Chapter 3 Zoological and Botanical Gardens (2) Traveling with Love

Since the land beside the Hong Kong-Macau Ferry Terminal was taken back by the government in 1989, there is only Temple Street left to enjoy street singing. A must for tourists.However, singing stalls are actually selling illegally. When asking for money from the audience or passers-by, they will also take a box of chewing gum and pretend to be selling it.The reason is that singing is against the law, but being a hawker is tolerated.This system is the only artist from Qiuniang who has a license to sing and sing from Bingtou Garden! At that time, Qiuniang's first famous song, guest Tu Qiuhen, made the eyes of the tourists in the park wet. If Qiuniang played another song selling flowers, the shallow-sighted female visitors would not be able to help crying along with Qiuniang. while singing.well!Visiting the park is a pleasure, but it makes you cry and cry, and it really kills the scenery.However, Qiuniang has only been singing in the park for a few months.Today, it’s not impossible to listen to Qiuniang’s singing, but don’t tremble when the cool breeze and the boundless autumn moon hit your ears, because Qiuniang has been dead for more than 20 years!

When Qiuniang appeared in Bingtou Garden, her hair was gray, but her complexion was still rosy. From the eyebrows, it can be seen that she was also a beautiful woman when she was young.Why would a woman in her forties come to this garden to perform?This aroused Uncle Baking's curiosity.Uncle Han set up stalls in the park to take pictures of tourists. From time to time, he would give favors to the administrators to avoid being driven away. (Before the 1970s, taking pictures was a luxury. There were photo booths for tourists in outing places. Usually they took black and white photos. The colors were artificially added, and the fees were very high.) But this singing woman, But setting up a stall in the gazebo in a big way seems to be tacitly approved.

Uncle Dong asked the administrator about the woman's background, but Uncle Hong was even more puzzled. It turned out that the manager wanted the administrator to do his best to help the singing woman as much as possible, so Uncle Dong paid special attention to this woman. On that day, it was cloudy and sometimes sunny, with occasional rain. Under such circumstances, there was no need to do the business of taking pictures, so Uncle Han put all the tools in a corner of the gazebo. The woman sat in front of the gazebo, facing the pool, adjusted the Yueqin (a round-bodied and long-necked instrument, played like a pipa) in her hand, and began to play a song: cool wind, letter, autumn moon, boundless, miss me The mood of Sijiao is exactly the hatred of Ketuqiu. This is a famous Nanyin song, accompanied by the erhu, but the woman sings it with a female voice with a Yueqin background, which has a special charm.Uncle Fong knows that the content of the lyrics is about a man's sadness when he misses his beloved singing girl.Uncle Han came to Hong Kong after a difficult escape, and was separated from his wife and family. When the night was quiet, he often hummed this song to talk about his thoughts.At this time, listening to the woman singing this song, my thoughts were gradually drawn, and after the song was over, I couldn't control myself, and burst into tears.

Beside the gazebo, more than a dozen tourists have been attracted by the singing and stopped to listen.There are a few middle-aged men and women whose eyes are also blurred with tears. They are also degenerate people in the world, and they know what happened to the king.The piano sound stopped, there were whimpers, weeping, and applause. The woman nodded her thanks with tears in her eyes, but she was a little shy and at a loss for the coins thrown by the audience.After a long time, the woman stopped her tears, put Yueqin on the chair, and bent over to pick up the change on the ground.Seeing her groping here and there, Uncle Han couldn't help but stepped forward to help, but the administrator came up to interfere.

Hey, you are not allowed to beg for money (left mouth and right fight), you are so good, let the ghost see, we are in trouble (left mouth and right fight). The administrator thought that the two were begging, which was different from the instructions he received, and he was afraid that his superiors would blame him for allowing beggars to beg in the park.When the woman heard the word begging for money, she burst into tears again, and murmured to herself: Begging for money, Lu Qiuniang was reduced to being a beggar. Uncle Han also found the word begging harsh, and retorted: Hey, why begging, this aunt is selling singing, not begging for money.

