Old things in the south

Chapter 31 A Map

Ruijun and Yimu couple came all the way. As soon as they entered the door, Ruijun said happily and excitedly:
"Guess, what did I bring you?"

As she spoke, she opened her handbag.

I had no way of guessing that she had already produced a stack of papers:

"Here!" She handed it to me.

Open it, ah!A brand new picture of Peking!

"I hope that after looking at the picture, you can connect Wenjin Street and Jingshanqian Street, and clarify the directions from east to west, north to south."

"Some careful readers have already told me." I said with shame (but this shame is joyful), "and it made me go to the Peking Library and Tuancheng in front of Beihai once in my memory."

Under the lamp, our heads huddled together on the map, pointing and talking.Familiar places, boundless memories.

"Here," Ruimei said, "I have lived in Huanghuamen for many years, and I am only familiar with the geography of Beicheng."

So she mentioned that Huanghuamen was very close to the curtain storehouse, and that every day she went to school by rickshaw, it was Lao Yin's rickshaw that was parked at the curtain storehouse.Lao Yin was the manager of the Qianqing curtain warehouse at the beginning, and now he can pull foreign carts at the gate of the curtain warehouse.When they ride in his car, they always like to ask him which door is the original curtain warehouse, and how many curtains are used in the palace every year?What kind of collection method?He also told them proudly, reviewing his old days that never came back.

In Beiping, I do not know how many such characters and stories remain.I'm also reminded of a character at a university where I worked.In the flower room behind the campus, there lives a "Hua'er Bashi" (new term: gardener. To put it bluntly: florist), he works with flowers all day long, and flowers are his life.It is said that he was originally a son of the Qing royal family, and he loved growing flowers all his life. After the Republic of China, he faced real life. He had no choice but to find a job as a gardener in the university. Finally, the flowers were given to him. The way to survive, although tragic, is also somewhat poetic.

Throughout the night, we talked about Peiping with a map.After the guests left, the family fell asleep, and I unfolded the map alone, carefully looking at each street, each alley, the memory is unable to remember the detailed time, often there will be a small alley, an irrelevant feeling , bringing my thoughts back to my childhood, thinking of my living room, my crib, my toys and my partner,... one link follows another, the story is neither related nor the years and months are connected, the thought is just like this Wonderful stuff.

When Yan woke up the next day, his eyes, which were already prone to pain, ached even more from looking at the words on the tiny map for too long!
(End of this chapter)