in the house.

Now, if the children at home go out, you have to work very hard to find them.

Besides, Sha Zhu didn't want to look for He Qiu as he was particularly annoyed with him now.

This kid is very naughty now, and can get into more trouble than Shazhu when he was younger.

Moreover, Sha Zhu was not worried about He Qiu's safety outside.

Because this kid has been learning martial arts with his mother since he was young, he is very agile and ordinary people can't get close to him at all.

One day, Huaihua was bullied by several classmates at school.

She cried and went to find He Qiu, feeling aggrieved. When He Qiu saw this situation, he became furious and dragged Huaihua to find those bullies to "settle the score"!
He Qiu was seen chasing and beating five or six boys, all the way to their doorsteps.

From then on, He Qiu became famous among the kids in Nanluoguxiang, and felt that "If I had never met Chen Jinnan, it would be in vain even if I wanted to be a hero!"

He Qiu, who became the "big brother", seemed to have unlocked the code of life, and things became unstoppable.

Not only did children like Xu Xiaonian and Huaihua in the yard play with him, but some children outside the yard also followed his lead.

As soon as He Qiu gets out of school, he never goes home.

As a result, Sha Zhu was the only one left at home. Looking at the empty room, he couldn't help feeling an inexplicable loneliness in his heart, and he felt that life seemed to be missing something.

At this moment, the main door of the house was slowly pushed open with a creaky sound.

Jia Zhang's smiling face appeared at the door. She walked in slowly with a sullen look, seeming a little embarrassed.

When Sha Zhu heard the voice, he immediately jumped up from the bed and looked at Jia Zhang with a puzzled look on his face, "Hey, Aunt Jia, what's the matter?"

When Jia Zhang heard this, a trace of embarrassment flashed across her face, and she stammered, "Ah... Zhuzi, Auntie actually has something to ask you."

When Sha Zhu heard this, he couldn't help but frowned slightly, muttering to himself: "Is this old lady here to borrow money again? She hasn't paid back the money she borrowed last time..."

But he didn't show any emotion on his face, and just responded politely: "Ah, Aunt Jia, you see, it's not salary day yet, and Qiu Ju is in charge of the family's money. How about you wait a while until she comes back?"

When Jia Zhang heard this, an awkward look immediately appeared on her face. "Well, Zhuzi, I'm not here to borrow money, please don't misunderstand. We will definitely return the money we borrowed last time when Xiaodang comes home next time, don't worry."

Upon hearing this, Sha Zhu also seemed a little uncomfortable. He waved his hand and said with a smile, "Hey! Aunt Jia, don't worry. There's no rush for the money. It won't be too late to pay me back when you have more money!"

Seeing that Jia Zhang was not here to borrow money, Sha Zhu felt relieved and asked, "Aunt Jia, what exactly did you come to see me about today?"

Jia Zhang slowly said, "Actually, it's about your sister-in-law Huairu. She's been released from prison and will be going home soon! When the time comes, I want you to go to the station to help pick her up, okay?"

When Sha Zhu heard this, he couldn't help but feel a lot of emotion. Time flies, and ten years have passed in the blink of an eye.

"Oh! Sister Qin is coming back, this is great news! No problem, I will definitely pick her up then!" Sha Zhu agreed readily.

Seeing Sha Zhu agree so readily, Jia Zhangshi finally felt relieved. "Zhu Zi, thank you so much. I still need you at the critical moment!"

"Like Qin Jingru, she's such an ungrateful person. When I heard that I was going to the train station to pick up her sister, she said she had work to do and couldn't leave..."

"Hmph, this ungrateful bastard! If our family hadn't helped her back then, how would she be where she is today?" Jia Zhang said angrily.

Sha Zhu looked at the indignant Jia Zhang and thought to himself, "Qin Jingru, whom you are talking about, is busy taking care of herself now, so how can she care about others..."

…………

At that time, Sijiu City, although it was the capital of Xia State, was in a sense just an enlarged rural area.

It is inextricably linked to the local culture. The architectural pattern is like connecting the traditional rural courtyards to form alleys, streets, lanes, and even traces of rural wells are common. Lin Haiyin's "Old Things in the South of the City" 49 The wells in the alleys in the south of the city are like the wells in the countryside.

