Chapter 2 Alley
It was around nine in the morning. The adults in the alley had already gone to work and the older children were in school. The only ones at home were the unemployed elderly or children who had not yet reached school age.
Song Yuanchao carried his luggage, crossed the road and walked towards the alley. Just as he reached the entrance of the alley, a vigilant voice rang out.
"Who are you? What do you do? Who are you looking for here?"
When he looked in the direction of the voice, he saw a familiar old lady with bound feet wearing a gray cotton jacket, looking at him warily. There was a little girl of three or four years old next to her. The old lady protected the child behind her and stared at Song Yuanchao.
" Mother Zhang?" Song Yuanchao recognized the old lady at first sight. Wasn't this Mother Zhang who lived next door to him? Mother Zhang was from Mingzhou and had come to Shanghai before the liberation. Song Yuanchao didn't know what her surname was, because her husband's surname was Zhang, so Song Yuanchao had always called her that when he was a child.
"Hey, who are you? Do you recognize me?" Zhang's mother was stunned for a moment, and looked Song Yuanchao up and down, but after looking at him for a long time, she only felt that this country bumpkin with a smell of sweat, tattered clothes, long hair, dark skin, a big bag on his shoulder, and a bundle in his hand looked somewhat familiar, but she could not remember who Song Yuanchao was.
"Mother, I'm Yuanchao from No. 23 Song's family! Song Yuanchao! Do you still remember me? I used to visit your house often when I was a kid..."
"Yuan Chao? Ah! You are Yuan Chao?" Zhang's mother's eyes suddenly widened. She looked at Song Yuan Chao carefully, and soon the suspicion in her expression faded away, replaced by surprise.
"Oh, you are such a great helper! You, my little brat, are finally back! It's good that you're back, it's good that you're back. Mother remembers that you were only sixteen years old when you left? It's been eight years, eight years! It's been over since I was a kid, but you're finally back..."
As she spoke, Zhang's mother couldn't help shedding tears. She took out her handkerchief and wiped her eyes and asked, "Yuan Chao, how could you become so thin and dark? Did you suffer in the northwest? Are you going back this time?"
"I won't leave. The country has implemented its policies. I won't leave when I come back."
"It's better not to leave, it's better not to leave." Zhang's mother nodded repeatedly: "It's good that you're back! Have you had breakfast? Did you just get off the train? Come on, come on, I still have some instant rice in my room, go in and eat something first."
As she said this, she took Song Yuanchao's hand and was about to leave. At this time, the little girl beside her stared at the person in front of her with her big eyes. She tugged at the corner of Zhang's mother's clothes and asked crisply, "Grandma, who is this person?"
"I almost forgot, Pingping, you should call me uncle. Come on, Pingping." Mother Zhang said, touching the little girl's head.
"Hello... Uncle..." The little girl was a little scared when she saw the stranger, and called out from behind her mother.
"It's not right to call him uncle, you should call him brother." Song Yuanchao corrected with a smile. Zhang family's mother's son Zhang Jianguo was more than ten years older than Song Yuanchao. Song Yuanchao had called Zhang Jianguo uncle since he was a child.
Zhang Jianguo has two children. His eldest son, Zhang Hao, should be nine years old this year. When he left, Zhang Hao was still a breastfeeding baby. Now he should be in the second grade of elementary school.
This little girl is Zhang Jianguo’s youngest daughter, Zhang Pingping. When Song Yuanchao’s place was demolished in the early 1990s in his previous life, Zhang Pingping was already a grown-up girl who was about to take the college entrance examination. Although the old neighbors were separated after the demolition, they still kept in touch with each other. In 1999, Zhang Pingping got married, and Song Yuanchao even attended her wedding.
Song Yuanchao knew that he didn't look very good now, so he was afraid of scaring the child, so he tried to use a gentle tone to say, "Pingping is so good." After thinking for a while, he took out a package from his luggage, squatted down and opened the oil paper, revealing a few persimmon cakes inside.
Persimmon cakes are a specialty of the countryside. Song Yuanchao brought some with him before he came back. He handed the persimmon cakes to Pingping and motioned for her to take it. Pingping, who was a little timid and afraid of strangers, did not dare to take it. She looked back at her grandmother timidly with her big eyes, and her two little hands tightly grasped the corner of Zhang's mother's clothes.
"Brother Yuan Chao is not an outsider. Take it. This is a persimmon cake. It's delicious." Mother Zhang said to her granddaughter with a smile. Little Pingping then carefully reached out her hand to take the persimmon cake, then put it to her mouth and took a small bite.
After taking a bite, the sweetness of the persimmon cake immediately made the little girl's eyes light up.
"Grandma, sweet."
"Yeah, it's sweet. Pingping, be good and eat it." Zhang's mother said to the child, and then called Song Yuanchao to go home together. Song Yuanchao picked up the luggage and walked into the alley with Zhang's mother and little Pingping, getting closer and closer to home.
