old city newcomer

Gu Tong heard that Pan Yang said a lot about "Spring Festival", and knew that "Spring Festival" refers to New Year's Day in the lunar calendar, which is not the same as before.

There are two New Year's Days in a year, Gu Tong finds it very interesting, and knows that the upcoming "New Year's Day" is a brand new holiday for him.

Gu Tong and Gu Yan greeted each other. Gu Yan bought gifts for Qi An's family before Gu Tong's holiday. Meng Ya knew that Qi An's family was from the old city, so she didn't buy things according to their preferences. Pay attention to a lot, if you buy something wrong and make a joke, it will be her precious "son" who laughs.

So she still bought new things that were more luxurious and big-name, especially when she heard from Gu Tong that there was a sister in Qi An's family, she paid more attention when shopping.

Girls are to be pampered.

Gu Tong carried a canvas schoolbag and a large suitcase. Qi An asked him to stay at home for three days. He brought a change of clothes, tied the scarf and put on the hat of the down jacket. His fair face was flushed. Yan and Meng Ya kissed him on the cheek.

When I went downstairs, there were people walking their dogs beside the flower bed outside the building. The dogs put on red padded jackets, wagged their tails and ran to Gu Tong without stopping.Gu Tong knelt down to say hello to the dogs, and saw the property owners pasting blessings on the doors of each house.In fact, this work can be handed over to the employees to do it. The boss insists on doing it himself. He lights a cigarette and bites it in his mouth. He frowns and pastes it very carefully. Nodding with raised lips.

If the staff hadn't stopped him, he would have moved a ladder to hang the red lantern at the door by himself.

Gu Tong swiped her card and walked out of the courtyard, taking a deep breath.

There are almost no people on the street in front of Xiwan Gate. There are many high-end residential areas here. During the Chinese New Year, most of them go back to their hometowns or go out for travel. Although the streets are empty and all the shops that can be seen are closed, Gu Tong feels very at ease. Because looking to the right, in front of the gray brick wall next to the sidewalk, you can always see that person.

A whole street was filled to the brim with this one person.

Qi An took Gu Tong's suitcase with a cigarette in his mouth, put his backpack on his back, took off his gloves, rolled up his sleeves, and took out a red string from his pocket.

Gu Tong saw a gold ingot hanging on the red string, which weighed a bit. Although it was not big, it weighed about three grams.Qi An put the red rope on Gu Tong's wrist, pulled down the sleeves again after putting it on, and put on the gloves again.

Gu Tong looked at him.

"My sister made it up." Qi An held the cigarette between his index and middle fingers: "I bought two small ingots at the gold shop in Zhonggu Lane."

Gu Tong lowered his head and touched the cuff of Qi An's left hand. The Nan Hong and the red string were tied together, and the small golden ingot hanging down was a little bigger than his own.

Before the "New Year's Day" started, Gu Tong received a gift, and he was a couple with Qi An.He stretched out his arms happily, kept shaking Qi An, and smiled after shaking twice, almost didn't make Qi An laugh.

Qi An originally wanted to take Gu Tong home by subway, but when he thought that he had to move his suitcases to go through the security check and buy a ticket, he was too lazy to bother. The bus was empty and there were not many cars on the road, so the time would not be much different, so he took Gu Tong on the train. 13 Road in front of the house.

The two sat in front of each other in the single seat, Qi An was sitting sideways, Gu Tong was staring out the window intently, he saw that no matter where the car drove, his eyes were full of red, this made him feel very good up.

He didn't know where Qi An's house was all the time, he thought it would take a long time in the car, but he didn't expect to arrive soon, it was faster than going to Happy Valley and Snack Street, and it was very close to his home.

After getting out of the car, Gu Tong was stunned. Although he had only been here once, he remembered it very clearly. The side street was on his right hand. Because he had painted blackboard newspapers, he had a deeper impression of this place.

After crossing the road and walking along the main road, he arrived at Zhonggu Alley. He followed Qi An until he walked to the entrance of Zhonggu Alley. When he walked in, Gu Tong was taken aback.

Qi An's family lives in Zhongguxiang.

Qi An's family lived in a certain alley in Zhongguxiang.

The last time Gu Tong participated in the "Old City One-Day Tour", the name of the Eight Great Hutongs was "Rose Hutong". He heard from Qi An that in spring, the whole alley will be full of roses, full of fragrance and very beautiful.

They also agreed to come together in spring, but Qi An said it might be earlier.

When he stood at the entrance of Rose Alley and watched Qi An turn in, he stood there in a daze for several minutes.

Turns out that's what "earlier" means.

He didn't expect that when he came here for the first time, he was already so close to Qi An's house.

After walking in a straight line for less than 2 minutes, the noise in the Bell and Drum Alley became quieter and gradually quieted down, and we arrived at Qi An's house.Gu Tong looked at the vermilion gate in front of him, Qi An said it was called Suiqiang Gate, the gate was embedded in the wall, and there were three low steps in front of the gate, so he could barely stand side by side with Qi An on it. There are two pocket stone lions outside the upper gate. Although the two lions are small, they still occupy a lot of space. The gate can only accommodate one person.

When Qi An took out the key to open the door, Gu Tong was suddenly a little nervous. He had imagined many times what Qi An's home would look like, whether it was in a residential area, the backyard of a shop along the street, or even a A certain one-story house, but never thought that it would really be in an alley, it would be a small house with a hidden hole——

Siheyuan.

The moment Gu Tong walked into the door, he felt that everything around him was different.

