Old things in the south

Chapter 22

"Exchange foreign goods for lamps!"

"Change torreya!"

For many years, it has been a familiar call. It does not necessarily come from a certain person, and the calls are also different. Every morning in the alley, you can see an old woman dressed in rags, carrying a basket and hobbling.I especially remember the winter scene clearly. She was wearing an ill-fitting woolen hat that she found somewhere, and gloves with fingers exposed on her hands. The cold wind made her flow some clear nose.Life seemed hard.

Yes, they used to be able to live without having to work. Today, the clean house is gone, and all the prosperous and prosperous days are gone forever like a dream, and what is left is to face the reality of life!
Like the old woman who exchanged foreign goods for lamps, it can be said that she is brave enough to exchange her own labor for life. She does not need to spend a lot of effort and money, as long as she carries an empty basket and some matches, torreria, and wood shavings every morning. Yes, and then she yelled along the small alley.

The waste at home: rotten paper, rags, old shoes, etc. Everything that can be thrown into the garbage dump belongs to Song Ma, so the things exchanged from "exchanging foreign goods for lamps" also belong to the mother. Mom Song.

A pile of rotten paper and rags was the focus of disputes between Mama Song and the old woman who exchanged foreign currency for lamps. Maybe even a box of matches and ten torreya seeds could not be negotiated!
Danfeng matches are red-headed, with sandpaper on the outside of the box, and sparks will burst out when you rub it. A box is only worth a copper coin.Torreya is the fruit of a plant like the longan seed. When it is smashed, soaked in water, the mucus will ooze out and become stagnant like glue.Wood shavings are thin wood chips, which have the same function as torreya. They are used by old-fashioned women when combing their hair, which is equivalent to the "glue spray" used by women today after doing their hair.

This is a small and small business, replacing the most shabby and rotten little things in the family to obtain the lowest life of oneself. It is conceivable that the king and grandson will decline.

As for Gui Song's mother's torreya, she also treats them as treasures. If there are more rotten papers in the house, she will save more matches and torreya, and the matches will be brought back to her country home.The torreya was packed in one of my sister's foreign socks (the other must have been too torn to be sewn anymore, so the torreya was replaced).

Song's mother is a neat and tidy person. She gets up every morning and combs her hair brightly and shinyly, and puts on soaked shavings or torreya, which are glued together and will not fall off after a day's work.

The name of the match, the ancient city, has been called "Yangtenger" for many, many years, and it seems that I haven't changed my name until today.

There is probably only one old woman who "exchanges foreign goods for lamps" with the best fate. I heard at a very young age that the mother of the four famous actresses, Shang Xiaoyun, was "exchanging foreign affairs for lamps".One year, Shang Xiaoyun's mother died. During the funeral, there were many people onlookers along the way. We lived nearby and saw the old lady mourning after death.The graceful Shang Xiaoyun on the stage had a face with a beard on the mourning dress. People on the street pointed out what kind of filial son he was, and said that the deceased was a blessed old lady of birth.

In the novel, I also read the only love story about such a woman. I remember it was "Spring Peach" written by Xu Dishan. I hope I remember correctly.

(End of this chapter)