"Mother, are there relatives coming to visit us again?"
"Which part of the country is this relative from?"
As you walk deeper into the alley, you will run into neighbors from time to time, saying hello and asking who the country bumpkin following Zhang's mother is. At this time, Zhang's mother will explain to them that this is not their relative, but Song Yuanchao, the son of the Song family who lives at No. 23, and the former teacher Song, has returned .
The neighbors in the alley are all old neighbors who have lived there for a long time. This era is different from later generations. Unlike the neighbors in the residential areas of later times, they don’t interact with each other until they die. Even the neighbors next door may not know each other after living there for more than ten years.
People in this era are more affectionate towards each other. As the saying goes, a distant relative is not as good as a close neighbor.
Everyone lives in the same alley. Many people have known each other since their ancestors, and many of the adults also grew up together as children, so they have a very harmonious relationship with each other.
On weekdays, the Zhang, Li, and Wang families live in the same building. They don't even close their doors during the day. If a family needs to go out for something, they just say hello to the neighbors, and the neighbors are willing to help look after the child.
Just like when Song Yuanchao was a child, he would often run from one house to another to play, and when it was time to eat, he liked to run around with a bowl in his hand, and would go over to see what delicious food was cooked in that house. The adults didn't get angry, but usually scolded him a little, saying "you little bastard" or "you greedy guy", and then smiled and picked up a piece of food with chopsticks for him to taste.
Most of these neighbors originally knew Song Yuanchao, but since Song Yuanchao had been gone for so many years, their memories of him had long since blurred.
In addition, Song Yuanchao was much taller than when he left. He had become darker and thinner during his years in the Northwest, and his old patched military coat, blue cotton pants with two telescopes (big patches) on the back, and Liberation shoes with a hole in them. He had messy, greasy, and curly hair, and was carrying luggage. He had an obvious country bumpkin accent. How could anyone recognize who he was at a glance?
When everyone found out that this person was Song Yuanchao, they were all shocked. No one had expected that the Song family's only son (the only seedling) who had been away for eight years would actually come back.
"Is this the Korean Aid?" Grandma Li from No. 11 looked at it in surprise.
Aunt Chen from No. 30 recognized him first. She slapped her thigh and exclaimed, "Oh my god, this is really Teacher Song's son! He was a fair and tender young man when he left. How could he come back in such a mess?"
Uncle Liu, who was smoking nearby, flicked the ash off his cigarette and scolded with a smile: "You are so stupid. Song Yuanchao went to work in the countryside to settle down. Do you think it's a cadre going to a sanatorium? Working in the countryside to settle down means farming. Wang's mother's son went to Huangshan for three years and came back as black as a coal briquette, not to mention that Song Yuanchao went there for eight years."
The chubby woman, whose face was somewhat familiar but whose name she could no longer remember, interrupted and asked, "Yuan Chao, I remember you went to the Northwest to settle down, right? What is the Northwest like? Are there any good-looking people there?"
After hearing this, the old lady from the Li family looked disgusted and said, "What kind of a place like the Northwest can a poor place be like? How can it be possible? Do you want to go and see it? You can also sign up to join the team and settle down there. You will know once you go there."
The fat woman was a little embarrassed and immediately retorted: "What's the connection between you and me? Grandma, you ate too much for breakfast today and deliberately kicked me?"
The old man of the Qian family shook his head and sighed: "Ah... the aid to Korea finally made it back, but it's a pity for Mr. Song and his wife... Think about it, this family is really pitiful ..."
The old men, old ladies and aunts who were idle at home in the alley suddenly heard that Song Yuanchao from No. 23 had returned. In the blink of an eye, they all came out, surrounded Song Yuanchao in three layers, looking at him and talking at the same time.
"Okay, okay, do you want to see the monkey perform tricks? Go away, go away!" Seeing that more and more people were coming, Zhang's mother raised her voice and shouted in displeasure.
Some of these people are okay, but some of them are getting more and more outrageous. Besides, who in the alley doesn't know about the Song family's affairs? Why did they mention this when Song Yuanchao just came back? Isn't it a deliberate poke in Song Yuanchao's heart?
"Everyone go back to your own rooms. Yuan Chao just came back and hasn't had breakfast yet. Yuan Chao, go back with your mother to eat. Let's go..."
As she spoke, Zhang's mother took Song Yuanchao's hand and walked quickly towards her home.
Zhang's mother still has some prestige in the alley, and what she said just now makes sense. They are all old neighbors. It is really inappropriate for Song Yuanchao to be surrounded like this just after he came back. Everyone made way and watched Song Yuanchao go to Zhang's mother's house. After they entered the building, several women who liked to ask questions on weekdays gathered together and couldn't help but whispering again.