In the eyes of many old literati, Beijing is also the city with the most "nostalgia". Yu Dafu once said that as long as you live here for two or three years, you will feel homesick for Beijing.

Although the phenomenon of "setting up stalls on the Tianqiao" disappeared after liberation, the cultural context of "Tianqiao" has always been active in the alleys of the old city.

Although it completely disappeared for a period of time a few years ago, the "overpass" year in the alleys has revived in recent years.

In fact, many tricycle riders in Nanluoguxiang have the "shadow" of the old "overpass" in the past, and people like An Wuye are one of them.

Although the rickshaw pullers of the past are long gone, tricycles have become a substitute. Nowadays, An Wuye not only pulls people but also starts to transport goods on the overpass.

This tricycle was an important means of transportation in the old city from the 1970s to the 1980s. Naturally, just like the old overpass, most of the people who pedaled a tricycle came from the lower class, working hard to support their families. When pedaling, because of the heavy load, they didn't have much to do, they just pedaled hard.

Uncle An Wu has been traveling from Nanluoguxiang to Tianqiao to do some work. He has been here for decades and usually waits at this fixed "parking space".

More than half of his customers are repeat customers who come from word of mouth.

Master An Wu grew up in Luoguxiang, and was influenced by the history of the capital from an early age, with his mind filled with the history of the capital.

If you sit in An Wuye's car and talk to him about Nanluoguxiang, he can tell a story with every step.

The residents of Nanluoguxiang like to chat with An Wuye whenever they have nothing to do. "The old man really knows a lot. He speaks very well and makes sense. People young and old all like to listen to him talk about old things."

One afternoon, a student from another place who was studying at a nearby middle school came to Master An Wu to learn the authentic Beijing dialect. Master An Wu was happy to tell the young man everything about the old Beijing.

"rule!"

Master An Wu has a temper, or in his own words, he is quite "strange".

When you take his car, you never bargain. "It only takes 50 minutes to an hour to shop and talk, and it's only five dollars."

If the customer bargained again, he would reply, "Please take a look."

The rickshaw drivers nearby all ask for 2.5 yuan. If you bargain, they will take you 2.2 yuan, 2 yuan, or 1.80 yuan. But he won't do that. "I want 5 yuan, and that's it, because I'm worth that."

A passenger made an appointment to take the bus at 4pm, but arrived at 5pm. He pulled An Wuye aside to explain that he was delayed because he ran into an acquaintance and chatted with him for a while.

Sorry, please take someone else's car, I'm off work." The passenger said nothing more, "This person is dishonest."

Master An Wu wants to tell the story to those who are sincere in listening to history.

Many times, two adults and a child were picked up, and the child was crying and making a fuss. An Wuye directly told the guests, "Please get off the car. I don't want any money. If we can't make a deal, don't waste our time."

When there were no customers, he would sit on a tricycle not far from the first police booth at the south entrance of Luoguxiang. Tourists would constantly come to ask for directions. If there were some newly arrived policemen who were not familiar with the situation, Uncle An Wu would answer their questions.

If you call him uncle, he will point you clearly to the right place. "Houhai, go out of this alley and see a river. Go north. Follow the bend of the water and you will arrive."

If someone came up and asked, "Hey, how do I get to where?", Master An Wu would pretend not to hear.

Some people are so blind that when they see you are ignoring them, they come up to you and say, "The old man is asking you something!"

At this time, the old man got angry and said, "Who are you calling? When you go home, do you call your dad 'Hey'?"

The men in Beijing value propriety, righteousness, integrity and honor, and they will take care of anything they don't like.

Some of the public toilets in the alleys have single rooms without distinction between men and women. Last year, a little LM often peeked in from under the door.

Uncle An Wu hid in the toilet and threw the waste paper basket from over the door, hitting little LM on the head.

The other rickshaw drivers in Luoguxiang all respected Master An Wu, and those who had just arrived would follow him to do business.

When doing business in an alley, there would often be disputes among drivers because of competing for work. At this time, the old man would come out to "sort out the trouble". Everyone would sit down, clarify who got the work, who should be paid, and the one at fault would buy a drink. After the incident, they would still have to take care of each other.

