Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 602 Region

Xiao Liu said, "Pumpkin stew with potatoes, it's a normal dish, right? Do you think it's delicious?"

Xiao Wei nodded and said, "It's delicious! I love it, so what?"

Xiao Liu lit a cigarette and said, "Southerners turn their heads and vomit as soon as they see it, saying it's like a dung bean. I've tried it on several southerners, and none of them can eat it. They've never even heard of it, let alone seen it. That's normal. You're just not used to it the first time you've been out. You'll understand once you go out more often. China is so big that the regional differences are sometimes so great that it doesn't even feel like a country."

Gazi, sweating profusely from eating, interjected, "Is it really that bad?"

Xiao Liu said, "It can't be that bad. You guys just don't travel enough. Let's not talk about anything else, just fights. You've all been in fights, right?"

Xiao Hong raised her hand: "I've never fought."

Gazi laughed and said, "She just watched us fight, making sure no one dared to hit Xiaowei. I remember it was Ershuang or someone else, who once punched Xiaowei in the nose until it bled. Xiaohong cornered him at the other end of the pigsty and yelled at him until he cried. From then on, I would avoid her whenever I saw her."

Xiao Liu looked at Xiao Hong: "That amazing?"

Gazi said, "It depends on the time. Have you ever seen a mother hen protecting her chicks? She's always been like that since she was little. She gets all pricked up whenever she's around Xiaowei."

Xiao Hong was a little embarrassed and said, "No, it's because Xiao Wei is small."

Gazi said, "You're kidding, he's even stronger than me."

Xiao Wei said to Xiao Liu, "Keep talking to me, don't listen to them."

Xiao Liu said, "In Northeast China, when people fight, they start banging away, and after it's over, the onlookers probably don't even realize what they're supporting, and sometimes the fighters don't even understand why they're fighting. Right? Quick hands, no talking. In Shanghai and Guangzhou, fights are like rolling up your sleeves and spraying each other with insults, face to face, but they don't actually fight. Even if the onlookers get impatient, a fight still doesn't break out."

Over here, physical altercations, even involving knives and guns, are common, but they're more procedural. First, there's verbal sparring, and then the onlookers gather their thoughts and understand the situation before any physical fighting occurs. Generally, the fights aren't very intense. That's just regional difference, understand? Whether it's food, clothing, speech, or even fighting, each region has its own style and characteristics. You can't judge other places by your own standards.

Xiao Wei said, "So it's just that the further south you go, the gentler the climate gets?"

Xiao Liu said, "From the perspective of ordinary people, that's definitely the case. The further south you go, the more relaxed people's personalities become, and the slower their pace of life is."

Xiao Hong said, "Why can we understand what the people here are saying? We can at least understand what they're saying."

Xiao Liu said, "Bayu is a city of immigrants. In fact, there aren't many people of local descent in the city. Most of them are from other places. You know about the Great Evacuation in 1937? Most of the people came during that time, and they were mostly from the north. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, we supported the industry in the south and moved many factories from the northeast, along with the people. So the dialect spoken here isn't authentic Sichuan dialect anymore; it's more like the northern dialect. If you speak a little slower, you can understand it."

Xiao Hong said, "It seems like factories have moved out of Northeast China everywhere. What did we Northeasterners do to deserve this?"

Xiao Liu laughed and said, "That was unavoidable. Back then, the Northeast had a strong industrial base. Once you crossed the Shanhaiguan Pass, most of the power, metallurgical, copper, aluminum, and gold and silver mining enterprises had some connection with the Northeast. At that time, people and equipment were moved together."

"What the hell? Your mother bought your mother's skin." A quarrel suddenly broke out at the next table. The four people turned their heads to look. There were seven young people sitting at that table, four men and three women, all of whom were not very old, around twenty years old. One of the men stood up and stared at the man directly opposite him, cursing. A woman next to him was trying to persuade him.

The man opposite wasn't easily intimidated: "What? What? You're acting really fierce, kid. Are you trying to smear me?"

With a loud crash, the man who stood up threw the glass he was holding at the man opposite him. The glass flew past his ear and shattered on the ground. Before anyone could react, a second glass had already hit him, striking him squarely on the forehead, and blood immediately began to flow.

