vernacular

Chapter 4 The Rules

It was only a few days later that Lin Zhanyu knew why Wei Qingyun didn't make him a coat: as an apprentice who had just arrived, he did all the chores of cleaning tables and moving chairs, which was the rule.As for going out to perform, he is still far from that level of skill.

After going to the street with the child a few times, Qiao Li left the shopping task that several people took turns to do to Lin Zhanyu.

Xue He saw all his spare time, and when he was free, the other party would often appear behind him silently, dragging him to practice his skills like a master brother.

Children are also very busy.For Lin Zhanyu, going to his master in the morning to get coins and go shopping for food is the most important thing in his day.

After going out the door, there is a narrow and long alley in front of you.Compared with the mansions, mansions and heavy traffic in the city, the streets and alleys in the suburbs seem to have nothing to do with the word "decent".

It’s just that Lin Zhanyu was young and had never seen anything before, so he felt that the road was really long, and he couldn’t reach the end after walking for a long time. The trail ahead, and further on.

In the twelfth lunar month of nine cold days, the sky in Nanjing City is always gloomy, and snowflakes flutter and fall from time to time, falling on the short hair of children.

Lin Zhanyu's hair hadn't been cut for a long time when he first came, and it was half-length but not short. Qiao laughed and said that he felt uneasy, so he asked Wei Qingyun to take him to the barber opposite to get it trimmed, which suited his master's wishes.

So in this small yard, Brother Wei became the only "idle person".

That evening after dinner, Lin Zhanyu finished cleaning the backyard, and when he walked to the front yard with the broom, he saw Wei Qingyun's back.

"Brother!" He yelled, "What are you doing?"

"I just sent Big Brother and Xiao Qiao out." Wei Qingyun straightened his sleeves: "Tonight's evening show will be the two of them and Master."

The winter in the south of the Yangtze River is very cold and humid. When people live in it, they always feel that everything is wet and something is wrong with them.Wei Qingyun patted the folds of the thin cotton coat, and sighed: "The sun is not out today, and even the cotton on my body is not dry."

"Isn't it always like this?" Lin Zhanyu didn't pay attention to these things before. Hearing what the other party said, he stretched his arms, and suddenly felt that his underwear was wet and cold.

Wei Qingyun smiled: "I didn't grow up in Nanjing. I was in the north when I was a child. In winter, it's not only cold but also dry. When the cold wind blows, it can crack people's hands. If it's serious, it's good to have summer. "

Let alone the north, Lin Zhanyu grew up so big that he hadn't even been out of their small village.He wanted to ask a few more questions, but saw Wei Qingyun take out a cigarette wrapped in white paper from his pocket.

Brother Wei put a cigarette in his mouth, lit it with a match, squinted his eyes and looked out.The smell of tobacco soon spread to Lin Zhanyu's nose. He felt a little choked and coughed twice uncontrollably.

Seeing this, Wei Qingyun wanted to turn around and go back to the house, but was stopped by Lin Zhanyu.

After a moment of silence, the child asked curiously, "Why do they want to go so much? They go every day, aren't they tired?"

He took a few steps closer and grabbed Wei Qingyun's sleeves that had just been smoothed out: "I see that every time you come back, your throat seems to be smoking."

Hearing this, Wei Qingyun shook his head lightly: "He is different from me."

"What's the difference?" Lin Zhanyu couldn't understand, in his opinion, there didn't seem to be any difference in the situation of his senior brothers.

"He's saving money for his wife." Wei Qingyun smiled: "I can't compare."

"Why can't he marry a wife?" The child was puzzled: "The food here is good, the house is good, what is he saving money for?"

Brother Wei took another puff of his cigarette, and after thinking for a while, he said, "I heard that your father was a scholar in the previous dynasty. I think he must have taught you to read."

Lin Zhanyu gave an "um" and waited quietly for Wei Qingyun to continue.

"Then do you know what a bad thing is?" At this moment, the sky was completely dark, and the bright moon was hiding behind the dark clouds. Wei Qingjun extinguished the cigarette in his hand, and there was no light in the yard.

