Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 575 A Perfect Match

Xiao Wei lit a cigarette, took a puff, and said, "Let's go to the Beijing Hotel."

The driver glanced at Xiaowei but didn't say anything, and the car sped towards the city, leaving a trail of gray smoke.

The further into the city you go, the more cars there are on the road. After all, this is the capital. Although the capital in this era was just as dusty and grimy, with haphazardly built red brick houses and coal sheds, it is still the capital. The people's spirit is indeed different, and there are many more vehicles on the streets.

At this time, women in Beijing were all wearing skirts, especially bright red and yellow ones. They wore sunglasses and bright lipstick. Although they were riding bicycles, they all had their faces upturned and exuded an indescribable spirit.

The driver whistled at a girl walking past the car, earning a big eye roll in return. He turned to Xiaowei and said, "How about it? Pretty cool Beijing girl, huh?"

Xiao Wei smiled and said, "It's definitely different from the locals; they have more energy and spirit."

The driver asked, "Are you sure you want to go to the Beijing Hotel?"

Xiao Wei nodded and said, "I'm really going."

The driver asked, "Hey buddy, what do you do for a living? You don't look that old, are you rich?"

Xiao Wei shook his head and said, "My family farms. We really are police officers, police officers from Fengtian."

The driver glanced at Xiaowei a few times, shook his head, and said, "Doesn't seem like it. You're just going to spend a few days in Beijing? If you need a car, give me a call. We know all the places you want to go. If you hire my car, I can save you the entrance fees for some places." He took a business card from the dashboard and handed it to Xiaowei.

Xiao Wei took it, glanced at it, and said with a smile, "How do I call you from this landline?" The business card was a typical Beijing business card from that era: name, phone number, handwritten pager number, and below it printed "Aunt Liu's Calling," clearly the phone number of a grocery store in a hutong (alleyway). The business card was probably originally printed; after pagers became available, they didn't bother to reprint it and simply filled it in with a pen.

The driver said, "Call me on the landline morning or night. Decide where you want to go tomorrow night and just call me. I'll pick you up first thing the next morning. Just page me during the day." He patted the pager on his waist.

Xiao Wei suddenly remembered the sports car Chen Hui had mentioned and asked the driver, "Brother, do you know where I buy that Ferrari sports car?"

The driver glanced at Xiaowei in surprise and said, "Want to see it? The first one in the country, you saw it in the newspaper, right? Over 700,000 yuan, that's awesome. That car was brought to Beijing by a company for exhibition, but Li Xiaohua intercepted it. We Beijing men are really something, they don't say a word and just steal it."

Xiao Wei said, "I'm not looking. What's the point of me looking at someone else's car? Where can I buy that car?"

The driver shook his head and said, "No, not even in China. This would probably require contacting the company or the consulate, but that's not something ordinary people like us can do. If you want to see, just drive around Chang'an Avenue; that car always runs in that area, it's easy to spot."

Xiao Hong asked, "What's a 'muted double'?"

The driver made a gesture of taking out money: "No need to ask the price, just throw the money down. In Beijing, RMB is called 'te' and USD is called 'dao'."

Xiao Hong said, "Before coming here, I thought Beijing would be full of skyscrapers and magnificent buildings, but why are there only old bungalows here?"

The driver glanced in the rearview mirror and said, "Young lady, the bungalows in Beijing are different from the ones back home. Don't be fooled by the fact that they're all crowded now; back then, only families with ID cards could build houses in the city. They're antiques. See that gate? Which ordinary family would dare build a gatehouse like that? See that lintel under the eaves? Not just anyone can do that. And do you know what those stone drums on either side of the gate are?"

Xiao Hong turned her head to look outside and asked, "What is it?"

The driver said, "It's all about matching social status. For civil officials, the family is considered equal, and for military officers, the family is considered equal. It represents rank. If you mess around, you'll lose your head."

Xiaohong said, "Oh? So this is what they mean by 'marrying someone of equal social standing'?"

The driver said, "Of course. In the old days, you had to go through a matchmaker to find someone. They had to make sure the couple was well-matched in terms of social status and rank, and people from different backgrounds couldn't marry. There were taboos. Matchmakers were considered civil servants back then, and if they made a mistake, they could be beheaded. See? When you're out in the hutongs of Beijing, stay away from people like that." He gestured with his chin toward the roadside.

Xiao Wei looked over and saw several teenagers standing by the roadside, smoking and looking around.

The driver said, "These are all party animals, unemployed young men who have nothing to do. They just hang out together all day, looking for sights and taking pictures of women. When they have nothing to do, they pick fights. It's not worth getting involved with them; they really use knives."

Xiao Hong asked, "Is nobody doing anything about it?"

The driver said, "Why should I care? Wouldn't I just be at a disadvantage if I did? You're just a kid who doesn't know his own strength and can be quite ruthless."

Xiao Wei said, "It's the same everywhere. There are fights everywhere these days."

There are more and more cars and bicycles on the streets outside. Cars are starting to move around frequently, and the sounds of horns, bicycle bells, and pedestrians are mixed together. Various small shops are also appearing on the roadside. People in Beijing are in the political center, so they are always ahead of the rest of the country in terms of any developments. In this era, there are many policies, many businesses, and many wealthy people.

Xiao Hong peered out the window and said, "There are so many bicycles in Beijing too."

Xiao Wei said, "Where aren't there many bicycles? There are just too many people." At that time, cities across the country were occupied by a massive army of bicycles. The empty streets in the early morning would be filled with all kinds of bicycles in the blink of an eye. Bicycle parking lots were definitely a high-income sector in that era, and even the large parking lots of later generations couldn't keep up.

Looking at the flow of bicycles, Xiaohong said, "Oh my, that lady is dressed so beautifully, but her bicycle is so shabby, it doesn't match her outfit at all."

The driver laughed and said, "Young lady, you don't usually ride a bike?"

Xiao Hong said, "I ride it to and from school, but I've never ridden such an old bike before."

The driver said, "I told you you were students, don't try to fool me. With my eyesight, I can spot you pretty accurately with just a glance."

Xiao Hong said, "I'm a student, but they aren't. They really are police officers."

The driver paused for a moment, then asked, "Really?"

Xiao Wei nodded and said, "Really, I don't lie to people."

The driver said, "You're not really going to stay at the Beijing Hotel, are you?"

Xiao Wei said, "I'll stay there. What's wrong with staying there?"

The driver gave a thumbs up and said, "People in Beijing are willing to say whatever they want. If you don't like it, go to the Beijing Hotel. You get it, buddy? That's the most prestigious place in Beijing. Back then, it was the tallest building in the city, the first seven-story building. Even after renovations, it remained the tallest building in Beijing, and the most advanced building at that. The country even held meetings to discuss the construction of the Beijing Hotel because it was so tall that you could see inside the walls. Go and see for yourself now; the Beijing Hotel has no windows facing the Forbidden City."

Xiao Hong exclaimed in surprise, "Seven stories is the tallest?"

The driver said, "Back then, only Shanghai had tall buildings, all built by foreigners. Who in Beijing dared to build a building taller than the Forbidden City? The tallest one was the Hall of Supreme Harmony. The Beijing Hotel was built by foreigners, and they even had a stake in it back then, which is why it was so tall. Back then, it already had telephones, elevators, and heating."

(End of this chapter)