Xiao Hong whispered, "This procedure isn't right either. Shouldn't we start by arguing?"

Gazi couldn't help but chuckle.

"What are you doing? What are you all doing? A bunch of idiots!" A middle-aged woman from the restaurant cursed as she walked over. In Northeast China at this time, no one dared to approach her; they would definitely stay as far away as possible. Xiao Hong looked at the woman with concern.

The older woman came over and slapped several people on the head with a series of powerful blows: "You've got guts, you've got guts, one or two of you already!" She then checked on the one who was bleeding and asked, "Should we go to the hospital?"

The guy shook his head and covered his forehead with a tissue from the table. The older woman turned and yelled, "Get the hell out of here! Are you waiting for me to call the police?"

Several men and women got up and walked out, when the old woman shouted again, "Pay back the cups!" She looked at the table and said, "San Guo."

The guy who hit someone turned around and said, "I'm only going to fly at the two old guys, okay?"

The woman ignored him and went to get a broom to sweep.

The manager came over, looked around, and asked, "Is there anything wrong?"

The old woman shook her head and said, "No problem, what's wrong with him? He's just a drunkard. If it were my son, he would have slapped him already. What a fool."

When she glanced at Xiaowei and his group, the older woman looked up and smiled, saying, "Excuse me, please take your time eating."

Xiao Hong asked, "Auntie, do you know those people?"

The older woman shook her head and said, "I know where that silly kid is from."

Xiao Hong said, "Don't you know her? You dared to go up and kick her out if you didn't know her? You're too awesome, auntie."

The woman said, "What are you afraid of? He wouldn't dare hit me, would he?"

Xiao Liu said, "See, that's a regional difference. This old lady knows how they react. Look at the people around her, they don't seem to find it strange at all. Can you imagine this in Northeast China?"

Gazi was engrossed in a plate of spicy diced chicken and said, "If this were where we live, this old lady would have already died a heroic death and gone to the hospital. She'd be so enraged that even her own father couldn't stop her, let alone a complete stranger."

Sichuan-style spicy diced chicken is a dry-fried dish. It comes with a huge plate of chili peppers, but the chicken pieces are only the size of a fingertip, not a thumb. You have to slowly search through the chili peppers with chopsticks to eat it; it's a dish that tests your patience. Whether you eat it or not, it just looks like a plate of bright red chili peppers, with no real difference.

Xiao Hong said, "That guy was such a coward. His head was smashed open, but he didn't even flip the table or fight back."

Xiao Wei nodded and said, "It's definitely different. I've learned something new. How do you know so much?" He asked Xiao Liu.

Xiao Liu said, "I heard it from others. When we're at the police station and have nothing to do all day, we just sit there and listen to the old people brag. After listening to them a lot, we all know a little bit about it."

The scrambled eggs with tomatoes arrived, and Xiaowei took a bite and said, "There's too much oil; it doesn't taste good." People from Sichuan and Chongqing really aren't very good at frying eggs. Here, dishes are usually half-oil, but some dishes are so oily that they're inedible.

This is another regional difference. People in Northeast China buy soybean oil and use it sparingly. People in Sichuan and Chongqing use rapeseed oil, which they can grow in rural areas and press themselves, so they tend to use it more lavishly.

Only two chapters today. I'm in a terrible mood. As everyone knows, my financial situation has been really bad these past two years. I'm owed all sorts of construction payments, and I'm barely able to take care of myself. Only here can I find some comfort. With you all here, I'm managing to survive and try my best to live. In 2014, I had a loan of 50,000 yuan with Ping An Insurance. In 2016, I received a call from Wuhan, Hubei, offering a reduction or something, which I repaid as requested. Then, half a month later, I received another call from Chongqing, saying I still needed to pay 1,000 yuan, which I also paid. A few months later, I received another call from Chengdu, saying I still owed 2,700 yuan. I didn't pay, and we had an argument. Today, I received another call from Shanghai, claiming to be from Ping An headquarters, saying I still owe 4,700 yuan. I'm filled with anger, but I'm helpless and powerless. I'm sorry, I'll make up for these two days tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)