Siheyuan: Big City, Small Love

After collecting things from the old men in the ghost market, He Lai did not leave in a hurry. Instead, he changed his appearance and followed them to their alley.

Don’t say that what the old saying of the city does make sense: the east is rich and the west is noble, the south is humble and the north is poor.

As the saying goes, money doesn't go away in a hurry, wealth doesn't go to the side, poverty doesn't go south, and wealth doesn't go north.

People in the north and south are not rich, and most of the people in the south are working people and folk artists. In those days, these people were regarded as lowly people, so there was a saying of "Southern lowly".

People in the north are also relatively poor, probably because most of them are descendants of the Qing Dynasty.

Once the Qing Dynasty fell, these old men and the descendants of the Eight Banners lost their crops and their source of income and fell into ruin all of a sudden. However, they refused to work and just stayed at home living off their savings. By the 1960s, all their belongings had been gone, so they were all poor.

Dongzhimen happens to be in the north, and it is the poorest gate among the nine gates in the city. There is a cemetery outside Dongzhimen and many coffin shops inside Dongzhimen. When people die, their coffins will be transported out of the city through Dongzhimen for burial.

So the people here have a very hard life.

He Lai followed the old men to an alley, walked around, found a suitable place, put out 200,000 kilograms of sweet potatoes and potatoes, filling the entire alley, and then left.

After a while, Blind Old Yi had just put the cornmeal away, drank a sip of water, and wanted to go to the toilet, but he found that the entrance to the alley was blocked by a pile of things. He was stunned.

As Blind Old Yi had poor eyesight, he didn't know that there was food in the alley, so he immediately started to complain: "Who is so wicked as to dump garbage here? Is this what a human being would do? Come out and move it away for me!"

As Blind Old Yi continued to shout and curse, many neighbors got up and walked out of the yard to see what was going on. As it was four o'clock in the morning and it was still dark, all they could hear was Blind Old Yi shouting about who had thrown the garbage.

So before anyone even got close to the food, they started shouting for someone to move the garbage away.

More and more people gathered, and in the end no one came out to admit it. Now someone was in a hurry to pee, so he thought of walking over first. As a result, he took a flashlight and took a closer look, and was immediately stunned.

"The gods are distributing food!" the man shouted immediately, then ran back to get the bag.

When everyone heard that it was food and not garbage, they came forward to check and found that it was indeed food.

"Blind Old Yi, your dog eyes are so fucking useless that you can even see food as garbage. Hurry up, go back and get something to pack!"

A man cursed and hurried home to get his things.

"What? Food?" Blind Old Yi took a closer look, but still couldn't see clearly. He picked up a sweet potato, took a bite, and then he believed it!

"Oh, this is a big loss!" Blind Old Yi slapped his thigh, picked up a dozen sweet potatoes, and ran back.

At this moment, people in the alleys on both sides were stunned and went back to get their bags. Soon the alley was overcrowded with people, all waiting to load up their bags with food!

It took two hours to distribute all the food. Now, half of the space in many people's homes was filled with sweet potatoes and potatoes!

"God has finally opened his eyes and remembered us poor people," said an old man.

"Hey, mom, look, I grabbed the last bit of sweet potatoes!" A middle-aged man came over carrying a bag of sweet potatoes.

"Okay, okay, grandson's mother, hurry up, let's each roast a sweet potato to try in the morning. I heard that these divine sweet potatoes are delicious!"

The old man instructed with a smile.

"Okay, Mom, I'll go get the stove now." A woman put down the sweet potato in her hand and went to light the honeycomb coal.

……

Our protagonist He Lai is now leisurely eating breakfast at a snack stall in Dongzhimen.

"Have you heard? We have food here too, and more than anywhere else!"

A person who was also having breakfast started chatting with the people at the same table.

"How come I haven't heard about it? My family went there too, but unfortunately we went a little late and only brought back more than 100 kilograms! Alas!"

the man said.

"It's OK. It can last for a month or two. My home is quite far away. When I rushed over, people couldn't squeeze in."

"Hey, squeezing people requires some skills. If you suddenly shout, 'Someone dropped money on the ground, believe it or not, half of the people will look at the ground. Then you can take the opportunity to squeeze in."

"You are such a bad boy!"

"For a bite of food, who cares about this? No matter whether you are a man or a woman, just squeeze in. In that situation, whoever has the strength to move in is considered powerful. Some people even climbed up the wall with a ladder."

"That's right. The nearby courtyard houses probably made a lot of money. I guess they have no place to store their food."

"Well, they can dream big. Just wait and see. The street office will come to their door soon and persuade them to give up some of the grain. How can they let them take so much grain?"