Ah Hong, his brand is a hawker brand. The ghost said that he can sell handicrafts and gadgets here, but he can't sell singing. Why don't you put some things for sale, let's put on a show.Seeing the woman's dejected appearance, the administrator couldn't bear to add insult to injury. It’s so easy, I have a few packs of chewing gum here, so let’s sell it in bulk, is that okay? In order to quit smoking, Uncle baked chewing gum to get addicted. He often had a few packs by his side. At this time, he took them out and put them on the ground.However, looking left and right, it seems to owe something.At this time, the owner of the snack kiosk also sympathized with the poor woman, so he brought a wooden box containing fruit and a box of chewing gum, and placed them in the pavilion, which became a small stall. He also brought a box containing moon cakes. Iron box, Uncle Baking put all the coins he found into the iron box.Everything is arranged properly, and the administrator is also satisfied.

The woman thanked Uncle Han and the boss, and after exchanging names, she realized that the woman was called Lu Qiuniang.Uncle Han is called Qiu Niang.After chatting for a while, Uncle Han realized that Qiuniang's eyesight was extremely poor, and everything a few feet away was blurred. Qiuniang talks and behaves elegantly, she keeps secret about her life experience, and she doesn't reveal anything, but Uncle Han has also experienced hardships. He was also a romantic and wealthy man when he was young, but he was ruined by the war. In his fifties, he had to rely on those two cameras earn a living.Seeing Qiuniang playing the qin, one knew she was a man of the world, because Yueqin was only used by singing girls, while opera troupes used pipa or dulcimer to accompany it, and Ketu Qiuhen was also sung by singing girls for Lao Qi (i.e. lover).

In those kind-hearted people, pity me to be blind, and wait for me to starve to death on the street.Brother Ah Hong, you are a bosom friend, you know what to listen to, this song sells flowers, you give me advice! There is something in Qiuniang's words, and Uncle Han will naturally understand, so he stops talking.I just listened to Qiuniang singing: "Sorrowful and poor, alas, I have been selling flowers for a long time. I hate the singing voice, and the singing is soft and low, like weeping and complaining. Qiuniang sighed and sighed three times, mourning and mourning. Not only Uncle Baking resonated, but many girls standing outside the gazebo Tourists, already unbearably sad.I have traveled all over the world, and I am more and more sad and indignant about who will die. The singing seems to penetrate into everyone's heart, feeling the pain of Qiu Niang, and some feel the same sorrow of life experience.For a moment, the dozen or so people who gathered in the gazebo exchanged tears, whimpered and sobbed.Those who had just approached were inexplicable, why there was a group of guys crying in the park.

At dusk and sunset, Uncle Han helped Qiuniang store her belongings at the snack kiosk, and asked Ming Qiuniang where she lived, and wanted to give her a ride, but Qiuniang refused, and Uncle Han refused to let a nearly blind woman go home alone. Although Niang firmly refused, he still followed and took care of him in case of accidents.Qiuniang also knew that Uncle Han was following her, so she ignored her and walked home slowly.Although she is half-blind, she is very familiar with the road and terrain, and returned to a building in Kennedy Town where she lived without any danger. It was a noble residence in the middle of the mountain, and the residents were either rich or expensive. How could Qiuniang be reduced to singing and singing, but the place where she lived was superior to others?Driven by curiosity, Uncle Han asked Qiu Niang's life experience from the local merchants in Kennedy Town.

Qiuniang is not the owner of that building.Five or six years ago, after her husband returned to the mainland, he couldn't come back for some reason. Qiuniang sold his belongings to rescue him, but it didn't work. A lot of money was stolen by scammers.As a result, her husband couldn't come back, and a lot of property was consumed. Qiuniang became sick from worry, and she washed her face with tears all day long, which made her eyesight deteriorate.But Qiuniang was extremely stubborn and wanted to do business on her own, so as not to lose her husband's military face, finally with the help of a foreign official, he got a hawker license, which was authorized to sell in Bingtou Garden, the purpose of which was to facilitate Qiuniang's commute. , Who knows that Qiuniang is singing there.However, no one knows Qiuniang's origin.

