Dashilan Commercial Street is relatively narrow. After walking in, Zhaoqing became more cautious.
He is extra polite to the salesperson and extremely courteous to other customers.
Liquor, tea, cakes, candies, Liubiju pickles, fermented bean curd... Everything he bought was carefully put into rattan baskets one by one, and then moved in and out as carefully as a basket full of eggs, avoiding pedestrians.
.
The reason for this is actually because every time he goes to the city, although he will encounter some unpredictable discord and humiliation, this kind of situation is most common in commercial places.
For example, the first time he went to the department store in Wangfujing, he climbed to the fourth floor without knowing it.
Suddenly, someone shouted loudly. "Hey, hey, why are you here? Get off!"
Only then did he realize that there was a wooden sign on the fourth floor, "Customers Stopped."
He quickly turned around and returned to the third floor with a red face, but an unbearable scolding still came from behind him.
"You are so ignorant! You are running around blindly! You are just like a rural old hat!"
A rural old hater?
This really hurts the farmers’ self-esteem!
He didn't expect that when he visited the largest store in the capital for the first time, he felt not relief but humiliation.
But people in the capital don't care at all. They not only call rural people "Tu Lao Maoer", but also call them "Tu Lao Cha".
At first he didn't understand what "the old man driving" meant. Until one time he was walking on the street and saw a few primary school students and an old farmer driving a cart. They greeted each other, "The old man is coming, the old man is coming."
Already."
Several children hurriedly hid in a corner and suddenly shouted: "Who is my son? Who is my grandson?"
At this time, the old farmer driving the cart raised his whip and shouted "Oooh" to signal the animals to turn around.
But after hearing these sounds, the children seemed to have gotten some big deal, and left in a hurry, laughing.
You only need to look at these children to understand the attitude of city people towards farmers.
Moreover, it’s not just the same in the country’s leading large stores like department stores, it can be said that it’s the same wherever you buy things.
In almost all stores, he would often encounter salespeople chatting at the counter, or salespeople coming and going to count a stack of bills and receipts.
In these two situations, city people are better off, and the salesperson may be able to talk to him. But if he is a person dressed like this, he will ignore you no matter how much you yell. If anyone dares to urge him, he will have to be scolded.
No, even eight generations of our ancestors will have to suffer the same misfortune.
The same goes for eating. In almost all restaurants, it's extremely difficult for him to ask for something. He can't even ask for a bowl of water.
As long as he dares to speak, most of the waiters will give him a harsh lecture, even the words are almost the same.
"This restaurant doesn't sell water. If you're thirsty, go outside to find a water pipe. Or you can spend money to buy soda. Don't mess around. Why do you think we're not busy?"
It’s really the other way around. Isn’t it worth spending money? A dog looks down on others. The seller is the master and the buyer is the grandson. This is the capital, this is the capital!
Gradually, as time passed and he had more experiences of being coldly treated and neglected, he discovered a general rule.
That is, people in the capital who are forty years old and above are very tolerant and patient in dealing with others. But people who are forty years old and below, the younger they are, the more angry they are, the more colorful they are, and the less sensible they are.
On the other hand, the two brothers from the West Courtyard of Guanyin Yuan who bought his eggs spoke kindly, gave him generous money, and even entertained him with tea. They were really an anomaly among the young people in the capital, and they were rare.
So now he only likes to deal with the elderly and does not dare to expect to meet good-tempered young people like Hong and Chen again. He has long learned to stay away from people under the age of forty in the capital.
To be honest, he really loves the capital. He loves the city's simplicity, squareness, humor, long history and long heritage.
What his father said was absolutely correct. The architecture and cultural heritage of the capital were truly fascinating and made his heart flutter.
But it must be said that he really doesn't like people in the capital very much.
According to his father, people in Beijing should be modest, restrained, enthusiastic, tolerant, and generous. But he rarely found this in other people except the elderly.
But what exactly is going on? Why do people in the capital show two different attitudes towards dealing with others, using the age of forty as the limit?
Where did the arrogance and arrogance of these middle-aged and young people with a blind sense of superiority come from?
He still remembered hearing his father say that most of the people living in Nancheng were poor people and craftsmen who had fled from various places or came to Beijing to make a living.
To put it bluntly, most of the parents of these young and middle-aged people are from rural areas across the country.
Not to mention the staff who were transferred to the capital from other places after the founding of the People's Republic of China, as well as the troops and their families who were stationed in the capital.
But how come in just one generation, without exception, the soldiers, cadres, and common people, the children who became people in the capital before and after the founding of the People's Republic of China, all changed their minds? Is it just a simple forgetting of roots?
It is really ironic to say that these people now regard themselves as pure Beijing people and come to teach him the rules of the capital.
