Text/Wang Subei
The main street of Shuangjiang Ancient Town is more than 1000 meters long, the road surface is paved with bluestone slabs, there is a street and alley leading to the pass in the east, there are several steps in the middle of the small ramp, there are private houses, shops, pharmacies, grain processing factories on both sides, etc.; The shop that buys fish, the deep impression is that there is a blacksmith shop in the middle, when the work starts, I see that the furnace is red, the blacksmith master wears a large apron made of leather on his chest, and the iron parts are burned red and soft in the furnace fire, at this time, the iron pieces are clamped out and placed on the iron pier, and the two masters use the iron hammer wheel to turn the hammer and beat the iron, and after burning and beating several times, an iron piece is formed.
The houses in the ancient town are very narrow, the house is not wide and the lighting is not good, I once went into the house of an acquaintance, and saw a small building with a simple ladder set up at the height of the house, where two people can sleep, but the height is very low, which is also a solution to the tight housing conditions. Out of the small streets and alleys to the small river, this is a crossroads, the left can go to the Yongsui Temple, the detour can go to the family home, the right can go to the farmer's market and a camp residence, in front of a small river, there is a small bridge on the river leading to the opposite side of the barracks and private housing area, on the slope of the head grows a big banyan tree, I don't know how old the tree is but now it still grows very luxuriantly.
The street leading to the river (photographed in 2023)
The west end of the main street is the Yang family compound, the main gate of the courtyard is open on the west street, but the gate is closed at that time, enter and exit the Yang family compound and walk through the small gate on the west side, there is a small winery from west to east, use the old-fashioned method to make wine, the resulting sake lees are cool on the side of the road, you can smell the aroma of koji when passing by, this is a good feed for pigs. In the middle of the main street, there are shops such as a primary school, a photo studio, a bookstore, a barber shop, a sales department for means of production, and several canteens (now called restaurants).
Shuangjiang Pass is located on the traffic artery, although it is outside the ancient town street but very prosperous, there are two canteens, teahouses, shops, there are storytelling performances in the teahouse, there is a shop at the fork of the road to the main street and also writes letters on behalf of people, there are pen and ink, stationery, envelopes on the small table; the pass is the station where the long-distance bus gets on and off passengers, the passengers, the truck drivers often eat here, the person in charge of the canteen and the driver are very familiar, some people want to let the passengers, the truck driver help carry something or take someone to the car to find the person in charge of the canteen can do it.
Once followed the mother to buy grain and peanuts, peanuts are the "August 1st" Festival and the Spring Festival to supply, peanuts with skin to go to the oil mill to pick up the goods, into the oil mill machine roaring, the masters are processing edible oil, waiting for peanuts to see the factory side of someone to mix hard drive cakes to eat said very fragrant, I also mixed a piece of food is really fragrant, and later learned that this is the peanut after the oil leftover slag cake so fragrant.
The main entrance of the Yang family compound (photographed in 2023)
Shuangjiang District was in charge of 5 communes at that time, and some materials, means of production, and daily necessities were purchased by the district, and the farmers took advantage of the opportunity to sell some of their own agricultural products in the town, but the agricultural and sideline products purchased by the state could not be sold, such as pork, peanuts, grain, Vermicelli, etc., and then buy some daily necessities to take home; people look around on the street, some also string relatives, after the family conditions are good, go to the restaurant at noon to have a meal, which is also called "tooth sacrifice", a few friends gather in the restaurant to order meat dishes, peanuts and other side dishes, each person plays some loose liquor, eats and drinks and chats, and in the afternoon they all carry their things on their backs and walk home in the afternoon.
Although grain and raw meat were supplied by urban residents on a monthly basis per person, the restaurants still provided some unplanned meat, and the peasants did not have food stamps and brought their own rice or wheat to exchange for staple food in the restaurants; men were the main laborers of the family, and they were very tired from doing farm work every day, and they usually had very little oil and water on the dining table at home, so they could save some grain and money in their daily lives and satisfy their hunger while they were in a hurry; the canteens in the towns were all state-run, and the locals called them "No. 1 Restaurant" and "No. 2 Restaurant" Waiting, it was a good job to be able to work in the cafeteria back then.
The Big Banyan Tree by the River (photographed in 2023)
A recent photo of the author