Qiuniang lives in an unauthorized wooden house on the roof of that building. She is unwilling to move out because she has to wait for her husband's letter, and she is afraid that if she moves out, she will lose contact with her.Many people think that Qiuniang will not be so poor that she doesn't have a penny. She often says that she wants to leave a sum of money so that her husband can make a comeback, but she just doesn't want to use any of it. Qiu Niang started to sing in the afternoon, and closed after dusk, rain and wind, and only sang two songs by guest Tu Qiuhen and Flower Girl, not every day, only about three or four days, Jinkou opened, and the rest only played No singing, even if there are tourists asking for singing, Qiuniang will not ignore it, she has a personality. Uncle Han admires Qiuniang's perseverance, so he is loyal. Every day before Qiuniang arrives, he has set up a stall for her, so that Qiuniang can sit down and play as soon as Qiuniang arrives. Follow behind until Qiuniang returns to her residence safely.The two of them talked in their spare time, but it was Uncle Hong who talked a lot and listened less.Qiuniang becomes the object of Uncle Ying's confidant.Sometimes, when Uncle Hong talked about his love affairs in Guangzhou when he was young, Qiu Niang would say a few words, and the words were very expert. After several months of getting along, Qiuniang already knows everything about Uncle Hung, and Uncle Hung has also formed an impression of Qiuniang's experience.Knowing that she came from a family background, she loved her imprisoned soldier husband deeply, and her only wish was to reunite her husband and wife, but she kept her secrets about her children and relatives.Some people say that many of Qiuniang's property was cheated by her children and relatives, and even her husband's imprisonment was also related to her children. However, all of this is unimportant, the same is a fallen person in the end of the world, knowing what happened to the king and crying.The friendship between the two was established unconsciously. They wandered in each other's minds and worked hard together in life. It is definitely not the love between a man and a woman.However, there is no one in the spring girl's dream, and there is still hatred when the flowers fall on the way!Qiuniang looked forward to seeing through Qiushui, and finally received the news of her husband, but it was the news of his death.The hard work and support over the past few years have all been in vain, her wish has been extinguished, and her life is meaningless. In the end, she was exhausted and died at home. On this day, Uncle Hong still arranged everything. After waiting for a long time, Qiuniang was still nowhere to be seen. He was afraid that Qiuniang would get into trouble on the way, so he came to the building in Kennedy Town and told him that Qiuniang was dead. Moved out before noon.Uncle Hong had no choice but to return to Bingtou Garden, but saw many people surrounding the gazebo, and there was the sound of piano and singing: cool wind, letter, autumn moon, boundless is the guest journey Qiuhen.Uncle Han squeezed into the crowd and saw Qiu Niang sitting in the middle of the gazebo, playing and singing as usual. After the first song, the Flower Girl came again, still tactfully and lowly, every audience couldn't help it, teary eyes met tearful eyes.After singing, it was dusk, the tourists left the broken silver and dispersed, only Qiuniang and Uncle Han remained. Qiu Niang said: Brother Hong, thank you for your care in the past few months. These days are the most peaceful days in my life. I will miss them very much. We will meet again when we have a chance. After speaking, Qiuniang disappeared in front of Uncle Han.Uncle Han was no longer surprised, but was a little puzzled by the words that there was a chance to meet again. After Qiuniang's death, the singing scene in the pavilion ceased. However, many tourists would vaguely hear the sound of the piano or even singing when they came to the pavilion.There are a few girls who are resting in the gazebo at dusk, and when they hear a flower girl, they cry unconsciously, and the older middle-aged tourists, when they hear Ketuqiuhen, often find it hard to control themselves. Uncle Han is still taking pictures of tourists in the park. Sometimes there will be one or two more tourists in the photos taken. The woman looks very familiar, and it is clear that she is Qiu Niang. The man next to her is probably her husband. .So that's what Qiuniang meant when she said we'd have a chance to meet again! Today, Bingtou Garden has undergone many changes, but the gazebo is still the same. Are readers interested in listening to a song called "Ke Tu Qiu Hate" or "Selling Flower Girls"?Or, when taking pictures, pay attention to the extra tourists in the photos, she may be Qiuniang.