A capital like this is not as humane as the countryside. Their Longkou Village is poor, but the educated youth who come to the capital are extremely good.
Not only were everyone willing to help those in the capital to build houses and clear land for resettlement, they were not harsh on them in terms of labor. They were also tolerant of their home-loving mood and sneaky behavior.
On the contrary, the brigade occasionally sent melons, fruits, vegetables, sweet potatoes and cornfields to support them, so that the educated youths in the capital could not even pick out a word of "bad".
To be honest, he has a special affection for his small village, mainly because of the tolerant and humane attitude in the village. From this perspective, he feels that the people in Longkou Village are more like the people in the capital than the people in the capital.
Although the people in the village are illiterate, have never seen much of the world, and have nothing to pursue except their wives and children, they are all good people and can warm people's hearts with their true feelings.
But the strange thing is that although the educated youth in the capital also like the people in Longkou Village, they still yearn to return to the city.
His own father was the same. He learned about the resumption of the college entrance examination from an educated youth and insisted on registering for the college entrance examination this year. He claimed that if his son lived in Longkou Village for the rest of his life and could not return to the capital, he would never be able to bear it.
This made him really confused. What was worth staying in a capital like this?
Is it just for the so-called "future", for a paper household registration in the capital and a decent job?
In fact, in terms of achievements, who can compare with his ancestors? But aren't these people sleeping deep in such a remote mountain now?
Life only lasts a hundred years and passes by in a blink of an eye. Isn't it nice to stay with your family? Why bother?
Furthermore, what would happen if he really jumped to the capital?
The capital is too small. It is not uncommon for families with several members to squeeze into a hut no bigger than a pigsty. It is almost like living in a cricket jar.
Even if you are eating public food, holding an iron rice bowl, and becoming a section chief, that is not a blessing but a suffering.
Of course, because of his filial piety, he cannot disobey his father's orders and will soon go to the county to take the college entrance examination on July 20.
It's just that his real thoughts are actually very "promising".
If he doesn't get the best grade in the exam, but if he does pass the exam, he won't stay in the capital after studying. He will return to the village...
Just when I was thinking of this, I happened to pass by the gate of "Lixin Silk Shop" (named during the movement, the time-honored "Ruifuxiang").
In an instant, Zhaoqing finally saw the fresh products that made his eyes sparkle, his heart itch, and his fists clenched. He had been looking for them - those thin and transparent products, soft and light, with red or green lights shining in them. A gauze scarf with gold and silver threads.
This kind of thing that can be grasped in the palm of your hand, commonly known as "grab by the handful", is exactly what the girls and wives in the village yearn for most.
Anyone who has such a pair will wear it around their neck all day long, competing to see who is pretty and who is gorgeous.
Looking at the gauze scarf, Zhaoqing couldn't help but smile with joy, because in his heart came a beautiful image that kept the young men in the village and even the educated youth in the capital awake.
That is the daughter of the current brigade secretary, An Xiaoqin.
She is his childhood sweetheart and playmate, the only girl in the village who has attended junior high school, and a good girl who appreciates and understands him from the bottom of her heart.
Although he was always regarded by the villagers as a loser, a sleepy man, and a lazy person who couldn't do anything because of his weak body and frequent lethargy, she never looked down on him because of this.
On the contrary, I admired his knowledge and admired his painting skills. I told the villagers that they were ignorant and believed that it was a good thing that he was different. I also saved my own money to buy him paper, pens and paints. .
As they got closer, people in the village naturally gossiped a lot. He was afraid that he would hinder Xiaoqin's reputation, so he deliberately kept a distance. But Xiaoqin didn't care and kept coming to see him as usual. He still called him affectionately, " Brother Zhaoqing".
It is said that the brigade secretary even beat Xiaoqin about this matter. However, no matter how much he inquired, Xiaoqin still refused to tell him.
He couldn't help but love a girl like this, how could he have someone else in his heart?
So a year ago, on that summer night when the stars were very bright, they got along well.
He hugged her and kissed her.
She also blushed with embarrassment and said that she would not marry anyone but him in this life.
It was probably for this reason that in order to get a large betrothal gift and be able to propose marriage decently, he married Xiaoqin. That's why he worked hard to come up with the idea of reselling eggs.
From that day on, whenever he went to the city to sell eggs, Xiaoqin would wait for him on the road at the entrance of the village, even until dark.
He has never been able to repay this deep affection for his son. But fortunately, now that he has money, he has finally found a gift worthy of Xiaoqin.
Of course Xiaoqin would not speak to him, but he could feel her desire for this kind of thing from the envious look in Xiaoqin's eyes at others.
And now, he wants to buy two of the most beautiful ones to take back and give them to the most beautiful and dearest girl in his heart...