The child leaned against him: "I know that actors, porters, and matchmakers are all low class." After finishing speaking, Lin Zhanyu tentatively asked, "So are we? Are we actors?"

"It's not as good as an actor to talk about entertainment." Wei Qingyun led the child to the backyard room: "If it weren't for the lack of food, no one would be willing to do this business, and the master is the same."

Although he said such words, his tone was as light as a joke, and he even smiled a little, as if he never took these things to heart: "Artists, no one wants to marry."

The inside of the house is actually colder than the outside. Although the walls can block the wind, on this gloomy day, the walls also block the few sunlight and warmth, so that the humidity under the eaves is even worse.

Wei Qingyun lit the lamp, the candle was a little unstable, and the flickering light reflected his face, blurring his edges and corners, which made him look a lot gentler than during the day.

"So why don't you save money for your wife?" Lin Zhanyu sat opposite him, looking as if he wanted to ask the truth: "You are already 21, and my father said that if a man is twenty-one, he can marry a wife."

"Not to mention that I have only been a teacher for half a year, and the money I earn now has to be filial to the master, and I can't save it by myself. Three years of apprenticeship, two years of service, this is the rule." Wei Qingjun smiled, and lit his cigarette again: "What's more If I want to marry a wife, someone must marry me, right?"

Lin Zhanyu wrote it down silently, thinking: This is also a rule, and that is also a rule.

After hearing what Wei Qingyun told Lin Zhanyu, it turned out that Xue He was looking for Xiaohuadan, a troupe in the city. They thought he had no status and no money, so they told Xue He to take silver dollars to marry her within half a year, otherwise he would marry her. Just go to be a kid for the young master in the mansion.

Lin Zhanyu sighed after hearing this, showing a rare mature temperament: "My mother ran away when I was seven or eight years old, and that's what she said about my father at that time."

"Oh?" Wei Qingyun signaled him to continue.

"My mother said to marry a man, marry a man, dress and eat. My father has little money but a lot of illnesses. He is just a nerd and a scholar with no use." Lin Zhanyu shrugged: "She wanted to take me away at that time, But my father didn't want to. She didn't bother my father, so she left by herself."

"You haven't seen her again?" Wei Qingyun asked.

Lin Zhanyu shook his head: "I don't even know where she is."

Wei Qingyun stared at the small but extremely calm child in front of him, feeling more pity in his heart.He wanted to comfort the other party with a few words: "Don't be afraid, she is definitely still alive, maybe she is in Nanjing City."

"I'm not afraid." The two sat around the table. The candles on the table not only brightened the room, but also drove away the dampness.

Although the child is not shameless, skinless, heartless, but he is not a character who is willing to compete too much with himself.His mother has been away for many years, and now for him this matter has long been a thing of the past, and what is close at hand are those rules.The latter confused him and troubled him.

"Senior brother, why do we have so many rules?" Lin Zhanyu pouted: "The ancients said that if you have wine today, you will be drunk today, and you will worry about it tomorrow."

Wei Qingyun didn't expect him to say that, and didn't know how to respond for a moment.He thought about it for a while, and finally thought of throwing a cigarette until it burned his hand.

He stood up, flicked his sleeves, and smiled wryly: "Zhan Yu, you said just now that you have wine and you are drunk today. It sounds nice, but can we?"

"Why not?" Lin Zhanyu was terrified by Wei Qingyun's sudden silence, he lowered his head and asked back, but his voice was not confident.

The candlelight finally calmed down, and the shadows of the two were reflected on the opposite wall.One person stands and the other sits, and the outlines are all clearly outlined by the light.The shadows are pitch black, and the walls are dim yellow.

"If you get drunk today and sleep until the sun rises tomorrow, you won't memorize Guankou or practice Taiping lyrics, how can you get on stage? How can you make a living?" Wei Qingyun smiled, and he walked to Lin Zhanyu, as if following this The child's hair is generally difficult, and he always likes to rub it with his hands.