"That's right. We have so many old men and women here. How can we squeeze past those young people? We must give them some points."

……

Several people kept chatting, and as one group left, another group came, all talking about the same topic.

After He Lai had eaten his fill, he listened for a while longer and then got up and left, going to Mr. Zhou's place.

"You naughty boy, why are you here so early today?" Mr. Zhou had just finished his breakfast when he saw He coming over.

"I have nothing to do. I'm bored so I come to Grandpa Zhou's place for a walk."

He Lai said.

"Xiao Laizi, have you had breakfast? Would you like to try Grandma Zhou's pumpkin porridge?"

Old Mrs. Zhou said with a smile.

"Okay, give me a bowl." He Lai said with a smile.

"Come on, brother. The pumpkin porridge cooked by grandma is so delicious!" Ke'er said with a smile.

"Well, then Ke'er, drink more. There is also pumpkin at Brother Lai's place. Tell Brother Lai when you're done eating!" He Lai touched Ke'er's little head and said.

"No need to come, brother. Grandma and I have collected a lot! We have thirty-five big pumpkins and thirty-two big winter melons! We also gave a lot to the grandpa and grandma next door!"

Ke'er counted on her fingers and said happily.

"Xiao Laizi, what kind of pumpkin and winter melon do you have? Old Man Xu wants to ask you for them!"

Mr. Zhou smiled.

"Uh... I just picked some large pumpkin and winter melon seeds and cultivated them. Nothing special."

He Lai explained.

"Haha, this old man Xu is really no good. He can't even grow a pumpkin or a winter melon properly. What kind of Ministry of Agriculture is this? He's not even as good as me! My pumpkin weighs more than 20 kilograms! And the winter melons are even bigger! Each one weighs more than 50 kilograms. He must be scared to death."

Mr. Zhou smiled.

"Grandpa Zhou, this melon seems to be grown by Grandma Zhou!" He Lai saw that Grandpa Zhou was a little too proud of himself.

Upon hearing this, Mr. Zhou glared at He Lai and said, "I didn't dig a hole!"

"Uh...Okay, Grandpa Zhou, you planted them. Okay, Grandpa Zhou, you have to keep them well. These melons will rot easily if they are cut open, so it's best to eat them right away."

He Lai reminded.

"Okay, okay, we'll give them all to them when the time comes. Each family will get one or two kilograms, and they'll be gone in no time. Don't worry, they won't rot." Grandpa Zhou said nonchalantly. It's all about face!

At this time, Old Mrs. Zhou also came over with a bowl of pumpkin porridge.

"Xiao Laizi, the vegetable seedlings are coming in spring, remember to send them to Grandma Zhou."

Old man Zhou said with a smile.

"No problem, Grandma Zhou, I'll bring it to you in the spring, don't worry."

He Lai assured.

"Okay, okay, Xiao Laizi is in charge, I trust you, drink it quickly, Xiaojun can drink several bowls of this pumpkin porridge!"

Old Mrs. Zhou urged.

"Okay, by the way, has Xiaojun gone to school? Why can't I see him?" He Lai asked puzzledly.

"Well, my brother goes to school at dawn every day. Sometimes, he runs away before grandma has even prepared dinner."

Ke Er said.

"My child, I heard that you are good at studying, so you are also studying hard. I want to learn from you!" said Old Mrs. Zhou with a smile.

"Haha, then let him learn. It will be good for him to learn more."

He Lai nodded and continued, "Grandpa Zhou, aren't you going to work today?"

"As for me, I'll take a day off. I don't have anything to do anyway. How about we go fishing? I haven't gone in a while."

Mr. Zhou suggested.

"Sure, but there aren't many fish in these lakes in the city. You have to choose a good place to fish."

He Lai explained.

"Yes, indeed. Let's go to Wild Duck Lake. You go there often to hunt. Let's drive there. It won't take more than a few hours."

Mr. Zhou said.

"You can't go. It's so far. You can just go fishing in Shichahai. Why go so far? Don't you know your own body?"

Old Mrs. Zhou immediately voiced her objection.

"Yes, yes, let's go to the North Sea. I heard there are a lot of fish there."

He Lai immediately agreed, saying that if all else failed, he could just cheat himself.

Old Master Zhou looked at He Lai with contempt. It was clearly this little guy who took the lead, but he ended up being the one being scolded!

"Grandma, can we go too? Ke'er has never fished before!" Ke'er said, pulling Grandma Zhou.

"Okay, grandma will take Ke'er with you, but you can't run around, okay? It's very cold if you fall into the river."

Old Mrs. Zhou instructed.

"Okay, Ke'er stays with grandma." Ke'er nodded.

In this way, everyone began to prepare fishing tools.