The vermilion gate behind it seems to isolate the yard from the outside world, like a paradise.

The courtyard is not big, and you can get a complete overview at a glance. The tile-roofed wooden door and brick house facing it is the largest. There are couplets and red lanterns hanging on the pillars beside the door. They are not the round red lanterns in high-end residential areas. It is a paper lantern like a long oval barrel.

The roofs on the left and right sides do not have ridges or tile roofs, but are flat and covered with weeds. Qi An said that green plants will grow on the roof in spring, but now it is winter and the green plants are hibernating.

Gu Tong laughed when he heard the word hibernation.

Although the houses on both sides are bungalows, the doors and windows are painted red. There is a small pavilion built in front of the house on the left, which is very small and supported by five or six long wooden legs. strip.In the open space under the pavilion, there is a way to get in and out of the room directly opposite the door. On both sides are soft ground, as if the stone bricks that were originally covered on it were pried up and turned into two small areas that can be planted with flowers and plants. place.

Next to the pavilion is a large white porcelain fish tank, Gu Tong felt that if there was no water in the bathtub, he could hide in it while playing hide-and-seek.Now the water in the bathtub is frozen, and there are no fish, but this large white porcelain tank is as clean as new, and it looks like it is often taken care of.

Gu Tong lived in the bungalow on the right. There was a tree planted on the side of the door. Qi An said it was a pomegranate tree. He had planted crabapple before, and it was not easy to trim. The branches of the tree could always poke into the room, and it would attract many people. The bees and butterflies later planted this pomegranate tree.

It's just that the pomegranate tree is bare now, and only the branches are left.

There are wooden chairs and wooden tables on the other side. There is nothing on them now, and they are covered with cloth. They are used to enjoy the shade in summer.

With such an arrangement, the path from the entrance to the main house in this courtyard is only wide enough for two people to stand side by side.

"Take you to see grandpa first." Qi An opened the door on the right, and the wooden door made a crisp sound. Gu Tong walked in and saw a large bed, like a kang, a very long and wide bed, let alone lying on four Individuals, six people are fine.There were four thick mattresses on the bed, and four sheets were laid on the thick mattresses. The four corners of the sheets were pressed under the thick mattresses. There were pillows on the sheets and the quilt was rolled up, making it look warm.

There is a wooden single bed next to the wall on one side of the Datong shop, which should be Qi An's bed, and there are four wooden cabinets at the end of the bed, all with locks.

"Qi An." Gu Tong stood in front of Datong's shop and asked him, "Will you sleep with me at night?"

Qi An sighed and nodded at him.

Gu Tong followed Qi An through the stone-paved road, and came to the door of the main room. Qi An called "Grandpa", and the old man in the room replied with full lung capacity, and opened the door from the inside.

As soon as the door was opened, there was a pungent smell of smoke, Gu Tong coughed lightly, leaned to Qi An's side, and saw Qi An's grandfather.

A... very handsome grandpa.

Mr. Qi was wearing a thick cotton-padded jacket, holding a long cigarette stick, and his beard under his nose was already gray, but his body was still very strong from his movements, not to mention steady walking, he could carry the wind under his feet, and turned around to face him. Sitting on the table and chair by the door, he waved at Gu Tong.

"Yangwazi, come here quickly." Old Master Qi's voice was thick and loud, and Gu Tong felt that he might also have a bright voice that could sing.

Gu Tong ran over, first smiled at Mr. Qi, and held his withered hand, which already had many age spots on his skin.Then he put the bag in his hand on his lap. Seeing this, Mr. Qi couldn't stop smiling. He took out a pure cotton scarf from it, which was bright red, and put it on his neck.

Gu Tong watched him put on the scarf, couldn't hold back, turned his eyes away from his grandfather, stared at the three tall trays on the wooden table, which contained three kinds of pastries, he couldn't name them, he just felt hungry I want to eat.

Definitely delicious.

I don't know if Qi An's sister did it too.

"Eat, eat." Old Master Qi retracted his neck into the thick scarf, and took another puff of cigarette comfortably.Qi An picked up a piece of ox tongue cake, and Gu Tong took it and bit off half of it.

good to eat.

Not sweet.

The red stuffing inside Gu Tong always felt that the taste was very familiar.

"Ah!" Gu Tong yelled, although it was not loud, he could hear surprise: "Tofu milk?"

Qi An smiled.

"Hey, yes, fermented bean curd, is it delicious?" Mr. Qi's laughter was much brighter than theirs: "Eat more baby, eat more, enough."

Gu Tong nodded, and picked up another piece from the plate. He heard from Qi An that the one next to it was kidney bean cake, and the other plate was bowl cake, both of which were very sweet, but now Gu Tong may have lost interest in sweets. After listening to his introduction, he wiped his mouth and picked up the third piece.

He had just swallowed the second piece when he heard a bird cry.

birds.

Gu Tong looked around, and there was a bird cage hanging by the window on the left, inside the cage was a small bird with yellow and black feathers, chubby and very cute.

"Birds." Gu Tong's eyes lit up, and he pointed at Qi An.

"Yellow sparrow." Qi An raised his chin towards the birdcage, Gu Tong ran over with the third piece of ox tongue cake in his mouth, and stared at the birdcage.

The oriole is also called Huang Qiao, and its singing is very pleasant. There is grain in the small teacup next to it, which is its food.

"Little Huang, call again?" Gu Tong excitedly said to it.

As soon as the words fell, two dogs barked in the room on the left.

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