In early 1926, Tianjin was generally peaceful. Although people's lives were difficult, at least most of them were able to provide enough food and clothing.
The Lantern Festival has just passed ten days ago, and many people still have Spring Festival couplets and the words "Fu" posted on their doors.
Walking on the streets, Zhou Hexuan felt a very real sense of going back in time: old houses, narrow streets, occasional telephone poles standing on the streets, and the towering Drum Tower in the center of the city could be seen in the distance.
The Drum Tower was damaged once when the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded China, and was renovated a few years ago. It was not completely demolished until the founding of New China due to traffic development reasons. Zhou Hexuan had only seen it in old photos before.
The street was paved with tracks, and a tram with a wire fork was slowly approaching. Hu Laosan walked forward quickly and shouted: "Sir, that house is a bit far, let's take the tram there!"
Zhou Hexuan immediately followed and stepped onto the tram in twos and twos.
There were not many people on the bus, and ordinary people were reluctant to ride on this foreign thing. The passengers were mostly office workers and young students. In fact, the bus fare was not expensive, only two copper coins, which was only about half a cent.
Several male students were wearing modified Chinese tunic suits and looked particularly energetic, but their hairstyles looked silly. Parting in the middle or side parting was the norm. Female students basically had short hair, and some had big braids. Unfortunately, it’s cold now, so it’s hard to see beautiful people.
student skirts and cheongsam, and they all wore thick cotton-padded jackets.
"Qijun, have you read the newspaper? Yesterday, Japanese warships entered Dagukou and bombarded the Nationalist Army, killing and wounding more than ten defenders."
"How could I not know about such a big thing? This huge China has been humiliated by the great powers all day long, but the warlords only know that if you beat me, I will beat you, the civil war is endless, and I don't know when it will end."
"It would be great if Mr. Zhongshan was still alive. What a great opportunity it was the year before last. Cao Kun was expelled, and the Beiyang warlords were leaderless and fearful of each other. With Mr. Zhongshan's prestige, he would definitely be able to calm down the disputes between all parties and form a real national government. It is a pity that he did not
He died of illness at the most critical moment!"
"well……"
The resentment in the hearts of the students turned into a sigh. They are the most passionate young people at the moment, but they can only act anxiously in the face of the chaotic current situation.
Zhou Hexuan does not have that kind of empathy. He seems to be an outsider. For him, this era will always be covered with a veil and remains in the history books for the time being.
Listening to the content of the students' conversation, and thinking about the current year, Zhou Hexuan suddenly thought of a major event - the March 18th Massacre was about to happen!
"Sir, we've arrived." Hu Laosan's voice interrupted Zhou Hexuan's thoughts.
After the two got off the tram, they walked for a few minutes and finally reached the entrance of an alley, and soon entered a courtyard house.
The courtyard was not as elegant and quiet as Zhou Hexuan imagined. There were a lot of clothes hanging to dry in the courtyard, which were still wet and dripping. When I walked in, I smelled a stench, and I didn't know whose toilet was empty.
Two little kids of several years old were chasing and fighting, and the one in front bumped into Zhou Hexuan's leg. He seemed a little afraid of strangers, looked up, then turned around and ran away, hiding in the house and not daring to come out.
The landlord's surname is Shan, and his name is Shan Chengfu. He is an old man about 60 years old. He is wearing a coat and a melon-pipe hat, with his hands folded in his sleeves. He is a typical old man of the Republic of China.
His son went to the south, leaving only his wife and daughter-in-law, and his grandson stayed in Tianjin. The landlord lived in the main house of the courtyard, the west wing was rented to a large family, and several rooms in the east wing were empty.
"Sir, after returning from studying abroad, do you plan to live in Tianjin for a long time?" Landlord Shan Chengfu asked.
Zhou Hexuan said casually: "I want to stay here for a long time. I will go out to find a job tomorrow."
Returnees in this era are still very expensive. Shan Chengfu has no doubt about Zhou Hexuan's ability to make money. He nodded and said: "It's fine if you stay for a long time. If you are interested, just choose a room in the east wing. The rent will be charged to you five yuan per month."
Yuan.”
