Chapter 51: Autumn in Beiping (Begging for Collection)

  The Mid-Autumn Festival is the most beautiful time in Beijing. The weather is just right, not cold or hot, and the length of day and night are evenly divided. There is no yellow wind blowing from Mongolia in winter, nor is there a storm with hail in the sweltering heat. The sky is so high, so blue, and so bright.

  Huang Li and others have been in Beiping for several days, wanting to settle down Xian Niang mother and daughter as well as He Dakuai's family, but it was not as simple as he thought. He Dakuai's trouble-making son had only rented a foreign car in Beiping and squeezed into the broken house of the car shed with several single-car husbands. As soon as this group arrived, just finding a place to live had been troublesome for two days.

  Finally, they rented three western rooms in a large courtyard in Maojia Alley near the northwest of Zhongnanhai and the root of the Imperial City, which is considered to be temporarily settled. According to the Huang Li, it's better to live in a clean and spacious place, but He Daguang and Zhen Niang both think that they need to take things slowly for now, as they haven't found a way to make a living yet, having a place to stay is already not bad.

  In this big compound, there are seven or eight households, most of whom live in one room; some rooms have seven or eight people living together. These people do various jobs: some pull carts, some run small businesses, some work as patrolmen, and some work as servants. Everyone has their own business to attend to, no one has any free time, even the children are carrying small baskets to pick up vegetable leaves and collect coal cinders. The ash, dust, dirty water, etc. are all poured into the courtyard, with no one having the time to sweep it clean.

  The three western rooms were very small, but the ceiling was high because there was no attic. The walls were covered with mosquito bloodstains everywhere. It was dirty and messy. Huang Li stood at the door of the house, watching the people in the big courtyard, and found them interesting too. These people spoke loudly, as if they were quarreling. The men would glare at their wives and children, but were also very kind to them, nodding to let them sit inside. The policeman who lived in the north room had the highest status, but was not very sociable, always entering and exiting with his head down, but he was still polite to Huang Li. The rickshaw puller, Niu Si, had the lowest status, but no one in the courtyard dared to provoke him, as he had a bad temper and would dare to fight with people after drinking alcohol.

  "Huang Dage, the house has been cleaned up. Please come in and take a seat." Zhen Niang walked out, with a cloth wrapped around her head, looking like she had just finished sweeping.

  Huang Li nodded and walked in. The walls were pasted with newspapers, the kang had a new reed mat, the bedding was what he had bought, and in front of the window there was a small wooden table and two chairs, which were cheap goods bought by He Dakuai's son from the old market. The room was not big, but it was clean and tidy, showing that Zhen Niang was a very capable and efficient woman.

  "Please have some tea." Zhen Niang held out a cup with both hands and handed it to Huang Li.

  "No need to be polite." Huang Li took it over, took a sip and said: "It's finally settled down. With Uncle Hei and his family helping out, I can rest assured now."

  Zhen Niang gently adjusted her clothes and said in a low voice, "Huang Gege, thank you for taking care of us on this journey. If it weren't for you, I and Niu Niu would still be..."

  "It's not that serious." Huang Li waved his hand and said, "You're just out for the first time, and you're women, so it feels especially difficult. But once you have more social experience, it won't be a big deal anymore."

  "It's easy to say that, but for the two of us to survive in this big city isn't as simple as it sounds." Zhen Niang sighed and still had worries about the days ahead.

  "It's not just you two, look at He Shu's family, aren't they also struggling to get by?!" Huang Li comforted: "Hardships are the most realistic and unavoidable; however, if a person wants to survive, they can't help but find ways to escape from hardships - do one's best and leave the rest to fate. In short, living in this era, one must always bravely face danger while being cautious of the most perilous things. You must put carefulness within bravery, advancing while retreating. You must treat suffering as a part of life, and savor a bit of sweetness from it, so that you'll still want to live on."

  Zhen Niang seemed to understand and yet not understand, blinking her eyes, savoring carefully.

  "I'll stay in Beiping for a few more days." Huang Li said slowly: "Go see some famous doctors, hoping to find a way to cure my amnesia. To say, I'm even more pitiful than you guys. You all know your past and what you're going to do next, but me, it's like I'm just drifting through life aimlessly."

  Zhen Niang hesitated for a moment, then gently shook her head and said: "I'd rather forget all the miserable things of the past, but I just can't. If it weren't for having a child to worry about, living in this world would be suffering for me."

  Yes, that's just the different perspectives and experiences people have, forming different ideas. I'm desperately searching for my past, while Zhen Niang wants to discard painful memories, which is really a strange thing.

  Hehe, Huang Li chuckled twice, trying to dispel the sad atmosphere, "You should let Tai Li hear this, it has a bit of a 'returning to God' feel to it."

  Zhen Niang rolled her eyes and smiled slightly: "I don't believe in the teachings of foreign monks or nuns."

  Huang Li changed the subject and said: "Niu Niu is seven years old now, she should go to school."

  Zhen Niang blinked and hesitated before saying: "Sir, are you going to a private school? Isn't the cost quite high?"

  Huang Li shook his head and explained, "Isn't there a primary school nearby? What you said seems too outdated, now it's modern education, the cost doesn't seem to be very high. Why don't I just pay for this instead?"

  "I still have some money, but it's better to ask around first." Zhen Niang was hesitant, but she couldn't just refuse Huang Li outright, so she made up an excuse.

  Huang Li also didn't want to force the issue, after all, he and Zhen Niang were not relatives or friends, even if they had some affection for each other, it wasn't right to use that as capital. After staying for a while longer, Huang Li stood up to take his leave, this place was not suitable for him to stay in, and besides, there was no arrangement for him to stay here, after all, in the eyes of Zhen Niang and others, he wouldn't be able to stay for long and would soon leave.

  …………

  In the peaceful season of autumn in Beijing, it's like a paradise on earth, perhaps even more prosperous than paradise! The high stalls and low stalls on the streets, as well as the fruit shops, display all kinds of fruits. Those fruits, whether in the shop or on the stall, are arranged so beautifully, with not a single speck of white frost rubbed off, and are arranged into three-dimensional patterns that emit fragrance. "Ah! One mao for a bunch of my small white pears, skin tender, juice sweet, no wormholes, my little tender white pears!" The peddler's cries are like singing in the midst of the fragrance, making people slow down their pace, listening, looking, and smelling the beauty of Beijing's autumn.

  Among the fragrant fruit stalls on the street, there are still many rabbit grandfather stalls, layer by layer, displaying colorful powder and embroidered bodies. Behind them, flags and umbrellas are inserted - big and small, all equally beautiful and delicate. Some ride tigers, some sit on lotus flowers, some carry hair-cutting poles on their shoulders, and some carry small red wooden cabinets on their backs.

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