The alleys of the ancient city are hidden in the downtown area. It's like walking on a crowded and colorful street and stepping on a small stone bridge. At first glance, I saw the slender Qinhuai, the black tile and white wall on the river, unable to go downhill; It's like riding through Zhenyuan Garden. When I looked back, I saw a bridge near Qinhuai. People come and go on the bridge, the wooden windows on the shore are secluded, the grass trees are growing, and the two white lights are like the bright moon. I can't find the way to the fireworks world at the moment.
It was in the old city that it flourished for a hundred years. Buttonwood trees cover several streets connected with the sky, and they hide behind shops with space at the top. There are countless entrances and exits in Xanadu, which people who are in a hurry can't see.
1. Lane maze
? The alleys of Guangling City are not like the hutongs in Beijing, and the quadrangles are straight all the way; Unlike Shanghai's alleys, bluestone roads, and rainy sky-blue fog. The alleys of Guangling City are winding, different in width and length, and connected several times. "Street" is the place where shops gather, and "Lane" is the comfort zone for fireworks people. But there are also narrow streets and alleys. The wide lane is three or four people wide, and the narrow lane is a "one-person lane".
The streets and lanes are connected, and there are two realms inside and outside the lane. Walking in an alley, we came to the end, and the north-south direction stirred the east-west direction. Fish shops, wooden stalls for roasted seeds and nuts, the sound of crucian carp flopping in the water, and the sound of shoveling a handful of sunflower seeds, but there is no human voice, which is more lively than an empty alley. People who have lived in the alley for a long time know the direction and then walk to the food market. There are many kinds of miscellaneous vegetables on which side, and the old geese on which side are immersed in the years have the same taste. Or walk out the door with a basket, or push a bike and go. Walking in the alley is the cleanest way, so you don't have to grab the road with people wandering in the street outside the alley.
If you don't live in an alley, you will always know that no matter how you go, you will always get lost at the exit. Occasionally, once or twice, in order to find traces of the Republic of China, I will take shortcuts or enter the alley. It is inevitable that you will turn around rudely, feel dizzy, and grin at the white fluffy Samoyed dog playing ball. It was not until I approached the exit and saw the endless traffic on the familiar road that I was secretly glad to put my heart down.
2. In the alley day and night
? Duan Wenchang Road, the most prosperous and dazzling shop in Yangzhou, always opens at nine o'clock in the morning. Other streets, chain-like foreign fast food restaurants, clothing stores, and so on. However, the beef soup shop at the entrance of the East Ring Road and the sesame seed cake shop next to it, Fuchun Tea House in the alley next to Guoqing Road, separated from Yanfu Road by a river, with lush vegetation and Ye Chun Tea House beside the water. Never interact with it and open the door to welcome guests in the morning. Just when other shops were occupied by tiemenguan, they breathed the freshest air and steam, releasing the earliest morning tea fragrance in Yangzhou. Old Yangzhou people still live a leisurely life of "packing water in the morning and packing water at night". However, the alleys of Guangling ancient town woke up earlier.
At dawn, the end of the alley is covered with green mist. If it is winter and the night is still early, the stars and the moon are still hanging in the sky, and the first clear sky between heaven and earth meets; If it is summer, the sun is just right, and the heat is not here. Alleys that are silent all night are no longer sleeping. This is by no means applicable to working days, but the consciousness of integrating into the breathing rhythm of the alley. Wash, boil water and sweep the yard. A stall for cooking tea eggs with a coal stove was set out. The old ladies took their toddlers out to chat with them. The morning light sprinkled on the stone road in the alley, and the boiler cooking food was white-hot, and the alley seemed to shine. The song "winding path bathing the sky" is nothing more than that.
The street outside the alley is always busy. Shops selling "modern" food and goods are always hidden under cornices. However, alleys don't like to join in the fun. They are mostly empty in nature. There are narrow alleys with stone steps downhill on both sides of Caiyi Street, with a dark blue tone, and no one is always seen; There is a narrow alley on the stone steps beside Guangling Road, with a blue-gray tone, sparse vegetation and no human voice. Even walking in the maze of criss-crossing alleys, I only met three or two passers-by. I glanced at the house with the door wide open, but it was still empty. The people in the shroud store on the corner bowed their heads and did things with peace of mind. A cat squinted and leaned against the corner to bask in the sun. In the row of low houses in the wide alley, there are often one or two open doors. Inside, an old man with dark skin and wrinkled face sat quietly and looked at the door with a straight face.
Guangling city can't compare with those cities that never sleep. Even when night falls and the lights are bright, the bustling streets in the old city are instantly illuminated and the fireworks in the night market are lit. However, when the night was not deep, they all closed. However, the alley goes to bed earlier. The dim street lights in the alley are on, and tourists from a foreign land are happily taking pictures in the alley with paper fans ... Although they are in a daze, I don't know how many young people are holding books in the room under the lamp leaning against the window, and I don't know how many people wake up before midnight, like old geese boiling salt water, preparing for the next day's livelihood.
Living here
? Lane maze station, the alley is true and false. A straight alley is divided into countless branches, and at one branch, it seems that there are still tiny branches. Have a plenty of alleys sealed on three sides, the wooden doors of several families are not far apart, as if they are all close together, like a busy painting.
Some people are extraordinary, hiding in ordinary alleys and scattered around ordinary people. At the door, there is either a red iron sign or a white stone tablet with the date and the owner's name written on it. There is no one inside, only two or three gatekeepers are leaning on bamboo chairs to watch TV.
In a few places, large households occasionally use two iron doors, and the rest are mostly old wooden doors with deep folds. There are two or three big houses, four or five, and several households share them. Generally speaking, they are poor young people, and they are generally old couples who have left the bustling city. Then, I witnessed three or four generations living in an old house under one roof, and watched the old people move out from generation to generation to reassure them.
There are often stalls selling chestnuts to repair shoes and cars at the end of the alley. In the cold winter, before evening, energetic old gentlemen hold the wall and arm in arm, chatting with famous vendors and craftsmen in twos and threes.
Generation after generation moved out of the alley, and generation after generation stayed in the alley. People from all directions came and went and lived in the alley. The empty nature of alleys cannot be changed. They never rely on the old to become monuments. Old people, children and young people are telling stories in the alley day after day, with the smell of fireworks and the neighborhood enthusiasm that appears in gestures but never makes public. For example, the slender green Qinhuai runs through the whole old city and flows slowly day after day.