Master An Wuye has an apprentice, Zhang Saner, who has been learning to pull a rickshaw from him for two years. He said that the rickshaw dealership is mixed, but the old man does not bully the weak and is not afraid of the strong. Over the years, there has not been a rickshaw driver in Nanluoguxiang who has charged exorbitant prices and overcharged customers. "As long as the old man is here, the rules remain."

Mr. An is a heavy drinker. He drinks two kilograms of liquor and countless beers in one meal, but he says he has never been drunk.

He drinks not only at mealtimes, but also when he is out driving. He carries a military water bottle with him to hold the wine. “It’s cold, and this is good to drink.”

Master An Wuye was not born into a rickshaw-pulling family.

He was born in a courtyard house with four entrances and exits in Banchang Hutong, Nanluoguxiang, and was the fifth child in the family.

When he was two years old, his family moved to a small courtyard in Fuxiang Hutong.

According to him, his ancestors were of the Aisin-Gioro family, and were of Manchu royal blood.

What’s interesting now is that this “descendant of the royal family” rides a tricycle and has made a great name for himself in the industry.

On Wednesday noon, the clock quietly pointed to a little after eleven o'clock. Master An Wu and Sha Zhu had already agreed to meet at the slightly mottled south gate of the Red Star Factory.

At this time, Xiao Liang from the Security Department was guarding the door. He noticed Sha Zhu pushing the old bicycle and walking out of the factory in a hurry with an anxious look on his face.

"Hey! Isn't this Director He? Why did you get off work so early?" Xiao Liang greeted him enthusiastically with a hint of curiosity in his tone.

Sha Zhu stopped, turned around and grinned at him, explaining, "Hey, there's something urgent at home, so I asked for leave from my boss and have to go back to deal with it."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Liang immediately reached out to help him push open the heavy iron door, with an understanding smile on his face: "Then go quickly, don't delay things!"

Sha Zhu nodded to him gratefully, with a sincere smile: "Hey, thank you very much, Xiao Liang!" After that, he got on the bicycle, pedaled his feet, and walked out of the factory gate.

Sha Zhu smiled and greeted Master An Wu who was waiting there: "Master Wu, you are here early today!"

Master An Wu responded with a smile: "I don't have anything to do today, so I just came here early!"

When Sha Zhu heard this, he immediately said cheerfully, "That's great! I'll treat you at noon today. How about we have a good meal and a couple of drinks?"

When Master An Wu heard this, he happily agreed: "Hey, then it's settled! Let's go now..."

So, the two of them rode their bikes, chatting and laughing all the way, and arrived at the Beijing Railway Station.

At 11:43, the train slowly pulled into the platform and blew a long whistle.

Qin Huairu dragged several heavy packages with difficulty. These packages were filled with her belongings over the past ten years. From worn-out bedding to yellowed clothes, she was reluctant to throw anything away and brought them all back.

"Zhuzi! Zhuzi! I'm here..." Qin Huairu shouted in a hoarse and slightly crying voice. She stood on tiptoe, trying to make her voice travel farther, and at the same time waved desperately to Sha Zhu who was anxiously looking for her in the crowd.

However, Shazhu didn't seem to notice her presence and continued to move among the crowd, looking around.

Qin Huairu became even more anxious when she saw this. She reluctantly put down the burden in her hands, squeezed through the crowd regardless of everything, and walked quickly towards Sha Zhu.

"Zhu Zi! I'm back!" A familiar voice sounded in Sha Zhu's ears.

Zhuzi raised his head, a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes: "Ah! Are you Sister Qin?" There was a hint of disbelief in his voice.

"Yes, Zhuzi, it's me." The figure of a middle-aged woman came into view. Her hair had turned gray, her skin had become rough, and her face was flushed from the plateau, but her eyes were still bright and energetic.

Zhuzi stared blankly at Qin Huairu in front of him, with an indescribable emotion welling up in his heart.

He couldn't help but recall the pretty and tender-skinned Sister Qin back then. She was completely different from the middle-aged woman in front of him.

"You...you have changed so much." Zhuzi finally found his voice, and there was a hint of emotion and sigh in his words.

(End of this chapter)