Zhou Hexuan has been traveling around the world all year round and has long been accustomed to bargaining: "Five yuan is too expensive, can it be made cheaper?"
"It's not expensive at all. My house is in a good location. Seeing as you're a scholar, I'll rent it to you for five yuan," Shan Chengfu paused and said, "Okay, four and a half yuan, one deposit and three. You're willing."
Just rent it, if you don’t want it I won’t force it.”
Seeing that the old man didn't seem to be faking it, Zhou Hexuan nodded and said, "Okay, I'll move in today."
After depositing one deposit and paying three, he paid 18 yuan in rent, and gave Hu Laosan 20.5 cents as an agency fee. Zhou Hexuan finally found a foothold in this era.
Shan Chengfu was still very enthusiastic. After knowing that Zhou Hexuan had no luggage, he asked his wife to bring two old quilts, for fear that Zhou Hexuan would freeze at night.
Then he took Zhou Hexuan to meet the neighbors, and knocked on the door of the west wing. A middle-aged woman in her 40s came out. Shan Chengfu introduced: "This is Mrs. Zhou Jiayi Zhou, a longevity person in eastern Sichuan. Her three
My son won’t come back until evening.”
"Hello Aunt Zhou." Zhou Hexuan greeted.
Shan Chengfu smiled again and said: "Mrs. Zhou, this is Zhou Hexuan, the tenant of the east wing. He has just returned from studying abroad. You are still the same family."
Mrs. Zhou is on the plump side. Although she is not rich in clothes, she is clean and tidy. She seems to have read a book. She nodded and said in return: "Hello, which country did you study in, sir?"
"I have traveled to all countries in the West." Zhou Hexuan did not lie, he really traveled to the West.
The two of them exchanged a few more polite words before saying goodbye and going back to their rooms. After all, they had just met and neither of them were talkative people.
Zhou Hexuan returned to his room, tidied up briefly, and then sat on the edge of the bed in a daze, wondering how he would survive in the future.
Now that the war is in chaos, he must no longer be able to travel around. He must find a serious job to provide for food and clothing first. The 60 yuan he earned from working as a watchman only had more than 30 yuan left after paying the rent, which he could not afford to spend.
Zhou Hexuan has no consciousness of being a time traveler, let alone saving the country and the people and realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. He is just an ordinary person. He studied history as an undergraduate in college and has not graduated yet. He does not understand politics or economics at all.
Science, engineering and military.
If you want to talk about Zhou Hexuan's advantages, of course he also has them. When he traveled around the world, he learned English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian and other languages. Among them, English and French were the most powerful. He had no problem writing prose and poetry, and several other languages.
This language can only be used for daily communication.
With his language skills alone, Zhou Hexuan can find a good job in this era, such as working as a translator.
When Zhou Hexuan was traveling, his favorite thing was reading, especially literary and historical works. He knew the history of various countries and classics very well. It would be very easy for him to plagiarize a few works in the future.
After walking so much in the morning, Zhou Hexuan felt a little tired. After a lot of random thoughts in his mind, he simply wrapped himself in a quilt and fell asleep.
"Dong dong dong!"
I don't know how long it took, but a knock on the door woke him up.
Zhou Hexuan opened the door and saw a short and fat boy of fourteen or fifteen years old standing outside. He quickly reacted and asked: "Are you Mrs. Zhou's son?"
"Yes, my surname is Li," said Little Fatty. "My mother saw that there was no food in your room, so she asked you to come over and have dinner with her."
"Have dinner?" Zhou Hexuan then realized that it was getting dark outside.
Zhou Hexuan travels all the year round and is a backpacker. He doesn't know what it means to be polite. He eats when people ask him to eat. Then he followed Little Fatty to the west wing.
There is a big family in the room over there, all of them are slightly fat.
Mrs. Zhou introduced her eldest son and said: "This is my son Shanji. He changed his name to Li Shoumin."
Zhou Hexuan always felt that he had heard the name Li Shoumin somewhere, but he couldn't remember it for a moment, so he shook hands and said: "Hello, brother Shoumin, I am Zhou Hexuan."
"Brother Hexuan, nice to meet you." Li Shoumin said in Mandarin with a Sichuan accent.