This person's hair is soft, even if it is not long, it feels fluffy to the touch.He went on to say: "Children, we still have to make money to support ourselves, we can't be willful."

Seeing that Wei Qingyun was still kind, Lin Zhanyu heaved a sigh of relief, and quickly responded, "Got it."

There is still half a month left before New Year's Eve, Qiao said with a smile that he and his three apprentices are going out more and more often.The few people were too busy, so Lin Zhanyu had no leisure to watch the house, so he had to run out with them.

Boss Qiao is talking about a book called "Xie Xueshi" today, which is about Xie Jin, a scholar of the Ming Dynasty.Lin Zhanyu stood not far behind Qiao Xiaoyan, according to the latter's meaning, this was not only to let him fight, but also to teach him skills, let him see what he should do in the future.

Qiao laughed and said that it is not unreasonable to be able to gain a reputation in Nanjing: Lin Zhanyu came later. It turned out that the northern stuff would not work in Nanjing because of the dialect, so that many burdens could not be used, and Qiao boss Speaking in Nanjing dialect, this allows the ordinary people in Nanjing to have this kind of fun to enjoy.

The gowns they wore when they went out to work were all new and neat, and the worn ones were kept as clothes for daily life.At this moment, Boss Qiao was dressed nicely, and he spoke with great vigor: "The old couple managed to get a son, and guess what, this kid is clever, and has nothing to do with that Erwulang, but he is dumb."

Lin Zhanyu was so enthralled that he didn't even know that Wei Qingyun was already standing behind him, and he was startled when the other party spoke suddenly.

"Small pole, it's pretty good." Wei Qingyun, who was also wearing a brand new coat, put his hands behind his back, and when he saw Lin Zhanyu turned around, he reached out to rub his hair, and joked in a low voice: "Hey, do you like this job? "

Lin Zhanyu was dumbfounded by this question. He didn't know how to like it, but after thinking for a while, he finally nodded.

Wei Qingyun thought it was interesting, he raised his eyebrows, and then asked: "Why?"

"When I was at home, I used to wear rags and eat coarse grains, but here I can wear cotton cloth and eat white noodles." Lin Zhanyu's answer was very sincere, and he pointed to the people who gave them coins: "Look, they were all laughed by the master, and willingly Take out 'Yuan Datou'."

Wei Qingyun pretended to be surprised: "Do you still know 'Yuan Datou'?"

"I saw it at the village chief before." Lin Zhanyu said.

"It's okay." Wei Qingyun teased him: "Then do you know what Master said?"

The child really didn't know, so he immediately shook his head in denial, and looked up at Wei Qingyun sincerely, hoping that the other party could teach him a thing or two.

"This is called "Eight Great Sticks", and all the good things that stand alone are here." Wei Qingyun said with a smile: ""The Bachelor of Interpretation" is one of them."

--------------------

Note:

Xiaoganzi, in Nanjing dialect, means little boy; Erwulangdang, in Nanjing dialect, describes a person who is stupid;

Alleys, some streets in Nanjing City, are also the carrier of culture, similar to the alleys in Beijing, there is a saying "Beijing alleys, Nanjing alleys";

Yuan Datou, the colloquial name of Yuan Shikai's series of coins during the Republic of China;

Bada sticks, also known as Badaduaner, Badazhui, Badagui, Badagui, etc., is a cross talk industry term.The traditional eight sticks mainly refer to the eight long-form stand-up comics, including "The Battle of Monarchs and Ministers", "The Birth of Ma Shou", "Song Jingang Gambling", "Xie Xueshi", etc., which are now collectively referred to as long-form stand-up comics (from Baidu Encyclopedia).

Another: "Marry a Han, marry a Han, dress and eat" This is an old value in the past. The humble author thinks it is more in line with the old society, so it is used in the article. It is not the humble author's own point of view. Now they all advocate mutual construction harmonious family;

The sister-in-law is not a person who dislikes the poor and loves the rich. The specific reasons will be discussed later.