The memory of quadrangles in childhood is so unremarkable, but occasionally it is still so clear and vivid, because the milestone of childhood growth is there, and many innocent and sincere emotions are poured into it. Today, quadrangles have long been occupied by towering buildings. The old man in the courtyard has gone, and the living have become passers-by in life, continuing their lives in an invisible world.
When it comes to quadrangles, we should start with people who live in quadrangles. Siheyuan, as its name implies, is a common architectural style over the years. Before liberation, most of these houses were houses of extended families. Four blue brick houses in the east, west, north and south are tightly enclosed into a courtyard, which is convenient for generations of families to live together. After liberation, private property became public housing, and citizens with different surnames were assigned to live in public houses. At that time, my family and the Shao family lived in the west wing, saying that they lived together because there was one room for each of the three rooms, and the other one was the kitchen of the two families. Shao family is also an ordinary family. The man plays around because of his lack of talent. Even though he is badly dressed, he is still very stylish. Neighbor women privately call him a playboy. Tracing back to the source, playboy is not a playboy, just because he comes from a landlord family.
In today's words, playboy is the second generation. It is not good to catch up with his fate. He was just about to enjoy life when he was transformed. He was spoiled since childhood and had to go to town to work as a worker in a chemical factory. Handsome, driven by the environment at that time, he married an ugly but deeply rooted poor peasant daughter-in-law, gave birth to four daughters, and lived in poverty. What impressed me most was that he was drunk and incoherent all day. Now think that he is drunk and unwilling to face suffering. Whether drunk or sober, the work that belongs to a man in the family still needs him to finish clumsily. I remember that one autumn, every man took advantage of the "Eleventh" holiday to clean up the kang. When this constantly chauffeured plastered the kang mud, he first wiped the edge of the kang on the floor, then went to the kang and squatted there to wipe the kang. Finally, when he found that there was no place to stand, he felt that his work was done backwards, and then he had to lie on the windowsill and wipe the last piece and jump out of the window. Since then, the incident of wiping kang has become a joke for women to chat.
In the first room, Qijia, Chen Jia and Liu Jia are separated from my house by a narrow path. Qijia is a cadre family. Grandpa Qi, the male master, seems to be the director of the Education Department, which is equivalent to the current director of the Education Bureau. Master Qi, the hostess, is a retired teacher. This kind of scholarly family is very strange among ordinary people, and their lifestyle is also incompatible with our family. They are aloof and lofty, and rarely associate with their neighbors. The small room is full of special emotional appeal, which attracts us children to sneak a peek while the master is not at home. Unequal status will inevitably lead to a fault in the communication between neighbors, and the complex of awe and exclusion makes the neighborhood relationship awkward.
The Chen family next door is an ordinary working class, and the male owner works in the county grain depot. The family in the whole yard has the best living conditions except the Chen family's, because the porters in the grain depot earn a lot of money, can get the pitiao in flour and rice, and eat three meals of oil cakes, steamed bread and white rice, which is really enviable. Mr. and Mrs. Chen are very easy-going Neighbors all call Ersao "the Chen family kannika nimtragol", and children in the yard secretly call her "the Chen family kannika nimtragol". Sister-in-law is warm-hearted Whenever I hear my sister crying because she doesn't like coarse grains, she will send two oil cakes as quickly as possible. Chen's second sister-in-law has a bad temper. At night, when all is silent, they can often be heard quarreling. When they have a fierce quarrel, they fight, and then the neighbors run to stop the fight.
Liu's house is the first house on the edge, next to Chen's. The old couple are in poor health. Grandpa Liu retired from the knitting mill, and his retirement life was dull and leisurely. Every time I go to his house to play, I can see him sitting on the kang playing with a few pots of leafy flowers on the windowsill. One pot of lanterns is particularly beautiful, and I was deeply impressed by the small dark purple lanterns hanging upside down. Old mother Liu coughed like that when I met her. When she coughed, her breathing became blocked, as if there was a cat in her stomach. Koharu, the daughter of Mu, is my playmate. I don't know where she lives now and how she is doing. I only remember that she always had a tortilla mixed with bean flour in her hand when she was playing and eating, and the thick smell always made me swallow.
I don't like the two in the East Wing. Zhujiajian Island is an unusual family with no neighbors. Neighborhood relations are very bad. Meeting is often a war. The hostess is so bad-tempered that she doesn't even let the children go. Once, she annoyed my sister. She was unreasonable and had high morale since she was a child. She sat on the top of Chen Jiacang, responding to the hostess of Zhujiajian. Finally, she came back victorious, but was scolded by her mother. The Liu family is different from the Zhu family. Although they are not easy-going, they are smart. Neighbors seldom come and go together and live in harmony. Liu's daughter works in a cinema. Every time the movie is well played, the neighbors give her all the things about buying movie tickets to ensure that they can get good seats. This is the first scene. At that time, people's spare time was still scarce, and listening to the radio and watching movies was the main entertainment. Every time a color feature film is shown in the cinema, the whole yard becomes very happy. After a movie ends, the story of the movie is discussed for the next few days, as if they were a character in the movie story.
I've never seen the West Wing of the White House. According to neighbors, people once lived here, but it suddenly collapsed many years ago, and no house was built after the collapse. The open space has naturally become the public land in the yard. In summer, it is a place for children to play. In winter, it has become a place for families to pour dirty water. The more dirty water is poured, the more it freezes into high ice packs. At that time, we all liked to play on ice packs, no matter how dirty they were.
Siheyuan has many memories. The people in the yard are interpreting the story of that era. I have childhood memories, and I can't go back. The quadrangle is gone, and the story of the quadrangle has become a broken chapter with a head and a tail. Time keeps us moving forward. Finally, one day, when we look back, we find that only those yellow memories accompany us, and those that once appeared in our lives were forgotten by us at a fork in the road. Some people say that people are lonely, and I said, yes. ...